Werewolf of London: Chapter 8
Tintagel Manor, Bromley Green January 18th, 1851
Merlin blinked as he looked up from a book he was reading. He was in Arthur’s room, watching over him and he had heard the front door open and Josiah talking. Probably Morgana and Gwen, he thought. He glanced over at Arthur, who was fast asleep. Merlin set his book down quietly and tiptoed out of the room. He did leave the door open in case Arthur needed anything. Merlin crept down the stairs, avoiding the third step as it was squeaky.
When he finally reached the bottom, Molly smiled at him as she passed him as she left the lounge. Merlin gave her a strange look as he entered the room.
“What is wrong with-?” he cut off as he saw his mother and Gaius. “Mother!” He rushed to her side and hugged her. “What? Why?” He knelt down next to her and stared up at her.
Hunith laughed and cupped his cheek. “Morgana’s telegram said it was urgent. I wanted to come check on my other boy.”
“Is he sleeping?” asked Morgana from a couch across from Hunith. Gwen was sitting next to her, pouring tea and serving it to everyone.
“Yes,” replied Merlin. His eyes never left his mother and he gave her another hug.
“Perhaps,” Gaius interjected, “Merlin and I should look at him?”
“Yes. Yes!” Merlin jumped up. “Josiah and I can help you upstairs afterwards.”
Hunith smiled tiredly at her son. “Fine.”
“Nonsense,” stated Morgana. “Gwen and I can help her up. Look at her Merlin, she is exhausted.”
Merlin frowned and began to examine his mother.
“Well, it was a longer trip that I thought,” Hunith waved off Merlin’s worry. “I just need some sleep.”
Merlin helped her stand up, then passed her off to Morgana and Gwen. “The fifth stair is a bit uneven so be careful and the third stair on the second staircase is squeaky, so watch out for that.”
Gwen took Hunith’s left arm and Morgana walked behind them. Morgana gave Merlin a strange look as he rattled off the problem stairs, but said nothing as the women walked ahead of Merlin and Gaius.
“Did Josiah show you your rooms yet?” Merlin asked as they reached the second floor.
“No, but Morgana said she could show us where to go,” Hunith replied.
“I was thinking of putting them next to you,” Morgana stated. She walked past Merlin’s room and towards a room next to his. “Hunith can go in here and Gaius can in the room across from her.”
“That is fine,” Hunith said quietly. Her eyes were drooping a little and she sounded very tired.
“We have her. Go on,” Gwen shooed the men away as she helped Hunith into the room.
Gaius nodded and pulled Merlin along behind him. “Do not worry,” the older man said. “All she needs is a good rest.”
“Okay,” Merlin looked back towards his mother once more before leading Gaius up to the third floor and towards Arthur’s room. Before they entered, Merlin stopped Gaius. “Do not be surprised if he acts...different.”
“Different? Different how?”
Merlin shrugged. “I cannot really explain it. Especially not out here.” He glanced around, making sure no one was listening.
Gaius gave him a confused look. “All right. Let us go in and examine our patient.”
Merlin nodded, opened Arthur’s door and let Gaius go first. He followed and shut the door behind him. He watched as Gaius walked quietly over to Arthur and began to look him over.
“He seems fine,” Gaius stated. “Can I move him?” His hands hovered over the bed sheets.
“He is a werewolf,” Merlin blurted out. As soon as he said it, he flushed and looked away.
Gaius’ moved his hands away from Arthur and turned to Merlin with a raised eyebrow. “I am sorry?”
“He is a werewolf,” Merlin repeated. “It happened in Romania. There was a full moon a few days ago and for three days he turned into a werewolf.” He walked over to Gaius and sat down on Arthur’s bed.
“I see. And how did you find this out?” Gaius sat down in the chair across from Arthur’s bed, where Merlin had been practically living for the past three days.
Merlin cut his eyes to the side. “The faeries told me.”
“Of course they did,” Gaius sighed. “They are always meddling.”
“They saved him! They told me where to find him! I would not call that meddling.”
Gaius inclined his head in agreement. “Fair enough. Now, wake him and I shall ask him about it.”
“No!” Merlin cried. He winced when Arthur groaned in his sleep. “No,” he said more quietly. “He will not discuss it. He does not even know that I know.”
“I suppose,” Gaius rubbed his eyes, “you did not tell him about yourself.”
“No, I did not. When would I have time? When I am ignoring the fact that my best friend is a werewolf and he does not want to talk about it?”
“All right, all right, calm down,” Gaius soothed. “Tell me everything, from the beginning if you would.”
Merlin nodded, took a deep breath and began to talk.
Outside Arthur’s bedroom door minutes earlier, Morgana quietly turned the door handle and pushed the door open a crack.
“Morgana,” whispered Gwen, “we should not be doing this! Arthur has a right to privacy.”
“Of course he does,” Morgana agreed as she tried to hear what Merlin and Gaius were saying. “However, they have both been acting strange. You and I both know that they will never tell us what is wrong, so we must do this.”
“You say that now,” Gwen began. She was cut off when both women heard Merlin say, “He is a werewolf!”
Morgana turned to look at Gwen in shock. ‘What?’ she mouthed.
Gwen stared at Morgana with wide eyes. ‘I do not know,’ Gwen mouthed back.
They both crept a little closer to the door and listened as Merlin explained everything to Gaius. Once they had heard enough, they left and went into Morgana’s room.
“That explains a lot about Merlin,” Morgana said as she sat down at her vanity.
Gwen came up behind her, picked up a brush and began to brush Morgana’s hair. “That also explains a lot about how Arthur’s been acting lately.”
Morgana’s eyes locked with Gwen’s in the mirror. “We will have to watch out for them.”
Gwen nodded seriously. “We will.”
“We cannot let Uther know. My father would never understand. He has some sort of bias against anything magical.”
“I will not tell anyone. We cannot let them know that we know, I assume?”
Morgana gave a quick nod and then winced as the brush got snagged on a tangle in her hair. “Arthur has not even told Merlin and if he will not tell Merlin, then he will not tell us.”
“Trying to protect everyone as always,” Gwen smiled slightly.
“Yes,” Morgana grinned widely. “He always liked the tales of knights and chivalry the best.”
Back in Arthur’s room, Gaius carefully examined Arthur. He had woken up soon after Merlin finished telling Gaius the whole story. Merlin just hoped he hadn’t overheard any of it. Arthur had been very irate that Merlin called in for help and that he wasn’t able to see Hunith yet. Arthur sat glaring at Merlin with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Stop glaring at me, you prat. Your illness was beyond my knowledge. Besides Mother came all the way here to see you, so stop pouting. Prat,” Merlin finished.
“I am not pouting! I am protesting being treated like an invalid,” Arthur barked in frustration.
“You are an invalid,” Gaius replied calmly. “You cannot even stand up on your own right now.”
Arthur huffed and glared at the door. “I just wanted to go see Hunith. How was I to know that my knees would give out on me?”
“You could have guessed,” stated Merlin. “If you want to see Mother, I can bring her to you.”
“She should not be climbing all those stairs!”
“Neither should you, young man!” Gaius cut into their argument. “Right now, Hunith is stronger than you are!”
Arthur scowled at his doctor and exhaled. “Fine, but I plan to be out of this bed and walking on my own within a month!”
“We shall see,” Gaius said as he and Merlin shared a look, which Arthur ignored.
Arthur was determined to be out of the country house and back in London within a month, he only hoped his body agreed with him.
A few days after Gaius and Hunith arrived, Merlin found Molly wringing her hands. She kept looking out one of the kitchen windows.
“What is wrong, Molly?” he asked worriedly.
“Josiah and some others went into the woods,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the window.
“Whatever for?”
She turned to him with wide, scared eyes. “Livestock has been killed, Master Merlin. Sheep mostly, but a few cows.”
Merlin gulped. “When was this?”
“About four days ago. The villagers think it is a wolf, which is crazy. Wolves have not been in the area in hundreds of years!”
“I see. Well, keep me updated will you? If it is anything dangerous, I will let Arthur know.”
Molly nodded and turned back to the window. Merlin stared at her back for awhile before leaving. He hoped no one put two and two together and came up with Arthur as a werewolf.
Chapter 9