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At this point you'd think Merlin would know what foods should and shouldn't be eaten in the forest, and you'd be right. But all of gaius' advice and training gets thrown out of the window in the middle of a hunt, simply because the man is hungry and has yet to catch anything, as he hasn't learned to be quiet and sneak around, even after being Arthur's man servant for over 7 years. None of the Knights nor King notice when Merlin goes off course, farther away than he should as the berries they usually snack on are at the path side.
Though at this point Gwaine had stolen the majority of them, he doesn't pay attention to the colour of the berries he's picking so misses the warning signs that they are giving off. Instead he puts four in his mouth at once before stomping back to rejoin the group of Knights. But as he gets back to them he starts feeling slightly weird, choosing to ignore it and chalk it up to the fact that he'd had very little sleep the night before. Arthur turns to look at him when he stumbles back into view, looking slightly paler than he had mere minutes ago and rolls his eyes, he was such a girls petticoat about hunting.
It was an hour later when everything around them was still and quiet, that Arthur noticed Merlin staring through the trees with wide scared eyes, so catching Leon's attention, he signaled for the man to check to see if there was anything strange lurking around. But Leon merely shook his head before looking at Merlin with a confused expression on his face, Arthur then signaled to Lancelot to stay with Merlin until they knew what the hell was going on with him. They manage to get half way back to Camelot before Merlin lets out a strangled gasp and scrambles off his horse, bearly being caught by Percival who was at the other side of him "No! Let me go!" Merlin shouts as he fights to get out of Percival's protective grip.
Thankfully they'd stopped near a clearing, a perfect spot to have some food and to give Merlin a look over so they could understand what was happening. It was obvious to them all how out of it Merlin was, so Gwaine and Leon were the ones to collect fire wood whilst Elyan prepared the rabbit lance had caught. Percy had sat on a fallen log at this point, still holding onto Merlin protectively as the man continued to try and fight his way out "I'm sorry! Please let me go!" Merlin cries as Lancelot kneels in front of the two with a furrowed brow "Merlin you're okay, no one's gonna hurt you" he says in a gentle tone that none of them had ever heard from the man.
At this point Gwaine had come back with more than enough fire wood, and Leon was starting to get the fire going, which only seemed to set Merlin off more "no" they hear him whisper in horror. He stared at the flickering flame frozen for several moments, before he let out a screech in an octowave that Arthur didn't even know was possible "not the pyre! Anything but that I'm begging you!" He whimpers softly, they all looked at him in shock now, what the hell was he seeing?!
Mordred had rushed to Merlin's side now, he was the only other person who understood herbs and other medical stuff so they could only hope he knew what was happening "we need Gaius" he says as now the man was sobbing silently and had gone completely lax in Percival's hold, Gwaine and Leon were on their feet in seconds whilst Arthur looked at him sharply "is he dying?" He demands, startling the rest of them so much their eyes widened and they too jumped to their feet "he's hallucinating and i don't have anything to help" Mordred says in a tone that they haven't heard before, Gwaine and Leon take off faster than any of them had seen in their lives whilst the rest stayed to keep an eye on Merlin.
The man continues to whimper and screech periodically "I'm sorry i never told you!" He says after awhile, staring straight into Arthur's very soul as he does and none of them are sure if he's back to normal, or if he's still being affected by whatever's happening to him "tell me what?" He asks carefully as he notices both Mordred and Lancelot becoming more and more nervous, once again Merlin intakes sharply and his eyes widen "about my magic" he bearly whispers before clawing against Percival's chainmail with such force that the taller man almost falls backward.
Lance and Mordred freeze, much like merlin had earlier, whilst Arthur looks between them and the hallucinating man before sighing "he really thinks I'd kill him doesn't he?" He asks sadly, as Merlin once again freezes when Arthur takes a step towards him "no, no! I'm sorry! Ill leave i promise!" He yells to no one in particular and all Mordred and Percival can do is give him gentle Squeases as they try to comfort the man the best they can "what if i don't want you too?" Arthur asks to see if Merlin was capable of a conversation.
At this point all of the knights looked at Arthur in suprise, to which he shrugged "i accepted Morgana's magic and have known about Merlin's for years" he says, causing Lancelot to groan quietly which made Arthur raise an eyebrow at him, only for the man to shake his head with a muttered 'later' before they turned their attention back to Merlin.
Though Merlin continued to cry out and beg to any one that was listening to let him go, he was no longer struggling against Percival and soon the sound of horses could be heard heading their way. The sight of Gaius getting off his horse and coming over to check Merlin over was quite possibly the best thing any of them had ever seen, other than a unicorn but that's beside the point. It took the physician exactly 2 minutes to figure out what was wrong "he's eaten a berry from a belladonna plant, several in fact" he says as he takes Merlin's jacket off as none of them had noticed much he was sweating.
Every single one of them look at one another, then at Merlin before shaking their heads "will he be alright?" Arthur asks, as once again Merlin tries to scramble away from them, causing Gaius to raise an eyebrow and pull him back as he makes the man drink some sort of tincture "of course, Sire. Just keep him cool and give him some food" he says as he takes some of the cooling rabbit and holds it to Merlin's nose to see how receptive he is. They see him look at it warily before eating it so slowly it hurt, Gaius nods seemingly happy with the result before he returns his ward to Percival who only needs to wrap one arm around Merlin now.
It didn't take long before Merlin was lax in Percival's hold once more, though it was due to the fact that he'd either fallen asleep or passed out now, but seeing as Gaius wasn't too concerned, in fact he told them it was a good thing, the knights weren't as concerned either as they made their way back to Camelot.