La Femme Chevalier

So, after a long time not writing any fanfiction, this idea came to me out of the blue. Its based on Merlin, but most of the characters from the show don't show up for a few chapters. At the beginning, it is purely about my O.C., Eleanor, whose story is inspired by Mulan and the gist I have gotten from the Brave trailers (the new Pixar movie).

So I hope you don't hate it. I know that reading a fic with an O.C. in it can be a little disappointing at times (I don't normally read them myself), but I won't be satisfied until I write this story. So here it goes.

I don't own Merlin, and reviews are appreciated.

Chapter 1

When Eleanor received the letter, she knew that all hope was lost. She knew that her family had just reached rock bottom, and there was no way that they could come back from it. She though that rock bottom came when her dad passed away. Then her mom, her brother, and her all had to leave their village to flee to Camelot from the Dorocha. During that time, her brother, Etienne, had become gravely ill, which made it nearly impossible to return to their village after the Dorocha had been vanquished. So, they stayed with her aunt and uncle in a village nearer to Camelot.

For a while, things started to settle down. Etienne was getting better, and they had decided that it was time to return to their village. They did not want to impose more on her aunt and uncle, and with all of the changes that were happening in Camelot with the new king, her mother thought that it would be to their advantage to get as far away from the city as possible.

The journey was far from pleasant, and Etienne's illness got worse. She wasn't sure he was going to make it, but Etienne was always a fighter. They both were, from the moment they were born. Her mother told them that, as twins, they couldn't be more different. The only similarity was their undeniable strength.

Now, just after they had come back from their long journey and settled back into their quant house, one of the Lords of Camelot rode in with some soldiers. Eleanor was out getting water to make dinner when she saw them. She prayed that they were only passing through on patrol, and not bringing more bad news. However, she had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The letter was almost a slap in the face. It was summoned one male from their close family to Camelot to join the army. Since her father was dead, and she had no other brothers, that left Etienne as the only option. The Etienne who wouldn't hurt a fly. The Etienne who was laying in the bed in the next room, fighting for his life. Her Etienne. She understood that Camelot needed to be protected, and she was loyal to the king. That being said, she would rather die then let Etienne join the army in the condition that he was in. So, she ran out of her house to find one of the soldiers to talk to, hopefully someone that would understand. She needed Camelot to leave her brother alone.

She ran out of her house, following the red caped soldier who had delivered the message. Once she reached him, she grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around.

"Excuse me, sir, but I need to talk to you about this letter." She said in the most threatening voice she could possibly muster. He looked at her curiously and batted her hand away from his arm.

"What do you want?"

"Well, you delivered this letter to my house just now asking for one male in each family to join the army."

"Yes, every family has been asked to do so. The king wants to build up his army to make sure the kingdom is protected," he said plainly, as if he though very little of what the king was asking her to give away.

"Yes, but my father is dead, and my brother is very ill" she pleaded.

"Families without a male are not required to send anyone. However, families with a male that can lift a sword that choose not to send him to Camelot will pay a hefty fine. So, tell me, girl, can you brother lift a sword?"

She paused for a second to think of her answer. She knew Etienne was awake and conscious, and could walk about by himself. He could probably lift a sword with all of the determination he had. She knew he couldn't go through army training or fight a battle.

"No," she said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. She looked into the soldier's eyes, and could immediately tell that he wasn't going to buy it.

"Well, let's go see for ourselves," he said, already walking towards her house before she could even process a response. She followed him, trying to argue with him and get him to stop his nonsense, but he had already tuned her out. He pushed in the door of her house, scaring the wits out of her mother. After calming herself down, she looked him over, clearly confused about what the hell was going on. She looked at Eleanor with a flash of concern in her eyes before turning back to the soldier.

"Can I help you?" she said with great hesitation.

"Yes ma'am, where is your son?" The soldier looked around, wanting to get to the bottom of this quickly. Her mother was too shocked to speak, so she just pointed at the door to the left of the main room, where Etienne was resting. The soldier nodded and proceeded to go to the bedroom, not bothering to ask for permission. Opening the door, he entered the room, and was immediately startled to see the pale, sleeping young man in front of him. Without saying a word, he slowly stepped out of the room and closed the door softly.

"You were right to come to me with your concerns. I will go talk to Lord Agravaine and tell him about your predicament," he said to Eleanor. She could tell that he regretted his previously harsh attitude towards her family's predicament, but she still had resentment towards him. After all, he might still be taking her brother away.

"Thank you sir. But before you go, may I ask what your name is?" Eleanor didn't really care what his name was. Frankly, she didn't care if this man never stepped foot inside her village again. She just wanted to try and gain a bit more favor with him. Anything that could help Etienne was well worth it.

"Jonathon, ma'am. And yours?"

"Eleanor. This is my mother, Veronica, and my brother is named Etienne." She tried to sound as polite as possible. She knew being charming was never a gift of hers, as her mother constantly told her, but she could tell that her small amount of charm was working on the soldier.

"Well, it was nice to meet you. I will come back later to give you word of what Lord Agravaine says." He turned around and started walking towards the door. Just as he was about to step out, he turned to Eleanor and Veronica and said, "Try not to worry to much. Lord Agraviane is the king's uncle, and the king's advisor. I imagine the king would pity your situation, so I think his uncle will do the same." With that, he left the home.

Eleanor let go of the breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She looked at her mom, who was clearly still in shock and confused over what just occurred in her house.

"Care to explain what just happened, Ellen?" Eleanor tried to find the right words to explain the situation without giving her mom a complete heart attack.

Jonathon approached the Lord timidly. He hadn't heard much about Lord Agravaine's character. He could only assume that he was like his nephew, who Jonathon heard was a good, honest man. Sure, the king made some mistakes, but Jonathon reasoned that the King was just human and was relatively new to the position.

"I have come to talk to Lord Agravaine." he said to one of his fellow soldiers. The soldier looked back at the Lord sitting at the desk in his tent. The lord simply waved Jonathon in.

"What seems to be the problem soldier?" The Lord said, barely looking up from the paper that was in front of him.

"I passed out the notices today, like you had asked me to do. However, there is one family that has a bit of a problem. You see, they have a son who is old enough to fight, but he is not fit to fight, sire." The Lord briefly looked up from him papers, studying Jonathon's face.

"Are you sure the family is not just telling you lies to save their precious son from war?" The Lord looked doubtful, which made Jonathon even more nervous then he already was.

"I saw the boy, and he looks rather ill…"

"Rather ill? Are you sure he wasn't just pretending to be ill?" The Lord looked at Jonathon like he was searching for a lie in the soldier's eyes. Before Jonathon could answer him, the Lord interrupted him.

"And let's say this boy is truly ill. What if that gives everyone in this small, dreadful village the idea to try to get their sons out of war by faking illnesses?" Jonathon was shocked by the Lord's harsh words. Surely he could not believe that everyone in the village would deceive the king.

"Does this family even have the money to pay to fine that is required to get this boy out of service?" Jonathon didn't even know how to answer that one. Just by looking at the family's house, he could tell that they would not have the money to pay the hefty fine.

"No, sire, I don't believe so," he said sadly. He already knew that he had lost this fight, and had, therefore, caused this family's sorrow.

"Well, then I guess the boy will just have to report to Camelot. If he is too sick and we have no use for him, he can be an assistant or we will send him home." The Lord looked back down at his papers and continued with what he was doing. Jonathon was completely stunned. How could a man be so cruel to a family that had so little? He hoped that the king was nothing like his uncle.

"What if the boy doesn't make it to Camelot?" Jonathon asked as a last effort to convince the Lord to change his mind. The Lord looked at him, confused about Jonathon's attachment to this boy and his family.

"You may have a point. And because I am such a good man, I will allow the family a month to nurse the boy to a condition where he can travel. You will come and collect him at the end of the month." Jonathon wanted to respond to this. He wanted to ask the Lord what to do if the boy was still too ill. He also wanted to give the King's uncle a piece of his mind, but he knew that that would only make the situation worse. He never got a chance, though. The Lord simply waved off Jonathon and said, "Dismissed."

Eleanor was pacing across the small main room of her house. A thousand thoughts rushed in her mind about what to do with this situation. She prayed that Jonathon was successful. She thought about what she could do if he wasn't. They could flee the kingdom, but she wasn't sure that Etienne could handle the trip. Plus, the thought of leaving her home made her sick. She could come with Etienne to Camelot and take care of him, maybe even try and talk to the king, but she didn't want to leave her mother behind.

"For the love of God, Ellen, would you go somewhere else with your pacing!" Eleanor looked over at her mother, who was just as nervous as she was. Her mother was just better at hiding it. She thought about going outside for a walk, but she didn't want to miss Jonathon. Then, as if fate had read her mind, there was a knock on the door. Eleanor ran to the door to open it.

"What did he say?" She said to Jonathon without even inviting him in. Her stomach turned as she awaited his answer. He looked down at his hands, not wanting to make eye contact with her. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"He is going to give your brother a month to become well enough to travel. At the end of the month, I will come to bring him to Camelot. If he is not fit for battle, they will find something else for him to do or send him home."

Eleanor looked back at her mother, who had tears in her eyes. She knew that the same thoughts were running though both of their minds: what if he can't make it to Camelot? What if the journey kills him? What if he is forced to fight, or do chores that he is too weak to handle? What if they never see him again?