F A T E L E S S
x.x.x
Well, here's my new Merlin fanfiction that I've been dreaming up. It follows the story of Isabel, an OC that is Merlin's twin sister. I hope you enjoy the story! Please review and tell me what you think!
-Lauren
x.x.x
Isabel, Merlin's twin sister, has never believed in destiny. Life was what you make it and you always have a choice. But her decisions cannot override the tides of fate… or can they?
x.x.x
PROLOGUE
x.x.x
One year ago, it had been the happiest day of Hunith's life.
After hours of labour, pain, and contractions, came forth two beautiful children. It had been hard, but when her mother had handed the children to her, wrapped in pure white linen cloth, and Hunith looked down at the two, she felt her heart might explode with happiness. She felt so weak that she might be knocked down by a feather, and waves of fatigue washed over her, but she could not bring herself to look away from the babies.
They looked up at her like she was the only thing they knew. The twins had eyes of striking blue, like the colour of the sea on a beautiful sunny day. She felt tears streaming from her eyes – tears of joy. She imagined all the memories they would make together, the experiences they would share, the joy they would bring and the people they would become.
She lay there, gazing fondly at the children and wondering whether life could get any better.
Today, however, it was a completely different story.
'Hunith, the knights are coming!' cried one of the other women in the village.
Hunith was completely distressed, tearing at her hair and rocking her two children. Merlin and Isabel, she had named them. They were so, so beautiful. Hunith started to cry, but shook her head, trying to banish the tears. She had to be strong.
Little Merlin and Isabel could sense that something was wrong; they was agitated and crying. Cooing, Hunith tried to calm them but it was having as much effect as trying to calm herself.
'Quick!' the woman called. Hunith didn't know what to do. Should she run, should she stay? She hadn't done anything wrong, for heaven's sakes! Why should she have to choose?
Yesterday, King Uther's wife had died. True, it was a great tragedy for the kingdom – Queen Igraine was a lovely, compassionate woman that was the softness to Uther's rather disciplinary measures. Everybody loved Queen Igraine, and she was deeply grieved over. But now, it had been found that sorcery was the thing that killed her, and King Uther had called an urgent search of the entire kingdom to exterminate any sorcerers found. Any sorcerer was to be killed on the spot.
Obviously, this would prove futile. Any person capable of sorcery would surely not show their magical capabilities while the knights were present, or leave any magical items lying around carelessly. The search wouldn't find any sorcerers, unless they were complete idiots or already under suspicion.
However, Isabel was a completely different story. Ever since the day of her birth, Isabel had been different.
It started when Hunith had left the room for a moment, just to bring the food from the kitchen to the children. When she came back, the room was in chaos. Chairs were flying about the room, the table had been upturned, forks, spoons and knives circled in the air like flying eagles looking for prey, the contents of the cupboards were whirling around and forming a tornado, and to top it all off, little Merlin was in the air as well! Isabel's eyes were not their usual sea blue, but pure gold, the colour of King Uther's crown.
Isabel could do magic!
Hunith quickly calmed the two children (Merlin was crying – obviously not liking levitating in mid air), and that night, she thought. Why her child? Was this for good or bad?
She tried to keep it under check, especially when other people were around in the house, but that was not always possible. Isabel was unpredictable – Hunith often found flying items everywhere, as well as other things – such as the spontaneous lighting of candles, the upturning of bowls of food (especially vegetables – Isabel hated vegetables), and once Isabel had cried and ended up flooding the entire house.
Halfway through Merlin and Isabel's first year, a mysterious man had turned up on their doorstep and made his way into the house. He wore a dark cloak, with a hood that obscured his face, and carried a stick that looked suspiciously like a sorcerer's mace.
Hunith was perplexed, but she didn't dare stop the man, just in case he started a fight. When he bent over the children, Hunith screamed but he didn't touch them, merely watched the two sleeping babies.
'Merlin,' he said in a deep gravelly voice, pointing to little Merlin, 'will be great. He will sit alongside Arthur when he becomes King, and will cause Camelot to flourish. He is destined for great things – Merlin and Arthur, together, will bring Camelot to ranks of greatness never before seen in this kingdom.
'But Isabel,' said the man, saying the name like it was abhorrent to his ears. Hunith shivered. 'She will not. It would have been better for Camelot if she had never been born. She will be the downfall of Merlin and Arthur, and the downfall of this whole kingdom.'
Sweeping his cloak up in what seemed like a superfluously dramatic fashion, the man took one last look at the children, whispered something that Hunith could not hear, and then left.
Hunith breathed deeply, relieved that the man had not hurt her children. The relief pushed the prophecy out of her mind, but later that night, she turned over the man's words and wondered. Merlin, Merlin would be great. But what about Isabel? How could such a sweet little girl be the downfall of the kingdom?
The only thing Hunith could think of, was Isabel's magic. Was King Uther right to forbid sorcery? It seemed useful at times, but absolutely detestable at others. But surely, Isabel would never use her powers for evil? Hunith could never imagine such a thing.
So she told herself that the man had just been a lunatic, and his words amounted to nothing.
But slowly, things started to change. Instead of just flying items, Hunith found stranger things happening. One of her chickens mysteriously died, and all the evidence she found was a giggling Isabel. The crops next door refused to grow one spring, for no apparent reason. It started to scare Hunith, but the last thing she wanted to do was blame her own daughter.
There was a knock at the door, and Hunith was jerked suddenly from her thoughts.
'Knights of Camelot, here for inspection!' a man shouted.
'Be there in a minute!' shouted Hunith, trembling. Quickly she hid Isabel in the larder, praying that nothing would happen, and rushing back to the door.
She composed herself, and then opened the door. Two young men were standing in the doorway, red cloaks billowing in the wind and standing tall.
'Mind if we have a look? We are here on King Uther's orders, to search for sorcerers,' said the knight.
'Of course,' said Hunith, sounding much more confident than she felt. She was shaking, but she hoped the knights wouldn't notice.
They strode in, and started to search. Hunith was praying silently. They looked through all the rooms quite speedily – obviously they had a tight schedule. After minutes of agonising anxiety for Hunith, the knights returned.
'You're fine, sorry for the inconvenience,' said one of the knights.
'No worries,' said Hunith, her heart rate relaxing. They had not found Isabel. Everything was going to be okay.
They were just turning to leave, when a sound broke through the silence.
It was the giggle of a little girl.
'What was that?' they asked, turning back swiftly and on guard, taking out their swords.
'N-N-Nothing,' stuttered Hunith. Not now, she prayed, not now! 'Please, I beg you, put your swords away, I'm sure it's just one of the kids next door outsi-'
The knights paid her no attention, they stalked through the rooms, wary of any little movement. Suddenly, the larder door burst open, and revealed a gurgling, giggling baby with golden eyes.
'What is this?' the knight demanded. Hunith shook, and found that she could not say a word.
'Why is this baby he-' The knight's words were cut short by a sudden crash from the other side of the room. The knight swirled around and found the contents of a cupboard floating in the air, the drawers opening and closing erratically and the baby giggling.
'What is this, sorcery?' the knight asked Hunith savagely.
'Please –' said Hunith.
'It's the baby,' said the knight. 'Look at her eyes.'
Isabel was not aware of Hunith's terror, or the knights' stares. She carried on giggling, and causing havoc. One of the knights let out a loud shout that shook the whole hut – his cloak had been pulled over his eyes, completely obscuring his vision and rendering him blind. Yet nobody had touched him.
Quickly, the other knight removed the cloak from his face and returned it to its proper place.
'What was that?' asked the knight, flustered. Isabel giggled.
'This baby can do magic,' said the knight gravely.
'No, please!' said Hunith, as the knight took Isabel in his arms. 'She has done nothing wrong – it's natural –'
'I am going to have to take this baby from you, madam. She is a dangerous sorcerer, and must be eliminated immediately,' said the knight.
'No!' screamed Hunith, dropping Merlin and falling to her knees, pulling at the knight's legs. 'She's only a baby – please…'
The knight couldn't bring himself to look at the pleading mother, or the little baby. He shook the begging woman off, and stormed out of the room, followed by his accomplice, leaving in a flurry of red clothes.
Hunith ran out to catch them, to plead, to beg – she would do anything, but they were on their horses and had ridden off into the wilderness, taking her one daughter with them.
Hunith fell to the floor and cried and cried and cried.
x.x.x
The two knights were in the wood.
'What do we do with her – it?' asked the first knight. He was afraid to call the baby 'her' – he didn't want to personalise the little thing before he had to kill it. She – it was a sorcerer, a dangerous criminal that could one day ruin the kingdom! And yet, as the knight looked at the little baby, with golden eyes and a cute smile, he could barely believe it.
'King Uther's orders – kill any sorcerer you find,' said the second knight, with not much decisiveness. The first knight snapped his attention away from the baby – it would only weaken his resolve further.
'Okay,' said the first knight, taking a deep breath. 'How?'
Hesitantly, the second knight drew his sword.
'NO!' cried the first knight, instinctively shielding the baby with his body and staring at the second knight in horror. The second knight sheathed his sword and looked to the ground.
'Not like that,' he said. The first knight nodded.
'How, then?' the first knight asked. The baby was giggling. He couldn't look at her – it would be the downfall of him, that gurgling laugh.
'Um…' said the second knight. 'There's a river nearby. We wouldn't have to watch it.'
The first knight breathed deeply.
'Okay,' he said. They rode to the river, careful not to look at the baby, and stopped at the river's edge. The river was bubbling cheerily, unaware that it was about to be the murderer of an innocent child.
'Do we just, leave it there?' asked the second knight. The first knight paused, and then shouted in agony.
'We can't do it, we can't do it, we can't do it!' he shouted. The inner turmoil was evident in both knights. They finally looked at the baby – she was cute, she was laughing and she was innocent.
'But King Uther –' said the second knight.
'No,' said the first knight. 'I will not be the murderer of a baby, not even for King Uther,' he said resolutely.
'Okay,' said the second knight. 'What do we do with the baby then?' he asked.
The first knight paused, thinking. Then he came up with an idea.
'This river – I know it. It is the Aren River – it runs all the way into the next kingdom, Elden. If we leave the baby to float on the river, she will eventually find her way into Elden, and surely someone will find her. We will rid Albion of one sorcerer, as King Uther asks, but also save the baby.'
'Okay,' said the second knight. They worked quickly – emptying their food basket and carefully placing the little baby inside it. They took one last look at Isabel before placing the basket gently in the river. Her eyes were still golden, and she had the most adorable smile on her face.
Taking a deep breath, the first knight gave the basket a push, and before long, the current of the river carried the basket away, holding in its grasp the life of a small baby called Isabel, that would one day be the downfall of the entire kingdom.
x.x.x
