- o - Part II: Merlin - o -


Merlin felt a lump in his throat as he watched Arthur fall to his knees beside the bed and take one of Gwen's limp hands in his own. The beautiful queen lay unconscious, her skin deathly pale aside from the dark circles beneath her closed eyes and the blood that was smeared across her thighs and swollen belly.

"Guinevere," Arthur begged piteously, his voice small and frightened as a single tear spilled down his cheek. "Don't leave me, please..."

It was a haunting sight – a grieving king prostrate on the floor beside a bloodstained bed that held the body of his beloved wife and unborn child. Choking back his own sorrow in an effort to be strong for his friends, Merlin suddenly realized how similar the scene must be to the tragedy that had happened decades before, on the night when Arthur himself had been born.

Had Gaius stood quietly by and allowed his king to weep when it had become clear that Queen Ygraine wouldn't survive? Had he wanted to cry himself, helpless to prevent the suffering of two people he'd loved so dearly? And most of all, had Uther ever truly forgiven his friend for being powerless to save Ygraine's life?

"There may yet be hope we can save the child," the midwife murmured softly, treating Merlin with the utmost respect since his claim had proven true. "If we can revive her, even for a few minutes, she may still have enough strength left to push out the baby now that it's positioned correctly."

"And what about her?" Arthur demanded, whirling around with eyes that were half mad with fury and grief as he gestured wildly at the bed. "What about Guinev...?" he choked off on a ragged sob.

"Sire, I'm sorry," the midwife said somberly, taking a step backward as if she were afraid Arthur might strike her. "She's lost too much blood already, and there's no way to staunch the flow. I'm afraid it's already too late for the queen."

She leaned over the small form with the distended belly, passing a bundle of pungent herbs beneath Gwen's nose. "My lady," she entreated softly. "I need you to wake up now. Your child needs you. Just a little more, and then you may rest as long as you like."

For a few endless minutes, Gwen lay so still that she might have been dead already, aside from the shallow rise and fall of her chest. And then with a feeble moan of exhausted suffering, her eyes slowly opened, struggling in vain to focus on the faces around her. Her lips parted as if she wanted to speak, but all that came out was a barely audible whimper as her body began to spasm in the throes of a powerful contraction.

"Quick, get behind her!" the midwife commanded Arthur, who was instantly spurred into motion by the urgency in her voice. "She doesn't have the strength to hold herself upright. Let her brace her back against your chest. Yes, that's it! Now push, my lady! I need you to push!"

Gwen's head fell heavily against Arthur's shoulder, her leg muscles trembling violently as she let out a succession of tiny sobs and weak grunts. Merlin stood beside the bed, swallowing hard as he watched the king cradle his dying wife in his arms while she struggled to present him with an heir as her final act in life. Arthur wept shamelessly, his tears spilling onto her ashen face, even as he whispered words of love, encouragement, and heart wrenching apology.

The midwife knelt between her shaking knees, anxiously examining her opening again and again in the fervent hope that it wouldn't be too late to save at least one life.

I should have acted sooner, Merlin thought sorrowfully. If I'd just gone over to the bed, if I had only touched her earlier, I would have known.

Another innocent life, lost through the misuse of magic. For it was magic that was at fault; Merlin had sensed its power the moment he'd laid his fingers on the swollen belly and felt the dark shield that prevented unknowing hands from detecting any warning signs. Morgana? He could only assume so; she'd have every reason to want to prevent the safe birth of a Pendragon heir.

What would Arthur do if he found out the truth while he was mourning the death of his beloved queen? Morgana was known to be spiteful, and seemed only too glad to take the credit for any misery she created in Arthur's life these days. Would he turn out just like Uther, hellbent on destroying anyone who dared to practice magic within the kingdom?

At the very least, any hope of the king ever accepting magic would die right along with Gwen. Even if he never learned the true cause of her death, Gwen was his faith, his hope, an anchor which kept him tied firmly to the ground. It was she who taught him to be a better man, taking him in hand when he disappointed her on any matter relating to justice, goodness, or mercy. No other person had the power to make Arthur stop and question his actions quite like she did.

What kind of king would he be without her?

Unfortunately, the answer to that question seemed imminent as Gwen fainted again and lay limply in Arthur's arms. The midwife muttered something about "getting closer, but not close enough," prodding desperately at the unconscious queen and begging her to wake up just one more time.

Gwen didn't stir as Arthur wrapped his arms more tightly around her swollen body, burying his face in her damp, tangled hair as his chest began to heave with violent sobs.

"Is she still alive?" Merlin whispered to the midwife.

She gave him a sad look. "Only just. It's too late now. Too late for her, and for the child too, I'm afraid. The best we can hope for is that she might regain consciousness long enough to bid farewell to her husband, the poor man. But even that..." she trailed off and shook her head.

This is Uther, Ygraine, and Gaius all over again, Merlin realized, as grief stricken tears began to roll down his cheeks. Nothing has changed, only this time, there won't even be a child to ease his father's suffering. Arthur will be left with nothing except a broken spirit that will never mend.

As if sensing his thoughts, Arthur raised his head and gazed up at Merlin with a face full of hopeless desperation. Not even in his worst moments had Merlin ever seen such naked, helpless vulnerability in his eyes. They pleaded silently with him, begging him to do something, anything, to prevent the most heartbreaking loss Arthur would ever know in his lifetime.

Suddenly, Merlin saw just how much Arthur trusted him, needed him, relied upon him with his entire soul to make things right, even if he might not be consciously aware of it. And so after what seemed like a lifetime of deception, years upon years of carefully hiding the truth until the right time to reveal his secret might finally come, Merlin knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was the moment he'd been waiting for.

Calmly, he stepped closer to the bed and laid his hand on Gwen's clammy forehead. "Edníwe se blódsihte, edgief se sáwol, ácwice se ferhþ," he whispered, deliberately meeting Arthur's incredulous stare as his eyes flashed a brilliant shade of gold. "Áwace!"

Arthur opened and closed his mouth in shock, but before he could manage to speak, the room filled with a loud, tormented cry. Gwen stirred violently in his arms, her whole body tensing as her eyes opened and she began to push more fiercely than she'd managed to do in hours. She screamed again and again, her voice growing stronger as she met and endured the relentless contractions that slammed through her straining, sweat drenched body.

"A-almost there!" announced the midwife, staring at Merlin in bewilderment. "I can see the head! Come on, just one more push. You can do it!"

Gwen braced herself against Arthur's chest and bore down hard, her fingernails ripping bloody furrows into the skin of her naked thighs as she gave a mighty push, then a second and a third. Her savage cries of agony turned into a gasp of triumph as the infant slipped free from her body and into the midwife's waiting hands.

"A boy," Merlin whispered in wonder. "Arthur, you have a son."

The newborn infant chose the same moment to open his mouth and let loose a succession of furious yells. Gwen laughed aloud, a sound of pleasure no one had ever expected to hear from her lips again as she reached for her tiny son. Arthur carefully lowered her to lie back on the pillows, while the midwife made quick work about cleaning the babe, then wrapping him in a blanket and placing him in his mother's arms.

"He's beautiful," Gwen breathed, touching a finger to his tiny nose and tracing the lines of his soft, pink mouth. "Oh, he's perfect."

She gazed into the infant's unfocused blue eyes with an expression of adoration, seeming unaware of Arthur's presence as he pulled up a chair to sit beside the bed. He looked on in rapt fascination, his eyes full of love and pride as Gwen bonded with their newborn son for the first time.

Just a few minutes later, when the young mother had been suitably tended to – gently bathed, dressed in a fresh nightgown, and left to rest among clean linens, her eyelids began to droop as the infant suckled sleepily at her breast. Beside them, Arthur had already fallen asleep, his head resting against the wall behind him with a small smile on his lips.

Merlin opened the chamber door to let himself out, overwhelmed with happiness as he looked back one last time at the slumbering faces of the king and queen he loved so deeply, then gazed upon the newborn that promised a brighter future for them all. He smiled in satisfaction, more certain than ever that he'd done the right thing.

He ttook pride in the gift of life that had been given, knowing it had come from a devotion that was far stronger than a lifetime of secrecy or fear. In the moment he'd stepped forward and uttered the spell, he'd only been thinking about Arthur and Gwen… but in the end, it had been an act that promised a better life for countless others who suffered for a very different reason.

Following Queen Ygraine's demise, people with magic had lived in torment, enduring relentless persecution as they were forced to conceal themselves from a ruler who'd meant to destroy them all. But Queen Guinevere's resurrection whispered of changing winds, foreshadowing a time when those with the gift might awaken to their former strength as she had done, pulled free from the clutches of an almost certain death.

This was the power that surrounded them all, Merlin realized, the eternal cycle of death and rebirth that had shaped the world since the beginning of time. Magic's punishment had found its root in the death of one queen… and magic would be granted absolution through the life of another.

And thus the great Pendragon legacy would come full circle, fighting its way out of darkness to greet the brilliant promise of brand new day.