Hey guys
I think I got like 100 emails last night because everyone was updating.
Anyone that has read the changes timeline, the first chapter of To Kill a King is up.
I have fallen in love with Downtown by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. I have listened to it on repeat for the last few days.
Hope you all enjoy, we are back to Nimueh and Balinor
The Vengeance Memories
Nimueh closed the book.
She knew she shouldn't have picked it up but a part of her needed to. It was a time where she was loved.
She smoothed down the warn cover. The book was filled with notes and little trinkets that she had collected over the years. Most of them were adventures with the Eorðdraca.
Nimueh always believed that the Eorðdracas were unbeatable. That they would rule Camelot until it was burnt to the ground. They had always accepted her and Balinor Snr had even given her a place in the royal household as Regean's advisor from the Isle of the Blessed.
She was more than happy to take the role. It meant she got to spend a lot of time with Regean.
Nimueh had always had a soft spot for him and tried many times to get him to share her bed. Unfortunately for her, his eyes and bed were only for Anne. And she would admit that she had tried a couple of times to break them up.
But Nimueh had learnt years ago that true love is the purest magic out there. It was the first thing that she was taught when she joined the Isle.
Now Uther was an easier man to get into bed. And he had shared her bed a number of times in the past. But that was only really in the early part of his reign.
Gorlois had introduced his wife, Vivienne, and Uther had been all over her like a dog on heat.
It was Ygraine that Nimueh felt most sorry for.
The poor woman was trying her hardest to try and make sure that the Pendragon line Uther knew the importance of a true born heir. A bastard wouldn't be able to take the throne anyway. Not matter what the claim.
Nimueh had always wondered if it would have been different if she had bore him a child.
It also made her feel bad as Ygraine was her best friend. They had just clicked when they met when Nimueh was 14 and Ygraine was 12. She would always practice her spells when Ygraine was with her because Nimueh always loved the way her blue eyes lit up in amazement.
Nimueh wiped away a tear. She was just trying to help her friend. She knew how much Ygraine wanted a son, and not just for Uther's sake. Ygraine had always loved children and Nimueh would always go with her when she went to visit the orphanage.
When Camelot fell to Uther, he had approached her with what he should do about Ygraine.
Nimueh was the one that persuaded him to allow the De Bois to adopt her as their own. She had always known that they were desperate for a girl and knew that Ygraine got on well with Tristan. So much so Tristan fought Uther, blaming him for her death.
Nimueh never could believe that Ygraine had married someone that was responsible for her father and brothers' deaths. But then Balinor Jnr had told her that Ygraine didn't want to believe him.
Nimueh sighed before lifting herself out the chair.
The better times were those in the Eorðdraca era. Nimueh wanted to make sure that it came around again.
Balinor looked at the fork in the path.
He is out of the cave properly for the first time in 19 years. He should really go and see her. But he had never been strong enough to tell his mother what happened in Camelot 21 years ago.
If she had found out about Ygraine's pregnancy then it wasn't from him. He knew that she would have been so upset by it.
Balinor sighed before taking the path he should have done all those years ago. He needed to see if his mother was still alive.
"Mother?" Balinor says as he pushed the door open.
Cwen turned around and dropped the candle she was holding. Balinor quickly used magic to stop the flame from spreading.
She gave him a wide smile, tears building in her eyes and she strode forward and embraced him.
"If you hadn't have called me Mother, I would have thought you were a ghost."
"I'm sorry I haven't been back." Balinor said, holding his mother as tight as possible.
"It doesn't matter. You have been in Camelot. You have been with Ygraine." Cwen's smile started to drop. "Haven't you?"
"Sit down."
"Balinor, say what to have to say."
He sighed and looked down at the floor.
"You never went did you?"
"Oh I went." Balinor snapped and released his mother. "I went to be asked to give up the claim I have to Camelot's throne. And I was so close to doing it. I never wanted the throne, you know that. I was happy that Uther had it. He worked so bloody hard for it. But then she had to ruin it." He rested on the fireplace. "She told me she was pregnant. I flipped."
"I bloody well hope you did." Cwen said.
"I'm the only one left Ma. Save for Joan but then we would never know if she is okay. Ygraine died in child birth. Nimueh told me that he looks like her."
"I would hope so."
Balinor allowed himself to smile at his mother's comments. "Nimueh was the one to cast the spell."
He turned to his mother after she hadn't said anything.
She shook her head at him. "No, she wouldn't have. What have I told you about lying?"
"I wish I was."
Cwen dropped it for the moment.
"So you left Camelot then, where have you been?"
"I couldn't get out of Camelot quick enough. I travelled for a bit. Met up with some of the dragonlords. I admit that I couldn't come back to tell you what happened."
His mother raised her eyebrow at him.
"19 years ago, I was called back to Camelot for the second and last time. All the other dragonlords had either been killed or went underground. Uther asked me to called Kilgharrah. He said he wanted to do a deal with him. I was stupid to think that. Uther captured him and placed him underneath the castle while he threw me into a cell, to be added to the list to be executed.
"Gaius came down to help some of the druids escape when he saw me. He hadn't even realised that I had come back. He helped me out and sent me, with the druids, to Ealdor. I was staying with a family member of his, I believe it was his niece. She was welcoming and lovely. You would have liked her. I fell for her ma, I fell for her like Regan fell for Anne. But Uther sent men after me and I had to flee. I haven't seen her since."
"You will see her again."
Balinor looked up at his mother. "How can you be so sure?"
"Well I need to meet the woman that stole my youngest's heart."
He gave her a small smile.
"Nimueh came to me a few weeks ago. She said that it is time to take our revenge. I told her no but I have thought about it. You told me to remember it. Should I avenge their deaths?"
"It is up to you. But remember that revenge isn't always as sweet as it might seem."