Hunith had received her weekly letter from Gaius three days early. This fact alone let her know immediately that something was wrong. Merlin was in trouble.
She couldn't believe the words on the page. She had dropped the letter in shock, staggered backwards, searching for a chair, but stumbled upon the floor of her humble hut. Their hut. Hers and Merlin's. But now only hers.
No… was all she could remember thinking. No. No. No…
Without quite realizing what she was doing, she began packing a small bag with just enough for her to get to Camelot and back.
It was two days after Merlin's execution. Arthur was looking over the law concerning magic and its possessors. It was too late to save Merlin, but he could still do something for those in his kingdom who had such a gift. He could make sure that they didn't reach the same fate.
Guinevere sat on her throne, still and resolute. She didn't even give Arthur so much as a glance. The knights were all very cold to him. He hadn't told anyone about his theory of being enchanted, but so desperately wanted them to understand that in his right mind he would not have harmed a hair on Merlin's head.
Suddenly the doors to the council room burst open and a woman stood there, looking crazed and exhausted.
"Where is he?!" Arthur's heart sank even lower than it had been. Hunith…
"Where is my son?!" She sounded hysterical.
"Hunith…" Guinevere got up with a look of sorrow and deepest empathy, rushing towards the screaming woman.
"You killed him!" she screamed at Arthur. "You killed him, you sick bastard, you, you… you MONSTER!"
"Hunith, please, this way," said Guinevere gently, her voice cracking, pulling on the grieving mother's arm.
"No, no, he's… he's…" Hunith started sobbing. "He's DEAD!"
And with that, she collapsed upon the floor, sobbing into unconsciousness.
Hunith woke up in Gaius' chambers. She saw her old friends face and burst into tears again.
"He's… he's… he's really… g- g- gone, is-isn't he?" she asked between sobs.
"I'm so sorry, Hunith."
"He was just a boy!"
"I know. I know…"
"Gaius, please, tell me it's not true!"
Gaius remained silent, to which Hunith's sobs increased in volume and ferocity. He came down and sat on her bed and held her close to him. He had considered telling her of Merlin's plan, even though he did not know much about it himself, but had decided against it. He knew that if Merlin had wanted her to know, he would have gone to Ealdor himself.
"Shh, shhh my child," he started cry himself. "Shh… I'm so sorry. So sorry."
"It's not fair, not fair…"
"I know… I know…"
She eventually fell asleep in Gaius' arms, her tear stained face seemed to forever be contorted in pain.
Author's note: Hello again! So apparently some of you have cried in earlier chapters if I am to believe the reviews, and this is honestly the chapter I wrote to make you cry. Sorry (but not really. Yes, I am a bit evil. Love you too).
I've gotten a couple requests for longer chapters, and so I'm going to address this now: I have already written nigh 30 chapters, and have no intention of going back to make them longer. I will however, compromise. I will keep my shorter chapters (some of them are horribly short, I'll admit), but I will update more often. Sound like a fair deal? Don't worry, there's quite a bit longer to go with this story. I'm just hoping that you all stick around.
Thanks for reading! Please review!
