Merlin

The New Wave

France Gamble

Chapter 5

The wind whipped through her hair as she stood on top of the wall. Her usually flowing dress now pulled tight to show the round belly of her growing womb. Slowly she tipped forward but didn't make it fully as Merlin reached out and pulled her back. "Lilly!" he yelled as he stopped her from going toward the ground.

Once her feet were safely in front of him, she turned to him. She slapped and punched until he got ahold of her wrists. "Let me die! Let me die!" she cried and screamed.

"Lilly," he tried to get her to stop, "Lilly, please, stop."

She did finally stop struggling against him, and collapsed to her knees onto the ground. Her face scrunched into horrible pain. He went down with her to pull her into a hug as she wept.

She was close to term now, and as it became closer to the date, he had to keep stopping her from hurting herself. At times they could sit for hours working on herbs and talking about the normal life in the castle. Then at times she was screaming mad, stomping her feet like a petulant child, or crying like she was in so much pain.

The week before, her preterm practice contractions had started. She also started to try to find ways to end her life. Arthur had told Merlin to not attend to him until after the birth for the past four days since her first attempt. She had taken an opportunity of Gaius being distracted to take off while Merlin was using the privy.

He used all his strength to pick her up and carry her back down the battlements. He would have to thank Percival later for seeing her come this way. Her breathing evened out by the time he was at the door to their chambers. She was in a deep enough sleep that he allowed himself a bit of magic to open the door. Gaius was on his feet in a moment to check on them. "She's okay," Merlin assured his mentor. He laid her down gently onto the cot she had been using since her first day there and covered her up. The weather was turning outside into a chill. She had run out in her new dress he had brought her just weeks before when she started to show through the tighter dress. It wasn't made for the cold, though.

He had reminded her a few times that she could return to her tribe once the baby was born, and no one would need to know. This had been during one of their many long conversations of getting to know each other. She had yelled at him that he didn't understand. He did, though. He hadn't even told his own mother about the child. He knew she would be disappointed that he didn't marry the girl.

"She will have the babe any day now," Gaius told him as they both sat at the work table.

Merlin sat in silence for a moment while he stared at the wall in thought. "I'm telling Arthur to marry us tomorrow," he announced to Gaius. "Maybe then she will stop trying to hurt herself. I'll make her honest again."

"You can't change what Morgana did, Merlin. Even marrying her may not get her to stop," the old man reminded him.

"I need to try."

"Do you love her?" Gaius always had to ask the hard questions.

"If royalty can have arranged marriages work, I am sure we can learn to love each other with time," Merlin said with a slight smile.

"A marriage will only work if you both are completely honest with each other."

"I know. I'll tell her as soon as she is stable to take it in," Merlin whispered. The chamber wasn't big, but they did have the crackle of the fireplace to hide some of the conversation.

Lilly continued to sleep well into the night, though. She was exhausted as her body tried to keep up with the growing body within.

Merlin was able to convince the knights to come to the conference room. Gwen had dressed Lilly up in an unbelievably beautiful secondhand dress. Merlin had to admit to himself that she was still incredibly beautiful, even if she cried during the entire ceremony in front of Arthur. It wasn't the best ceremony ever for a wedding. "I promise a bigger party later," Merlin tried as he took her back to their chambers. Married or not, though, she curled back up onto the cot as best as she could with her swollen stomach. He kneeled onto the floor in front of her hidden face. He couldn't get her to lower her hands to see her eyes, so he just spoke, "I'll be going to your chieftain as soon as you and the baby can travel. We'll let him know that you are safe."

She was done crying but stayed hidden.

"I have her," Gaius assured him. He nodded and ran off to thank his friends for helping today.

"How is she doing?" Gwen asked as he entered the king's chambers.

"I think she'll get used to the idea," he said sadly.

"Oh Merlin," she started.

"I know she was marrying you, but I felt very awful tying those bonds with her crying like that," Arthur admitted. Merlin sat down next to them at their table.

"We'll have a proper ceremony when we are free of whatever threat this is that Morgana is starting," Gwen assured them. Merlin nodded, though he sighed. They had peace now in a sense, but Lilly had dragged her feet for the past nineteen weeks. They could have planned this better.

The bells for the castle toned the late hour. "I'll be back with your meals," Merlin said as he left them to their thoughts. It was almost not fair, though. Why wouldn't someone want to marry him, anyway? He was a hard worker. He could care for her. Sure, he would have to now request a house in the lower town, but at least he wasn't destitute. He was able to care for them both. His child wouldn't live in the poverty that he had to be brought up in, and they wouldn't have to raise him in fear in a roving camp like the Druids. Lilly was a few years younger than even Merlin. Both of them had never known real peace and comfort. It would almost be strange to raise a child without fear of the child being taken.

Except, with Merlin having magic and Lilly being a Druid, would the child have magic at some point? As he made his way out of serving the monarchs their evening meal, and back to his own chambers to be with his new wife and his adopted father, his mind started to fear for the child in a different way.

Lilly was still sleeping when he entered. He had already told Gaius that she was a Druid, so his next question didn't shock the man, "Could my child have magic?"

Gaius stopped grinding an herb, "I think most likely he will."

"Not in Camelot," Lilly cried. "I don't want him to die, too."

"Who?" Gaius asked the girl. Did she hear their conversation?

"My baby," she panted out suddenly and then gasped. Her arms went around her middle. Just like with her practice contractions, only she found she wasn't able to catch her breath like she usually could. "Oh gods."

Merlin ran over and held her, "It'll be fine. You told me just a few weeks ago that most don't even know they have magic until they are older. He'll be fine. Let's calm down."

She shook her head. Then another sharp pain made her curl in on herself. Merlin reached down to pull her toward him to try and calm her. His hand went onto the bed. Quickly, he pulled it back to find it wet. "Gaius!" The old man came running over to see.

"Get the midwife and Gwen," he told Merlin. "The baby is coming."

((Review))