Good morning! Today I bring Part 2 from Chapter 30! I don't have anything to say, only that I hope you really like it as much as I liked writing it.

I'm not own from Merlin.

"I know who Balinor is."

Merlin was strained to hear that. How did she know about his father? Although now that he thought about it more carefully, it could be that, as the Shadow had commented, Balinor would have been here a long time ago. That made Merlin think what role Hilda played in all this.

"He's been here a long time ago, as Sigan said, "Hilda adduced.

Merlin looked Hilda in the eyes.

"For what reason?"

Hilda smiled at Merlin with a smile that he didn't like at all. He hoped she wouldn't tell him he was too young to know... Or that it wasn't the time… He had the right to know the whole truth about his father, and he didn't like being hidden things from him.

"Before I answer that question, tell me, Emrys, what did Telvar tell you?"

Merlin sighed softly, hesitating whether to tell it all, or whether to rely fully on Hilda. He decided to trust. If he perished, he would perish trusting.

"He told me his story of the Cup of Life, how he was cursed by the druids..."

"Yes, I guess that's what Sigan did to remove Telvar from the map." Interrupted Hilda. "But what I wonder is why he defamed that he killed him, but he really didn't. It would be much easier for him. A stab in the back, a Sigan-style betrayal, and it would be done.

Merlin smiled as he watched Hilda think all that. She thought about it in a very different way than others. Merlin noticed that each person had very different views and a perspective on life.

"I don't know, actually, but I think there are worse things than death."

Hilda looked at him gravely.

"Did he tell you anything about his curse?" asked the old lady parsimony, as if she was trying to do an inspection in a detective mode.

"No, he didn't want to mention anything to me, well," Merlin replied, recalling how reluctant Telvar had become when he talked about his curse. "But following that, I guess it wouldn't be good at all. As I say, there are worse things than death, and surely Sigan wanted it to be so for his dear friend. That's a nice friendship." Merlin commented sarcastically in the last sentence.

"I don't know what to think... Something smells bad to me. I feel like Sigan is hiding something from us." for a few seconds, Hilda kept her eyes lost, a look of experience and thought. "But well, leaving this case closed, tell me more things he told you.

"Basically, he told me in a story his loneliness by that curse. How he hid in caves and cabins so no one would come. Something was dangerous, that's for sure because as I've noticed, at night Telvar is never there. That'll have to do with the curse.

"That's a good point," Hilda affirmed.

"Then I know about his infatuation with a woman with who had a daughter," Merlin looked back at Hilda, and he could see that she seemed about to be swallowed by her own body. "But unfortunately, death took the woman back, leaving him alone with his daughter, which he left in the hands of the druids."

Hearing these last words, Hilda reacted quickly and fixed her gaze on Merlin's. Merlin, somewhat frightened, looked at her with alarm.

"How did you say?" asked Hilda in a powerful and strong voice.

Merlin looked at her strangely, wondering if she was delusional.

"I said Telvar left his daughter in the druids."

Merlin could see the silhouette of a smile forming on the corner of the old woman's lips. He couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not, because he didn't understand what that meant. Did he say something wrong? Merlin went to ask about Telvar's daughter when Hilda cut him with a weak head movement that made Merlin stop, implying to move on.

"Keep telling me what Telvar told you."

"Basically, that told me about his life. Then everything changes when he found Balinor's newborn."

"Did he tell you anything about what happened to him?"

Merlin remembered what Telvar had told him that sunrise.

"Yes, but not much. He told me that something had happened with Balinor when they went..." Merlin interrupted himself in the middle of the sentence when he realized what that meant. "... when they went to the village next door to sell wood..."

Merlin turned his head, first looking out the window, towards Hilda. The old woman nodded with a little smile on her lips, making him understand that he was on the right track.

"That town you mentioned..., " began to say Merlin slowly, fearing coming what he knew was coming. "...isn't this town?"

"That's right," Hilda replied, smiling. Why was she smiling?

Merlin swallowed.

"What happened here with my father, Hilda?" asked Merlin.

"Didn't Telvar tell you?"

"No, he told me he wasn't the right person to tell."

Hilda looked at Merlin for a few seconds that were eternal for Merlin. A look that made Merlin fear the old woman. What did all that mean? Was Hilda the one to tell it, and was that why Telvar hadn't told him? Why wasn't he the one to tell about it? And why were "indicated"?

"I'll tell you," Hilda said in a determined voice. "Your father came to this town, I saw him. I don't know what happened between him and Telvar, because remember that I thought he was dead. I remember seeing your father go determined, like you, to the depths of the town. I followed him, for at that time no one except me knew about the tunnels that went through the depths of the village, and it was strange for me to see that someone knew them. I followed him for hours and hours until I lost him. I turned around a corner and, puff!, he was gone. I went back outside and waited, to see if with a little luck I saw him come out. I didn't know that boy yet, keep that in mind, and he didn't know his intentions. But, as I had always suspected, something was hiding in the depths. Something terribly evil. That's when I saw him leave, with tears in his eyes, running to who knows where. Something happened in the depths.

Hilda looked Merlin directly in the eye.

"You mean my father went looking for Sigan?" asked Merlin.

"You heard the Shadow. Otherwise, I wouldn't be saying this. For all these years I've wondered what that boy had done there. And finally, today I have the answer.

"But wait Hilda, how did you know then how that boy was called and how were you supposed to know I was his son?"

Hilda kept looking at Merlin with those fulminant iron eyes for a few seconds.

"To your first question, I knew his name was Balinor because I heard it of his suicide attempt and when Uther took him to Camelot."

There was an icy silence in which Merlin could see his heart pumping non-stop, wanting to get out of his prison.

"To your second question, which is related to how I know you're Emrys, it's because I know a woman named Hunith."

"Hunith?" asked Merlin, noticing that he lacked air. "Do you know her?"

"Oh, yes, of course I know her. She's my daughter."

Oh, lots of revelations. What really happened to Balinor inside the depths? Why wanted to kill himself? What happened then in Camelot? And Hilda? What is the importance of the Cursed Town in this story? What happens with Morgana, Arthur, and Gwen? You will see it in the next chapters.

The stay in the Cursed Town has ended. The four will have to go to Ealdor, at night. What will happen?

I hope you liked it and see you next time!

LegolasHV