NIMUE POV.
When the celebration of my coronation was over, we all went to our space, the ten of us.
"I have to inform you all about the talk I had with Merlin," I noted the looks of concern my way. Therefore, I quickly added "it very well!" before continuing "I had some rather shocking news and found out why the sword chose me," I sighed in realization that in fact it was much news to process.
"I'm going to be a big brother!" chirped loudly, Squirrel with a toothy grin. Gawain eyes widened with the worst possible conclusion upon hearing what Squirrel had said.
"Nimue, has the traitor knocked you up?" cries Gawain, in evident anger.
"No, how disgusting! He's my father, I'd never do that to him and that's why the sword chose me, because it's my family heirloom," I quickly usher the truth to him.
"Wait... What? Aunt Leonore was the traitor's soul mate? I knew tribal leaders didn't believe in soul mates, but I always thought your parents were soul mates, that's why your father never treated you like a daughter? But why did the child say that he was going to be a big brother?"
"Why, on the day of the attack, I happened to find my soulmate and we ended up having a moment, and I'm with the result of that," I tell them while motioning to my belly.
"The baby is growing up very fast, and I believe he's a boy who will be called Galahad," adds the little one.
"Nimue, did you do all that pregnant?" says Arthur, shocked.
"I'm pregnant, not disabled, but I didn't know that I was with the child," I tell Arthur.
"Why the question, have you never seen a pregnant woman? Pregnant women can be warriors too!" remarks Guinevere. "We Vikings are blessed by Tyr to fight until the moment our children are born and are blessed by Frigga to be healthy and strong!" says the warrior to her lover.
"So once again we are uncles?" speaks Dof, coming to embrace me.
"I think you adopted me as your little sister, huh Dof?" I speak to him, returning his embrace.
"After this huge adventure we've been through together, you really don't think you'd create a fraternal bond with my soul mate's best friend."
"Stop talking pretty words, if I'm not gonna cry, I'm pregnant and I'll blame you if I cry." I say, coming out of your hug, but soon being picked up by Gawain.
"Who is this idiot I'm gonna have to kill?" Gawain says, giving me a hug. "You will be the best mother there is, and also the best queen!"
"Thanks, Gawain, but you don't have to be a super protective brother." I tell him.
"I only want what's best for you, and now you've got a little one on the way, and you're so big. You don't even look like that little girl who used to follow me, wanting to do any tricks," comments my brother with a small twinkle in his eyes reminiscing.
"I will always be here, but now we both have big lives! Oh my God, I find out that I've been pregnant for a few hours and I'm already acting like my mother" I say to him, laughing and he accompanies me.
"Even in this time of sadness, something good comes. Lots of happiness for you and your little one," says Celia, lightly placing her hand on my belly to make a cuddle gesture.
"Thank you very much, Celia."
"Congratulations. Nimue, and I thought I'd be the first in this group to tell these news, but I also bring one of mine. Gawain you're not only going to be an uncle, but also a father!" says Layla to all of us.
He runs up to her to hug her with all his might.
"How?" he asks.
"Gawain. When two Feys meet and are soulmates, they have a horizontal tango anywhere and create a life." I answer his question.
"I know that, but love when you found out?"
"Today, after you went to the mills, and what did I tell you so you wouldn't get set up?" She says, punching him in the shoulder, I laugh, she says the same words I told him not 20 minutes ago, he was right, me and her are gonna get along great.
"Congratulations, Layla! We're the two future mothers of the group." I say, hugging her, but I couldn't hug properly, because my tummy in the last few minutes, it grew and it felt closer to his arrival, which I expected.
"We have to plan what to do next, I feel that soon the son is with us and we need to create a plan to save us from Carden's paladins and the crying monk!"
"I have an idea, I have to leave for a few hours, but I'll be back soon, Gawain, Dof, come on! Another adventure on the male side of this group." says Arthur.
"Without being stupid, you're already grounded!" says Layla. We laughed and the men went.
"I feel like I have a connection with the little one in your womb, a blood connection." says Layla, coming and touching my belly.
"How strange, now that you mention it, I feel it too." I say.
I keep thinking about what Layla said, about her past and about her connection to my unborn child. I look at her and see that she looks like the man of my dreams, which is my soulmate.
"Layla, I was thinking..." I mean, but I'm interrupted by Pym.
"That's new." I show my tongue to her, and she responds with the same level of maturity.
"Before Pym interrupted me, I was thinking, if maybe someone in your family had survived the attack," Layla shifts uncomfortably for a bit having to recall those dark moments of her life,"and that person was the little one's father."
"Why do you think that?" she asks with confusion written all over her face.
"Because I'm having dreams about my soul mate and when I look at you, I don't know why, but there's something familiar about it and you said you have this connection to the little one like a family bond of sorts."
"There are two, who would be about your age. My brother or my cousin, who would be 15," she says, "but I know they're both dead."
"What if it were a paladin?" asks Morgana.
"It wouldn't be possible, the occult wouldn't do that," I respond with disgust not like that theory one bit.
"Imagine if it were Father Carden or the Weeping Monk." Says Celia, trembling "They'd kill you within a minute,".
"Let's not think about it, let's think about the little one. We don't have anything ready for him," I say.
"Yes, you agree with me, he's a boy," says the smart-ass of a son. I can't help but break into a light giggle at his response.
"In my dream, the baby was a boy and his name was the name you chose." I say, tickling him.
We waited for Arthur and the men to come back, talked about the baby and made some clothes for him. When Gawain came in and said we needed to go outside, I got up, but I lost my balance, almost fell, glad Gawain held me.
"To the Hiddens, the next pregnancy, Please, may I have the ideal time of nine full moons, you understand? No pregnancy in three moons, please! I want a pregnancy like Layla's." I say, looking up at the sky and we went to meet Arthur. There was Arthur and Dof and he had a woman with him.
"Nimue, this is Druna." says Arthur, introducing us. "She's a smuggler of silk and spices and people."
"What a beautiful queen and with a child, your husband must be magnificent about it."
I smile at her, waving, no problem, and she goes on.
"I have three ships, they will arrive in six days. Maybe, I can move your people."
"Away." says Arthur.
"And the other tribes? We must wait for them," Gawain asks.
"We can't serve food for all of them, Gawain." says Dof.
"We have the sword and we know what it does," he says.
"She exhausts me, even as a daughter, of whom you know, my powers have limits, and I must think of the little one." I say.
"We have ten clans with us, think of how many we can save, the clan culture, their languages. Start again," says Arthur.
"We can't afford it." I speak to her.
"The paladins steal and lie, pretend to be pure, but take bribes and steal from me. I'd love to hurt them," she says, with revenge on her mind.
"We have six days! Gawain, I know you don't like to accept helping outsiders, but we have to consider it." I said, after seeing the face my brother was making. "We promised everyone, we'll do our best to save them, and I believe that's one of our chances.'' We agreed that in six days we'll meet and we say our goodbyes.
We came back to tell the elder about our plan.
"Nimue. We still have survivors. We have other tribes that need our protection, we can't leave," says Cora.
"Cora, I know, but we don't have food for everyone here."
"Why should we trust them? They're human!" ask Wroth, the tusk elder.
"Because they chose to help us. Morgana has brought several of us here, Celia helped her, Arthur and Guinevere killed the paladins for us and has Dof, who is part of our people because he is the soul mate of one of ours. They chose us and we will accept them," I say, defending my family.
"They're coming!" shouted a little Fey running.
"Who's coming?" I ask.
"The Weeping Monk, the paladins, I don't know how many. They know where we are!" says the little one.
"How long?" asks Dof.
"A day's walk, maybe less," says the young faun.
"We need to strengthen our defenses."
"Strengthen"? We have to get out of here!" says Arthur.
"Can the ships come faster?" asks Pym.
"They'll probably take much longer." he answers.
"We need shelter for six days," I say.
"Maps! We need maps." Gawain orders it. "The nearest town after Moycraig is Grammaire."
"Morgana and Arthur, would your uncle help us?" I ask.
"Never!" says Arthur, with Guinevere in his arms. The warrior seemed to be thinking of a plan B.
"Remember Grammaire was taken by the paladins, he could rot, that man is an idiot," says Morgana, with Celia at her side.
"As long as the Paladins are in town, they have food and reserves to attack us," I say, thinking of an idea.
" If we conquer the city for ourselves, we'll have food and shelter," says Red spear, as if reading my thoughts.
"Good idea!" I like her idea.
"You guys are crazy! We're short of people," says Arthur.
"Grammaire? Four or five, against one of our own." says Gawain.
"Yesterday, you wanted to overthrow the king's army," says Layla to her soul mate.
"Well, yes! But that's crazy."
"Gawain... We're out of food and out of space," says Pym, hugging Dof.
"This is our only chance of survival, there we can stock up and rest and wait just for six days." Fig, the Snake elder said accepting our plan.
I feel Percival's arms around my waist indicating he was becoming nervous. I gently use my right hand to gently pat his back hoping it would bring him comfort.
"They'll never suspect," says Morgana, and I smile at her.
"This is crazy, but knowing you, I'm sure you've thought about how we'll do it." Gawain asks, and I open a sly smile.
"They want the witch, so we'll give it to them." I say.
We took all our stuff and went to Grammaire. Our plan was, I'd bait, taking as many paladins out of town as I could and when they came out the archers would invade and put themselves on the walls around town.
When we arrived, we separated and each one went to your station.
I was on the road with a horse and I saw that a paladin had looked at me. I took the sword swinging, and saw a group of some paladins coming out of the gates and I ran into the forest, got off my horse and waited for them to stay close to me.
"Witch, it's time to give me the sword." one orders.
I put everything Merlin said to access the Hiddens and with my magic, along with the magic of the little one and the sword, I asked the Paladins to put down their weapons. But they didn't listen and I ended up killing them all, their horses ran and I followed them.
I hoped that more paladins would come to attack me, since none were coming, I went to the city and asked them to put down their weapons. They laugh, I got off my horse, and I see that they have formed a circle around me. I pretend that I didn't know how to fight and they make fun of me, I haven't seen if the archers were at their posts yet, so I still make the show. The paladins laugh more and more, one of them manages to hit me and make me fall to the ground, the leader grabs me by my hair and I struggle to get out of his hands, but he throws me close to the sword and I beg to the sword to help me, gimme strength and with the power i manage to kill him.
"Drop your weapons and your lives will be spared!" says my brother and I faint.
"Nimue wake up, we took the city." says my sister's voice.
"My children, where is Percival?" I say, putting my hand on my belly and feel Galahad's kick, telling me he's fine.
"He's fine, he's with Gawain," she says, and I sigh of relief.
"Silence! Where's the respect for the dying?" Yeva fights. We laugh.
"Can you lift?" I look at my hands and see the sword marks on them, and I have a flashback of my father's story.
"Nim, is everything okay?" she asks, helping me up.
"Yes, everything's great! Let's go find the others." I said, and we went to the throne room.
There, there was my council, the people who love me most, my son, my sisters and my Family.
"Fey Queen, what an honour to meet you!" says the lord of the castle.
"My Queen!" says the gang, bowing. I look at Pym on my side and I see she's almost laughing at our group's overblown action. "This man demands to speak to you Milady!" says my brother, with a smile on his face, almost breaking his serious face.
"Demanded?" I ask, and he settles.
"Lord Ector, I'm sorry we haven't spoken sooner, I Thank you for this sanctuary." I said, politely.
"Well it was not offered, Mylady" he says."It was taken"
"I was not finished, true, it was taken, but I assure you until we leave here, You will be our guest in Grammaire. Until we leave safe and sound, after that, the city is yours again, but until then, you are sitting in my seat."
"Are you the ones who prepare this humiliation, Arthur, Morgana?" says the uncle, fighting as if they were children.
"You will address our queen," says Dof with a serious face.
"You're just children!" he says, coming off the throne "I won't talk to your people, I don't like the red paladins either, but does my child, you think you 'll be safe here? Really, you would be safer in your trees and caves!" he leaves the hall.
I go there and sit on the throne, feel all the stress I've had, calm down and start laughing with relief and the others accompany me.
"Mom, can I sit on the throne?" says the little one.
"Have manners, boy! She's not just your mother, but she's our queen!" says his uncle, slapping Squirrel on the back of the head.
"Urgh" snorts the little one, but I nod yes and he comes running and sits on my lap.
"What were the results? Are our people all right?" I ask.
"The light of the new day we lost some," says Kaze with a hint of sadness she tried to hide. Like most, casualties were always to be expected.
"A dozen, maybe more, elderly, sick and children, some refugees who should have been here at least a few hours ago." Arthur answers.
"Alone, they are the targets of the paladins. We have some, who have been lost in the forest, if you let me, I'll take some of the hunters to look for the missing ones," says Gawain.
"Go ahead." I'm talking to my big brother.
"Mother, may I go?" he asks, rising from his lap with a frown.
"Only if Gawain says you can?" I say and look in Gawain's direction. He sits down and the little one celebrates.
"I'll go with them, Nimue. Gawain needs someone to keep him in line and I don't want to leave him," Layla says, in a mother's tone, stroking her belly which compared to mine was much smaller. We laughed at her tone.
"Come back soon!" I say, going towards the warrior couple, I give hugs and kisses. I took my son's hand and in a stern tone told him that if something happens, he should run here and they went out of the doors.
"Nimue, when do you think the little one will be born?" asked Celia, sitting next to my chair.
"Perhaps, soon," I said.
"I think you've grown even more, you're about to burst." says Morgana, snuggling with Celia.
My life's been pretty hectic for a while now. I lost my mother, now I have a father and I'm pregnant and I don't know who this mysterious person is, who was born to complete me, but I need to think about what is best for my people.
"Guinevere, Arthur and Dof, I want you to see what my people need, take care of security and stand by when our hunting party returns and. Celia and Morgana, go to the needy and help them, stay in our medical wing," I say, and they settle down and leave.
Carefully watching their departure, I lose my calm mask. My lips trembled and my doubts became stronger in my head.
"I'm scared, Pym! I'm afraid we won't survive it, we'll get into a war that I don't know if we have the capacity to end it. I feel that I will only turn the queen so that our people will have some security, that they will have someone to count on, and every time I use the sword, the more I want to take revenge, the more I want to see bloodshed, I have thought that my father was right, in wanting to destroy her!" I say, approaching her, she holds me in her arms and with one hand in my huge belly.
"Remember Kaze's words that we need leadership and you were the first to show them that we can fight back. In this case it was the sword, since the attack of the wolves, when you first wielded the sword, and were named the Witch of the blood of the wolf, you turned the face of the resistance, the face that kings and the church fear, for you are much more powerful than any of them, Even without the sword, you are Merlin's daughter, our people may think he is a traitor, but he is still considered the most powerful wizard, and you are not just his daughter, you are the daughter of Leonore a priestess who was the best of our tribe! " she says, calming me down. "But now we're going to check on you and your son, we're going to one of the rooms."
"If anyone has a problem, call me in my quarters," I tell the guards. They'll settle down and take up the sword and we head for the quarters I'm staying in.
"Okay, I need you to take off your underwear, lie down on the bed and spread your legs wide." I do what she asks, lie down and feel comfortable looking at the ceiling. After a few minutes I get lost in my thoughts until the bedroom door opens.
"I'll be back later," Arthur says with his eyes covered, he tries to leave, but Guinevere pulls him close to her.
"That's normal, when a pregnant woman is close to giving birth we have to check every day and from what I've seen we have very few days for the birth," says Pym.
"Any word from the search party?" I wonder, finishing getting dressed.
"None, but we must remember that our best are in his command," says Guinevere.
"We have to worry about the ships, which arrived in a few days," says Arthur without looking at my face.
"Arthur, there's no need to be ashamed. I believe our resident Captain has already shown you better things than me, I look like a pig," I say.
"A pretty pig!" mocks Guinevere laughing.
"When you're with a mini Arthur, we'll see who's laughing," I mock a glareign expression with a silly threat which soon turns to an honest smile.
"I think the one most likely to have a mini is Pym and Dof!" says Arthur, taking the focus away from Guinevere's and him.
"Imagine a little blonde girl with brown eyes or a red boy with blue eyes..." I say. "As your queen, I command you four to create the future advisors to this future king, the only ones who have ever followed this new law are Gawain and Layla." I play with the couples present and we laugh.
"You started the meeting without us?" Morgana says, entering Celia in her arms.
"And what does our queen desire of us, her poor subjects?" asks Celia.
"I, like the queen Fey, wish we had peace"I had spoken with a stern tone fit for a queen "and believe there is someone in my belly who is really active,'' I wince a bit, feeling the kicks coming from my baby. But I failed and soon I started laughing again, this baby is ready to come out of me.
Within seconds I feel lightheaded with my vision becoming dizzy, I instantly sit on my bed with the hope it will soon pass.
"Are you all right, Nimue?" Morgana speaks.
"I don't know, someone might bring news about our ships and about Gawain and my son, I feel in my heart that something's happened," I say, breathing heavily.
"Celia, get Nimue a glass of water. Arthur and Dof, go look for news and remember what is most important now, is to protect the ships, they are our last hope to get out of this place. Pym and Morgana, let's try to find out the whereabouts of Gawain, Percival, Layla and Kaze. Kitten, stay and rest, I have a feeling we're going to have to have a plan B." says the warrior in her natural habitat. They're going to leave the room, a faun enters.
WEEPING MONK POV
I was in front of the woman of my dreams, we were hugging naked, after a night of love, I was giving her affection.
"I think your father hates me," I say.
"Why?" she asks.
"Because he always gets in our way, we get a break now, because you asked him to look at the children, I don't know how he loves Galahad so much and hates me so much, the little one's a little version of me." I say by pouting at her.
"He likes the little one because he's not his daughter's soulmate and he's doing things that parents don't like their daughters to do," she says, climbing on my lap ready for a second round, kissing me.
I wake up once again, with my hard manhood, like a stone, I still feel her body on top of mine, my dick inside her womanhood, it seemed like my size fit perfectly in her pleasant channel, and I remember perfectly her words "Soul mate", which means that, but I can't think about it. I have to concentrate on finding the camp of the Feys.
I get up and throw a barrel of water over my head to get these unholy thoughts out.
I get dressed and call on other paladins to help me find the demon camp and that I can finally kill the one who makes me sin. We stayed around the woods, picked up various smells of Feys, but I still couldn't find their location, until I found a piece of cloth, which contained some blood and could easily trace the camp.
"Send a quick message to Father Carden and tell him I found the camp, I need reinforcements," and they went.
When they came back, I kept following the scents and ended up finding the camp, but it was empty.
"There's no one here!" says one of the paladins.
"Go into the woods, they must not have gone very far." I ordered a group of paladins and they went.
"What shall we do with it here?" asks one of the brothers.
"Burn it all to the ground." I say, in anger and we start to destroy everything.
I receive news that I must capture the Green Knight alive. That he will be essential to be a bargaining with the one who called herself the Queen of the Fey. When we finished, we went into the woods and found a group of Feys, who were moving into their new hiding place. I quickly kill them.
After that I smelled more Feys scent, I knew some of those smells, one was the green knight, the Fey boy that i used for bait and one smell that reminds me of when I was a kid.
First I attack the black woman, who was a little further away from the group and she gets hurt, but ends up running to warn the other Feys.
Then I hide and prepare to fight the other two adult feys, they pass by me and look at the damage I did.
"Aunt Layla, why are they doing this to our people?" asked the child. Layla, that name brings back something in my memory, I don't know where from.
"I don't know, but I believe we'll have our answers when your mother, our queen, ends this bloody war, but now, she's got a lot on her mind, your brother on the way is her main concern," answered the woman.
Queen. So the boy's mother is the Wolf-blood Witch, the Witch was the same who is present in my dreams, she is the one who makes me aimless, who makes all my senses become like a hungry animal ready to mate, the woman said that the Witch is pregnant, this sentence makes the animal in me jealous, she is mine. Mine to have. Mine to kill!
"My love, you and the little one, run the fastest, I think there's someone here and they're looking for me." whispers the knight.
"I won't leave you, I've lost everything in my life, my family, my people and I don't want to lose my soul mate," she says, taking his face in a tender kiss.
Soul Mate, weren't those the words the Witch called me in her dream? 'No monk, those thoughts are for demons,'.
I jump towards the green knight with my sword and he counter attacks by pushing the woman away, this is the fight of good against evil, light against darkness. I attack, but he defends himself, he attacks and I defend myself. This was a fair fight, the two best warriors on each side.
The Green Knight ends up cutting me twice, and that makes me lose my balance. I put my hand on the ground to balance me, right in front of him and my hand became camouflaged in the leaves.
"How could you?" He asks, in shock; and I use this shock to attack him, I hit him in the belly with my blade. He falls to his knees and I sack my knife.
"Born at dawn..." he starts, I elbow him on the head. "There are people who want you alive!" I say, and I feel the woman is near ready to attack, but our eyes meet and I see a blue that was just like mine.
We looked at each other for a while and none of us had the courage to lose our eyes.
"Lancelot!" she says and runs out, pulling the little one away. How could she know my name, I feel my throat go dry at the sudden odd interaction.
Who exactly was that woman?
NIMUE POV
"I bring bad news, we don't have the ships anymore, one of ours found it being thrown over the wall," the faun said, stretching out an open towel, I looked and my eyes were wide open. It was Druna the smuggler. "They found your smuggler!"
'No, this can't be happening, I'm a few days away from giving birth and this horrible incident happens. My people, what I must do, we will have to fight, we're out of three of our best fighters and my son was far from my arms'.
With tears in my eyes, I leave the room and hear my people calling me, I follow their voices and I go to the center of the city and find a crowd of people around saying that the search party have returned, I look for my brother and my son, I didn't find them, my heart squeezes.
Why does fate always take away the people I love? First they took away my mother, my soul mate, I do not know if my father was killed for treason in Uther's court, and now my brother and his soul mate and the worst feeling is not knowing whether or not his son was among the living. I see the only one I know closely who was in the attack.
"Kaze, what happened? Are you hurt? Where are the others?" I ask her.
"We were ambushed, the Monk took Gawain, he was still alive!" she told me.
"And Layla and the Squirrel?" I ask.
"When they saw the Monk, they hid, I didn't see them anymore," finishing her report she smiles sadly, I was still trying to process everything just said.
"Nimue, up here! It seems we have worse news on our way." cries Arthur, from the wall.
"Pym help me up!" I asked her, because I knew I couldn't climb the stairs alone.
"What happened, Arthur?" I ask.
"Look! In the woods, we have two large groups of people coming up," he says.
"What he means, we're screwed! He's got the army of paladins and the army of pendragons coming towards us!" says Dof, in an attacking position.
"Get ready! Nobody leaves town! We can't have any more losses if they want war, that's what we'll give them. Who is with me?" I yelled out to my people, with vengeance in my eyes.
It's time for me to meet this Fey killer, who did this to my son.
I feel a strong pain in my hips and faint in Pym's arms.