NIMUE POV
I wake up with the biggest pain in my hips. I realize that I'm in the hall of the castle and that my advice was around me. I look for my brother and son but they are not there. I remember the events, I try to get up but I can't. The pain is too unbearable making it nearly impossible for me to balance myself upright.
"Nimue, are you alright? You fainted in my arms" Pym upon hearing the rukus quickly comes to my side with much worry.
"Pym, Uther's army and the paladins, did that really happen?" I say with tears in my eyes.
"Relax, I'm sad and worried too but we have a people to lead and you know I'm not good at it."
"Okay, how much food do we have?" I ask one of the guards
"Ma'am, they made an order, sixty barrels of beer, forty-five barrels of wine, a hundred bags of wheat, we salted all the meat," says one of the guards at Grammaire.
"How many do we have until?"
"We starve to death!" ends the guard. "We have a few days. And that's considering the many mouths we have to feed."
"A conditional surrender would be the wisest." advised Lord Ector.
"You're good at this, huh?" says Morgana.
"Morgana," Arthur calls out with a light glare.
"What Arthur? Does it bother you?" she mocks. "he never liked to face our uncle!"
"We'll starve to death, if your creatures keep stealing the food, they'll take what they want, desecrate it."
"We are not creatures!" yells Pym her face now filled with anger.
"Don't be surprised, when the citizens demand the city back, then you Fey queen will have more than a war outside the wall."
"You want to encourage rebellion, you'll sleep in the dungeons!" I say in anger, once again I feel a prick in my belly.
"We need guards in the food stores, your help will be appreciated. Lord Ector, you say I don't care about the humans in this city, that's not true, I just want peace between the two people."
"Yes, ma'am." says the guard, leaving and Lord Ector following.
"Arthur, Dof and Guinevere, how bad is our quarrel with the citizens of Grammaire?" I ask.
"So far, just a few fights, nothing too serious." Arthur says, "But when we're done with the food, then we should worry."
"We'll talk to the elderly. Any words from Layla and my son?" I ask, wondering if my little one was here.
"Sorry, kitty, nothing yet!" says Guinevere.
"I went with some of the Fauns to look for them, we'll find him, Nim." she says, hugging me.
"I've trapped us here, haven't I?"
"Wasn't it your fault we all helped you!" says Guinevere.
"Let's take it easy, we have to think about your health," says Pym in a kind, warm voice.
"My Queen!" says Morgana.
"My dear friend, you don't have to call me that." I tell her, trying to get up, but with all this extra weight, I didn't have the balance of standing.
"You deserve to be respected for your title," she says.
"Do I really deserve it? I've condemned everyone here," I say looking dejected at her.
"I believe you were right to take Grammaire, now we must take the Hawk Bridge," she says.
"Hawk Bridge?" asks Guinevere, the conqueror.
"We're surrounded by two armies." I tell her.
"Ours is stronger! Let us count the help of the occult," she says, excited.
"It's not so simple," I add.
"Yes, it is, you fear the power within you, you run from it."
"Run away? I have to think of the child I carry, I can't keep using my powers!"
"I know you're thinking about the baby's health, but after giving birth, you can use it in full force. You shouldn't be content with the crumbs of the Hiddens, you can do so much more!" she says, showing her point.
"Morgana, the woods are full of paladins, in case you forgot!" says Pym.
"And what happens, we hide here to starve again, as in Moycraig, running away is not a strategy, we have to fight!" she says.
"Morgana, we're trying to save the Fey," says her beloved.
"And what to do? I can't even stand?" I say, once again trying to get up and sit back down because I feel pain in my belly once again.
"Be the Wolf-blood Witch and defeat your enemies, take the Hidden to the field. Their hearts, their minds and destroy them," she says.
"How? I could only do it after this child is born and you know I can't control it," I argue with her.
"The sword will guide you!" she says.
"Madam... A man has entered our territory, it seems he is not armed, but has a staff!" one of the guards warns. He was my father.
"You may let him in." I say.
"Nimue, are you all right? Look at you, are you huge?" he says, approaching.
"Look, look, who's come to welcome the new queen!" I say, mocking him. "Everyone, this is Merlin. Father, this is my advice, my most trusted friends!"
"Is he Merlin? I thought he'd be older. Sister, he's a piece of heaven, I know why Aunt Leonore wanted him. Dof don't worry, he's old enough to be my father!" says Pym, looking from my father, at her soul mate, and looking at my father, with laughter in his eyes.
"Pym, don't say that! Then how did you know I was here, Dad?" I ask him.
"I was trying to do what I've been doing for 700 years, save people!"
"Saving the people, I don't know if it's true what you do, because you don't even help your own people," says Morgana, cutting off his speech.
"As I was saying... I went to talk to the kings, asking for their safety, and the safety of our people. I found out that you were here, after Carden, and your bald dolls with a dart aim were made a fool by you, my dear, a very grand and wise plan!" he says, proud of me.
"But dear, you know I want to see this sword destroyed, but a seer told me, that your fate is entwined with the sword, so I begged King Cumber, the king of the ice, for his survival. I told him that I would give him an invaluable gift, which will weaken Uther. In return you, my child, would be invited to his court as a prisoner, but you would not be killed!" he continued.
"But what bargain do kings want? Let me see... The Sword? That, Merlin, is not a proposal of friendship!" Morgana continues.
"No, that's the proposal of a rival. Because that's all my daughter has, enemies and rivals," says my father.
"We must keep fighting and thus prove she is the rightful heir!" says Morgana, continuing to quarrel with my father.
"Fighting is dying!" he says.
"And our people?" Pym asks.
"Father, what happens to the Feys if I accept the offer?" I ask him.
"After the little one is born, we'll travel with his entourage to the beggar's shore, have an audience with Cumber, the pirates are closer to the Fey than to the church. We can defend our people and change their minds."
"Father, it's my council to decide, but first we must seek Layla, and my little Squirrel." I say.
"The little one? I'll go along!" he says.
"No, Dad! You look tired, go rest! Be my guest, will someone take Merlin to one of the chambers?" I say, and one of the servants takes him to the chambers.
"Guinevere and Dof, go and find the two who are missing". I sent the Vikings.
I accompanied Celia and Pym, who asked a servant to prepare a bath for me, and Morgana and Arthur went to talk in private.
The bath made me feel more relaxed and we went to the main hall of the castle. Guinevere and Dof are back, but no news. Morgana and Arthur came back and with my advice, we discussed the terms we will speak at the next meeting with my father.
All of my council do not believe that Cumber will help us and by giving us the sword, I would end up turning into a bargaining chip and that he is an invader, hoping to use any alliance to end Uther and that I would be his guarantee. One of the guards warns, a messenger from King Uther is coming, I tell him to come in.
"King Uther congratulates Queen Fey on her military victory, but he has sent terms to surrender!" he says.
"Our queen will not surrender," says Morgana.
"What are the terms?" I interrupt wanting to hear out the messenger.
"The Fey army must surrender its weapons and leave Grammaire in 24 hours, and then you will present yourself to hisMajesty's forces and be tried for your crimes." he states nonchalantly.
"What crimes?" I have committed no crimes.
"Occupy his city."
"We free the city from the paladins."
"He wants his city back!" he says.
"We are only here because the king has refused to help our people!"
"Can I finish? If Queen Fey surrenders passively, the king will have mercy to live in her dungeons, provided she surrenders the sword of power!" another king who wants me as a prisoner.
"And my people? What would happen to my people?" I ask.
"If you leave the city, you may return to your home."
"What houses? Carden burned them all!"
"You can go somewhere else!"
"To the roads, where they can be killed by the paladins?"
"Ma'am, you are in no position..."
"Yes, I am! A Viking king made a very good offer for my sword in exchange for the very favorable protection!"
"That's all I got."
"This is the sword of the First Kings, if Uther Pendragon considers himself worthy of it, he will have to prove himself a king for all, humans and Feys! You may go!" He's coming towards me.
"Just to make it clear, if the king grants protection to his kind, will you surrender and surrender the sword?"
"Do not answer!" Morgana speaks.
"Yes!" he leaves.
I believe my little one knows I'm busy, he hasn't moved once and I've had no more pain.
"Madam, an attack has happened! One of yours beat up a miller for having a red cross on his door." says one of the guards with Lord Ector.
"All humans have crosses on their doors!" I say.
"We know that!" says Arthur.
"Call the Elders and those who attacked the miller!" I commanded and one of the guards went to call them.
They came, two tusk elders and one of the guys that attacked the human.
"What is your name?" I ask the Tusk.
"Answer!" the Wroth says.
"Bu'luf."
"The paladins took this city first, and the infidels were caught, hung from stakes and burned alive, so the people of Grammaire painted crosses on their doors to protect themselves!" I tell them.
"Nimue, you know our young men have war blood, after battle, they..." and they speak in another language.
"...after the battle, they're still warm-blooded and still fighting," says the other elder.
"Then go back to your caves, for you are animals, nowhere in the civilized world!" says Ector.
The Tusks growls and threatens to attack the lord, proving his words. I take the sword and call attention back to myself. "Stop all of you! Bring him to me!" Arthur and Dof take him, and bring him near me. He lets go of them with a grunt "I made it clear, when we took the city, that no human would be harmed, not a request, but an order from his queen!" he looks at me, testing me. "What's in his hands?' he looks at his hands and answers with pride.
"Human blood!"
"You challenged me!" and he laughs "Do you think that's funny?" I got angry and cut off his hand. "Challenge me again, and I'll cut off your head! Take him!" I say, and they take him, but one of the old people takes Arthur in the back. Then I point the sword at him, "Get back!" he lets go. "Go!" and he leaves the room. "Guards, hang on the gates!" I point to fey's hands. And I leave the room, go to my father's room! I knock on his door.
"Just a moment!" he says, but I go in anyway.
"Dad! Am I disturbing you?" I ask, with shame.
"No, darling! You can come in, what happened?" he asks.
"Is that how you felt?"
"Yes, I loved the power, but when I met your mother, I realized the power brought nothing!" he says.
"King Uther sent a messenger, but I'm afraid to give him the sword."
"Daughter, it's alright to be afraid," he says, sitting down.
"But if I give up, will my suffering end?" I ask.
"Daughter, I would like to know the answer," he says.
"But what is the point? What difference does it make?" I ask, with tears.
"You survive!"
"But our people, they will die!"
"Nimue, darling, humans rule us. First they took our rivers, then our people hid in the forests, they came and took our trees, we ran to the caves, in the swamps and some went to the mountain rocks and others to the underground tunnels, but finally the humans built the mines and went to look for the hidden irons and it's been like that for thousands of years, only those who look like humans will survive, you can't change that, love!"
"I will follow fate with our people!" I tell him.
"My love, think of the little one, you have a very big life ahead of you, and I don't want to see you dead, you and that little one are everything to me now!" he says.
Not holding on any longer, I go to him and sit on his lap, like a little girl who has lost everything, and for the first time in my life, I receive a loving hug from my father, and that makes tears that wanted to come out several minutes ago fall heavily. He squeezes me with comfort, which only a father can give to his daughter. We stayed like this for a long time until Dad, old and tired that he is, slept. I got out of his lap and went to where my friends were, in the main lobby. Three people were missing who are very important, with tears I ask.
"Do we have any news from Layla and Squirrel?"
"Nim, where were you?" Pym came to find me.
"I was with my father!" I tell her.
"Nothing, no news from him, but let's pray that they're all right and that they've managed to save Gawain!" she tells me, with a hug, that I give back as much as I can, but once I realise that the little one in my womb has grown and is ready to leave.
"I still don't trust him, Nimue!" says Morgana.
"Guys, I only want what's best for us and I trust my father. Then you can please understand that!" I tell them.
"For you, I'll try, but we can't trust Cumber. He exiled us from his court. I think he'll betray us." Guinevere speaks.
"Nimue, you are our greatest weapon against all our enemies, we cannot lose you!" says Arthur.
"Let's think about it tomorrow, it's almost nightfall, you're free." and they're gone. I look around and see that Pym stayed with me.
"Darling, I can see you've got something in your little head and you know you can tell me anything you want," she says. I'll tell her about the conversation I had with my father.
"He really thinks we're on the verge of extinction, doesn't he?" she says.
"My dearest friend, I'm afraid he's telling the truth, that our people are too far from salvation!" I tell her. "I don't know what to do, I'm not ready to make this decision, which will probably kill us."
"Nim, any decision will be made when you have an answer. Give what is best for our people, and now we must think of little Galahad," she says.
"Pym, more and more I think the baby's coming, I wonder why the Hidden has separated me from my soulmate. He should be here, with me and our future son, we should be ruling our people together!" I speak what was in my mind.
"You must remember, they did it for some reason, and in a short time we'll know why, I feel you'll know who he is soon!' says Pym, calming me down.
We stay like this for a while until a guard enters the lobby.
"Madam, the king's messenger has brought an answer!" he hands me a scroll. I read it and have the answer, which made me decide the fate of my people. I write a reply, accepting his request, and ask a guard to send the reply.
"Nim, what does the letter say?" asks Pym.
"King Uther has offered us ships, so long as I surrender!" I say.
"Nim, you will not do this!" she begs taking both my hands.
"Pym, it's all right. However, you could sleep with me tonight. To be honest with such a bold decision made today, I don't want to be alone," the end of my sentence was rather mumbles as my voice became more shaky. Had I really made the right choice?
We went to my room, all day long I was feeling pain and getting stronger. When I entered the room I felt a jet of water in my legs and I was ashamed of what happened and went to sit down, but more and more pains came like waves, sudden and sharp. I sighed to try to calm down, but my hands were wet, holding me in the chair and trying to show that nothing was happening not to worry Pym.
After I told her I would surrender, to free our people from the paladins. Pym faced me, she knew that I could not lie, no, when something was really serious and in this case, completely uncomfortable.
"What happened Nim? I know you very well, to know that something is wrong" she says, putting her hand on mine. "You're sweating! Something happened to the little one?"
"I don't feel well, Pym, I think I've wet myself, and I'm in pain in my belly!" I said, grimacing and holding my lower abdomen, sore and hardened.
"Galahad's coming up?" she rolled her eyes, putting her hand on my belly and I felt that sharp point again.
My legs seemed to fail and standing seemed like a huge sacrifice.
"Come on, take off that dress!" She took one arm of mine and went over her shoulders, took off my dress leaving me in my more flexible undergarments. She helped support me to the bed, shaking a bit as she too was nervous. She let me down slowly in bed to avoid any more intense pain.
"Let's check if the birth canal is ready," she says, I open my legs and she checks if it's ready. "It's two inches short! I'll pack up and call Celia and Morgana!"
"No, I want my dad, nobody else, just you and my dad!"
"Go call, my father please! I'm dying of pain!" I grumbled, biting my lips.
"Don't be exaggerated, it's just the birth of a child! Every woman gives birth!" she was trying to cheer me up, in a disastrously wrong way.
"It's serious Pym! My legs, they don't seem to exist!" I sighed.
She takes several towels, a small knife and asks one of the servants to bring a basin of hot water to clean.
My actions were, between a weak moan and a loud scream.
She ran out after Merlin and I stood there, squirming and screaming.
I sweated, my hands lost their color, I saw it all spinning and it wasn't strength of expression. I felt, from my navel down, a tormenting wave, like paralysis, I couldn't tell if I could move anymore.
"God!" I looked back, the headboard of the bed with a wooden grid was the only thing I had to support me.
Merlin came in, terrified, as always, with Pym at his side carrying the barrel of water.
"Dad!" I tried to smile, but I just wanted to scream and cry.
"Calm down! Darling, I'm here! That's natural! You're strong!" he smiled, passing his cold hand on my forehead, like a cold balm in the fevered pain he felt.
Pym came to check on me and said he had the birth canal ready for the birth of our little Galahad.
"You'll be fine! Now push! Too hard!" he spoke in a calm tone, calm enough for my screams to become even more powerful.
"Come on Nimue! Put that little one out" Pym will position himself between my legs.
I grabbed the bed rail, and Merlin took a little piece of cloth, kneading it between my teeth.
"Push it out! Don't breathe in, release your belly! Come on, child, you can do it!"
"I can't, Father!" I despaired, after making the same attempt a thousand times to put my son in the world.
"Yes, you can! She is the daughter of Merlin and Leonore, as you think she is here! Your mother's been through this and remember, the Hiddens is with you! Breathe and push! Come on, girl!" he touched my belly button.
"Dad, I'm tired!" I whispered.
"No! You're not! You have to try again and again and then again, because my daughter overcomes any obstacle!" he smiled, caressing my tummy and I felt the cold of his hand running around my tummy, walking to my back and down my belly.
"Go, go, sister!" Pym despairs.
"Go, Nimue!" Merlin shook his hand over my belly and I screamed, because it really hurt.
"My God!" I screamed, I growled, I sweated, I wanted to die, but I wanted to live, when Pym raised my son.
He cried, strong as a tiger, brave as a warrior. My son.
His cry made me reborn, now, with him.
Pym cleaned him and covered him with a thin blanket, carrying him into my arms. Merlin swallowed the cry, smiling like a fool.
"My grandson! Look, how beautiful!" he spoke proudly. "Daughter, the boy has descended from the Ash people, I haven't seen one for decades!" he said surprised.
"Dad, Pym, can you sleep with us?" I beg them. They'll come and tuck with us.
His little face, his chubby nose and little closed eyes, little marks that looked like tears, he was my baby, my sweet, lovely baby.
I touched his forehead with my nose, then kissing him, crying copiously.
I felt no more pain, agony and despair, my son was the blessed balm of the Hiddens to me.
I hugged my little one, placing his forehead on my neck and wrapping him in my love, lying on my shoulder and comforted by my face.
"I love you, Galahad! We will soon meet your elder brother and your aunt, I told her, you should be related to her and she did not believe me!" and the four of us were consumed by weariness.
PS: I want to thank ALL for reading my 1 Fanfiction that I wrote in life
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