Who is Hunith?
A/N: Is it just me or does Merlin look more like Nimueh than Hunith? Hmm... In the last chapter, I decided Arthur should be born in April (hence the spring flowers!), so Merlin would be born January time. Please R&R!
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of its characters.
Chapter Four – The Seed
5 Months Later
Hunith's arrival had shocked everyone in the village but not as shocked as they became when they discovered that she was pregnant and no father in sight! She kept her head low, living in a wattle and daub house on the edge of the village. She worked fixing garments for folk and reading and scribing for those who could not read or write (thank goodness the queen had insisted on all her servants being taught to read and write!). By the time that her child's birth was due, she had a small vegetable patch, a cow, a few laying chickens and a strip of land in a nearby field that she could grow crops on. However, she still had very little money so her house was bare.
It held little furniture. Just a single bed with few blankets, a table and chair, and an old cot. Many times she had though wistfully of the nursery the young prince occupied with a hand settled on her stomach. The busiest part of her house was where food was stored and even that was little in number.
Snow covered the land. Trees sagged under their white blankets. A small bird fell off a branch, never to move again. Hunith shivered under her cloak as she gathered logs for her fire. Just as she gathered the last log, something stirred deep inside her. She dropped what she was carrying and clasp her stomach. She daren't move, for fear of what had just happened. It stirred again, this time stronger. She double over as pain took over her body.
Somehow, she drunkenly made it to her bed. For hours she laboured, unaware of anything but pain. She couldn't even close her eyes as the queen's last hours haunted her mind. At last the child parted her body! As she held the child to her breast, the first star of the night appeared.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
He was still only hours old and yet she loved him. It was like a dream and she didn't want to wake up. Something in the back of her mind kept on trying to push through, "It is not your son! It looks nothing like you!" He was her son! She born him herself did she not! She pushed the voice to the back of her mind.
Looking down upon the sleeping child, both Hunith and the voice said at the same time, "Merlin."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
As mother and child slept, a woman stepped out of the shadow. Had Hunith been awake, she would have recognised the woman from the day of the queen's funeral. The Lady of the Shadow bent down and kissed the boy, "My Son." Turning from the babe, she faced Hunith, "Take care of him, like you would your own."
A breeze flew through the house and she was gone.