A gentle breeze lifted the folds of the woman's cloak and stirred the mist that crept up from the lake.

She sighed as she rested her hands on the stone altar before her and shivered as the breeze wrapped around her thin frame.

"You should not have come here my queen. Not in your condition." A voice rang out behind her, echoing around the stone circle. She smiled, recognising the voice. She turned slowly and looked at her sister.

"I had to come, Viviane, I had no choice." She walked forwards and embraced her sister.

"Oh Igraine, I'm so pleased for you. A son and heir, Uther must be proud." Igraine raised one slender eyebrow.

"So it would be a boy then?" She bowed her head as tears began to fall silently down her face and onto the ground at her feet.

"Come now," Viviane's voice was heavy with concern. "What's all this?" She reached out and gently placed her fingers under Igraine's chin, lifting her face until their eyes met.

"Oh Viviane, the nightmares have started again."

"Have you been to see Gaius about them? There's nothing that man cannot cure." She chuckled softly.

"I haven't told him yet, and I don't intend to."

Viviane, seeing how distressed her sister was became serious.

"What is it Igraine? What have you seen?" Viviane had learned to trust her sister's second sight long ago.

"I will never see this child grow up Viviane. It will be still born." Viviane furrowed her brows in suspicion.

"And why should you come to this place to tell me this? Could you not have summoned me to Camelot? I would have come."

"Viviane, high priestess of the Old Religion and guardian of the entrance to Avalon. I come to ask this of you." Viviane shook her head in denial of what she was hearing but Igraine ignored her and continued, her voice becoming more and more desperate.

"I beg of you to spare the life of my unborn child and take mine as forfeit."

"No!" Viviane backed away, her head bowed.

"Why not?" Igraine's voice was near hysteria pitch.

"You expect me to do this so that my own sister may die? No, I cannot and I will not."

"Viviane, please!" Igraine implored her elder sister.

"No! Let that be final!" With a strong gust of wind and a swirl of her cloak she had vanished.

Igraine collapsed on the damp earth, sobbing freely.

"She never could see reason beyond her own emotions."

Igraine gave a start and looked up to see her younger sister, Nimueh, little more than a girl, standing against a stone pillar.

"She is the high priestess, her word is law." Igraine found the well rehearsed line falling easily from her lips.

"Yes, perhaps," Nimueh mused as she pushed off from the pillar and walked casually towards her sister. "But you are queen of Camelot, one of the most powerful women in Albion. Surely your word is also law?"

"No Nimueh, what she does is for the good of us all, I cannot question her."

"No!" Nimueh began to raise her voice, her temper bubbling quickly. "She does this for her own selfish reason! She does not want her sister to die!"

"But surely you cannot blame her for that?" Igraine tried to reason with her.

"So, what? Are you just going to resign yourself to losing the child just because Viviane said it must be so? Surely you know the importance of this child as well as I do.

"The gods were whispering of his deeds before the world was born!" Nimueh looked in despair at her sister who still knelt before her with her head bowed.

"And what do you propose I do Nimueh? Viviane has refused me and I have not the strength in sorcery that you and she have. I am little more than a seer. It is out of my power." Nimueh walked forwards and knelt before her sister, taking Igraine's hands tenderly in her own.

"Viviane isn't the only one with power over life and death." She softly kissed Igraine's hands and stood to face the altar. Before her on the stone table stood a golden chalice. Nimueh raised the chalice and uttered and incantation. Igraine watched in silence as rain began to drench her and it filled the chalice. Nimueh then uttered another incantation and the rain ceased. She turned and knelt once more next to Igraine, presenting her the chalice of water.

"Drink this and the child will live."

"But I will die?" Fear tinged Igraine's voice.

"There is always a danger of dying in childbirth my queen."

"Igraine began to raise the chalice to her lips then paused.

"Viviane must never know about this," she said before raising the chalice the rest of the way to her mouth and drinking deeply, emptying it.

"She will not, you have my word." She took the cup from Igraine and placed it back on the altar as both women stood.

"You had better leave Igraine. This would all have been for nothing if you catch your death of cold." She smiled softly and embraced her sister.

"Nimueh, sister, promise me you will come to me and be by my side at the last."

"I swear it," she said softly. They pulled apart and Igraine turned and left.

Nimueh stood watching her go, a smile playing on her lips.

"I felt that went rather well," she said aloud, "don't you?" She turned to see Viviane lying atop the altar, one hand behind her head the other fiddling with her necklace absently. She had had that necklace as long as Nimueh could remember. It was nothing much, just an amber coloured stone in the shape of a tooth attached to a piece of string and tied around her neck, but Nimueh knew it was for protection.

"Yes… quite." Viviane said absently. "Things are now in motion. Well done Nimueh." She sat up, swung her legs off the side of the altar and stood, brushing herself down. "You and I have work to do." She began to walk away from the sacred stone circle but paused as she saw Nimueh staring at her.

"What is it?" she sighed.

"We have condemned our own sister to death for the sake of an unborn child that still may not survive to adulthood." Viviane looked at her with a mix of incredulity and disbelief.

"Is that all that's troubling you? Well, let me put your mind at rest, Igraine's life is not to be taken as forfeit for the boy's. I will choose someone else, someone stronger. Someone who's life essence will give the boy the strength to survive and flourish."

"Then Igraine will not die?" Nimueh could barely disguise the relief in her voice.

"I'm afraid she will," Viviane sighed, her head bowed.

"But you said…"

"I said that her life would not be forfeit, and it is not." She walked to Nimueh and placed her arm around her youngest sister's shoulders. "The gods decided long ago that Igraine was to die in childbirth with her first son. There is nothing we can do to prevent it. The boy must grow up without a mother and Uther must lose his wife. It is essential if events are to unfold as the gods wish." She kissed the top of Nimueh's head.

"As the gods wish," Nimueh mumbled.

"Precisely! Now come." Viviane said and they both left together

The village of Ealdor lay quiet and still, its residents secure in their own homes, oblivious to the sudden appearance of Nimueh and Viviane from the mists that were creeping in from the woods and surrounding fields. Viviane and Nimueh walked into the village and stopped outside a house.

The soft glow of a candle spilt out of the window and onto the crisp, snow covered ground. Viviane smoothed down her cloak and knocked sharply on the wooden door.

The door was opened after a moment by a kindly looking woman with her long brown hair tied in a plait over her shoulder. She stood in awe as she recognised her visitors.

"My Lady Viviane! And my Lady Nimueh!" She stood back to let them in. "Welcome, welcome."

"Hunith, we are glad to find you well." Viviane stepped inside and removed her cloak, her sister following behind.

"To what do I owe the honour of this visit?" Hunith took their cloaks and hung them on wooden pegs by the door.

"All in good time Hunith. First, may we join you in a drink of water?" Viviane found a chair and sat down bidding Nimueh to sit at her feet with a simple hand gesture.

Hunith went into an adjacent room and fetched three wooden cups and filled them with water from a pail atop a large wooden table. She returned giving Viviane and Nimueh one each and taking the third for herself. Viviane raised her cup in a toast.

"To the gods!" The other two repeated the toast and al three drank deeply of their cups. Viviane lowered her cup first and wiped her lips.

"Thank you Hunith." She handed her cup to Nimueh who took it silently. "And now to business." She set back and folded her hands together on her lap.

"On this night, Igraine, queen of Camelot, wife of King Uther Pendragon and our beloved sister, has revealed that she is with child. I would appreciate your silence on this matter as it has not yet been announced in the royal court. In fact, I doubt if even Uther knows yet."

"That is excellent news indeed my lady," Hunith began. "But, forgive me for asking…."

"What has this to do with you?" Hunith nodded, "yes. Well. It would seem more than you think. You too are with child; even now it grows within you. This child, your son as he will be, and the son of Igraine and Uther have long been awaited by me and the Sidhe elders. Their destinies are, from this night on, irreversibly entwined.

"Tales of Arthur Pendragon and Merlin Emrys will echo across the world for thousands of year, long after all now living is naught but dust and memory." She watched as Hunith took all of this in.

"But how can this be?" She said after a few moments. "How would a child of mine ever even meet the king's son, let alone have a shared destiny with him?" Viviane chuckled.

"That is why we are here. It is our job to make sure that your son and Arthur meet, and that will take certain "talents" that we can give,

"Without your son, Arthur will not survive to take the crown. But I need not tell you that he will face his own share of danger. It will not be easy."

"I understand," Hunith sat, lost in thought.

"Hunith," Viviane's voice calling her name roused Hunith from her reverie, "There is one other thing I must ask of you Hunith."

"Anything m'lady. I am your servant." Viviane and Nimueh exchanged a glance and the former sat forwards in her chair.

"I must ask to you take care of young Arthur for about a year or more following his birth, until he no longer needs to nurse." Hunith looked confused at this request.

"But what about his mother? Queen Igraine?"

Viviane bowed her head and Hunith saw tears well in Nimueh's eyes. Hunith understood what this meant.

"I understand. My condolences my lady." Viviane waved off this sentiment.

"She's not dead yet."

"Can nothing be done?" Hunith asked softly.

"No. It is as the old Religion wills it. Even I cannot go against the gods." She stood to leave and Nimueh followed suit.

"All that remains is to wish you my congratulations on your happy news," She walked forwards and embraced Hunith. "Your loyalty to us will bring its rewards." Nimueh went and retrieved their cloaks and they prepared to leave.

"I will return as the trees are shedding their leaves to bring you the boy prince. I need not stress to you the importance of what is being asked of you."

"No my lady. It is my honour to serve you and the Old Religion."

"That it is. Goodbye Hunith." The two sisters stepped outside and, turning, said their final goodbyes to Hunith.

Viviane turned as the door closed behind them and had to stop suddenly as a young child ran out in front of her, causing Nimueh to bump into her.

"I'm so sorry miss." A tall, muscular young man ran up to them and lifted the child into his arms. "He's very lively tonight, aren't you, young William." He looked affectionately at the child who started to laugh.

"That's quite alright sir, no harm done." Nimueh answered as Viviane studied the man closely.

"I've not seen you two young ladies around here before."

"We were visiting Hunith, she's an old friend of ours." The man nodded slowly and, shifting the child in his grip, held out a hand to them in greeting.

"I'm William, the local blacksmith and this is my son, also called William." Viviane took his hand and bowed slightly.

"It is good to meet you William, and your son. I am Viviane, and this is my sister Nimueh." He bowed to each of them.

"I had better get this young man to bed. We have to be up early in the morning."

"Oh really?" Viviane feigned interest as she studied William further.

"I start training for Lord Balaine's army tomorrow. He's fighting a campaign against the lands of Mercia and he's called for able bodied men to fight."

"Well, you most certainly are that," Viviane smiled sweetly. "And will young William by staying behind with his mother whilst you're gone?"

"No, he will be staying with Hunith," William's eyes darkened for a moment. "His mother died shortly after young Will was born."

"I am so very sorry to hear that," Viviane pulled her cloak around her body. "It was a pleasure to meet you both." With another bow, William turned and walked away.

Viviane stood motionless and watched as William carried his son into the house opposite Hunith's.

"Viviane," Nimueh tugged at her cloak, "what do we do now? We still need to find a forfeit for Arthur's life!"

"We just have," Viviane said absently as she watched William's muscular form appear in his window, holding a candle.

"You can't mean….?" Nimueh gestured towards the window and Viviane nodded. "But what about the child? He's lost his mother, would you deprive him of his father too?" Viviane looked at her sister, her face free of any emotion.

"Did you not see and feel the strength that man possessed, as well as his gentleness with us and that child? His life essence is perfect for Arthur. The young prince will need all the strength he can get."

"But the child…"

"Enough!" Viviane's voice was full of authority and immediately silenced her sister. "He is an acceptable loss. Think of how many more would die, were Arthur to be still-born! No, William will do just nicely. Besides," she turned to look back at Hunith's house, "young Merlin could do with a playmate once we return Arthur to his father." She turned and started to walk away, vanishing once more into the mist.

Nimueh looked back at the village one last time.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she sighed as she turned and followed after her sister.