MERLIN - CONTACT

AN: Wow, hey people. I know I said this story would now be on hiatus, but I had an evening free, so in the words of Doc Brown, I thought 'what the hell!' I hope you like :) I apologise in advance if there are any spelling errors.

...~~C~~...

Hunith was happy. She had fallen in love again, which since Balinor she swore to herself she never would do. Everyone was celebrating AberFest again like nothing bad had ever happened. The prince of Camelot was attending the wedding, and best of all her beloved daughter was there too. Not only that her life seemed to be thriving. By the letters between them over the last few months, Arthur had discovered her gift, and now by observation, they seemed closer than ever.

The village woman could not ever feel like a prouder mother. Her daughter would always be the most precious thing to her. Eyes like hers but more vivid, spirit and stubbornness like her father, and such blonde hair that had come from nowhere. She had become more of a strong and beautiful lady as each day passed she couldn't see her.

She couldn't let her Merlin believe she was dead for very long. Yes, back then, it was a horrendous time for Ealdor. King Uther had gone more mad and determined than ever to eradicate magic from not only his Kingdom, but from someone else's too. Escetia didn't even have a strong negative opinion on magic. When King Cenred the second was alive, rumours quickly spread that he had used the magic of a ally sorceress to take down his enemies. Now with Lott on the throne, magic did not have a hoping hell of surviving. The barriers were still up for Camelot citizens to pass but Uther ignored it all once word had got to him there was a sorcerer nearby, 'threatening to cross the border'.

As usual, not getting involved himself, he had sent his own son to lead the charge on Ealdor. Hunith only realised that when the guards and knights rode in one ordinary day and tore everything down, searching for someone who was long gone. There from inside her house she spotted Arthur amongst it all, looking a little lost for words and out of his depth. Even though the soldiers were there with him, they followed Uther's orders above his. She couldn't hear him over the destruction and screams, but by his face she could tell he was yelling at his men to stop but they either couldn't hear him either or were not meant to obey him.

She thought she was safe where she was, but the men didn't even check if anyone were inside their homes, or just didn't care. They barricaded the exits, and before she could twig what was happening the crackling of wood made it to her ears first. She didn't wait a second more, she immediately ran to the door and pushed on it with as much strength as she could, smoke was already seeping in. Unfortunately the invaders had done a superb job at sealing her in.

Then a loud angry voice distracted her from her efforts. She paused, then moved to the window. Arthur was shouting himself hoarse at the men at what they were doing, recognising her house in particular.

Before she could stop herself she called the prince's name. Then she couldn't stop, she was starting to panic. The smoke was getting thicker now and she had to bend down below its level but still able to just see out the window. Through the haze, Hunith could make out Arthur's armoured figure struggling madly against the hold of two guards, becoming three. He must have heard her, he must have. His mouth was opening wider and moving faster but she could not hear him. The crackling of burning was above her now and deafening, she hadn't realised before. Coughing ceased her calling out as the black smoke started to interrupt her breathing. Arthur probably wouldn't break free in time...

She squinted around the house in the dark for the back door, she only hoped the soldiers didn't know about it. It was only half the height of a normal door, Merlin used to sneak through it all the time when she was tiny. It was easy enough to fit through... usually. The knights had not barricaded it, but over the years, stuff on the outside had mounted up in front of it, crates and planks of wood blocking it. Unfortunately it was now acting as more fuel for the fire. The door was turning black and the rusted latch was stiff. Hunith grabbed hold of it with both hands and pulled as hard as she could, but cried out and had to let go.

The latch was red hot. But looking around quickly she found nothing else to use, she would have to be quick. Taking a deep breath, which only resulted in more smoke entering her lungs, she grabbed the latch again and heaved. five seconds later, the latch literally broke off the door.

Discarding it, Hunith pushed at the wood. It moved only two inches at a time, but eventually the gap was wide enough and she crawled out the space, weaved through the falling rubble and run wobbly away out of sight into the trees, not daring to look back.

Travelling that way for quite some time, not really registering how many times it got light and dark, the poor mother carried onward in a straight direction, holding her badly burnt hand to her chest.

Finally she collapsed against a tree and knew no more. Some time afterwards, Hunith woke up in a bed, hand bandaged, and staring into the kind eyes of a handsome stranger.

...~~C~~...

Weeks later, back in Camelot, A young girl closed the door to her chambers and leant on it heavily with a tired sigh. She had just got back from hearing it from horse's mouth. Her friend had been there, and didn't help. Arthur had known her mother died before she did, what's more he was there as she died.

"Merlin? I... I am SO sorry."

She stopped in her stride down the corridor to get away from him. A man, who if knew the truth about her would not be saying these things right now. But right now she deserved to be angry at him. Furious!

The girl slowly turned half way around but did not look upon Arthur until the last second. Her eyes were lost of their usual sparkle and her face showed an foreign expression that scared the prince deep down.

"What use are your apologies now?" Her voice was eerily quite. Arthur could only stare.

"You know, I may have at one point, when I first met you, saw you as brutish and insensitive. In all the years I've known you after, you may have made mistakes and bad decisions, but I never once thought you could do anything to change how I beheld you. But now..."

She paused. Arthur was on tenterhooks.

"I never believed I could ever feel this way, or ever have to say it, but-" She swallowed, before concluding in an emotional whisper, "... I hate you."

She didn't wait for Arthur to react or respond, she turned her back on him and walked away. The deathly silence and a second of looking into his eyes could tell a blind deaf and dumb man how those last words struck him.

Merlin knew once she simmered down, she may feel that was harsh, but at that time she couldn't bring herself to waste another moment on that prat. Rubbing a hand down her face, she moved further into the room. Gaius wasn't home, but Merlin could tell he had been back.

As on the table, was a letter addressed to her. She was exhausted and emotionally drained, but shuffled towards the table. Lowering herself into a chair, she eyed the letter both suspiciously and absent mindedly. Of course, her thought were somewhat far away.

Picking it up and unfolding it, she read only the first line, and stopped.

Quite some time passed as she just stared at the paper in her grasp, the sun had set but she did not move to light the candles. Sitting there in the dark and silence, so many things went through her head.

Like why didn't this letter arrive sooner.

She couldn't quite believe it.

...~~C~~...

Hunith knew that letter would probably not get to her daughter before the news of her death did, she only hoped it not startle her so. She wasn't even aware Merlin had not told anyone else besides Gaius. Arthur seemed so distraught at the time, she guessed Merlin had put his mind at ease. Evidently not.

Still, this was all truly happening. Sure, it hasn't been that long to know someone before marriage, but maybe had Balinor stayed longer and wasn't on the run, they may had ended up the same way. He didn't even know about Merlin.

Then Hunith realised something as she looked at her daughter amongst the crowd, grinning back at Arthur who was lounging on the grass with a shocked expression on his face, that turning into a warm smile once Merlin couldn't see him.

She was like that with him once. She had been selfish. She had never shared anything about Balinor to Merlin and that wasn't fair. He was her father, yet all through her life, she had stayed quite about it. After all he's somewhere out there, and they had both promised they would find eachother again some day.

Merlin had grown up without a father, much less a word about him to reassure her he even existed. And only now on the cuff of adulthood she's expecting a new man to walk into her life and what must she be feeling? That her father's forgotten about? That Leofrick would try and replace her father, replace Gaius?

Was she herself betraying Balinor?

...~~C~~...

AN: Thank you very much for reading. Please keep reviewing, I would love to hear what you thought and if there's anything you'd like to see happening in future chapters. Again I am not going to promise a time for when the next update is, so keep a beady eye out :)

Thanks again and I'll see ya next time.