Chapter 7

Merlin's eyes slowly drifted back open.

"Merlin! Are you okay? What happened?" Hunith was all over him in seconds, while Balinor was holding a wet cloth to Merlin's forehead.

"What happened son? The last question I asked was if we were going to meet any young girl soon and then you went as white as a sheet and dropped to the floor."

Merlin sat up slowly. "Oh yeah. Sorry. It's still a shock."

"What happened Merlin?" Hunith asked with a concerned look on her face. "Obviously something happened to make you drop like that. It has been a while since you've been here."

"Yeah, yeah it has." Merlin stated dryly, still not fully aware of what was going on. Hunith and Balinor sat in front of Merlin waiting patiently for him to explain.

"It wasn't long ago. Only about 3 weeks. A bounty hunter turned up in Camelot. Me and Gaius were coming back from a job and we walked past the cage that held the hunters captives. This time it was a girl. Gaius told me not to get involved but I couldn't just leave her there. She would die!" by this point tears were already forming in Merlin's eyes. " That night I snuck out and released her from the cage, I hid her in the tunnels below the city, but the hunter saw us running away. He didn't catch us, but he serched and serched for weeks afterwards. During these weeks I became really close to Freya. She was beautiful and so sweet. She suited me so well. I went there everyday to give her food and keep her company for a while." Merlin had tears pouring out if his eyes now and Hunith put a hand on his knee. "One day the bounty hunter followed me in to the tunnels and we were almost caught, we managed to elude him but it was very close and I realized I had to get her out of the city."

"Meanwhile, each night the city was being attacked by a mystical creature. It killed two people each night. The only lead we had to go on was that there were human footprints leading away from the body but the wounds inflicted had to be from a huge beast. One night after proposing the idea of escape to Freya, I left to go and get supplies, she tried escaping herself. They cornered her and were about to catch her, when the midnight bells went off. She let out a scream and transformed into what she becomes at night, what she is cursed to be. A Bastet. A huge black cat with wings. She was what was killing those people at night, she can't help herself. She told me, that a long time ago she was walking along and a man attacked her. She didn't mean to hurt him but she thought he was going to kill her. After the man's mother found out that Freya killed her son. She cursed her to kill forever. Freya managed to get away from being cornered but not before Arthur mortally wounded her in the shoulder. I followed her back down into the tunnels and she explained it all to me. I swore I would help her, make her better but the wound was too deep." Merlin lowered his head while tears continued to create a river down his face. "I took her to the Lake of Avalon afterwards, it was surrounded by mountains, the exact type of place we were planning to escape to. A place with a lake and mountains. It was beautiful. She stayed in my arms for a long time, telling me how I made her feel loved and like a normal person. She told me one day she would repay me. And just like that she was gone. In my arms. I held for ages afterward, I couldn't let her go." Merlin was choking on is words now. "I-I-I put her into a boat on the lake and set her out. That was the last time I saw her."

Hunith and Balinor were silent for sometime afterward. Hunith had tears in her eyes, she was so pained by Merlin feeling pain. Balinor sat there with sorrowful eyes looking at his son. Soon they both pulled Merlin towards them, sat him in between them and let him cry while being hugged by loved ones. Nothing else mattered. He was able to tell someone about Freya, finally getting it off his chest. For once he had no chores, or the fete of Albion didn't rest on his shoulders. He was just Merlin. A heart broken young man in need of comfort with the two most loving parents on the planet.