Wilona walked over to Una, slowly, watching her sword arm for any sudden movements. She held Yvar in her arms like a child. Una made no attempts to get up and fight her. Wilona was terrified now. She couldn't explain it. All she wanted now was for Una to die. She must die.

"Do you not fear me?" Una asked Wilona as she made her way up behind Una.

"I've sent word to the Saxon armies to snuff out Gareth, so it's too late. You can kill me. My work is done." Wilona said with her arms shaking.

Wilona bent down and picked up Yvar's sword slowly. The blood on her hands made her dizzy. She could feel the energy in it.

"Unfortunately, that sword will do you no good now," Una said, taking a deep breath.

"Shut your mouth, you snake!" Wilona hissed as she pointed the sword at Una's back.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Arawn is here now. He is not blinded with your spiritual illusions; he can see the enemy clearly." Una knelt her head up.

"Watch me!" Wilona said, raising the shaking sword.

Suddenly the guards surrounding them bolted for Wilona.

"What did I say?" Una sighed, looking behind her shoulder.

"You are too weak even to hold a sword up. How could you hold your people up as the ruler of this kingdom?" Una said softly as the guards wrestled Wilona away.

"You hedge born bitch! I will smite you!" Wilona said as they pinned Wilona to the ground.

Una gently knelt Yvar to the ground, and she stood up and turned to face Wilona.

"You're not the only one with Magick, Wilona." Una smiled.

"You're mad!" Wilona screamed as the guards surrounded her and held her down.

"Perhaps, but you have inspired me, Wilona. You see, Arawn not only blessed me with the strength of mind and body but of spirit and magick." Una walked up to Wilona's feet, pinned to the ground.

All the guards bowed before Una as they held the sorceress down.

"Stop! I release you, leave! I command it!" Wilona cried out to the spirits in the guards.

"Oh, Wilona. Good and Evil are interchangeable. It just depends on your perspective. These dark entities only want energy, just like we humans crave sustenance through food. You have starved these poor beasts. I can feel it." Una said, looking up at the tall ceiling above.

Wilona could see that something was very wrong. Something in Una had snapped. How was it possible that her guards were bowing before her? There was no way that a human woman could take control of them. Una had never used magick in her life, nor did she want to after her mother.

"Stop controlling them, Una!" Wilona pleaded.

"I'm not," Una said.

Wilona became distraught and started shouting out demands and sorcery words to aid her against Una and these guards.

"Wilona." The guards said in unison as they held her down.

"No, please!" Wilona begged at Una.

Una was picking up her sword and slung it so the blood would fly away from it.

"Again, you shouldn't be asking me. I'm merely the messenger." Una said.

She walked back over to Wilona.

"Messenger!?" Wilona shouted.

"I have prophetic dreams. I knew this hour would come. I hoped I would never see it come into fruition, but by that time I realized it was happening, it was too late. The trap you constructed here was not for me, but you. It shouldn't have ended this way. In my dream, Yvar lives, and you die, yet here we are. He is dead, and you are alive. We can't always be correct, I suppose. I had hoped these guards had pinned you sooner. You are very talented with magick, you managed to ward off Arawn, but he is waiting for you to strike, so pick up the sword and come at me. I will kill no more." Una said.

"You want that to happen so he can kill me!" Wilona spat.

"Perhaps." Una grinned.

"I'd rather you kill me! Fight me, Una Pendragon!" Wilona said, raising.

The guards allowed her to stand.

"I'll kill all of you bastards when I'm through with her!" Wilona said, grabbing Yvar's sword.

Una got in her stance, but this time she wouldn't strike back. She would let Arawn do it.

"Una!" A familiar voice called behind her.

Una quickly turned around, needing to absorb the image she sees. Could it really be him?

"Alaric!?" Una exclaimed.

"Turn back!" He shouted.

Wilona's sword was being propelled up toward Una's heart. Una quickly reacted by bringing her sword up to hit it away.

"Ahh!" Wilona screamed as Una's sword collided with her own.

An enormous clash of steel resonated in a piercing clang as their blades met. Only this time, not only did Una knock the blade away, she snapped the sword in half with her blow. Her sword had cut through the weak steel and the even weaker strength of Wilona.

"Eahhk!" Wilona screeched as she sunk to the floor, grabbing her hand in anguish.

"Now Arawn is coming for you, and you lost," Una said bitterly as she watched her eyes expand.

"No! I won't let him, not again! He will torture me till the end of time!" Wilona cried.

"He can't harm me, not if I do it myself!" Wilona seethed as she took the blunt end of her broken sword and slashed it up through her throat.

They could all hear her throat spasm and gurgle as she shoved the blade up higher in her neck, to her spine.

"My God." She could hear Alaric running to her.

He stood next to her, covered in armor and blood. He watched as Wilona twisted the blade, and blood gushed out her neck and mouth as she choked and strained to breathe. She tried to speak but was only able to laugh crookedly one last time before falling over on her side.

They watched as the blood expanded out around her and draped down the marble steps in thick dark streams. Silence fills the air. She bled out and died where she fell.

Alaric was beside himself.

"I thought I could come here and do it, but I was too late." He mumbled.

Una turned and looked at Alaric. His hand was shaking with his sword.

"This era of bloodshed has died with Wilona. The King is dead, so is Njord." Una said, gently taking the sword out of Alaric's hand and tossing it to the ground.

"What took you so long." Una laughed with a tear running down her cheek.

The guards came up to Alaric and Una and gazed at them intensely.

"I had to assemble Gareth's army." Alaric gulped.

"You did what!?" Una said in pure shock.

"Gareth, he is safe. It turns out that Brita is a great healer, and she helped me save Gareth from a terrible wound that almost cost him his life." Alaric said, observing the guards taking off their masks.

"You led Gareth's army?" Una said with astonishment.

"And Laurel's...and also my army. Njord never sent out his best men. I didn't realize this until after you left. I figured it was some sort of trap. I had planned on following you all, but I was needed in Wessex. I knew something was terribly wrong when I heard that his army didn't come until the battle's last moments. I'm sorry about Laurel too. I had to choose between Gareth or Njord. I knew you would live, but I was unaware as of late of Laurel's untimely demise." Alaric bowed his head.

"Stand proud, Alaric. This moment is very important. You are a king now, and you must stand strong as your people. It's a powerful feeling, to be a mother or father to your people, who are your children." Una added.

She put her hand on her stomach, debating on whether to tell Alaric or not about how he had become a father in more ways than being one to his people.

"Wait, who's watching your castle? Is Brita here?"

"My grandmother, Idun. She apparently is very well-loved by my people. She's living her best life wearing my crown right now. And yes, Brita is here." Alaric smiled softly as he turned and sighed.

"I've realized it's very difficult to stand when no one is there to catch you when you fall. Now I know how you have felt for so long, Una. I know how that loneliness feels and how it consumes you. But now, I see differently. Gareth is alive, so are you, so are the kings and queens to the north and south. There is no reason now why we should all rule separately. A new era of peace is here, and we should all share it." Alaric smiled.

"I couldn't agree more," Una said as she reached out and grabbed Alaric, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"I'm sorry I had to leave you. I had to do this alone. I am a pendragon, but not the last." Una said, crying tears of joy.

Alaric hugged back and smiled.

"Not the last?" Alaric said, confused as he tried to remember if they had missed anyone.

"Promise me that you'll try not to die before he turns into a man. Wait at least fifteen years from this moment onward. You can see what damage that has caused us in our lives."

"What!? Do you mean that... you're....I'm a...what?" Alaric broke away with his hands still placed on top of her shoulders.

Alaric batted his eyelashes and looked off into the distance.

"Impossible," Alaric said.

"I know. I thought I couldn't bear children since that seems to be a common motif in my family." Una sighed.

Alaric shook his head in disbelief.

"Una, master Arawn has a message for us to deliver for you since we are still here, but not for long." In unison, the guards said as they knelt their foreheads to the blood-drenched ground in front of her.

Una thought the spirits had left when they took their masks off.

"Yes?" Una said, frightened.

Alaric watched as Una's eyes widened and became tearful as they delivered the message.

"Yvar, your greatest friend, didn't get to tell you how proud he was of you, for there wasn't much time."

"Yvar?" Alaric murmured to himself, looking around the room.

He knew that was Una's friend, the one that abandoned her. He saw a body, resting on its back with his hands neatly folded at his belly. No other body looked this way in the room. He knew Una had left him like that. It had to be Yvar.

"He's not angry, nay, he's more in love with you than ever before. He can see your bare heart, your soul, your spirit. He can see your child, too, that grows within your womb. It too is loved." They all said in unison.

Alaric stood still in his tracks and listened intently as he stared at the guards and then back at Yvar's body.

"Your child will be the one that will rule Bryttania one day, as one. He will restore the Pendragon name, but he will also mend the old ways' wounds. He will usher in a new era of peace, where you will all come together as one to fight off the invaders that will come soon to take Bryttania for themselves." They chanted together.

Alaric's mouth was ajar, and his mind was racing.

"Not only will your child conquer this world, but the next. As the grandchild of master Arawn, he shall have a legion of knights beyond that will aid and protect him. Some of which you have lost in this life but have a place higher after death. You would be happy to know that Frey, Laurel, and Njord are here to give their guidance to him whenever he needs it." They said as their voices began to fade.

Alaric was breathing heavily, and he sunk to his knees as he looked at Yvar.

"Impossible," Alaric said again.

"Our time is short; the souls of these bodies are waking up. But remember this, Una, your laments will soon be over. You are so very loved, and this will always be so." They said as their bodies began to break away from the bowing position.

"Arawn...Yvar?" Una gasped.

It was too late. The communication had been cut. Now many guards were scratching their heads, wondering where they were. They looked around and became terrified at the sight and scent of blood strewn across the room.

"The King is dead and his daughter. My name is Una...Pendragon. I am... your queen." Una hesitated and sighed.

The guards looked at each other and all the bodies and then bowed before her.

"Spare us, queen!" They begged.

"Up with you," Una said softly.

They all shook.

"Call off the army headed for Wessex. The plans to pursue must be ceased now, by my orders. This is an order." Una said.

"Yes, my queen!" A few of them shouted, and they scurried to the doors, only to be met by Alaric's armies he brought.

"Let them, though," Una shouted.

"You may enter." Una huffed.

She was back to being a queen now. Despite how she was treated, she thought being a commoner, and a prisoner was a refreshing contrast to her life as a ruler. The warriors and soldiers poured in, every one of them gasped at the ghastly sight of the bodies and blood.

"What in seven hells did you do to them?" Una heard another familiar voice, using her own native tongue.

She looked over and saw who it was, and joy-filled her heart.

"Aaron!" She exclaimed, elated.

She ran over to him and nearly tackled him to the ground.

"Easy, Una!" He laughed.

"It's been so long!" Una laughed as she tugged on his long dark braids.

"I haven't burned down Snowdon if you're wondering why I'm here." He laughed.

He pointed at Alaric.

"Don't let that man deceive you. He is a sadistic killer! I thought he was coming to take Gwynedd, I was sure of it by the size of his men and army, but he recruited our best warriors, or what was left of them." He hesitated.

"What?" Una asked.

"Yeah, the pendragon army...kind of attacked us. But with his army, we stomped them into the dirt!" He exclaimed, throwing his fist in the air.

"I knew I should have let Aidan watch you." Una laughed, crossing her arms.

"But you!" Una smiled, looking over at Alaric.

His cheeks turned red.

"You've done more in the past few months than I have been most of my life as a queen. That was really valiant of you to come to my people's aid." Una said, walking over to him.

"I owe you and my people our lives," Una said almost tearfully as she knelt on one knee before him.

"Rise. Please." Alaric smiled.

"And my people." A voice in the crowd said, and Una could see a man with black wavy hair get down on one knee too.

"And mine!" Another added.

"You saved my family." Someone sobbed.

"I owe you my life. I will give you everything, my sword, my loyalty, my life." One more said.

Soon everyone was shouting up at Alaric and bowing before him, thanking him and saying so many good things about him.

"A true king." Una smiled as she looked down at the blood-streaked floor.

"All hail the king of the north!" One man shouted, taking out his sword and pointing it up to Alaric and placing it in front of him, nearly piercing the marble.

"All hail Alaric, king of Jorvik, of York, the rightful king of Northumbria, the true king of the north!" Una exclaimed as she took her sword in front of her, offering her allegiance.

Alaric looked around the room, overwhelmed as everyone began to chant his name and title. Had he really become a king?

"Rise, please, Una, this is so strange." Alaric laughed as he gently took Una's forearm.

Una laughed but did as she was told, and then the rest of his warriors rose.

"I told you, I can read people well before their full potential is even met." Una smiled.

Alaric sighed and smiled.

"You're the reason why I changed. You taught to be strong and brave, but also kind and discerning." Alaric said, pulling Una to him and hugging her in his arms.

Una hugged him back.

"You're too modest. Look what you did when I wasn't around to guide you? You made It through this castle with nary a scratch, and you traversed all over Bryttania without ever having traveled. You're amazing."

"I wouldn't say I didn't get the armies lost a few times, especially in Snowdon. No wonder you never left before." Alaric laughed.

"It's going to be that way soon," Una said with a sigh breaking away.

"Una?" Alaric asked, shocked.

"I'm going back home," Una said softly.

"What do you mean?" Alaric said, troubled.

"We can't be together, Alaric," Una said, biting her lip.

"Why? I thought you could come back with me. Besides, who will take care of you and our son? Henrik would grow up with him, and they could become very close." Alaric said.

"You're with child?" Aaron said from a distance as he listened in.

Una turned her head.

"Marged told me you couldn't get pregnant your first time, but here I am." Una grinned and sighed.

Aaron nearly fainted, and everyone gasped. Aaron always thought it was strange that she was childless for as many men as she was acquainted with.

"What? It's supposedly true." Una laughed.

"No, my queen. This is wonderful! The first king or queen born after the downfall of the Pendragons." A man with a gray beard and shoulder-length black hair came up to Una and kissed her hand and bowed.

"May the Gods bless you with a son, just as great as you are, Una Elisedd. You may be no king, but you are by far the greatest ruler that has ever sat on the throne of Snowdonia. I have lived far beyond the years I should have, so I decided to come and fight. Nothing could be a sweeter end to my life to know that Gwynedd will not fall, nay, even better. A legacy left by the sole survivor of the slaughter that happened so many years ago. It fills my heart with so much joy." He knelt his forehead on her hand.

"Thank you." He said with watering eyes as he bowed and turned away to tell others the news.

"And that's why Alaric," Una said.

"Why what?" Alaric's face trembled with disappointment.

"My people need me. They need me now more than ever. I have to restore my kingdom. I have a new start with my life now that there will be no bloodshed any longer." Una said softly.

Alaric looked down at her with disbelief.

"Believe me. I debated on whether or not to tell you about our child because I knew it would be easier to say goodbye without this child." Una bent her head down.

"You really want to go back, after everything that happened there?" Alaric said softly.

"Now more than ever, my home is an important reminder of what happens when you let fear control you." Una smiled

"And I am excited that I will have a family again, after all these years, a real family," Una added.

Alaric nodded his head. He could understand why she chose to do this, but at the same time, it was heartbreaking.

"Can I see you if I ever happen to be passing by?" Alaric said.

"I don't think it is "passing by" if you are looking for Snowdon, but I won't say anything." Una smiled up at him.

Alaric was upset, but he didn't want to express his disinterest in Una's plan.

"Who will take care of him?" Alaric asked.

"Well, me, of course, but also Aaron, and there's Aidan, and there are many other men I am close to that can help raise him. It takes a village to raise someone." Una smiled.

"But I..." Alaric began.

"Don't abandon your people on account of this child. Besides, Henrik needs a good father figure in his life now." Una gulped.

Una knew she was crushing him, and it hurt her to hurt him this way, but there was no logical compromise. Alaric began to say something, but he stopped himself short.

"You're going to be a wonderful mother." Alaric bit his lip and looked away.

He was torn.

"Better than my mother for sure." Una tried to make light of the situation.

"I'll give the word to you if he starts levitating things." Una laughed.

"You will write me?" Alaric asked.

"Of course! I'm not cutting you off, goodness." Una laughed.

A smile formed in the corner of his mouth.

"Besides, my kingdom needs to break out of its mountain walls once in a while. Freedom is addictive." Una smiled.

"You'll come to see me?" Alaric asked.

"Once he is old enough to control a horse," Una added.

"So, this is goodbye today then?" Alaric asked.

"Yes. I'm going to write Gareth and tell him everything. I need to go back home soon. Who knows what oaf Aaron put on the throne in our absence." Una grinned and pointed her thumb at Aaron.

"You're really going to leave?" Alaric sounded so disappointed.

"It won't be for long. I promise." Una said with an assuring smile.

Alaric bent his head back down and smiled.

"You can't stay the night?" Alaric asked.

"It depends on how much mead I can consume before nightfall." Una laughed.

She glanced at Yvar's body and smiled, remembering the promise he gave her before he passed.

"Do you like wildflowers?" Una asked.

"Erm...yes, I guess?" Alaric hesitated, wondering what she was implying.

"Forget the mead, let's go look for some before it gets too dark," Una said, grabbing his hand and pulling him away.

"I have to make you a flower crown since you don't have one on your head." Una laughed.

"You're not wearing a crown?" Alaric said, following behind.

"You're going to make me one." Una laughed.

"I'll dry it and keep it," Una added.

"Una?" Alaric smiled.

"Our child is going to be wild." Alaric laughed.

"All the best people are." Una laughed.

"Now, hurry up, I see the sun already setting!" Una tugged him along.

"Wait...Una." He stood still.

"What's the matter? Let's go?" Una said, pulling on his arm.

He stood there and hesitated. He couldn't get the words out.

"I love you, Alaric," Una said with a grin.

"Now, if you love me, let's get a move on!" Una laughed.

Alaric paused and laughed and continued with Una out of the castle, running through the untouched fields behind the castle. It was filled with winter flowers, signifying spring was soon to come, a new beginning for both the earth and all of Bryttania without the Pendragons' tyrannical rule. Una would be the first Pendragon to make Arawn proud. He was the proudest father that day, seeing his creation create a beautiful reality for others. That is all he ever really wanted to see, for Una to flourish where she was planted. His darkness was transcended into beauty, into grace, and glory, by Una, the true queen of the people of Bryttania.