Excerpt: Lost Heir of Braelynn

The night was dark and stormy; the clouds had an ominous glow about them. Magic was being worked and it was not the kind that was helpful. In the deep still of the night, before the heavens opened up a cry sounded loud and clear. It was a woman’s cry, a cry of one who was in childbirth and it was coming from the castle. All within the castle were quiet and pacing nervously for it was their Queen that was the one who was giving birth. It was not the first royal child to be born, in fact the Queen had born three other children before but all three of them had come from her womb still born. After each birth the kingdom of Braelynn had mourned but none as much as the king and Queen. They could not bear it if they lost another child, and yet by the sounds of her screams, those servants who were near the birthing wing were almost certain that another still birth or worse was a real possibility.
“Push your majesty,” ordered the midwife who was all the authority that was needed in the birthing chamber. “You must push harder.”
“I am pushing as hard as I can Brianna,” the Queen snapped, her forehead matted with sweat. “I have given birth to children before. I know what it is that is being asked of me.”
“But none that have lived your majesty,” Brianna, the midwife pointed out sadly yet firmly. “So you must do as I say and push harder. Much harder for you have been in labour since the sun sank below the horizon and if we do not get this babe out of you soon we may lose you as well.”
The Queen, her azure blue eyes blazing with power and strength nodded and began to focus all her might into forcing her unborn child from her womb. The pain was intense, and yet she still fought on for she knew that she was not getting any younger and her kingdom and her king had to have an heir to stop the dissenting lords and ladies of the outer court from creating an all out civil war once she and the king passed from the land of the living into the spirit land. So on she pushed doing her absolute best to stay strong for her child and then finally she felt a great release and the weak whimper of a babe reached her ears. “Is that my child?” she asked, lifting her weary head as her vision began to darken. “Is that my baby?”
“Yes m’lady,” Brianna stated with relief as she handed over the child to its mother. “This is your child, your beautiful and healthy baby girl.”
“My girl…” the Queen cooed as she reached out to take her daughter. “My little girl…” it was then as the Queen took her baby into her arms that she was struck with a vision. The midwife held her breath in nervous anticipation waiting for the vision to pass. Brianna had had experience with it before and she knew that it was best to let the vision ride itself out before trying to figure out what the vision was all about. Finally the Queen’s eyes cleared and she looked to Brianna with wide frantic eyes. “Take my daughter,” she ordered as she handed over the young princess to the midwife. “Take her and hide her Bri.”
“But your majesty,” the midwife Brianna began with confusion as she took the young princess. “Why am I to hide the princess? Whatever could the reason be?”
“Mistress Brianna?” asked the small voice of Tia, the assistant midwife. “The Queen is bleeding much too much.”
By the gods, Brianna thought frantically to herself as she watched as the Queen’s face began to pale. We are going to lose the Queen and I am to hide the babe.
“Brianna you must hide my child for there are those who seek to kill her this night.”
Brianna turned back to the Queen. “But what am I to do? Where am I to hide the child?”
“You must take her out into the city,” the Queen ordered as the life within her began to dim. “There was another child born this night who did not survive. You must switch my daughter for that one. You must present that child to my husband and he must bury the dead babe like his own daughter…” she was struggling to speak and Brianna could see that the Queen’s eyes were beginning to cloud over but still the Queen spoke on. “…you must then take the medallion of Braelynn and my daughter across the seas, far from Braelynn for the evil that seeks her will be able to find her anywhere within our boundaries. You must hide her. You must raise her. You must keep her safe.”
And with that, the Queen gave her last breath and was lost to the land of the living for all time. Tears came unbidden to Brianna’s eyes as she clutched the struggling babe within her arms. By the gods, she thought painfully her herself as she gazed upon the dead Queen. Our world is coming apart. And yet, despite the severity of what was going on, Brianna knew what she had to do. And therefore, making sure that her assistant knew what to do and say Brianna escaped from the Queen’s room through the old servants’ passages and hid the child in an old forgotten room where she would not be found. The young princess stared up at Brianna with wide unblinking azure eyes and she knew that the daughter was going to be the saviour of Braelynn. And yet for her to be the saviour of Braelynn, Brianna had to escape with both her life and that of the young princess and so she continued using her knowledge of the old passages and escaped the palace into the city below.
She quickly found the home that she sought and the babe that had not come into the world alive. Quickly as she could and as stealthily as was possible Brianna took the child while the midwife and husband were comforting the mother and then she retraced her steps. In less than an hour she had returned to the Queen’s chamber, relieved to find her assistant still there waiting for her. “Has anyone come to the door Tia?” she asked frantically as she held onto the baby. “Has anyone suspected that the Queen is dead?”
Tia shook her head. “No mistress. No one has come and even if they had I would have told them that the Queen was silent because her voice was gone…but it seems as though no one has noticed.”
“That is not true,” came a different third voice, causing Brianna to whip around concerned. There standing before them was a man in his middle ages, he wore the robes of the Magi and he had an air of magic about him. “I have noticed that the Queen is silent,” he paused and glanced a look at the bed where the Queen’s still form lay. “She is dead is she not?”
Brianna nodded. “She is. It happened so quickly Rhodari, there was nothing that I could do.”
“I know you Brianna,” Rhodari answered with a sympathetic tone to his voice. “You have given birth to more children then I can count and you have only lost those who were meant to be lost. I know that you did your absolute best,” he paused and looked at the still babe in her arms. “And is that our heir?”
Brianna paused, unsure on what to do or say. On the one hand she knew that the Magi would be able to determine with a simple scrying spell whether or not the child was royal or not and yet on the other the Queen had spoken of evil and Brianna did not know whether or not that evil would come from her old friend. Rhodari noticed the indecision on her face and waited patiently for an answer—and when the answer was finally given it was truth. Brianna told the Magi of the Queen’s vision and her last orders. When she was done, Rhodari had only one question.
“Where is the princess?”