Prologue
18 years ago
A short knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned away from my small window as I whispered a weak “Come in” through my barely opened lips. A whisper so weak that I was afraid the person behind the doors did not hear me, but the doors opened slowly revealing my faithful servant, Kiabel.
“Your Grace,” he said while bowing before me, “The Rebels have already reached the South Silver Gate, it is only a matter of time before they reach the Golden Gate... ” I watched him as those words left his lips, I lift my right hand and he stopped for a second, but then he continued without my permission, “Pardon me, your Grace, but the King ordered everyone to...” I raised my hand again.
“I am aware of what my brother said, Kiabel.” I turned around, facing the window again, “but...” as I started to speak, I heard other servants running down the hallways, curious of what was going on, I rushed past Kiabel to my wide-opened doors. “What is going on?” I asked the first servant who came in my way.
“Queen Jolene is giving birth and the Rebels are closer to the Golden Gate,” she said quickly and then disappeared from my sight.
“Kiabel” I turned around to see him right behind me, “Lock my doors and activate the Red Code in my chambers. Oh, and do not forget about my suitcase. My nephews are about to come into this world. ”
The hallways were empty, no man or woman to be seen. Other than my heels clicking on the marble floor, a terrifying silence covered the hallways. As I turned left, I heard voices coming from my sister-in-law’s chambers. Confused about why she was still in the castle, I headed towards her doors and I rushed in without even knocking. Jolene was on her bed, surrounded by three Huntresses and a midwife. They turned their heads when they heard the doors opening.
“What happened? Jolene, why aren’t you on your way to Angelwood Maternity? Why are you still here?” I demanded to know as I stepped forward after closing the doors behind me. The midwife put on her forehead something that looked like a hot wet towel.
“I was afraid I would not make it to the maternity, not with all those Rebels out there. I heard they took over all the roads to Central Square.” She barely spoke the words, her lips turning a faded shade of purple. Her blue eyes expressed nothing else but tiredness and pain. “Christopher took Valladar and Tybred with him to check if the tunnels are safe; they should be back by now,” she groaned in pain closing her eyes. I sat down close to her and took her hand in mine.
“The time has come, your Highness,” said, with a soft voice, one of the Huntresses.
“I am, under no circumstance, doing this without King Christopher,” she put her hand over her bump as she spoke.
“You have to do this, Jolene, I am sure Christopher is on his way,” her wide-opened eyes were fixed on me, she used to give me that look when she felt something was not right.
A deafening sound echoed in the entire castle, and it could only bring in bad news. I was pretty convinced that the Rebels have reached the Golden Gate and they have managed to take it down already. Jolene sent me a frightened look before she took her hand out of mine to focus on pushing.
One door cracked open making me stand up and approach it to see who dared to come in unannounced.
“Your Grace,” Tybred spoke out, he was breathing fast, like he just ran miles without stopping to get here. I noticed he had a fresh cut on his forehead, something bad had happened. “The Rebels took over not only the Golden Gate but the tunnels too, which means we are trapped inside.” The words left his mouth quickly, he fell on the ground a few seconds after.
“What about the King? Where is the King?” I asked trying to keep calm while my heart started beating faster.
“I lost them in the tunnels, I thought he already arrived,” he whispered, his eyes were closing involuntary. That was the moment when I noticed his chest was bleeding. His light-colored armor turning a dark shade of red. When he did not give any more signs of living, I whispered “Rest in Peace, sir Tybred” then rushed back in Jolene’s chamber and closed the doors behind me.
On a nursery table, placed against the wall between Jolene’s big covered widows, I saw two babies. I approached them and saw a little boy and a little girl holding their hands together. One Huntress took the boy and handed him to me. I looked at the small creature in my arms and whispered in his ear “Gods bless you, Prince Aredian-Christian of Aadardia. May you live a long and happy life in which you will bring joy to your new family”. I looked at the woman next to me, “Harley, take him in humans world through the East Tunnels. The Royal family entrusts you and Frankie to take good care of our Prince.” She nodded as she took him in her arms.
I picked up the girl, holding her carefully against my chest, “May the Gods give you strength, Princess Shannon-Ashley of Aatarcïa. May you be as fearless as Queen Daarmiys I and as beautiful as Queen Maarsiya II”, then handed her to another woman, “Kara Katniss, Aatarcïa’s Princess is in your hands. Take care of her.”
The door opened and Kiabel entered the room with my black suitcase in his hands. As he closed the door behind him he let out a heavy sight.
“Your Grace, I am afraid that the Rebels have already entered the castle. Here is what you asked for, but we must hurry before they arrive on our floor.” I grabbed my suitcase quickly tapping the code to open it up.
“Lock the doors.” I opened the suitcase revealing three bracelets, each one having a sparkling blue diamond. I took two of the small bracelets and gave them to Harley and Kara.
“One more push your Highness,” I heard the midwife say and I turned around to face them, but Jolene did not look like she had any energy left to do as she was told, a mix of sweat and tears covered her face. But despite all the pain she might have felt she did as told and a beautiful little girl came out crying.
Wrapped up in a white towel, the Princess was given to me “Princess Lucille-Marïe of Aaliysma, may the Gods bless your soul and watch over you in your long life, give you protection and power.” Kathya took the girl and the last bracelet.
“Huntresses. Before you go; you must always remember that those bracelets are important and powerful. Under no circumstances, do not let the children take them off.” They nodded watching me carefully, I approached the wall behind them and took away a big painting revealing an ancient door, “with that being said, now go through these tunnels, Kiabel will guide you, then he will open a portal for each one of you, which will lead you to a different part of the human’s world. At your destination your husbands will be waiting for you,” one by one they left Jolene’s chamber, closing the door behind them.
When I turned around to watch over Jolene, I noticed how defenseless we were, there was no way we could manage to fight against the Rebels. Her once bright red face was now pale, highlighting her dark purple lips. Barely keeping her eyes open to look at me, she opened her mouth, “my babies...“. Two words; those two words took away all the energy she had left.
“They are safe. Your babies, my nephews, are safe and so will they be, away from this Kingdom and its dangers.”
Loud noises and screams came from the hallways. The Rebels took over our floor too, which meant we had no place to go and no other choice but stay and fight with our bare hands. It was a powerless Duchess, an old midwife and a weak Queen against thousands of powerful armed Rebels.
