Post by Colleen on Nov 11, 2014 23:07:39 GMT -8
The room of the small medical center was dark, the shadows reaching out to the small, fragile woman on the large ornate bed, trying to overpower the few lights in the room. The woman's long silver white hair loosely braided, sweat pouring from her small body as she labored to bring a new life into the darkness that was her world. The midwife and her helpers scurried around her, preparing for the impending birth, looking fearfully toward the closed door of the room.
To the laboring woman on the bed, this was a familiar scene. Since becoming the wife of William, a man she thought was a white Mage, she had given birth four times, each time bring a healthy, beautiful daughter into the world. And each time that child had be taken from her, never to be seen again, for the William wanted a son. And only a son. He needed a son to fulfill his destiny of being the ruler of both the Human world and the Otherworld.
An ancient prophecy foretold of a daughter, born to both light and dark magic. She would be a warrior with powerfully magic that would one day bring together both the human world and the Otherworld. A daughter that, in the end, was destined end the life of the Mage. This William couldn't let happen, but he needed an Heir. A son he could control and train to follow in his footsteps. To that end, William went to realm of the Otherworld to find a mate that would give him his desired son. In the court of the Tuatha De Danann he found what he was looking for. Eireann, a princess of the Tuatha De Danann and a cousin of Queen Ernmas, was exactly what he was looking for. Beautiful, shy, malleable, but with a aura of untapped power that drew the William to her, he wooed her for weeks. Able to change his persona like a chameleon, he became what she needed him to be to fall in love with him. In the end, he won her, they were married with great fanfare in the great throne room of Queen Emmas.
A gasp coming from the bed drew the midwife to Eireann’s side as she labored to bring her child into the world. She was spent, but so close now, the pressure building, the need to push growing stronger with each contraction.
"One last push Lady" the midwife instructed, "Push hard now!". The midwife’s helpers, standing on either side of Eireann, drew her shoulders up, to better help her bare down. Drawing on the last of her waning strength, Eireann pushed hard with the next wave of pain, a long, low moan escaping past her dry lips. "Push Lady...push" the midwife urged, "the babe is coming!" Another moan escaped Eireann's dry, cracked lips as she felt the baby slid out of her body. As the pressure of the contractions eased, Eireann lay back down on the bed. She waited to hear the cry of the baby but there was only the sound of midwife cooing.
"My baby" Eireann asked in a low, raspy voice "Is my baby alright?" "Oh aye" the midwife whispered "You have a healthy daughter."
Eireann moaned, "No..no..no..not a daughter. Not again." And she started to weep. She knew the fate of any daughter born to her.
As her tears started to flow, she was hit by a sudden pain, another contraction rolling through her. A small scream escaped Eireann at the unexpectedness of it. The midwife, just settling the small, quit baby into the bassinet, turned and hurried back to Eireann's side.
"Another contraction Lady?" she asked, surprised. Eireann could only nod and when the pain returned, she pushed. The midwife had just enough time to move to the end of the bed and guide another, smaller baby out. "Twins! A boy this time." the midwife said. The weak cry of the small baby boy sounded in the room.
Eireann tried to take this in as she lay back on the bed, weak and panting from the delivery of not one baby but two. "A son? At last a son." she quietly murmured. "He's healthy?" she asked as the midwife moved the baby into the same bassinet that the baby girl lay in.
"Oh yes Lady. A bit smaller than your daughter, but he's healthy overall." answered the midwife, her gaze moving back and forth between the babies, making note of the differences in them. The girl had a head of longer than average midnight black hair, with touches of silver white on either side of her face. Her eyes were a pale blue as she glazed quietly up at the midwife. Those eyes seemed to see right through her and she felt a fissure of power from the child that made her shiver.
"This one will be powerful when grown, if she lives." she murmured to herself. Her eyes shifted to the boy. He was smaller than his sister, born just minutes after her. He fussed, crying a bit, his eyes closed. His hair was shorter than his sister's, a sliver white with a tuft of black on each side. With his eyes closed, the midwife couldn't see what color his eyes were. There was a inkling of power from the boy too. Not nearly as strong as that from the girl though. "This child will have a hard time in his life." the midwife noted to herself. With a sigh, she turned back to Eireann, "Lady..we must inform your husband of the births. He waits in the hall." She hoped the birth of a son would please him enough to soften him toward his daughter.
Eireann protested "Just a bit longer...please. I would like some time with both children."
The midwife looked at the door to the hall then back at the small woman in the bed. Pity filled her eyes. "Lady I know what you fear. But we must call him in. He will be angry if we wait too long." As she walked toward the door, her helpers scurried out of sight, trying to become as invisible as possible. The midwife reached for the door stopping just short of opening it, looking back she made a promise, "Lady" she whispered so quietly Eireann had to strain to hear her "your daughter will be safe this time, I promise you this." Then she turned the door handle and opened the door.
The door swung open and William strode in stopping in the middle of the room. His gaze roamed the room, coming to stop on the bassinet, not sparing a glance for his wife in the bed.
"The child has arrived?" He asked of the midwife, his voice cold.
"Yes Lord a son-" the midwife started to say only to be interrupted by the Mage
"A son? Is he healthy?" he asked with some emotion in his voice. Moving to the bassinet, he looked down to see the baby. His head whipped around, black hair swaying around his shoulders, "What is this....two babies?" he demanded with a icy glare at the midwife.
"William please!" a small voice came from the bed "We have twins, a son for you and a daughter for me."
William stalked to the bed, looking down at last on the fragile woman lying among the bedding "Twins? A daughter for you?" he sneered "No...no daughters! I have my son; I have no need for daughters." Turning back to the swaddled babies, he picked up the baby boy, never once looking more closely at his daughter.
Walking toward the door with his son, Eireann cried out from the bed, struggling to come to her feet, "Noooooooo....my baby....please...don't take my baby again!" William stopped, turning back he looked at Eireann.
When he spoke, it was in a cold voice, "My dear I will do as I please. I will raise my son, there is a wet nurse waiting for him as we speak. I don't need you anymore." He looked at the midwife "Dispose of the girl. Say she was stillborn." At his words, Eireann managed to leave the bed, standing a moment before moving toward William.
With fury in her eyes she lurched across the room, “NO! You won't take another baby from me!" She stumbled, righting herself as she started to weave a spell of protection. But it had been so long since she had used her Fae magic. William had forbid it and she had bowed to his edict. Now she was paying the price for that, before she could finish the spell, William cast his own spell, stopping her words as they formed. She felt a coldness starting to creep over her, breathing became difficult.
The midwife rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around the gasping woman. "Lord! Please Lord..stop..she'll die!"
Watching the two women slowly sink to the floor, William smiled, "Yes, she will". Turning back to the door he left, taking his son with him.
The midwife looked at her helpers from where she was huddled with Eireann, a silent commutation passing between the three of them. Rose, youngest one, quietly slipped from the room and headed down the hall to a small room near the end of the corridor. Entering the dark, cool room she shivered. What they were about to do could cost all three their lives. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Gathering up a small wrapped bundle, she cracked the open door, checking that the hall was empty. Seeing it was clear, she stepped out and hurried back to the birthing room.
Reaching the door, she bowed her head and uttered a prayer to the Goddess before pushing open the door. The midwife looked up from where she was on the floor, tears streaking her face as she held the now lifeless body of Eireann.
"We must hurry before he sends someone to collect the bodies. Lily, take the baby and go. There's a car waiting in the ally. It will take you both to a safe house for now. Rose after Lily has gone, place the bundle in the bassinet." Lily rushed to grab her coat, and then gathered up the child, wrapping her in an outer blanket. With a last look at the sad scene before her, Lily turned to the door and checked the corridor. Seeing that it was empty she slipped out and hurried to the same far end that Rose had returned from. An exit was there, just at the very end.
After Lily left with the child, Rose gently unwrapped the small body of a perfect baby girl. A young girl had given birth just a few hours before Eireann in the maternity ward nearby. The baby had been born stillborn and the young mother, homeless and alone, had disappeared shortly after the birth. Having helped with that birth, Rose had come to the midwife with a plan to save any daughter born to Eireann. They would spirit the baby girl away and in her place they would put this poor baby.
As Rose settled the baby's body into the bassinet, the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard drawing closer, stopping outside Eireann's room. There was a knock on the door, before being opened from the outside, to reveal a group of eight men, William's personal guard.
The leader looked to the body of Eireann on the floor, still in the arms of the midwife, "We've come to remove the Lady and her child" he said, not unkindly, for Eireann had always been nice to all the people working for William.
The midwife looked up at him "Be gentle...she was a good Lady." With a last look at Eireann, the midwife rose from the floor, motioning Rose to follow her. Both women left the room, tears filling their eyes. They walked to the front of the medical center, out the glass doors and faded from sight, as if swallowed by the night.
Lily pushed open the door and saw the waiting car. With one last look over her shoulder, she climbed into the backseat of the car, strapping the now sleeping baby into a car seat already there. As the door closed and the car speed away into the blackness of the night, a tear slipped down Lily's cheek.