Poisoned Well

Prologue: Prophecy

Calithia san Warren Altutang, Heir to the Robes of Galia, stared down at the ugly face of her baby brother. Closed shutters brought out the dark redness of his wrinkled skin, and kept the aroma of spoiled milk within the Second San's ornate bedroom. Calithia's stomach queased.  Little Tutang hardly weighed down the Second San's arms as he squirmed, face scrunched up. His dark eyes rolled wildly. Dimness supposedly helped to keep the baby happy; didn't seem to be working as his screech pierced Calithia's head.

Tutang the Tenth had such a harsh sound, a name fitting for such an ugly baby. Scrawny face, twig arms and legs, wrinkly skin covered in yellow wax. He could have been an emaciated old man dipped in tallow but for the thick black fur that sprouted from his head. Puke covered his fancy green blanket.

"I thought babies were supposed to be cute," she said.

"Lithia!" Karina san Lain's face reddened, her arms shook as she seemed to be trying to soothe the baby. "Tutang is a few days old and over a month early. It takes time for infants to fatten up. He's hungry."

"He's a couple of months early only because you took something to get him out!" said Calithia. 

Karina's face could have been from one of the statues in Gallel's crypts: stiff and stern, not like the warm, motherly faces Lithia had seen on some of the servants who had new babies. "As the Kel's Heir, you have no concept of such things." She tilted her head back. "Gizelle! Where is my nursemaid? Is she wanting to be whooped before or after this child is fed!"

"My lady!" The slender blue woman shuffled forward in a bow, her pastel silks as graceful as her feet. Amethyst hairpins held her bluish-black hair in gentle knots and curls to her shoulders. "Janica will be here shortly with your lunch, she is but twenty breaths away. She will deliver the young kel to his nurse, and then the heir and I will continue our lessons downstairs."

"Well, I will have a few words to say to the kitchens for holding her up." San Karina grimaced and held Tutang at arms' length, turning her head away. She was likely disgusted with the smell, too. "Gizelle, take this thing. Make him stop crying with your wari magic."

"Yes, my lady." Gizelle held her arms out and took Tutang. Her smooth cheeks twisted into a warm smile as Tutang calmed. She tucked his blanket in such a way that the puke was folded away, then she held him to her chest.

Janica entered with a fragrant tray covered with a silver dome. She bowed as low as her bulging belly allowed, with arms outstretched. Gizelle took the tray with one hand and placed it on the darkwood table next to San Karina's bed. Janica's eyes then focused on the play of her once-slender fingers on the black silk of her servant's dress.

"I wouldn't want a baby, they're so ugly," said Calithia. "And loud."

Janica blushed, a smile twisting her lips. For some reason, this fifteen year old chambermaid had bedded Father, great Tutang the Ninth, and gotten pregnant before spiteful Karina managed to. Spiteful, because Karina had managed to birth the little ugly Tutang first. "A baby changes you," whispered Janica.

Gizelle stood taller, eyes wide as she held Tutang out tenderly with both hands in front of her. He squirmed but kept quiet enough. "Do not speak so harshly of your brother, Lithia. He will be the Kel some day. His children will be Galia's salvation."

"What? You mean, like with the robes and all?" Calithia's heart clenched as her arms lashed out at nothing. "No, I'm the heir, the smiting Robes are for me after Father dies. You can't take that away from me!"

"Your high stature will be taken from you by your own doing," said Gizelle, shaking her head. She held the baby protectively, as if by so doing she would secure his place in the Robes.