The Chronicles of Amaes Book 1: A Kingdom of Lies

Magic

Prologue

The baby had orange eyes.

Queen Meran gasped for air, her bright orange hair rocking back and forth  as her strained chest heaved. The queens usual stunning face was creased with pain and exhaustion, her last energy spent on the baby girl she now held in front of her. Death was coming to her, and fast. Already she could feel its icy fingers reaching for her, darkening her vision.

But the baby had orange eyes.

Meran made eye contact with Goderva, her handmaiden and closest friend, and the woman leaned close and listened as Meran made her final requests.

The other handmaidens looked at each other nervously. They all knew what the orange eyes meant. Goderva pulled away from the queen, her face set in stone.

" It will be done". Her grim voice was almost unrecognizable over the sound of the baby crying.

Meran nodded and pulled her child to her breasts, kissing its soft forehead. Goderva gently reached and lifted the baby out of her mothers embrace. The queen made no effort to stop her, her limp arms pale and lifeless.

The Queen of Amaes was dead

Goderva shed no tears for her fallen friend. There would be time for mourning later.

Handing the baby to an other woman, Goderva looked the handmaidens in the eyes.

"The king is not to be let in under any circumstances, is that clear?" She spoke with a fierce determination, her weathered face strong and hard. The other women looked at each other again and nodded.

Satisfied, Goderva turned and fled through the door to the royal chambers and through the hallway, rushing past the king and ignoring his frantic yell of her name. The king could not know. The queens dying wishes must be carried out.

Goderva ran through the castle until she reached a door in the military quarters. She pounded on the door as loud as she dared.

It opened to reveal a well built man in a tunic that reached his waist along with trousers that were loose and easy to move in. A long scar over one of his deep blue eyes darkened an otherwise handsome face.

Goderva opened her wrinkled mouth, but the man was already shaking his head.

" I know," he said in a deep voice, " I can feel the magic from here."

Goderva nodded solemnly. "You have to fix her."

The man snorted. " Fix her? Magic is a force of nature, as much as wind or fire.If magic has chosen her as a host,then there is nothing I can do."

"Then conceal it! Like you do yours!"Goderva begged.

The man turned away from the aged woman. "Why should I?" he asked, "The royal family has brought me nothing but grief."

Goderva looked at the mans back. "Because she is your daughter."

The man froze, midway through the motion of pushing the door shut. When he turned around, his eyes were a bright orange.

"Who knows?" he asked quietly.

"The other handmaidens." Goderva said breathlessly.

The man nodded. "They will be dealt with." He closed his eyes and sighed. After a few seconds of silence, He opened them. "It has been done." He said quietly.

Goderva heaved a sigh of relief. The man's eyes changed back to the blue they were before, and he pushed the door to his room shut . Only when he was alone he realized that Goderva had not mentioned the queen.

The kings screams and sobs echoed through the halls of the castle. Owila, one of the handmaidens who helped the queen give birth to the princess, hurried along to her quarters, still in shock of what she had just witnessed.

The queen of Ameas and the King of Ameas had produced a child of magic.

Owila reached her small room and locked the door behind her. Lighting a small candle, she turned around- to find a darkly dressed man standing in front of her bed. She opened her mouth to scream, but an invisble force clamped her mouth shut. The dark figure slowly stalked towards her, a long white knife in its hand. A deep voice came from the hood that encompassed the face.

"No one can know."

The figure raised his knife, and moonlight glinted off cold steel. Owila felt a red hot pain, and then everything went black.