For there shall be no more night, darkness or shadow,
For behold the light shall overcome the darkness,
And the Earth and the Heavens above shall be full of light,
For the enslavement to darkness and all evils shall end,
For only light and righteousness shall prevail.
- An excerpt from the book The Future of The Heavenly Realm.
Screams of agony could be heard coming from the bedchamber of Lady Mira also known as the mysterious Lady of Fountains. Her beauty was so great and she outlived most of her kind, and she never seemed to age. She was giving birth. The air was thick with sweet incense and sweat, and the low chants of protective spells and soft melodies of a group of midwives could be heard.
"Just a little more, my lady, do not give up," the midwife urged her gently.
Mira lay on her silken sheets in bed, clutching the sides as the birth pangs shook her entire body. She was drenched in sweat, exhausted as she desperately bit on the silk rope to keep from screaming in pain.
"It's only for a little while more, you're almost through," the midwife encouraged.
"We don't want the enemy to hear your screams or the child will be dead before she draws her first breath."
Mira nodded her head weakly, her grey eyes filled with tears that cascaded down her pale cheeks. She would see her baby's face, even if it killed her she thought as she pushed again.
The old physician, an old man with a white beard, whispered "she's coming out now, my lady, one more push."
"I can't ....." Mira's voice cracked in pain and desperation but the midwife whispered to her,
"yes you can, just do it for her and for him."
At the mention of Lord Tristan the King of Night himself, Mira clenched her jaw and pushed once more.
A sharp silence followed then by a little wail.
She was fierce and defiant.
"The babe lives," the physician breathed out in relief.
The midwife bathed the baby and wrapped her in black velvet cloth etched with protective runes in silver, then handed her to Mira.
Mira took her daughter and wept silently as she looked down into her violet eyes that reminded her so much of her lover King Tristan.
"You may be the last heir of this realm, and the day will come when the world will know you and appreciate you for the balance you stand for and uphold. But tonight you are my little secret and my dearest daughter."
The midwife tried to hush the child to silence but Mira stopped her by saying, "no, let her voice be heard in this wretched place and may the shadows of darkness remember her name."
The midwife hesitated for a split moment but then bowed her head in compliance.
"What will you name her?" asked the physician, out of curiosity.
"Nyx", whispered Mira after pressing a kiss to her baby's forehead.
"She is the only and the last daughter of night and heir of shadows. But she will always be the light of my darkness."
Thunder rumbled low in the sky and lightning flashed across it violently as the wind rattled the windows, shoving the curtains aside as though to greet the newborn. While King Tristan remained completely unaware and completely in the dark that his little girl had arrived to greet the world.
Another midwife quickly added another layer of cloth to swaddle the baby, this one was a black linen laced with enchantments to dull her presence to the senses, so her enemies could not detect her movements.
"We must hurry, my lady, we are running out of time. They are already looking for you, my lady they have noticed your absence from court for too long a time."
"I am well aware," Mira whispered as she cradled her daughter a moment longer, savoring her scent, warmth and her heart ached for soon she would be apart from her for God knew how long. This was probably the last time she would ever see her again. She had had beautiful dreams of raising a daughter by her side not sending her into exile the moment she was born to keep her safe.
The old physician approached Lady Mira with a satchel of healing tinctures and herbs.
"I shall delay them awhile my lady, and mislead them. We must hurry and change the linens and the sheets you lie on."
The midwives quickly separated mother and daughter and gently lifted Lady Mira out of bed to change all the linens and sheets, remove all traces of blood and sweat. They changed Mira's dress which was stained with blood being careful to not leave any trace behind.
Then they gently set her back in bed and placed pillows around her.
Mira smiled with unspoken gratitude at them. The physician had been loyal to her before Lord Tristan's court had become a nest of vipers with each seeking their own ambition.
Still another midwife opened a concealed door that was hidden that led to a narrow passage way that finally led to underground tunnels beneath the castle into the Wildwoods which lay beyond the borders of the Night realm.
The pathway that Mira had no choice but to watch her newborn baby take.
"She cannot go alone," Mira said. "She's too young and fragile."
"She will not be alone," the midwife said revealing a small silent figure of a woman from the shadows cloaked in a black cloak with no scent and no sound to her footsteps.
"The Raven Sister has offered to take her to the temple hidden in the Hollow Mountains. She has sworn to silence and to protect the child with her life."
Mira looked at the veiled woman and nodded her head hesitantly, wrestling with the fact that she had no choice but to entrust this woman with the safety of her baby.
With a final kiss to her daughter's forehead, Mira passed Nyx into the arms of the Raven Sister and though her heart wept blood, she held her composure trusting God would make her daughter's path sure.
"She will return when the time has come for her to take her place," the midwife promised.
"When prophecy stirs and the dark realms begin to fracture then the last heir will rise once more."
"Until then?" Mira asked already growing sad.
"You must survive and remain strong for her," the midwife said, pressing her hand gently.
The sound of footsteps quickly approaching alerted them at once.
The Raven Sister slipped into the tunnel with the child pressed close to her chest, concealed below her veil. With a flick of her wrist, the door to the tunnel sealed shut and the bedchamber looked exactly as it was, not a thing out of place or out of the ordinary.
Mira then wiped her tears away and straightened her shoulders as the footsteps came through the door of her bedchamber.
Guards stormed in led by Captain Varn a brute cruel man with large eyes, he surveyed the room like a predator hunting his prey.
"My Lady," he said with a mock bow, "we were told there were strange noises coming from this chamber. Muffled screams some would say."
"Are you unwell?"
Mira postured herself with all the calmness and courage that she could muster.
"I had a fever," she replied.
"This place smells a little like blood and spell work", he muttered under his breath, he gestured to his men to search the place.
The guards tore through the room and overturned the chests and emptied out her drawers, smashing pots and jars looking for signs that blood magic had been worked in her chambers.
Mira patiently waited, unmoved at all the damage to her personal items the search had caused. She allowed them to perceive what they needed to which was a noblewoman having a fevered dream not a mother who had just given birth.
They looked around and found nothing.
The old physician stepped forward and said "perhaps if you would like me to explain what concoctions I have been mixing for her ladyship to recover from her fevered dreams...."
"That will not be neccesary," Varn said with a flick of his wrist he ordered his men to leave the room.
The air shifted and the temperature dropped when Malrec the high mage of the realm entered to inspect it for signs of blood magic.
His beard trailed down to his chest, and his eyes glowed faintly with a malicious light. He carried a staff of blackened wood crowned with a crystal that pulsed as he stepped over the threshold.
He was after all, Lord Tristan's most trusted advisor.
"My lady Mira, you look tired, pale yet power radiates off you in waves."
"Care to explain my lady?"
Mira met his gaze boldly. "I was visited by visions," she said, echoing her earlier lie. "The fever broke not long ago."
Malrec drifted closer. "Perhaps. But there has been blood in this chamber. The scent of new life clings to the air."
He turned towards her, realisation dawning slowly. "You must have given birth."
The guards stiffened outside. Varn looked at Mira, stunned, hand resting on the hilt of his blade. "My lady… is this true?"
Mira lifted her chin defiantly. "No child lives here. You may search all you like."
Malrec's eyes burned brighter. "You forget, child. I have seen a thousand births and a thousand deaths. You smell of it."
He leaned in closer to her, voice low and dangerous. "Where is the child now?"
Mira's heart thundered but she didn't flinch.
"He died," Mira whispered, her voice cracking perfectly. "Too early. Too small. I buried him myself in silence… so no one would know my shame."
A long silence stretched taut under his scrutiny.
Then the mage stepped back. "Interesting," he murmured. "The blood of the Lord of Darkness rarely dies so easily. Still… a corpse leaves traces. I will look into the shadows. If you lie, they will show me."
Mira said nothing in return.
With a final lingering glance, Malrec turned and left. The guards followed, though Varn cast one last glance over his shoulder, uncertainty etched deep into his frown.
When the chamber was empty once more, Mira let out a breath of relief.
Her daughter lived.
But now the hunt for her little one had just begun.