The Forgotten Queen
A/N: I own nothing but the plot and my OC's but I would love to own Johnathan Rhys Meyers, He's so HOT! I loved him in the new Dracula. So AWESOME!
Chapter 1: Prologue
Everyone knows the story of Henry VIII and how he had six wives, of how he changed all of England just to get what he wanted but what if there was another part to his story that was hidden from all the world. What if there was something that Henry wanted to hide so much that he changed some things in history to keep his greatest treasures hidden from all who would hear of him.
Henry was known to change his mind at a moments notice, to tire of women quickly even his wives and he would take countless mistresses when he did. Henry also never had any true born sons, only his illegitimate son who died young, until later in his reign when a true born son was given to him by his third wife but what if even that was all a lie, what if everything we know about Henry VIII is just a cover up for how his story really happened and it all centres around a girl from a kingdom of islands that no longer exist.
A girl more special than anyone could ever have imagined, the girl who tamed Henry VIII, who became the lioness of England. And her name was Princess Catrinn- Alieha Bellveire- de Walter, the Princess of the island kingdom of Andeelei or as she referred to herself Princess Alieha, the Red Knight of Andeelei.
Their story together begins before Henry VIII married Ann Boleyn, when Catherine of Aragon was still Queen but exiled to another part of England, at the height of the seating sickness, before either Ann or Henry's illegitimate son fell ill. Where at Hever Hall in the darkness of night...
Lady Ann Boleyn paced worried for Henry in London but also for his young son in Richmond, behind her the door opens to reveal a beautiful woman with long dark almost black hair wearing a black tunic and dark britches,
"Hello Lady Ann, you asked me here for a reason I hope?" She inquired
"Indeed Your Highness, as you know there is a sickness spreading throughout England and The King has a young illegitimate son who I fear will not survive it if he stays." Ann explained to her guest.
"Yes I am aware of the situation at hand here in England, but please my Lady, my ship will only stay hidden off the coast for so long I do not want to raise suspicions if I should stay too long." Said the worried Princess.
"Yes of course, my point is, I worry for the King's son and I ask that you take him into your care until England is safe for him again, if it is not too much of a burden for you?" Ann asked in a hopeful tone.
The Princess thought for a moment about this strange dilemma of Lady Ann's and finally answered the worried woman with, "not at all Lady Ann the boy will be no burden, I have a carriage outside, come let us fetch him, from Richmond I believe, and you can tell me all about him on the way."
"Yes of course your Highness, I would be delighted to tell you of him, but we must think of a way to make sure that he remains safe without the King's knowledge, I haven't actually informed Henry of this at all and I wouldn't want him to think I were conspiring against him?" Ann asked as the women left Hever Hall and got into the carriage to make their way to Richmond.
"Ah Lady Ann leave that to me, I think you will find I can be very good at sticking to the shadows." The Princess soothed to Ann as they journeyed to Richmond.
Travelling only at night the two women reached Richmond fairly quickly and made it into the estate where they were greeted by the young Duke's attendants. When they explained their business and the idea they thought up the attendants were reluctant since the King asked for regular news on his son, however they did note that one of the Duke's nursemaids looked a little under the weather and were worried for the Duke, so when the Princess pointed out that she knew medicine she immediately checked out the nursemaid and stated that if the Duke didn't leave that night he would fall ill and die as the nursemaid had the sweating sickness, she also came up with an idea since she was told that a boy who looked exactly like the Duke had just died she suggested, "Allow me to take the Duke with me to keep him safe and away from sickness, then this boy who died dress him up as the Duke in case proof is asked for, inform the King that the Duke fell ill since one of his nursemaids is ill and had died from the sweating sickness. The real Duke would be safe in my care and the King could focus on his kingdom until it is safe for the Duke to be reunited with his father." To which they all agreed before two maids went to fetch the Duke from his rooms.
"Hello your Grace, my name is Princess Catrinn- Alieha, you may call me Lady Alieha if you like, I have come here to take you with me until the sweating sickness is over, so that you don't get sick, is that ok with you Your Grace?" Asked the Princess when little Henry Fitzroy entered the room.
The little Duke looked at his attendants, who nodded before answering, "It's nice to meet you Princess, I'd most like to go with you."
After returning Lady Ann to Hever Hall the young Duke and. Princess Catrinn- Alieha travelled to the coast where they deposited the carriage they had been using back into its owners care and placed all their things in the small life boat waiting on the beach which would take them to the ship waiting just off the coast ahead of them. The princess quickly got herself and the young Duke settled into their lifeboat and ready to make their way back to the vessel offshore that would take them from England and to safety.
Anchored off the English coast, the large majestic ship with imposing white sails and a large dragon figurehead on the bow which looked like it was breathing fire lay waiting for the return of its captain, the Princess of the Andeeleien islands, this ship was the pride and joy of its nation, the flagship of the Andeeleien Royal Navy, The Lilliana Reigna and in its shadow a small lifeboat could be seen carrying two people, one very small child and a woman, the captain of the ship. As the small lifeboat approached the ship the men aboard were rushing to ready the equipment aboard to bring the lifeboat back onto the ship, but could hear in the distance the voice of their captain and Princess speaking to her new charge explaining to the young boy what would be happening next, "-that is my ship which will take us to my father's kingdom, there you will be safe from the sickness plaguing your father's country and from any other dangers you would have befallen here. Once we are aboard the ship you will be known as my ward and I will settle you in for the night, then I must make a quick return to England to leave word for your father, however vague I can be at present, before we set sail for Andeelei where I will make sure you are well cared for, then in a few short months when all is settled in both Andeelei and England, I will return to completely inform your father of what has been done and when it is safe enough you and your father will be reunited, does that fare well with you young Duke?" after a moment of silence as the small lifeboat drew slightly closer the small voice of a child answered the Princess' query, "thank you Lady Alieha for explaining this to me, I will never forget your kindness or this deed you are doing." And with those final words from the young passenger the lifeboat reached the anchored ship, the shores of England in the distance behind them and the winch of the flagship came down to raise the small boat up out of the water and return it to the ship. As the young duke was lifted onto the ship before the Princess gave orders to her waiting second in command Lord Draconis Larian, who was also her personal guard by order of her father King James, "Lord Draconis, this is Henry Fitzroy, the Duke of Richmond and son of the current King Henry Tudor, he is in great danger in England and that is why we have come, from here on out this boy is under my protection as my ward, I must get him quickly settled and then make for London to deliver a short notice to his father of tonight's events, there was little time before removing the boy from his household, the danger to his life was to great, make sure the boat is ready when I return." "Of course your Highness I will see to it." Was the Lord's reply as the Princess and the young Duke made for the captain's quarters where the young Duke was tucked into a spare bed that had been made ready for him while the Princess had gone ashore to collect him and safely nodded off to sleep, a large black panther, the Princess; companion Luca keeping vigil over the sleeping Duke, as the Princess quietly wrote out a short but vague message to the King of England and just as quietly slipped out of the room to return to the deck and her lifeboat to deliver the message to King Henry the eighth, the young Duke's father about tonight's events and the presence of her ship off the English coast which had surely been spotted by now and the King notified of its presence, perhaps waiting to see what would happen.
Once back on the deck of the ship the Princess tucked a small note, which vaguely explained the occurrences of the night and that an anonymous ally had made a visit to English shores to aid a Noble citizen of England whose life was in peril into the tunic top she wore along with her britches which she preferred over dresses, the Princess returned to the lifeboat and gave her final orders for the night, "Lord Draconis, while I am gone the boy's safety falls to you and to my panther Luca whom I have ordered to guard him as he sleeps, if he wakes before I return assure him that he remains safe aboard this vessel and that I am delivering the promised message to his father the King, I will be back just before dawn for us to set sail and return to the Islands, any longer and I fear for all our lives will be in danger." With that the boat was lowered and the Princess once again made for England, this time her destination would be the palace of Whitehall in London and the chambers of its King.
In the King's chambers at Whitehall, near the Thames, the Princess Catrinn-Alieha had managed to slip in unseen passed the guards and servants and had entered into the King's bedchambers where she would leave the short message. Approaching the table in full view of the room she pulled the letter from her tunic and set it in clear view, the message clearly showing it was meant for the King with his full name and titles present on its front and turned to leave the room only to discover the King himself behind her at the doorway along with the Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon, both of whom she had not seen since the King had married his brother's widow Catherine of Aragon when he was 11 instead of her, she was thankful she had brought a cloak which had a hood to hide her face so they would not know it was her.
"How did come to be in the King's chambers? No one may enter without the King. Identify yourself or I'll call the for the guards and have you taken to dungeons." The Duke of Suffolk demanded stepping forward and drawing his sword on order to defend his King who was simply staring at the stranger in his chambers. Sensing no other option and knowing that perhaps they might not recognize her voice after not having heard it in many years, the Princess, with her hands raised in surrender and face hidden from view, replied, "I mean you and your King no harm sir, I am merely an unarmed messenger sent to place that letter in the King's chambers undetected, by now I assume you have been informed of the ship anchored offshore and that it bears no discernable flag to show whether it is friend or foe. I am here because it's captain has done His Majesty a great service this night and liberated a noble citizen of this nation from danger, allowing the King's Grace to focus his attentions on abating the sickness ravaging his kingdom, it is explained in the letter on that table which I was instructed to personally deliver to His Majesty's chambers discreetly, place it where His Majesty would find and leave without being seen, if I do not return within the next half hour and inform the captain, who is waiting in a lifeboat not far from the palace, that the message has been delivered so that they can return to their ship before the sun rises and make for safety, every life aboard the ship will be in danger including that of their Noble charge, please sir I must go I cannot have such loss of life upon my conscience." With sword still raised the Duke studied what he could see of the intruder, who was obviously female even though she was dressed in men's attire and whose voice seemed somewhat familiar but he could not yet place it, needing to hear it once more just in case and asked "How are we to believe that what you say is true, after all you could be misleading us in order for us to drop our guard and when we are sufficiently vulnerable you could attack and kill us both?" taking a step towards the intruder. "Forgive me sir, but I did say I bear no weapons and mean that completely, my only business here is to deliver the message discreetly and place it where the King could find and read it, so I will repeat my earlier words sir perhaps more clearly so you may understand, I. Mean. You. And. Your. King. No. Harm," the Princess replied, stopping on each of the last words of her sentence to emphasis them before continuing, "and if you do not believe my purpose here, His Majesty need only read the letter, and it must be His Majesty as the letter is meant for him, it is a short letter I'm told so it will not take long I believe, after which you must please allow me to return and inform the captain that the letter was delivered safely to His Majesty's chambers so that the ship may carry its charge and crew to safety, that is all I ask." The King who had been watching the intruder to his chambers throughout the exchange between her and Charles Brandon, although somewhat surprised that it was a woman, even with her face hidden, also believed that he had heard her voice before and so to garner more time to think on it slowly stepped forward and retrieved the letter from the table, opened it and read the short message informing him that a citizen of noble birth who was close to him had been in peril and the ship had been summoned by another who was dear to him to escort the noble away from England until it was safe for them to return, the letter also stated that the ship off shore belonged to an anonymous ally who had, with the help of the one who had summoned them, taken the noble aboard the ship and asked the first reliable looking person to deliver the letter informing the him, the King, of the nights events and that by the time he reads this letter the ship will be making its way back to where it had been summoned from to settle its charge into safety before returning with a representative of said ally to further inform him, the King, of what had occurred, who had been taken to safety and who had summoned and aided said ally to save the noble. Once finished the King placed the opened letter back down on the table and took a few steps away from the table finally realising who the intruder was, "lower your sword Charles, this woman speaks the truth," watching as the Duke of Suffolk lowered his sword the king looked to the intruder, who could see that the King had realised who she was, and continued, "but then you always did tell us the truth did you not Catrinn-Alieha Bellveire-Walter, Princess of the Andeeleien Islands and my once betrothed? Do you not remember her Charles, long dark hair and backbone beyond belief?" "Aye, now I do remember where I've heard your voice before miss, lower your hood so that we can be sure it is you?" the Duke replied to his King before turning to the waiting intruder. Slowly lowering the hood which hid her face from view the Princess said "I should have known you would recognize me Harry, forgive me, Your Majesty but it's been so long I thought perhaps you had long cast me from your mind and that I would not have to reveal myself so soon." And before both men stood the very woman they spoke of the Princess Catrinn- Alieha of the islands of Andeelei.
"Sit" ordered the King. "I cannot, I must return to my ship before dawn or all the lives of my men and the noble aboard will be at peril, I spoke no lie before I must go," replied the Princess and seeing the King about to speak again she continued, "and before you ask I also cannot reveal the identities of either the one who summoned me here nor the noble I have taken from this kingdom, for both their safeties, there are worse dangers than sickness on these shores Your Graces, much worse, I have little time that is why I did not just appear to you before and hand you that message personally, that and it is important I not be seen so that no one can trace the noble to me, however with that in mind I have taken precautions, in the coming few days the noble I have aboard my ship will be declared to His Majesty as dead, with a body nearly completely alike in place to be examined, so that no one will suspect that my new charge is alive and has been taken to safety, therefore no one will search for my charge, also the only ones aware of tonight's events are the three of us, the one who summoned me and my men here and the men aboard my ship all of whom are loyal to me and are keeping watch on my charge as we speak. Naturally as my charge is a noble close to His Majesty, and my ship has been anchored off the coast for a few hours now I knew it had to have been seen and His Majesty informed so a letter had to be delivered explaining my ships presence and the returning visit it will be making in a few weeks and since I have previous knowledge and can enter and leave this palace somewhat undetected, it seems except for when to comes to the two of you, I delivered the letter to your chambers personally hoping to slip away before you returned, it seems to be just my misfortune that you two should enter your chambers as I was making my stealthy little exit in order to be safely away from those who would seek to harm my charge and from the illness that equally threatens my charge. I have planned this short visit to the palace perfectly Your Majesty and if I do not leave the palace within three minutes I will not be able to reach the small lifeboat I have docked close by and return to my ship before sunrise so that my men and I can get the noble, my charge, safely away. It is bad enough that you are now aware of what is happening before my ship could leave and I can reveal no more but please Charles, King Henry, please I must leave, I must return to my ship and leave these shores, I will return within a month, one trip there and one back, though I cannot tell either of you the destination, please." The King paused for a moment and looked towards his dearest friend the Duke of Suffolk who nodded at him before speaking, "Go Leah, go with my blessing but you must return in one month and we will both be present, we will not speak of this night until you return." And with those last words both King and Duke watched as the Princess once again donned her hood and left, returning to her ship off the shore not to be seen by either for a month.
A Month Later
King Henry VIII paced in his chambers with the Duke of Suffolk sitting down at the table upon which the fateful letter had sat exactly a month ago. Since then much had changed in England, Henry had divorced Catherine of Aragon and married Ann Boleyn, the new Queen of England, whom he had come from seeing in her chambers not minutes before, also he had a sneaking suspicion that the noble who had been taken from English shores had been his illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who had been declared dead just two days after that night from sweating sickness, but he doubted his suspicion would be confirmed. Now he and Charles, his oldest and most trusted friend waited for the intruder of that night to return and explain as much as she possibly could about what was happening and why. Just then the door closed and a hooded figure stepped into view before removing their hood. "A month as promised, now Your Majesty, if you could join his Grace and please sit down we have much to talk about. Firstly the noble is safe but I cannot disclose the location it is better that neither of you know so please allow me to finish speaking before you ask any questions so that this goes quicker, there can be no record of my visit for all our safeties but I believe you have some suspicion as to their identity and I make no promises on whether I can confirm or deny your suspicions respectfully. Secondly I offer condolences for your young son Your Majesty and congratulations on your divorce and new marriage, she is more worthy of her new station than you know for it was your Queen who both summoned and aided me in saving the English noble who has come into my care, please offer her my thanks for her help and my congratulations as well. As to how she came to know me and how to contact me, we met before you and I were betrothed Your Majesty, in France when we were girls and had a likeness of mind to keep in touch with each other, it seems luck or fate as it were would have it that this would benefit His Majesty and your kingdom now. Thirdly, Her Majesties reasons for contacting me and summoning me here for this purpose were thus, not only was the sweating sickness a real threat to the life of the noble we saved but also some of the nobles peers, present company excluded of course, my Lord Suffolk, who would seek to see His Majesty and the Tudor Dynasty fall. The Queen gave me no names but said that her father and uncle may be involved because when His Majesty first came to meet her, it had been at their insistence that she woo His Majesties affections and secure the throne for her family, at first she was opposed to such treason but could not go against her father and uncle, hence why she sent His Majesty that little boat trinket, the symbol of safety, you represented safety to her, she told me once in a letter that she sent not long before summoning me here that she cared for you as any subject would her sovereign however at the time that was all, then after being taken under and surviving the sickness she sent another letter and told me that knowing of our previous betrothal she wished my approval to allow your courtship as she come to love His Majesty and was unsure of where His Majesty and I stood, I reassured her that we had not been in contact for many years before my last visit and barring the Pope's refusal of your divorce from Catherine, His Majesty was free to choose whomever he desired as his Queen, I see that all has apparently gone well for you both, I am glad for that. She has also informed me that they are not the only ones, there are many others all of whom seek to prevent His Majesty from conceiving any true born sons from anyone but their own daughters or even any true born sons at all. So I urge great caution for both His and Her Majesties safeties and that of any issue that comes of this marriage and perhaps any before it. Now tell me your suspicions as to the identity of my charge and I will do my best to inform you whether you are correct then I must go the longer I stay the greater the risk I will be seen and everything that has been done to protect His Majesty and his family will have been for naught." The Princess explained as quickly and as clearly as possible. The King looked to his oldest friend who nodded as if in agreement with his suspicion of the noble's identity. Looking back at the Princess, Henry said "It is my son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, is it not, that is both of our suspicions, mine and Lord Suffolk's." looking directly into the eyes of the King of England, Princess Catrinn- Alieha Bellveire-Walter stood and spoke "yes, Henry Fitzroy has become Harry Walsh, Duke of the island of Eiseli, Ward of the Princess and greatest warrior of Andeelei and as since he has my protection, England has a new ally for I swear on the blood of my ancestors that should England ever need aid, Andeelei will answer the call of Henry Tudor second of his bloodline and eighth of his name to be King of England, you and your heirs have our vow of friendship without the need or application of a royal marriage. However should it become safe for the boy to suddenly return from the dead and to England, the protection remains and I will personally escort him and any others who join him in hiding to their father's side. Now I must go or risk being found upon English shores with no official reason for visiting your Kingdom. May every god both living and dead protect you and your realm Henry King of England perhaps one day we will see each other again, maybe for happier reasons than this.
Little did any of the three present know at that moment, that within the next three years the Princess would return for another of Henry's sons, true born that time, one that even Henry had no knowledge of and soon after all of England and the three of them would be set on a long journey which would bring about the downfall of the great reign of the Tudor Dynasty.
A/N: Well prologue done. Which took me forever to write because there was so much to get into this prologue before actually writing the story but since I started writing this last year after going over all my story ideas, including The Stare That Started It All; which I have almost completed chapter 5 of and am thinking of ideas for chapter 6 which shouldn't take much longer because, as said in one of the reviews it's the same thing just different POV's but that's not all it is seeing as the next chapter starts directly at the end of the last. But staying up until half 4 in the morning to write the rest of this prologue before a busy day of food shopping with my sister, then job hunting and signing up at a job agency is worth it I think.
Sasukechic Out
