Chapter 1
Tomorrow the battle would take place, no doubt about it. And all would be over, one way or the other. There would be widows, orphans, and executions. No matter who won, the losing side would be condemned, as traitors, or as shreds of the failed dynasty.
He wondered if he should have cared more. Either way, it was because of him; his obsession, his haste, his bloody carelessness in not making sure the Seven-damned letter reached its' intended in time. But his mind and heart was full of worry for those closer to it. His wife, his daughter, his son. His second wife (and may he be forgiven that),the child yet unborn. How angry she'd been when he refused to bring her with him! But an army on the march was no place for a woman carrying. Even more so for this woman. He could not stand the thought of losing her.
His friend and protector came in. He'd tried to leave the knight behind, tried to command him to stay, to guard the woman and the child, but his little wife had taken the knight's side and refused to let him leave without either the knight or her. So he took the knight, and cursed her for it, for valuing his life over her own.
"I'll wear your armour tomorrow", the knight said." You must go to the Red Keep. There has been a message from the Spider that the pyromancers are hiding wildfire under the city, and the King knows."
And everything changed.
The prince rode off to protect the wife he did not love, his children whom he did, and the city they lived in. And the Sword of the Morning donned his prince's armour, and died in the waters of the Trident.
The second wife bore her child, and lived though she never conceived again.