Hi… this is my first story. I hope you like it. Please, please, PLEASE review. It will make me very happy and motivate me to write faster! Have fun reading and don't get eaten by any giant worms!
-Catie
Prologue
A man clad in black crept along a long stone corridor, clutching a parcel tightly to his chest. It was wrapped in rough material and bundled up quite tightly, indeed. Every so often, he would stop to check the wrapping to make sure that nothing could see it… and that the thing could see nothing.
He journeyed through the castle for a quarter of an hour before the halls brightened due to torches bolted to the wall. The flooring turned from cold stones to lush carpets; the doors grew fewer and further apart, indicating larger rooms, and before long he came upon his destination, located at the end of a hallway.
The door was heavy and the handle made of iron, with a keyhole. The man swore, praying that it would be unlocked. He adjusted the parcel in his arms and reached out to the handle. With a small click the door swung open the reveal a luxurious room. The carpeting was thick and sumptuous, the wood paneling a deep oak. Across the room was a bassinette, which the man began to head for, carefully avoiding the spread of nurses, maids, ladies-in-waiting and other servants lying on pallets on the floor.
The man placed each foot carefully, breathing at quietly as he could. He at last reached the bassinette and carefully set the parcel on a table next to the cradle, presumably for changing nappies. The man took a deep breath, hardly able to contain his excitement. As he reached into the bassinette and felt a small, breathing creature under his finger tips, his thin lips curved into a grin. The man reached both hands into the cradle and pulled Princess Kaylen, the only child of the King and Queen of Lilbeth.
The child was sleeping peacefully, emitting light snores. The man unwrapped the bundle. Inside lay an infant who was identical to the child he was holding. They both had a blond layer of fuzz atop their round heads and where the same size. Nobody would notice the difference, save the nurse, but the man had already taken care of that. She lay in a hospital bed in the castle, dying due to poison slipped into her drink that night at supper.
Quickly and quietly, he transferred the princess's fine linen sleeping gown to the second infant, who was dressed in rough material, hastily stitched together by unskilled hands. The dress was discarded out a near by window which was open to cool the room of its summer heat. When he completed the task, the man picked up a small pillow lying in the cradle and held it over the princess's face. She barely struggled. Soon her pulse stopped. The man wrapped to corpse in the cloth, placed the other child in the cradle and slipped out of the room as silently as he had come.
When the man came into the hallway, he breathed a sigh of relief and shut the heavy door behind him.
"Good evening," a cool female voice spoke from behind him. The man whirled to face a tall forbidding woman with milk pale skin and hair as black as a raven's wing.
"Vivara, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"This is where I am now employed. I am lady-in-waiting. You, on the other hand, seem to be doing something much less honorable, Namir."
"Any person with a past such as yours is likely completing an untrustworthy task herself," countered Namir.
"I am doing nothing save for earning the King and Queen's trust. I have now told you my undertaking, you tell me yours."
"I am avenging my family, nothing more." Vivara peered at Namir, brow furrowed.
"How do you plan to do that? Your family was taken off the throne long ago. Even if you did have a daughter who was the same age as the princess, the nurse would still be able to identify the difference –" she paused, considering. "The nurse?" Vivara asked in disbelief.
"I needed to get rid of her."
"Put the child back now. You can't do this." Vivara protested.
"It is impossible to put her back."
"What do you mean?" Wordlessly, Namir handed her the bundle. She took it into her arms and moved the cloth aside to reveal the infant within. Vivara stroked the Princesses face with long spidery fingers and felt only coldness. Terror came over her face as she hurriedly rewrapped the bundle and shoved it back to Namir. "You killed her," Vivara accused.
"No one will know the difference," Namir said calmly.
"The act of killing an innocent baby goes against even my morals. Couldn't you just have kept her? Or left her on a doorstep?"
"It would cause hassle. I don't have any time for hassle." Namir explained.
"This is low, even for the likes of you." Namir shrugged nonchalantly. "Who is the imposter?"
"My daughter. I was hoping I would have the fortune of knowing a member of the staff. Somebody so close to the child is even better then I imagined. You could –"
"No," Vivara cut him off. "I cannot assist you here." Namir stood silent for a moment before taking a knife from his belt. Vivara stepped back.
"Somebody will connect my death with any changes in the Princess," she objected, eyes wide. Namir only smiled and cut a small leather purse from his belt. He pulled it open and took Vivara's hand, pouring a hefty pile of gold coins into it. Vivara pursed her lips, thinking.
"When the time is right, I will send a messenger with my ring." He slipped a ring off his finger and showed it to Vivara. It was silver with a falcon extending off the loop. The bird clutched a good sized black stone which radiated power. "She will be no younger than sixteen. The message will contain the city where I am staying, and where to meet me. You must find a way for the girl to get there."
"I'll do it." Vivara consented. "Until that time, I want nothing to do with you. Go." And with that, Namir was off, slipping down the hall as quietly as he had come.