Prologue
It was in the grungiest little shack on a dead-end street that the cries of new life could be heard. Even the sewer rats stopped their scuttling to listen to the wails, quickly hushed by a scrap of cloth that soaked the blood and fluids from a warm, tiny body. Once wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, the old woman returned the baby to her mother. She struggled to sit upright and eventually settled for laying on her side with the baby beside her.
"She's beautiful, Maggy," the mother whispered. The baby made suckling noises with soft lips, her skin somewhat sticky and violet.
Maggy hobbled over to a chair in the corner and plopped with a sigh. "She'll be the talk of the district in a few years' time. Don't you know that?"
"No one will know," the mother said, watching with a fading gaze as her daughter's nose twitched. "No one can ever know. He's never been able to produce a boy, you see. If she's found out…" The mother rested her head on her outstretched arm.
Maggy frowned. "How do you expect to keep her a secret? Eh? That lord of yours is sure to notice the absence of your belly!"
The baby began to fuss again, hungry already, and her little eyes scrunched up in an anticipated cry. The mother simply smiled, closing her eyes with a huff. "You know as well as I do, I won't see him again. The bleeding won't stop. My vision has mostly gone already."
"You knew you wouldn't survive this," Maggy pieced together.
"I was told at a young age I wouldn't be able to have children. She was a miracle baby. My miracle baby."
Maggy stood then and took the child in her arms. She was so small and helpless, and Maggy's memories of her own children began to surface again. How long it had been since she had held a child in her arms. "And what do you suppose I do with her? I've long surpassed the ability to produce any milk of my own."
"Pretty Anne, down the way." The mother looked pale and exhausted. Maggy knew she would have to soak the sheets in vinegar for days to get out the stains…she cursed herself. How morbid to be thinking of her sheets when an old friend lay dying atop them.
"Pretty Anne. She's had her baby then?"
The mother nodded. "Challis."
Maggy blinked. "Come again, dear?"
"Her name will be Challis. That's all I wish."
The old woman cracked a smile. "A wonderful name."
The one-room shack fell into silence. Seeing the struggle on the mother's face to even lift one eyelid, Maggy bent with a popping spine to hold the baby close to her face. The mother pressed her cheek against her child's and a single tear slipped from beneath her lashes. There was a final breath, and then the baby began to weep, as if mourning her dead mother.
Maggy brought her back to her chest, rocking her back and forth with practiced ease. "Poor thing," she murmured to the bundle. "I suppose you're my child now, until my own dying breath."
As she turned away, a faint glimmer made Maggy pause. She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her, but, no, the glimmer was there against the fair skin of the mother's chest, reflecting the light of the candle flame beside the bed. Maggy reached for it and plucked it from around the mother's neck, shuffling closer to the flame for a better look. It appeared to be a ring with a deep emerald stone set into the gold. It hung from a gold chain, simple, yet radiating wealth and power.
"Just who was your father, little one?" Maggy mused. The child made a nasally grunt, squirming in her blankets. Without a second thought, Maggy placed the chain with the gold ring around the child's head. "I hate to say it, but it suits you."
It was only after she had buried the mother's body in the ever-growing graveyard of the district, only after she had scrubbed her only set of sheets in vinegar until her hands were raw, only after she begged Pretty Anne down the way to feed a second baby that wasn't even hers that Maggy said it.
"You're being awfully secretive about this child. I hope you're not thinking of trying to raise orphans again!"
"You don't have to talk during your feedings, Anne."
"At least tell me something about her, Maggy, I'm giving her my milk, for Maria's sake!"
Maggy watched the dark tufts of hair that floated around her tiny head like a halo of feathers as she suckled with wide green eyes. "Her name is Challis. And that's all I know."
...
Hello, all. I've been debating putting up this story for some time now, and I'm in the process of editing the original. This is Draft 2. The prologue is short and sweet, but the chapters get longer as we go. If you've read this far, I really appreciate it! If you have any advice or criticism, that is also always appreciated. Classes start next week, but I would like to update every week, maybe by Sunday nights. I only have a few chapters written, but I'm hoping uploading here will spur me to complete this, as I had a lot of fun writing the first draft. Thanks!