Prologue
A storm raged on the streets of Haven one cold winter night. Rains fell with angry fury and the wind whipped through the houses and trees. Thunder roared and lightening danced around the skies. It threatened to knock down the ramshackle buildings around Exile's Gate and shook a tiny tavern called The Boar's Head. Tucked away in a little room, a woman moaned as contractions crossed her frail body. The tattered clothes she wore were once made of the finest materials and her delicate, though pain-wracked face was once beautiful. But now, only a midwife who dared to cross the streets to be with her friend and a servant, Sorka, who had heard her cries of pain stood by her while she screamed in pain and the child in her womb demanded to be born.
"Push, Ilene!" she cried over the angry storm. "Just a little harder!" Ilene arched her back and pushed with all her might and a little red head could be seen between her legs.
"It's coming!" Auld Eulima cried. "Sorka, hurry over here and support her." Sorka rushed to take Eulima's place while Eulima made a mad dash to grab a cloth to catch the baby. After what felt like an eternity, a pair of shoulders and then the rest of the child slipped out in a gush of blood. Ilene collapsed on the bed, spent with exhaustion while Eulima tied off the cord and cut it. She then dried the baby and wrapped it in a clean cloth to present it to its mother. But the sight of Ilene, with blood gushing from her womb, made her face turn ashen.
"Sorka!" she cried. "Try to stanch the bleeding!" Sorka grabbed a cloth and jammed it between Ilene's thighs but it was soon soaked through. "Ilene!" Eulima cried. "Don't leave me and your child here alone!"
"My baby," Ilene said weakly, her delicate face as while as snow.
"You have a girl," Eulima said, tears starting to well in her eyes. "A beautiful baby girl."
"Call her…Mairi," Ilene gasped out, so quietly that Eulima had to strain to hear her. "Take care…of her…for me…" Ilene said and fell back. Eulima looked up from he tears and saw Ilene, her beautiful young friend, still in death. She freed one hand from the wailing baby to close Ilene's eyes, and motioned for Sorka to cover her.
"Well, little one," Eulima said to the wailing child in her arms. "I guess I'm to take care of you now. Now let's find you some food. You do have a loud set of lungs, you know. A good healthy, strong baby, y'are."