Prologue

Set almost two decades before the rest of the story

Our story begins a long time ago, in a world far away from here; a world of Elves, Faeries and magic. There is plenty happening on a night such as this. But we must focus on a young woman. She is scared, she is running and she is heavily pregnant. She left it a bit late, really, but she didn’t expect it to come so soon. At least she managed to finish her task; she knows the future for her child will be safe now.

It’s not the night to be out. If she had any choice she would be in a comfy bed with a steamy cup of cocoa to comfort her pains.

There are lights in the distance, one maybe two miles away. Lights mean a village; a village means people, food and a bed. No one would recognise her, she was a very different woman when she was crowned queen almost a decade ago, and her illness hadn’t helped. She had done everything possible to ensure her baby’s future, and now she needed somewhere to give birth.

The wind pulls her this way and that against prickly trees as the rain pours down. The weather is so bad that she can hardly see. Her stomach squirms and she falls against a tree.

“Just a bit further,” she whispers to her belly, “we need to go a bit further before you come out.”

She pushes herself up, breathing heavily. After a second or two she continues, pushing herself through the dense trees, praying for the sight of a hunter or lone traveller.

She prays to any and every god listening for someone to find her. She begs forgiveness for all her sins and wrongdoings, well maybe not all her sins. Although, ironically enough, her current situation is penance for her biggest sin, but that was another story.

It would seem that some god of amazing coincidences is listening, for her nostrils suddenly fill with the scent of smoke and roasting pork.

Filled with renewed vigour, she begins to run towards the source of this delicious smell. She falls through the last of the branches to find an invitingly warm looking farmhouse. Smoke pours from the chimney and lights flicker at the windows.

She runs towards the house and throws herself at the door. She hears a dog bark and collapses into warm arms as the door opens.

 

She wakes up in a bed. It’s soft and clean and it even has pillows. What a bonus, she hasn’t had pillows for months, she grins. But her happiness doesn’t last long; her baby is coming. Now.

Someone grabs her hand and tells her that it will be fine, towels and water appear and she spends the next few hours screaming and pushing, until she gives birth to a baby girl.

“She’s beautiful,” said the woman, stroking the small tuft of brown hair.

The new mother kept her eyes on the tiny elf and nodded.

“You know,” said the woman, slowly, “You look amazingly like that queen, Labella.”

There was a sharp intake of breath, the woman had guessed right.

“Don’t worry, my dear, I won’t tell a soul. I’m sure you have your own reasons for running through the forest to give birth to your child while all the kingdom believes you to be dead.”

“I-”

The woman waved her hand, “It’s none of my concern. Now you get some rest.”

“Thank-you,” smiled Labella, tucking a curl behind her ear.

All day she stayed in bed, but she felt her body become even more tired.

She named her daughter Tawny and in the afternoon she asked for pen and paper. She wrote a letter to her daughter apologising for her situation, and wrote another to the couple, thanking them for looking after her and asking them to take care of her daughter. She took off her jewellery and emptied her pockets of money, leaving it all beside the letters.

She lay down in the bed next to her baby and had died by nightfall.

Author's Note

Please give me some constructive comments =)