BORN OF BLOOD
Written by
AMANDA RANGANAWA
CHAPTER 3
The King departed from Theresa’s dwarf castle in a state of dismay and sorrow. His thoughts serenaded with the clouds as he tried to reach for an immediate solution to his sister. When the guards arrived at the castle with the King, he had only one thought in his mind. Blood. He wanted so desperately to feed on the miserable wench. It was only a matter of time.
The midwives stood outside waiting to receive the King. As soon as he got out of his chariot the three ladies rushed to greet him. They were all smiling and all three gladly announced, ‘’Our King, our Lord, our Master, the little Princess is here”.
The King’s heart skipped a beat and for a minute he looked like he had seen a ghost. The three women were confused but they still smiled, bowed and led the way for him to their Queen. His Majesty followed with slow steps. His child’s future was flashing before him and he felt depression and not joy. Madeline opened the door to where the Queen laid holding her child so tightly and kissing her softly. The mid wives left the King looking at his wife attend so affectionately to their cursed child. The Queen was planting tiny, passionate, and sweet kisses on the child’s lips, cheeks, eyes, forehead, basically anywhere. She raised her eyes and saw her husband looking at her. Her smile was so full and welcoming it drew him closer to her.
‘’Edward, why are you standing there?’’, she asked cheerfully. ’Come see this gorgeous baby that the gods have blessed us with.’’
Edward, who now stood beside his wife’s bed reached out his hand and touched the baby’s tiny face. She had brown smooth skin, big black eyes that shone bright, a delicate nose, full light brown lips and the shiniest black hair. She yawned so cutely, stretching her little face; she looked identical to her father.
‘’She looks just like you. Look at those bushy eyebrows. You gave my daughter your looks’’, she laughed ‘’…and yet lm the one who labored so hard. Its funny isn’t it... Here, hold her’’.
His wife handed him their child. Gently he placed the little one on his chest. He looked at the child so intensely, admiring her beauty and delicacy. Suddenly the look on his face vanished and was suddenly replaced by an angry look.
‘’My Lord, why are you staring at our child like that? What is the matter? ‘’ his wife enquired after noticing his devastating look.
‘’Theresa has bewitched our child’’
‘’Who? You mean little Elizabeth?’’ asked the Queen.
The child suddenly broke out into a loud shrieking scream. Her Mother stretched out her hands to take her but her father shook his head so she dropped them. She looked on as her husband soothed the baby and called her little Alexis. Immediately the child stopped crying.
‘’You renamed our child?’’ she sadly asked.
The King sat on his wife’s bed beside her and explained, ‘’I had no choice; Theresa has put a curse on our child. That’s why you were in labor for so long. She had put her markings on you. ‘’
The Queen pushed back from him in shock. He looked at her and continued, ‘’If we don’t call the child Alexis then the child will never love us. ‘’
‘’Is that all she wanted, for our baby to be given a name she has chosen?’’
‘’No, that’s not all. The name represents our daughter’s future. She wants our child to be the ruler and warrior that our family prevented her from being. Theresa wants our child to be the destroyer of Kingdoms and a traitor to everything our fathers built. She wants revenge.’’
The Queen was astonished by his words and several questions flew out of her, ‘’From us, why? We did not make the laws that stopped her from ruling. Those laws have been there for ages upon ages and for a bloody good reason too! What sort of vengeance and evil is this?’’ her voice rose with each word, ‘’ Has your sister gone mad? How dare she touch my child!?’’
The furious Mother tried to get out of bed but her husband stopped her. She waved his hand off and leaped out of the bed. The Queen felt a painful weakness seer through her body. The child labor had drained all her energy even though the midwives had fed her with plenty of blood afterwards. She had not fully recovered. The floor opened its arms to her as she collapsed. The King laid the baby on the bed and rushed to her side. Her eyes were open, filled with rage and tears.
‘’Kill her! Kill Theresa’’, she told her husband with a shaken voice. He looked at her with pity and informed her that Theresa’s funeral meant the death of their child. Upon hearing this, the poor woman wept in the arms of her husband. The King held his Queen as she wept the tears of hate and regret. Soon she stopped crying and drifted into a deep sleep. The King carried her to the bed, led her by their baby’s side and left the room.
His furious steps could be heard ten staircases down the palace. As soon as the Gifted One heard the direction of his foot path she quickly rose from her chambers and followed the King. A huge black door stood in front of him. The door had the shape of a werewolf and a handle that looked like a snake. The King reached the handle and opened the door to a candle lit, horrific room. Skeletons lay on the walls of the room, and a large black coffin lay in the middle of the room. King Edward touched the coffin and stared at the Gifted One, who stood a few feet away from him.
‘’Raise my Father’’ he demanded.
The woman who looked like a spiritual medium, wearing red cloth and bone necklaces nodded and asked ‘’How many do you want for the sacrifice?
‘’Make them three’’ the King responded. ‘’I need answers and l need them now. So those should be more than sufficient. Make it quick’’
Upon hearing the order, the Gifted One turned to the guards and raised three fingers. Immediately the guards left in a hurry. Five minutes later they came back dragging three gagged girls. The three young maidens looked around the age of 15 and 17 years. They were all terrified and wept bitterly as they entered the room. One of the girls walking behind the two tried to make a run for it, but was stopped by a fist punch in the face by one of the guards. The girl screamed a painful muffled cry but did not receive any sympathy from the Gifted One upon whose feet she had fallen on.
Using her head the Gifted One pointed at the coffin and the guards pushed the girls forward towards it. King Edward lifted the lid and there inside lay the royally clad bones of his father. The expensive burial rob was soaked with dry blood. Three of the guards stood behind the girls each holding her head down towards the corpse. The girls tried to struggle to no avail. Their efforts were suddenly stopped as three swords sliced their heads at the same time. Their blood dripped on the dead King’s skeleton. The skeleton started developing skin. With each blood the skeleton soon had the fleshly body of the late King Spencer.
‘’Father’’, King Edward addressed the body. King Spencer opened his blood shot eyes and grinned. His mouth was covered in blood, his teeth blood stained and his face an animistic terrifying ugly mold. The guards dropped the girl’s dead bodies and withdrew from the risen Lord. The body in the coffin rose and sat.
‘’Edward’’, exclaimed King Spencer. ‘’These days you are fond of ruining my burial clothes. I take it my grandchild has been born. What is his name?’’
‘’It’s a girl Father’’ responded Edward
His father’s face dropped as he gasped out an ‘’ooh’’ that his son quickly picked. King Spencer had hoped his grandchild would be a boy. A girl child had almost cost him his life before. His son explained to him about Theresa’s curse on his child and how it could ruin his child and the Kingdom. The older King gazed at his son and murmured a poetic riddle to him.
‘’The way of life has never gracefully accepted its end
As one leaf falls another grows
As one cries another laughs
As one sleeps another awakens
The twists and turns cannot be perfected’’ said King Spencer.
‘’Your sister is a witch and l should have had her beheaded the first time she tried to destroy this Kingdom’’, he added.
‘’How do l stop her now, that is the question?’’, King Edward desperately asked. He looked at his father as he hoped to hear a solution that would allow him to destroy Theresa for good. His father looked at him and shook his head and sadly answered him,
‘’By killing your child’’.
