The Last Heir

Prologue

Run.

Her heart slammed against the bones in her chest in time with the impact of her feet to the Earth. Her torn dress threatened to trip her over with each stretch of her legs. Her eyes remained focused on the edge of the forest, on the buildings beyond it, and her heart held onto the hope that swelled within it at the sight of them. 

The rustling in the bushes and other foliage behind her made her hasten her pace, and her breathing turned heavy at the sound. They’re right behind me, she thought. She burst out of the forest and lunged around the corner to dive underneath an empty market stall for the night, hiding under the counter to get away from those chasing her. 

She moved the cloth around the item in her arms, revealing the small, full face of an infant. Still asleep. She sighed and brought the baby closer to her chest, letting her child hear the heartbeat and stay that way, despite the bumpy ride all the way from Tamydas. 

She tore the dangling pieces of her once beautiful dress, and left the remains of them in the stall. 

When she was done, she realized the streets had fallen silent, and a pit formed in her stomach at the absence of her pursuers. She allowed herself to peek out from the stall, stared at every rooftop. If her pursuers had seen her jump into the stall, they revealed no sign of themselves, whether they lingered around corners or on the rooftops. She lingered in the stall before coming back out and taking careful steps toward…

The other side of town.

She bolted from her little area of cover and her pursuers revealed themselves in front of and behind her, blocking her from escape. She clung to the baby in her arms, who stirred just a little as they closed in on its mother. “Please. Why are you doing this? You don’t have to kill me,” she begged.

One of the men who’d chased her stepped forward. “Those who are impure must perish and join Mother Gaia and her Lost Souls. The Tashkana has labeled you as impure. Therefore, you must die,” he said.

Her eyes widened and she tried to run, but another man caught her with his blade through her stomach.

The momentum she had from bolting the way she did had sent her baby to the earth, waking it up completely, along with a seemingly ordinary wooden box, and the crown that had sat upon her own head. The baby sent a shrieking cry throughout all corners of the town, almost piercing the eardrums of those who’d stabbed its mother. 

The man who had stabbed the baby’s mother moved his sword to cut up to her neck, then shoved her from the blade with his foot, sending her to the dirt beside her still crying child. 

Another one went to stab the baby, but a third man put a hand on his shoulder. “No. Silencing the baby would bring more alarm. Come, let us move out. We are already at the risk of getting caught.”

“Then what do we tell the Tashkana?” the second person asked.

“They don’t have to know. We can tell them he’s dead and they’ll be none the wiser to believe it. Now, come on.”

With that, they each left via the rooftops once more, leaving the woman, the baby, and the box behind as the first person came around the corner. A plump looking woman, still in her nightgown. They saw the dead body and the baby and gasped, rushing to their aid until they saw the pool of blood underneath the woman’s body. “Oh, my sweet Lord!” she cried, picking up the baby and cradling it in her arms until the crying subsided. “Hush Little One. Everything will be alright,” she said. She glanced around the area and noted the footprints around her and the baby. “Murdered…” she muttered. “Oh you poor thing,” she said to the baby as her neighbors and friends came around the corner.