Ruby and the Blue Flames

Chapter 9: River of Blood

Endless screams filled the Lord of Loaal's chambers, relentless and agonizing. Blood spattered across the bed sheets, a grim testament to the suffering woman labouring there. Midwives surrounded her, their faces etched with helplessness and fear.

Alphaline stood beside Callon, trembling. For the young knight, it was unsettling to see his Lord, once a pillar of strength, reduced to a ghostly figure of worry and dread.

"Meribeth..." Alphaline whispered, his voice cracking.

Callon placed his hands on Alphaline's shoulders, trying to offer support. He was just a boy, clueless about how to ease the turmoil.

The screams echoed through the night, each one a knife to Alphaline's heart. He fell to his knees, covering his eyes as if to block out the nightmare.

"My Lord!" Callon cried, bending down to hold him. "Stay strong!"

"Alphaline!" Meribeth's voice cut through the air, raw with pain.

"I'm here, Meribeth! I'm here!" He stumbled to her side, grasping her hand. "You're doing well, sweetheart. So well."

But his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Meribeth's cries of agony continued.

Tears streamed down her face. Alphaline could only hold her hand, pressing desperate kisses to her knuckles, lost in his own helplessness.

Then, amidst the chaos, a new sound emerged-a baby's cry. Meribeth's wails subsided, replaced by a fragile silence.

"My Lord... it is a girl," one of the midwives said, her tone heavy with disappointment.

"A girl?" Alphaline repeated, his voice barely above a whisper.

Callon strained to see the newborn, but the midwives crowded around, blocking his view.

The baby's cry suddenly ceased.

Panic surged through Alphaline. He pushed through the midwives and took his daughter into his arms. "Why is she quiet? What's wrong?"

"Alphaline... let her go..." Meribeth's voice was weak, her hand trembling as she reached for him.

He turned to her, his daughter limp in his arms. "I promised you a son... I am sorry," she murmured.

"No... it's..." His gaze fell to his daughter, her tiny chest still, her eyes shut tight. Despair gripped him until he felt a faint, erratic movement.

"... Erisalyn," he whispered.

"What?" Meribeth gasped.

"Her name is Erisalyn," Alphaline declared, a smile breaking through his tears. "Erisalyn Loaalies." His firstborn child, the symbol of new hope for Alphaline.

As if on cue, Eris let out a loud, healthy cry.

"Shh..." Alphaline tried to soothe her, but his relief turned to horror as he felt a warm, wet sensation. Blood was dripping from his arms, pooling on the floor.

"What the..." he gasped, staring at the crimson liquid.

The blood snaked across the floor towards the chamber door, like the streams of a river. Those it touched fell unconscious, one by one. Meribeth recoiled, inching away from the edge of the bed. Alphaline stood paralyzed as he wintnessed the midwives inside the room drop to the ground stiffly.

Callon moved to check on one of the fallen midwives but stopped at Meribeth's urgent cry. "Stop! Do not touch the blood!"

Callon turned back to Alphaline, confusion etched on his face. Alphaline, drenched in blood, stood unharmed.