To Wish Upon a Champion

Prologue

Authour's note- Hey guys this is the first time I wrote anything (I'm sure you can tell by the quality of the story) anyways comment and tell me what you think.. I love advice and I'm not scared of criticism. I'm trying to make this story as believable as possible and all the chracters are fictional.. anyways enjoy :)                                                                

     Prologue

 Somerset Castle England, 1575

Bad things always happen during the  night.                                                                                          

Screams of pain could be heard throughout the halls of Somerset castle. Downstairs, servants could be heard praying, beseeching their god to ease the pain of their lady. As the hours ticked by and the screams grew longer and louder, it was becoming obvious that their prays would not be granted. As more hours ticked by and the screams of agony didn’t cease, the servants knew that life at the castle would never be the same again. Up the spiral staircase and in the second bedchamber to the right, Lady Anne was struggling to give birth, to a child she and her husband wished and hoped for since the day they were wed, seven years ago. Outside the bedchamber a very anxious and worried Earl of Canfield was pacing in the corridor, eager for the nightmare to end. The Earl of Canfield was not a religious man by any account but that night he found himself praying to a god he never believed in or even acknowledged the existence of.

 “If you truly exist stop her pain”, he shouted to the ceiling with both fists raised into the air. All of a sudden as if god granted his wish the screams from within the bedchamber ceased and the only thing that could be heard was the strong wailing of a baby. Without a second thought he barged through the heavy timbered door and what he saw stopped him in his track. His beautiful Anne, the only woman he has and would ever love was lying with her eyes closed on the bed looking as pale as a ghost, in sheets shocked with blood. He took a deep breath and with wobbly legs approached the bed. 

 Sitting beside her on the king size bed he gently placed his wife’s small hand into his much bigger one. “Anne, Oh Anne my love please tell me you are alright”, he pleaded. What seemed like minutes to him but mere seconds to anyone else, Lady Anne opened her blue eyes and with a small breathless smile proudly told him they have a beautiful baby girl. “Oh Richard, isn’t she beautiful”? She said indicating with her head to the crying baby in the nurse’s arms. The Earl of Canfield not taking his now tear filled eyes of his wife brought her hand to rest against his slowly shattering heart and demanded she tell him that she was going to be alright. Before she could utter a word he heard a muffled sob come from behind him, he turned around sharply seeing his wife’s nursemaid crying in her right hand at the foot of the bed. He noticed the subtle glances that were exchanged between the nursemaid and his wife. “Nay, Nay!” he shouted clutching her hand that was now rapidly turning cold. Lady Anne smiled sadly while tears started cascading from the corners of her crystal blue eyes. “I’m sorry Richard, I’m really sorry”, Lady Anne whispered while sobbing uncontrollably and with her shaking right hand started wiping the tears from his wet cheeks. “Love our daughter like you love me”, she pleaded staring into his drowning brown eyes. When he did not respond she surprised herself with a strength she did not know she still possessed by squeezing his hand tightly and forcefully demanding he promise her. “Richard promise me now!” For the first time since marrying Anne he lied to her, breaking the vows they spoke to one another at the altar seven years ago in front of god, family and friends.  “I promise Anne just please don’t leave me. What am I to do without you”, he sobbed while now cradling her to his chest. With a final smile and her last breath she would ever take she closed her eyes slowly and never opened them again.

Feeling the sudden stillness of her body he looked down not wanting to believe she was gone. He started shaking her, begging that she open her eyes. “Anne, Anne open your eyes, please Anne”, he pleaded. When no sound came from the beautiful woman in his arms, he raised his face to the ceiling and opened his mouth releasing a heart shattering cry that passed through the door, down the staircase to the praying servants below. The Earl’s tormented screams of anguish and desolation echoed throughout the halls. It was a sound unlike any that the servants at Somerset Castle have ever heard and one they will not easily forget. Death had entered the once peaceful castle and it filled it with grief. They could hear the Earl shouting their lady’s name over and over and over again. When his eyes could shed no more tears he gently rested her head on the pillow and with a trembling hand gently brushed her sweat soaked hair off her face. He kissed her for the last time on her now pale blue lips, turned around and headed for the door.

“Milord would you like to hold your daughter”, a red eyed nursemaid Mary asked while holding the now sleeping red faced baby in her arms. With his right hand on the door knob he turned and looked Mary in the eyes. “She is not my daughter, she is nothing but a curse”, he spat without sparring a glance towards the sleeping baby. “But Milord your promise”, whispered Mary. Without another word or a glance the heartbroken Earl of Canfield quietly exited the room closing the heavy brown door behind him, leaving a stunned Mary to stare at the door in sorrow, knowing that the tiny baby girl in her arms will never know the love of her mother or her father.

In the dark hours of that tragic Autumn night a woman who was overwhelmingly cherished by the Earl of Canfield lost her life and a brown haired, brown eyed healthy baby girl entered the world. A girl that would not know for the first twenty three years of her life what it felt like to be loved, cared or needed by the people around her. A girl who would be constantly told was solely responsible for the death of her mother. This was the night that the beloved wife of the Earl of Canfield, Lady Anne Elizabeth Herbert died struggling to bring their baby daughter into the world.