The Queen and her Ploughman

Part 12

 Libuše spent every night by the altar, hands clasped and praying. She listened and waited but nothing ever returned to her. The Gods were silent.

How dare they speak through Teta but not tell them what they wanted.

She resorted to screaming one night, only halting once Přemysl came to drag her back to bed.

She tried elixirs, designed to purify and restore. She tried salt baths and even, once, tried to drain the sinful blood from her body before Kazi caught her and forced her to stop. Her stomach grew ever wider and ever heavier, and the city was joyful.

A new heir! A new child! Oh, what good luck!

They of course knew nothing of why the first child had died. Libuše continued her work as Judge. She tried to make choices to appease the Gods, but the townsfolk simply thanked her and disappeared. Praha was rich and bountiful.

The baby was born in the nicest winter they'd had since building the city.

Lidomir, they named him. A beautiful young boy who shone like all the hope in the world. The winter was warm, all things considered, and they got through it easily. Teta had her ideas about that, but Libuše knew what it meant.

The Gods were forgiving her. Perhaps her desperation had been the key. She had demonstrated her regret and guilt more than anything else, and maybe now they were beginning to take mercy on her.

Lidomir grew fast and big. He was a lot like Libuše in many ways. Stubborn and kind and smart and big. He was strong, with broad shoulders and big, brown eyes. He would be a fierce fighter and good leader, Libuše knew this. He was nothing like Přemysl, who watched their child grow with distant eyes.

"I'm checking the tree," he said, when the child had reached the age of two and seemed healthy enough.

"Can't you see?" Libuše said. "The Gods have forgiven me - I received my punishment and will mourn Radobyl until I die, but we have new hope with Lidomir."

Přemysl shook his head. "No, it won't be that simple," he said. "You haven't changed your ways at all. You still act as Judge. You still give the city prophecies. They still think you're the prophet."

Libuše bit her tongue as Přemysl took his shaggy horse out, riding through the city and towards the cabin, resting on a beautiful patch of land next to the Vltava.

The hazel tree looked big. It had grown a lot, and it had grown well.

He was hopeful, until he noticed the beetles carving away at the wood.

He brushed them off, frantically trying to crush them - they were everywhere. The bugs seemed to rise up from the ground, appearing out of corners that shouldn't be there and swarming the tree. He stumbled back, and turned to mount his horse.

He found Kazi first, demanding she come with them. While she could find nothing wrong with the sturdy child, it was only four weeks before an incurable, mysterious illness consumed him.

Kazi was dumbfounded.

"I've never seen anything like it," she said. "It was... it was like he just... wasn't working."

Přemysl shook his head, and as Libuše fled, as they planned the funeral for their second son.