" The battle of all time shall bring a memory of love and life, the death of a loved one, guilt- saved for a rainy day, the passing day brought back to mind, the existence of someone in which place blame, the chase of revenge, the unexpected fall."
Felmont recalled the prophesy, that he once thought to have already passed. He had encountered this prophesy many years ago, from a blind witch, before the death of his brother, before the white queen banished her sister to the Outlands, before Alice ever arrived in Underland, in fact, it was even before he lost the title of Knave.
The witch was young was a stark contrast to what he had been told of witches, though he supposed they didn't just appear from thin air, old, wicked and wrinkled. She was his first kill, she claimed his pure heart, in every way. Felmont Stayne loved Isadora, the blind witch whose cottage he now hid in. Their love was rare and forbidden, and it happened by chance.
The young Knave had been hunting, his ego had gotten the better of him and he believed that he could go ahead without the party and catch a mighty beast. The hunting party were only looking small game, and all had been equipped for such activities, including Felmont. He was fighting the great Jubjub bird- and losing. The only the voice a being it believes to better than itself can tame the mighty Jubjub bird, and it did not Stayne consider as such.
However, the Jubjub bird did fear witches, the more powerful she was, the more it feared her. Lucky for Stayne Isadora just happened to be passing, and ordered it to holt, on her authority. It squawked angrily in his face one last time, wings out stretched, and flew away.
"Thank you, miss?" he said instead of asking her name, but she understood what he meant.
"Isadora and you are welcome, Felmont Stayne." Felmont was shocked that she knew his name.
"I beg your pardon if we have met and-" she cut him off
"No, we have not met, but I am a witch, I see the future. I'm sorry I cannot help you up, but I am blind to matters of those who are present, I only see your future."
It was only then Stayne realised he was still on the ground, "that is quite already you've been ever so helpful," with that he stood up and brushed himself off. "So, where am I to go now?"
"I can only see things that are for definite, not what the possibilities are nor can I see the outcomes," the young witch clarified.
"I see that's sad really, so you can't tell me if I will have the chance to repay the beautiful woman who saved my life."
"Now that I can, would honour me with your company at my dinner table and allow me to tend to your injuries."
"I would love to, but my injuries are quite superficial, there is-"
"If you had been battling a mere man or even another creature, I may have believed you, yet I know what the Jubjub bird can do, and I have foreseen your injuries. You cannot lie to me."
"Very well, lead the way."
The cottage was small and cosy on the outside, but on the inside, it had been magically extended and was a lavish as the royal palace. They spent a lovely evening together and she tended his wounds. He stayed until he was fully healed, which ended up being three weeks. Long enough for him to fall in love with her. He then needed to return the palace but promised to visit soon.
Upon his return, the Red Queen knew he had been furious, she demanded to know where her knave had been, but fury couldn't begin to describe Iracebeth's explosive temper when she realised her handsome knave had given his heart to a witch, "of all things a witch," is was she seemed to scream for hours on end. Finally, she demanded to know where this witch was and that she was brought to the castle and then "off with her head!"
Felmont couldn't do it Isadora, have soldiers invade her life, take her from it, let be imprisoned in the dungeons of Salazen Grum and finally watch the axe fall on his first romantic love. So instead he begged that the queen allowed him to do in private, alone, unfollowed and isolated. Iracebeth agreed on the condition that he brought he back the witch's heart- if she couldn't have her head, she had to have something, this made Iracebeth laugh insanely, and then she added, "one more thing!" the red queen giggled psychotically, "if you don't have my precious gift, for me by the setting of the third sun from now, I'll have both of your heads."
Stayne gulped and nodded as he backed away from his deranged queen. As soon as he was out the door of the throne room, he bolted heading straight for the woods, to the arms of his beloved. Once Felmont reached Isadora's warm embrace, broke down into tears. She comforted him, telling him he did not need to explain, for she already knew the queen's wishes. Withdrawing a dagger and an ornate box from a nearby cupboard, she lay them before the only man she had and now ever would love.
"Hush now, my love, for this is what must be," her voice was soft and reassuring.
"No, they're has to be another way," the sorrowful knave lamented.
"There never was from the moment we met, this was always our path, right until our bitter end."
The knave just sobbed on the floor, staring from his love to the items she had laid before him. After a while he spoke again.
"Was are to be the consequences of your death?" Felmont whispers were haggard from his anguished cries. That is when she spoke that faithful prophesy.
"" The battle of all time shall bring a memory of love and life, the death of a loved one, guilt- saved for a rainy day, the passing day brought back to mind, the existence of someone in which place blame, the chase of revenge, the unexpected fall."
Shaking Felmont lifted the dagger. Isadora warped her hands around his that were holding the dagger and together the plunged the dagger into her heart. The blind witch fell into the red knave's arms and gasped her last breath. The sound of Felmont's agony echoed through the cottage.
The fading light fled Isadora's cottage, causing Felmont to realise that he had complete the queen's task with two sunsets to go. He allowed himself that time to grieve for his beloved in peace. The next morning, he removed her heart carefully and delicately placed it the box she had left for him. Afterwards, he buried her body and marked the place with the dagger as a memorial. Stayne was then left with his thoughts, first they melancholy, grieving the love he gained and lost in such a short period of time. However soon they turned darker, remembering that Isadora said that there hadn't been another path since they met, since she saved him. His anger bubbled and boiled at the thought that she believed that she had the right to make that choice for him.
Before he knew it he was storming back the castle with the heart of a dead woman- that he no longer felt any sort of affection towards, encased in her own jewellery box. And suddenly he was kneeling before Iracebeth, head bowed, arms extended and raising the box above him. An evil laughing returned to ringing in his ears.
"Thank you, my favourite. Now I know your loyalty will never again waver." She was still laughing.
Despite giving him the prophesy, Isadora didn't actually tell Felmont Stayne what would happen not long after killing her. The rest of her coven were devastated. Blaming the Red Knave for their sister's death, they planned their revenge.
First, they cursed him so that he may never sire a child. Next, caused a slip of a sword in the training grounds of Salazen Grum, costing Felmont's younger brother, Ilosovic, one of his eyes. The instant Ilosovic had recovered enough to return to the palace, the coven sent illness to the Stayne brothers' parents, their father succumbed quickly however their mother fought her losing battle for many years. The distance separating the two brothers, Ilosovic at the castle rising in the ranks and Felmont tending their mother, causing the brother to drift apart, becoming more like acquaintances than brothers. When Madame Stayne finally passed on, Felmont had lost the title that had led to his meeting Isadora in the first place and the witches believed he had truly lost everything that mattered to him, but kept their eyes open for more ways to hurt him like planting the idea in the red queen's head that the only way to deal with Ilosovic's betrayal was to chain him to a throne and run him through, left there to be found by his brother someday.
Remembering all this, Felmont believed it was his turn for something good in his life. Something he truly wanted. And only Iracebeth's death seemed to fit the bill.
Beacuse you had to wait so long so an update that was a 1559 word apology, fairfarren all.
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Down With The Bloody Big Head
FanfictionThe unfortunate effects of Iracebeth's cruelity in the past on her future. A sequel to Take My Hand (don't think it's necessary to read it but if you get confused check it out). Cover thanks to Dark Hatter 2017. I sadly do not own most of the charac...