Today is a very special day, my peeps: September 14th, the birthday of two of my main characters, Irad and Gilead. Fifteen years ago, in a galaxy land far, far away, the future of the Zoarish Empire was forever changed with the birth of twin half-breeds to a Shilonite queen alone among foes. As such, it is my pleasure to present you with the prologue for A Tale of Two Brothers, which happens to have occurred on September 14th. Interested? Read on. 🙂
ATOTB: Prologue
Sweat matted dark hair to her forehead as blind eyes roamed the room, searching for any source of comfort in her pain. Her muscles contracted, forcing her back into a painful arch as she screamed, “Shaddai!” as if the name would bring her comfort. A moment later she collapsed back onto the harsh pile of straw, breathing heavily.
“He can’t help you here, queen.” The word was spoken with such contempt it didn’t seem right coming from the fair midwife’s tongue. Her flaxen hair was braided around her head, her blue eyes flashing as she beheld the agony of the woman on the straw. “You are alone.”
“N-no.” The queen’s breast heaved as she tried to regain her breath. “He will never – leave me – nor – forsake – me – aaaaaaah!!” She arched again, screaming prayers and pleas to the stone ceiling above her head she could not see.
A second midwife, with silvery hair flowing down her back and a snappish look to her periwinkle eyes, snorted. “Don’t even try to reason with her, Adriel. She’s one of them, stubborn as a mule about her foolish beliefs. She will face the judgment of the gods soon enough and that will be the end of it.”
The queen had fallen back once again as the second midwife spoke, but now she fastened her dark, clouded eyes upon the midwife, murmuring, “Yes. Yes, I will face judgment. And so will you. What will–” her words were cut off as the contractions took her yet again, this time even more ferocious than before. The calm night was shattered by her cries.
A third midwife, her springy hair enclosing her pointed face in a poof of copper curls, frowned. Nervousness bubbled in her stomach as she watched the woman in labor. “It’s coming, Cozbi, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” the second midwife answered, drawing closer to the queen as her screams reached blood-curdling volume. “Push, woman, and bring this to an end!”
With a final heave, the queen collapsed onto her rude bed, tears streaming down her face even as blood stained the straw beneath her, not heeding Cozbi’s cold hands as she reached for the babe and held it up, inspecting it.
A newborn squall echoed around the room, bringing a brilliant smile to the young mother’s face. “Praise be to the Almighty One!” she cried, reaching for the child. “Praise Shaddai, it breathes!”
The third midwife’s muscles relaxed as she said, “It is a he,” trying to keep all gentleness out of her voice. Cozbi handed him to Adriel, who beheld him with disgust written all over her pretty face.
A look of annoyance crossed Cozbi’s features. She shook her silvery head as the queen’s eyes widened, every muscle trembling as contractions took her again. “You’ve been carrying twins. Of course – why couldn’t you have made this simpler?”
“What should I do with this one?” Adriel asked, holding the child out at arms-length as his wailing mingled with his mother’s groans. “The pair of them are loud enough to bring all of Shilon upon us.”
“Keep it until the other is born,” Cozbi replied, glancing at the groaning queen. “Then we will dispose of them all at once.”
“Why did we have to bring them here?” Adriel asked. She glowered at the babe held between her fingers. “We could have killed her back in Kadesh and her vile young would have died as well.”
Cozbi sighed. “Don’t you ever listen? We would run the risk of someone finding the body and saving the children, not to mention finding out that she had been killed. Elohe has already begun the rumors of the queen leaving Nahor on her own. As long as we leave her to die, it will all look like an accident, if she is found. Ah, here comes the other.”
A scream ripped from the queen’s throat as her back arched, every muscle in her being tensed to bring her child into the world. Blood spread across the straw. Her fingers groped for something to hold, something to steady her in her agony.
Within a few minutes, a new, choking wail joined the first child’s. The queen collapsed again, sobbing, reaching for her baby. “Praise Shaddai,” she breathed over and over. “Praise Shaddai, it’s over.”
Cozbi picked up the child, supporting its head with her fingers. “Another son, queen. Blind and useless, if I judge rightly. Just like you.”
A laugh, roughened by her earlier screams, escaped the woman’s throat. “Two sons, Nahor,” she murmured. “And we thought we would be without an heir.” She stiffened, her voice breaking. “Please, I beg you – let me hold my sons once before you kill us. Let me kiss them at least once.”
The third midwife, Elohe, glanced at Cozbi, her heart trembling at the pitiful scene. Why did this queen deserve to die? Was her mere heritage enough to cause her to be hated to such a degree that women would take her to kill her and her children?
Cozbi grunted and handed the second babe to his mother. “Here. Name him if you wish, or leave him nameless. It matters not.”
Adriel rolled her blue eyes as she stepped next to the queen and bestowed the firstborn in her arms, shaking her flaxen head as the queen wept, kissing her children’s heads of scraggly dark fuzz despite the still-wet vernix and blood coating their bodies. “Oh, my sons, my sons,” she whispered, her voice heart-breakingly hopeless, “what did you do to deserve this cruel fate? Why should you die? You cannot help the blood that runs in your veins.”
“Enough!” Adriel pushed towards the queen, snatching the blind, squalling babe from her arms. She looked pointedly at Cozbi. “We have work to do.”
Cozbi started, her dulled blue eyes regaining their snap as she looked away from the crying young mother. “Of course. Here, Elohe, take the blind one and get rid of him. Adriel, I will take the other son. You leave the queen in this room and make sure to block up the door in a way that looks natural – like she had accidentally become trapped.”
The queen’s wails grew louder. “Have you no mercy even for children?!”
“These aren’t children,” Adriel sneered as she handed the blind one to Elohe. “They are animals – swine, like you. We don’t want half-breeds ruling us. Let Nahor die of old age, then let a challenger come forth and bring back the Zoarish way of things. His sons must die, and his queen too.”
Elohe nodded, looking at the scrunched-up face of the newborn in her arms, then exited the room. The queen’s pleas for mercy grew fainter as she walked, dodging fallen stones and trying to avoid looking at the innocent child in her arms.
Thank Shaddai, one will live!
The frosty autumn air bit at her face as she stepped outside. She shifted the babe to wrap her scarf around his shivering body, humming softly to him to try and silence his cries as her quick paces took her farther from the castle ruins and cruel end to the lives of a young mother and her child. “Hush, hush, young one. You at least will have a family.”
Joktan, her husband, was away. He would never know – never know that the newborn babe she’d place in their cradle was not the one she had been carrying six months ago, just before he left. He’d think that this blind baby boy was his own son. Anah was too young to know that he wasn’t.
Elohe glanced past the shivering baby to her stomach, which seemed so small since her recent miscarriage. She sighed. He can’t know that I miscarried – that I lost our child.
Because it is my fault. No matter what Cozbi and Adriel say.
How can I keep this from them? They’ll know I adopted him if they see him.
I have to convince them to leave.
Elohe nodded to herself, picking her way over the stream that bordered the country road. The baby had stopped crying and was curled against her, soaking in warmth from her body. She looked down at him with soft eyes. He’s got enough Zoarish blood in him that Joktan shouldn’t be able to tell he’s also Shilonite. I can only pray that Shaddai will let him look more like his father than his mother!
Shaddai. Would he approve of her stealing of the child to cover her own guilt?
I’m saving his life.
Though Elohe had only recently turned from her Zoarish gods to the one Shilonite God, she had the feeling he wouldn’t approve. Not that he wouldn’t approve of saving the child’s life, but that he wouldn’t approve of keeping this secret from her husband.
I’ll tell him, she told herself as her small home came into view. I’ll tell him, but only when I’m ready.
If I’m ever ready.
She paused, looking back once more towards the direction of the castle. I couldn’t have done anything to stop Cozbi and Adriel from killing the queen. The best I could do was save this one.
Yet even as she turned towards her home and opened the door, she knew she was telling herself a lie. She could have stopped them, but she didn’t.
The queen and her other son would die tonight.
It definitely still needs work (and research XD), but this is the premise of ATOTB. Interested? There’s more ATOTB goodies in the Authorized Personnel Only space. 😉
That aside, what are your thoughts? Who is on Team Gilead vs. Team Irad? Who is left clueless? Who’s read To Do Rightly, the story of King Nahor and the queen? How should we celebrate their birthday (and the almost 1-year anniversary of ATOTB)? Thanks for reading!
Until next time,
🎉🎉 Wish them happy birthday, yeet confetti, and have some milkshakes!!🎉🎉
~Joelle (and the twins)
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