The Dark Woods
The beautiful maiden sat on the window rim as she stared into the night sky. The night was cold but she was unaware of the stinging sensation the bitter wind caused against her delicate skin. Her thoughts were elsewhere even as she caressed her evidence of pregnancy.
"Miss Helena!" Her personal maid exclaimed, "Please madam, this bitter cold does not serve you or your baby well." Even as the young servant placed a cloak over her shivering shoulders, Helena's face remained perfectly still and expressionless.
"Madam?"
The servant was slightly surprised when the other woman turned to look directly at her. Her eyes told exactly what she felt through ever part of her body: she was in turmoil. "I think something has happened to him, Brigitte." She wrapped the cloak firmly around her body as she walked towards her bed and sat down. The servant followed. "I feel the hatred that the elders hold for him. I fear for his life."
The girl was unsure of what to do. Part of her wanted to soothe the princess and tell her that everything would turn out fine. But part her knew that, that would never be true. Even if the elders were to decide that her baby should not be killed, there was no way that they would approve of her relationship with a gorgon.
When princess Helena first displayed signs of pregnancy, it was very apparent that the baby had been conceived well before her wedding to the young cerepin warrior. Because he still deeply loved her, he had played along with the charade to pretend that the baby, growing within his beautiful wife, was his. But the foreign powers that the baby emitted were not possible from two cerepin parents. The leader of the elders, her birth father, knew that his daughter's child was the offspring of another monster.
Although he was content to accept that his daughter had been impregnated against her will, Helena had made it perfectly clear that her baby was conceived from the love she held for its father. Although he was not a cerepin, she would fight anyone who dared to stop her from bringing his baby into this world. In a failed attempt to rid her of the unholy child, the elders learned of Helena's true powers. Even her father had been alarmed by the force and skill his youngest daughter had displayed. In the end, they agreed to postpone the issue until the child was born. As his daughter had requested, the great elder had secluded her into a small palace with a handful of trusted servants to aid her into a full-term pregnancy.
"Madam, you must trust in the work of the gods. They will guide you." The servant finally said as she returned to the matter at hand. In a sudden movement, the princess stood up and dropped the cloak to the floor as she turned towards her servant. "The Gods?!? When have the gods ever helped me?"
She walked towards her dresser and looked at herself in the mirror. "Oh how I prayed to them, Brigitte! I prayed that they would take this love away from me."
She turned around and looked at her speechless servant. "How could they not stop me from falling in love with him. I knew it. I knew that our love was danger, yet no plea I made to the gods helped me from giving my heart to him."
In defeat the princess slummed down onto the floor. "And now I am pregnant with his child. I've hurt my father, my family, and my people. But despite all this, I still love him."
The servant moved and cradled the crying form of her princess. Both stayed like that for a while. As the tears turned into slight sobs, the princess finally broke the silence.
"He's dead Brigitte."
The maid went stiff. "My lady...please..."
"No, don't say it. I know it. I did not want to believe it, but I know." The princess looked up into the sad brown eyes of the other woman.
"He's dead. I had a vision, and I saw him dying. He was killed by his own."
The servant frowned at that. She didn't mean to ask, but the question still slipped out. "Why?"
Baby-blue orbs looked up at her sadly, "He was a warrior gorgon" she started, "there was no doubt that the leaders of his clang saw great danger with his love for a cerepin. He was powerful and well respected amongst the gorgon's. And even though I don't know exactly why he was killed, I fear that it was his punishment for loving me."
After a brief moment of silence, the young servant spoke up again, "But my lady has this baby to consider. Surely madam, you love this child?"
At that the princess finally smiled. "Oh, I do." She practically beamed with delight. "I love this baby more than anything. This child is my life." The young girl helped her as she struggled to stand in her pregnant state. "Please start the fire for me, I wish to tell my child another story about his father."
With a quick bow, the girl went to the furnace. After neatly arranging the logs, the servant used her own magic to start a soothing fire.
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