~Lowunia~

~Night~

A loud scream of thunder shakes the wall of the old Lowunia Manor. Lady Lowunia paces her chamber as the rain pelts the stained glass window clenching her child, which she had birthed only a few days prior. She does her best to keep the newborn from waking or reacting to the violent weather outside.

After a few moments of anxious pacing, a knock on her door allows a breath of relief, especially when a friendly voice comes from the other side.

"Madam, you called me," a strong but feminine voice calls from the other side.

"Bethe!!" The woman responds, "Please come in."

The door to the chamber opens, revealing Bethe, a tall green-skinned woman with jet black hair, her tainted green skin showing her half-orc ancestry. Her kind face instantly grows pale when she sees the woman's state.

"Is everything ok Madam?" Bethe says to the woman

"This is not time for formality, Bethe. You have been my friend for years, you know I prefer you to call me my given name. Please lock the door."

"My apologies, Katherine," Bethe responds, granting a smile from the other woman and locking the door as asked, "may I inquire why you have called me here."

"I think you know why..." Katherine states

"What is it?"

"Bethe, I'm asking you as a friend. Not from my title."

"Katherine?"

"This child... my child... you and I both know they are James' not the tyrant I've been forced to marry," Katherine says, referring to her forced engagement and murder of her husband. This single man was able to take over many lands and, recently, the peaceful kingdom of Lowunia.

"What are you asking."

"Bethe, I overheard him talking, his plot," Katherine says over tears.

"What is it?!" Bethe interrupts anxious

"He is going to kill my child. He wants his own blood as an heir in the case of his death."

Bethe tries to reach out to her friend, but the queen stops her once she hears another flash of thunder.

"Listen, Bethe isn't just my child. He plans to kill anyone who doesn't fit his perfect view of the world."

"Does that mean?"

"Yes, Bethe, he will be calling for the genocide of anyone who is not human."

A longing silence rolls between the pair before a shouting is heard.

"Katherine, he has control of many armies. We have to stop him from spreading his influence!."

A shout draws closer, causing panic in Katherine's eyes.

"Bethe, listen closely and quickly. I'm out of time. Please take my child and yourself out of her. I have a boat hidden in the smaller docks for you to escape with. I'll try my best to help other non-humans escape, you can too, but you must leave tonight."

"And leave behind my people to die?" Bathe exclaims

"I've already sent one of my messengers to go and warn as many non-human families to leave tonight."

Bethe takes a moment of silence due to a break of thunder interrupting the conversation.

"Katherine, how am I going to sail a boat? Where am I to go?"

"Go to the bar by the docks. I arranged a captain to take you and my child to a new settlement that promised everyone acceptance, Bethe."

Once the shouting reaches The Lady's chamber, Katherine grabs her friend.

"Quick, get out of here!" She says, leading her to a hidden passage within her room

"Lady Katherine, open the door immediately," a voice shouts from the main door.

"Coming!!" Katherine shouts before going to a whisper, "go now."

"Will I see you again?" Bethe asks her friend

"Maybe one day... now please keep my child safe," she says, closing the door.

Bethe grasping the baby as close to her as she can, heading down the spiral staircase of the hidden passage.

She moves as fast as she can, carrying the child in the dark. Only flashes of lighting illuminate her path.

Once at the bottom, a door is present, and she opens it, revealing the balcony overlooking the Manor's gardens.

She quickly shuts the door showing that once closed, the once moveable wall looks just as normal as the usual wall.

Grabs a basket to collect roses from the bushes that reach the balcony. She gently places the child inside and covers the baby with a blanket to protect it from the elements and to hide suspicion.

Re-entering the Manor from the balcony, Bethe takes the side entrance to where staff live in houses near the Manor grounds so the help would not have to live in its walls.

At her home, she packs only a tiny amount of clothes and valuables, including a small emerald ring given to her by her mother.

Once she's done, she continues into the pouring rain to the bar. 

Bethe thanks all the gods she can think of when she makes it to the bar, also due to the child never making a single cry.

Before entering the bar, she checks the child. She sighs in relief that it is still asleep.

Entering the bar, she finds it empty. The only other occupant a human woman standing behind the bar counter.

"Are you Bethe?" The woman asks

"Yes I am."

"Come quickly. We don't have much time," the woman says, ushering Bethe through a side entrance without a word.

"Why the haste?" Bethe asks the woman

"Guards know about people fleeing. They've been ordered to kill all those they see trying. That spell the tyrant has them under isn't helping either"

Bethe curses under her tongue when she hears the shouting of guards and watches a group of them run past the alley they are hidden in.

"Now," says the woman who instantly runs off before Bethe.

The pair run fast down a wooden staircase revealing a small wooden boat at a small dock on the river leading into the forest Lowunia was built around.

"This is it?" Bethe asks, "this thing won't be able to get us far!"

"It's all we have! So we have to make due," The woman quips, "anything larger would've given us a way now board."

The two board as quick as possible and begin the joinery as a loud thunder rings in their ears, and for the first time this night, the child starts to cry.

"Christ!" The woman shouts, "quite it!!"

"I don't know how?!"

"You're gonna have to f-," the woman says before cutting off.

Bethe looks up, suspicious of the sudden stop, only to see an arrow picking out of the woman's head, gasping at the sudden gore the child still wailing.

The captain slumps over as Bethe sees the crowd of guards aiming more arrows at the boat.

Thinking quickly, Bethe ducks using her body to protect the child in the basket.

Unfortunately, after initially feeling nothing, sharp pain fills her. She looks back, seeing three arrows have pierced the way into her.

Bethe lets out a growl of pain as she uses all her strength to row the boat to the forest the river is leading. She doesn't look back until she knows she is safe.

Looking around, desperate for medical equipment, she sighs only when she finds a map leading to a marked area with an M.B.

Due to her time spent studying the maps of Lowunia and the world, Bethe realizes how far she is from it.

She sighs before gently pushing the dead captain over the boat. Trying her best to say kind words to her before laying her to rest with a rose in her hand from the basket with the child.

With a new determination to get help for her injured back and the promise to protect the child for her friend, she moves on...

Her journey takes her through forest and swamp lands, and on the second day of sailing through trees, she makes it to the open ocean. Bethe takes in the beauty of the sun rising on the open water but feels her body becoming drained by each minute.

The child's cries also do not help. She knows they both need food and water but can't find any on the boat.

She rows the whole day, sensing something watching over her as the open water never threatens her granting a smooth passage the entire day. When the sun begins to set again, she sees land.

She weakly cries out in glee but arches her back, feeling more pain than before.

Desperate, she rows as hard as possible until she makes it to another river between two forests.

She rows through the river until complete darkness, her body growing weaker and weaker. Only on the verge of giving up does she sees it.

A light

Many lights

With her remaining energy, she rows to a small wooden dock, nothing like Lowuina, and begins crying.

After a few moments, a human couple comes running out.

Bethe tries to speak, but nothing comes easily out of her lips.

"Please... the... child," she utters, handing the hidden child to the couple who take it generously. The man runs off to get help for Bethe, but it's too late.

Once the hand-off is done, Bethe feels that same blessing presence despite her exhaustion and blood loss. She shuts her eyes, never to reopen.

.........This is how the tale starts.

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Hey!! 

Empires Daughter is officially starting!!

Next posted will be a cast list! 

(APPLICATION END ON JUNE 25!!! PLEASE ALSO CHECK THE UPDATE TO THE REQUIREMENTS TO THE APPLICATIONS!!!)

I hope you guys will enjoy this story!!! I have had a lot of fun planning and prewriting!!!