The Moon had been pouring over the reports at his desk all day. Thankfully his best friend and emperor, Marcus*, had let him bring his work home because of how close his wife Leena** was to giving birth.
With the arrival of the prince, many enemies of the empire had begun to stir and it was his job to keep those enemies at bay. Being the Moon was tiring but he loved it. He has always enjoyed his job, he was loyal to his friends, and in turn, his friends were loyal to him. The Stars were living proof of that.
While the Stars were recorded in the past as merely being the slaves of the first Moons they are much more now. When the Moons power began skipping generations along with the Suns, the Stars became more valuable. The Stars have magic but it is weak. However, the Stars became critical to the survival of the empire as their magic was not dependent on the Sun’s. Stars shine all the time even during the day. Though Stars were only able to reach their full potential if they pledged themselves to the Moon so they may shine in the darkness, otherwise they would only be as powerful as any other street magician.
The Moon sighed as he shuffled papers around his desk, there wasn’t anything too pressing if there were attempts of an attack it would be months out. Most of what he had heard was just rumors and all were short. Meaning that there wasn’t much more than talk, not any action yet.
The Moon was thankful for this, not because tracking down an underground organization while trying not to compromising his sources was tricky. Mostly because he wanted to be here when his child was born.
A flutter of excitement rose in his chest and a smile broke out on his face. The man had a harsh upbringing and was afraid to offer the same to any child. When the Moon had met Leena he was not in the mind to have any children. As their relationship grew and they had gotten married he couldn’t wait to have children of their own. She had helped him overcome a lot of his insecurities about fatherhood and about being a parent. It also helped that Leena was the most patient and amazing woman ever. She would raise their children with love and care.
The man was lost in thought when the doors to his study burst open. The Moon had his sword drawn and ready before he even registered who it was.
“Damn it, James! Are you trying to get yourself killed?” the man yelled as he sheathed his sword. James was breathless and was sweating like an animal, hands on the door frame to steady himself. “What is wrong with you James?” As one of the Moon’s closest Stars. They had adopted a more casual manner of speaking with each other.
“She… Labor…” James wheezed out in between gasps “...Hurry”
The man stared at James for a long moment trying to figure out what he meant, then it clicked. Shoving James out of the way and running out the door toward the room Leena is in. She is in Labor! Baby is coming!
The Moon had lost all composure and threw open the doors to the room Leena had planned to give birth in. The room had 4 vaulted windows, 2 windows on each of the adjacent walls that were attached to the outside of the manor. The walls were a deep purple with flakes of gold, The Moon loved the color. Leena is a painter and the man had all of her art adorning the room. Leena loved this room and wanted their child to experience something that both of them loved when they came into this world. This room was less secure than their bedroom but The man wanted Leena to be happy and had this room prepped months in advance for the birth.
The man looked in to see his wife breathing hard and grunting as nurses ran about the room. The Moon went to be next to Leena when a nurse grabbed his arm stopping him in his tracks. Most people wouldn’t look him in the eyes, much less touch him. And with such force too.
“My Moon, please, you must wait outside Lady Moon needs to focus.” There was panic in her voice and she rushed to get the words out. The Moon’s moonlight colored eyes looked at the girl with a steel gaze holding her for a moment before making her avert her eyes and he knew something was off.
“What is wrong? What happened?” The Moon cooly asked and the girl flinched and shrunk back before the Moon could say anything else to the poor girl another nurse stepped up. She is an older woman that has stripes of gray in the brown hair that spilled from her bonnet. Her uniform is plain but the symbols stitched on the front next to her name, meant that she was a long-practiced nurse and a low-level magic-user.
“My Moon, please let’s take this outside.” She gestured to the door. The man was conflicted, he wanted to stay and be with his wife but he also needed to know what has happened. Why was it that his wife couldn’t hear it?
“My Moon, Please.” The nurse whispered desperately, “I can not say this in front of the lady, we need her focused. The safety of the lady and your child depend on it, please” His heart clenched. After a few moments of watching his wife’s pained face, as sweat wet her brow and nurses quickly dabbed it away. The Moon nodded quickly
“Hurry, I want to be back in here as soon as possible.” The nurse nodded and the Moon quickly left the room followed closely by the nurse. Once the doors were closed he turned to the nurse with a neutral expression.
“Now, what is the problem?” those that did not know the Moon would have assumed he was completely calm. Those that do know him would know that he was panicking, with his clenched fist behind his back out of everyone’s sight and his voice was just a little higher than usual. The nurse took a deep breath and started to explain
“A while ago the Lady said she felt a little uncomfortable, which is common when a woman has her first labor.” The nurse hurried through the words and licked her lips, quick to continue “suddenly she starts complaining of pain and starts screaming. We thought she was going into labor but…” the nurse trails off seeming a loss for words.
“But…” The Moon coldly prodded her on. The nurse took a deep breath before looking into the Moon’s eyes and shattering his world. “We think she has been cursed, My Moon.” The silence felt heavy in the air. The man’s mind was reeling.
“What.” The man croaked, Leena was cursed? When? How did this happen? As if reading his mind the nurse replied softly.
“We believe that someone either just cast the spell or cast it not long ago.” The man nodded absentmindedly. How could this happen? The Moon had been very careful throughout Leena’s pregnancy to make sure nobody could hurt her or their child. Leena had teased him about being overly cautious. It seemed he hadn’t been cautious enough. How is it that someone had gotten to Leena?
“I am no master my Moon, but I think I know what kind of curse it is.” The Moon’s mind snapped back to the moment
“What kind?” the man whispered. The nurse swallowed and was silent “What Kind?!” the man snapped at the woman and she continued carefully “Well, I THINK it is…. A death spell.” The man froze. How had his world been so perfect one moment and now a disaster the next?
“Why would someone kill themselves to kill Leena?” The Moon wondered out loud. To cast a death spell you have to kill something or someone. It is all proportionate to whatever you were killing. If you were killing an adult lamb you have to kill another lamb or multiple baby lambs. You could also kill a lamb if you used some wolf meat. To kill a human adult you would have to kill another adult and they have to be willing to die for the curse. You couldn’t sacrifice someone for it, the curse had to be down willingly for creatures of high intelligence…. But to kill a child…
“Who was it cast on?” The man hated himself the moment the words left his lips. The nurse’s face said it all. The Child. His Child. Someone might only have to sacrifice an arm or leg for a small child, flesh is flesh after all.
How could this happen? You need a hair or some blood from the person you are trying to kill. How could they get an unborn child’s blood? He covered his eyes and let the darkness hold him. He felt dizzy and weak, for the first time in his adult life he feels as helpless as a child.
“Go back in there and do everything you can to save them.” The nurse nods and quickly slips back into the chaotic room. The Moon was left alone with his Stars. The silence is deafening and making his ears ring. The man grabs his long silky black hair and runs his hand quickly through it. Strands falling loose from his ribbon to rest on the pale skin of his forehead.
“Star Allen I need you to..” A deafening boom cut the Moon off before he could finish his thought. Shouts and yelling could be heard but the sound that caught all of their attention was the clash of metal. Swords. They were under attack? Before they could react another explosion shocked the Manor. Sh*t
“Everyone arm yourselves we are under attack!” The Moon barked out orders as the Stars rushed from the hall toward the sounds of battle.
“Star James, Star Alester,” The Moon called and the two men appeared before him “Protect this door with your lives.” and before either of them could utter a word of acceptance the Moon was rushing down the hall to take back his Manor. Standing there while his home was under siege was not something he was going to do
“Star Allen,” The Moon called and a man appeared next to him “Go to the Palace, I need you to personally tell the king that we are under attack understand?”
“Yes, My Moon.” and just as fast as he appeared Allen was gone. The Moon ran through the halls and came to a small balcony that overlooked a majority of his manor. He saw a large section of the eastern wing was in ruins probably from those explosions earlier. He also saw a small battle taking place on his front porch. He began directing people where to go and what formations to use. The Moon jumped down not long after barking out orders and joined the fight himself. He had somewhere else to be right now but thoughts kept inching their way to the surface.
How and Why? How had he not known about this? How could someone make a plan to attack the Moon Manor and the Moon didn’t hear a thing? How had they known that Leena was in labor or was that coincidence? Were they working with the magician that cast the curse? Why an assault? The Stars are known far and wide not only for their magic but also for their strength and stamina. The Moon tried not to focus on these thoughts and focused on trying to crush the forces that were currently assaulting them. Within an hour the battle was won with minimal losses on the Moons side. They had even managed to capture some of the invaders alive for interrogation later.
The Moon placed one of the senior Stars in charge and left to return to the room his wife and child were in. Steeling himself for whatever news he might have to hear. Always prepare for the worse. His father’s words rang bitterly in his mind. He returned to see that James and Alester were both gone and the door to the room was broken. Dread gripped his heart and he ran to the door throwing it open to a sight of pure carnage.
Bites of bodies lay all around the room, plastered to the walls, hanging from the ceiling. The smell of blood choked out all others and the room which was once purple and beautiful was now red and oozing. What could do this? The man's eyes wandered the room before finally resting on the bed. His wife lay, intact and... breathing. A breath loosed itself from his lungs. She seemed so peaceful amongst the horrors that were this room, almost like she was asleep. He carefully picked his way over and gently placed a finger on her neck to feel her strong pulse. Letting loose another breath he looked to her stomach and saw it was flat, and sagging. She had given birth, but where is their child? He looked around the room. He couldn’t tell who was who but there were clothes plastered to the walls. He recognized a few of the names on the uniforms. They had been the doctors and nurses that were in here. Seeing as their clothes were intact he began looking for armor. Alester and James were stationed to keep Leena safe so they might be in here. However, he didn’t see any of their personal belongings, where were they?
Before the Moon could even guess he felt someone behind him turning in a flash, hand on his sword hilt he saw a battered James kneeling before him. James had a swelling right eye and a pretty bad gash on his face reaching from below his left eye and ending on the tip of his chin, exposing his teeth and jaw bone. What the Moon noticed next was a bundle of cloth in James’ arms and his heart sank. The man fell to his knees in front of his friend as tears fell freely from his eyes
“Is that…?” The man’s words were barely more than a whisper and he couldn’t get the next words past the lump in his throat. James nodded silently.
“I am sorry My Moon. Alester and I were too late.” James’ voice cracked with emotion as he passed the cold infant to him. The man’s hands shook as he held the small lifeless child in them. It was a boy. A beautiful boy, he had a son. And he had already lost him. Where had he gone wrong? What had he missed?
“We heard a commotion and came into the room just as the spell was cast. It knocked Alester and myself out of the room and once we were on our feet again the intruder had the child in his hands and was making his escape out the window. Alester and I gave chase. While we ran through the forest we were about to catch up to the man when we heard a cry from the babe and saw a bright flash. Alester and I had to cover our eyes to not be blinded and when we were able to see again the intruder was dead and so was…” James stopped. The last part was obvious.
“Alester is trying to figure out where the intruder was going and I decided to bring the child back.” The weak man held the small figure to his chest, he no longer cried, he never did cry for long. After a few moments of awkward silence, James piped up
“Lady Moon still lives so that is a blessing.” The Moon drying chuckled at that. Was it really a blessing though? What will Leena do when she wakes to find their child dead? The man’s heart ached at the thought of Leena discovering that their child was gone. And that he had not been there to stop it. She would hate him, and he deserves it. The Moon carefully placed the child back into a surprised James’ arms.
“Take him to the doctor. Have them do a thorough examination. I want to know when and how the child died.” with nothing more to say the broken man, who was barely holding on, stood and walked out of the room. Not even 4 steps out of the room Allen appeared “My Moon, the Sun is here.” The Moon nodded and turned to go greet his emperor, Sun, and most importantly his friend.
* Emperor and Sun Marcus (Mark-us)
** Duchess and Lady Moon Leena (Lee-na)
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