Read The Familial Ties :: Book 1: Chapter 1

The hooves of the horses pounded against the cobblestone road in a race against time. Rain poured down from the sky and pounded onto the ground below. They were to take the child to an orphanage far from the archduke’s reach. He was such a terribly evil man that all his citizens wished nothing but ill will upon him. Although they did this in silence, since this pig would enact violence upon those who said such words aloud. His malevolence almost sparked a revolt, but it was squashed by the soldiers who willingly protected him. They were in awe of his magic and especially his coin. Soon, they would reach the women, hopefully in time.

The woman was laid down on a makeshift straw bed in excruciating pain. There were no tonics to help relieve the agony she was in. Those gathered around were coaxing and soothing all while encouraging the new mother to push. The child was taking longer to come than most. This made the others worry. “Pray that the gods deliver this child safely.” One said, looking to the heavens for answers. A few minutes later the child was born successfully, crying and thankfully healthily looking. The mother held the child in her arms and began to soothe the newly born infant. “Shush, I’ll make sure you’re safe and sound. Out of this wretched place.” The other woman sighed in relief. “They should be here soon. Are you sure about this, you know the consequences of what the archduke will do to you.” “Yes, I am as sure as I could ever be.” “Good! Because we can’t send the riders back.” She softly patted the shoulders of the mother in a loving, comforting way. “Why don’t you escape with her?” “No, he will catch me, the best thing for her is to escape alone. I saved most of my coin to give to the ward of the orphanage to give her a good life. At least a life that she can have a chance to live.”

The archduke was such a menace that he would get rid of the children he bore with the maids. He would black mail or threaten the women who wouldn’t choose to bed with him. Cruel and malicious was this man. Thankfully his whole family was out of town in their villa. They had welcomed a child with his legitimate wife and were celebrating his birth. The women used to feel some sympathy for her because of his adultery, but it soon diminished when they found out what she knew. His wife was the one who had figured out what he was doing and did nothing to stop it. She actually encouraged it. There was a slight knocking on the back wooden door. “They’re here.” She looked down once more at her child. A single tear fell down the cheek. Determined and ready, they handed the child over. She was wrapped in warm blankets. “What’s the child’s name?" one of the men asked. “Alice.” “That’s a beautiful name.” The elderly maid quickly went back over to them and discussed where the child would be taken. In a swift sequence the infant was whisked away into the makeshift wagon. Thankfully it had a small, yet thin roof to it. That way the poor child wouldn’t get sick from the rain and would be somewhat protected.

They took off into the night sky, once they got out of the Archduke’s land the rain started to subside. The man held the child in the wagon with hope in his eyes. He knew this would give her a chance to live. Hopefully, she would be adopted and given a good life and a wonderful family who loves her. These thoughts made him exhale a sigh of relief. They neared the orphanage, and it looked to be well maintained from the outside. They quickly wrote a note with her name written on it. “Alice, this will be your new home now. Live a happy life.” The other man got down and looked at the infant. “I hope she has a good life.” That was all he could say. They made their way to the door and knocked loudly. They set the child down with the note and some coin as soon as they heard footsteps approaching. They made their way over and quickly fled the scene before questions could be asked. The ward of the orphanage opened the door and saw her on the stoop. “Oh, my dear child.” She picked her up and held her tenderly. “They just left you out in the rain.” She picked up the coin and the note. “Your name is Alice. At least they bothered to give you a name before they fled.”

This woman had no idea what was sacrificed to get this infant to safety. What would befall the mother would be an unspeakable evil, yet she was determined to deal with what would happen to her. They quickly went inside and made sure the infant was healthy and uninjured. "Thank the gods, you are okay little one." Making way over to the cribs that lined the nursery she put the infant down in the crib. She looked down and noticed the tufts of blonde hair on her head and that she had the most wonderful shade of green eyes. They had no idea what would be coming to their peaceful life. A dark force that would shake this world to its core was on its way and would spread across the continent. But for right now there was peace, even though it would be short lived.

Young children ran around in circles chasing each other through the playground. Just in the distance a little girl sat down by herself playing with chalk. One thing Alice was becoming found of was drawing. One of the drawings was of a dragon with flames coming out from its mouth. She had never met a dragon yet, and she might never meet one. It was said they were divine creatures set down by the gods themselves to look over mankind. It was a rare feat to meet one. Only the regales, and important citizens were able to come face to face with the majestic being. A stray black cat came up to her like usual. It was the time of day he would visit. It felt as if he checked up on her to see if she was okay. Animals were intuitive. He seemed to be able to tell when she was down. But today she was enjoying herself. When the children were outside, she practiced magic in her room. She made sure she was all alone when doing so, looking back and forth plenty of times before starting. She practiced water magic since fire magic could be destructive.

She didn't want to be called into the war that was coming ever so closer. Armies were losing to the creatures that never seemed to die. They would come back to life. Or at least those were the rumors surrounding the battles. As she began to draw the fire from the dragon, one of the bullies came up to Alice. It was easy to see they were ready to pick a fight. "Oh, it's nice to see you out of your room. NOT!!" He chuckled to himself as if he had made the most humorous joke in the world. He was the least creative of the bullies. Staying in the room and not going out to socialize with the others became a mistake. Now, the target of an outsider was on her back.

She sighed at the stupid remark. At least his jokes weren't too hurtful. The thought of him not liking the company of Alice wasn't that upsetting. Upsetting was when they insulted her appearance or made fun of her hobbies. The worst was when they said she couldn't draw, or said her eyes looked disgusting. Even though the drawings were wonderful, and her eyes were unique, they continued. It was hard for her to see that they were just jealous. "Are you listening ugly?" There he goes. "I'm not ugly." She retorted. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say idiot." The real idiot here was him. "Today, I'm going to get adopted. There's a well-off guy coming to adopt a kid, and it's going to be me." It took a lot to be that full of yourself. "If you say so." The exhaustion of dealing with these annoying brats everyday was getting on her nerves. The thought of dealing with this again day in and day out made her want to get adopted as fast as possible. It didn't mean her life would be perfect, but at least it would be a little bit better. The cat seemed to glare at him, ready to scratch his eyes out. The thought crossed that mind of hers quite a lot. "Al, come on over. Stop messing with that weirdo." "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Sticking out his tongue he went running over to the boys playing tag.