1 Prologue

Young Basin POV

We all had that moment. That one thing we regret doing or in my case, not doing. I never considered that staying silent could have any ramifications. My name is Basin, In the Martraigh kingdom, I was a guard for the king. I was inexperienced, young, and of low status. And I was prepared to sacrifice every last breath I had for my king and realm. But my position was why I kept quiet. After all, you expect your superiors to know what they are doing. Earlier that day the elf Ciara Boneflare had been detained. A few months before our neighbouring kingdom Vouri had put arrest orders out for a group of rebels. Ciara was part of that group. She was to be escorted back to Vouri to be punished. There was however a small problem, and I was holding it. Her daughter, a little elf girl not even a year old. Who like her mother has light brown skin, curly dark brown hair and little dents on her head where her horns eventually will grow. She was steering in my arms, not too happy with me, a stranger holding her. While I was standing there comparing the mother to this wriggly monster. It was there I first noticed it. But I told myself I was wrong, that kind of mistake would not happen.

Looking away I survey the throne room. A habit you get as a guard is to always look at your surroundings. The golden and white coloured stone floor shines from the light coming through the enormous windows, I admired the beauty for a moment. But soon my gaze was brought back to the prisoner when she yelled out "My daughter needs me!" She should have thought about that before joining a rebel group. Looking at her again, searching for the thing I didn't see hoping I was mistaken. But it's not there. While moving my gaze, a few strands of my sand blonde hair fall over my eyes. Where is it? it can not have been forgotten. "Shut up witch!" a guard yells to silence her. Ciara looks worried over at me, her brown eyes filled with tears. I feel for her, she doesn't care for herself just her baby, But she put herself in the situation.

Again I look for the missing thing. Where is it, why can't I see it? Because it is not there. It was at that moment I should have spoken up, I should have grap the captain, I should have left the room to get it, I should have done anything. But I didn't. Instead, I chose to look away from the prisoner and focus on my King. His arms were crossed and his eyes steady on the prisoner. He has no sympathy for the woman. By his side is Queen Nemy. She is looking away from what is going on, her poufy black hair covering her face from where I am standing. She has a hand on her round stomach, being visibly pregnant. It's their second child, and it can come any day now. I am not too fond of babies, they are noisy and annoying. On cue the little baby girl I am holding starts to wail, I start to rock her and apologise profusely for the disturbance. "What is that baby even doing here? I can not punish it for its mother's crimes." King Alfonso said agitating "Someone takes the baby out of here, and bring it to the orphanage" He ordered. My body shudder at the thought of that place, I am thankful for all the things the royal guards have done for me. But I am most grateful for being taken out of the orphanage, a place I don't think back to with fond memories.

"You can't do that, she is my child!" Ciara's panicked scream echoes in the throne room. "Your daughter's best opportunity is the orphanage, where she doesn't have to live with her mother's crimes" The king sneered. Ciara sniffled out "I am innocent." King Alfonso bangs his closed fist down on the thrones manchette arm. "How dare you claim to be innocent, we all know you are part of the rebel group that killed Vouri's Queen. you are responsible." Ciara has a look of anger, her face swollen from crying. I got the feeling something is up, I should have spoken up telling the captain, that we forgot it, we forgot the magical restrains. But before I could react she spoke "Royals. You are all the same, heartless, thinking everyone is beneath you, you don't deserve children. I should curse your wife and child to both die" There came a loud gasp from Queen Nemy "How dare you threaten my child". it was too late now, I should have spoken up before, making the captain aware that we had forgotten to put magical restraints on her. Without the restraints, she is able to cast spells and curses. How it was forgotten I do not know. Some of the other guards put their hands on their swords, ready to fight if something happened. My reaction would have been the same if I didn't have a baby in my arms. But if it comes to it, I won't hesitate to drop this baby to save my king.

King Alfonso took a few steps towards his wife. "Don't you dare, worse things than death exist and if you harm my child I will make sure you experience all of them." He threatens. Ciara snorts "You already send me to my death, what do I have to fear?" Continuing Ciara said some words I did not understand. A chill ran down my spine when the green fog starts to form around her. The green colour reflected in her red horns. The sound of multiple swords getting drawn is the only sound heard, but they didn't do anything to stop her. Because we are well aware of the danger of stopping a spell being cast, the recoil can be a great danger. "I curse the child your wife is baring, when it steps into the adult ranks the voice of evil will speak in thy ear, the temptation of hurting the ones it holds dear will be its life." Ciara declared. The worried Queen Nemy tried to address Ciara begging her not to hurt the unborn child, she pleaded for sympathy. "How sweet a mother's love, too bad it's only for your own kin. I will give it a chance, play when the voices become too much, with any kind of music, the voices will quiet down, but not for long." The fog started to move away from Ciara, towards the Queen. But before anyone could move to shield her, Nemy was already covered in the smoke, surrounding her, evaporating around her. King Alfonso yelled out for us to do something. But it was too late, the curse was already cast.

A week later a healthy baby boy was born. The King and Queen named him Valor. King Alfonso tried for years to console many different magicians to detour the curse. You may think the music was an act of mercy from Ciara, but no it was a cunning move on her part. A curse with a condition to stop it makes the curse much stronger, And she knew this. Her adding the music to quiet it down, rendered the curse unbreakable.