Children of Fire and Sun: The Rebellion (Updates Resume From July 2024)

Chapter One: Maysa (Domhnall)

"A Memor never sleeps."
— Prince Aldric III of House Memor
~•~

The silence was the herald. 

Not the clash of metals, or the thud of footsteps. Nor the guttural screams of her mother, that would soon resound as the traitors carved out her unborn brother from her mother's womb. No, it was the silence. The oppressive quiet that settled around her like a fur cloak. 

She would open her eyes to the sunlight, setting her bedchamber on fire. Despite it was middle of winter, she was sweating. In fact, her thin shift was wet with sweat. Within the next few moments, her father would rush into her chambers and whisk her away to the gardens. Yet as the fates would have it, he fell. 

"No, baba!"

Maysa sat up with a start. The sheets were tangled underneath her body and, just as in the dream, beads of sweat decorated her brow. A gentle sigh escaped through her pursed lips. It has been five years. Far too long for her to be having nightmares. She was not a child, after all. 

But the past is resilient. It seeps in through the cracks and crevices of the mind, like a haint that refuses to give up on life. 

Dawn had not quite touched Domhnall. The skies were still grey with streaks of silver. A crescent moon as white as a wolf's canine glinted amidst stray clouds. Warm, sultry breeze caressed the silken curtains of Maysa's chamber before tracing invisible patterns on her sun-kissed skin. 

She sat still for a few moments, stretched her arms and slipped on to her sandals beneath the plush bed. To the right was a small basin from where she splashed water on her face and wiped it with the sleeve of her shift. With a practiced precision, she got rid of her shift and donned a tangerine dress that ended right above her knees. 

For the last scion of House Memor, it was not unusual to be awake before the sun. She found it difficult to be in bed for a long time, if she were, to be honest. She knew that the lords of Namiona laughed behind her backs about this habit, attributing it to be one of her ploys to stand out. A desperate desire to be different. 

They selectively forgot that it might be something deeper, given that on the one day Maysa had slept late, her entire family was slaughtered in front of her eyes. 

A gentle knock on the closed doors of her chamber stirred her out of the voluntary reverie. She titled her head it the direction of the door and said, 

"Enter."

With a small thud, the door opened to reveal a man who was a full cubit taller to her meagre three and a half cubits. His face was wrinkled, his eyebrows bushy and his thin lips drawn into a straight line. He bowed in greeting. 

"My princess."

"Good morning, Sir Airon. What brings you to my chambers so early in the day?" She asked. 

Alongside Domhnall’s diadem, she had also inherited Airon from her father. No one knew how old the grizzled knight was. There was no need to be aware of it, either. It was loyalty that mattered, and old Airon was loyal to a fault. 

"I must first beg pardon for disrupting your sleep, your Serenity," he said. "Yet this news could not be kept contained for later. It is dire, to say the least."

Maysa turned around fully to face the knight. Her luscious waves of dark hair danced around her shoulder while those almond-shaped brown eyes widened in focus. The faint light of dawn made her eyes glisten, highlighting the lovely shade that was not quite brown, but golden. Like honey dripping down a wooden ladle, or that of a coin when catches the light of the midday sun. 

Although composed, there was a faint tremor in her voice. Dire was not a word she liked to hear from Airon's mouth. "What has happened?" 

The knight took a deep breath. "Lady Lysa Trellis is missing.

"Missing?" Maysa raised a sculpted eyebrow. "How did that come to be?"

"No one knows, your Serenity. Her brother, Lord Trellis, is haggard with worry, to say the least. They say he has been relentless in his search and has abandoned sleep." Airon paused. "But that is not the only thing that is worrying."

"What else has happened?"

Airon cleared his throat. "Lady Lysa disappeared three days ago. And His Grace, the Crown Prince Remus—"

Maysa stepped closer to the knight. Her eyebrows were knitted into an intricate frown. "What about him?"

"There are suspicions amongst the lords that the lady has not gone missing but has been abducted." 

"Abducted? What nonsense!" Maysa shook her head. "But how does this involve the Crown Prince?" Her heart thumped against her chest, eager to escape its ivory cage. She could already expect the answer. 

"They believe it is the Prince Remus who has abducted Lady Lysa." Airon dared not meet the gaze of his princess as a soft gasp escaped Maysa's lips.

She staggered a few steps backwards, propelled by the implications of these words. The crown prince, abducting a lady. That too an unmarried maiden like the Trellis girl. Of course she knew it was not possible, for the said prince slept three corridors away from her.

But even the idea that such a suspicion was spreading amongst the noble lords of Namiona was enough to make her worry. Given the recent state of affairs with the King, father of the Prince, this was not good news. 

"When and how did you get to know this, Airon?" She asked. 

"Lord Trellis has been sending doves, your Serenity. Ours reached today."

"He stated he suspects Prince Remus of such a heinous act?"

"No, your Serenity. That I got to learn from one of our inspectors at the harbour," Airon said. "a merchant from the East has been gossiping about it. Says Lord Edmund Eni, to whom Lady Lysa was betrothed, has been making such claims."

Of course, that brainless oaf did it. Maysa gritted her teeth. She balled her hands into fists with such force that her knuckles turned white. Her hands had grown clammy while her heart raced. 

It was no wonder that Maysa detested the brute hulk of a man that Lord Eni was. That one was a troublemaker who couldn't walk into a tavern without starting a brawl. However, his house was one of the most influential in the realm, and thus could not be ignored. This sure was no mere brawl, and neither was Namiona a tavern, although sometimes Maysa begged to differ about the latter. 

"Is Prince Remus still in his chamber?" Maysa asked after a prolonged moment of silence. 

Airon nodded. "Yes, your Serenity. The prince is yet to leave his chambers."

"Good."

With that, Maysa walked past Airon and into the still dark corridors of the palace. Three flickering braziers lit her path while the world around her still slept. Sleep was the last thing on Maysa Memor’s mind. Deep in her heart, she could feel it: 

This was just the calm before the storm. 

~•~