Magna's Plea (The Fate Challenges) (4 page)
She was dead.
Apenth had waited five hundred years for this child’s birth. Breath flowed from his nostrils and rustled her hair. He straightened as the wails from the other room clamored for her death not to be so. The small crib sat discarded in a corner. A doll, sewn by an expecting mother’s steady hand, peered at Apenth with coal-black eyes. Her parents didn’t know a god was here, watching, waiting for an opportunity to save their child. His hand hovered over the baby’s heart.
One touch would change everything.
“Stop, my son.” A wrinkled and liver-spotted hand seized his wrist.
He cursed his lack of foresight. Shouldn’t he have known Postera, the Goddess of Future and Foresight, would try to stop him? He was the God of Prophecy, after all! Her bony fingers gripped tighter with a strength he didn’t know she possessed. With a sigh, he lifted his head and focused upon her clear blue eyes, so like his own.
“Mother, she’s the one. I have to continue Amora’s prophecy.” He gently pried her aged fingers from his wrist.
“No, you cannot go against Fate again. You have displeased the gods.” Clothed in the threads of life, she ran her fingers along the thrumming red yarn—each strand symbolized one life and weaved together to create her dress. All threads emerged from a ruby gemstone belted over her navel. The closer to death a person was, the more the yarn would change from bright to dark red. She reached into her dress folds and revealed the severed darkening strand of this baby’s lifeline. “It is too late. Fate has forfeited her life, and her soul shall reside in Hupogaia’s realm.”
His heart sank. The detached thread swayed back and forth from her fingers. Was it too late to revive the child? His body curled closer to the baby girl. Her chance for life was slipping through his fingers with each passing grain of sand in an hourglass.
This girl had to be the sixth prophetess.
“You know what will happen if I don’t do this.” He jerked away from his mother. His gaze flicked between the blackened thread and the baby. If he didn’t save the child, who would stop Fate? His Phoenix Prophetesses were more than normal seers. They had the power to take his prophecies and change what was to come, despite the other gods and Fate’s claims they shouldn’t interfere. Her future was fading into the dark depths of the Underworld. He owed it to his deceased love Amora and the kingdom she had created and ruled.
“I know what may come. Who taught you prophecy?
I
did.” Postera exhaled through her nose. “You cannot keep meddling. Do you not see my wrinkles, my white hair? Kisa will curse you like she has me. Remember Hupogaia protested against you last time in front of the High Council. They blinded your prophetess and said grave consequences would come if you save another one.”
He couldn’t forget the council’s words or how they’d cursed his fifth Phoenix Prophetess. But visions of the Kingdom of Amora in flames flashed through his mind. He could taste the ashes, like burnt charcoal, and hear her people’s screams. The prophecy of Amora’s destruction leaked sour bile into his mouth. The other gods, including Kisa who was the Queen of the Gods, might be willing to turn their backs on their loyal people for Fate, but he wasn’t.
This infant before him reminded him of his daughter. His mortal family resided in the Underworld. He couldn’t allow her become one of Hupogaia’s eternal children too.
“I have to save her.”
“Think of the consequences, my son.”
He had. They both knew the gods would find a way to curse him and this innocent girl, but the price was worth saving the kingdom.
Ignoring his mother’s shrieks, Apenth leaned over the lifeless baby. His lips pressed against her ashen forehead, so cold to the touch. Postera clawed at his arms, but he shoved away her hands. Nothing would stop him from completing Amora’s prophecy, protecting the city named after his love.
“You are mine, little one.” His hand pressed over her heart. Electric heat flowed from his glowing fingertips. They tingled, nearly burning his flesh, but his hand remained steady. Luminosity brightened around the child and him, further blocking out Postera’s pleas. The room filled with the blinding white light.
“Live.” He commanded, pleaded.
“No!” Postera screamed as the thread ripped from her hand and joined the pulsing jewel on her belt. The piece sizzled, reattaching to the gemstone, and transformed to blood red.
The light imploded into the child. Her flesh glowed for a moment before the room’s shadows returned. A tiny strawberry-colored birthmark in the shape of a phoenix blossomed upon the flesh over her heart. The baby’s lungs filled with air, and a cry broke from her lips.
The Phoenix Prophetess was reborn.
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Reborn
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I originally wrote “Magna’s Plea” for an anthology searching for sorceress stories. Although the anthology didn’t work out, this short story has come a long way since 2010 when I first wrote it. I have my brilliant critique partners to thank for it.
Christine Rains, you understand my writing better than I do sometimes.
Cher Green, you are my toughest critique partner and I love you for it. My stories wouldn’t be quite as shiny without you.
Cathy Keaton, you bring a new perspective to my writing and help me become a better writer.
Aubrie Dionne, you make me strive to create deeper characters and more authentic descriptions.
I would also like to thank my family and friends for their support.
A special thanks goes to the reader. I hope you enjoy the stories I feel compelled to tell. I appreciate you taking the time to read.
A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her books include the horror series
Nightmare
, a space fantasy novella trilogy titled
Gravity
, and the fantasy series
The Foxwick Chronicles
. She is Vice President of Valley Writers and a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Untethered Realms.
Her debut YA Epic Fantasy novel
Reborn
, book one in
The Fate Challenges
, will be released on May 23, 2014.