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Chapter 6
The prophecy spoken from centuries ago had finally come to pass. The words from of old had certainly come haunting like a ghost cast from its home. The gods had finally heard the weeping and blood crying from Ancient Francmort. A cycle had ended and another had begun, for it was the set time for Baliamort to finally adumbrate history!
It was in that season of harvest when Queen Elif abode in her solar suite. She had sought a place to be sole to find strength and to mutter a few words of prayer to Aris, the god of children. A few days ago, Queen Elif had seen herself in a room with women all around her. She had seen herself screaming while beads of sweat dripped behind her ears. "That was a sign" she thought to herself. Perhaps it was the season to bring forth her child.
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It was an alien but beauteous evening. The wind was wild and the oddly crowing of a white cock heralded the palace like a messenger- especially as one bringing important news. The dust smelt clean and the broad sun doused its flickers in the east. The palace curtains swayed their hips to the rumbling of thunder whilst the young maidens took cover from the strikes of lightening.
The people of Baliamort spoke in whispers after the rains had seized, for they had noticed something in the sky that was unbeknownst to them. There was seen, two loops intertwined in the sky. One was crimson in color and the other was white.
The Seer Mawrer was summoned before the people so he could inquire of Phrates, the sky god. As he observed the sky, he spoke sotto voce, like one conversing with a present but absent being. He then opened his mouth to address the people. He said "The last time these colors were seen in the sky, was centuries ago in Ancient Francmort just before the Callous' twins were slain. And the colors you see this day; crimson and white infers trouble and peace all at the same time but in a few hours, this sign will be clearer."
It seemed as though the people had heard naught. They prodded him to make them more meaning from what they had witnessed but it seemed that time was their best bet to the mystery afloat in the sky.
It was about that time of the night when deep silence was none negotiable. The dark powdery night seemed to give off a tint shade of oblivion. No one knew how much time they would have to give to time, for the mystery to be fully unraveled. The sky and the two loops forged, got even brighter. The stars seemed to shoot at one another whilst other celestial beings searched for answers as they sat in their council boards.
Queen Elif was still in her solar suite when she began to feel like war was being raged on her inside. It was unbeknownst to her what she should do as the heat on her inside grew even more intense. When she couldn't contain it anymore, she garnered some strength and arose to walk toward the infirmary where the physician and royal midwives were. The frontage and passage of the infirmary were decorated with curtains, flower pots and mini gargoyles.
When Hellan, the most senior midwife sighted the Queen who was crouching, sucking her teeth and holding her belly, she immediately called to the other midwives to help bring her in.
The Queen laid on her back with hands roaming around her waist line as the physician hurriedly searched her stomach for a heartbeat. The queen was in transitory agony and her contractions seemed to surpass the common threshold. The physician again, tried to find the heartbeat. And there it was! Well, there they were actually because he found two heartbeats. He was startled and taken aback because this was the first time ever that he was finding two heartbeats in a woman. "They must be twins" he shrieked!
They're twins your majesty! Twins! He reechoed.
The Queen had already gotten too weak from the contractions but because she was well dilated, it was time to push. By this time, word had already gone round the palace that the Queen was in labor and even weightier was the news that she was with twins. The King had left his study to head for the infirmary. The royal household and guards had also left their duty posts for the same emplacement.
She was afraid and impatient to let them out. After pushing for some minutes, they weren't forth coming. She went on till four hours later…
There were sounds of babies heard at exactly 12:00am that night. The king and his entire household didn't know whether to rejoice or weep. He could feel it in his bones that these babies were a bad omen. He was even more scared because of the history behind twins. He knew a serious feud would brew between Baliamort and Francmort, should his secret get out. If King Obed heard of this, there would surely be an impending war!
The Queen had given birth to twin girls. The King wouldn't even carry his daughters because he had never expected to witness twain babies in his lineage. His forefathers had killed the twins and only heirs to the throne in Ancient Francmort but that was his least problem. What was even more worrying was that the people of Ancient Francmort had sworn and made a promise that if ever, twain babies were born to the Kingdom of Baliamort, especially of royal blood, then they will lay siege against them and have them killed. The King was crippled with fear and he feared that the Seer Mawrer was going to come to the palace soon enough to make a public interpretation of the birth of the twins to the rest of Baliamort.
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Like peas in a pod, if the twins lived long enough, or if they lived at all, they were to assume the throne of Baliamort as Queen, when their parents died.
On the eighth day of the sixth month, the girls were to be named. Part of the palace walls had been painted in mosaic art, decorative textiles of fine quality were lined against the pillars and rare fragments of patterned silk were used to decorate the palace temple and pool area.
The royal household had converged at the temple. After the other priests had sung and chanted, the time to initiate them before Phrates, the sky god, and Aris, the god of children had emerged- for they were believed to have sent the twins to earth. The chief priest had presided over the initiation. And when he was about to hurriedly dip them into the pool, a man halted the affair.
It was the Seer Mawrer who had come in. He was the only one who had the complete revelation to decipher the loops he had seen in the sky, which was symbolic of the twins. When the seer arrived, he immediately took some ash from his spice pot and maffled some words before drawing the symbol of a sword on their foreheads. After doing that, the priests were allowed to chant a second time. After doing that, the babies' feet were dipped in ash, before slightly immersing them into the pool. Immediately after this was done, all the curtains in the temple were struck from top to bottom by a strange lightening.
The clouds had suddenly gathered and the sky turned vantablack- thunder came before lightening. The wind not only blew books from shelves, it also tore pages from their covers, whilst breaking off hinges from doors. Men were already set for a sprint and whilst they took cover, it was said that the Seer, Mawrer's eyes began to spin and flame at the same time. He had a strange shadow behind him. He looked like something divine had possessed him. His legs shook feverishly like one starved for a million years and finally he spoke!
His voice was as though many men were speaking all at once. He finally uttered the words that weighed heavy on his tongue "Eraph is peace, Elish is war" and immediately, fell to the ground like a park of cards. Eraph and Elish were the names the gods had chosen for the twins.
The Queen having seen all these, came up with a plan...