The Suns Heir: A War of Two Kings

Aislinn: The Letter.

"Lady Aislinn, I wondered when you would pay me a visit." Jocasta had yet to meet Aislinn's gaze, yet she knew, all the same, it was she who had entered her hut. The lady would seldom visit the seer. She had an eeriness about her, and she would oft foretell death.

Though Aislinn had found herself without a choice. Her son had told her some weeks ago of the prophecy that had caused her husband's behaviour. Since then, she had wrestled with whether or not to pay a visit to Jocasta herself.

Upon entering she was met with a chill. The candles flickered at the croak of Jocasta's voice.

In all the years Aislinn had lived in Sunwharf she had visited Jocasta four times. The first when she conceived Rainer. The seer had told her that her son held a great destiny, that her firstborn would become a legend among men. Her second visit had been after Rainer's birth. He had been sickly, and she needed to hear the seer's words once more. She needed to know her baby would live. The third visit had been during the twin's pregnancy. Jocasta had said little about them, just that they would be healthy and bear the Sunbarrow eyes as Rainer had.

It had not phased her. A mother's greatest wish was health and happiness for their children. Not all of them could have great destinies.

"Wise one, you counselled my husband. I seek the knowledge that you imparted on him."

Jocasta's turned to face her, the seer's pale blue bloodshot eyes meeting with Aislinn's as she did. "I cannot speak that prophecy again, not to you."

"You must. My husband and Rainer, they have not been themselves since they visited you." Aislinn had met the seers gaze with fire in her eyes. She would not be refused, not by her. She cared not for seers' laws, rules of the sight. She was the lady of Sunwharf and she would be obeyed.

Rainer had told her what the seer foretold. War, a war fought between the clan Sunbarrow, but she needed to hear it herself.

"I cannot give you what you seek." The seer was steadfast and resolute in her words. "But I can see what the Sun will allow me to tell you." She said as she held her wrinkled palms out.

It was not the answer she had come for, but it would have to suffice. Jocasta was a tricky woman. One as stubborn as she was, only she worked in service of the Sun.

Aislinn placed her hand on top of Jocasta's and continued to observe her. Her eyes seemed to turn a paler blue when she was gifted with a vision.

When she had first arrived in Sunwharf Jocasta had scared her. She looked to be a woman, but also looked to be something else. There were those who said she'd seen five Sunbarrow men sit the throne of the governor, others said she had served the great king Enynis himself.

One thing was clear, Jocasta was no ordinary woman. There was a reason men and women traversed the realm to seek her advice.

"The great king's blood shall be tested and spilt. The realm it forged shall be fractured and the Sun's Heir shall be born." Jocasta spoke in almost an ethereal whisper, it was unsettling and sent a chill tingling throughout Aislinn's body.

"What does that mean?" Aislinn asked.

"I saw no visions, I heard only whispers. I relayed those whispers to you."

The great king's blood. It had had to be Sunbarrow blood. The blood that ran through her children's veins, her husband's veins. Blood that ran through her unborn baby...

Jocasta had said it was to be spilt, that it would fracture the realm. She told her husband of a war to come. A war of Sunbarrow's. Whatever, these prophecies meant they did bode well for her family.

"How do we stop this bloodshed?" Aislinn pleaded, for her children's sake she needed to stop this foretold war. She would do anything. She would burn the realm, scourge any man or woman who dares to harm her children. Family was all, it was everything.

"You cannot. It has already begun."

"There has to be a way. Prophecies can be rewritten!" Aislinn was certain. It happened before, Jocasta had been wrong in the past.

"Not this one. Sometimes we are but pawns in the Sun's game. This is one of those times."

Lady Sunbarrow rose to her feet and turned to leave. She would find a way on her own. She would keep her children safe. If war was to come to Sunwharf, if the children were to fight one another she would separate them. Send them to the distant corners of the kingdom. There was nothing she would not do to ensure their safety.

"Lady Sunbarrow, one more thing. Hold your children tight this day, for war is on the march."

As she left the hut, she found her heart beating uncontrollably, her hands cradled her bump. She felt as if she was a lioness who needed to protect her cubs. All of them, the one that grew inside her, the two that still played and had the innocence of babes and Rainer, her lamb. Her firstborn, he too would need protecting. He was a mighty warrior, but not all enemies could be slain with a sword. His greatest enemy had become himself. He had withdrawn from her, they had shared no words beyond that of pleasantries and the advice she gave him during court. If they were to weather the storm to come, they would need to stand as one, as a family.

The walk back to the keep was far from peaceful. Her thoughts ran amuck with prophecy and solutions. She could send Dash to their vassals. The Whitbone's, Zanna could go to her brother. She would love the city of Roses. They had a beautiful library that she would enjoy. As for Rainer, his place was in Sunwharf, but Sunwharf was likely not safe. She needed to send him away, if only for a little while.

"My lady, a letter. It bears the king's seal." Aislinn was met by the steward the moment she crossed the bridge to the keep. He had been waiting for her in the snow it would seem.

The parchment had been enclosed by the king's seal. The wax seal held his crest. A heart with a crown in the centre. It was addressed to her and Rainer.

Warner had sent word to the king the day he set out. He had not asked permission to undertake the negotiations, he'd been so brazen. She wondered if the letter's contents would speak of the consequences. Had he pushed the king too far?

As she broke the seal, she felt her hands jerking, her mind was telling her this was it. The war. Warner had overplayed his hand, he had been too arrogant. The war would be between the Sunbarrow's and the crown. Had that her husband's plan, provoke the king and give him cause to raise vassals?

Her eyes scanned the parchment, though she saw no words of anger or declarations of war. The letter spoke of Isolde, of her transition to womanhood. She needn't read the rest to know what it meant. Rainer and Isolde were to finally wed. This was news she knew her son would not take well, but perhaps it served her purpose. With Rainer in the capital, he would be away from his siblings and once the twins had been sent away the prophecy could be stopped. Sunbarrow could not fight Sunbarrow if they were miles apart. This letter might have been the solution to her woes, it could save her family. Though she knew Rainer would not see it in such a way, he also knew he had no choice. Warner had raised him with a sense of duty. He would marry her, even if it was not what he wanted.

"Is my son awake yet?" Aislinn asked as she handed the letter back to the steward.

"If he is, he has yet to leave his chamber."

"Hold all appointments for the next hour, I suspect this shall not be a pleasant conversation." With that, she took off to her son's chambers.

It had shocked her that he was not awake. Nearly the entirety of Sunwharf had jumped from their beds at the sight of the snow. It had come like an assassin in the night.

Perhaps he had left, Rainer knew how to come and go, especially of late. The only time she knew where he was, was during court.

During the walk she realised something. She had planned to send her children away, but could not do so without her husband's blessing. Rainer was acting lord, but he did not believe in Jocasta. He would not sign off on sending his siblings away. Nor would Warner.

She had to find a way, even if it meant suffering the consequences...