Lost Elemental Born {teen fantasy}

Prolog

Third Person Pov

On this day, July 1, the kingdom of Hawthorn celebrated a birth. A set of fraternal twins were born to King Lachlan and Queen Naomi. As Naomi held her still bloody newborns, a strong wave of fear came over her. And as she started to panic, she cradled her twins closer to her body, fearful of letting them out of her sight. Lachlan tried to calm his wife down for fear of accidentally suffocating their children. But it was no use and the children were forcibly ripped from her arms, supposedly taken for cleaning.

After some time, the king had finally managed to calm his dear wife. But when they went to the nursery, they found only one twin. Their son lay still uncleaned in his mothers blood, but their daughter, and firstborn heir, was missing. As the queen broke down, Lachlan lead every available guard and soldier on a search party.

• • •

Two cloaked figures, a man and woman, ran through the dense Navi forest. The short and slightly plump female cradled a bloody newborn girl.

"Hurry your fat arse up", the tall and gangly man hissed

"I'm carrying a newborn child you brute", the woman said, "She's fragile and his highness needs her alive!"

"Then be gentle and fast! If we get caught, we're dead!"

The child woke suddenly and started screaming, no doubt signaling their whereabouts. Only it wasn't the king and his men who found them.

"Shut that damned child up!", the man shrieked

The bandits stopped when they heard rustling in the trees. It was late in the night and their small lantern did little to light their path. They were no longer alone.

• • •

Cynthia, a young woman of 18 years was hunting with her new husband in the Navi forest. At the moment, she was running from her lover in a dangerous game of tag. But she stopped suddenly upon hearing two sets of hurried footsteps coming her way.

"Cyn!", a tall young man whisper yelled as he jumped behind her

"Shut up Liam!", Cynthia whispered, "Listen."

"Shut that damned child up!", a male voice shrieked

Cynthia and Liam could now hear the cries of a child as the steps got closer before stopping altogether.

"No, don't take her", a female voice begged, "you can't make her quiet!"

"Yes I can. By snapping her neck."

Cynthia and Liam needn't hear anymore before jumping into action. They ran to meet a tall but skinny man and a short woman arguing over a crying child. From their earlier words, it was clear the child didn't belong to either of them, so no questions needed to be asked. Liam swiftly took out the man, removing the child before stabbing him in the heart. And Cynthia simply incapacitated the woman.

The couple took off back to their home, their hunting trip all but forgotten.

• • •

Just as King Lachlan and his men were about to turn around from their search, one of the scouts shouted from a few paces away. Following the call to a small clearing, Lachlan found two cloaked and seemingly dead bodies. He would have dismissed them if he hadn't noticed a ripped piece of white and gold knit blanket. And upon closer inspection, the blood on their hands confirmed that these were the bandits.

"Inspect them", Lachlan ordered

He hoped to find any clue as to who these two were working for and why they stole his heir. And why was she still missing?!

"Your highness", a guard said, "The man is dead but the woman still lives."

Lachlan stepped closer to the short woman who was slowly coming to. And when she opened her eyes to see the king standing before her, Lachlan recognized her.

"You!", Lachlan shouted, "You were my queen's midwife. You are a traitor! Seize her!"

The king and his guards took the woman for questioning and execution. But his heir was still missing. Whoever had her now left no traces of their direction.

The kingdom will mourn a great loss.

• • •

When Cynthia and Liam arrived safely in their newly built home, they took a good look at the child. She was naked, save for the white and gold knit blanket that covered her still bloody body.

"Aww, she's only a newborn", Cynthia coo'd

"Seeing as the blood on her is still wet, I'd guess she was just born today", Liam observed

"I'll get her cleaned up and find her something to eat."

After Cynthia found a small bassinet to wash the baby, she wrapped her in a clean cotton shirt of Liams', and warmed her some milk.

"We need to find her parents", Liam said

"How could we?", Cynthia asked, "We wouldn't even know where to start. Is she from the forest or the nearby kingdom?"

"We'll have to ask around. Someone has to claim her."

"There's just one problem with that Liam."

"What's that?"

"Anyone could claim her. We can't tell who is lying and who is telling the truth. There are too many wicked uses for a newborn baby, so we might as well be sentencing her to a possible death as a sacrifice."

"Then what do you suppose we do? We can't just keep her."

"Yes we can."

Liam looked at his new wife like she'd grown two heads. They were very young still, Liam at 20 and Cynthia at 18.

"Cyn, we can't", he pleaded, "We're still practically children ourselves."

"Yes, we can Liam. We have to try. Don't you trust in us?"

She gave him her best pout. And it helped when the baby in her arms silently coo'd, blinking her still unseeing eyes. Liam raked his hand through his shoulder length hair as he caved from the overflow of cuteness. In that moment, he knew he would never deny anything to his wife or his new daughter.

"What shall we call her?", Liam asked

"Evangeline", Cynthia replied

"Why?"

"That's the name that was on her blanket. I'm assuming that's her given name."

Liam gingerly took the girl from his beloved.

"Welcome home Evangeline."