Princess of the Rogue

A/N: I know I should be working on another chap for: Snowing, and I am, but I need a little time to relax and think! I'll get on with it once I have a few ideas!

Prologue

"Every goodbye is the birth of a memory"

- Dutch Proverb

A young man sat in an inn, pacing the floor, it had been six hours since his lady went into labor and the midwife was doing all she could. The man could see how much it hurt his lady to save the thread of life she now struggled to grasp, but she just hung on. Barely.

"Come on now, push" The midwife encouraged. "I see the lil one's head now, again lady, and push as hard as you can"

The woman screamed in agony, a sound that made her husband cringe. "Please," she begged, "please end this pain, oh Goddess please!" she yelled again and fell silent, weeping, as a midwife cleaned and wrapped the bawling newborn in a blanket.

The woman smiled weakly at her husband and babe, feeling her life-force quiver, she whispered the child's name. "Elaura. My sweet little Elaura"

The man glanced down, horrified, at his lady's pale, composed face. "No." he murmured, tears making tracks down his scarred cheeks. "No, gods no" he bent to cradle his lady against is chest, chest heaving with sobs.

"Yer Majesty?" the midwife placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Take Elmira, take her to Baron Cooper. Tell him nothing of what has come to pass, tell him only that Lionhart sends her in a cloak of black"

"Lionhart?" asked the midwife.

"He'll know, he'll know" the man whispered, "Make haste for a storm's comin"

The midwife gazed sadly down at the babe, held in her arms and wrapped in a tattered blanket and turned away from the grieving man and the departed woman.

"I suppose it's all up to this 'Baron' to decide your fate now, child." the midwife sighed, looking at the baby's pale honey-colored eyes, and added, as an afterthought, "Princess of the Rogue"

A/N: Any Ideas on where this should go are great!

- AW1