"Lady Adellia!" Mylene shouted. "Please hang in there. Breathe, breathe. Slowly. In. Out.
In. Out. Please remain calm." She held her charge's hand tightly in support. The midwife had several steaming buckets of water and clean towels beside her. She was positioned between the blonde woman's legs while Adellia screamed in pain.
"Mylene! I can't do this, I can't..." She begged. "Please..."
"Come on now! You have to push Oracle." The midwife growled.
Adellia's silver eyes flashed brightly, and she became silent for a second. They faded quickly, and she returned to shouting. Mylene noticed that the woman was motioning for her to come closer, so she leaned her ears closer to the oracle's mouth.
"I saw...the first...you must take the first child."
Mylene gulped and moved away from her lady's hands to where the midwife was and prepared to take the first infant when they were born. Several agonizing minutes passed as sweat began to bead on the maid's forehead.
Several thoughts passed through her mind: 'Can I do this, will the child survive, what if I fail...my life will be in danger...no...I will do this, I can do this. My lady requested to be told the child had died regardless of the outcome. She asked to never be told the truth so she can live in ignorance and hopefully let the child live a life safe from persecution for his origins.'
The midwife shouted for a wet towel. She held in her hands a small creature. It was a boy, and he was easily half the size of a normal newborn. Mylene quickly grabbed a towel and soaked it in warm, sterile water. She grabbed the baby from the midwife before any of the assistants could. The newborn had yet to make a sound, which worried the mother and the maid.
Mylene turned her back to the group and walked to the desk to keep the appearance that she was cleaning the child. She whispered, "[Umbra: paralysis], [Umbra: numb], [Umbra: Silence]"
Three motes of light appeared in Mylene's hand and floated into the infant's small chest. The spells took effect just as the baby opened its mouth to cry. Instead, its mouth was stuck open, and no sound came out. The chest rose so slightly that it appeared not to move at all.
Mylene continued to clean off the child. He was a boy, and on his hand was a mark. Mylene did not know a lot about marks, so she did not know what it was, but the child indeed had something on his hand different from his mother's. "My lady...I...am sorry. He did not make it," The maid stated, tears falling freely from her face.
"Does it have the Mark of Prophecy?" A guard asked coldly.
"Back to my lady, but first..."
The maid wiped her tears, grabbed a sack that her husband had left for her by the entryway to the room, and left to head towards the pig pens outside the castle. On the way she quickly wrapped the sack in the same towel she had the infant in before.
Normally nobility, let alone royalty, would never deign to allow such smelly animals to live so close to their residences. However, the King of Arcadios was obsessed with a rare species of pig from the beastman kingdom of Eroa after having visited once. Due to this, he imported a few breeding pairs from the kingdom for his personal consumption.
This time, Mylene made sure that people were able to see her rush towards the pig pens. When she finally arrived, she purposefully stepped into the muck and threw the sack and towel into the pen. Pigs were voracious eaters and would eat anything down to the bones, leaving nothing left.
"With this, the young boy will certainly be believed deceased." Mylene turned around to finally return to Adellia. She locked eyes momentarily with the herder in charge of the pigs. He quickly rushed off, likely to report his sightings to his superiors. Mylene was not worried because this would only help sell the story to her superiors.
When the maid finally returned to the top of the spire where Adellia lived, she saw something that once again tore at her heart. The beautiful woman was cradling a small child, with tears dripping upon the baby's face.
"Ah, maid, you have returned. I trust you have properly disposed of the failure." The same elderly man stated.
Mylene clenched and unclenched her fist opposite of his view. "Yes, my lord. I have disposed of the child in the royal pig pens."
"Ah yes, free sustenance for his majesty's prized pets." The man praised as he stroked his beard. "Well, the Oracle has given birth to a girl who also bears the Mark of Prophecy. So take care that you provide for the Oracle and help her raise the next generation."
He quickly left, taking with him the midwife, her assistants, and the guards. Left in the room was only Adellia, Mylene, and a crying baby girl.
"Her name is Lyrah...She has my eyes." Adellia whispered between sobs.
Mylene looked at the child. Her eyes did not open much, but she was able to see hints of silver. Lyrah had a full head of jet black hair.
"She's beautiful my lady..." Mylene whispered as she stepped forward and embraced Adellia, allowing her to cry into the maid's shoulders.