30 Day Image Prompt Competition - August

Day 29 Prompt 1 - The Promise

“Rhea.” The bloodied hand clasped at hers, the grip weak. Eyes filled with an unbearable pain stared up at her. “The twins…”

“The twins are fine, Clare. They’re asleep in their beds, getting their rest. You need your rest, Clare.” Rhea tried to keep her voice light but it was hard to do when watching your best friend dying before you. Clare’s injuries were severe and she had lost a lot of blood before they could get to her.

“I’ll be getting my rest soon enough.” Clare coughed, a small trickle of blood appearing at the corner of her mouth. Her face was ashen, beaded with perspiration as she closed her eyes for a second.

“Clare?” Rhea looked at her friend, her eyes seeking out the pulse at her neck. Relief flooded through her as she saw its weak, thread beat.

Clare opened her eyes and gave a weak smile. “You need … to take … the twins … to their father.”

“I thought he didn’t want them?”

“He didn’t know. Never told him. Thought he would take them away.” Clare looked straight into her eyes. “Promise me … you’ll take them to him. They need their father.”

Rhea looked across the small chamber to where two bassinets lay side by side. Within those wicker beds two tiny babies slept the sleep of the innocent. Their little bodies unaware of the war that raged around them. She looked down to her friend and her heart ached at the knowledge that those babies would soon no longer know their mother’s love for them.

“I promise, Clare. For you I’ll take them to him.”

“Thank you.” Another paroxysm of coughing gripped her, her face contorting with pain as her hand gripped Rhea’s. “Feel … so … tired.” Her voice was fading as she seemed to fade into the bed.

“Rest, Clare,” Rhea whispered, her hand gently stroking her friend’s face. Tears ran silently down her face as she watched her childhood friend slip away.

“Rhea?”

She turned and looked at the doctor who had returned to the chamber, his uniform covered in the blood of those who’d been injured in the unexpected battle.

“She’s gone, Cooper. Wherever she is, she’s at peace now.”

Cooper looked down at the still form of the woman lying on the bed, his heart twisted with the pain he felt at the loss of yet another life. Sometimes he hated this war so much it frightened him how much he could hate.

“After today, I envy her, her peace.”

Rhea looked up at him, seeing the agony in his face. She raised her hand to wipe at the tears trickling down her face, grimacing when she saw the dried blood on her fingers. Oh how she was tired of the sight of blood.

“I know what you mean. Is the fighting still continuing?”

“No, the attackers have gone away. Marik is organising some patrols to confirm they’ve left the area.”

Rhea stood up and picked up her sword, ready to join Marik and the patrols. Her best friend’s life may be over but there was still a war to fight and she was not one to let others fight on her behalf.

“Where do you think you’re going, young lady?” Cooper asked, his voice reminiscent of his army days.

“To find Marik and the patrols. That is my job.”

“No, that was your job. Your new job is looking after those two babes as Clare wanted you to.” He placed his hand on her shoulder as he walked past. “Get some rest, Rhea. Tally will help you out with the babies, for now.”

Rhea opened her mouth to protest before closing it without a sound issuing from it. From the firm look she saw on Cooper’s face she knew she was not going to change his mind. She placed her sword against the chair and nodded. “I’ll rest, but only if you tell Makin that I will help if need be?”

“Done.”

Later, after Cooper had gone back to his medical station and Clare’s body had been removed, Rhea was left alone with the sleeping twins. She stood watching them as they slept, trying to remember what Clare had told her about their father. She did not know much, only that he was from Mindros and that they’d had a brief relationship lasting  a few  days. He had left before Clare had found out about her pregnancy. She had told everyone that the father hadn’t wanted a baby and so had left her to deal with it on her own.
She smiled as she thought of how excited Clare had been as the pregnancy had progressed. She had marvelled over the changes in her body, made plans for their future, knitted little outfits for them to wear. The pregnancy became her reason for living and even though she fretted over the approaching was, nothing could did her pleasure in their pending arrival.

She looked down at the twins and vowed she would carry on taking care of them, doing what Clare wanted, delivering them to their father. She would always be on hand for them until they no longer needed her. If their father did not want them, she would take them home and raise them as her own.


Four weeks later, Rhea stood on the bow of the cargo ship, watching as the port of Mindros crept closer and closer to the small frigate. As she waited for the ship to dock she reviewed what she knew about the twins’ father. Clare had told her that he was from Mindros, a ship builder who had been delivering a ship when they had met. His name was Jaden.

She lifted up her back pack and strapped it on. Her long, curved sword, was fastened beneath the bedroll, the hilt at a height that was easy to reach and draw the sword from its scabbard. She checked its free movement before looking to the last of her bundles. Two four month old twins lay sleeping in their special slings. A villager had made them for her so that she could carry them around with her but leave her hands free.

Now she lifted each of them up, careful not to wake them, and strapped them in place on her body. One was placed on her front and one to the rear. With a little adjustment of the straps they were in place and secure. She was ready to go ashore.

She walked along the docks towards the city of Mindros. Groups of sailors sat on upturned barrels, passing bottles of alcohol between them as they eyed up her slender figure. Muttered comments were bounced between them interspersed with coarse laughter. Rhea forced herself to continue walking when she would rather have gone in and kicked their backsides back to the pits they crawled out of.

“Hey, darlin’. How ‘bout you come over here and rest your booty on my lap?” A bearded man stepped out from the shadows and stood in front of her. “We could get to know each other better.” Laughter from his comrades echoed his words, along with a few suggestions of their own.

Rhea stared at him, saying nothing as she weighed him up. He wasn’t a fighter, just a drunk sailor who thought he was something more than he was. Not wanting to risk the lives of the twins, she moved her wrist slightly, allowing the long blade of the zantos dagger to slide into her hand.

The thug’s eyes widened when he saw the blade, recognising the angled shaft and the comfortable way Rhea held it. This wasn’t some lone woman walking along the docks but a trained warrior who would not think twice about carving their insides out. Holding his hands out in supplication, he stepped back towards his friends, letting them see the blade before they did anything rash.

Rhea bit back the smile as she walked past them, her stride confident, knowing that they would not follow her or threaten her further. For once she was grateful that her father had been a trained assassin and had thought to teach her all his secrets. Whilst not a trade she had wanted to learn it did have its uses.

At the end of the docks a small fish market was trading the last of the day’s catch. Rhea stopped by a group of men who were repairing the fishing nets. Unlike the other sailors these appeared to be an honest, hardworking group who would answer her questions.

“I’m looking for a man named Jaden, he’s a shipbuilder. Do you know where I could find him?”

The eldest looked up from the net he was working on and frowned at Rhea. “Jaden, you say? What do you want to see him for?”

“I have something to deliver to him. Something that belongs to him.”

The man’s eyes wandered to the sleeping twins before meeting her gaze. “You have, have you?” He turned back to his friends. “Looks like our boy is going to get a nice surprise, today.”

“Yeah, but his father won’t like it!”

Laughter rippled around the group as the first man turned back to Rhea. “Follow this path up to the house on the hill. Jaden should be there.” The man grinned. “Want me to show you the way?”

“No, thank you. This is a private matter.” She smiled to soften the harshness of her words before heading up the path towards a very large house. Larger than she thought a shipbuilder should live in.

As she neared the building, she saw that it wasn’t just a house but a large mansion, with several outbuildings dotted around it. The main house appeared to consist of three levels, built of golden coloured stone with a white painted wooden balcony running around each level. She could see what appeared to be staff wandering around the grounds and she wondered who Jaden was.

“Can I help you, miss?” A muscular man appeared at the doorway of one of the huts, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his sword.

“I’m here to see Jaden. I was told that he lives here.”

The man studied her closely, his eyes passing over her body, lingering on the twins and her swords and where she had her knives hidden. This was a man versed in the art of fighting assassins and knew all the places where weapons were likely to be hidden.

“What do you want to see him about?”

“I’ve come to deliver a special package to him, from a friend of mine that he knew last year.”

“I was afraid you might say that. His father isn’t going to be pleased. Follow me.”

Feeling more and more curious as to who Jaden was, Rhea followed him up to the main house. She wondered who Jaden’s father was that he would not be happy at the sight of the twins. Did Jaden have hundreds of children that he had fathered when his ship had docked in the harbour?

Inside the house she was hard pressed not to stop and stare. Precious ornaments stood alongside priceless works of art that she had only ever seen before in city museums. Whoever Jaden’s family was, they were very wealthy, she decided.

In a room off the entrance hall, a man was poring over a draughtsman’s desk, making notes on a large diagram that covered the surface of the desk. He appeared to be lost in thought when the guard and Rhea entered the room.

“You Majesty, this young lady says she would like to speak with you.”

Your Majesty? Rhea was stunned to realise that Clare had slept with a member of royalty without realising it. Her eyes widened as one of the most handsome men she had ever seen looked up and fixed her with his piercing blue yes.

“What can I do for you, miss?”

“I’ve brought your children to you, as requested by their mother, Clare.”