Chapter 3 Blessings

'They're behind me, I need to find a place to hide, what should I do', Martha thought as she ran, she kept running, and running and running, she didn't know how far she had gotten, but she kept running until she couldn't hear any footsteps behind her anymore.

She was tired, she continued walking until she came across a cave, the cave was dimly lit but was bright enough for her to see where she was because there where some crystals In the cave. The cave was bigger within than it looked on the outside, and there was a small lake too.

She took of her cloak, and looked at the ring on her finger that her uncle gave her, she thought about bringing out some clothes, then some appeared on the ground, she smiled and took baby Iris out of the cloth that she carried him in and put him on the soft clothes on the ground. she took of her leather armour and went to the lake the water seem to have more crystals in it as the lake was illuminated from within she said it was only five feet deep and ten feet wide she saw the clear water that had nothing in it. she took of her clothes and decided too wash herself and baby Iris with the water. She took out a wooden bowl from the ring and used it to fetch water to wash herself and baby Iris.

As she was washing herself and Iris she started to think back to her life in the city of Kingsland. Her parents, her brother that left the city with her uncle.

Tears fell down her face, "why have the gods abandoned us?"

Martha P.O.V

'Kingsland the city I'm from is a big city and prosperous city it was named by the first king, he believed his city would be great, and he was right, Kingsland prospered for almost four and half centuries, but I guess good things don't last forever. When the fifth king took over things turned from good to bad, taxes increased the citizens were treated unfairly, the nobles treated the cummoner as trash, but it was still better than now.

My marriage was arranged with the fifth King's son, his son already had three other wives but they all bore daughters he wanted a male grandchild. So he came to my family, we were nobles, my mother and father couldn't refuse the king. They came with gifts, and asked me to marry his son.

My brother left with my uncle two years before that, I'd say that was the best decision they ever made.

Three years after my marriage the fifth king died, the citizens were told he died in his sleep but everyone else in the palace knew the he was killed by his son. Greed drove my husband to kill his father, he became king and took his father's wives. When some of this brothers and sisters came to fight him he either had them killed or made them submit. This made the rest of the relatives and members of the council become wise, and they dared not cross him, that was when I decided to leave that lie i called a marriage.' Martha cried.

.....

The water glowed, and Martha subconsciously tried getting out of the water.

Almost immediately a woman with beautiful long hair that changes it's colour with the reflection of light on it, she wore a blue dress that seemed to merge with the water as she floated in it.

"Hello child." She said with a smile, "I am Salamis"

"By the gods," Martha said with fright as she got out of the lake.

"Don't be frightened child" Salamis sat on the ground with her legs in the lake, she beckoned on Martha to sit beside her. "Who are you... how did you get in here" Martha said as she retrieved her sword.

"Don't you think if I wanted to harm you I would have done so without revealing myself? " Salamis asked in a soft tone. Martha thought for a second, "what are you?"

Salamis smiled, "I am who you call a celestial."

Martha frowned, "A celstial,..the gods,?"

Salamis chuckled, "we are not gods, we are merely beings who weild a different energy compared to humans and other races, that make us much much more powerful."

"Okay so why are you here," Martha asked as she put her close on while she put Iris on a blanket on the ground.

"I'm here for your son Martha."

"My son, what why?"

"I'm here to bless him,"

Martha looked confused "to bless him, to be touched by the gods, to have the ability to bend nature to your will ?"

"Listen Martha, we celestials are compelled by the universe to bless others when we reach a certain level of power and to bring balance blah blah blah ... the point is the seven kingdoms had never had a champion and one of the other elder celestial predicted that it will need one touched by the gods soon. Power cannot be handed to one side only it will cause imbalance so your son will be one of the first few in the seven kingdoms to have magical elemental abilities ..... "

"I agree" Martha said with enthusiasm as she stepped back into the water, while Salamis smiled "well I thought I'd do more explaining but hey"

"I only care about protecting my child, and this will help him protect himself when I'm no longer around."

Salamis swam close to Martha and stretched her hands towards Iris, but Iris was more interested in her bright blue hair, Martha kissed Iris on the forehead before handing him over to Salamis.

Salamis took baby Iris into her arms, Iris grabbed some of her hair and smiled while playing with it. Salamis kissed Iris on the head and a bright blue light, his hair turned blue-ish green and it seemed to glow as bright as Salamis' hair, which made the lake and cave glow even brighter. Soon the clolor and light died down and his hair color changed back to black. "what did you do" Martha asked as she took back her baby,

"I blessed him, he will never be hurt by water in his entire life, he will not drown nor get cold because of water, but the weather might be different, instead water will be able source of strength for him it will be his protector and when he calls on it, it will answer.

Martha burst into tears and swam forward to hug Salamis.

"thank you so much Salamis, thank you" Martha said in tears. "my son is blessed by the gods" Martha said with a chuckle.

"it's okay child, it's fine , hahh I should get going" she said as she got into the water she disappeared.

Martha dressed baby Iris and dressed herself, she took out some food from the ring and ate because her hunger had returned, and she gave baby Iris breastfeeding milk. They stayed there in the cave till morning and the next day she continued her journey. She had a long walk ahead of her.

Half a day later after continuous walking and eating she arrived at the gate of another city there were guards outside and there were other people coming to the city from different directions. she wore her cloak and held baby Iris hoping she would not be recognised, even though this was another city, the king should have sent spies to the nearest cities looking for her.

"Stop, show your face " one of the guards said,

Martha looked up a bit and revealed baby Iris underneath the cloak the guards didn't even bother looking at her properly and said,

"two gold coins for entry into the city"

Martha took out the money from under her cloak she didn't want to reveal that she has a storage ring, because she would bring too much attention to her self, even if few people could identify the ring it's best to be cautious as she doesn't know anyone here.

"hurry up woman I don't have all day" the guard said harshly

"sorry " Martha said and gave him the coins, and she was allowed to enter.

'I'm in an unknown city, I need a place to stay for me and my child'.