PROLOGUE

The boy lazily looked out the window. The midsummer rain poured onto the painted glass windows, its reddish hue offering him glimpses of blurred human shapes running for shelter as the sudden downpour claimed the area as its own.

'I hate the rain.'

He heard dull thumps sound out behind him.

His younger sister; the only one who survived the plague that took his whole family just yesteryear, was playing with her toy ball. A finely crafted specimen made of cowhide and stuffed with sawdust, scraps of hemp and dried moss; her final memento of a life now lost forever to the reaches of time.

Directing his attention towards the conversation happening at his back, he got up and walked to his sister Madeline. His movement immediately brought her sight to him, bringing along with it a smile that reached her eyes. He sincerely hoped she would never lose that smile, but with the passing of days… perhaps it would not persist.

With both of them now together, their caretaker Mother Jade and a strict looking man with glasses seemed to redirect their hushed conversation in their direction; as if a small child and a budding teen could ill afford to understand the situation currently occurring.

Quite contrary to the fact however, he was certain that even his little sister understood the due course of this sordid discussion.

'That church prick.' Jack grumbled under his breath.

“There will be no ifs, ands, nor buts Mother Jade. The children shall be split as par the course of the instruction of the church. We are a charity, not nobles with too much money to spend on lost causes.” Readjusting his glasses he peered over the rim as if looking at something akin to a mangy mutt.

“The children of those sinners… the product of adultery born of such circumstances will require extra care and supervision. Who knows what inclinations could be wrought from such upbringing. The uneducated ways of both the father and mother…”

Mother Jade’s voice took on a hard edge as she held Madeline close to her, “… I knew their mother as a hard-working girl in the town. They were to be wed as soon as savings permit and time accounted for the union. His time as a town guardsman gave him little time at home. With all the veteran guardsmen drafted to partake in the long war, you cannot blame the parents for their undue actions. No one even knows if the father lives! The couple have had no time fighting to survive, these children are free of sin!”

“Yes, of course. It is as you say Mother Jade, an unfortunate sin born of unfortunate circumstances.” The Church prick couldn’t even be bothered to wipe the mirth from his tone. This whole discussion seemed a waste of his precious time.

Mother Jade knew this was not time to be pursuing semantics with the church representative, but she could not let these siblings be separated. Not after all their hardships, but before she could speak once more she was interrupted brusquely.

“It is still a wrong doing. A promise not upheld is simply a broken promise… they’ve had twelve years to be wed since their firstborn no? We shall see to it that the boy is put to work and earn his place here at this parish. Again, the children younger than age of twelve will be kept with you at the town further north at Middleston.” The finality in his tone caused Mother Jade to wince. Looking down at Madeline as she trembled in her arms, Mother Jade began to lose strength in her legs.

Stooping down to bring both Jack and Madeline in front of her, she stroked both their faces as she forced her own tears back down. There was naught for her to do. She could no less prevent this parting than she could part the sea, or split the mountains. She could only be strong for all the children she had to care for, to nourish and aid.

“My dears… don’t cry. I will take care of your sister, Jack, you know I will. Hug your brother goodbye Maddy, it is only for a little while okay?” Her insincere smile born of many years of tragedy and heartache could fool none but herself, her cloistered orphanage having long lost the ability to keep itself independent of supply from the larger and wealthy branches of Church influence. Her very parish was being overtaken by the man, and her fellow caretakers being pushed out to the smaller and more rural location at Middleston. Far away from the alms of kindly peerage or mercantile class.

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Jack felt his sister squeeze him tight as her tears and snot soaked his hempen clothes, his own blurring vision blocking out the sight of her small head as he stroked her hair. He was just a little too old, having turned twelve summers on the year. It was dictated that he was to be split to work for the church staff remaining here. To pay back what was supposedly owed.

“Their belongings…?” The strict priest’s speech tapered off as he looked around the dirty and small bedroom space that housed sixteen children in bunk beds. His eyes falling on the small trunk on the siblings’ bedside he moved to open it and peruse its contents.

“You cannot be so rude Sir Malcolm. Surely their suffering of parting is enough!” Mother Jade could not hold back, retorting sharply. The priest’s representative was simply going too far.

“Again, we are not a charity. The sum of the whole must turn to provide for all… and what do we have here?” Pulling out a small black steel chain with a similarly dark black steel ring from underneath Jack’s only spare hempen work clothes, he held it up to the candlelight. “Black steel - though not as valuable as silver, it shall contribute decently towards the effects of our continually dwindling budget.”

'Don't touch that you balding monkey!' bubbling in fury, Jack could do nothing but stare hard at Mother Jade as she straightened his messy hair. His sister’s now muffled cries rang out; like knives stabbing into his chest.

“You promised mother… you promised our mother that you would care for us. She helped the orphanage so much, she was your friend!” Jack trembled as he tried to find words to explain his thoughts, his anguish, and his despair.

In response Mother Jade only held both siblings to her bosom, mouthing I’m sorry to the heavens above for the inevitable. For her broken promise to a woman now gone, to a woman who could no longer hold her accountable for her inaction during their time of need.

“You broke your promise! Your creed!” Screaming hysterically now he wildly thrashed about, his sister now on her knees clutching her ball to her small frame, pouring out uncontrollable sobs; seeing that only further fueled his rage. His vision turning red from all the blood rushing to his head he turned on the priest still holding his mother’s ring, the ring his father gave her as a promise to matrimony.

“You’re the real sinner!” He shouted at the priest, his anger directed at the seemingly heartless man. 'How could you come here and dictate what to do, this isn't your parish!' His anger caused Jack to see red, flaring his nostrils as he breathed harder in his rage.

A sudden sharp stinging pain erupted on his cheek. Numbing pain came in waves as he hit the floor with a dull thud - ringing drowned out his thoughts as it flooded his very being through his brain. He could barely make out Mother Jade’s voice and Madeline’s wailing drone. Yet somehow, he could hear the priest loud and clear, as if he were speaking directly into his mind.

“To live is to sin, something a bastard such as you… is the perfect amalgamation of. With such an attitude, perhaps a reevaluation is in order. You may yet learn to do fine amongst the holy ranks of our hospitaliers and possibly even chirurgeons, as un-tempered as you still are. Your level of… knowledge despite the unkempt rage surprises me. Perhaps in the years you will thank me for this opportunity, the good lord knows my task is thankless enough…”

With his vision blacking out from the edges Jack could only see the small, small hands of his little sister Maddy as she held his face. He tried to look up, to see her one more time, to burn her face into his memory but his fading mind would not relent to his whims.

The Heaven of man would not leave a path for a born sinner such as him, nor would it kindly lend a home for his making.

He is an orphan on official records.

A missing father, likely dead at war. No mother, passing from distress and overwork.

A sinful birth, one born out of wedlock.

It mattered not how much his parents loved him.

A true bastard.

Nothing more and only ever less.