Author's note: due to SO many demands/pleas/requests, I'm re-uploading the very first, original version of this story. So, please don't expect perfection, because I know there are MANY things wrong historically (and editorially) with this story, and I am working hard on editing it into something much, much better.

But you guys are so impatient, and it's been years, so here's the very first draft. Enjoy!

My Beloved

Prologue

Britain, 482.

The woman dragged herself along the rough ground, clutching the baby to her chest. Dead bodies were strewn across the once tidy camp, leaking their life-blood onto the bright green grass and staining it. Tents flapped in the wind, some burning, and the stench of blood and fire mingled in the air.

"Come, milady, we must get hidden before they attack again!" The maid helped her mistress stand and together they made their way towards a wagon.

"Here, take him!" the woman gasped, pushing the baby into the maid's arms. Drumming hoof beats sounded. "They are coming. Go!" She shoved the maid one last time and fell to the ground.

"No!" The maid tried to pull the woman up, but she was pushed away.

"Go! Save my son!" the woman screamed. The maid snapped her body around, tears streaming down her face, and ran to the upturned wagon, huddling under it moments before the camp erupted with action. Horses pounded over the ground, men yelled, and blood splattered. The ugly battle lasted only moments, and the horsemen had conquered the camp. They looted the unburned tents and herded the survivors into a group, killing the strong men and anyone who would not bow in submission.

The maid still huddled undiscovered beneath the cart, her heart pounding and the baby in her arms sleeping in strange peace. She stared at the baby's mother, only a few yards away, and finally made her way through the mess of death and wreckage, almost crawling to remain unseen.

"Milady?" She touched the woman tentatively. The woman turned her head, barely breathing. She was near death, her chest and arm a mass of crushed flesh.

She moved her lips in a painful whisper. "Teach him the ways of his rightful people. "

The maid was jerked away. And with one last look towards her precious son, the woman stilled and ceased to breathe.