It was a clear, cold night. Silence was settled over the courtyard like a blanket. Even the dogs didn’t bark. A scream suddenly tore through the air, shredding the silence like paper. The origins of the scream, a stable, was packed with scantily clad people, all dirty and on the skinny side. A woman was lying in the middle of an empty stall, holding onto the hand of a tall, strong-looking man.

“Come on my love, you can do it. Push! You’re almost finished!” He was quite encouraging, and he gave her his support.

With one final scream, the woman pushed the baby the rest of the way out. Another woman caught it in a spare bit of cotton cloth that had been retrieved beforehand. The woman collapsed backwards, completely worn out.

“Is it a boy?” The woman’s voice was weak and barely audible. Her eyes fluttered open and stared into her husband’s face.

He looked at the woman with the newborn child in her arms. The baby was clean of the blood that had been on it. She shook her head. The babe was alive, but, it was not a boy.

“No, Mara, she is not a boy. She is a strong, healthy little girl.” His voice was soothing as he broke this heart wrenching news. The child would not grow up and be released when she came of age. All girls born as slaves remained as slaves. The boys could be released, if they joined the military forces that ruled the world.

The woman started sobbing, curling into her husband. When the other woman offered her the girl child, she refused to take the oddly silent girl. “Get rid of her! I don’t want to ever see her again!” Mara cried harshly, slapping the woman holding the child.

With a white face, the woman backed away, clutching the baby close to her chest. She walked out of the courtyard, in what seemed to be compliance with the mother’s wishes. She glanced behind her, and when she saw nobody following her, raced to the back entrance of the castle that they all belonged to. She stealthily climbed to the tower where the lady of the house rested with her own newly born child. When she reached the door, she gave a short knock.

“Come in,” a woman’s voice drifted through the door.

The woman pushed the door gently, making sure not to wake the sleeping child in her arms.

“My lady, your woman Mara has given birth,” she said, bowing to her owner.

“Did she? Tell me, what is the child? Is the child male?” The lady of the tower leaned forward eagerly, her own child feeding at her breast.

“No, my lady.