The Coming Dawn Trilogy

by Austen Knowles

  “I’m hungry now.”

  “Well, let’s walk.” Cobaaron gestured to the east, which was the opposite direction they were heading. Ky didn’t budge. She knew he wasn’t telling her something important.

  Ky squinted and stared at him. Heading away from the mountains was silly. She then searched the hills and saw a small woman with a huge pile of clutter strapped on her back. “She’s a hermit, and could very well be a witch since she’s alone.”

  Before they said another word, the woman hiked up the hill. She staggered and waddled slowly toward them. The heavy load teetered. She collected an amazing amount of things: food, blankets, a stool, dishes, clothes, almost anything of necessity, and toys. The heap was twice as tall and four times her width.

  With a quavering voice, she said, “I heard that. Who are you calling a witch?”

  Cobaaron said nothing, as he stepped between Ky and the woman. Huntra grew. Cobaaron obviously took it as a bad omen, because he squinted at the woman, and then blocked Ky completely with his wide body.

  “I’m gathering for my future child. I like your druse. How much will you take for her?”

  “She’s not for sale. I’m a rich man and gold doesn’t entice me. Stay where you are, or I’ll be force to kill you.”

  The woman froze, and tilted her head to look at Ky. “You travel with a Star. I could see her light for miles. I have a necklace that would conceal her light.”

  “She has a robe, but doesn’t wear it at the moment. There is nothing around that would harm her, except possibly you.” Cobaaron glanced at Huntra who was crouched and ready to pounce. “Tell me your true wish, or let us pass. Begin to speak a spell and I will kill you before you finish. I’ll warn you, I’ve killed many witches.”

  “I know where you head, young Cobaaron. You go to your death. I know much. As the kings’ mother, I have great power over them; I could kill the last two you seek. This entire earth I could promise you, and with a wonderful reign. Men will speak of your greatness for eons.”

  “I’ve been warned about you, witch. You’re not the mother. I’ve killed her. Let that be another warning. I know you wish the name of my future child, and I will never tell you.”

  “I admit it’s true,” the witch said. “I’m not the mother, but I have enormous power. I could kill the remaining kings easily, especially with Zevera dead. Give me your child’s name, and I will do this. The name must be enchanted, because I can’t remember even a letter of the girl’s name. I heard it once, but immediately forgot it. I only wish to give the name to my child also. Such a powerful name will ensure my daughter is the greatest witch this world has ever seen.”

  “I’m not interested in any bargain. I’ll never give you that name.”

  “You don’t understand. I want that name. You can give it to me, or watch your bond partner suffer until you surrender it willingly.”

  “Get to safety in your room, Ky,” Cobaaron commanded, and nudged her urgently.

  She trusted him without question and did her best to mount Huntra as he continued to crouch. After she managed, with help from Huntra, the room grew around her. Once sheltered, she couldn’t hear any outside noises. She didn’t like the separation. Ky dug for anything that he could use as a weapon against the witch, knowing Cobaaron had nothing to help him. Ky rummaged through the pillows, her clothes, and found nothing useful except the giant stone Noelya made for Cobaaron and the poisonous dagger. The only other hard thing was Prism’s silver box. When she lifted it, Ky found the glass shard Limro made to kill Zevera. Ky swiftly seized it.

  “Let me out Huntra,” Ky ordered, but his room didn’t bubble away. She pressed on the large leaf door, but it didn’t budge. Ky moved to the window, feeling claustrophobic. She shouted at Huntra. “Let me out!” In her fury, she wrenched the window, and amazingly the small frame widened enough she was sure she’d fit.

  Ky gripped the window frame before slipping out headfirst. She landed with a hard thud. With all the air knocked out of her, she stood on unstable legs.

  To Ky’s horror, the witch had transformed. The hermit pack was gone. She was taller, thinner, and small snakes covered her body. They slithered, protecting her. The gruesome sight would surely haunt her dreams.

  “Cobaaron.” Ky’s voice was fearful as she sprinted toward him.

  “I said go into Huntra’s room,” Cobaaron barked, and waved her back while his eyes remained locked on the witch.

  Ky ignored his irritation, and rushed to him. Before she reached his side, her muscles locked up, and she fell face down. The glass shard rolled down the hill. Ky stood, uncertain what happened, but then she spied the evil woman. The witch’s anger was evident, as she hissed, “How is it that neither of you can be controlled?” She cast another spell with her outstretched wand. Ky screamed. She felt as if knives sliced her organs. Ky shook and convulsed; she shrieked in such pain that her voice cracked and broke. Her heart felt like it was pumping needles through her veins.

  “DON’T HARM HER!”

  Cobaaron raced down the hill with a speed Ky had never seen him move before. He ran after the glass shard, and snagged it when he was mere feet from the witch. At the last second, the witch released the painful jinx, and pointed her wand at Cobaaron. A red flash erupted from the tip. The shard nullified the spell, and he pounced.

  When Cobaaron’s hand neared the snakes, they struck. Cobaaron drove the shard deep and the witch toppled before she could react.

  “Cobaaron!” Ky yelled and hurried to his side. His hand was already swollen from the venom.

  The witch screamed, and glowed brightly as light filled her body. The snakes attempted to slither away, but combusted.

  “Get the shard,” Cobaaron growled in anguish.

  Ky scurried to the witch’s side and removed the shard from her chest. Without needing further instruction, she used the sharp tip and lacerated his puncture wounds. Poison trickled out, as the shard’s light destroyed the venom. Ky nicked her hand, and grabbed his swollen fist. Tortured with magic only moments ago, the pain seemed less intense than usual. Still Ky cringed, and screamed. He helped by squeezing her fist. She gritted her teeth and watched their hands glow, burst into flames, before slowly cooling. She asked, “What would you have done if I didn’t bring the shard?”

  “Use the fangs against her, and have you heal me with your blood when she was dead.” He growled until the pain was gone. When Ky noticed his hand, it was healed.

  He stared at the witch who lay on the ground in limbo between dead and alive. The shard had been taken out too early, and the light hadn’t consumed her.

  “My baby,” the witch whispered, close to death. Her hand lay over her swollen stomach.

  “You’re with child?” Ky asked.

  “Give me the weapon, Ky,” Cobaaron commanded.

  “What are you going to do?” Ky asked him. She didn’t want him to kill her, knowing there was an unborn child.

  Cobaaron tilted his head, and pierced her with an exasperated expression. “What do you think I’m going to do? Give me the shard. I will not let this witch live.”

  “But we could save the child.”

  “You can,” the witch said. “She’s innocent, the best part of me. The light has not harmed my child, but if you leave her in me, my body will burn it alive. Please, help her.”

  Ky didn’t argue. She had seen women in danger of losing their lives several times, and she knew it meant the child needed to be removed without delay. Ky carefully slit through the fat and muscle of the witch’s abdomen. “Hold up her ribs. Yank hard, it doesn’t matter anyway, the witch is as good as dead,” Ky instructed Cobaaron. He did it reluctantly, as he watched Ky’s frantic attempt to save the child.

  Ky cringed when she stuck her hand into the witch’s warm body, and felt around. She dug her fingers deeper to locate the fetus, but she couldn’t comprehend what she felt. Ky was unconcerned about the witch whose eyes were fluttering closed. Ky tore the tissue with the shard, and then reached
for the child.

  This time she found the infant’s head. She tugged until the baby was free. The umbilical cord was still attached; Ky rested the newborn on her lap, before tying a black ribbon from the witch’s shirt tightly around the cord. She used the glass shard to separate the child from its mother.

  Ky rolled the baby onto its stomach and rubbed its back to get the liquid from her nose and mouth. “Go into Huntra’s room, and get the never-ending water glass. If she takes a breath and lives, we’ll wash her.”

  “Do you need this anymore?” Cobaaron asked, holding up the shard. She shook her head. Without another word, he stabbed the witch. Ky assumed she was already dead, but her body still lit up before abruptly dimming, and the witch’s eyes churned solid white before rolling into the back of her head.

  When Cobaaron returned with the small flask, the baby hadn’t made a sound and lay flopped over, lifeless as a rag doll. There was no muscle or strength in the small infant. She was sure the newborn was dead. “You can’t keep the baby, Ky,” Cobaaron warned as he crouched by her side. “We can’t travel for months to the city with a witch’s child. You know this, don’t you?”

  Ky rubbed the little girl’s back harder. “She may be fine! I wish she would make noise. I was hoping for a loud cry.”

  “Love? Did you hear me?”

  She patted the child’s back, and tried not to weep seeing her little body so limp. She didn’t know what else to do. If there were complications, her mother always dealt with them. “I don’t know how to get the amniotic fluid out without a bulb syringe, but then that may not be the problem.”

  Cobaaron poured water over the lifeless infant, washing away the blood and vernix. Still the child didn’t move, and lay in Ky’s hands with floppy limbs. Ky held the baby close to her chest, and with warm hands covered the infant as she continued to rub the small back. “I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Ky, leave the baby with the mother. You have done all you can. The child doesn’t breathe. This will depress you. It’s already going to have a lasting impression. We know you’re sensitive about death. Love, please put the baby down,” Cobaaron soothed, but he didn’t force her. “Love, please?”

  “I have to try harder,” Ky pleaded.

  “Love, she’s gone. Death happens. I’m sorry, but you must stop.”

  “No, please let me.”

  “One minute, Ky, then you need to let her go.”

  He continued to pour water, not on the child, but on Ky’s crimson hands. He rinsed the blood away. The one minute became five before Ky knew without question the limp child was soulless and gone. She wept as she placed the baby on the witch.

  “Don’t think about it. We’ll have one. Once we reach the city, we can have a child, unless you are depressed and want one before then. Tell me when you’re ready. Stars are strong, and the females experience a painless birth with no complications if they are healthy. Both you and our child will be fine.” Cobaaron poured more water on her hands, until any trace of the stillbirth was washed away. “It won’t be anything like this.”

  “I want to leave this place.” Ky glimpsed the tiny infant she couldn’t save. It broke her heart, and she wept bitterly when she placed the newborn on the witch’s chest.

  Cobaaron took her hand, and called for Huntra to follow. “You take death so hard, love. It’s one thing I love about you. You’re my opposite in this regard. But don’t dwell on it. Think of our children. We’ll have one soon.” He strode alongside Ky, thinking it best if she kept moving instead of sitting idly, and obsessing.

  “I’m not ready to be a mother.”

  “Okay.”

  Soon Ky was thankful she was walking again. She couldn’t banish the image from her mind. Nothing was as heart-wrenching as seeing a lifeless baby. A stillborn was something in life no one should have to see. Her mother made childbirth look magical and beautiful, while Ky’s experience of delivering was gruesome.

  She blamed the witch. If the witch had told Cobaaron about the child, he would’ve let the woman go once he held her life in his hands, as he had once given Oella the option.

  “Love, your light looks dim. Will you please think of something else?” Cobaaron pleaded. “We will have a child once this darkness has passed and this will all be over. All this will soon be over. Think of that, a day of light and sunshine.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Ky coughed as she lay uncomfortably on the blankets and pillows Cobaaron took from Huntra’s room as he struggled to make her feel more comfortable in the cave. She was cold and kept trying to brighten, but each time she warmed herself, her heat diminished to a cool, low, glow with a pop. She was ill. Cobaaron said she was sick with grief, although she didn’t dwell on the child’s death because it was too distressing. Ky decided her body finally caught up to all the excitement, even though she avoided visions of the stillborn.

  Cobaaron left to hunt for food so she could eat something other than endless jerky. He locked her in the cave they had bunkered down in the last three days, and told Huntra to guard her. Huntra curled up to Ky. He nuzzled and licked her hand with his rough tongue. She would have petted him to show her appreciation if she had more strength, but she was using her energy to shine.

  Ky closed her eyes, and tried to sleep. In the last few days, getting true rest seemed impossible. She couldn’t get comfortable on the rock ground, and was starting to bruise her hips. Ky shifted and rolled onto her back. When she opened her eyes for a split second, Ky startled and screamed. A white ghostly-looking woman, beautiful and stern, crouched beside her and stared.

  “Sh.” The woman held her down. Any inkling she was a spirit evaporated because of the forceful way she pinned Ky. “Don’t harm the baby.”

  At her words, Ky knew she was in a dream or nightmare. She must have closed her eyes, and now reflected the terrible event of delivering a dead infant. Her dream twisted the events of the other day, until she needed to protect, not a witch’s baby, but her own. Ky stiffened, still terrified by the helplessness she felt while restrained. When Ky opened her mouth the woman stuffed what tasted like peppermint inside.

  Ky tried spitting it out, but the woman clamped her mouth shut, and kept her cold clammy hand over her jaw and lips. As Ky stared, the woman began to look vaguely familiar. “You’ll harm the baby. Swallow this. You must!”

  Without meaning to, Ky gulped the mouthful of dry leaves. Her glow popped and lit up, and then dimmed. Finally, the woman released her, and floated to the far corner. Ky recognized her. The faint white glow and the way she drifted across the room reminded Ky of the woman she’d seen before. “You’re the one who gave me Huntra.”

  “And now I take him with me. He will be of no further use to you. I can no longer assist you, except with one last thing,” the woman pointed to Ky’s stomach; “name your daughter Lu Lu after my daughter. The name will protect her. She will need the name in order to survive what is to come.”

  “Are you telling me I’m pregnant?” Ky asked dumbfounded. It shouldn’t have shocked her. She knew sleeping with Cobaaron would have consequences, but she was young, and ignorantly felt her age would keep her from conceiving, a stupid belief. She sat up and touched her stomach.

  “Yes, you’re with child and need more peppermint. When Cobaaron returns, he must gather more. He will find it on the edge of the pond filled with rockfish. He will know where to search if you tell him that. Eat as much as you can. In order to recuperate, don’t travel for a month. Noxis now wanders these caves, certain you are here. He will linger another week, before becoming unsure that you stayed.” The woman beckoned Huntra, who seemed eager to depart.

  “I don’t understand. How do you know this?”

  “I live in the spirit realm where time doesn’t exist and I see more than you can possibly imagine. Since I see all, I know a goblin will approach you with questions concerning the elves. He will not know if you speak the truth, and you must lie or war will erupt before the human race can recover. Not one race
will survive if you don’t lie, because elves will not permit witches to rule without humans. The only honest thing you must tell the goblin is that you and Cobaaron stayed a full night at Opalace. The Last Elf-Goblin War will come at the end of Lu Lu’s lifetime, and they will kill each other. The rise of man and healers will begin, but the time is not now. You must prevent this war!”

  “Okay.” Ky nodded, trying to understand all the spirit was telling her. She was sure she could think of something when the time came, and gave her word.

  “You’re sick with sorrow; I will take your grief because I’m about to make your burden greater. Huntra isn’t truly a snow tiger, but a guardian spirit in a borrowed body.”

  “Is that why he could see me when I was in another realm?”

  “Yes.”

  “And the day when the winged horses rescued us, did you bring them?”

  “Yes, and you will see me once again,” the woman said. “But you will never see Huntra after this moment. He leaves to go back to his realm.”

  “No,” Ky pleaded. “Why can’t I keep Huntra? If I’m pregnant, I’ll need him more than ever. Is there no way I can keep him?” Ky asked, and squeezed him into a tight protective hug. “Please...I...I am not prepared for him to leave me. You never warned me not to get attached. He’s my friend. I love him!”

  “Your traveling will be slow, but it is best to give Lu Lu enough time to mature before Noxis seeks you out. The home Ambrosia gave to your druse is enchanted. It will hold all your things, while conveniently clipped to your waist. You’ll need nothing more than that. In fact, it’s best to store things in there. Cobaaron finds and discards the poisonous dagger in Huntra’s room, and it reappears again. He’s weary of the dark magic inside, but it will save his life. Struggle no more on that matter. Simply reach into the small box and you’ll feel what you’re searching for. Items will gain their full-size once taken out.” The transparent woman appeared hesitant before adding, “Your druse will not leave Huntra. She considered him her pet for quite some time now. She will choose to go with him, even though it means death.”