the shocked response came back.
“Bannor?” Sarai asked. “You’re shaking. I’m fine, just a little weak. That’s all.”
“Don’t move, please,” he said in his most calm tone. He sat down in the walk, scooted over and made a pillow of his lap, and eased her shoulders into it.
“My One, stop fussing, I’m okay. It’s just a dizzy spell. I’ve had them before.” She started to push herself up, but he held her down.
“Star, if you don’t keep still, I’m going to bite you. I saw your threads and you aren’t moving until somebody much wiser than both of us looks at you.”
Agonizing moments passed. How long would it take Wren to find someone? They were in a little traveled part of the grounds surrounding the citadel—the very reason Bertrand had picked it for a clandestine meeting with the guard.
He stroked Sarai’s hair. “I’m not taking any chances with the baby. I called for help. It shouldn’t take long.”
“Bannor, no, please,” Sarai said in a weak voice. “Mother will have a fit.”
“Let her have a fit. I’m no healer and neither are you, I’d rather be too cautious than make a mistake that hurts either you or the baby.”
She took a shuddering breath and reached up to his hand, her glowing violet eyes looking up at him. “I love you.”
He touched her face. “I love you too.”
Bannor heard a sizzling sound from a short distance off and glanced around. Wren, Radian, Ziedra and a new woman dressed in blue Bannor had not seen before had appeared near the Glissen gate. He waved his arm to get their attention. How had Wren fetched a healer so fast?
The new person gestured and the four of them floated across the river to settle on the trail a short distance away. Bannor saw then that this new woman had gold skin the same as Radian and Dulcere. Like Dulcere, her eyes were solid black that seemed to have stars winking in them. She had a face too perfect to be considered beautiful framed by dark auburn hair that tumbled loose over her shoulders. She, like Dulcere, possessed bizarre threads not found in other creatures he had met, but unlike the ancient Kriar woman, this one possessed magic—strong magic—so powerful it made him wonder for a moment if she were an avatar.
Wren dashed up, slid to a stop, and crouched down. “Did she fall?”
“No,” he responded. “I had a hold of her.”
“My One,” Sarai pushed at him with feeble hands, obviously still drained. “I’ll be okay.”
“Bannor,” Wren said. “This Lady with me is Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri Felspar. She knows about complicated pregnancies.”
Bannor nodded to the woman. “Lady Felspar,” he dipped his head.
The woman touched the blood-colored triangular jewel in her forehead and then another near her collar and bowed her head in some kind of formal greeting. “Can you explain what happened?”
“Well, we were crouched down here, and she went to stand up a little too fast and she started to faint. That wasn’t the part that scared me.”
The gold woman’s flawless face made up with such exacting care made her look like some fantastic doll. She raised an eyebrow. “And what did you see?”
“Milady, I have a sort of second sight. When I saw down into her body I saw the threads of her essence almost wink out. The baby’s energies were double or triple normal.”
The woman nodded. She hiked up her robes and knelt down by Sarai. “Arminwen T’Evagduran, my name is Cassandra Felspar. I have some skills in medicine. I do not wish to alarm you, but I believe your husband-to-be did the right thing in summoning a healer.” She drew a breath. “Please, with your permission, I’d like to examine you to make sure it’s all right to move you.”
That was ridiculous, she didn’t need permission. He was all the permission she needed! “You don’t need to—” He stopped when Cassandra placed on long-nailed hand on his shoulder. The charge in that hand by itself was enough to cut him off.
Sarai looked up at her with glowing violet eyes. “Yes. Please.”
Cassandra nodded. “Arminwen, I apologize, I must touch you.”
Sarai nodded.
Expression intent and serious, she moved with a crafts-person’s methodical precision, she placed a palm gently across Sarai’s forehead, then held a palm up to cast one of Sarai’s glowing eyes in shadow, then drew it away.
Ziedra leaned down next to Bannor and put a hand on his shoulder. “She’ll be okay. Nonna Cassandra is about the best person you could have look after her, really.”
“Lady Cassandra, I need to tell you this baby is—”
Cassandra put a finger to her lips then spoke in a whisper. “All babies are extraordinary.” She flipped her hair back and placed two fingers against Sarai’s left shoulder, then her right, then slid a finger down the middle of her chest stopping a little above her sternum.
The gold woman frowned. She made a gesture over the spot and her hand glowed. Sarai twitched and let out a quiet gasp. She grabbed for the spot but Cassandra guarded her hands away. “Shhh, this needs to be done.”
The fabric of Sarai’s blouse bulged up. Cassandra gestured again. The material shimmered and something black floated up to her hand through the fibers.
“Tsk, Arminwen, confusing your child this way, it’s not healthy for either of you.”
Bannor frowned and looked closer.
Cassandra held it up to him, a black crystal a little smaller than the end of his thumb cut into a spindle shape. He had, of course, seen many of them. They were a device used by many immortals. “A flux stone.”
“Aye.” The mage said with a grin. “A drained one. As I look through the focal points of her body I see evidence of conservation and channeling of magic. She has been trying very hard to hold onto that energy.”
That sure sounded like Sarai.
“I need the stone for my elemental powers,” Sarai mumbled.
“No, Arminwen, you had those before this stone, and trying to store away elemental energy is just confusing the baby.”
“She takes so much of my strength,” Sarai moaned.
“No doubt,” Cassandra responded, pushing out her lower lip. She placed a hand on Sarai’s abdomen, moving her fingers with great care from spot to spot. She nodded to herself and clicked her tongue. “Hmmm. The baby is healthy, far healthier than her mother I’m afraid.”
“Is Sarai in danger?”
Cassandra’s expression darkened. “Yes, there is a hazard. Obviously, she conceived in a different physical configuration than she is in now. The baby’s early development took place at higher energy levels than are present now. Your wife-to-be has been storing away energy in the flux stone to suffice for when the little one has a growth spurt. Unfortunately, the child has now developed to the point that the little bit of elemental energy she is able to draw is not able to keep up with the demand—she has none left over to handle those times when extra is needed.”
Bannor shook his head. “Lady Cassandra, I am surprised, I would have thought nobody would have experience in such things.”
The gold woman chuckled. She flicked a hand toward Radian. “You think that little demon there was a normal baby?” She shook her head. “Greedy little monster never would leave any for me.”
Radian covered his face. “Mother!”
Ziedra hugged her husband.
Bannor glanced back at Radian and then to his gold skinned mother. She hardly looked more than in her late twenties. Of course, neither did Dulcere, and her age was measured in millennia. “Will she be okay?”
Cassandra shook her head. “Not unless she receives treatment. Little, what’s her name going to be?”
“I was thinking Vhina Drielle,” Bannor answered.
“Well, little Vhina started her life in a much stronger body than the one she’s in now. She’s unintentionally hurting her mother because she’s hungry. She needs more than nutrients to grow… she needs magic… and fair quantities of it.”
“But Mother told me,” Sarai said with a groan. “That working magic was dangerous for her.”
“Early on, absolutely,” Cassandra agreed, pressing Sarai’s shoulder. She rose slowly. “Bannor, go ahead and pick her up. We need to get her in a bed.”
Bannor carefully disentangled himself from Sarai, and scooped her up.
“No,” Sarai demurred, hitting him on the shoulder. “I can—I can walk.”
“Star, quit it,” he told her. “Lady Cassandra seems to know what she’s about.”
“Radian, do you know their quarters?” Cassandra asked.
“Indeed I do. Off we go.” He tilted his head back, glowing blue eyes flaring with white light.
With a twisting sense in his stomach, Bannor saw all the threads of the environment bend around them and focus into a single point. At the same time, he felt himself pulled, and in that instant of time they were standing in the conference circle in Sarai’s chambers in Green Run.
Cassandra looked around. “My my my, so very nice. Beautiful. Well, let us get our expectant mother in bed.”
Bannor lead the way, house maids and stewards suddenly rushing around him like frightened animals. It was amazing how much common they could speak when they were concerned for their princess.
The doors to the bedroom suite were pulled open for Bannor as he carried Sarai in and laid her down on the bed and removed her boots.
“We better call Kalindinai,” Bannor said. “If I don’t tell her right away, she’ll have my head.”
“Servants are way ahead of you,” Wren said. “I saw three light out the main hall like their tails were on fire.”
“Lady Cass—andra?” Sarai held up a hand toward the gold mage. “Can anything be—done?”
The mage tilted her head to one side. “Of course. I just don’t know what you were thinking when you schemed to bring this little one into the world. Of course she’s creating changes in you, but they aren’t going to keep up with her development. How were you planning on nursing her?”
Sarai shook her head.
Suddenly, something snapped into place for Bannor. The body switch in Gladshiem when Daena’s tao was in Sarai’s body—she had almost begged Daena to stay in her body, much to the dismay of everyone else. She had been hoping that Daena’s first one energies would leave some permanent change behind. Circumstances had curtailed that stay.
“My, my, what a mess,” Cassandra said, sitting on the bed next to Sarai. “I can get you on your feet again, but you are going to need regular heterotropic treatments. You will need supplemental nourishment, and someone with considerable aura strength to help you through the growth spurts. I assure you they will only get more arduous as you move into the last trimester.”
“So, she really is in danger?”
Cassandra focused on him. “Let me make it clear. They will both die without treatment.”
This caused all the women in the room including the elf maids fidgeting in the corners to start.
“Could you repeat that last part?” A ringing female voice asked from the doorway, the commanding tone of Queen Kalindinai.
Damn, she had gotten here fast. It was a long run from the even the nearest part of the main citadel; two or three hundred paces at least.
The Queen was dressed in gray casual robes and not for court, her hair was only half braided. From the red in her cheeks, she had sprinted from wherever she had been. King Jhaan stood behind her in plain breeches and doublet, his long gray hair loose about his face. Behind them were a small entourage of guards, maids, and healers.
Cassandra curtsied. “Dom’ista, Matradomma,”
“Devil the court etiquette woman,” the King said. “Is she in immediate danger?”
“Dom’ista, that’s what I was just saying,” Cassandra answered with a nod, her ebon-colored eyes flashing. “They are both in danger without appropriate care. I give them a little more than a tenday before the drain on your daughter’s system causes heart failure.”
Sarai groaned. “No.”
The words said in such a matter-of-fact hit Bannor in the chest like a mallet. It stole his air. It seemed to strike the King and Queen with equal force.
“Can you save both of them?”
Cassandra smiled. “Certainly. It’s nursing the little one that will be the biggest bother. Immortal wet-nurses are somewhat hard to come by.”
“Immortal?” the King said with a scowl. “What’s this? I had heard the child would be special…” His voice trailed off.
The gold mage shrugged. “I don’t know if her kind has a name.”
“She’ll be a first one like Daena,” Bannor answered.
“What?” the King burst out.
“Are you certain, Bannor?” Kalindinai asked. “I knew she would be strong, but that strong?”
Bannor wasn’t about to go into how that was what Sarai had been intending all along, and the very thing that had riled Loki into attacking them. “Well, not exactly like her, an elven first one I guess.” He shrugged. “I’ve made mistakes before I suppose…” He let his voice trail off.
“Wait a moment,” Cassandra said holding up a hand. “Just like who again?”
“Daena Sheento,” Wren said. “I must have told you about her.”
“When?”
“Oh.” Wren rubbed the back of her head. “Right, I was going to tell you when breakfast was interrupted by Bannor screaming in my head.”
“I didn’t scream.”
“Stop. Just stop.” Kalindinai held up both hands. Everyone paused and focused on the Queen. “Lady Cassandra, you said you can provide the necessary care for my daughter. Do you need anything from us—funds, materials?”
Cassandra drew a breath. “Sil’matra Kalindinai, normally I would attach a fee to such a service, but we are guests of Malan, and in the interest of good will between family Felspar and family T’Evagduran I will assist for the cost of materials only. This is provided I get some access to your son-in-law to be, and this Daena Sheento that Wren mentions… and, of course, some invitations to the wedding.”
Kalindinai glanced at her husband, then to Sarai’s pale face. “Done—on the condition you show me the procedures so that if the need arises I may assist.”
“Agreed.” Cassandra answered with a nod.
“You!” Kalindinai pointed a finger at him. “You knew about this.”
Bannor clutched his chest. “Matradomma, no. Not like this. What do I know about babies… much less…” He threw out his hands. “This?”
The Queen growled. “You are going to learn.” She looked to Cassandra. “You will teach him.”
Cassandra swayed back. “Pardon, Sil’matra? I merely offered to treat your daughter.”
The Queen’s tone lowered. “You are a guest of Malan. Consider it a—favor.”
The gold woman drew a long slow breath and dipped her head. “Yes, Sil’matra.”
“Good, now,” she strolled across the room and sat on the bed next to her daughter and stroked her hair. “Are you in any pain, Mimi?”
Sarai looked up at her mother with a dazed expression. The Queen could be so stern one moment, and in a flash be the nurturing individual one expected a mother to be. “No, just tired. Bannor and I worked out earlier and I was feeling fine.”
“Worked out?” She raised an eyebrow and glared at Bannor.
He staggered back as though stabbed in the heart. “It was just light exercise, Matradomma.”
“It better have been.”
“Kal, let the boy breathe,” the King said.
Kalindinai frowned at him but seemed to relax a little. Kalindinai focused on Cassandra again. “So, what is the first step?”
Cassandra frowned. “Well, we can get Sarai up and arou
nd with a biophase charge to replenish lost vitality and get her energy levels up.” She gestured to Wren. “Wren can help with that. I expect Bannor will be able to do it with some training.”
“I thought only immorts and changelings could use biophase?” Kalindinai said.
“Well, they are the only ones who can use it in any quantity, yes. Your daughter was cleverly cheating the energy requirements of her pregnancy with this.” She held out the black jewel.
“A flux stone,” Kalindinai said taking it from Cassandra. “Ah, I see, she has been sustaining the baby with conservation.” She frowned down at her daughter. “A bit too smart for her own good it would seem.”
Sarai moaned.
“Her energy level will have to be maintained with periodic treatments until I can create some kind of patch to keep her levels constant.”
“Why not fill up her flux stone with energy, Mother?” Radian asked.
“It’s not really designed to work that way. She needs constant energy consistent with what the baby needs. The body of an immort would adapt as the baby developed. So, a device to simulate that also has to be able to take the load when the baby goes through a growth spurt.”
“A growth spurt?” Kalindinai repeated.
“Yes, that is what caused her collapse this morning. The baby went through a growth spurt. During that time it needs triple or quadruple its normal energy. That demand exhausted all your daughter’s stored energy and started draining her life energy directly. Right now, the baby is using all of her elemental energy simply to subsist. A normal woman would have collapsed a moon or more ago.”
“So these treatments?” the Queen asked.
“Around our house, we call them ‘getting a charge’.” Cassandra’s voice trailed off. “It’s best done by someone—ummm, close.”
Kalindinai raised an eyebrow. She glanced at Wren. “And you can do this?”
Wren blinked and nodded.
She gestured to Sarai. “Do it.”
The blonde savant’s blue eyes went wide. “Now?”
The Queen pointed.
Wren sighed, she knelt down next to the bed between Kalindinai and Cassandra. “Hey you,” she patted Sarai’s hand.
Reality's Plaything 3: Eternal's Agenda Page 33