by Tara Gill
Clothes loosed, Mia lay on the table and fidgeted. “Shouldn’t Barghurr be here for this?”
Faheme patted Mia’s hand soothingly . “This is only a minor check-up. Besides, what will you tell him when he asks why you’re here when you should be resting?” She quirked a knowing eyebrow.
“I suppose that would spoil the surprise.” A few weeks ago inspiration had hit Mia and she’d decided on an idea for the wedding gift she’d promised Barghurr. Over the past few days, she’d been slipping away to the Harem on the sly to work on his present. Beth was her accomplice and found excuses for Barghurr to go away on some task or the other, so that Mia could have some personal time. Currently Barghurr and Elan were away in the Demon plane where Elan was thinking of opening a place for making and selling Hellbrew, a potent drink which was growing in popularity. He had taken Barghurr along for a second opinion.
“Very well then, get on with it.”
Faheme pulled up Mia’s skirt and performed a quick examination, pressing on her belly and checking inside. She frowned. “As far as I can tell, this baby is almost ready to be born. This is the first human-lion mating I’ve heard of and its possible that the duration of pregnancy is shorter than we expected. After today, perhaps it would be a good idea for you to be at home, around other people. I will make sure not to go on any trips so that I can be at hand for the delivery.”
“That’s good to know. I’m almost done with my project anyhow.” Mia’s back ached something fierce and she had to pee so many times in an hour it wasn’t funny. “I can’t wait to hold him in my arms.”
She knew Barghurr felt the same. Throughout the pregnancy, he’d coddled her: he carried her everywhere, she got foot and back massages all the time, every day he got her something to her liking—her favourite foods, a book, an elegant piece of jewellery. Mia was utterly spoilt, both for affection and for friendship. Beth, and her other lioness friends often had ladies’ nights with copious wine, yummy food and lots of gossip. Mia was invited, and she’d had so much fun during these nights, sometimes laughing until she cried. She had never felt so…included in her life and it was a wonderful feeling.
To her surprise, Mia was developing roots in Lionhaeme.
“You can get up now.”
As Mia stood, rearranging her clothing, Faheme warned her, “It is not a good idea for you to be on your feet for too long.”
“I can sit. Besides, its almost finished and I want to get everything done before the babe is here.”
“Very well. Tell Beth I need a bottle of the Hellbrew. For a health check, you understand.” Faheme winked.
“I will.” Mia waved back at Faheme before disappearing and reappearing in the workshop, a squat, square building built from luminescent orange stone, a few hundred yards behind the Harem. Many Harem women were artistic and created here. There were rooms where they made glass-like ornaments and kitchenware, where women wove clothes, carpets, rugs. One of the women, Tashia made lovely jewellery with strange metals.
Mia already owned some of Tashia’s work—gifts from Barghurr. She fingered the small pendant she wore. Carved in the likeness of a star, it was made of a silver-like metal so luminous that it seemed to emit light. While it was simpler and less showy when compared to the other pieces Barghurr had gifted her, she had fallen in love with this specific piece, especially when she recalled what Barghurr had told her when gifting it to her.
You are my Sun.
Hugging the memory to her heart, she walked through the mostly empty rooms of the workshop. It was lunchtime and the women were probably away in the main house. She waved to Tashia who wore a half-body shield as she fired a chunk of metal into melting. Stepping into the sculptor’s room, she closed the door behind her.
A white cloth shrouded a large object that was as tall as her. She pulled the cloth off to reveal a statue of a standing lion lifting its head to the skies while a vulnerable young woman kneeled before it, her face raised up to the lion with a transcendent expression.
With a tremulous sigh, she slowly walked around it. It had come out beautifully, conveying all she’d wanted to say and more. Made of a black-gold metal, ebonium unique to Lionhaeme, it moulded itself to its creator’s instinct. With Beth’s help, Mia had studied the techniques of mind sculpting. Through errors and practice, she’d mastered the technique enough for what she wanted to achieve.
The statue was almost finished. The huge lion stood majestic and tall, the exact representation of Barghurr’s lion, his fanged mouth opened in the beginnings of a roar. The woman kneeling in front of him only resembled Mia somewhat. Her head wasn’t bowed in obeisance though instead it was lifted up to him and her face bore a joyful expression filled with love and delight. If people looked closely enough, they’d notice that the lion’s stance towards the woman was protective as he caged her beneath his front legs.
Her heart wrenched as she studied the female representation of herself. The woman’s expression was so raw and vulnerable, it said without words what was in Mia’s heart. She hoped it would speak to her mate too.
Using her reflection in the mirrored wall as a reference, she started work on the woman’s anatomy. She’d got the lion mostly right. It was herself she had to work on. Her perception of herself was often different from reality and the mirror helped. Focusing, she changed the angle of the woman’s spine, moulding, shaping…with her mind. As her mind worked, the woman’s hips became curvier, the waist narrower. She sighed with pleasure when the torso and back was shaped to her satisfaction.
She frowned.
Those arms were unsymmetrical.
“No, that’s not right.” With a shake of her head, Mia broke off. It was so hard to maintain focus. As she became more pregnant, she found that she was unable to concentrate on complex things and forgot things easily. According to Faheme and Beth, this was perfectly normal. They warned her not to expect too much of her body in these months, but she couldn’t help being impatient.
Hands stretched out, she tried again, closing her eyes and concentrated so hard that she didn’t notice the small ‘squeak’ behind her. The first sign she had that something was wrong was when light, insidious ropes slid around her body and tightened instantly.
“Good god! What—!” She whipped around—or at least shuffled as much as she could with her huge belly in the way. Her eyes widened.
An unkempt, smelly vagrant met her gaze. Smudged with dirt, a long tangled black beard hid most of his face. His hair was in knots and his clothes were rags. His metallic grey eyes though, they were clear and canny….and somehow familiar.
Mia frowned. They reminded her of Abid, the leader of the Rogues. All of the Rogues had been captured and sent to Roguehaeme except for a straggler who lived deep in the caves of the mountains. As long as he did not cause any trouble Barghurr had let him be—as he lived a hermit-like existence. But Elan had worried about Urtvar who was supposed to be a wild card and held a substantial amount of magical power. He hadn’t been seen in years though, even by the other younger Rogues.
“You’re Abid’s father, aren’t you? You’re Urtvar, the hermit-Rogue.” From what Mia understood, the Rogues were the same species as the other lions of Lionhaeme. They were just alpha enough not to accept the King’s rule, yet not strong enough to overcome the King. They were prisoners of their rebellious instincts which often drove them towards violence and carnage. Some lions in their natural habitat had the same instincts and to Mia, it appeared that the similarities to shifters flowed deep.
With a grunt, he gestured and the ropes leading from his hand started dragging her closer.
“Help!” Mia cried. There was a ‘clang’ as her voice hit the sound shield he’d placed around the room. The yellow shield appeared for a moment and then faded back to invisibility. She planted her feet on the floor and tried to resist his pull. “You don’t want to do this.” Her resistance was of no avail and as she was inexorably pulled to him, her fear increased both for herself and her unborn son.
> Fighting dizziness, she bent her head marshalling all her strength and pulled magic through the mate bond as she had practised. The magic answered and flooded through her. She directed it through the ropes and they loosened, splashing on the floor as the ropes liquified.
Panting, she backed away, a hand swooping up to cover her belly, a hand extended outwards. “Barghurr knows that I’m in trouble. You need to leave. Besides, do you really want to hurt a pregnant woman?”
He shook his head and pointed up to the near invisible dome.
Mia’s heart stuttered. “He can’t get through that?”
He shook his head again as he stalked towards her.
“I…I don’t believe that. He is the King, even if it delays him, the shield won’t stand against him for long. D..don’t come near me. Or I will hurt you.” She raised shaky hands and screwed up her face, throwing fire at him.
Please, let this work.
The flames from her hand rose high, forming a wall between them.
Urtvar’s eyes widened and he backed up as the flames reached his feet. But instead of seeming worried, he walked around it, studying the fire at different points. Sweat poured down Mia’s face and she gasped for breath as the carpet caught the flames. Backing away, she tried to open the window, but the dome wouldn’t let her through.
“Barghurr!” She cried out to her mate but could feel him only very faintly. “We need you!”
Urtvar must be a powerful mage to be so effective at containing her. Panting and sweating, she turned just in time to see him manifest a personal shield of pale green ice and step through the fire.
“No!” Dismayed she sent more walls of fire, of stone before him but his shield of ice smashed through every single barrier she threw at him.
“Have to do something different.” She muttered to herself trying to remember Barghurr’s lessons. Warfare magic was something she still wasn’t trained in, but what had Barghurr said?
“There are no rules. When one faces a stronger, better-trained enemy, creativity can be more effective than brute force.”
She tried to create a hole in the ground, that would let her fall through to the basement, but her hands shook, and a giddy spell overtook her. Her heart beat so loud she could feel the pounding all through her body.
“Stay away,” she whispered faintly, both her arms folded protectively in front of her stomach. Her vision blurred. She blinked again. Something cold and hard surrounded her. She tottered, feeling as if the ground beneath her feet was swept away. It was a familiar sensation. Mia knew at once she was being transferred somewhere else. Then she was somewhere dark and gloomy.
She tried to move, and squinted when she felt something immovable all around her. Something hard, cold and transparent?
This was bad.
Mia was encased in what looked like pristine, solid crystal.
Panicked shudders rocked through her body.
She tried to move. But the heavy sheet of transparent crystal that encased her body wouldn’t let her shift an inch. Her hands were locked on her swollen belly where she’d placed them before he trapped her and transported her to what appeared to be a cave up in the mountains.
The baby kicked her, hard. Her fingers clenched, her heart hammered and sweat slid down her hairline.
In the dank, gloomy cave, her frightened gaze followed Urtvar as he shifted to a lean, dark-brown lion and padded into a shaded corner. She squinted.
Was that a dead body?
“Oh God!”
He opened wide, fanged jaws and bit into what looked like the carcass of a deer. The lion was scruffy, his mane tangled and filthy—streaked with dirt and she knew not what kind of gore. Nausea churned in her stomach and she swallowed, struggling to keep the bile down.
Her sight blurred, and she felt light-headed. She squeezed her eyes and opened them again. Could it be that the air in the enclosed space was becoming scarce? Was she confined in her very own living tomb?
Her lungs expanded, fighting for breath. Again, she tried reaching out to her mate, not feeling very hopeful—after all, crystal acted as a natural magical barrier. The mate bond led into a yawning emptiness. It felt like she was finally alone in her head after a very long time. She had forgotten what it was to be lonely and she didn’t like the sensation one bit.
“Oh baby, what are we going to do?” she whispered. Defeated tears poured down her face and she bit back a sob.
How was she supposed to protect herself let alone her baby? She couldn’t access her mate’s magic or even get through to him. Would he know where to look for her?
Crunch. Blood dripped down the lion’s jaws as he tore through raw, pink flesh with a shake of his massive head and chewed with relish.
“Ew.” Her belly contracted with a sudden cramp. Her back bowed.
She fought dizziness, trying to hold on for her baby’s sake. Barghurr, where are you? I need you! We need you!
After a few minutes of feeling sorry for herself, Mia calmed down. She had so much to live for, so much to lose. Trying to pull herself together, she managed in a tremulous voice, “What are you hoping to achieve by keeping me alive and trapped?”
The lion twisted his face to the open mouth of the cave and back to her, then he continued eating.
“You’re waiting for a guest? You’re waiting for Barghurr? Don’t worry, he will come and destroy you for kidnapping his pregnant mate.”
He grunted again, seeming unmoved. Maybe the man was mute? So far he hadn’t vocalised anything other than grunts.
She fell silent, wincing in pain when her belly cramped suddenly. God, will my baby be born here?
Mia stroked her stomach, trying to soothe the baby. Breathed slow and deep to calm down for the baby’s sake. He was awake and moved restlessly, turning, kicking. A spark flew from her belly to her hand.
Surprised she glanced down. Suddenly she could sense a vast cauldron of magic in her son—he was powerful… and he was letting her have access to him. In fact, he was nudging her to do it. Her shoulders straightened. She should be protecting her baby not the other way around, but Barghurr needed them to be strong, to work together. “Thank you, baby. I promise to save us both.”
She thought furiously and created a small magnifying disc of aether in front of her hands. Through that her fingers sent an intense ray of fire pulling from the reservoir of magic in her son, that seemed limitless.
The ray of fire, magnified many times blinded her. Burning with the fire of a thousand suns, it cut through the crystal as if it was clay.
“No!” Urtvar saw the crystal break. Getting to his feet faster than she could see, he darted to her, shifting in mid-lope to his bipedal form. He was too late.
Before her, a piece of the crystal fell away. Through it, she angled the ray of intense, glaring light and it cut through his head and neck in the blink of an eye. In a slow, macabre movement, his head slid off his body neatly and fell at his feet. His body hit the ground a second later.
Mia panted in horror. “Oh My God, I killed someone.” Trembles overtook her body and her knees weakened. Barghurr’s presence grew strong in her mind again and the next second he stood in the cave, looking coldly furious. His outline blurred between his half-shifted form and human, low growls trembled over his skin and his fingers were claws.
In an instant, he took in the scene and strode over to her. With a touch of his hand, the crystal barrier crumbled into dust. He scooped her shaking body into his arms. “Mia mine,” he sounded enraged. “Are you all right?”
“I …I never meant to kill him. You must believe me.”
“Shh, it’s all right. You protected our baby, you protected yourself. Besides, good riddance to Urtvar. Rogues who attack pregnant women are better off dead.”
“I suppose that is true. But…I…I…”She placed a shaking hand on her belly which cramped again.
He looked worried. “Is the baby all right?”
She gave a hysterical half-laugh, half-sob. “I was encased i
n crystal. He helped me, he shared his magic with me. He was so strong!”
Barghurr’s eyes grew suspiciously damp. “He protected his mother when his father couldn’t…” He placed his palm over Mia’s and his expression changed to shock.
“Love, the baby is coming!”
“I…What?” She gaped at him.
He lifted her in his arms and they reappeared in the hall of their mansion where a tearful Beth exclaimed, wringing her hands. “Oh, she is all right? Mia, we were so worried when you disappeared from the workshop and it caught fire!”
“Urtvar kidnapped Mia, but he is now dead. Mother, send word to Faheme, the babe is coming.”
Beth looked taken aback. “Oh, of course.”
Barghurr shifted Mia up to their bedroom and placed her atop the bedsheets. Faheme appeared at the doorstep, looking frantic. “Goddess, I heard about Urtvar. Is she all right?”
What happened afterwards was a blur to Mia. The pain started and grew to unbearable levels—it was as if her body was grinding itself apart and her pelvis was breaking. She remembered crushing Barghurr’s hand in hers, someone screaming a lot, people doing things to her naked lower body and comforting her. When a female voice told her to push, she let out a choked breath of relief and bore down. Later, after what seemed like hours, someone laid a bloody, wailing, tiny baby on her chest.
“There you are,” she sniffled, her face wet with tears. As she gazed at the tiny, perfect face, her heart broke open and reformed, filled to overflowing with love. The baby snuffled around. She glanced up tearily to find Barghurr beside her, his eyes moist as well. Poor man, she’d just about broken his hand, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“He’s perfect,” she said and burst into sobs.
“Shh.”
The baby was taken away to be cleaned. Barghurr climbed behind her. Supporting her between his outstretched legs, he rocked her in his arms as Faheme coaxed the afterbirth out of her. He carried her to the washroom where she washed and put on a fresh set of clothes. When they returned to the room, the bedclothes were changed. He placed Mia on the bed and Beth came over to give him the baby.