by Jade White
“Don’t try to pull one over on me. I’ve helped deliver more babies than you could count during my years on this earth. I know the signs. You’re going to whelp soon,” he said as he started coughing hard.
Gerda shifted as another wave of pressure crossed over her abdomen. “Well you might have to help deliver another, if you’re right,” she said through gritted teeth.
“I usually am, child. Try to come over here and let me see,” Lars said as he tried to shift closer to Gerda.
Gerda managed to awkwardly rise to her feet and waddle over to the dying old man. He then placed his hands on her abdomen and whistled low. “You’ve got two in there, that’s why you’re going early.”
“Two? That’s…” Gerda stammered.
“Oh, it’s possible. Rare, but possible, and dangerous. Sometimes they get tangled, other times one twin feeds off the other in the womb and kills it. This will be risky,” Lars said softly.
“Wait, what will be risky?” Geri said from the entrance.
“Gerda has twins, and she’s in labor right now,” Lars announced.
Geri’s eyes went wide and he felt panic welling up in his chest. “Wait, now? Away from the pack?”
“Don’t be foolish,” Lars said. “I’m here, Onris is here and you’re here, we don’t need any more interfering and giving her a hard time."
“But we’re all men!” Geri exclaimed. “She needs a woman, she needs a midwife!”
“Oh, stop it,” Onris said. “Yes, females need to whelp with other females around but we’re all she’s got and we’ve got to pull ourselves together.”
“I’m right here, you know,” Gerda snapped at the three men as another contraction hit her. This one lasted for a good thirty seconds and Gerda had a very difficult time breathing through it.
“Off with her breeches,” Lars said to Geri. “She’s going to need help with that.”
Geri helped his mate remove her pants as she lay panting on the furs. “Don’t worry Gerda, you’ll be alright,” he assured her.
Onris stood up and got a skin of water heated up over the fire. “So much for a quiet death, huh old man?” he asked.
“Well, nothing like making my last few hours exciting. Death and birth are both gateways to the spirit world. One’s just an exit; the other an entrance,” Lars said as he fought another coughing spell.
Gerda let out a moan as another contraction wracked her body. Lars arched an eyebrow and looked at Onris. “Are fast births in your line?” he asked.
Onris shook his head. “Her mom nearly died with her after laboring for a day and a night. Holda had to do something to help bring her out.”
“Well, that might not be the case this time,” Lars said as he placed his wizened hands on Gerda’s hard belly as she writhed in pain. “They seem to be in a rush. Gerda, were you experiencing pain on your way here?”
“No, just tightness. I thought it was just that tightness that all women experience when they are far along with child.”
“Seems to me you’ve been laboring all day, you’re just feeling it now because you’re getting close to birthing,” Lars said. “Geri, I think I have some soft skins in the back, can you get them please. The babies are going to need something warm to be wrapped up in.
Geri nodded and went to the back of the cave to find the skins and furs his children would need to stay warm. Spring was here, but it was still somewhat cold out, an infant would chill rapidly. He saw a pile of soft rabbit furs and decided that would do the trick, so he grabbed them and started to head back to the front of the cave.
He heard Gerda cry out and practically bolted out the rear of the cave, grazing his arm on the narrow opening. He didn’t care about his own pain; his mate needed him.
Geri came back out and saw Lars between his mate’s legs examining her.
“Gerda you’re going to have to get up and squat to help the babies out,” Lars said.
Geri dropped the furs and went to his mate.
“I’ll help,” he said as he hooked his arms under Gerda’s and helped her up into a squatting position. “There you go,” Geri said as he supported his mate.
Onris looked at the couple with concern shining from his eye. His grandchildren were about to be born far away from the pack with just the help of a dying old man. Women died in childbirth all the time and he didn’t want his only child to be one of them.
“Alright, now push,” Lars urged as he trembled weakly. His life force was getting weaker; he could feel it. He needed to stay around for this birth, though. He was the only one who could save their lives in case anything happened.
Gerda clenched her jaw and pushed with all of her might. “Don’t forget to breathe,” Lars urged. “The babies are still getting your lifeblood so keep it rich.”
She nodded, took a deep breath and pushed again. Gerda felt a burning sensation as the first baby’s head started to crown.
“One more…” Lars urged.
Gerda let out a deep growl and bore down one more time through the burning pain. She felt the baby’s head slide out and she took a deep shuddering breath.
“One more...” Lars encouraged.
Gerda gave one more mighty push and the infant’s body slithered out of her into Lars’ aged hands. He placed the baby on a nearby rabbit skin, tied the umbilical cord off with a sinew and cut it with a sharp piece of flint. He then wrapped the first baby in the rabbit skin and handed the baby to Onris.
“I know the first person who should hold a child is the mother, but she isn’t finished yet.”
Onris nodded as he wiped the blood off of the infant with a chamois cloth dipped in the warm water. He opened the fur and saw he had a grandson. His heart swelled with love as he stared down at the infant who stared back at him with ancient eyes. The little boy began to coo and fuss as he rooted around for a soft breast; finding no such solace as of yet, he began to cry.
“Good, you cry and clear those lungs out,” Onris urged his grandchild.
Gerda groaned as she passed the first baby’s afterbirth and felt another hard contraction wrack her body.
“Here comes the second one,” Lars said as he felt for the baby’s position. His face fell. “Feet first…” he whispered. “That’s not good. You need to get on your hands and knees for this to keep the baby from suffocating.”
Gerda nodded as Geri helped her into position. “You’ll be fine and so will the baby,” Geri whispered as he placed his forehead against hers. “Lars knows what he’s doing.”
Gerda nodded and felt the urge to push once more. “Go with the urge,” Lars encouraged. “You need to get this one out as soon as possible or you’ll both die.”
Gerda let out a low moan as she pushed for all she was worth. Her face went red and she took short quick breaths as she gave her all to birthing her second baby. She felt one of the feet slither out, and then the next. Gerda took another deep breath and pushed even though she didn’t have the urge to.
“Wait!” Lars urged. “Don’t push yet!” he said as he reached in and pulled the baby’s arms down. “You could have decapitated her. Now push, you only have minutes before she dies.”
A little girl -- the second twin was a little girl! Gerda felt an immediate panic and bore down for all she was worth. She saw bright stars fill her vision as she pushed as hard as she could. She needed to get the baby out and she felt all her adrenaline going towards the effort of giving life to her second child.
She felt the rest of the baby slide out of her into Lars’s hands. “Oh no,” the old man said as he cut the second umbilical cord.
“What is it?” Geri asked as he eased Gerda down to the furs while she panted with exhaustion from her efforts.
“She isn’t breathing,” Lars said sadly. “The child is blue, she’s not breathing.” The old man trembled and started to cough. “And in a few minutes I won’t be either.” He looked at Gerda with tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry child, the gift I have isn’t for you, it’s for her,” he said as he
picked up the baby and sucked the mucus out of her nose and mouth with his own, spitting it into the fire.
Lars felt his heart falter and his breathing begin to rasp. His eyes were growing cloudy as he saw the veil before him. He reached through and drew the baby girl’s spirit through, placed his mouth over the still infant’s mouth and nose, and breathed a breath of life giving air into her lungs. He took another shuddering breath and puffed another lungful of air into the infant then he felt his shaman magic coalesce in his chest, knowing that this would be his very last breath. He took a lungful of air, and breathed the warm, yellow power into the infant’s lungs with his last shuddering breath.
The little girl let out a shuddering cry as life surged into her. Lars slumped forward nearly dropping the furious child onto the cold, hard stone of the cave floor. Geri swept in and scooped the screaming infant out of the dead shaman’s hands and wrapped her up in soft rabbit skin.
“Thank you, Lars,” Gerda said with tears in her eyes as the shaman lay on the floor, lifeless.
She was overwhelmed by emotion as she realized what her mentor had done. He had saved her child’s life with his own. The last breath that was meant for her, went to her child instead, granting her the power of the bear tribe. She wondered what that meant.
Onris approached with the screaming boy. “I think he’s hungry,” he said as he handed the infant to Gerda to nurse. “Good thing you only had two. One more and you’d be short a breast.”
Gerda smiled as she latched both babies onto her breasts, ceasing their cries. “I guess I’m going to have to stay here for a day or two to make sure I’m not going to bleed to death.”
Onris nodded and looked at the pale husk of Lars’ body. “We need to take care of that post haste. I’ll do that while you recover from your birth.”
“Thank you, father,” Gerda said softly. “I think I can move to the inner cave now, I’m not so big anymore.”
Geri helped his mate to her feet after she finished nursing the two babies. “What are you going to name them?” he asked.
“Well, I think I’ll name the girl Heith, the boy will be Erik, what do you think?” Gerda asked.
“It’s the mother’s job to choose the names. I like both of them, though,” Geri said as he kissed his mate on the forehead. “Here we go, in the nice warm back area of the cave. What makes it so warm anyway?”
“There are hot springs behind that thick elk hide,” she said as she eased her way down onto the furs. She was incredibly sore from the birth. “Can you find me some absorbent fur? I’m going to be bleeding for a while.”
“Oh, not a problem,” Geri said as he searched Lars’ stash of furs. The centuries the old shaman had lived in the cave caused him to accumulate many furs and leathers. Some of them had holes chewed in them by rodents making them unusable for outside wear but they were perfect for what Gerda needed them for.
“Here you go,” Geri said as he handed her the soft furs.
“Thank you. These will be perfect,” she said as she placed them between her legs. “Can you fetch me some water, please? I’m parched.”
“Oh, not a problem,” Geri said as he rushed outside. When he came back he was carrying a bone cup full of cool water. “There you go.”
Gerda drained the cup in one pull and then yawned. “I’m really tired,” she said as she lay down on the furs, with each swaddled baby nestled in the crook of each arm. She still had her breasts out so the children could nurse as they wished. “I would attend Lars’ funeral pyre but…”
Geri bent down and kissed her forehead. “You’ve been through much today. Get your rest,” he said as he covered his family up with another warm fur. “Onris and I will take care of Lars.”
Gerda was asleep before Geri could finish. The infants rooted around for a nipple and instinctively found them. Each latched on without a problem and suckled strongly. Geri knew that was a good sign, despite the difficulty of Heith’s birth.
Geri left the back area and helped Onris with building the funeral pyre. “So, we’ll be here for a few days,” Geri said.
Onris nodded. “It is unwise for her to travel so soon after giving birth. Her bleeding needs to slow down or else she could bleed to death while we walk. I had that happen to my pack once, before the merge. We were invited up north to hunt the big tusks from the sea, and a woman great with child insisted on going with us despite our protests and assurances we would bring her back some meat from the hunt since her mate had been killed two moons prior.”
Geri nodded as he piled wood onto the dais that would soon cradle Lars’ withered corpse.
“She birthed her child up there, Tal was the one who oversaw it. But after a day, our hunt was concluded and we needed to go home. She walked with us for a while, and we noticed she was getting paler and paler. She collapsed on the snow and her leggings were a bright red. She died that day,” Onris recalled, grimly.
“What happened to that child?” Geri asked.
“You stabbed him in the heart, then he died. I raised Astri as my own after that. Gerda had just been born, so my mate had plenty of milk for the both of them.”
“I’m sorry,” Geri said.
“Don’t be. He tried to rape Gerda and that was his sentence, he made his bed,” Onris said as he hefted another pile of wood onto the pyre. “Let’s go get Lars.”
The two men gently rubbed red stained fat onto the withered old man and placed him on the pyre. Onris lit the wooden frame without any real eulogy or fanfare, just silent contemplation and respect for the very last of the Bear tribe of shapeshifters. As the flames took hold, Geri and Onris stood in silence as they sent Lars’ body into the spirit realm.
Over the crackling roar of the flames, Geri heard Gerda call to him from the cave. “I need to see what she needs,” he said as he hurried back.
“Don’t worry. I’ll stand vigil, you have your family to worry about,” Onris said as he clasped the younger man across the shoulders.
Geri hurried back to the cave. “What is it?” he called out.
“Come back here and see this! I didn’t know that babies could shift this young! I thought they had to be at least a year old!”
Geri made his way through the doorway and looked down at Gerda and the babies. Next to her was a fuzzy little white wolf cub, and a round, little black bear cub. “Oh my! Is that Heith?” he asked.
“Yes, Heith is a bear. I guess Lars gave her that gift and with that, the bear people will survive as long as Heith is around,” she said with a smile.
She knew both babies were Geri’s get but the only way for Heith to have survived her dangerous beginning was for Lars to give her everything he had, including the power to change into a bear.
Geri reached down and gently stroked the fur of his two children as pure love and pride filled his chest. Not only would his children be future leaders, his daughter would be the mother of the tribe that died, and the very realization caused tears to form in his blue eyes.
“I can’t believe it,” he said.
“I guess all her babies will be bears as well, regardless of who she mates,” Gerda said as she ran her fingers through Heith’s warm, black fuzz.
Geri smiled at his small family as Onris walked in. “A bear?” the older man said, arching his eyebrow.
“I guess, Lars wanted to make double sure his people survived,” Gerda said as she cuddled her babies; content knowing that in the future, the world will be back in balance.
{{**}}
Dear paranormal lover,
Thanks so much for reading this all the way to the end!
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> Jade x x
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