Western Shore ac-3

by Juliet E. McKenna

  Kheda refused to contemplate the other contents of the physic chest: the thin-bladed, razor-sharp knives brought out when all hope for the mother was gone and only the child could be saved; the bright slicing wires used when the babe must be given up for dead and the only thing worse than that loss would be the woman dying with the child unborn within her.

  My former wives were safely delivered of ten children between them. I don't intend taking up such butcher's tools now.

  He looked at the bed where Jevin was sitting behind Itrac. Her fingers dug into the slave's muscular forearms as she leaned against him, secure within his embrace. Her eyes were closed, her feet set wide, her toes digging into the mattress.

  Kheda glanced at Touai, her daughters behind her. 'Stay out of the way but be ready to bring me swaddling cloths and the ribbons to tie the birth cords.' He joined Lihei at the end of the bed and saw that Itrac's labour was indeed proceeding apace. He glanced up at Jevin and managed a bracing smile. 'Just hold her and keep telling her how well she's doing. Encourage her to push until I tell her to stop.'

  The slave looked back as Itrac's head rested on his shoulder, her unseeing eyes rimmed with white. 'She seems so distant, my lord.'

  'That's as it should be.' Another contraction seized Itrac and her feral cry drowned out Kheda's words. He nibbed her cramping feet, adding his own meaningless endearments to Jevin's encouragement as she struggled with the merciless demands on her body. The spasm |);issed and Itrac went limp, sucking down deep breaths.

  'You'll be surprised how little she remembers. Jaime—' Kheda bit down on the name of his former first wife.

  'Women would never do it a second time if they did.' Lihei chuckled before another contraction put an end to such levity.

  And men and women alike lose all sense of time. I was astonished, when Janne finally delivered Sirket as my firstborn, to find that it was already evening.

  Itrac yelled, pushing with all her strength. Successive contractions came harder and faster, each one arching her back more brutally than before. As Kheda and Jevin encouraged her, the labouring woman showed little sign of "hearing them. With every new spasm, her energy and understanding turned inwards, the dictates of instinct driving her body and brooking no denial.

  Lihei continued diligently applying warm, oiled compresses. Kheda watched intently past the woman's calm brown hands for the first sign of the first child.

  This could all still go horribly wrong if the first thing I see is buttocks.

  Some indeterminate time later, relief flooded him at the sight of black wispy hair.

  'Itrac, try not to push, just for the moment.' He spoke loudly and firmly. 'I can see the head.' As he heard Jevin pleading with Itrac to hold back her straining, Kheda cradled the tiny crown, ready to ease the wrinkled little face gently into the air.

  Not too fast, to save Itrac damage. Not too slow, to be

  sure the baby thrives. Not pulling, not twisting, just guiding as I will do for the rest of this child's life.

  There was a moment of total stillness in the room as the baby's head emerged. No one spoke. Kheda found he wasn't even breathing, stunned by the marvel before him.

  As astonishing as the first time I saw a child of mine born. You always forget how small they are.

  The tiny form slipped sideways as Itrac's womb inexorably expelled it, first one pale golden shoulder emerging, then the second. In a rush of blood and fluid, the baby was in Kheda's hands, the cord still linking it to Itrac thick and blue and pulsing.

  'Bring ribbons,' Kheda called hoarsely. 'And swaddling.'

  'Is it all right?' Itrac rasped.

  'She is.' Kheda held the baby in his cupped hands, keeping her low beneath Itrac's hips. 'You have a daughter, my lady.'

  Now we wait, just a moment, until the thread of blood linking you to your mother stills. How strong are you, little one?

  The tiny girl drew her first breath with a faint mewling noise and then began crying, a high, reedy sound that was encouragingly robust. Her little arms and legs waved, congested face screwed up against the light and this strange new place.

  'Let me, my lord.' Lihei was ready with a soft cotton wrap.

  Reluctantly surrendering the child, Kheda turned his attention to the birth cord, watching it shrink and grow pale.

  'My lord.' Touai was at his elbow with the silver tray.

  Kheda tied a ribbon loosely around his newest daughter's fragile wrist, making sure the knot was secure. 'We need to be careful she doesn't lose this, so we know she was

  first,' he warned all the women as he tied off the birth cord a finger's length from the baby's round belly. Taking up the shears, he cut through the cord.

  Tough as sinew, just like always.

  Itrac moaned as a new contraction ran through her, her feet flexing.

  'Clean our new daughter while we wait for her brother or sister,' Kheda said softly.

  As Lihei withdrew with the newborn, Touai at her side, Kheda looked up to see Itrac smiling through her utter exhaustion. Behind her, Jevin's face was wet with tears, eyes wide with wonder.

  Kheda realised his own close-trimmed beard was damp, his eyes full. Another contraction gripped Itrac and he wiped his face awkwardly on one shoulder before turning his attention to waiting for the second baby. It wasn't long in coming. As Kheda received the tiny buttocks, he smiled. 'It's another girl.'

  She slid easily from Itrac now that her sister had opened the way. Touai was ready with the ribbons for tying the cord when the moment was right and Kheda cut it deftly. Both babies' cries filled the room, rising above the shaky congratulations the maidservants were offering their lord and their lady.

  'Let her suck, my lady.' Lihei returned with the firstborn baby clean and lightly swathed in soft cotton.

  Dazed, Itrac obediently opened the front of her gown and brought the baby to her breast. After a moment's nuzzling, the questing mouth found her nipple and one of the quavering cries was stilled. Itrac gazed down at her daughter, oblivious to anything else.

  'Do you want to take her, my lord, while I wait for the afterbirth?' Touai offered Kheda cotton cloth to wrap the new baby.

  'Yes, thank you.' He carried this second new arrival

  to the swathed table, close to his body with one hand supporting her tiny head.

  You have more hair than your sister, little one. What am I to do now? I was so determined to leave you both to your mother's rearing, to save myself from the pains of loving you lest I lose you. Yet how can I do anything but love you and your sister both?

  He laid her gently down in a nest of soft cotton and took up a clean cloth as one of the maids poured fresh water into an unused basin. Dampening one corner, he began carefully wiping the blood and fluid from the baby's flawless golden skin. His own hands were dark and creased in contrast.

  Will you share your mother's colouring or will your complexion darken to resemble mine? Will you have her beautiful eyes or will they be green? Will your hair stay black and fine like your mother's or grow brown and curly?

  Once he was satisfied the baby was quite clean, he accepted a spotless white cloth from the attentive maid. 'Come and let your mother see you,' he said softly as he wrapped his new daughter securely.

  Over on the bed, Itrac was still rapt in adoration of her firstborn. She looked up, disconcerted, first at Kheda and then at the steward's wife. 'Can I give them both suck, at the same time?'

  'Of course.' Lihei snapped her fingers at Jevin who was gazing wide-eyed at the baby already suckling at Itrac's breast. 'You can move now, my lad.'

  As Lihei saw Itrac settled back against her pillows with a baby at each breast and supported with cushions, Kheda noticed Touai waiting patiently at the foot of the bed with the shallow ceramic bowl.

  'Each came with her own afterbirth my lord.' The gaunt maidservant showed him the basin's gory contents.

  So there'll be none of that nonsense about them being

  two halves of one whole and wondering whether th
e good and the bad in their character has been evenly distributed.

  'Good.' Kheda steeled himself to be certain nothing had been left behind to poison Itrac and rob these children of their mother before she was anything more to them than milk and comfort. Finally satisfied, he nodded, and drew a cloth over the basin with relief. He glanced over at the table where the copper box holding needles and sutures waited. 'Does she need ... ?'

  'No, my lord, thankfully.' Fellow-feeling with the new mother was evident in the older maidservant's eyes. 'That's often the first blessing of twins, with them being so small.'

  'Not too small?' Kheda asked, watching Itrac's face lit with wonder at the strange new sensations of suckling her babies.

  It's early days, Janne's second son didn't live beyond his first half-year, despite all we could do for him .. .

  'No, my lord, not too small.' Touai smiled. 'And they're strong.'

  'As is Itrac' Holding his bloody hands away from his sides, Kheda tried to ease a stiffness in his neck and shoulders that he hadn't felt until now. Tiredness threatened to overwhelm him. Relief that everything had gone so well seemed to have broken down his defences. 'But don't keep her here too long. She needs to be in a clean bed—'

  'Leave me and Lihei to our duties, my lord.' Touai flapped her hands at him. 'As you do yours,' she prompted. 'The omens?'

  Kheda did his best to hide his reluctance. 'That can wait until I've given Itrac a draught of childbed herbs.'

  He returned to the table, where Touai's diligent daughters brought him yet more hot water and he scrubbed his hands until they tingled. Bending to retrieve the ebony physic coffer, he felt all the weariness of the long night

  in his back and legs as he lifted the heavy box and set it on the table. 'Bring me a small goblet of izam juice, please,' he asked one of the two beaming girls.

  'Hind's herb, to begin with,' he commented to Touai as the maid scoured her own hands clean, 'and tincture of earth star.' He took up a silver spoon and measured out crushed, dried petals and then the pungent liquid. 'Is she bleeding too much?'

  Touai shook her head, angular face relieved. 'Not with the two of them sucking so readily.'

  'Keep a close watch and let me know as soon as you suspect she needs something to stanch the flow.' Kheda stirred the medicines into the izam juice.

  Itrac stirred herself to smile at him as he walked back to the bed, though she looked wholly exhausted and more than half-asleep. 'Twins,' she murmured drowsily.

  'You were as strong and as brave as I knew you would be.' Kheda kissed her on the forehead, strands of hair still plastered across it.

  'I had no idea it could hurt so much.' Itrac bent to nuzzle her second daughter's fluffy black head. 'But it was all worth it.'

  Jevin was perched on the edge of the bed beside Itrac, still lost for words. Kheda handed him the goblet as both of Itrac's arms were fully occupied. 'Make sure she drinks it all, and some water.'

  'I am thirsty.' She sounded surprised. A yawn interrupted her, drawn from the very depths of her being. The movement dislodged the elder babe from her suckling. Tiny eyes tight shut, she sought the comfort of her mother's breast for a moment, then settled to sleep instead.

  'You give that to Touai and strip off your tunic, my lad,' Lihei instructed Jevin.

  'You heard.' Touai took the goblet from the startled

  .__________

  youth and edged him aside as she helped Itrac drink from it.

  Jevin obediently tugged his tunic over his head, puzzled.

  'For the next ten days or so, if my lady's nursing just one of them, you must keep the other warm.' Lihei wound a length of soft cotton deftly around Jevin's ribs. 'Sit down.' As Jevin obeyed, Lihei handed him the sleeping elder baby. Wide-eyed, he held her with infinite care as Lihei bound her gently and securely against his tautly muscled abdomen.

  'We'll need you to take your turn, my lord.' Touai glanced at Kheda. 'When my lady takes her first bath.'

  Kheda nodded. 'Naturally.'

  'Can I go to sleep now?' With a faint wince, Itrac shifted to lie more to the side where the second baby was still intently feeding.

  'Yes.' Kheda leaned forward and kissed her forehead again. 'I'll be back in a little while.'

  I wouldn 't mind a chance to sleep myself but I had better do what is expected of me.

  He headed for the doors opening into the garden, where a little maid had armed herself with a feathery grass whisk to make sure no flies got past her guard. As he stepped outside, trying to stifle a yawn, Kheda was pulled up short. A silent, anxious crowd was clustered in the garden. Almost all the household servants and slaves were there, creased and dishevelled silk tunics identifying those who had kept vigil throughout the long night. Cotton-clad gardeners were clutching hoes and rakes and porters held baskets or brass ewers to their chests.

  Beyau, the steward of the extensive residence, stepped forward. His blunt features were uncharacteristically vulnerable, though his stance was still that of the warrior he had been before all the upheavals that had swept over this domain. 'My lord?'

  Kheda composed a confident, triumphant smile. 'My lady Itrac has given the Chazen islands two beautiful daughters.'

  The garden rustled with exultation dutifully stifled to spare the exhausted mother within.

  Beyau beamed at him. 'The beacons are ready, my lord.'

  'Then light them.' The crowd parted to clear a path for Kheda across the garden and some eager hand opened the door to the hall on the far side of the pavilion. 'While I see what the omens say.'

  Kheda kept smiling and nodding to acknowledge the murmured congratulations as he passed through the garden. Eager hands patted his arms and shoulders in tangible approbation. As he passed into the long, high-ceilinged audience hall, he noted five times the usual number of maids busy brushing the thick, soft carpet and polishing the tall, elegant vases that lined the walls. They all turned hopefully towards him.

  Kheda tried to make his smile a little less stiff. 'My lady Itrac is safely delivered of twin girls.'

  The women curtseyed, their individual congratulations merging with the gathering swell of relief and celebration that followed Kheda out into the bright sunshine in front of the pavilion. He blinked and shaded his eyes with one hand as he saw the sparkling sea before him crowded with boats. Some might be dutifully ferrying necessities to the warlord's household from the outlying islands with their comfortable huts of tight-fitted wood and closely woven thatch. Most had no such excuse.

  / don't think I've ever seen this harbour so full.

  This most southerly residence of the Chazen warlords was built on a chain of small islands at the heart of a broad expanse of reef. Those who had ruled here before Kheda had put their trust first in the open waters and then in the

  tortuous channels among the corals that barred the way to any ship whose master wasn't privy to the anchorage's secrets.

  He watched the news sweep through the assembled boats, like the breeze that bellied the triangular sails of the fishing skiffs and the mighty square-rigged masts of the fat merchant galleys. Delight surged through the ships like the waves toying with the rowing boats. Signal flags were raised and Kheda heard the distant note of brazen horns sending word to the ever vigilant triremes patrolling the deeper blue seas beyond the turquoise waters of the lagoon.

  Word will soon be carried from one end of the domain to the other. And to every neighbouring domain beyond.

  The crowds outside the pavilion were more voluble in their exultation, their words an unintelligible jumble of congratulation. Those further away contented themselves with raising a cheer that soon spread out across the harbour. Feet and oars drummed on decks and thwarts, swelling the tide of jubilation.

  Itrac is truly bound to this domain now, not just as wife to their former lord. The threads of her daughters' birth blood are a better and stronger bond than her role as only survivor of the disaster that overthrew her dead husband's authority. Now she has given Chazen an heir and
a second daughter sharing the same birth stars, should any calamity befall the elder.

  Acknowledging continued congratulations, Kheda walked down the neatly raked path leading away from the pavilion and crossed a small bridge of ropes and wood swaying on piles driven deep into the reef. Any attacker would find themselves wrong-footed and exposed to arrows from all sides as they fought across these narrow walkways that the defenders could cut at will.

  I'd forgotten how tightly one of those tiny hands can get

  a grip upon your heart. A grip that cannot be broken. And I am bound by my duty to make sure no battle or other woe blights those new lives. I have no one to blame for that but myself. I chose to take on this role as defender of Chazen and Itrac 's protector. The domain I was born to was lost to me. Can these births help me finally put Daish behind me and look to the future? That might be easier if I had any confidence in what the future might bring.

  A nub of coral supported a square platform where more bridges ran away across the crystal-clear waters. They linked islands where more low pavilions of white stone were roofed with tiles like a reflection of the brilliant sea. Flashes of red and orange sunset fishes in the water beneath his feet caught Kheda's eye as he crossed to the next island.

  Everyone is so pleased at present. Will there be any dissenting voices, once the village soothsayers have taken time to consider the implications of a girl as heir to the domain? Will there be whispers of regret behind discreetly raised hands that I could not give the domain a son, to be a true-born lord of Chazen when he grew to manhood?

  A few slaves and servants clustered on the wide steps of the building here, shaded by the broad eaves. Kheda glanced at the humble dwellings where the servants were quartered and the shuttered, more opulent and spacious buildings beyond.

  Beyau will soon have every maid and manservant cleaning and polishing, fitting out those halls with every luxury to welcome the dignified lords and gracious ladies of the domains that border Chazen. They will soon be discussing the news that these islands are now fated to pass into the hands of a ruling lady. So if my first duty is to hold this domain secure for her to inherit, my second must be to teach her all the intricacies, contradictions and deceptions necessary to rule once she has reached an age of discretion.