Born of Embers

by R A Lewis

  “But who do we ask to stay?” Rangvald piped up, ever the calm negotiator. “It would be asking them to go to their deaths.”

  Kalina nodded gravely.

  “We ask for volunteers. I won’t force my people to fight a battle they know they can’t win.”

  Jormungand stood suddenly.

  “I volunteer, my Queen.” He was always so formal with her. “I will stay here and lead whatever soldiers choose to remain behind.”

  Kalina nodded to him in thanks. Asta beside him stood as well.

  “I will stay too, my Queen.”

  Kalina was taken aback. This meant that the woman respected her.

  “Good. We must begin the evacuation tonight. Rangvald, I’m placing you, Kari, and Eira in charge of getting our people to safety in the mountains. Leif, you and I will go with Asta and Jormungand to ask for volunteers. The rest of you, help where you can.” She dismissed them and they filed from the room.

  They gathered their soldiers in the gathering cavern, the space becoming crowded with bodies as they filed in. Kalina and Leif stood on the rock formation that her father had stood on when she had walked through fire for her initiation. Word had spread like wildfire about the evacuation, and the Valdir fighters before her were restless with anxiety. She cleared her throat when Jormungand nodded to her that they were all present.

  “Valdirans. We have asked you all to gather here for a reason. Our home, this mountain, our people are being threatened. We must protect them. But we have two paths ahead of us, one more dangerous than the other.” She paused, unsure of how to continue, how to convince these men to give up their lives for her plan.

  Leif stepped up beside her and continued.

  “As you all have heard, we are evacuating the mountain. We are sending our people back into the Great Grey Mountains, to hide and, hopefully, to settle. Askor is coming, and they will attack us within the next few days, probably with the whole of Ethean’s forces beside them. This is our opportunity to get back at them. Most of our forces will go to the mountains to protect our people. But we will need a force to remain here, under the command of Jormungand and Asta.” He gestured to the two people before them. “This force will draw the armies in, force them to fight on our ground, and take out as many as possible.”

  He paused, and Kalina cleared her throat.

  “While a force fights here, I will be leading a force into the capitol of Ravenhelm, while their armies are busy, and I will take back the Ethean throne.”

  People began talking around the cavern. Kalina didn’t blame them. She was asking them to make an impossible decision. One man in the audience piped up.

  “So, you’re asking us to die here while you take the capitol?”

  Kalina nodded.

  “I am asking you to make a sacrifice for your people. Not for me. Volunteering to stay here and fight might mean death, but it will ensure your people make it to safety, and it will give us our best hope to end this war and take back a throne that belongs to us. It will allow peace to reign once again.”

  She hoped her own desperation didn’t enter her voice but she was too emotional to tell.

  The murmuring around the room continued and Kalina clenched and unclenched her jaw, waiting for an answer. Leif stood stoically beside her. Jormungand stepped into the crowd, closely followed by Asta and together they began making their way around the cavern, stopping to talk to people here and there. Finally, a hush fell over the group and a man stepped forward. He was older than most soldiers, in his fifties and scarred from battle. He looked up into Kalina’s eyes.

  “I will volunteer. Not just for you, or for my family, but because your father, Hakon, had faith in you to lead. And I trusted my friend.”

  Kalina’s heart clenched at the sound of her father’s name, and tears came unbidden to her eyes. She swallowed, a lump forming in her throat as she nodded at the man.

  “Thank you.”

  Suddenly there was a flurry of men and women stepping forward to fight, many of them older, until a force of about eighty stood in the front of the cavern. Jormungand eyed the group thoughtfully before turning back to Kalina.

  “This will be enough.”

  “Thank you all for your sacrifice. As for the rest of you, your work is not over. Get your families packed and ready to go, help those who don’t have anyone and help me get our people to safety.”

  She hopped down off the rock and walked through the volunteers, shaking hands where she met them, and thanking them individually. She tried to learn their names and memorize their faces, but they quickly began to blur together. Finally, she was clear of them and making her way down the hall, Leif at her heels. All she wanted to do was to curl into a ball and cry, lose herself in the fear that was constantly threatening to consume her, but she knew she couldn’t. She had to keep going, her people were counting on her. So, she swallowed the fear, letting it settle into a hard knot in her stomach, and made her way back to her rooms, dodging the chaos of her people packing around her.

  Chapter 28

  Her rooms were in chaos. Cherise was hobbling around, trying to pack a few items into a bag, and Eira was there packing Kalina’s things. Kalina didn’t much care for anything besides her riding leathers, her weapons, and her crown, all of which she was currently wearing, but Eira was insisting on adding spare clothing and her books. Kalina sighed and began helping them pack, dismissing Eira to pack her own items.

  But as soon as the older woman left, Cherise collapsed to the floor. She cried out as she fell, and Kalina dropped the extra pair of pants she’d been folding, and rushed to her mother’s side.

  “Eira!” she yelled, holding her mother up with both arms.

  Cherise was huffing and panting now, one arm under her large belly. Her aunt stuck her head back into the room, a worried look on her face. Kalina was beginning to panic as she helped her mother sit on the edge of the bed.

  “The baby, it’s coming,” Cherise panted.

  Kalina’s heart began to race. Eira came and took over for her, helping Cherise to lie back on the bed. This was the worst possible time for her mother to go into labor, but they didn’t have an option. Kalina jumped to her feet.

  “I’ll go get some hot water and linens.”

  She remembered what the midwife had done when Calla had given birth so she knew at least some of what was needed. As soon as she exited her rooms she leaned back against the wall of the hallway. Tears leaked from her eyes and she began to tremble. This was all too much, too much for her to handle. She put the back of her hand against her mouth to stifle the sob that escaped her lips. She needed to pull herself together.

  Many deep breaths later and a few pacing steps back and forth down the tunnel and she finally felt in control. She took off down to the kitchen where she asked a woman to boil water and bring clean linens. Then she went to find Leif. He was in the entrance cavern, supervising the loading of Skaldrik and his weapons. Skaldrik’s dragon was enormous and deep red in color and, not for the first time, Kalina wondered if the dragons grew proportional to their rider’s size. Maska was slowing down in his growth and was likely to remain smaller than other dragons. Kalina herself was small. But that was a question for another time.

  “My mother just went into labor,” she blurted out to Leif, as he pulled her aside to speak. “She can’t be moved.”

  Leif’s could see the fear in her eyes.

  “We just got word from the scouts we sent out that the ships are moving fast. The western ships are already moving up the river, and the eastern ships will make landfall by morning. We have less than a day before they attack.”

  Kalina suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  She put a hand out and grasped Leif’s. She didn’t care who saw them. He seemed to have decided he didn’t either because he drew her into a tight embrace. She took deep, shaky breaths, trying to get herself under control. Their evacuation had just become dire. Finally, she was able to pull away, wiping her wet eyes on her sle
eve.

  “Get them all out and tell Jormungand to be ready. We will need to be gone by morning.”

  Leif held onto her arm.

  “What will you do?” His voice was gentle, low.

  “I’m staying with my mother until she can be moved. Then we will flee.”

  Leif nodded as if he’d made up his mind.

  “I will stay with you.”

  Kalina let out a breath in gratitude.

  “Thank you.”

  Then she jogged away back down the hallway to her rooms where the hot water and linens had arrived.

  The night seemed to fly by. Kalina stayed by her mother’s side, holding her hand and encouraging her as she pushed. Messengers came and went, alerting her to the evacuation progress. Many times, Kalina found herself locking eyes with Eira, worry etched in every line of their faces. Even if Cherise gave birth quickly, it was likely she couldn’t be moved for at least a day, maybe two. And they couldn’t be here when the mountain was attacked.

  Her mother was quickly losing strength as the sun rose over the Wastes. Kalina was dozing with her head on the bed, her body slumped over. A hand on her shoulder made her sit up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. They felt like sandpaper but she blinked it away and looked around the room. How had she fallen asleep? She couldn’t remember putting her head down. Wouldn’t her mother’s birthing cries have woken her? Her mother lay quiet on the bed now.

  Eira stood beside her. The older woman motioned for Kalina to follow her out into the hall. Kalina nervously adjusted her weapons belt.

  “Your mother is dying.”

  There wasn’t any time to sugar coat it but Kalina still felt like she’d been hit in the gut.

  “What do you mean?”

  “She stopped pushing a few hours ago, and her breathing is very labored. I think,” she paused, anguish on her own face, to match Kalina’s. “I think the baby inside her may be dead. But the only way to know is to cut it out of her.”

  Kalina’s heart stopped, skipping a beat. She began shaking her head slowly.

  “No.”

  Eira reached out and tried to take Kalina’s hands but Kalina took a step back.

  “No. You can’t cut into her. It will kill her.”

  Eira held out her hands in a helpless gesture.

  “We don’t have another option. She is going to die either way. And the baby might already be dead. Either we cut her open and try to save at least one of them, or we let them be and lose them both.”

  Kalina’s head was so full of thoughts she couldn’t catch and hold on to any of them. Eira finally caught hold of her arm.

  “Let’s go wake her and ask her.”

  She was pleading with Kalina, but Kalina could barely bring herself to listen. Eira steered her back into her rooms where the only sound was the labored breathing coming from the bed.

  Eira leaned over Charise, taking a small jar with a pungent aroma that Kalina could smell across the room and waved it beneath the queen’s nose. Cherise’s blue-green eyes shot open and she let out a little cry. Eira ran a hand over the woman’s brow, murmuring soft words. Kalina had to steel herself in order to come back to the bed. It was heartbreaking to see her mother like this, so weak and fragile.

  “Cherise,” Eira began but Kalina reached out and put a hand on her arm, shaking her head slightly.

  Eira stepped aside and Kalina took her place beside her mother. Cherise’s eyes roamed the room, feverishly before alighting on Kalina.

  “Oh, Kalina.”

  Her mother’s voice was weak and thready, no heavier than the beating of a hummingbird's wings.

  “Mother.” Kalina had so rarely spoken that word but this time it almost broke her already cracking heart in two. “Mother, you are sick. And we think the baby may be dying.”

  She tried to be gentle, but with the sun rising, the evacuation finished, and an army on it’s way, they didn’t have time to coddle. Cherise frowned.

  “The baby?” She seemed confused until she looked down at her own swollen belly. “Is he going to die?”

  Kalina almost choked on the words.

  “He might. But we can rescue him.” Cherise’s hopeful gaze fell back on her daughter. “But it would involve cutting into your belly.” She paused, unsure how to break the news. “It will mean that you would die, mother. However, your baby might live. Otherwise, you both will die.”

  Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, and soon matching tears were leaking down Cherise’s cheeks.

  “But you can save him?” She asked, her voice trembling.

  “Yes.” Kalina nodded.

  Cherise swallowed hard and then nodded. Despite the fear in her eyes she wanted to save her baby.

  “Do it. Save my baby.”

  Kalina let out a little sob and clutched her mother’s hand. Eira ran from the room and Kalina knew she only had a few moments before her mother died.

  “Mother, I promise, I will protect the baby. I will take back your kingdom and I will be as good a Queen as I can be.”

  She wanted to make sure her mother knew that her country and her child would be in good hands. Cherise smiled dreamily; she was slipping back into unconsciousness.

  “I know you will, my love.” She reached up and gently patted Kalina’s cheek. “I know you will.” And then she was gone, asleep, the only sound her labored breathing once again.

  Kalina wiped her eyes angrily. She was angry at this situation. She was doomed to be an orphan forever. As soon as she’d found either parent, she had lost them. And it wasn’t fair.

  But she knew that life was never fair. And as Eira entered the room with a knife and a bowl, Kalina sat on the edge of the bed, ready for whatever came next.

  Leif entered a few moments later and paused, assessing the situation in the room. Kalina looked over at him hopelessly.

  “Everyone is gone except for us and Jormungand’s force.”

  Kalina let out a sigh of relief at his words. At least the majority of her people were safe.

  “We need to leave.”

  She nodded.

  “And we will. But not without the baby.” She gestured towards Eira who was heating the knife over a candle flame.

  Leif’s eyes widened at the knife.

  “What are you going to do?”

  Eira gave him a strained smile.

  “Cherise is dying, and so is the baby. We have to cut it out or else we will lose them both.”

  Kalina took Leif’s hand and pulled him onto the edge of the bed.

  “Will you get the dragons ready? Have them in the entrance cavern, and pack our stuff. As soon as the baby is born, we will need to flee.”

  He nodded; fear written in every line of his body. She grabbed his face in hers, locking eyes with his grey ones.

  “We need you. I need you.”

  Leif swallowed and nodded again and she drew his face in, kissing him fiercely for a moment before letting him go. He ran from the room and Kalina turned back to her mother.

  Eira eyed her for a moment before turning back to the laboring woman before her.

  “I’ll need you to hold her down.”

  Kalina nodded weakly but did as she was asked, putting her body weight across her mother’s chest.

  Chapter 29

  Kalina didn’t really know what happened next. She shut her eyes against the images and focused on holding her mother down. The Queen of Ethea started to convulse as Eira cut into her, a wailing scream escaping her lips, even though her eyes stayed squeezed shut. Kalina was sobbing as she put increased pressure on her mother’s shoulders.

  It felt like the screaming, crying and sounds too horrible to describe went on forever. But suddenly, like the wind abruptly dying from taut sails, they were over and Cherise lay still beneath Kalina’s hands. She leaned back, tears making her mother’s face blur, but she knew in that instant that her mother was dead. She released the pressure on her mother and began smoothing out the hair that had gotten caught on her mother’s swea
t soaked brow. She pushed the blonde waves aside, arranging them on the pillows in a sort of halo.

  Behind her a baby’s cry rang out across the cavern but Kalina didn’t turn. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the child that had caused her mother’s death. She knew it was irrational. The baby was innocent but right in this moment, she wanted to say goodbye, not hello. Eira seemed to understand and she left Kalina to tend to her mother as she washed and wrapped the baby, getting it ready to travel.

  Leif came running into the room, his own brow covered in sweat. He paused, looking around the room.

  “The armies have both been spotted. We have to leave. Now.”

  Eira used an old bed sheet to wrap the baby and secure it to her own body before gathering the last of her things. The woman paused beside the bed, laying a hand on Kalina’s shoulder.

  “We must go. We can’t take her with us.”

  Kalina knew that. But she wanted her mother to look beautiful nonetheless.

  “I’ll meet you in the entrance chamber.”

  And then Eira left her alone with her mother, Leif standing awkwardly in the doorway.

  Kalina leaned down and kissed her mother’s forehead, whispering something that was meant for her mother’s ears only. Then she stood, throwing a final blanket over the bloody scene on the bed, covering it and making it look like her mother was just sleeping. Her heart shattered inside her as she turned and walked away.

  Her tears kept falling as she walked past Leif and into the hallway. They didn’t stop when she made it to the entrance chamber and mounted Maska. Maska launched himself from the side of the mountain, Leif and Eira in tow on their dragons. Then they flew north, hoping the armies didn’t notice three dragons’ departures.

  The flight north to the camp in the mountains was cold. By the time the foothills were below them, Kalina’s tears had frozen on her cheeks and she had no more to shed. She was once again alone in this world with an entire nation and people counting on her to lead them. The temptation to run and never return was strong but she knew that she could never do that to them again.