by T.M. Nielsen
Chapter 6
Kyrin climbed into the carriage after an argument about riding a horse back to Valhara from Minathim. Elven King Auldian had given them a carriage, so she would be more comfortable, and she saw as she crawled in that there was a bed already made, along with two very soft chairs. She was forced to wear a dress that one of the elves made her and was even more irritated that she couldn’t conceal her growing middle in it.
“Sit,” Alric said, and joined her in the carriage.
“You’re riding in here?”
Finn got in after the king and shut the door. “We both are.”
“I thought carriages were only for women.”
Alric sat down across from her. “Not when that woman tends to jump out of it and take off running.”
“I only did that once.”
“You’ve only been in a carriage once.”
Finn sat down on the bed and then motioned for the caravan to get moving. They started out slowly, by Alric’s orders, just to see if Kyrin was going to have any motion sickness.
“I spoke to Sithias this morning,” Alric told her. “He returned your nicker to his indigenous dimension.”
“No, he didn’t. He killed my nicker,” Kyrin said angrily.
“Daemionis may think nothing about wanton killing, but Sithias regards all life as precious. He wouldn’t kill the nicker.”
Kyrin watched out the window as the terrain slowly passed by them. She was actually waiting for the motion sickness to start and the rocking to make her head spin, but so far it hadn’t begun.
“Even gone just two weeks that baby’s grown,” Finn said, and then smiled when Kyrin looked at him. “What?”
“I should be more covered.”
“Why? Show it off.”
“Doesn’t matter, you shouldn’t be talking about it anyway.”
Alric decided to run with it. “You are getting bigger though. I’m curious to see how your tiny form is going to carry twins.”
“She may topple over,” Finn said.
Kyrin huffed slightly and looked out the window, trying to ignore their inappropriate conversation.
Alric grinned and kept going. “I’ve been thinking about a plan for the birth.”
“What’ve you come up with?” Finn asked.
“I want her in the temple, around all of the priests.”
“That may be a good idea. The more healing the better.”
“Did you talk to Saith?” Alric asked.
Kyrin ignored them.
Finn grinned. “My guess is she did. You know, by this time, Emerisa was eating us out of house and home. I bet Kyrin’s even worse.”
“I knew she was sneaking down to get a snack each night, but I didn’t realize why,” Alric told him.
“I didn’t know that. I’m surprised the knights didn’t tell me she was up wandering the castle at night.”
Kyrin looked over finally. “When will you two get it through your heads that those knights don’t care what I do, don’t care what trouble I find, and couldn’t care less if I shift out of Paragoy permanently?”
“I doubt that,” Finn said, suddenly serious.
Alric interrupted. “Those knights do what they’re told.”
Kyrin still seemed irritated. “Yes, in theory. However, I don’t believe they would put their hearts into it. So if I did decide to shift, they may be a second too late, as opposed to if you started to disappear, which would be an instinctual desire to save you.”
“It’s kind of a moot point, don’t you think? Sithias has blocked all portals.”
“So he says. Last time he said that, I still found one.”
“He was distracted by something.”
“I’m sure he will get distracted again,” Kyrin said, and turned back to the window.
“No, he won’t. He’s very interested in these babies, and he’s not going to risk losing them out in the dimensions,” Alric explained.
Kyrin frowned and turned to Alric. “Why is he so interested?”
“You’re carrying the next nobles to Valhara. They are Sithias followers by blood.”
“Or Daemionis followers by blood. Who says they are going to follow Sithias?”
“They will. To rule Valhara, they have to.”
“I beg to differ. Maybe they will choose to follow Daemionis, like I do.”
Finn suddenly wished he was out on horseback because he didn’t like where this conversation was going.
Alric smiled. “They will follow Sithias and then lead Valhara someday.”
“I’m not forcing Sithias on them! If they choose to follow Daemionis, then they do so with my blessing.”
“You swore when we anointed you a ruler of Valhara, to further the noble bloodline, my bloodline.”
“Even if they follow Daemionis, they’ll be your bloodline. I never agreed to repopulate Sithias’ followers!”
“It’s assumed that when Sithias swore you in that any children produced would be his followers.”
“I didn’t assume that!”
Alric took a deep breath to calm his anger. He hadn’t considered that Kyrin would want her children to follow the demon who often tortured her for no reason. “Sithias is safer for them. I can only imagine what kind of punishment Daemionis can hand out to innocent children.”
“Innocent? Children aren’t innocent,” she said, and crossed her arms before turning to the window to ignore him.
“They are, precious and innocent. When I die, Valhara must continue to be ruled by noble blood.”
Kyrin didn’t answer, and it was obvious that she was going to ignore them.
After almost two hours, Finn broke the silence. “If we don’t hit rain, this trip could be only four days this time.”
“I hope so,” Alric said. Tension in the carriage was high, and everyone was on edge. Even Finn’s attempt at small-talk was short lived.
Just as it started to get dark, the carriage stopped and the knights began unloading supplies off of the top of it. Kyrin stayed in the carriage and curled up on the bed when Finn and Alric went to check on progress. She pulled a blanket over her and watched out the window until she drifted off.
Alric waited for the chef with them to make dinner, and then took the first plate to the carriage. He opened the door and saw that Kyrin was already asleep, so he sat down beside her and ate while he watched her.
He was starting to get concerned about the god the babies would follow. He hadn’t thought there was any question that they would follow Sithias and become nobles of Valhara.
By the time he was ready for bed, he decided to talk to Sithias about it before he risked upsetting Kyrin any further. He knew his mother had been under a great deal of stress due to Qualsax wars, and Alric often felt that it might have been stress that led to the traumatic birth. He swore he wouldn’t put unnecessary stress on Kyrin, and this was going to be a big fight when the time came.
As previously decided, Alric made a bed on the floor of the carriage in front of the door, and Finn put his bedding outside of the carriage in front of the other door. They hoped between the two of them to keep Kyrin in the carriage for the night.