by T.M. Nielsen
Chapter 7
“Lie back, dear,” one of the priests told her.
Kyrin just watched him. “I don’t know you.”
“Saith is busy.”
“Where’s Dewell?”
“He is also. Now lie back,” he said a little sterner. Kyrin instantly didn’t like him. His purple robes seemed cleaner than the others, and he looked like he would chastise anyone who tried to cross him.
Lying down, Kyrin looked up at the ceiling in the bedroom as he poked around her stomach. She hated this part but wanted to try to ensure she wasn’t going to die like Alric’s mom had.
“Looks good,” the priest said.
Kyrin sat up and watched him.
“Pains?”
“No”
He obviously didn’t believe her. “Tell me the truth. Any pain?”
“No,” she said, gritting her teeth.
“I can’t help you if you lie to me.”
“I’m not lying.”
He pulled up a chair and sat down. “I’m not going to cater to you just because you’re the Lady of Valhara. So no kid gloves, got it? Tell me what hurts.”
“I can tell you what’s about to hurt.”
“Do not threaten me, young lady,” he said smugly. The priest then pulled out parchment and began to write.
“Are you done?” Kyrin asked, glaring at him.
“No, lie back.”
“Why? I just did.”
“Well, do so again.” The way he spoke irritated her, but she laid down anyway.
He ran his hands lightly over her abdomen, and she had to fight the urge to remove them from his body. What seemed like an eternity later, she felt the priest draw something on her stomach with his hand and then begin to whisper.
“Most Holy Sithias, I come before you to bless these babies in your name and to…”
Kyrin sat up. “No.”
The priest looked at her. “Lie down.”
“No! You aren’t going to do anything to these babies in the name of your god.”
“They are his followers.”
“They are not! They don’t even think right now, and I’m not going to just assume they will follow Sithias.”
When he smiled, she could tell that he was going to be patronizing. “You carry noble blood. These children will lead Valhara and be followers of Sithias.”
Kyrin hopped off the bed and pulled her tunic down. “Get out.”
“No”
“Do I have to make you?” she asked, looking up at him with a slight snarl.
“You are with child and mustn’t fight.”
“Then get out.”
“Stop being difficult, and lie down so I may finish and get out of here. I don’t enjoy being around you any more than you want me to be.”
Kyrin pushed him hard. “Get out!”
He stumbled slightly and then crossed his arms. “Lie down, now.”
She smiled when she saw her flail sitting beside the bed. When she picked it up and gripped it tightly in her hand, the priest still stood his ground.
Kyrin turned to him and reveled in the feel of the hard steel in her grasp. “Get out.”
“You will not hit me with that.”
“Wanna bet?”
“I’m unarmed.”
“I don’t take carelessness as a reason not to attack someone.”
He smiled. “Put away that mace and lie down.”
When his scream echoed through the castle, the knights guarding her door flew into the room and immediately saw that she wasn’t being attacked. The priest was hunkered down on the floor with his bloody arms covering his head as Kyrin stood above him.
One knight grabbed her from behind with a hand to each wrist, as was instructed. The other knelt down and began to figure out how badly the priest was injured.
Kyrin was watching the priest still, and she was breathing hard. Her body was tense and ready to attack.
Finn was the first up the stairs and didn’t need an explanation. He pulled the flail from her hand and tossed it onto the bed before turning to see if the priest was okay. By the time the priest stood, he’d already healed his own wounds, and the bleeding had stopped.
“Care to explain?” Finn asked, looking from the priest to Kyrin.
“It is past time to anoint those babies as Sithias’ followers,” the priest said calmly.
“Over my dead body!” Kyrin screamed.
Finn looked at the priest. “Did the king tell you to do that?”
“He didn’t have to. It’s customary.”
“You know she doesn’t follow Sithias, and this could cause a fight! Why do you provoke her?”
“She needs to learn that her way is not necessarily the best.”
Kyrin struggled to get out of the knight’s grasp, but he held her firmly.
Finn turned to Azimeth, who had just walked in to see what the problem was. “Go to the temple in town. The king is there. Have him and Saith come here immediately.”
She nodded and then turned and ran down the stairs.
“Kyrin, calm down,” Finn said, studying her eyes. They weren’t black yet, but he was pretty sure they were a darker shade of brown.
“He has no right!” Kyrin said, seething.
“Let Alric handle this. I don’t want to get in the middle of this fight,” Finn told her. He then turned to the priest. “You should stay out of it too. Which deity those babies follow should be up to the king and the lady.”
“I am a holy priest of Sithias! I cannot allow the noble blood of Valhara to fall into the hands of that demon.”
Kyrin jerked free of the knight and ran at the priest, but Finn grabbed her and returned her to the knight. “Would you keep her?!”
“Sorry, sir,” the knight said, cringing.
“It is time for her to stop pretending to be evil to keep others away,” the priest said matter-of-factly. “The sooner she stops following that worthless god of hers, the sooner this kingdom can return to normal.”
“My worthless god?!” Kyrin roared.
“Stop,” Finn yelled at him. “I said to let the king handle this.”
The priest sighed. “Captain, she needs to stop acting like the victim and start living like the rest of us in this kingdom.”
“That’s it!” Kyrin screamed, and pulled harder against the knight.
“Let her go.” They all looked over when they heard the whisper from the shadows.
Kyrin smiled. “Creteloc.”
“I said to let her go,” Creteloc whispered, and stepped out of the shadow, though her face was still covered. The knight swallowed hard and let go of Kyrin when he was filled with terror.
Kyrin turned to Creteloc. “Thank you for coming.”
“I see Sithias allows his followers to pick on a small pregnant girl,” Creteloc said softly. Although her words were soft, it still made those in the room uneasy and tense.
The priest seemed less affected by her evil. “Those babies will be Sithias followers.”
“It seems odd that Kyrin decided that.”
“She didn’t.”
“She is carrying them, is she not? Right now, she has full say in everything about them.”
“Why’s that?” the priest asked, shifting nervously.
Creteloc walked behind him and ran her hand along his back, sending cold shivers up his spine. “Because she can still choose not to have them.”
“Why are you here?” Alric asked Creteloc when he walked into the room.
“To protect Kyrin from you,” Creteloc said, moving to stand beside Kyrin.
“From me?”
“Yes. Daemionis and I feel she was being harassed by Sithias’ followers, and we won’t stand for it. As the dwarves didn’t work, I am here for the duration.”
“Oh no you aren’t,” Alric said. “You cannot stay in this dimension.”
“Why not?” she asked, moving closer to him. Alric unconsciously moved back away fro
m her.
“It was agreed by the deities of Paragoy that there would be no evils allowed to live here.”
“Oh dear, what a problem. I guess we better go, Kyrin,” Creteloc said, and moved silently to the door.
“Wait, she doesn’t have to go,” Alric told her.
“Kyrin is an evil.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Walk with me, Kyrin.”
Kyrin nodded and then walked past the Valharans, following Creteloc. Creteloc started for the nearby trees, and Kyrin kept up but didn’t say anything.
It wasn’t until they were deep into the trees that Kyrin spoke, “Did Daemionis really send you to stay?”
“Yes”
“What about Sithias?”
“If he doesn’t agree, then Daemionis will keep you in his palace until after the birth.”
Kyrin smiled. “You’re right. Sithias will allow you to stay.”
“He better. Both Daemionis and I would prefer if you stay here, but we won’t hesitate to take you.”
“Will you be staying in the castle with me?”
“No, this is my home,” Creteloc said, and stopped at a pile of branches.
Kyrin studied it. “Are you sure?”
Creteloc passed through the branches and disappeared, so Kyrin did the same. She emerged into a small, one-room hut with a bed, fire, table, and chair. Creteloc’s potion rack was there also and was filled with fresh ingredients.
“This wouldn’t have happened if you had taken the poison,” Creteloc said, sitting down.
Kyrin sat on the bed. “Daemionis took the first from me, and then Sithias took the other.”
“Pity”
“This wasn’t my idea.”
“You’re rather large.”
“Well come to find out, Alric is a twin.”
Creteloc’s red eyes looked over at her. “You’re having two?”
“Yes”
“That’s even worse.”
“I’m not big either. I can still cover it.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
Kyrin just sighed and studied the small hut. It was sparsely furnished, but Creteloc wasn’t one for decoration or useless accessories.
“Even at your age, you won’t bounce back from twins. No one will want you after that.”
“I’m not so sure about that anymore. You were wrong about the royal elf.”
“I was?”
“Yes, and it led to a rather awkward and embarrassing conversation.”
Creteloc grinned evilly. “Sorry about that.”
Kyrin shrugged. She was pretty sure Creteloc was anything but sorry.
“Here’s how this will work. During the day, I will be with you, even if you don’t see me. At night, I will be here while that lout of a king watches you.”
“Is it so hard to believe that I love Alric, and that he may not be out to hurt me?”
“Yes”
“Well he likes you about as much as you like him, so stay away from him if you can.”
“That’s no fun.”
“Just, please, things are hard enough without you taunting him.”
“What about…”
“… no.”
“But…”
“Please, Creteloc. Just leave him alone.”
“I have an impotence poison.”
“I don’t even want to know what that is. No poisons on my husband,” Kyrin said sternly.
“I’ll agree to that simply because Daemionis is worried about your stress level,” Creteloc told her.
“So are the priests.”
“Apparently not, or that revolting priest wouldn’t have tried to bless the babies into Sithias’ fold.”
“I’ll let Alric know that you’re not going to be hanging around the bedroom at night.”
Creteloc shivered. “The last thing I want to see is that creature putting his hands all over you.”
Kyrin smiled but blushed. “I kind of like it.”
“Of course you do, and look what it got you.”
“Right, twins.”
“My goal is to keep you from stressing out so Daemionis’ new followers won’t be injured.”
“Creteloc, I can’t assume they will be Daemionis’ followers any more than I can’t assume they will follow Sithias.”
“Yes, you can. You’re their mother. That actually matters in this dimension. As such, until they are old enough to think rationally, the loathsome little creatures will be under your full control.”
Kyrin sighed. “This is going to cause a huge fight between Alric and I.”
“Then avoid it. You don’t need that stress.”
“I have to talk to him about it. I can’t have his priests following me around trying to bless these babies.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“You said you were going to avoid him, remember?”
Creteloc nodded. “Yes, but I never hold to my word.”
“That’s true.”
“So I can go talk to him?”
“I don’t see why we have to decide this now anyway. I’m only five months along.”
“You’re weakening. We have to do this while you’re strong enough to fight back.”
“I’m not weakening!”
“So you can cast?” Creteloc asked her.
“When I’m really really mad, apparently. I cast on those dwarves.”
“True, but I bet you can’t anymore.”
“I just don’t think we need to get into that big of a fight.”
“It’ll happen sooner or later. You two worship completely different deities, and now is the time to address that.”
“Can’t we discuss it when the kids are like… I don’t know, two years old?”
“No, by then you could be pregnant again and…”
“No, I won’t!”
Creteloc looked at her. “So you think that fool isn’t going to want to…”
“Stop it, Cret.”
“Don’t call me Cret! I’ve told you I hate that.”
“Sorry”
“I’ve seen how he looks at you, and he’s going to keep going. That act produces children, so you might as well face the fact that until he loses interest in you, you’re going to be pregnant.”
“There has to be a way around that.”
“It’s called abstinence.”
“Will you stop bothering me if we go talk to Alric about the god thing?”
“No”
“Will you stop calling him names?”
“No”
Kyrin shook her head and stood up. “I don’t think I need you around.”
“You don’t have a choice. If you give that no-good king girls, you’ll need to make a fast exit, and I’ll be there for that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kings want sons. If you give him girls, he’ll want you beheaded immediately.”
Kyrin frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Alric.”
“Trust me. Kings need sons as heirs.”
“I’ll ask Alric about that.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you. If he gets wind that you think you’re carrying girls, you’ll have an unfortunate accident.”
“I really…”
“Boys, the king wants boys.”