by Jada Fisher
“A distraction, you say?” Dille’s full lips parted in a smile that belied just how young she was. “I think I might be able to manage that.”
“Are you sure you’ll be able to climb that?” Ukrah asked, looking at the expanse between them and Eist, who was leaning forward and breathing even harder. The walls and ceiling were certainly uneven, formed by hundreds of thousands of years of natural processes. There were hanging rocks and crannies and all sorts of things a climber could use to their advantage.
But since when was Crispin a climber?
She might have said as much, because then he was chuckling beside her. “When times were real bad, sometimes I’d sneak up to the kitchens to filch some scraps before they were given to the pigs. The only way up there to make sure I didn’t get caught was climbing up from the second balcony in the patrol’s blind spot.”
Ukrah didn’t comment on the preposterous idea of feeding livestock before starving humans and just nodded. He had asked her to trust him more often, to stop treating him as delicate, and it seemed exactly like the time to honor that.
“Alright then. Be careful.”
“Come on now, when aren’t I?”
If they weren’t crouched low on a ledge, in the middle of a mission to save Eist, Ukrah might have reminded him of when he first met her, or when he stole supplies to help her, or when he fought an entire group of students just to defend her honor. But it wasn’t the time, so she watched as he crept over to the closest wall and started clambering up.
It was harder than she thought to sit still and just watch him go. He moved quickly, efficiently, crossing easily from the ledge’s wall to the main chamber.
Her eyes flicked from him to the men over and over. They really seemed to have no idea that they were sitting right there, watching them. They only had two guards on Eist, and even they seemed distracted.
Maybe that was because her hands were bound behind her back and there was a gag over her mouth and a shackle on her foot that connected to the wall. Or maybe they were just underestimating the pregnant woman. Ukrah didn’t know, but whatever their reasons were, it certainly benefited said woman’s rescuers.
Crispin continued his climb, finding handholds and footholds that Ukrah never would have spotted, occasionally swinging himself across gaps in a way that made her heart jump.
The cloak on his back did do quite a lot in the way of camouflage, keeping his pale coloring from shining like a beacon. If she hadn’t been following him from the beginning of his trek, she no doubt would have had issues tracking him.
But as it were, she kept her eye on him all the way until he reached the wall where Eist was. That seemed to be Dille’s cue, because she stood up and threw off her cloak.
“In the name of the Interim Government of Rothaiche M’or, I place all of you under arrest for crimes against the people!”
Well, if she wanted to get their attention, that was certainly one way to do it.
It was like someone had shocked the men all at once, and they jumped up and shouted. Ukrah saw crossbows come up and other people draw their swords, but she also saw the guards leave Eist to confront them.
Crispin moved too.
Quickly, he clambered down, reaching behind the god-woman just as the first volley of crossbow bolts sailed toward Dille.
Ukrah jumped to her feet, ready to throw up a barrier, but that wasn’t even necessary. Dille raised her hand and the arrows all burst into flowers, raining bright pink petals down on the men below them.
“I am Dille M’Baya of the past and present, and you will lay down all of your weapons now or face the full brunt of Rothaichian law!”
Of course, that just brought on a wave of the men screaming about witches and sorcery and suddenly, they were all rushing toward the ladders leading up to the ledge.
Yeah, so it was time for a fight.
But it seemed, however, that the witch hunters hadn’t given much thought to their setup. Because while the group couldn’t get down to them without the ladders, the hunters couldn’t get up to them without climbing up those same ladders.
Ukrah reached out for the closest ropes binding the ladders to the side of the ledge and sank her finger into it. She felt like she was rushing high with the thrill of the fight, the thought that Eist was almost free fueling her. It didn’t take much for the magic to spark up and out of her, making the ropes turn to ash.
Oh right, they had left Voirdr with Mrs. Kaldonner and several other of Dille’s most trusted acolytes. There was no strange diffusion of her magic. No slippery handholds or fizzing pops. Just solid energy right at her fingertips. Waiting for her.
She let out a giddy laugh and lunged over to the next ladder, arrows bursting into flowers above her head thanks to Dille. For a moment, Ukrah couldn’t imagine how any of these folks fought before they had such a solid grip on magic. Just with swords and bows and primitive weapons.
Perhaps she was spoiled.
But whether she was spoiled or not didn’t matter. At least not in the fight at hand. Instead, she grabbed the second to last ladder and made that one vanish too.
That left a single way up and the hunters seemed to understand the terrible position they’d put themselves in. Several of them tried to lay down covering fire with their regular bows and crossbow bolts while a few tried to rush up the single ladder left.
Of course, that didn’t work though, and Athar reached down to pick up the man who was trying to scramble onto the ledge. It was quite a sight to see the man stand to his full height, holding one of the attackers by the straps of his armor.
“Call off this attack now,” he said, his voice low and dangerous despite the impressive volume he put out. His words filled the entire cave, jolting nearly everyone from what they were doing. “End this, and we’ll take you into custody. Keep on, and I can’t guarantee you’ll all live.”
For a breath, it seemed that they were going to ignore him, to continue trying to fight. But then another, calmer voice rang out.
“Halt, men.”
That seemed to do it, and the men on the ladder slid back to the ground while the others lowered their crossbows. From the middle of group, a man stepped out of the formation. Athar and he seemed to lock gazes, and the giant threw the hunter he was holding down into the group.
“This need not end in violence,” the man said. He was dressed in lovely armor, all polished and covered in important-looking engravings. He had to be a high-ranking hunter, or even their leader. He reminded her exactly of the men she had seen on her nameday, all pompous and full of the smug righteousness that came along with thinking they were blessed by gods that were no longer alive.
“We only want to bring our world back to balance. We need balance, you see. And we understand that you may think that helping this woman is what you need to do, but you are most certainly wrong. You see, this woman is an agent of chaos. She was sent to our world to test us, and we have failed horribly. We have to right this, and in order to right this, we just need to you to let her go. We won’t even pursue your witch. The one who houses all those other…perversions in her roost. We just want peace. To save us all.”
“You s-see,” Athar said, sounding surprisingly calm. “I th-think folks like you are under some sort of misconception about me and my wife. I can’t really blame you, all th-things considered.”
“What are you talking about?”
Athar walked right up to the edge, where he would be a prime target if any of the men started to shoot again, but he just crouched down, smiling tightly.
“The way I figure it, folks think th-that I’m some sort of bodyguard. There to watch over my wife and make sure that no one can lay a hand on her when she is weak. But it’s n-not really like that at all. You see, I’m not here to protect her from all of you, I’m here to hold her back from ripping you all apart piece by piece.”
The man let out a short bark of incredulous laughter. “Am I supposed to—”
He stopped short at that, his
breath rushing out in a gasp. Ukrah imagined that was probably because a spear was sticking out through his front, reflecting the torches on its red-covered tip.
He stumbled forward, collapsing in a heap, and the rest of the hunters turned in the direction of the spear.
Only for several more spears to come flying at them, taking out another three of the men. There, at the opposite end, stood Eist, covered in sweat and already with another spear in hand.
“I told you s-so,” Athar said with a crooked smile.
She threw another spear and the men tried to run toward her, bringing up their crossbows. That was another cue for those on the ledge, because Ukrah and Athar dropped behind them.
Dille joined them a moment later, her descent much more graceful, and the three set upon the remaining hunters.
The battle didn’t last much beyond that, fading into a rush of flashing magic and blows. They were clearly too much for the hunters, who weren’t expecting an unleashed god-woman at their front and a trio of rescuers at their back.
When it was all over, when the last one had been knocked unconscious or killed, Ukrah felt as if she could cry. But she didn’t let herself, because they had to get the god-woman home before anyone could unravel and think about what had just happened.
“Eist!” Athar cried, rushing forward to catch his wife up in a hug. But she held her hand up at the last moment, forcing him to come to a halt. “What? What is it? Are you hurt?”
“Not hurt,” she gasped, her hand gripping the front of his dirty, battered tunic. “But hurting.” She looked to Dille and offered the woman a sweating, ragged smile. “Would you believe these cads set on me right after my water broke?”
“After your water what!?
10
Always in a Hurry
“How is this p-possible!” Athar cried as they crowded Eist onto Ethella’s back, the woman still groaning and holding her belly.
“Well, you see, when a mother and father decide that they love each other very much—”
“Oh gods, not now, Dille,” Eist groaned. “Make fun of him later.”
Ukrah had no idea what to do so she just followed along, feeling like her eyes were permanently affixed in wide wonder.
Eist was having a baby.
Eist was having the baby.
“Here, let me up there with you,” Helena said, pushing Dille to the side and getting on Ethella with Athar. The dragons had flown to the entrance of the cave the moment the governess had called all of them, but Ukrah couldn’t help but wonder if that had been fast enough. “Breathe, my dear. Sorry to meet you this way, but I’ve helped some wonderful ladies birth before. Right now, let’s just try to slow things down so we can get you somewhere safe. Huh?”
“But this is early,” Athar continued to argue as they took to the air. Fior let out an agreeing chirp, trying to crowd close to Ethella’s back where the god-woman was.
“Oh, hey there,” Eist murmured, her eyes catching the brindle’s. She reached out with a shaky hand, as if to touch him, and almost rocked off the red dragon. Of course Athar and Helena caught her, but it was still a jolt that none of them needed.
“Two moons early!” Athar continued. “Can the baby even…even…” It was like he couldn’t bring himself to say the words they were all thinking. Could a baby survive that? Or had fate swept in with her cruel, cruel claws and ended something before it had even started?
“Hey, let’s not give up hope now,” Helena said, wrapping her hands up in Eist’s clammy ones. “There’s all sorts of things that can happen. A lot of young ladies I know didn’t even realize they had missed their first monthlies until their baby came a whole moon ahead of time. Others have had bad falls or sickness that made their babes come a season early. All of these were scary things, yes, but they all lived. They all went on to be happy and healthy little terrors, don’t ya know.”
Eist seemed soothed by that, which helped Ukrah breath more steadily. At the moment, she felt like she was going to be ripped to pieces by the emotions swirling inside of her. She wanted to hold Eist’s hand. She wanted to tell the god-woman that she would be alright and there was nothing that could go wrong. But she was also intensely aware that the woman was experiencing something that was supposed to be incredibly private. Something between her and her husband and whoever else she trusted. Instead, she was sweating and panting on the back of a dragon in front of her three charges, the governess, and a seamstress she had never met before.
“By the way,” Eist said before her voice cut off in a low whimper. “Who are you?”
“Oh me? I’m just good ol’ Helena, love. But don’t you mind that. How about you just breathe with me for a few minutes while I get all this hair out of your face. That sound good?”
“Sure.” The god-woman let go of her death-grip on the woman’s hands, but Helena quickly motioned for Athar to hold them instead. Then the seamstress went on to start gently getting her sweat-soaked strands out of her face. “Oh, I like you. You feel nice.”
“You know, you’re not the first to tell me that. Like to think I have one of those kinds of presences, ya know?”
Eist just made a sound of agreement as they continued to rise. With every second that passed, Ukrah was sure that her heart was about to beat right out of her chest. The road was no place for a child to be born. The back of a dragon was no place for a child to be born.
Eist let out a terrible sound, nearly curling forward right into Athar’s lap, and Helena’s soothing presence just doubled. It was probably the only thing that kept Ukrah vaulting from Fior’s back in her anxiety or the dragon from picking her up and whisking her off himself. Strange to think that if they hadn’t been off finding her, Eist probably never would have been taken, but if they hadn’t found her, Eist could have gone into a surprise labor somewhere else entirely—at the academy, or even in Dille’s sanctum. After all, she was still two months away from when she was due. No one was expecting the babe yet.
“Come on now, breathe with me, love. Nice and easy. I know this part isn’t very comfortable, but your body is still getting ready for things so we just gotta let it. Nice and easy. Just let it do what it wants to do.”
“Well, what it wants to do hurts like a—” Eist was cut off as another terrible sound ripped from her mouth.
It was enough to drive Ukrah insane. How could a woman put herself through something so awful? She wanted to rip her own ears off so she couldn’t hear any more while also run to the stars and back to get anything that would make Eist feel better. Milk of the poppy? Green dragon gas? The sun itself? Anything if it meant the god-woman and her soon-to-be-child would be alright.
“Hey, take it easy,” Crispin whispered from behind. “I can hear your heart beating through your back.”
“But she’s hurting,” Ukrah whispered. She had to whisper. Had to be quiet. Because this moment wasn’t about her. It was about Eist and her husband and the life they were building together. But by the spirits, if it didn’t pull at her and push her in ways that she had never imagined.
“I know she is, but it’s a good kind of hurt, you know. Like the ache after a good run, or when Ale’a raps you real good and you know not to make the same mistake again. I think Helena will tell us if the hurt goes somewhere bad.”
“But she’s hurting,” Ukrah repeated as if that explained everything.
Because to her, it did. The magic within her was boiling and bubbling, worked up into a frenzy because the god-woman was in pain, but there was nothing to save her from. There was nothing it or Ukrah could do. Sure, they had saved Eist from her captors, but it was readily apparent that the small band of hunters hadn’t been her problem at all. No, the child trying to get out of her was.
“Look, I know you want to look after all of us, and that whatever is in you gets real possessive, but this isn’t for you to interfere with. This is life, pure and just as it’s supposed to be. So you need to sit back and only do what she asks of us.”
Ukrah nodded
, comprehending his words but not sure if she could follow them.
They made sense—most of her knew that—but it was so hard to shut out the buzzing in her ears. The furor that insisted she needed to do something.
Another cry sounded from Eist, and Crispin’s arms wrapped around Ukrah’s middle—this time with no Voirdr between them. His lithe, bony form against her solid one grounded her, reminded her that in the grand scheme of things, she was still so much a child.
“She’s cramping too close together,” Helena said sweetly, as if she wasn’t announcing something that sounded absolutely horrifying. “We need to get to ground because this baby is coming soon.”
“No,” Eist groaned, voice cracking. “I can hold this. We need to get to the city.”
“I respect that you’re a right strong lass and have seen things I could never dream of, but I tell ya that right now, you’re gonna end up trying to push a child out on a dragon’s back and I don’t think the air is right up here for that.”
“Fine,” Eist gave in with a groan. “Set down. But if you’re wrong, I maintain the right to complain about this for as long as I please.”
“Sounds fair enough to me, m’lady.”
Athar nodded and they began to set down, circling lower into the trees. The panic that Ukrah had been managing to hold back with Crispin’s arms around her ramped right back up.
The woods were no place to have birth. Would the woman who saved all of their world end up laying on the dirt in the dark, nothing to protect her or swaddle the new child?
The thought nearly made Ukrah dizzy with anger. She wished that she could conjure things, or just summon a blanket to where she was, but her magic didn’t work like that. No, whatever was inside of her made her only good for destruction and ash. She couldn’t build, only take down.
They landed and Athar lifted Eist’s sweating form. More than ever, she looked so small in his arms, shivering and sweating and breathing so hard Ukrah wondered that her lungs didn’t seize up right then and there.