by L H Whitlock
“You blasphemer! First illegal weaponry and murder, now you set your unworthy, mortal eyes on the holy letters! You’ll be sent to the dark, burned in the yard for your treachery. No one looks upon the words of God except Hayme. Not even I.”
“He’s changed the scrolls! He isn’t the only one who can read them, these words were meant for all of us.”
“Guards!” Mighton yelled, his voice raspy and a cough nearly overtaking him. “Get help.”
Nora heard footsteps running down the hallway to alert others.
“Mighton, please just listen to me.”
“Shut up you whore. You dare leave with my child then return spewing these falsehoods. You are nothing more than a vessel for my child to grow. I doubt you gave me my one wish, my last hope. The only thing I’ve ever wanted. I should have realized the moment I saw you in your rags wandering through the mart that you wouldn’t be worthy of producing a male.”
Bella stepped between the king and herself. “She is telling the truth. The scrolls say a lot of things that Hayme has changed.”
Mighton coughed, blood splattering onto his hand and dripping down his chin, making him look even wilder than normal. Nora cried out as the pressure in her abdomen grew, her cramps, which she now knew to be contractions, taking away her breath.
“What is wrong with her?” Mighton asked.
Nora looked up to see several guards at the doorway, cautiously observing the scene.
“Mighton,” Nora weakly gasped between cramps. “I…I’m in labor. I’m going to have my baby.
“You mean my baby,” Mighton bit out.
“Impossible!” Hayme entered the room, his gowns brushing the floor. “You cannot have a baby that would survive now; you are too early in the term.”
“I am much further along then you predicted.”
Hayme scowled. “It does not matter. You are having a girl. I already injected you with the abortion poison. Your child will not survive.”
Tears blurred Nora’s vision. “Mighton! Please. I’m having a boy. I saw him on the ultrasound. A little boy.” She cried freely now, a hand pressed to her stomach.
“I have seen the truth! God has spoken to me, and he declares you unfit. He has given you a daughter, one who needs to be killed before you taint the kingdom and shame the sacred words.” Hayme smiled, and Nora swore his mouth glowed red, but maybe she was hallucinating from the pain. She was so tired, so thirsty, she just wanted to lay down for a bit.
“Guards,” Hayme yelled. “Give her another dose of postrin, end this disgrace.”
Just as the guards entered the room, Mighton held up a hand. “No! Take her to the birthing platform. We will see if she tells the truth.”
The guards exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. Honor Hayme’s wishes or the Kings?
“I am chosen by God himself,” Hayme roared. “I am your leader. Grab her and give her the injection, or I will!”
“I will not be undermined when my child is about to be born. Take her to the birthing platform, and if it is a girl she pushes out we kill it and abide by the scrolls. We are still honoring God. Just give a dying man his last hope.”
“Blasphomy—” Hayme began, then growled as he realized he was overruled and his guards were lifting Nora to take her to the birthing platform.
“The scrolls,” Nora said weakly, hoping that Bella would understand. Bella nodded, and while everyone was busy ushering Nora to the birthing platform, she tucked the parchment beneath her skirts and bustled out of the room after her.
36
Grave, Helic, and Rikar pushed their way through the dense crowd in the castle’s courtyard. Rumors flurried from the mouths of the townspeople as to why they thought the ceremony had been delayed. Where Nora had gone. If she was having a boy or a girl. If the king had killed her.
Grave had fully expected the ceremony to be well on its way if not already completed when he got there, and was pleasantly surprised that it had not yet taken place. That gave him hope that he had arrived in time to save his baby.
He shoved past people, uncaring if he roughly knocked them to the side or if they stumbled and fell. Rikar and Helic muttered their apologies as they rushed to keep up with him.
Helic grabbed his shoulder. “Grave, you need to calm down, or you’re going to do something rash. I know you’re scared for Nora, but take a second to ground yourself.”
Grave took a deep breath and looked at his friend. “I’m not just scared for her, I am terrified. I don’t know what I will do if I lose her, or her baby. She would be broken.”
Rikar joined them. Sweat trickled down the side of his face, his breathing deep and heavy from the exertion of keeping up with Grave’s fast pace. “I have a feeling Nora is tougher then you think,” he said. “And stop with your worst-case scenarios. We need you to have your wits about you. Nora needs you in your right mind.”
Grave forced a breath from his nostrils and nodded. Rikar was right. He did need to calm down or he would only make things worse.
Stepping up to the staircase leading from the courtyard into the castle, Grave stopped uncomfortably close to the two guards watching over the entrance. They stared up at Grave, fear washing the color from their faces. But there was something about the look in their eyes… A sense of familiarity.
“Gentlemen,” Helic said, forcing their gaze from Grave’s scarred face to his much more beautiful one. Helic offered a warm smile. “Do you know what the holdup is? I bet you guys know what goes on behind these walls.”
Grave nearly rolled his eyes as he watched the men stumble over themselves to answer Helic. Where Grave’s power of persuasion was in his fists, Helic’s was in his beauty, which both man and woman found hard to ignore.
“Sorry, Sir, we are not able to divulge that information.”
Helic smiled, showing his bright white teeth. “I understand, but, maybe you could just give me and my friends a little hint. We’re very good friends with the queen.”
“I’m sorry we can’t—”
“Such a shame. I was hoping to work closely with you gentlemen.”
Grave chuckled to himself. Helic had them snared. Though Helic claimed that his power of persuasion was not a gift from the nano bites, Grave had always been highly suspicious. Not only had Helic been blessed with looks, but he also had a certain way of getting what he wanted.
The two guards looked at each other, then back up at Helic. “We, uh, aren’t meaning to be difficult, Sir. It’s just, we’re under strict orders to keep the birth secret.”
Helic gave them a pleasant smile, but before he could say anything more, Grave bellowed, “What birth? Where is Nora?”
The guards stepped back and put up their spears. “You need to step back.”
“Let us in, we need to find Nora,” Rikar said.
“We won’t let you enter.”
Grave growled and pushed through between the two guards, knocking them to the sides and sending their spears clattering to the stone floors. They called out threats that if they didn’t stop now, they would call for backup, or strike, or whatever the threat was. Truthfully, Grave had no clue what they had said; his focus was in finding Nora, everything else seemed foggy. He stormed up the stairs with Rikar and Helic running to keep up.
“Where do you think the birth is taking place?” Rikar asked
Grave shrugged. “I have no clue. We just need to find her.”
They made their way down the hallway, throwing open doors as they passed, then started toward the next level. Halfway down the hallway, and still no progress with finding Nora, a woman ran past carrying an armful of towels. She hurried up a staircase at the end of the hallway.
Grave raced after her, and when he reached the top of the staircase, he found the hallway bustling with guards, servants, and slaves. The commotion seemed to be centered around a room a few doors down.
Ignoring the calls of Rikar and Helic to slow down, Grave barreled through the door.
Nora lay on a rais
ed concrete slab, her skin white and clammy, her purple hair drenched and her eyes closed. She wore a simple white gown which was pushed around her waist and coated in bright red blood. Her legs hung off the platform limply, blood gushing from between her legs. A bucket with the placenta sat on one side of her, another with blood-drenched rags spilling out of it on the other side.
Servants bustled around her, applying pressure to her stomach to try and get her to stop bleeding.
Grave raced forward and put two fingers against Nora’s neck. Her skin felt chilly and damp. He held his own breath as he waited for a sign of her pulse, releasing it when he felt a faint thud.
“Helic,” Grave yelled without looking behind him.
“The medic is on his way.”
“Oh God, Grave!” Rikar shouted and moved to Nora’s side to help the maid apply pressure.
Grave looked up at her to ask for instruction and noticed that she had a black eye and fresh lashings shining through her clothing. The woman seemed to notice Grave’s attention and swallowed deeply.
“I’m um… I’m Bella. Nora… She gave birth, but Hayme gave her some kind of drug to abort the baby, and it’s causing her to hemorrhage.”
“The baby… Is he okay? I am Grave. I know Nora from the sanctuary.”
Bella looked from Grave to Nora, then back up to Grave. “You are lovers?”
“She is my love. Is the baby okay?”
Bella’s lip wobbled, and she nodded hastily. “King Mighton took the baby. Hayme... He has guards coming to get the rest of us out of here. They’ll be here soon. But Nora…” Her voice choked. “Nora’s not going to make it. She’s losing too much blood.”
Without turning to look at Helic, Grave asked. “What is the ETA for the medic?”
“Er…” responded Rikar. “Helic is trying to get contact. He thinks something might have happened. He’s having a hard time reaching the medic’s ship.”
“Fuck!” Grave cursed, the tight hold on his control snapping and panic invading his senses.
“Okay, okay. Let’s think about this.” Rikar started pulling out drawers from the various desks. “Do any of you know where some medicines are? Maybe blood bags?”
The servants who had been helplessly bustling around trying to soak up blood and stop the bleeding shook their heads. One who Grave assumed must have been the birth maiden because she was covered in blood almost to her elbows replied,“We don’t have medicines here. I have been trying to look through the book to see what herbs we can use, but it’s useless. I gave her all of the ones that it mentions, and nothing has changed. She just keeps hemorrhaging and looking worse and worse.”
The woman began to cry. “I waited so long for King Mighton to have a boy, and now that he has one he just left the woman who gave birth to him to die.”
Grave growled, and Bella filled in the rest of the story that the birth maiden had been unable too. “When Hayme forced Nora to take the pill, two guards witnessed it. He killed them then blamed Nora. This is why the king just left. He has forsaken Nora and said she was to be killed regardless, so we are to let her die on the table.
Rage nearly overtook Grave, but he had to stay strong for Nora. He smoothed a hand over her hair, and clutched her hand, willing her to come back to him.
Helic threw open the door. “There’s a ton of guards coming our way.”
Rikar raced over. “Barricade the door. Buy some time to get Nora into a more stable position.” Helic grabbed the edge of a table, and Rikar took the other end. They stacked it in front of the door along with anything they could find. The servants helped, dragging furniture across the stone floor, each of them throwing their futures away just to help a dying girl in a world that didn’t value everyone equally.
Rikar and Helic braced their bodies against the door as the first of the men on the other side collided with it, the wood heaving from the effort. “We’ll hold them off as long as we can, but we have to hurry.”
The door heaved again, and Rikar and Helic braced themselves, their bodies jarring with each impact.
“Shit!” Rikar yelled in anger. “There’s a lot of them.”
“Help apply pressure here.” Molly took Grave’s hand and placed it on Nora’s low abdomen. His eyes stung, and he felt himself losing hope as he watched Nora’s life slip away. The bleeding was less now, but she had already lost so much blood.
“If only we had nanos,” Grave said under his breath. “If we had nanos you’d be okay.”
“Nanos?” Bella asked.
“Yes, it’s a drug of sorts that manipulates the biological makeup of the body. It could help her heal faster, and her blood cells rejuvenate.”
“Oh. That sounds illegal.”
Grave gritted his teeth. These people drove him crazy. Yes, nanos were often abused by people like Vulnitro, but a small amount could help save many lives. “Yes, Hayme has insisted that God does not want the use of drugs to heal the flesh, but then why give us the capacity to create them? Sometimes drugs are good, they can save people.”
“People have the capacity to make a lot of things that are evil too.”
Grave couldn’t argue that; just look at Vulnitro. There was always a line, a line many people readily crossed.
“What does a nano look like?”
“It takes many forms,” Grave answered distractedly. Am I pressing too hard?”
“No, press harder.”
Grave nodded. Rikar and Helic yelled as the men on the other side of the wood door grew persistent, and the wood bowed inward with each push, threatening to burst open despite all the pressure to keep it closed.
“They come in pills,” he said, “or most often, in liquid form that you inject.”
Bella looked up at him, her brow creased. She brushed a hand over her face, smearing Nora’s blood on her cheek. “Is it red?”
Grave nodded. “Most commonly.”
Bella fished around inside Nora’s pocket and pulled out several vials full of red liquid and a syringe. “Is this nanos?”
Grave gasped and snatched it from Bella’s hand. He was already opening it and filling the syringe before Bella could question him further.
“Where did you get this?” Grave asked. “I need alcohol.”
Bella handed him a glass bottle. Yunnika commonly used archaic sanitary procedures that weren’t as effective as he would have hoped, but he would take what he could get. He poured the liquor over Nora’s arm, cleaning a patch for him to inject the needle.
“It was in Hayme’s desk,” she replied.
“Well, that makes sense.”
“But these nanos are forbidden here by the word of the scroll, delivered by Hayme.”
“Well, hate to break it to ya, but Hayme has been using nanos for a long time. How do you think he’s still alive and looks like he doesn’t age?”
Bella’s eyes widened and she chewed on her lip. “He always told us it was because God granted him eternal life.”
Grave scoffed. “Eternal my ass. He uses nanos. Does his mouth ever glow? Or his eyes?”
Bella frowned. “I guess I thought I saw something a few times…”
Grave didn’t say anything more. He gently slid the syringe into Nora’s arm and injected the nanos. He waited in silent agony to see if the bleeding would stop. He didn’t have anything to measure how much she should get, and he hoped he didn’t overdo it.
Bella gasped. “It’s working! The bleeding is slowing.”
“Grave! Hurry, we can’t hold them much longer. Prepare for battle.”
Grave stroked a finger over Nora’s cheek. “Anyone who does not wish to fight, go into the far corner of the room.” He flipped a desk over to provide some barrier. Several servants rushed behind it, while others looked anxiously at Grave for new instructions.
“Those of you who decide you want to have a go at these men, I can’t promise your safety, but you are welcome to join. Grab something for a weapon. Thankfully guns and rays are illegal here, so it’s gladiator sty
le.” He grinned, his demons eager for bloodshed.
Several other servants decided to abort the mission and join the others in the corner of the room. Grave gently lifted Nora and Bella collected what clean clothes and blankets were left and laid a place out for him for lay Nora down.
“I’ll clean her up the best I can.”
Grave nodded. “Thank you. It will be a bit before we can be sure the nanos worked.”
Bella nodded. “I’ll look after her.”
“Grave!” Helic yelled the warning as the door crashed open, sending the barriers collapsing to the ground in a waterfall of metal and wood.
37
Grave rushed forward, grabbed one end of a table. Rikar scurried over the rubble and grabbed the other end. They raced forward, trampling five soldiers with their makeshift shield. Dropping the table, the two gladiators moved on to the next targets.
Grave snatched a sword from one of the downed men and swung. Metal clashed against metal, the vibrations sending familiar waves up Grave’s arms. A feeling he relished. While the other man was momentarily stunned, Grave struck, cutting his arm. The man cried out, his sword clattering to the ground. He looked at Grave with defiance, his teeth gritted and misplaced anger in his eyes. Truly, if these men weren’t following a complete egotistical psychopath, they would not be attacking them, they would see that Hayme wanted to murder an innocent woman, a young mother, whose child would need her.
The man’s next attack came sloppily, but instead of killing him, Grave punched him in the face hard enough that the man smacked the floor, his limbs going limp at his sides.
Grave growled. “You men back down now, and we won’t kill you.”
“Hayme has ordered the woman slain for her treachery.”
“She just gave birth to the heir and Hayme has you chasing a lie. How would Nora be such a good shot, anyway? She has never fired a weapon before and she was tied to a bed.”
