The Magelands Box Set

by Christopher Mitchell

  Bedig grinned.

  ‘I’m glad you stayed,’ Daphne said.

  ‘I’ll be here,’ Bedig said, ‘so I can tell every detail to Killop when he arrives, or if we ever meet him again. The birth of a Kellach Brigdomin child should be witnessed by at least one of his own folk.’

  ‘You’re weird,’ Shella said. ‘And it’s a half-Kellach child. All monkey, though.’

  Daphne frowned. ‘Ape.’

  ‘What’s the difference?’ Shella said.

  ‘Oh, about the same as between frogs and toads.’

  ‘Fuck you, Daphne Holdfast,’ Shella glowered. ‘You’re only the fourth child of an aristocrat. I’m a fucking princess.’

  ‘Really, your Highness,’ Daphne smiled, ‘and have the Rakanese government recognised you as such?’

  ‘The ambassador is an arse-licking hypocrite,’ Shella said. ‘He’s the only voice of the government here, in these barbarian ape-infested lands. Fuck knows what’s happening back home in Arakhanah City, apart from the famine, and the collapse of money, and the crumbling sea-walls. The King says “wipe my arse”, and a dozen Rakanese bow and beg to be chosen. I’ll tell you, Daphne,’ Shella pointed her cigarette at her. ‘It’s just as well the ambassador has resigned. If I had to put up with him much longer, his brains would be decorating the walls of the embassy.’

  ‘Do you know who’ll be replacing him?’

  ‘I’ve applied for the position myself,’ Shella said. ‘If I’m going to be living here anyway, I reckoned I ought to do something useful. I sold it to them as the cheapest option. I get a pension from the King, so they wouldn’t need to pay me a salary.’

  Pain flashed through Daphne. She put the cup down, and closed her eyes.

  Her left arm was trembling, she realised.

  Bedig appeared at her side, and helped her to stand.

  ‘Walk,’ he said.

  She put her right hand on Bedig’s arm, and breathed hard, her head lowered, the pain peaking.

  ‘Baby’s head is moving down a bit,’ Shella said, her hand on Daphne’s front. ‘Fuck me,’ she grinned at Bedig. ‘She might actually be about to push out her oversized unborn. Is the room ready?’

  ‘It’s been ready for days, princess,’ he replied.

  The pain passed. Sweat formed on Daphne’s forehead. She kept her head down, her eyes closed.

  ‘That was worse,’ she said.

  ‘Of course it was,’ Shella said. ‘You have a gigantic baby inside you.’

  Daphne felt Shella take her hand.

  ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go to your room.’

  Daphne opened her eyes. ‘All right.’

  Shella turned to Bedig as they started to walk. ‘Fill the bath,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’m not giving birth in a bath,’ Daphne said. ‘We’ve gone over this.’

  ‘But it’s the natural way, Daphne,’ Shella said.

  ‘Maybe for the Rakanese. I’m not risking the baby drowning.’

  Shella laughed. ‘It won’t. I’ll whisk it out of the water straight away. It’ll be fine.’

  ‘He,’ said Bedig. ‘He’ll be fine. Stop saying “it”.’

  ‘We don’t know if the baby’s a boy,’ Daphne said.

  Bedig opened the door to the room they had prepared for the birth.

  ‘I know,’ Shella said. ‘I’ve known the sex for thirds. There are differences in the internal blood-flow between males and females, even ones that small.’

  ‘And?’ Bedig said. ‘What is it then?’

  ‘Stop,’ said Daphne. ‘I’ve waited this long, I can last until the baby comes.’

  She paused by the entrance to the room as the strongest contraction yet tightened her abdomen. She clenched her eyes shut, and put her right hand round Bedig’s thumb, squeezing it.

  ‘Ow,’ he said.

  ‘Shut up,’ Shella muttered.

  ‘She’s stronger than she looks,’ the Brig man grimaced.

  The pain consumed her for a long moment, then tailed off again.

  ‘Shit, Daphne,’ she heard Celine say. ‘Is this it?’

  She opened her eyes. ‘Hello. I didn’t hear you come in.’

  Bedig withdrew his thumb from her grasp, and rubbed it with his other hand.

  Celine and Shella helped her through into the room, and up onto the bed.

  ‘I still think this is crazy,’ Shella said, shaking her head. ‘The stupidest possible position to be in to push out a baby.’

  ‘I’m not doing it in the bath.’

  ‘Well, squat then,’ Shella said. ‘Anything but lying on your back.’

  ‘This is the way Ariel did it.’

  ‘Yes,’ Shella said, ‘and did it look painful?’

  ‘I’m not squatting. I want to keep a shred of my dignity.’

  ‘Dignity?’ Shella snorted. ‘Get that idea out of your head right now. It’s only us here, the servants have all been told to keep everyone away, and none of them are to enter unless we let them in. In this room Daphne, you can scream, swear, whatever, it doesn’t matter, we’re your friends.’

  ‘Here comes another one,’ Daphne said, gritting her teeth. Bedig stepped back a fraction.

  Celine stood by her shoulder and held her hand until it passed.

  ‘I’m going to take a look,’ Shella said. ‘Loosen your skirt.’

  ‘It felt like I needed to push,’ Daphne said, sweating, her head back on the pillow.

  She felt her knees parted by Shella’s hands.

  ‘Way too early for that,’ she said after a moment, ‘you’re hardly dilated at all.’

  ‘I thought the baby was coming?’

  ‘It is,’ Shella said, smoothing Daphne’s skirt back down. ‘Might take all day though. It’s your first and, well… the baby is quite sizable. Your waters haven’t even broken yet.’

  ‘Can’t you hurry it along?’ Celine asked.

  ‘I could, yes,’ Shella said, ‘but I won’t, not unless it’s an emergency. Everything seems okay so far, so let time and nature do its thing. In fact, I’m going to take a nap. You stay here, Celine. Come and wake me in a few hours, or if anything changes.’

  ‘A few hours?’ Daphne said.

  ‘I need to conserve my energy,’ she shrugged, ‘in case I need to use any powers.’

  ‘What should I do?’ Bedig asked.

  ‘Make yourself useful,’ she replied. ‘Pour Daphne some tea, and get some food for the rest of us.’

  ‘Doesn’t she get to eat?’ he asked.

  Shella frowned, and shook her head. ‘Best not.’

  The two of them left the room. Celine turned to Daphne and half-smiled.

  ‘Talk to me,’ Daphne said.

  ‘What about?’

  ‘Anything.’

  Celine sighed. ‘Heard from Vince this morning. Well, a letter arrived from him. He wrote it days ago.’

  Daphne lay back, the pain of another contraction filling her. Every muscle in her abdomen felt like it was tearing. Celine paused.

  ‘Keep talking,’ Daphne grunted.

  ‘Yes,’ Celine said. ‘Sorry. He’s doing all right, well he’s not injured, and they’re winning. I mean, we’re winning. He missed the fighting in the great tunnel, but was in the battle for Tahrana City. He wrote that they found a camp of Kellach Brigdomin slaves after they left the city. The guards had abandoned the place, and left the slaves chained up and dying of thirst. It was horrible, he said. They had been so badly treated, he thinks that only half will survive. The Kellach in the army were enraged.’

  Daphne shuddered as the pain faded. Celine picked up a towel and wiped her forehead.

  ‘Has it passed?’

  ‘Yes,’ Daphne said. ‘They’re getting longer.’

  ‘Hours of this to go?’ Celine said. ‘You’re not making me want to have children.’

  ‘Were you planning on it?’

  ‘Sure,’ Celine said, ‘once Vince gets back. His mother’s been nagging us.’

  ‘She write
s to him?’

  ‘And to me,’ she said, ‘every half-third. She’s not exactly the easiest mother-in-law to have, but at least she’s hundreds of miles away.’ Celine paused, her eyes widening. ‘I’m sorry, Daphne. I forgot she’s your mother too.’

  ‘She’s never written to me once,’ Daphne said, ‘not even when I was a student in Holdings City. I’ve done nothing but disappoint her.’

  ‘You’re your father’s favourite though, no?’ Celine said. ‘That’s what Ariel said, and Vince didn’t deny it.’

  ‘Then why isn’t he here?’

  Celine opened her mouth to respond, but stopped as another knot of agony gripped Daphne. She felt the urge to push again, but the thought of the pain that might follow stopped her.

  ‘That’s two since Shella left,’ Celine said.

  ‘You’re counting?’

  ‘Shella asked me to,’ Celine said. ‘Shit, I was supposed to time them as well. How long would you say that one lasted?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ Daphne said, her eyes closing. She wanted to sleep, each break between contractions now an oasis of calm. She drifted off.

  Hours crawled by, hours where pain alternated with exhausted relief. Bedig brought tea, and Celine left for a break.

  The sun went down, and Bedig closed the shutters and lit the wall lamps. He had encouraged her to get off the bed and walk about.

  ‘Shella’s got a point,’ he said. ‘Don’t know about a bath, but all Kellach women squat to give birth. Shella could catch him as he drops…’

  ‘Can we not talk about it, please?’ Daphne said. She leant over the bed, pain holding her tight.

  A sense of panic flitted through her. She blinked. She didn’t feel as if she were about to lose control.

  She felt it again.

  ‘It’s coming from the baby,’ she said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Get Shella,’ Daphne gasped, as a surge of pain ripped through her. The urge to push was almost irresistible, the muscles in her lower back were on fire.

  Panic.

  ‘It’s going to be all right,’ she whispered.

  ‘What’s up?’ Shella yawned.

  ‘Something’s wrong.’

  She felt a hand touch her belly.

  ‘Heart rate’s high,’ Shella said.

  Daphne started to clamber back onto the bed.

  ‘Stay where you are,’ Shella said, a firm tone to her voice. ‘You’re right, something is wrong.’ Daphne felt Shella move her skirts. ‘I’m going to have to break your waters.’

  ‘Do it,’ Daphne gasped, the pain going on, longer than any contraction.

  She closed her eyes, and Shella’s hand moved. Warm liquid poured down the insides of her legs.

  ‘You’re fully dilated,’ she heard Shella’s voice say, as if from far away, ‘but the baby has moved, and I think it may have got tangled up with the cord.’

  Daphne clenched her teeth to stop herself screaming. Her body felt like it was being split apart.

  ‘Don’t push,’ Shella said. ‘I’m going to try to move the baby.’

  Two hands were placed on her abdomen.

  Daphne nearly collapsed from the pain. Bedig put his arm around her shoulder.

  ‘Maybe time to give her a smoke, princess?’

  ‘Not yet. And shut up, I’m concentrating.’

  Something wrenched inside her, but it also felt free, as if a pressure was released.

  ‘Now Daphne,’ Shella cried. ‘Push.’

  Daphne pushed for a long hour, until Shella finally gave in, and passed her a smokestick of mixed dullweed and dreamweed. It had numbed most of the pain, but it had also slowed her labour down as Daphne lost all track of time. At some point, maybe minutes, maybe hours before, she had got back onto the bed. She tried to push when Shella urged her, but she could barely feel the muscles in her abdomen.

  Bedig was asleep in a chair, and Celine was by her side, stroking her hair and whispering words of comfort. Shella remained down between her legs.

  ‘This is taking too long,’ she muttered. ‘Heart rate’s low, and I’m worried. The cord’s free, but the baby’s facing the wrong way, and it looks like it’s got stuck.’

  Shella’s words floated to Daphne as if she was in a dream.

  ‘I’m going to have to speed things up a bit,’ she said.

  ‘Is it dangerous?’ Celine asked.

  ‘Yeah, but it’s better than doing nothing.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Make her muscles contract. Make her do another big push, like she was doing before I gave her the dullweed.’

  She looked up at Daphne.

  ‘This is going to hurt. Probably a lot. Sorry.’

  ‘Get it over with,’ Daphne mumbled.

  The worst pain she had ever experienced tore through her, like her insides were ripping. Even with the dullweed, the agony streaked its way down her body. Her memory flashed an image of being tortured in the dungeons of the church, but that had been nothing compared to this.

  It rose to a crescendo, like toppling over an abyss, then, like that, it was over. She felt weak, drained. Her breath grew shallow, and her eyesight darkened. There was a warm pulse of blood down her legs.

  ‘We’re losing her,’ she heard Celine cry from far away.

  Daphne opened her eyes. She was on her back, which was stiff, and her nethers were on fire, but most of all she felt an absence, a lifting of a heavy weight. Bedig was standing, mopping the floor, where previously clean white towels were stained with blood. Celine was on her other side, her head on the bed, gently snoring.

  ‘You’re awake,’ Shella said.

  Daphne raised her head a fraction.

  Shella was sitting in an armchair, smoking. Her clothes were covered in blood, and she had spatters down her face.

  ‘Where’s the baby?’ Daphne whispered, her voice hoarse.

  Shella stood, and walked to a small crib.

  Daphne tried to raise her head further, but was too exhausted.

  ‘Why’s the baby so quiet? Is everything all right?’

  ‘She’s sleeping,’ Shella smiled. ‘Zonked out by all the effort, not to mention the dullweed.’

  She leant into the crib and picked up a bundle.

  ‘She?’

  ‘Yes, Daphne,’ Shella said. ‘It’s a girl.’

  She passed the bundle to Daphne, and she laid the baby down against her breast, and gazed into her tiny, wrinkled face. Her dark skin was warm and soft.

  ‘She’s beautiful.’

  ‘Yeah, she is now,’ Shella said. ‘You should have seen her when she first came out.’

  Bedig stood by the bed. ‘Shella saved her. She saved you both.’

  ‘With a little help from Celine,’ Shella said. ‘She gave you a lot of her blood.’

  ‘You’re true sisters now,’ Bedig said.

  Daphne noticed a bandage on Celine’s arm.

  ‘You were haemorrhaging,’ Shella said. ‘Even once the afterbirth was out, the blood wouldn’t stop.’

  She raised her hands.

  ‘It felt good to use these to help for once.’

  ‘Thank you, Shella,’ Daphne said, her eyes still on the baby in her arms. She felt drawn in, as if the infant was willing her to connect, to join with her. She felt an urge to be close, and without meaning to, she slipped into inner-vision, and found herself merging with the baby’s thoughts and feelings.

  Everything was blurry, as she looked out of the baby’s eyes. All of her attention was focussed on the love that was between them, and Daphne was nearly overwhelmed by it.

  She pulled back.

  She felt nauseous, and guilty. What right had she to go prying into her daughter’s mind?

  The baby started to cry.

  ‘You’d better get used to that noise,’ Shella said.

  Celine awoke.

  ‘Daphne?’

  ‘I’m fine, the baby’s fine,’ Daphne said. ‘Your blood, and Shella’s powers saved us.�
��

  Her sister-in-law smiled, a look of deep fatigue lining her face.

  As Daphne gazed at Celine, the baby settled down, as if in response to her mood.

  ‘She can sense what I’m feeling,’ she said.

  Shella chuckled. ‘Your imagination might be running away with you. It was a long day. And night. It’s nearly dawn.’

  ‘So she came after midnight?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Shella said. ‘The seventh day of the second third of winter, year five-oh-five. In the Holdings calendar anyway.’

  ‘Have you got a name, miss?’ Bedig said.

  ‘I do. I tried to think of one that would work in both Holdings and Kell, so I’m naming her Karalyn. Karalyn Holdfast.’

  ‘May I hold her?’ Celine asked.

  Daphne leaned over and passed her the baby, who was sleeping again. Bedig handed her a cup of tea and she sat up. Her lank hair fell forward, and she noticed dried blood on her legs. Sweat was etched deep into every line of her body.

  She smiled in relief. ‘I think I’ll have that bath now.’

  Chapter 28

  Kindling

  Outside Rahain Capital, Rahain Republic – 19th Day, Second Third Winter 505

  A cold dawn wind gusted across the face of the snow-clad mountain, its peak vanishing into a low bank of clouds. Deep beneath the rock under Killop’s feet was the underground capital of the Rahain. The sun rose behind him, as he led his clan down the slopes from the high pass where they had camped overnight.

  He squinted into the bright field of dazzling white. The snow covered everything, and would have reached their thighs, were it not for the wide skis they had strapped to their boots.

  They were moving quickly, almost running, his eight hundred Kellach warriors, and his one hundred Rahain, black specks against the background. Killop was at the front, with Lilyann. The girl was quiet when they were on the move, and he sensed her rising nervousness as they approached the western ridge that ran above the gatehouse where scouts had seen preparations for battle take place.

  They had left their wagons on the other side of the mountain, risking everything for speed. The scouts had reported the presence of an enormous Holdings army, with divisions of heavy cavalry, forming up on the snow fields west of an entrance into the city. The Rahain forces were also present, their infantry ranks lined thick and wide before the great gate.