“Baby!!”
“Baby?!”
Deliver Me
Grimacing as he breathed slowly, in and out of his mouth, the dark grey troll with the swirling purple eyes was carrying me at a brisk pace. The second troll followed right behind, Brevin tucked neatly under his arm, his scrawny little backside high in the air. We’d been traveling for a while now, but time was an issue for me, what could have been minutes, might as well have been hours. For all I knew, it very well could have been hours. I was in too much pain to care
“Hurry yer arse, Quaz. The mite canna be all tha’ heavy, squirmin’ or no’. This filly’s soakin’ the blasted cloth clean through. Soon it’ll be me. Just meant ta fix the stupid arsehole an’ his stupid ideas. Escape a bondin’! Fuckin’ eejit! I dinna sign up for this shite!”
“Ye’ll do it, an’ ye’ll do it wit’ a bleedin’ smile, or I’ll kick yer feckin’ teeth in!” The troll, Quaz, snarled.
Power, rich and pure, swirled around me. Grunting, my runes lit up, eyes flashing bright blue beneath my lids. I could probably zap the big, purple-eyed one’s ass and make him let me go, but then he’d drop me, and I’d have to catch myself, and I have nowhere to go. Plus, even if I did, how far could I possibly get?
The Ornthren came to a sudden stop and a harsh whistle, barely audible beneath the sound of rushing water, sounded off.
“Missus,” Brevin breathed, “you’ve got candles lit under your clothes. They’re showin’ clean through!”
“No’ candles, whelp. Dinna be stupid.” Rolling his eyes, the purple-eyed troll snorted.
If the pain would stop, for even a measly moment, I would have slapped him—the ass.
“Don’t talk to him like that!” I shouted, digging my nails in when I went to struggle out of his grasp and he batted it off, as if I was nothing more than a pesky fly, adjusting me with ease.
“Runes,” Quaz murmured wonderingly, while purple eyes muttered, “Told ye she was different.” Glowering down at me, his jaw ticked. “Mouthy twit.”
On the next pain, I dug my nails into his forearms hard, unleashing a few blistering sparks of magic into his heated flesh.
“Bitch!” he roared as the rushing water grew closer, the smell of dry earth and fire, a cave, tickling my nose, but he never once let go.
“Asshole-son-of-a-fuckin’! Baaaasstttaaarrrdd!” I bellowed out as my back arched in pain. My body throbbed and pulsed, bowing, wracked with birthing pains as it prepared for the new arrival. I’m not ready yet! This can’t be happening! “I lied! I take it back! I’m not ready! I want Addie back!” I howled, wishing for the thin, slim young woman I’d leaned on, not Zeme underneath. I wanted what I equated to the ‘real’ Addie, not an Earth Elemental.
“Who be Addie?” purple eyes muttered, face hardening as his jaw flexed.
“Ah! It’s too much! I can’t do this! Addie, I’m sorrrrryyy!”
“The Babe’s sire?”
“Sire?” Brevin mustered up the courage to squeak.
“Dead weaklin’ walkin’ that stuck his dilly in yer missus,” Purple eyes snorted.
Turning to face Quaz with me held loosely in his arms, careful despite his gruff exterior, we both noted the wide-eyed, slack jawed look on poor Brevin’s face, his gaunt cheeks blushing when those wide brown eyes lifted and met mine.
“Dinna tell me ye dunno ‘bout the goats an’ the horses?” Purple eyes snapped, incredulous. “Surely ye’ve tupped a wench or two by now, eh?”
My face flamed red, right along with poor Brev’s, and I focused on breathing evenly instead of choking our kidnapper within an inch of his stupid, useless life. “He’s just a boy!” I hissed.
Brevin’s face went stony, lips thinning, his gangly frame stiffening. “I’m a man,” he declared indignantly, “and I coulda protected the missus too!” His flush came back and he muttered, “Theys just distractin’ me, is all. Came out of nowheres.”
“Right,” purple eyes muttered, “outta nowheres.”
“Ketik. Shut it,” Quaz hissed, jaw snapping warningly. At first glimpse of a mouth full of sharp, jagged teeth, I cringed, eyes darting to Brevin.
Quaz saw it and nodded, chuffing on a grunt. “I’ll no’ be hurtin’ yer kin, little nugget. Just come along, nice an’ easy like, an’ ye ‘ave me word. The whelp be safe.”
“I’m a man,” Brevin mumbled, staring down at the floor, his little bod still tucked up under the massive, charcoal grey skinned Ornthren, pants hitched up so high on his thin waist I imagine it must be uncomfortable for any male.
“An’ I’m feckin’ Santy Claws,” Ketik muttered. “Can we no’ get on wit’ this shite now? I dinna want this sow birthin’ on me. Like these pants-YOW!!”
Right as a pain hit, harder and stronger than the first, doubling up now, I gripped his bared nipple and twisted, holding on for dear life, despite his howling protests, until the rippling contractions ebbed.
“Bleedin’ bitch!” Ketik roared. “Should drop ye on yer fool female, human head!”
“Dinna dare,” Quaz warned when the look on his face suggested he might just. “Bektam’ll eat yer entrails an’ paint the walls wit’ yer spleen.”
“Don’t call her that!” Brevin hooted boldly, wriggling out of Quaz’s arms to rush over to me. Rushing over, he threw himself over me protectively as best as he could, quivering, despite his bravado, under the sharp, dark gazes of a pair of disgruntled trolls.
“Ye’ll protect this troll-whore?” Ketik murmured curiously.
“She aint a whore! She’s a lady! An-and you’ll treat her as such, or... or...”
“Or what?” Ketik chuckled. “Wee little thing like ye’ll kill me, eh?”
“Yes!” Spitting mad, though he trembled uncontrollably, he held Ketik’s unsettling, inhuman gaze.
Quaz rushed up and his open palm smacked Brevin on the back. “Hah! Standin’ upta this mean ol’ bastard?! A man I say, indeed!” Brevin shot forward, an apology in his frightened eyes as he slammed into us, and then he was plucked up, flying back, tucked right back into the hefty Ornthren’s arms.
“Was she the one ye was tuppin’?” Ketik just had to ask.
“No!!” We both shouted out at once, appalled.
“Lady Peepots is like a mum ta me!” Brevin sputtered. “I loves me missus.” His large brown eyes narrowed to little slits, little black bushy brows furrowing over them in a dark scowl. “She’s a widow! A right lady! She aint a whore.”
“Lady Peepots?” Glancing down at my face, my apple cheeks pinkening in humiliation, Ketik cracked his first real smile. Wide, squared teeth gleaming, he bellowed out a deep belly laugh. “Peepots? Ye callin’ yerself a pot ‘o’ piss now? Is that what I shoulda been callin’ ye, then?”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” I snapped, not so much afraid of them anymore, but more so for my unborn babe and his impending birth.
“An’ yer bonded thinks ye a fragile little thing. Stuck himself wit’ a right little beast, he did. A hissin’ viper,” he muttered. “Woulda snapped yer annoying little neck the first day.”
Eyes narrowing, black lips pulling down, Ketik shifted the bulk of my weight under one arm, long arm cradling me with ease, and ran his free hand along the long expanse of rock wall. Fingers running across it smoothly, chanting something fast under his breath in a foreign tongue, sparks shot up, spraying along the thick empty wall. Nodding his head, Ketik motioned Quaz forward, flicking his wrist as a wave of power and magic washed over the place.
As a dark recess of the cave, a hidden passage opened up from the wall, a damp draft and the smell of moist earth wafting in. I felt an immense tension wash over me, thick and heavy in the air, tightening me up, inside and out, as I tasted it on my tongue.
“I don’t know what you want with us, and I’m in too much pain right now to properly care, but I warn you, you lay a finger on me or my babe, or the boy,” I warned, “I’ll cut off your balls and shove them down your blasted throat, you son of a bitch! Do you hear me?!”
“Och, sweet,” Ketik purred, grinning down at me wickedly, hurrying down a long, dark hall filled with low lit crackling blue and orangish red flames, low burning but bright, suspended in thin air, hugging along the walls. “Dinna know ye felt for me so.”
“Go fuck yourself!”
“Who says I dinna?” His chuckle just grated on my nerves.
“I know where your breasts are!” I snapped, and that shut him up.
Quaz let out an amused snort and chuckled. His deep voice was rumbled off the walls, a thick bass that rivaled even Troll’s.
“This be a real male’s chest, woman. A sturdy one, at that. An’ these be nipples,” Ketik muttered angrily, flicking his head at the parts in question, making sure I took note, turning this way and that down a long maze of dark earth tunnels.
“When they’re as big as those puppies,” I muttered, smiling through the worst cramping contraction yet, “they’re titties, you oversized oaf. Just ask Troll, the ornery coward has a massive set too.”
“Ye dinna hear that,” Quaz choked out to Brevin around a laugh as Ketik, usually snappy with a comeback, was left sputtering and speechless, “ye ken?”
“Yes, sir.” A sharp squeak, much like a mouse’s, emitted from Brevin as the sound of the large troll jargling him reached my ears.
“Where are you taking us?” I demanded, when I managed to peel my eyes open long enough to take in our surroundings.
Panting heavily, hair plastered to my face, I felt like someone or something was searing my insides, tearing me up, literally. Is this normal?! I wanted to shriek. I highly doubted any of our new companions knew, but I needed to know.
It felt too soon. “I’m not ready yet,” I gritted out, muffling a cry as Ketik stopped suddenly, my belly bumping into his rock hard chest.
Deep inside a dark, red dirt walled cave, Quaz and Ketik were standing in front of a strangely familiar doorway. Deja vu washed over me.
Purple eyes flashing black, the large Ornthren smiled a decidedly mean smile, purring as I shouted out a long string of expletives as my belly cramped, hands digging into his arms as I waited it out.
“Why, milady Peepots, dinna ye know? We’re takin’ ye home.”
As I screeched out a protest, and then in pain, then both, Ketik let out a deep, rumbling laugh. As his laughter quickly died down, still echoing across the walls, it rang false.
“Oh, this should be fun,” he called out cheerfully to Quaz, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“I hate you! I hate you both! I hope you get the pox and your cocks rot off! I hope you piss rocks! I- Ah!! Shit!”
“Right,” Quaz grumbled, muttering, “fun.”
Parturition
“You think we should be puttin’ her in here?” Quaz muttered, a note of worry in his voice. He was holding a large wad of cloth, a small basin of steaming water sitting at his feet as he paced back and forth nervously.
I was in a large bed, the one from my dreams—compliments of Niniane—writhing in nothing but a shift, legs seesawing beneath the thin sheet draped over me, moaning aloud, though I tried to hold it in. I was scared, beyond frightened for many reasons, in full blown labor, major pain, and Brevin was clutching my hand like a life preserve, his own terror at the situation trumping mine.
He’d already taken off once, the poor little lad, terrified enough to try and escape the maze of caves. Quaz had run after him and dutifully towed him back, Brevin’s harsh squeaks echoing throughout.
“It’s okay,” I told him, the smile he gave me calling me a liar.
“I know,” he fibbed right back, fingers tightening on mine. I’d slipped the small bracelet Vidi had made for my babe onto Brevin’s wrist, barely long enough to fit, hoping whatever bit of protective magic it possessed would ease him somehow.
I did have to say, after he came back, he seemed much calmer than before, less stressed and a little more subdued. It just made me feel worse.
“What’s that?” Quaz pointed a fat, grey finger at the little boy’s wrist.
“Nothin!” Brevin said quickly, shoving his arms behind his back.
“A toll? A token?” his deep voice rumbled curiously. “A gift?”
“None of your business,” I panted heatedly, growling through clenched teeth as my belly turned rock hard under my palms.
“What’s it smell like ta ye, brother?” Purple eyes barked, eyes lighting up, nostrils flaring as he inhaled deeply.
“A toss.” Quaz sniffed a few more times before he sneezed and shook his head. “Magic, aye, but Fae an’ caster, maybe, maybe somethin’ else. Canna quite place it. Tainted, eh? I say, anyway.”
“Bit ‘o’ both, me too.” Both of their gazes swung to me, zeroing in on my arms. As their eyes collectively traveled down, they both chuffed in annoyance.
“Ye want the brat ta wear it, fine, but not ye.” Storming the bed, Ketik snatched the bracelet right off my wrist, despite my vehement protests and sad attempts to stave him off, snapping it in two. Shooting up, it hovered in the air as it turned silver, then deep purple, breaking into a million teeny tiny pieces, like shimmering specks of dust, before drifting towards the floor.
“Hey! That’s hers! You can’t do that! She needs it!” Brevin’s little chest puffed up, his hand gripping mine so hard my knuckles turned white.
“Needs it for what?” Quaz was slowly moving closer, making me feel trapped, boxed in.
“For protection,” Brevin breathed, swallowing hard.
Startled, I shook our conjoined hands. “You can sense it, Brev?”
Taking a long time in answering, the little boy nodded slowly. “Sensed it when you first came. It’s why I picked you, missus. Known yous had powers, strong magicks like Ma. Knew I was safe with you.”
“What is ye boy?”
“Human.” Scrambling back, careful not to jostle me, Brevin crept as close as possible.
A long snort escaped the purple-eyed Ornthren and he huffed. “Piss of a halfling, dinna even know what he is. Dinna bother, brother, waste ‘o’ time wit’ that one.” Rubbing his chin in thought, Ketik’s gaze narrowed, eyes darkening as they swirled, luminescent. “Dinna have the look of a Fae, an’ I dinna scent it. Caster, I be thinkin’.”
“Makes most sense.” Quaz nodded, agreeing.
“Ma was good,” Brevin cut in adamantly, “she never done the dark arts. Only good, she was... she wouldn’t...” His voice faltered, throat catching.
“Wouldna what? Use ye as a sacrifice?” The look Quaz levelled on Brev as the boy’s face fell was answer enough.
“Oh, Brev!” Wincing, I untangled our fingers, trying to put my arm around him. Another rush of wetness, much smaller this time, spread across the bed, staining the sheets a watery pink. Going a little green around the gills, Brevin lurched from the bed, stumbling away until his back hit a wall.
“I’m trying to be brave, missus. Really I am, and I want to help with the babe...”
“It’s okay,” I promised, a little glad he wished an escape. I understood, all too well, how it felt when the need to flee struck.
“Thank you, missus,” Brevin crept his way towards the doorway. “Thanks to you.”
“What? Never seen a babe come outta a-”
“Don’t say it!” I shrieked, motioning for Brevin to flee. He was about to do just that, and I gave him my blessing.
“No, he stays.” Ketik’s voice hardened, and Brev froze.
“Ketik,” Quaz snarled, irritated, “dinna be such a hard arse, ye know-”
Motioning with his hand, sparks shooting up, Ketik flicked his fingers, sending Quaz into a wall.
Pissing mad, Quaz’s eyes lit, deep blood red, fanning with inky black, and he hissed.
“How old is ye, boy?” Ketik barked, ignoring the other troll, gaze bouncing back and forth between us.
“Tw-welve,” Brevin stammered out uneasily, wary of the massive male. Shrinking down to his knees, he wrapped his arms around his legs when the scrutiny grew to be too much.
“Still in nappies,” Ketik scoffed, jerking his chin in Quaz’s direction, “couldna ‘ave bedded the wench, even if he wanted ta, probably dinna even know which hole ta put it in. Mmm. I say we let him out.”
“Oh! What does that have to do with- Of all the- Ugh! You’re sick!”
“Hmm. Oi, what does it haveta- Ohhhh, ye mean him,” Quaz rumbled, blinking at Ketik as his face screwed up, hairless brow puckering. “No.” his head shook. “Dinna like it. Best wait ‘til that babe is out, then go from there.
“I be thinkin’ yes.” Ketik’s mind was set.
“An’ I says no.” Quaz’s chin jutted out stubbornly.
“Who’s gonna stop me, eh? Ye? Hah!” Ketik challenged.
“Don’t let him out,” Brevin whispered, eyes so wide I thought they might pop from his skull.
“Let who out?!” I shouted above the din. The strangest sensations were coming over me, from the moment the bracelet was torn off. Pain, anger, fear, loneliness, confusion, an emptiness that couldn’t be filled, loss, but now, more than ever, I felt stark fear. They strengthened as I cried out, these phantom feelings, fighting the urge to bear down.
The walls shook again, dust moats filling the air. They’d been doing that, nonstop since we’d set foot in here, but I couldn’t figure out the cause.
“Are we havin’ an earth shake?” Brevin hunched down farther, huddling in a tight ball.
“No, that’s just dumb arse, thought his heifer over there died. Turned out she just had a bit ‘o’ help, an’ not in the way of a deep, dark pit.” There was an accusatory note in his voice, gaze souring when it strayed to my straining belly. “A nice bit ‘o’ help, eh, milady of the Peein’ Pots?”
“Who... what?” I sputtered.
“She was married,” Brevin mumbled, “but he died. Left missus a widow. All proper and the like.”
The Toll Page 39
