Olivia

by R. Lee Smith

  In English, keeping her voice very calm and genial, Amy said, “My contractions are five minutes apart and getting stronger.”

  Olivia nodded and stood up. Speaking to the gullan in their own tongue, she asked them politely to leave, since Amy was feeling moody and wanted to sleep. “I can keep her comfortable until dawn,” she said. “My son should sleep now. Fetch me if there’s any trouble.”

  They scarcely needed to be asked twice. The gullan left, the three of them crooning in close-part harmony as they carried Somurg away. Olivia waited until they were good and gone, then took up a large blanket and wrapped herself in it. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she told Amy. “Try to relax and take deep, slow breaths. Whatever you do, don’t push.”

  Amy nodded, closing her eyes and composing herself as though for sleep.

  Olivia hurried through the narrow passages and open caves of the women’s tunnels, passing no one…until she reached the women’s commons and Horumn, dozing on a bench before the simple hide flap that separated the women’s tunnels from the rest of the mountain. Olivia hesitated, took two silent steps forward, and stopped again as Horumn’s eyes opened.

  The two of them looked at each other—she with dismay, and the Eldest with uncanny understanding.

  “It is not done,” Horumn said finally.

  “You had a good reason for wanting to keep Vorgullum out,” Olivia told her, creeping a little closer. “No one knew what was going to happen then. But I have no reason to think that this birth will be any different from mine.”

  “It is not done,” Horumn said again, unmoved.

  “Lots of things aren’t done,” Olivia said, “until they are. You had twelve babies, you told me. Didn’t you ever want your man’s arms around you when they came? Look me in the eye and tell me Amy shouldn’t have Kurlun with her just because it is not done.”

  The old gulla made a face, then sighed and looked away.

  “So be it,” Horumn said at last. “Because it is Amy and because they truly love one another. Don’t ask me again until your mate makes it law.”

  Olivia moved fast, before the Eldest changed her mind. Kurlun sat alone outside in the tunnels with a single candle, his head in his hands. He looked up before she could speak, and an expression of absolute horror took hold of his entire body.

  “What has happened to her?” he asked.

  “Come with me, quickly,” she whispered and smiled.

  His mouth opened slightly as he realized what she was offering, then he leapt up and scanned the empty tunnel before running towards her. She shrugged off the blanket and he wrapped himself inside it, ducking down low and holding his head awkwardly back to try and disguise the great length of his horns. Olivia led him past Horumn, who had once more adopted the appearance of deep sleep, and brought him swiftly to the room where Amy lay.

  Olivia hung the blanket over the open doorway while Kurlun and Amy embraced. “I hope you were right about quick deliveries running in your family,” she said, peeking once out into the tunnel before letting the blanket close it off. “Somurg doesn’t sleep through the night.”

  Amy labored quietly, with Kurlun helping her to sit up or roll over. He massaged her as his voice rose and fell in soothing words Olivia was not meant to hear. Now and then, Amy would whimper or groan, but muffled the sounds against his body as he stroked her hair. It did not seem long at all before she called for Olivia in a strained, soft voice and said, “I think it’s time.”

  “Good. Kurlun, help her to the birthing bench,” Olivia commanded, and went to wash her hands.

  “What in the hell goes on here?”

  All three of them, Kurlun included, jumped and screamed a little.

  Tina came inside in two swift strides, letting the blanket drop behind her. She did not look happy. “Are you in labor?” she demanded.

  “Um.” Amy looked at her stomach, then pointed at Olivia. “It was her idea.”

  “And I was just coming to get you,” Olivia said, glaring at Amy.

  “Oh we are going to talk about this later, lady, I promise you that. Kurlun, get her to the birthing bench and what are you doing here anyway?” she finished, as surprise bloomed over annoyance.

  Kurlun also pointed at Olivia.

  Tina’s next long look was a great deal more thoughtful. “Okay,” she said at last. And then she pointed. “You’re on probation. I’ll try to keep the tunnel clear, but if you need me for any reason, you holler.”

  “I will,” Olivia promised.

  Muttering under her breath, Tina marched herself out, and Olivia hurried over to kneel between Amy’s open legs. “Good God, you’re crowning!” she blurted.

  “I told you we were quick. I want to push now.”

  Olivia checked the baby’s position, and shrugged. “Go ahead.”

  It didn’t take long at all from that moment on. Olivia caught the baby and held it in one arm while she emptied its mouth of mucous. She was about to turn the baby over and swat it when it uttered a foggy cough, yawned hugely, and started breathing all on its own.

  “Why, you smug little thing,” Olivia chided, and the baby grunted. “Tina, it’s out! Kurlun, would you like to hold your daughter?”

  “What do you mean, ‘it’s out’?” Tina demanded from the hall.

  Kurlun opened his hands at once, wide-eyed and speechless, shoulders bowing as he took her tiny weight. Father and daughter stared at each other in silence as Tina came in to look Amy over; they may as well have been alone in the whole world.

  “She sees me,” Kurlun said at last, and began to smile. “She knows who I am. Don’t you, little bat? You know your sire!”

  Olivia went to Amy and found her staring at her new family with nearly the same wild-eyed shock that Kurlun had only just begun to shake off. “Are you all right?” Olivia asked.

  “I’m going to cry.” Amy looked around as though dazed—at the walls, the birthing bench, the blanket over the door, anywhere but at another person. “I’m not a crier, Olivia. I’m not anything I used to be. I’m a mother now. I have a child. Look at her.” She started to giggle, and the giggles turned into tears. She wiped at them, sobbing, “Oh, can you believe it, she’s got my nose!”

  “She is beautiful,” Kurlun insisted. “I have never seen such a fine, full coat on a newborn. Look, a little tooth! It means she will be fierce, as fierce as her mother.”

  “A tooth,” Amy wailed. “Just see if I nurse her with a tooth!”

  “A milk tooth,” he amended gently. “Oh, Amy, please don’t cry. She is such a perfect little girl.”

  “That’s why I’m crying,” she tried to say, and held out her arms for her daughter.

  Kurlun wouldn’t exactly give her the baby, but he knelt again by Amy’s side so that she could gather them both up in a single embrace.

  Tina’s hand fell on Olivia’s shoulder. “You did good,” she said quietly. “If you do it again, I will kick your ass square.”

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  Tina gave her a pat and let her go. Feeling very proud of herself, Olivia helped Amy out of the birthing bench and back into bed. By the time she had cleaned off the bench and disposed of the soiled towels, Amy had changed her mind about nursing a toothsome baby and was curled on her side in the bed with Kurlun beside her, watching her daughter feed with huge, awe-filled eyes.

  3

  Three nights later, Kurlun proudly climbed the center rock in the commons and lifted his daughter into the air for all the tribe to see. The baby opened her eyes and peered at the crowd curiously, sneezed, and scrubbed busily at her eyes. “My daughter,” he announced.

  “And I’m still pissed, by the way,” Tina remarked, watching him.

  “I said I was sorry.”

  “Behold my fierce one,” Kurlun said. “See, she is silent like an owl on the wing. When she came into Olivia’s hands, the Good Mother knew her at once and called her by her name.”

  He beamed over at Olivia, who must have looked as baffled as she f
elt, and said, “She is Smugg.”

  Olivia started to laugh, and caught Amy’s eye to gesture at the proud father. Amy rolled her eyes and shrugged helplessly.

  Vorgullum himself went to inspect the new arrival, pronounced her perfectly-made, and started up the celebration. When that was done, he returned to Olivia’s side and grinned down at Somurg. “Ours is much more handsome,” he whispered.

  “I think so, too,” she whispered back, and they smiled at each other.

  “So,” he said, easing Somurg out of Olivia’s arms and cradling him expertly. “The weather has been fair and our son is strong. If you still wish to take him to your teacher’s grave, I am prepared to allow it.”

  It would have been easy to become indignant at these words, much less the lofty tone in which he spoke them, but this was a concession he was making and she knew it. “Thank you,” she said.

  “There are human rites you wish to perform, I suppose,” he said, and managed to hide most of his discomfort at the thought. “And I will leave you alone to make them. But I mean to carry you there, and I mean to carry you back. You will have one day…one day and the greater portion of two nights,” he amended grudgingly. “Is it enough time?”

  “Yes,” she said, and leaned into his side. “You are very good to me.”

  He leaned into hers. “I know.”

  Somurg suddenly let out one of his rare happy howls, waving his chubby arms wildly over Vorgullum’s shoulder.

  “Oh,” Kodjunn said, sounding surprised. “Hello.”

  Vorgullum turned toward him, but Somurg twisted in his arms, reaching for Kodjunn and wailing. Defeated, Vorgullum offered the baby and Kodjunn, not without hesitation, took him. Somurg settled at once, seized a handful of fur in one hand, dropped his head sleepily against the Kodjunn’s shoulder, and stuck two fingers in his mouth.

  “What news, sigruum?” Vorgullum asked, eyeing the baby with mild disbelief. Somurg was many things, but a people-person was not one of them.

  “Actually,” Kodjunn hedged, glancing at Olivia, “I just came to ask if it was true about Olivia sensing Smugg’s name. Did you hear it in a dream?”

  “No, of course not,” Olivia sighed. “‘Smug’ is a human word. It means confident. I only said it because she started breathing on her own.”

  Kodjunn nodded to himself, rubbing Somurg’s sealed wings and humming thoughtfully under his breath. The baby began to tug on Kodjunn’s pelt in time to the tune. “It’s still a good name,” he decided at last. “If a strange one for a female.”

  “How is your mate?” Vorgullum asked, pointing with his chin towards Cheyenne, who sat alone by the fire.

  “I wouldn’t know,” Kodjunn replied, his tone carefully neutral. “She moved into the women’s tunnels two nights ago.”

  Vorgullum’s brows drew thunderously together. “Did she indeed? Who provides for her?”

  “I do.” Kodjunn shrugged, making Somurg squeal and giggle. “Those are my young in her belly, for all that she means for me never to know them.”

  Vorgullum looked up, his hard eyes narrowing.

  “She would never harm them.”

  Vorgullum dismissed that with a flex of his talons. “You don’t believe that and neither do I. She means harm in every breath of her and I will not give her the chance to spread her poison. I will have them taken from her after birth.”

  “She would rather die,” Olivia said at once.

  “No, she would rather you die,” Kodjunn corrected.

  “We will have no shortage of nursing mothers. The infants will survive.” He rested his eyes again on Cheyenne, still sitting and watching the gullan with her mask of bitter calm. “If she bends to my command, I will permit her to see them upon occasion. If she resists me, I will kill her. Either way, she will not have those lives to raise against us.”

  “Vorgullum!” Olivia gasped.

  He merely looked at her, his jaw set and his eyes cold.

  “I advise you not to tell Cheyenne of your decision,” Kodjunn said after a lengthy silence.

  “You can’t mean to surprise her with something like that? She’s certain to fight you then!” Olivia objected.

  “And if she knows it’s coming, she’ll throw herself off the nearest jagged cliff,” Kodjunn said. “Those are my children she’s growing and I won’t let her stubborn hatred destroy them.”

  “But you think she would not harm them if she believed she were free to bear them in peace?” Vorgullum asked, and thought about it. “Olivia,” he said finally, “You will examine Cheyenne, and tell her that her womb is weak. Force her to take to her pit for the remainder of her time.”

  “Vorgullum, she has four moons to go!”

  “Would you rather I put her back in chains?” he inquired.

  She set her jaw, shook her head.

  He continued resolutely, staring over her head at the wall. “I will permit her to stay in the women’s tunnels, but she is no hunter to have earned a private lair. Send her to stay with…with Yawa. Yawa is sensible and strong and has no patience for stupidity. If the beast makes trouble, I trust Yawa either to contain it—” He glanced at Olivia and away again. “—or to inform me.”

  “She’s not stupid, Vorgullum! She’ll know at once that she’s under guard again, and when you take those babies away from her, she’s going to be furious,” Olivia warned, her voice barely audible. “And you…how can you ask me to take away a mother’s children?”

  “Olivia,” he said, and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, exhaled slowly, and looked at her again. With what must have been enormous effort, he kept his voice down, but could not disguise the burning pain in his words. “Olivia, you are all my pride and pleasure, but I command you, as the leader of this tribe of which you are a part, to obey me or be punished.”

  Kodjunn gathered up Somurg in his arm and quietly left them.

  There was a split-second when Olivia considered the merits of another public shouting match with real yearning, but she knew already that it wasn’t going to work. It might feel good for a little bit, but it wouldn’t work.

  So she threw her arms around Vorgullum’s neck and hugged him close instead. “I will obey you, of course I will!” she whispered. “You are my strong mate, my great leader, and you don’t have to command me! But think about what you’re saying! No woman would let her babies be taken from her! You will make her attack you! I would attack you, if it were my baby!”

  He frowned slightly, but only slightly, and that was all he did.

  She seized his head and kissed his unyielding mouth, then pulled away and said, “I’ll do what you say, but I beg you to reconsider.” She clasped her hands beneath her chin. “I beg you, Olivia begs you!”

  No one was actively watching them, Olivia knew. No one was close enough to see her dramatics to warrant close attention. This moment was still theirs, but if she stood like this for very long, searching his eyes with her whole body in an aspect of supplication, she knew the tribe would start wondering what was going on.

  And he knew it, too. He reached up and enfolded her hands in his, tenderly. “I can’t promise to change my mind,” he said. “But obey me in this: Go to Cheyenne and tell her that her womb is weak, as I have said. I will think on your words while you present our son to your teacher’s soul. When you return, I’ll make my judgment known, but you will submit to my will. Agreed?”

  “Agreed!”

  He released her, shaking his head. “Olivia, your words are always wise, but you are too kind-hearted. If that beast broke your arm and left you for dead, you would beg me to spare her life. No!” he said, as Olivia flinched. “You wouldn’t speak against her at all, but tell me you fell and broke it yourself.”

  Olivia stood silent, feeling an old ache in the soles of her feet.

  Vorgullum shook his head again and touched her cheek. “You must understand that I do these things for your sake, as much as for mine. I can’t afford to remain here in the mountain and wait for Cheyenne’s hour
to come. The snow is melting. The humans must have left Hollow Mountain by now. Olivia, we will be leaving soon.”

  She wasn’t surprised, exactly, but she felt the bottom drop out of her world anyway, and stared at him with naked horror. “Oh Vorgullum, no!”

  He set his jaw, kept his voice low and even. “It will take many days to find a suitable hive. We hunted for yours more than a moon-span. We’ll take them to Hollow Mountain until they have learned enough of our speech to live comfortably among us and then we will bring them here.”

  “You can’t do this! Not again!”

  “What I cannot do,” he said, “is heal my tribe with the thirteen humans remaining to us, even if they all should spark. I will go. I will take them. I will end their human lives and hurt their human hearts. And when they have mates among my people, when they are gentled and they are tribe, when they have healthy young of their own to show me…I will do it again.”

  She could not look at him.

  He did not look at her.

  Across the commons, Somurg shrieked laughter and slapped at Kodjunn’s snout.

  “Don’t do this.” She couldn’t believe she’d said it, even after she heard the words hanging in the air. “Please.”

  Vorgullum bent his head and kept his lips pressed tightly together.

  “Don’t do this,” she said again. “One of us went mad! Two of us have died! Victoria might as well be dead!”

  “And seven have sparked! That weighs heavier than any pain or death. Healthy young.” He shook his head firmly as she began to protest and his voice became steel. “You will not turn me from this path, my mate. You can hurt me with your words, but you can’t change the way of things. Not this time.”

  “You can’t possibly think the humans will sit back and let it happen a second time!”

  “I am certain they will do exactly that.” He reached up to trace the quivering curve of her jaw with the tip of one claw. “Oh, my Olivia,” he sighed. “Did I take so much pleasure in your pain that you think I would wish it on even one more human? Did I?”

  “No.” She looked away from him to Kodjunn, watching them with Somurg in his arms. The expression on the sigruum’s face and the baby’s was the same.