Xui and her men lead Ansel and Andrew into a big room full of crystals, gems, metal, gold, silver and more. In the middle of the whole room was a giant golden caldron and standing next to it was a man dressed entirely in green like the color of a peacock.
"Shaman Shao." Xui greeted the person.
"Aaaa, Xui." He replied, elongating Xui's name into two long vowels.
"Is everything ready for us?" Xui asked.
"Aaa, yes, everything is ready. We just need the blood of the prisoner." Shaman Shao said as he grinned at Andrew.
Xui unsheaths a small dagger from her belt and walks towards Andrew. Two guardsmen hold him down.
"Wait, what? Blood? You're going to kill me?" Andrew yelled.
"I will go first." Ansel intercepted, stopping Xui in place.
"Very well." Xui replied. Ansel joined her and they both walked up to the caldron together. Ansel reaches his hand over the caldron and Xui slices his palm with a dagger.
Blood dripped from his balled up fist into the caldron as Shaman Shao counted the drops, "One, two, three…" Once he got to twenty drops he said, "Alright, that's enough. One for each year, so from what I've gathered, the child should be in her twentieth year of mortal life."
"Yes. Twenty is correct." Ansel reassured him.
Shaman Shao starts to chant in a mantra and the cauldron bubbles, releasing smoke as each bubble bursted on the surface of the pot. Soon the big room was filled with fog.
"The dragon's star is indeed from this man's lineage. I can see it." Suddenly, a light from the cauldron released a bright glow from within, blinding everyone in the room as they struggled to block their eyes in the nick of time. "See the star? It will show you where the owner of it is located… Matter of fact, it will show itself in a few month's time. Go to the land of the wolves to find her."
"Wolves? Those beasts are no fun to bargain with." Xui whined. "Who is their Alpha now? Is it still Aawenaw or did Niiganii finally steal the lead?"
"Neither…" Shaman Shao said, puzzled at what he saw. "It's the one you seek, she shines so brightly, we may have to wrangle for her."
"WHAT! That doesn't make sense!" Xui said, bewilderedly.
"The gods are saying she belongs to the Ma'iingan now. She has been wed."
"But the dragon's star?? Check again, who owns the star?"
Shaman chants for a bit and then says, "She owns the dragon star."
"But that doesn't make sense. How can one person own the dragon star and the title to the wolves?" Xui asked in confusion.
"We must find her, that is the only way we will find the answer." Shaman Shao suggested.
After a while Xui finally agrees and comes up with a plan. "Right, I will report to the empress and prepare for battle in two months' time. We need to retrieve our star at any cost. This is for the sake of the Zaa Clan."
*
I didn't see Bjork in any of my visions, so the best way to rid my fears of him was to assume his death. Besides, I'm not having that great of a time to be thinking about that person… animal… or whatever you would call his kind.
Who would've known that leaving the ship on a small boat to get to land was worse than being on the ship. I felt sick the whole thirty minutes it took for us to get to the shore. I was so ill that I could barely keep my eyes open, so eventually I just shut them and laid back to rest, all the while hoping that I wouldn't vomit on Lei and all the people accompanying us on the boat.
Once we landed, three people had to help carry me out of the boat because I was too disoriented to walk. Lei seemed slightly annoyed and kept complaining about how I lived at sea for so long, but yet I acted like I've never been at sea. I couldn't remember much until hours later when I finally woke hungrier than a starving sea lion.
I got up and left the little shed the people had prepared for me to stay in, but was quickly reprimanded by a maid to come back to rest. I asked her for food and water and she brought back a feast. I felt bad that there was so much food laid down before me, but my stomach overtook my mind and body. Before I knew it, my hands were pulling apart the legs off the roasted poultry, while my other hand was feeding myself spoonfuls of creamy vegetable soup. I'm sure the maids were all staring at me like I was some kind of savage.
I swear I even heard one say, "How sad. My lady was lost in the woods with savages for almost three months before his grace found her again. From the looks of her behavior, I'm sure she must have gone insane."
I wanted to say something, but my body wasn't compliant to my mind. I continued to indulge myself in this banquet of food, neatly set before me, not giving a care to anyone around me.
My hunger never dissipated; I ate and ate until I felt my bellyache. I quickly turned to my side and released my stomach content onto the ground. My maid rushed in to aid me.
"My lady, are you ill? Let us help you." They helped me up onto my feet. I looked at the food that was candy to my eyes just five minutes ago. Its delicacy made my mouth water in a way where my body wanted to reject every thought of the food. Everything I saw was like an exploding ball of vomit waiting to burst out from the pit of my stomach.
"I can't look at this food any longer. I need to rest." I said to the maids as they aided me towards my bed. I laid down, trying to fight the nausea while the two maids whispered back and forth.
"My lady, if you don't mind me asking, when was the last time you bled?" one of the maid asked.
"Well, I…. I can't remember. Why?"
"My lady, when you no longer bleed and have bedded with a man, it usually means one thing…"
I waited impatiently for an answer, but the maids just nodded their heads, gesturing for me to "get it".
"Well?" The rude word popped out of my mouth as an involuntary response, "are you two going to tell me or am I supposed to guess?"
The maid glanced at one another before one of them whispered to me, " You might be with child, my lady."
"Have you noticed a change of your emotions or mood? Changes in what you want to eat compared to what your body allows you to eat? Have you had sudden urges to want to be in his bed more often?"
I gave them a puzzled look as I tried to dissect what they were asking as they bombarded me with their questions. Then I interrupted their interrogation, "What are your names?" I asked
"I am Theima, my lady." One of them said with much confidence as she looked me right in my eyes.
I looked at the other one and she said, "My name is Helig, my lady." keeping her head down.
" Alright Helig and Theima… I want to be left alone now. Please clear the table and leave me be. I am tired and I need my rest." The two maid's faces began to droop into a pout in realization that I was pushing them away and so they left my side to clear the table.
I watched them for a bit and then said, "I'm sorry for my rude behavior. I'm not usually like this."
"Yes, my lady. We know you are the kindest person to serve. We've served many that weren't so gentle. Serving you is always a pleasure." Helig replied as Theima kept quiet.
"Thank you for all you do for me. Oh, and I would like for you two to not mention anything to anyone. Please understand." I said to them.
"Yes, my lady." they both said as they continued to clear the table.
I wrapped my arms across my belly as I turned to my side and whispered, "I will no longer be alone."
*
I couldn't keep anything down for the next week. Believe or not, I had a sudden urge to eat dirt. DIRT. This weird urge started a few days ago when one of the maids harvested wild potatoes from the woods. One of the cooks didn't do a good job washing the potatoes so some still had dirt on it's skin.
When I had bitten into one of the cooked potatoes, the dirt crunched around my teeth. It was as gritty as you can imagine it to be. It was perfect! I wanted more and more. That day I ate at least eight potatoes, maybe or more.
My temptations to eat dirt continued, but the next time I was given potatoes, my body completely rejected it. I think it was way too clean, and I knew it was the dirt on the potatoes that I wanted to consume.
I was losing weight drastically. This I knew was bad for a woman who is with child. I have often witnessed pregnant women on Master Boix's ship, his whores would often become big and would gain a lot of weight before birthing their bastards.
"Baby?" I whispered to myself one day, "If you're in there, please hold on tightly. Mommy loves you very much."
I long for Giken and I long to see this baby, but my greatest fear of all is what to say to Giken about the other men and finding out which one of these men IS the father of the child?