Moonless nights carry a strangeness in deeps of a silent night when the air stills and sounds of night life were hushed and tense. Under a black sky, a spacious stone cottage stood covered beneath the Clandestine Trees with only flickering light as the signs of occupation. Its windows and doors opened, waiting for expected guests. Tight silence stretched on and fear mingled in the dew. The pounding sounds of horses' hooves a distance away became faint. A figure lay seated on a black horse in the shadows like a patient praying mantis.
The lights of a dozen rider's torches darted through the cluster of trees, glimmering on Black armored horses who carried cloaked Riders. Among them a half armored Woman round with pregnancy, leaned on her horse's mane and clutched it with tight fingers. She breathed heavily under her helmet and stifled a groan. "How far... are we to the safehouse, General? The baby... cannot wait." Her Horse stopped and her escorts noticed her soaked night garments and water mark on her cloak. The stillness of the night seeped in when the horses stopped and the woman rested her forehead into her Horse's neck and pressed her lips together hard.
The nearest, hooded Rider about the same shape as the Queen rested a armored hand on her back and said in a soothing voice, "We are not far but if your body decides it then we will tend to you here, My Lady, but a child born in darkness seldom has a life worth living. It is an unusually quiet night and your blood may attract beasts. It will be difficult to tend to you and the child outside in the open."
"Breathe, My Liege." another Rider's voice advised it was gruff and heavy. "No good will come if you're not calm. The pain will become more severe later. For now, your health, safety and the child's is a pressing matter. I have the same worries in mind as Deviah. Under any other circumstances I would have preferred if you travel by carrier but given the nature of our predicament… I believe it will be difficult for you to go on by Horse."
The woman breathed a shaky breath and raised her head, "Yes, it is. I do regret not going by carrier, I had thought it would be slow, heavy and noisy and I had known how hard the running would be but the hour has come far sooner than I hoped. I need to rest." She tilted her head back and lifted her Helmet off. Her face was plastered with sweat and dark hair strands, her tired eyes lowered to a close and she breathed with her mouth. One of the other Riders had swung off their cloak revealing a slender figure of a young man and said," We can use the cloak as a makeshift carrier between two horses. It can hold her for the time and we have less than an hour to the safehouse. Lady Farougue's little Kraken's life is at stake."
Lady Farougue gave a harsh, dry chuckle, "I will remember this, Fraser" she said with her eyes closed. Fraser slipped off their Horse and fastened the hood of the cloak to Lady Farougue's horse and the other end to Deviah's. They sat on the makeshift carrier waiting for either end to slip and decided another knot on each end would suffice. Lady Farougue eased off her horse and slipped onto the carrier with her knees bent and sighed with relief. "It's better than the Horseback. Good on you, Fraser." Deviah shook her head smiling, "Let us hope we make it unscathed before we go praising Fraser."
"Well, we'll have to go a bit slower," said Lady Farougue, "To keep up with his knotted head." She laughed a shaky short laugh. Another rider rode alongside her horse to help guide it. "Thank you, Topiah." she said, addressing the bulky male figure under the cloak and he returned a nod in her direction. They all rode on in silence with only the sound of fire, the torches licking and biting at the oil on wood. Lady Farougue's pinched face, strained whimpers and heavy breathing was a mark of her beginning into labor. "I see the lights." said Topiah he slid his hand into his cloak and took out a black glass vial adorned with matted white flowers. He pulled the knobbed cork loose and handed the vial to Lady Farougue.
The scent of sickly sweet herbs and sinister black liquid that bobbed like waves under the fire ran a cold chill down her spine. She looked at him hard. "This will ease the pain." He said, assuring her. "It's Liquid Nightshade, Topiah. I will not drink the foul thing." The helmet head tilted a little, "Yes it is but when used correctly you'll find it numbs even the most bone breaking pains. Even though it's not at it's full strength it may help with the labor. I don't intend on poisoning you My Lady, only to ease the process. I would prefer my head on my body and you alive on your throne." "When it's worse and I cannot bear it anymore I will take it." She replied and made the motion to put it away. He pushed the cork back in the vial and slipped it into his hand into his cloak.
A sudden spring of an iron arrow wheezed past two hooded figures and buried itself into Topiah's shoulder. He gasped in shock and rage and he swung his arm, unsheathing his sword. Dozens of gleaming weapons were unsheathed in unison within the second. The party divided themselves in two, the first surrounding Lady Farouge more alert and closer. Their weapons on either side opposite their escort. The second lined in front the first tense, vigilant and ready. Fraser had notched an arrow into his mechanical crossbow and dipped it in a nearby torch. They aimed in the direction of the iron arrow and fired. It sailed like a swift firefly and a sudden roar of flames and color spit out a hooded figure on his reeling horse. Three figures from the second line raced towards the figure and encircled and trapped him.
"Clearly your reputation precedes you," said the Assailant. One of the hooded figures edged their sword closest to his throat. "You have one sentence to determine how you spend the next three minutes." the figure said. "Consider it a token of mercy," said another, "What are your business here?!"
"The King sends his regards." They butchered his hands and sent his horse into the night. The other Riders joined them. "We have been discovered. We may have been followed and we may not have enough time." Lady Farougue, now breathing labored breaths said, "Safehouse…quickly!" They arrived and carried her inside to rest and began busying themselves. Half remained outside guarding from the roof to the backdoor. They were on guard and had a free hand on their weapons. The other half prepared for labor. Washing their hands thoroughly and peeling off their cloaks and gloves. Two tended to Topiah who admitted he only needed a few stitches.
"My Armor took most of it," he said shrugging them off but they were concerned with poison on the arrow tip and brushed his indifference. He placed the half opened, black, glass vial within Lady Farougue's reach. A frustrated tear strolled down her cheek, "If we have been discovered then all our efforts these past four years would be wasted and our lives snuffed out in vain." She closed her eyes and shuddered." I hope they don't have hands on J'acior and his works." Deviah rested her hands on her head. "Worry about the child first." She nodded and reached out for the black glass vial, " To ease the suffering…" she said, popping the cork and taking a mouthful with tight eyes. She corked it back with a face and breathed deep fragrant breaths.
In the distance the Hooded Riders on the roof spotted blue torches in the far distance like small blue fireflies lazily flying through the dark. They were half a day away and they estimated that they would clash late in the morning. "Tell the Queen, the King's Men are coming." A dozen Blue torches birthed into a hundred more and the Hooded Figures bowed and hummed a solemn song. The Hymn thrived and reverberated through the trees and the earth and a cold wind ran through the hills like a wave. The other Riders joined.
Lady Farougue swallowed a familiar cold chill and let the song wash over her while her mind was split in two, occupied with the child slowly easing out of her and the imminent dangers ahead of her. Her body felt strained and tired. She had feared she would not make it back to the Castle. She felt panicked, sticky, sweaty and the heavy pangs in her waist made her immediately hate the situation. She would have no time to recover to even fight and admittedly upset at the plan forming in her head. She grasped on to a Hooded figure and shook him for his attention, "The survival of this child is of the utmost importance, if I do not make it see to it that it does! Take it and flee to Mesmalliah…..There is an old acquaintance of mine but take heed! It does not take the form of a mortal man and the path will test your spirit."
She pulled off her family ring and handed it to the Rider. "This is so that they may have a clue about themselves when they ask…" She unclipped her necklace lock and placed it into the Rider's hands, "I hope J'acior labs don't burn, this contains a vital piece of information for the child…about it's nature and things they'd like to know…and things they will not like." she squeezed her eyes, groaning and gasping audibly," I should have finished that cursed bottle!" she swore and gripped on the Rider's sleeved, twisting it. "On your way, don't stop for anyone unless they say, "Falaazi myr dezi la fayrmoon." exactly those words! Still be wary of them but it's a surety that our allies outside will help in your desperate times. Be quick, be more vigilant and adapt! I do wish we all could see our crowning gray hair and little great grandchildren at our feet.." other tears slid down her cheek and she shook her head. "The world we live in…I pray you see the child grow and on its fifth birthday you give them their birthmark with the ring on their left palm. Jewels can be lost but marks stay. And! Do Not Lose These!" The Rider nodded once in affirmation and pocketed the jewels close to their chest. Lady Farougue leaned her head back looking at the Rider with a steely gaze,""Falaazi myr dezi la fayrmoon. "Falaazi myr dezi la fayrmoon."Falaazi myr dezi la fayrmoon." Amidst the humming and impending danger another girl had entered the world.
The Riders, seeing that the Mother was still alive, were relieved and a couple went to see that the child was cleaned and wiped her with a clean damp cloth. The cleaned newborn was fed till she fell asleep. The others looked after the Mother and tended to her post-birth needs. She was cleaned and her attire and coverings were changed.
Her Riders had armed their Queen as best as they could. She wore a silvery chainmail gown, heavy golden chestplate with emblazoned golden sun and four stars encircling it, crafted leg armor and arm armor. Her golden helmet was shaped as a bird's beak with golden feathers that turned transparent blue at the end, encircling her head as a wreath. While she rested with her newborn in one hand and her head in the other she contemplated on which weapon she would use if her attempts were to fail. The hums of the Riders grew from solemn to a quicker, faster pace chant.
She had lost a lot of blood and strength during the childbirth and she couldn't hold her usual sword. The thundering of the Rider's horses' hooves had set her heart to run like a rabbit's when they stomp the earth. She was not afraid of anything but for the child. The discovery or the real discovery of it, her, would jeopardize years of careful planning after decades of failure after failure. The thought of J'acior being captured would mean this is the first and last chance of success only to be snuffed from her on the first day.
"Ladies, people in between, Gentlemen and those not in between, these past decades we have grown together, fought alongside each other, grieve with one another, laugh. We've been through wars, winters, pandemics and climbed mountains, My Brothers and Sisters and entities in human form, this is not our end. Let the earth tremble under our feet, let winds carry our stories to the people under the hill and in the lands of dreams. May we choke our enemies with their own blood and send them to their Gods limbless. May we be reborn from our ashes and come from these newer, stronger, closer, better people. This is not our first predicament where everyone will fall and it shall not be the last. If we fall, may we fall fighting so that when the earth covers and embraces us we will rest like babes knowing we did try." She looked at the silent child in slumber, breathing and unaware, so frail and defenseless.
"My child, we meet at last and time seems to be against us. Saddens me that I may not see you grow, that I may not see how you see the world. How you interact with people, to know you. It aches me that I may not know my own offspring as well as I do my Riders. I do not know the outcome of our paths but I know if I have to give my last tonight I will do so willingly." She looked around at the Handful of Riders in the room, thinking of the dozens more outside and the hundreds scattered across the region. "Help me bless this child." They circled her and laid their hands on her arms and back and began to sing a hymn.
The rigid tension in the atmosphere melted and the air became cool and tranquil. The walls of the Cottage vanished and the physical world hid away in the folds of time, the hills, trees began to hum in their own language and the lifeforms around them trembled. The light of hundreds of thousands of stars shone more brightly and a faint, distant song flowed from them through the Riders, through the Queen and into the child. The light resided, the hums of the trees and hills quietened into silence and the walls of the cottage returned.
The Riders one by one exited the room and filed into formation outside. The Queen was left alone with her baby and the weights on her mind and in her heart. The Rider she held on to waited at the entrance with a faint panic to his chest. The sudden realization that he did not know how to properly take care of anyone and it weighed heavily on him. He did not own a cat and most certainly did not intend on getting a dog or a bird or any animal companion unless it can already fend for itself and here the Queen landed on him such a responsibility as heavy as a newborn. This particular newborn would have been more difficult, he did not know much about the nature of the child or why the Queen deemed it so. But the child's family history…The happenings at this very moment. The Queen might have placed an anchor around his neck and kicked him into the sea. He did not expect it to make it past the week, it would be a miracle if it made it past the night. If he was really lucky, the Queen would live and take her child with her.
An indistinct sound of grass beneath boots shot him out his train of thoughts. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar companion and they exchanged a signal, the King's men were closer. A familiar readiness had settled in the air of the Riders. An idea had bloomed into the Rider's head, he decided that he would not take the child. He walked over to his companion.
"You were present when the Queen was in labor," He said. "You remember exactly what she said?"
His companion nodded," I know you, especially you of all people, are not up to the task." She said, "You're planning on passing the assignment on to me?"
"No." He said," You're the same height and breath as the Queen if you switch garments and wear helmets then we can twist fate…And for the King to send his dogs he cooked up after us I don't think he intends on bringing back souvenirs. Dead or Alive."
"True," his companions replied," I came across them before, they cannot feel pain and they're hard to kill. They lose their humanity in battle.. He did something unnatural to them, twisted them." She paused. "The queen is in no shape for the time being. I don't believe she will stand her ground like she is used to for today."
"Yes and No. I have seen her in far more dire situations but she did not give birth to another Farougue and had more resting time. I don't know how she will march on. Pregnancy takes up a lot of energy and she's been giving the child her all for months. Childbirth is no easy feat either, the Queen lost valuable blood."
"The child is important to her but never specified why, so I don't want her to go down into the earth with such a secret. She never cared for children, not hers or anyone else's."
"Leave that topic alone, I would rather not judge the Queen so harshly because I was not in her place at the time and I don't know the options she had before her. For all her iniquities she has been one of the best people to go into calamities with and the Kingdom has never been so clean from the centuries of rot the blood feuds had passed down. It still has rats of course. That's why the King has found us so quickly. "
"I see the perspective. I would not switch places with the Queen either. Her sheets are soaked with blood from the day she was born."
"So, now I am asking you to take her place and I will go with her to Mesmalliah. It is a heavy burden to rest on you. King Gergion is not one famous for forgiveness. He will feed the child to the bloodhounds. He will torture us if he can…You've seen what he did to his men farless the Queen's Riders. Will you take her place for today and let them taste salt iron?"
She nodded once, "May the singing stars guide us. Keep well, Faroh."
"May we all make it to Star Council. Thank you, Deviah."
The stars from the night were beginning to fade away from the incoming dawn. The black night sky was bleached into day as the sun's morning rays yawned and stretched over the hills. The morning birds sprung into the air and the hills became alive with the native critters that rustled from their dens and homes to begin their day. Four Riders volunteered to gather the early morning breakfast meat while the rest began with the setup.
Topiah and Juzz gathered wood and jeered at each other. "For a swiftie, I find you very slow and clumsy with them sticks." Juzz taunted. " What keeps you? You know what you doing?'' Topiah sucked his teeth in annoyance and shook his head," For a young man I find you have more talk than anything else!" He began to make a makeshift table pounding short nails into the sticks until he seemed satisfied. The nails broke out the wood with cracking sounds and it fell apart when he placed a traveled sized hammer on it.
Juzz's ruckus laughter rattled his helmet, his laughter was cut short by the echo in his head. He swiftly took it off with one hand, his face twisted with minor ear annoyance and amusement. Topiah picked up the mini hammer and held it like a teacher. "I will use your horse teeth to clip this wood together just for kicks." Juzz made a mock shocked face and walked over to his horse. He returned with a stack of conjoined wood and began unfolding it. "There," he said, motioning his table, "Almost as if this is the first time Topiah has ever been out in the open."
"Would have been too much for the horse." Topiah said and they both laughed good naturedly. Anuukala, the shortest female Rider, brought over a couple large wooden crates filled with sweetened pumpkin seed bread wrapped in cotton and placed it one the table. Her brother, Anuk, who exceeded her by two heads, brought out stacked cups in one hand and a large jug containing fresh spring water in the other and laid them out on the table. Someone had brought cushions from inside the cottage and laid them around the table.
Another had picked a mountainous amount of dewberries carrying them in her makeshift cloak basket and rested them on the table. "You've busied yourself, Enye! Wow! Look at this!" said Anuk, taking a handful and dropping the berries in his mouth." Vhank vuuu!!" he said and Enye chuckled, taking some herself. Faroh emerged from the cottage and sat down heavily at the table. He lifted his helmet off him and leaned back till he was lying on the grass, staring at the sky. "You want some bread?" asked Anuukala,"There's enough for seconds so…" She opened the box and handed him a bread the size of a large river rock.
The sweet, comforting smell of the baked goods greeted him and he accepted it graciously and nodded at her. "All sorrows are less with bread." she said smiling "Back home they always say that. I only vouch for it because half the time it really does make you feel better." He bit into the bread, inhaling the sweet smell of pumpkin seeds, raisins and other grains, nodding.
"I hope you feel better." Anuukala said, covering the box and walking away. In truth, he did not feel like eating or sleeping. His mind was in a tug of war between restlessness, the urge to find something to do and fighting his body that was in no mood to get up. He breathed in a lungful of grass scented, morning air and took another generous bite. His mind was temporarily eased with the eating and the morning sky.
He admired the morning light, the way it lit up the clouds and fanned across the blue sky. He focused on the sounds he made when he ate to ignore the many weights on his shoulders and listened to the busying sounds around him, his fellow Riders' footsteps on the grass and the sounds they made as they walked. He noticed the tickly grass beneath him, the small bugs that crawled, climbed and flew on him from time to time. The way the soft morning breeze blew through the trees and brushed his hair and skin gently. The weight of his mind lifted a little and finished off the bread.
He emerged in the cottage and nodded at the armored Queen and her Rider, who lay outstretched by her side. He bowed solemnly and asked, "Is she sleeping?" The Queen shook her head, "She's not tired but her mind seems heavy."
"Ahh." he said. The armored Queen stood up and approached him," Something is off with the child." She whispered. Faroh's shoulders drooped with distress. "Did Farougue notice too?" he asked. "If the baby dies-"
"No! No, no. You misunderstood. The baby is fine but something is off with the child."
Faroh looked at her questioningly. "I can't exactly describe it-"
"It's a newborn, Deviah." He said irritably, "They don't usually come out bright eyed, cute and cuddly. It's barely a week old, it's going to look fragile and weird."
"Let me show you." she said steering him by the arm towards the sleeping child. He looked down at her and found nothing off and made irritated noise in his throat. "Look, carefully."Deviah insisted. He pressed his lips together and exhaled audibly. He looked closer now at the details, the baby shriveled and so small. Ten fingers and ten toes, working nose and two ears. Breathing fine, he poked her on the cheek and she twitched a little and her tiny fists grabbed his finger. And suddenly he felt as if a cold wave pushed and pulled and twisted him. It knocked the air out of him suddenly. He couldn't breathe and gasped desperately. Then it eased into a faint song then subsided and he could breathe again. He found himself staring into a pair of gray eyes with a red ring around the iris and pupils before it closed briefly again. "Oh.'' he finished lamely. He swallowed and looked over at her. "She's-"
"She's not normal!" said Deviah under her breath, "She's twisted for a newborn. It's not the same as the King's men but it's similar."
"I was going to say she may be an empath-"
Deviah turned on him suddenly, " Faroh, I have seen Gergion's men in action. I have faced them and that kind of projection is weaponized. It's weaponizing its emotions! I have never seen it in a newborn." She shook her head, horrified. "No newborn is ever like this." They were silent for a moment. Both lost in their own thoughts, one of fear and horror and the other of curiosity and vague awe.