The Sorcerer's Bride Ch. 03

Samis sensed the baby's terror as it pressed down hard against her pelvic bones. She didn't know how, but she could, and concentrated her mind on the child, trying to project her own calm to the frightened infant. The feeling of terror from the babe lessened and Samis whimpered in relief. The pressure in her loins increased and she could feel the baby's head moving through the passage there.

"Terregan! She's coming, she's coming now," Samis screamed, her truth sense shouting along with her in her mind.

"Shhh, heart. I am here," Terregan tried to keep the fear from his voice but knew he had let some slip through when Samis' scared eyes met his. He was so focused on trying to help her birth the child that he failed to notice Samis had called the child a "she". Terregan lifted the blanket that he had thrown over her up over her legs and grasping an ankle in each hand he forced her legs back until both knees were bent sharply. Terregan wrapped the ends of the blanket around her ankles then, to hold them next to her body. He could see part of a dark haired head forcing its way out of her distended body. Quickly he crawled onto the bed, kneeling between Samis' legs.

Samis felt as if she were being torn in two as the baby's head slowly inched out of her body. She was completely exposed now that Terregan had lifted the blanket back but she didn't care. Samis felt like she was dying and the fact that she lay naked on a strange bed in the Emperor's palace didn't matter at all in the scheme of things. Suddenly the pressure became too much and Samis threw her head back to let out a shriek of pain, the peace she had felt a few moments before gone entirely.

Terregan placed one of his large hands on her belly and gently pushed when Samis screamed. More of the babe's head slid out as he applied pressure to her stomach then with a spurt of bloody fluid the entire head appeared. His hands shook violently as he pushed down again trying to help Samis deliver their child. Its wrinkled face was a bluish purple color and covered in the thin membrane that accompanied every living being into the world. When Samis let out another scream of pain Terregan began to weep, though he did not notice the tears running down his face in his terror.

Now that the baby's head had passed the birth channel Samis felt a little less as if she were being ripped apart. Still, the infant's shoulders must come next and as the pressure returned Samis gritted her teeth and bore down. With Terregan pushing on her stomach and she herself straining it was only a moment before blessed relief returned, this time for good. Samis lifted her head to watch as Terregan pinched their daughter's nose to remove any obstruction. When a sharp cry filled the air Samis slumped back onto the bed, content in the knowledge that she had given her husband the child he so dearly wanted. Darkness pressed at the corners of her vision and the baby's cries grew distant. Samis smiled a little as the darkness closed in. She had given Terregan a daughter and she was happy.

Terregan quickly cut the babe's cord with his knife and tied it off with a length of cloth he had ripped from his tunic. He wrapped the screaming girl child in another of the bed's blankets and laid her gently beside him then turned back to the still form of his wife. His heart seized in panic when he saw that even the rise and fall of her chest had stilled. Blood, thick and bright red, was soaking the bed rapidly and he knew if he didn't work as fast as he could to stop the flow Samis would die.

Taking a deep breath he calmed himself then laid his hand on her empty stomach again, grasping the cord he had severed. Drawing his hand down her belly and pulling at the same time he urged he afterbirth out. It slid out relatively easily but was followed by a great gush of blood. Terregan cast aside the bloody mess and concentrated on his wife. With his power he explored her womb, looking for the hemorrhage that was letting his love's life seep away. He felt a pang of relief as he sensed what he searched for and focused on it, using his power to knit the torn flesh.

It seemed like an eternity passed while he knelt there working with all his might to save Samis but in reality only a few minutes went by. When Terregan saw that he could do no more he hung his head, waiting to see if he had been in time. The babe had quieted while he had been concentrating on Samis and now lay still, making small sounds as she clutched her tiny hands close to her face. Terregan couldn't help but marvel at the thick black hair that graced his daughters head. His daughter. The thought made him smile. Samis had given him a beautiful girl child and from the looks of her she would favor her mother.

Terregan reached out his hand to touch her and she grasped a finger tightly. His hands were so big, nearly as big as she was. His heart swelled so full of love for the tiny infant in that moment that fresh tears sprang to his eyes. He let them fall as they would, not caring in his joy. He started when he felt a cool hand touch his arm and turned to see Samis' deep brown eyes glittering with her own tears. Without a word he lifted his small daughter, oh so carefully, and placed her in Samis' waiting arms. Joy as he had never known filled him as he watched his wife cradling his child in her arms.

Samis couldn't look at her enough. She was so tiny and perfect that it awed Samis beyond words. All the pain and discomfort of the last few months evaporated as if it had never been. Samis shifted, pulling her baby close. When the babe began to whimper Samis knew, without the help of her truth sense, that the infant was hungry and needed nourishment. Gently Samis pulled the blanket covering her down and held her full breast to her child's mouth. Without any urging at all her daughter latched on and began to suckle vigorously.

Terregan had left the bed to fetch another blanket from the wardrobe against the wall of the room but quickly returned to wrap it around Samis and the baby. He settled himself on the bed next to her and placed a gentle kiss on his wife's moist brow. Her hair was wet, plastered to her head with sweat from her labor and Terregan thought to himself that she had never looked so beautiful.

"What do you wish to name your daughter?" Samis asked him in a whisper, not wishing to disturb the infant suckling at her breast.

"I must admit, there is a name I am partial too, if you approve," he whispered back to her, "Sara."

Samis said the name softly, rolling it over her tongue. She looked down at her happily nursing daughter and a sharp tingle from her truth sense answered her own question.

"Sara Marie."

"Sara Marie. Yes, I like that. It suits her well," Terregan repeated the name to himself, thinking.

A sharp thud on the door interrupted his train of thought and Terregan stood, striding swiftly to the door. He had no weapon other than his knife and it would do him little good against armed palace guards. The men outside the door probably knew that from Entraitenne but what they didn't know about was his power, which was formidable in its own right. Summoning his strength, Terregan formed a sphere of glowing bluish light in his palms, concentrating it into a tight ball of magic.

Another sharp thud rattled the door and this time the blade of an ax pierced the wood. Terregan heard Samis gasp and knew she had seen the blade but he focused his attention to the sphere of light he held in his palms. He waited, watching the ax blade cut the hole it had made larger with each stroke. Terregan's nerves tingled with raw energy as he forced himself to be patient. The timing had to be just right if his plan were to work.

Slowly the breach in the door grew larger, but he waited still, agonizing with each fall of the ax. When the gap in the doors panel was just wide enough for a man's head to fit through Terregan released his compact ball of energy with a roar. If flew through the hole with a high pitched whistle of displaced air and just as it reached the other side exploded violently. The concussion nearly ripped the doors hinges from the wall and pushed Terregan backward a few steps. He had managed to keep upright, knowing what to expect. The guards outside however, had not been so lucky.

Terregan reached out and unbarred the door, knocking the chair aside in his haste. When he got the door open and peered out he could see at least five men lying in boneless heaps across the corridor. None of them moved and Terregan was quite sure they were all dead. The smell of burnt flesh was strong in the air. Taking a moment to look up and down the corridor to make sure it was clear, Terregan hurried back to the bed to gather Samis in his arms. She clutched Sara, who had finished feeding, tightly. The infant offered a small protest but otherwise was silent.

Samis' heart raced as Terregan carried them at a run through the door and down the passageway. They managed to get down two flights of steps before running into any guards. Terregan simply flicked a hand at them and kept going. Samis craned her neck over his shoulder trying to see what he had done but all she could make out in the dim hallway were empty clothes. She buried her head in the crook of his arm with a shudder, but said nothing. She knew he would never use his powers this way if he had any other choice.

Terregan wished wholeheartedly that Samis did not have to witness the use of his power to kill. He only hoped she could understand he had no other options at this point. Anyone who found them would not wait for an explanation or stop to hear any pleas of innocence.

Surprisingly they met no others as they fled out a side entrance. Terregan headed directly for the wall that surrounded the palace and just as they drew close held a hand out stiffly in its direction. He shouted a strange word and with an ear splitting crack a huge section of the wall collapsed. Terregan swept the rubble out of their path with a flick of his wrist and ran as shouts rang out behind them.

Samis risked another glance over his shoulder then wished she hadn't as twenty or so men lined up behind them with bows. She started to shake as they strung the bows with inhuman speed then lifted long deadly looking arrows from quivers on their backs. She started to warn Terregan when out of nowhere a swarm of multicolored lights descended on the archers. Samis didn't understand what was happening until the screaming began. She realized then that the glowing lights were fairies, come to defend their lord. The last glimpse Samis had of the scene as Terregan turned along the outside of the wall was of total chaos. No few men lay in bloody heaps under the vicious attack of the forest folk.

Now that his wife and child were safely outside the palace walls Terregan gathered into himself every ounce of power he could draw from his surroundings and let his anger stoke the frizzling energy flowing through his body. With a roar of rage he focused it on the structure behind him. A dull rumbling reached his ears as stone pillars started to crumble and the entire building gave way in a huge cloud of smoke and dust. Terregan had no doubt that Entraitenne and Augustine had fled long before, but it gave him some satisfaction to know the Emperor's Palace was no more. A feral smile graced his lips for just a moment before Samis' light touch on his cheek brought him back to the present. He pulled her closer to his chest and ran even faster.

Samis tickled Sara's round little belly with her finger as they sat next to the warm fire in their cottage. Her lovely little daughter gurgled with delight, trying to catch her mother's fingers in her own chubby little hand. Samis smiled at Terregan's deep rumble of laughter. He doted on them, especially Sara, but she didn't mind at all. It only served to prove his great love for the two of them. Samis stood, holding her wiggling infant securely in her arms, and stepped to her husband who sat at their small table's bench watching them. She put Sara in his waiting arms, bending slightly to place a tender kiss on his brow as he pulled a thin chain of polished gold from the pocket of his tunic and gave it over to his daughter's grasping hands.

"You're going to spoil her rotten," Samis told him with a wink.

"That is my intention."