FanStory.com - A Child Is Bornby Roxanna Andrews

The *behemoth slept, its huge wings spread to cover its head and nest. The monster stirred, its back legs moved as if to run, then went still. It breathed heavily, hissing and wheezing as it slumbered on. Beneath its huge, black scaled body lay a treasure. A clutch of five eggs, each the size of a grown man's head. It would still be many weeks before the precious cargo they carried would emerge wide eyed, all claws and teeth into the world.
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Nyla sat by the fire, Wolf and Arrow on either side, and worked a rabbits fur blanket for the baby. She kept the cottage door open so she could see when Dak arrived. He was two days past his usual time. Worry gnawed at her stomach large with child. She told herself a hunting trip had delayed him. Any moment she would see him ride up on his huge, black stallion.

The dogs' ears perked up and they raised their heads. She heard horses' hooves and felt relief. He had arrived. She struggled to her feet and walk outside to meet him, the dogs jumping up to follow her. After a moment, her brothers came into view and the look on their faces told her they had grave news.

They dismounted and walked toward Nyla. They had trouble holding her gaze, and she feared the worst.

"Nyla, let us go into the cottage."

They walked on either side of her, holding her elbows. She suddenly felt weak, she hadn't eaten much the last two days, worry stealing her appetite. Drake pulled out the bench beside the table for her to sit down and sat beside her. Erik pull up the chair from beside the fire.

"Nyla," said Erik as he took her hand. "We have sad news. Dak is dead."

Nyla buried her face in her hands. Didn't she feel his presence leave her two days ago. A light inside her had gone out.

"What happened?" she asked through tears. They streamed freely down her cheeks, dripping on the table below. The dogs came to sit beside her, Arrow placing a paw on her knee.

"We believe a bear attacked him. His horse too, the stallion lived but has huge gashes on his hindquarters and back legs. We will bring him to you when he is fully healed." Drake swallowed hard and plunged on. "The bear had to be huge, maybe one of the mountain bears. Some of the men say they have seen some that stand twelve feet. It is rare for them to come down to the valley, but they have been known to do so." Drake paused, he had been talking in a rush, babbling on to keep Nyla from asking any questions.

He didn't want to go into detail about the cause of Dak's death. He could hardly think of it, let alone speak of it.

Dak had been found by a hunting party not too far from the valley. He lay in a wooded area, torn to pieces. His face and limbs covered in gashes, his chest ripped open and his heart gone. A very strange thing. He had never known a wild animal to take a man's heart. It was a horrible sight. Drake hoped he had died long before his heart was taken.

"We will take care of you Nyla," Erik assure her. "We have arranged for a caregiver, she is a midwife. Anne will stay as long as you need her. I'll get her now, she waits outside."

Dak was buried by the cottage, none of his family attended the burial. Nyla went through the next few weeks in a fog. She didn't sleep or she slept all day.

Why hadn't she gone to look for Dak when she sensed his need? She could feel something amiss, she should have tried to find him. She didn't know how to live without the person who had become her best friend, her confidant, her whole life. Life seemed empty and pointless. Her grief a physical ache. A pain she couldn't assuage.

She had made her brothers give her the full details of Dak's death, and she had nightmares of him being attached by a horrible beast. She tried to help him, but she could not run. Her feet rooted to the ground unable to move, her sword too heavy to lift and her quiver empty. She could do nothing to stop the hideous black beast and save her beloved Dak. She would wake with a cry, covered in sweat.

She had no wish to go on.

She didn't eat and lost so much weight Anna, her midwife, grew gravely concerned.

"Nyla you must eat for the baby," she implored the grieving young widow.

"I am trying Anna," she assured her, but Anna still worried.

"You must eat to have strength to have the baby. You could die at the birthing if you do not."

Nyla knew Anna spoke the truth, and she forced down some stew each day.

One mid-day there was a knock at her door and she opened it to find the tiny rector, who had married she and Dak, and his wife. They brought bread and a savory rabbit stew, their arms full of other provision the townspeople had given them for her.

Nyla, greatly touched that the townspeople would think of her and show this kindness, invited the rector and his wife to sup with her. Anna dished up the stew and warmed the bread, and as they ate the rector, who was called Father Bart, spoke of Dak.

"He was a good man and I'm heartily sorry for his death. He often stop by the chapel and always left coins in the coffers."

Nyla had never heard that he stopped often to talk with the rector.

"He believed in God and we had many rousing talks about it. He asked me to look after you when he was not here. I often walked by your cottage just to see how you were faring."

"You should have come inside. I would have welcomed you."

"You are looking so thin, Nyla," said the tiny wife named Fiona. "You are not eating?"

"She is not eating," said Anne. "I am beside myself with worry."

The rector took Nyla's hand. "Dak would not want you to grieve so. It is natural, but you have a child to think of. You must remember that a part of Dak lives on inside you."

After Father Bart and Fiona had departed, Nyla thought about all he had said. She had no idea Dak had such convictions about God. Why hadn't he told her about it? Did he fear she would reject such talk? She had much to ponder. The rector had given Nyla hope and determination. A part of Dak lived on inside her and she would do all she could to ensure this baby thrived.

She began to eat. She gained weight and lost the hollow look around her eyes, much to Anna's relief.

She gained strength and began to concentrate on her child. If a son, she would teach him how to be a Wahaland warrior, to hunt with bow and fight with a sword. But he would never really be a Wahalander. It would be better if she had a girl, even then... She turned away from such thoughts and busied herself making clothes and wraps from Dak's clothing. Her baby would start life with it's father's scent.

The days turned warm, it was late into spring and Nyla's garden was growing well. Wild flower seeds had found their way into the soil that surround her crops and they were in full bloom. It was a lovely sight. While pulling weeds and removing stones from the garden bed Nyla felt the first labor pains. She bent forward and waited for it to pass.

Anna, working beside her put an arm around Nyla. "It has begun," she said as she helped Nyla into the cottage.

She got Nyla settled in bed, then started a fire. She ran to draw fresh water from the nearby spring. She would put a hanging pot over the fire to warm the water when the time was right.

As the hours wore on the pains became stronger and more frequent. Nyla soaked in sweat, gripped the bed covering as the pains tore at her body.

"Why won't it come?" she cried.

"Patience girl, it will come when it should. This is normal. It won't be long now." She checked Nyla. "I see the top of his head. Push girl!"

Three hard pushes and her son was born.

"A boy! See, he was ready to come into this world. It is over now, rest."

"Let me see him."

Anna raised the squalling baby, red faced, fists batting the air.

"What will he be called?" she asked.

"Joshua, Joshua Dak," answered Nyla. Dak had chosen the name many months ago. He said he had heard it once and though not a Wahaland name, he liked it. It was a warrior's name.

"He is a find boy. I will clean him, then give him to you."

Anna tested the water to make sure it wasn't too hot, then used a soft buckskin cloth to clean the baby. She reached into her midwife's bag for bear grease to rub on his little body to keep his body heat in and his skin soft. She wrapped him in a rabbit fur blanket and handed Joshua to Nyla.

As she gazed into the face of her newborn son, Nyla saw Dak, his features so like his father. He had ceased his crying and grown still as she held him. The baby opened his eyes and she was startled to see violet eyes looking back at her beneath long tawny lashes, her eyes. He was so beautiful and her love for him made her ache. She held him close and they both slept, exhausted from their labor.

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The huge black dragon felt a stirring at her belly. Her eggs were hatching. One by one tiny replicas of herself emerged from broken shells. Three males and a female. One egg lay unbroken. It moved but no shell tooth emerged to show the life inside was trying to get out.

The mother smelled and moved the egg with her nose. It fell on its side and rolled out of the nest to the cave floor. It moved, then a tiny claw could be seen as a large crack appeared in the shell. The mother put her head close to the egg and watched eagerly.

Finally a head emerged, much smaller then the rest of her brood, and not the same in color. A blue head with bright green eyes starred back at the startled mother. She reared back and roared. She brought her clawed foot down and pushed the offending creature from the cave.

It cried pitifully on the ledge below, but the mother paid it no heed. She tended to her brood, cleaning off egg shell and watched as they caught lizards and bugs to snack on. Her red eyes glowed.