Freyja's Fire - Chapter 12 - A'mara Books

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(Edited)

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Previously...

12

(Tharnday, cont.)

Alongside the Road

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Wearing only a thick towel between her legs to soak up the blood, Rachel felt very weak as Breyind helped her back to the carriage. Sister Klara held the newborn, washed and wrapped in a warm blanket, his cord tied and dripped with iodine to keep it clean. He was screaming, looking for his first full meal. The little snack he had had while Rachel awaited the contractions to expel the afterbirth was clearly nowhere near enough for this bonny baby boy!

When she and Breyind reached the carriage, it was clear everything had changed in the hours she had been in labor with the large baby.

Katja had got the children to help with the redecoration. Most of it was now a bed, so Rachel could lay most comfortably for her recovery.

Breyind helped her lay down, her tummy very sore from its labour. She positioned Herne at her breast where he chomped down voraciously, eager to get the sweet colostrum from her, full of antibodies to help him get the best start in Velantia.

Breyind snuggled against her, clothes and all, his arm over her, stroking the baby as he nursed.

Bridget crowded in behind Herne. She rested her rosy cheek against the shock of reddish-brown hair on the head of the babe.

“Awww,” Bridget uttered as she gave her new brother her love.

Rachel’s heart filled with love as it had never filled before.

“He’s perfect,” Breyind said softly, clearly in awe.

“Yes,” Rachel said, her eyes filling with tears of overwhelming happiness. “You have given me so much, Breyind!” she whispered.

“Only as much as you’ve given me,” he replied. “I’m pleased to give you the love you didn’t have in the Other World.” He kissed her ear and her cheek. Rachel turned to meet his kisses with her lips.

Katja sat in the carriage with Aron. Marie sat nearby with Emma and Sirius. Ewan sat up in the front with the man driving the horses. Sister Klara joined them shortly before they set off again.

“How long until we get there?” Rachel asked.

“A few hours yet,” Sister Klara replied. “Get some rest, if you can. You’ve done your work for awhile.”

Erion Sands

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Kolt drifted through the darkened clouds above the tents. He enjoyed his freedom – not just from his clothing, but from his very skin.

<Don’t get too used to this,> a voice warned.

<I will as long as I can, Çtara,> he replied, looking at the beautiful bronze-haired goddess.

<You have not died – nor will you just yet. Your work is not yet done.>

The goddess smiled at Kolt before continuing. Her mouth did not move, but the words echoed through his body. <The woman who attends you – she is about to volunteer for a perilous mission – to save lives. But she is ill-prepared to survive the wild. She needs you.>

<Few are as prepared as I… but women tend to be scared off by my… wildness.> Kolt was well aware that his need to be without clothing was often a barrier.

<The right woman will not be afraid of you – but will love you for who you are.>

<Is that woman the one who attends me?>

<Spoilers… Kolt, you will know in here.> The goddess touched the skin over his heart. The touch seemed to send a jolt right through him.

<The secret of the dragonstone has been discovered…,> another voice added.

<Yes, Brighid, I think you are right.>

<They require one more test…,> yet another voice said. <I will go down there, personally.>

<As will we all, Freyja. This is, indeed, a special moment in their history,> Çtara said. She turned back to Kolt.

Kolt felt himself drifting back into the tent until all at once, he was back into his body, feeling the tender touch of someone holding a warm stone against his chest. He slept.

A beep jerked Adrick out of slumber.

For ease of watching over patients, he had laid out on a makeshift bed in the doctor’s tent. Now, he watched as the doctor answered the radio.

Adrick had seen some of Katja’s strange world when he had accompanied her to meet her unimpressed mother, before they married. Boxes that carried people around her world in isolated, but quick, ways held no appeal to him. But he could see that this radio would be invaluable – especially now when Katja was on her way to the convent of the Sisters of Vasana.

He stopped his mind racing to listen to the doctor’s conversation. He heard Marie’s voice.

“Rachel delivered a large, healthy baby boy this evening – weighing 4 kilograms,” she reported.

“Strapping!” Doc replied.

“Mum and baby are both doing fine. Herne feeds like there’s no tomorrow!”

“At that age, there isn’t!” Deby added, her arm around the doctor’s waist.

“Are you at the convent yet?” Doc asked.

“We just got here,” Marie replied. “The Sisters are wonderful! They’ve got all of us set up nicely already. There’s space if Adrick needs to come – Gemina and Aurelia too.”

“And risk spreading the Plague? I think not.”

“I told the sisters that would be the case.”

“Ask how Katja is,” Adrick said to Doc.

“Adrick wishes to know how his wife is doing.”

“Asleep. But she’s doing very well. She’s been keeping the children out of the way. She has this persuasive way of saying things that’s far beyond queenly.”

Adrick grinned. “Thanks.”

He lay down again and concentrated on getting some sleep. He thought about his cousin, Gemina, asleep against the bed of one of the patients. Sister Naemi had already said that the young woman was very much taken with the man she held the dragonstone against. It reminded him of when Katja first came to Velantia. His dogs had spooked her and she hit her head on a root when she fell. She was unconscious a few days while Adrick spent many hours trying to coax her out of slumber. By the time she awoke, he had been very much in love and determined to win her.

“Vasana help these sailors,” he mumbled. He meant it two-fold. First, Vasana had to save them from death; then she had to prepare them for Gemina and Aurelia!

♥♥♥

NEXT CHAPTER

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Other Chapters of stories about Velantia...

Legends - Creation of the Sacred Trio (Whaleshares) , Sentence of Tharn and Ríosín

Royal Trouble - Chapter 1 - 4631 KV (about 1309 BTCE) - (NSFW story about King Finn II)

Brighid's Blood - Chapter 1 - 4726 KV (about 1213 BTCE) (Whaleshares)

Freyja's Fire - Chapter 1 - 4728 KV (about 1211 BTCE)

Maps and Guides

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Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
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