The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 33

Part 7

“Bah!” Mark said with a shake of his head. “It’s useless and worrisome to even speculate about it. We’ll know eventually. In the meantime, here, have a distraction…”

In less than ten seconds, all three of them were quite distracted indeed.

Three weeks later, after a pregnancy that would have been of about average duration for a human but was short for an elf, Alilia went into labor.

She had felt heavy and lethargic that day, and had slept through most of it. The third hour past midnight found her in the living room, slowly rocking in a rocking chair, sipping tea and lightly drowsing occasionally, unable to truly sleep as the rest of the household slumbered.

She felt her first contraction and smiled, knowing it for what it was. She knew that there was no real use in waking anyone at this stage, and waited for it to pass.

Her next three contractions came about ten minutes apart and lasted about a minute each, and seemed normal.

Her fifth contraction, however, struck her suddenly, and with a power that took her breath away as her entire torso clenched. She knew it shouldn’t be so sudden or so strong, but she wasn’t very concerned yet, initially. But the contraction only got stronger and stronger, long past when it should have ended. By the third minute she was in absolute agony, and would have called for help if she’d had any attention left for it. As the fifth minute approached she felt a bolt of panic as she realized that she was in serious trouble. She hadn’t been able to take a breath for almost two minutes.

Within her, unborn Valentia struggled against the crushing feeling of the abnormal contraction. First it had frustrated her, then angered her, then filled her with a fear that grew constantly along with the increasing pressure. As the baby began feeling serious pain, her sense of magic awoke in her with a rush like an explosion.

In the moment when Alilia tried to call for help psionicly, Valentia struck out against the crushing pressure with Force and Fire. Alilia’s call became a psionic scream that jolted everyone in the settlement wide-awake in an instant.

Mark and Talia Translocated into the room without thinking about it, a second later the twins ran in, and a second after that Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, and Yzell appeared.

They found Alilia screaming and writhing in the rocking chair, and every bit of her prodigious power was being used by her inherent Healing ability. Her hands were clasped on her stomach, which writhed like a wildcat was trying to tear its way out from inside her. Two or three times every second one of the Force bolts erupted through her skin in a spray of blood, or a small Fireball burned its way out from within with a huge puff of stinking smoke, and each time Alilia’s body Healed the wound in a fraction of a second. It was a testament to the power of her maternal instinct that she didn’t strike back at her daughter. Seven small fires were already burning in the room, and it was quickly filling with smoke.

It took all of those arriving a moment to overcome their shock and horror at the scene and decide on action. It was difficult to even think over Alilia’s continuing psionic scream.

“Help me Mark!” Hilsith cried as she Linked with him, and she guided him as he cast spells around the baby that cut her off from the fields of magic power, and vented her spells high in the sky above the house. Then Hilsith began treating Alilia.

Reggie and Helemia Linked with Valentia and did their best to calm the panicked baby girl.

Yazadril extinguished the fires and vented the smoke.

Talia and Nemia did their best to calm and comfort Alilia.

And Yzell Examined the baby while assisting the twins’ effort to calm her by casting a Tranquility on her, then treated her pain and self-inflicted burns, which were already mostly Healed by her own inherent Healing ability. As soon as the baby stopped thrashing and stilled for a fraction of a moment, Yzell delivered her by Translocation.

Fifteen seconds after Alilia started screaming, the crisis was over and her daughter was born. It took a while after that for everyone to get their racing hearts and panicked breathing under control. Hilsith continued to treat Alilia for the next fourteen minutes, as her body was still undergoing abnormal and painful contractions, though her daughter was no longer in her womb.