The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 98

#98 The Diamond People
It was another sharp pain that woke Cassandra up. She frowned and opened her eyes, her hands going unconsciously to her belly. A part of her had to touch it, make sure her baby was still there. She was cold and afraid, but she could feel her belly. However, the first sensation that reassured her was the warm little body curled up against her cheek.
“Hinue! Are you awake?”
Missandra was next to her, holding her hand with a worried expression. Cassandra frowned, confused. It took her a few seconds to remember everything that had happened. She felt like she had slept to profoundly to reconnect with reality as if she had just had a terrible nightmare, where dreams and reality melted…
However, the reality was quick to catch her. She realized it hadn’t been a nightmare, but the only, sad truth, when she saw the unfamiliar surroundings. They were in a common house, with a lot of people moving around. Cassandra, still lying down on some bed, turned her head. A little group was there. Women and men, several adults of all ages, all watching her with worried expressions. Missandra was quick to explain to her. 1
“Apparently, you arrived here about an hour ago, drenched… Those nice people found you and took you here. They changed your clothes, too, and you fell asleep right away. You have a fever, but you are fine. We are safe here for now. I was hiding in the market, but all the inhabitants spread the word that you were looking for me, so I was able to come here a few minutes ago. How are you? Is that… the baby dragon is…”
Cassandra nodded, lifting her hand to caress the little one next to her. With Missandra’s help, she sat up, still feeling tired. So she had slept only an hour? The baby dragon immediately walked to her side, rubbing its head against her hip. Cassandra put a hand on him, caressing the young creature and staring at the people around them.
“You… I don’t understand. I remember someone pulling me here…”
An old woman nodded and stepped forward.
“We heard something was going on in the Diamond Palace, my Lady. We all know here the relationships are bad between the Diamond Lady and the second Prince already. So, when the words was spread that they had come to arrest the War God’s Concubine, we knew something was wrong. We hoped the Diamond Lady could do something, but when my son spotted you, all alone on the City border… We immediately brought you here to hide you.”
“The soldiers are searching for you… I mean for us,” said Missandra. “That crazy Prince is furious you escaped. What happened?”
“The… Waterfall. I escaped through the waterfall.”
“You jumped from that high while pregnant? Are you crazy!”
“Missandra, we don’t have time for that… ugh!”
Cassandra grimaced, holding her stomach. Her contractions were getting more intense. She took deep breaths, while the young women brought her some warm tea.
“The baby dragon being here means you’re into labor?” Asked Missandra, visibly worried. “Cassandra, the soldiers are searching for us everywhere… If they hear a woman giving birth…”
Cassandra nodded. This was the worst possible situation. She had made it out of the Diamond Palace, but the Prince would do everything to find her. He was going to search every house in the Diamond City for sure. Cassandra turned to the old woman.
“Thank you for helping us, but we… We can’t stay. If they find us here, you will be punished too.”
The old woman shook her head.
“Your Highness, we know who we are saving here. You’re the Lady of the Mountain! Do you know how many of our sons have gone to the war in the east? You have no idea how everyone felt here when we heard the Lady of the Mountain and the Diamond Lady were sending those survival kits to the front. Concubines caring about soldiers! We already knew our Diamond Lady was one very strong and brave woman, but to hear that the War God’s Concubine was a healer, and doing what she could for our families?”
“My brother and my husband were summoned to go to war, Your Highness,” added one of the young women behind her. “I’m fearing every day that they won’t return, my Lady, but not being able to do anything was the worst! When we heard what you were doing from the Diamond Palace, everyone started working to send what we could to the front!”
“That’s right,” added another woman. “We prepared packages of food, and started cultivating the same medicinal herbs as you, Your Highness!”
Cassandra was astonished to hear all that. She had no idea so much was going on in the Diamond City recently. She had noticed that people were respecting her a lot when she would go out with Lady Kareen, but she thought that was because of her status as a Concubine, not because of her doings…
The old woman bowed politely.
“Your Highness, there is no one in this city who isn’t ready to protect you. I can tell you that absolutely no one will talk if the soldiers interrogate them. We have our own dignity as the Diamond citizens. You have worked hard to help our sons sent to war, Your Highness. Now let us help you.”
Cassandra was on the verge of tears, listening to the old woman’s words. She couldn’t believe it. She had never imagined that the Diamond City’s people were aware of her actions, let alone that they respected her that much. Cassandra knew very well how feared the Imperial Family usually was, but now, she was surprised how she had even made such a strong impression on those people without having ever met them..
Missandra, too, was blushing a bit and exchanged a look with her sister.
“We are very grateful that you are all willing to help us, but… This Prince is really, really crazy. Even if no one talks, he will search everywhere for my sister. Moreover, if she is about to give birth here… Even with the rain, the baby’s cries will be heard outside.”
One of the middle-aged women stepped forward.
“Don’t worry, Lady Missandra, we have already come up with a plan. This is our City, we know where we can hide the young Concubine where they won’t find her, or hear the baby.”
“We wilf also distract them,” added one of the young women. “The word is already spreading to keep the soldiers busy in another part of the City. Our neighbors went to signal a woman in a pink dress fleeing on the other side of the City.”
“We actually did take your dress to make a decoy, Your Highness, I hope you don’t mind…”
Cassandra was speechless. She had slept for a little hour, and so much had happened already? Moreover, they had sent a decoy with her dress! How many risks were those people ready to take for her? She wanted to protest, but another contraction came up, and she had to stay quiet for it to pass.
“Thank you so much,” said Missandra in her stead. “So… Where do you think you can hide my sister…?”
“We are almost done preparing!”
That’s when Cassandra noticed. Aside from the four women, there were two teenagers, twin boys from what she could see, and one older man behind them, getting a whole bunch of things ready on the table. It looked like they were packing all of this up in big bags. There was a bit of food, but mostly blankets and tissues, a couple of bowls and basins, even some baby clothes.
“I will accompany you with my youngest daughter and my niece, your Highness,” said the old woman. “I have been
a midwife for forty years, I can help you give birth safely to the little prince.”
“We will take good care of you,” promised one of the young women behind her.
**The young ones will just help us carry everything and go back to make sure no one follows us.”
“Where are we going?” Asked Missandra.
“You’ll like it, young Lady,” said the old woman with a wink.
Missandra and Cassandra exchanged a look, but after that, there wasn’t much time left to wonder. In a few more minutes, the five women and the young twins, were ready to leave. Cassandra realized how careful they were.
First, in a short time span, there were no less than five young people, from children to teenagers, who came and went to the house to let them know how things were going, where the soldiers and the Dragon were focused on.
Cassandra realized how close all of the inhabitants were all to be working like this. They were sending the young ones from one house to another to relay the information, making sure the information traveled through short distances to not catch someone’s attention. No solider would care about young people running around in their own city. They were so busy interrogating the adults that they didn’t care for the kids rushing in and out. (1)
Hence, they made sure the soldiers were really busy elsewhere and proceeded to move Cassandra and Missandra quickly from one house to another. The two sisters had changed clothes and left behind any piece of jewelry or piece of clothing they were wearing previously, to hide their smell. Even the baby dragon was carefully hidden in a basket, carried by one of the teenage boys as it would have been too heavy for the women, and Cassandra, staying next to it, kept tucking the little blanket around him to hide. The baby Dragon was very curious and kept trying to pop his head or tail out. Cassandra was most scared that he would make a sound or growl. She didn’t know how the red dragon’s hearing was, and even with the rain, everyone was very careful to move around silently until they reached another house.
However, the one Cassandra had found herself in was already very close to the border, and, to her surprise, they were headed right back to the waterfall.
Their little group moved very carefully until they reached the house closest to the waterfall. Then, they left it and went next to the Diamond Palace’s wall. Though, instead of going for the entrance, they were headed completely opposite, towards the forest. They stayed almost against the wall, off-road, everyone checking the sky from time to time with the fear to spot a dragon’s silhouette. Finally, the old woman suddenly turned right, and Missandra was shocked for a second, as it seemed she had disappeared between the rocks. However, it soon appeared that there was an entrance there, to a cave. Missandra was speechless. Only a local could indeed know about this little cave! The Diamond Palace was old, but so were its foundations. Everything had been built on large rocks, and, with the waterfall and the river crossing the Diamond Palace, it appeared that some natural caves had appeared underneath.
Cassandra was astonished. This natural cathedral of stones was gorgeous. After walking for a while, the roof was getting higher and higher above them, and they almost couldn’t hear any more of the rain. Instead, Cassandra realized that they were walking around the actual waterfall. She would have never imagined there was a large cave hidden behind that waterfall! The floor was actually half little lakes, half rocks. It was rather flat, and completely safe for everyone to move around. Hence, when they reached a large area, the young women and teenagers immediately worked together to unpack everything.
“This is incredible…” whispered Cassandra, still in awe of this cavern.
“Isn’t it?” Replied the Old Woman. “No soldier from the Capital would know of this place, we only show our young ones when they are old enough. It’s a secret of the Diamond People. In times of war, people would come and seek. refuge here, many, many years ago, when the Dragon Empire didn’t yet own the land completely. Nowadays it’s just for young ones to bathe in the lakes and lovers to hide.”
Cassandra was indeed amazed. Moreover, the waterfall, a few meters away, would definitely cover any sound better than the rain outside. It was noisy even from where she was.
In front of her, the Diamond People were carefully laying several blankets on the ground, boiling some water with what they had brought, and preparing everything for the birth of her son. Cassandra was overwhelmed with emotions. This was nothing like she could ever have imagined. In her imagination, she would have been in one of the Diamond Palace’s bedroom, with her Prince holding her hand. Now, she was hiding several meters underneath, with complete strangers who were doing all they could to help her and her baby.
Another contraction came, and Cassandra had no choice but to lay down, helped by the young women present. Missandra immediately sat by her side, taking a deep breath.
“Everything will be fine, Hinue,” she whispered. “You and your baby will be blessed by the Water God, giving birth under a waterfall!”
Cassandra chuckled and nodded.
“You know, my baby was conceived during a snowstorm… And now he will be born under a waterfall. Isn’t it amazing?”
The baby dragon suddenly jumped out of the basket with a cute little squeak, catching everyone’s attention around. He looked around, but his little paws were naturally taking him to Cassandra. He walked up to her and curled up by her side. Cassandra caressed him, taking a big breath.
“I’m so sorry their father can’t be there…” She whispered.
Missandra shook her head and grabbed Cassandra’s hand.
“Don’t worry. With this crazy family of yours, I bet your baby will be big enough to kick his own dad’s butt for missing this in no time!”
Cassandra laughed, but just as she did, another contraction came, and she grimaced instead. The teenagers soon left, as they had planned, and they were left with the old woman, her daughter, and her niece, all getting ready to help Cassandra give birth.
“I don’t… even know your names,” said Cassandra, a bit sorry for not asking earlier.
“This old woman is named Chantra, your Highness. Those two young beauties are Elianne, my daughter, and Sunel my niece. Now, let’s take deep breaths and focus on this baby. We have a little Prince to take care of.”