by
Marc H. Wyman & Chris Bogues
XXVI. The
Rigors of New Life
“Damn
flitters!” the dwarf Cuchúan muttered and tried to swat the tiny,
multicolored creature scurrying over his head.
Maidoyú
barely escaped the dwarf’s good hand, darted first to his right side –
where his arm was still bandaged and unusable -, then rose a yard higher,
out of the reach of dwarven arm plus stone axe.
Cuchúan
grumbled a curse, stared at her as if his glance alone could drop her.
“About time we get out of this jungle and away from these nuisances.”
Marrigan,
Uttar’s companion, said weakly, “They’re pretty.”
“So?”
Cuchúan asked.
“So
leave them alone,” his own companion, Bladdneit, answered as strongly as
she could, lying on the ground along with the other females, on make-shift
blankets of twigs and leaves that they had woven together. “The only
good thing in this tree-gathering, they will –“ Her face contorted in
sudden pain for an instant before she subdued the ache and continued,
“Let our children play with them.”
The
male dwarf opened his mouth for a quick answer, then reconsidered and
resigned himself to glare accusingly at Maidoyú. She hovered above him,
skimmed down a few inches, just within his reach and dearly wished that
she could make more than the tiny, beeping noise of this species, to taunt
Cuchúan the right way.
He
nearly drew his axe, but refrained from this and stomped off to the edge
of the clearing in the jungle. The dwarves had started felling trees the
previous day, when the first of the women – Fenice – had announced
that she could go on no longer. All the females had been in labor for a
while already, but now the pangs had grown so intense that Fenice could do
no more than lie on the ground and ride out the waves of pain from her
womb.
The
males hadn’t questioned the decision much. Cai had wondered how there
could be pain to keep you from walking on, pointing at Cuchúan who
hadn’t allowed a mere broken arm to impede him at all. Myrddin, the wise
dwarf, had silenced him with a few salient words (and then quickly
retreated to Talisana’s side, basking in her satisfaction.)
Maidoyú
had observed all of this from a perch on a twig above them. New
relationships were developing among the dwarves. In the first day the
males had stuck together, as had the females, but now the couples were
starting to separate from the party. Oh, sure, the male dwarves weren’t
forgetting about each other, and when push came to shove, they were liable
to stick together against the females. Or were they? She hadn’t decided
yet. Nor did she quite understand.
Creating
two different genders – among the gods as well as animals and sapients
– had been a whim, as far as she recalled. In the beginning, there was
no meaning at all attached to it. Except for that which Alyssa claimed, to
bring joy.
As
if it had been her who had come up with the idea! She had been involved,
yes, but not alone. Although, Maidoyú giggled inside, she had taken full
advantage of the existence of two genders.
Still,
it had taken millenia before some deity had come up with the thought of
using the two genders for procreation, to increase the numbers of animals
in the mortal world. Even then it had been no more than a technicality.
(And one that had infuriated Alyssa for a while. “Why,” she had asked,
“do you have to lessen the pure enjoyment of this? Connecting it to
multiplying, that is vile!”)
What
Maidoyú was seeing now put more emphasis on the genders than she had
anticipated. There was a difference to being female rather than male. It
wasn’t a question of quality or worth, yet it had irrevocably changed
the dwarves.
Taurkémad
had been right when she complained about her dwarvies no longer
being the same.
It
wasn’t merely the fact of new life coming that had altered them. There
was more. Yet Maidoyú was only starting to understand it – much as the
dwarves below her did.
“When
will the others come back?” Fenice groaned, attempting to breathe easily
but failing most of the time. “My Cai, he should be –“
“They’re
hunting,” Cuchúan muttered, staring into the surrounding trees. A snake
coiled around a branch, watching him with interest. The dwarf snarled,
fingering his axe, hoping for the snake to attack. To his regret the beast
had already learned to stay away from a blade. “They’re gonna be back
soon, I’m sure.” He rolled his eyes, added too low for the women to
hear, “I hope.”
Marrigan
carefully rolled herself to her side, taking her time to arrange her hands
for best comfort. “What is taking ’em so long? The
tree-gathering’s full of creatures…”
“Right,”
Cuchúan agreed with her immediately.
Maidoyú
smiled to herself. The male wanted to be with the others, far away from
the women. He hadn’t complained when Uttar had assigned him to stay with
the females this time, but the expression of his face had spoken volumes.
Another
facet of the new development among the dwarves. The women had grown
moodier in the course of their pregnancy, they had started to ache, and
neither of the males was quite willing to sympathize. Oh, they tried their
best, in their grumpy ways, yet it rarely seemed to suffice.
That
was probably the reason why the three others were taking so long with
their hunt. It wasn’t about picking the tastiest creature of the forest,
it was about staying away from the clearing.
“They’ll
be here soon,” Cuchúan mumbled. Maidoyú suddenly trembled. There was a
tickle inside her, as if – Was he praying? Could it be that the dwarf
remembered the gods at this precarious time?
The
tickle left her as soon as it had begun. She shook her head – and
stopped when she felt her flight troubled by the uncommon motion. Flitters
don’t shake their heads, she reminded herself.
“Cu-“
Bladdneit suddenly yelled. “Come… Here!”
The
male dwarf’s head whirled about, concentrated on his companion. She was
spasming, breathing harsh and labored, her lower body twitching
conspicuously. Fear settled on Cuchúan’s face, he spat on the ground
– then hurried to the side of his companion. The other women stared at
Bladdneit, their expressions mimicking Cuchúan’s in many ways – but
mostly fear that they would soon be in the same pain.
Bladdneit
groaned, her breath quickening, agony showing on her face.
“I’m
here,” Cuchúan muttered, took her hand. “Are you… hurting?”
“You’re
damn right I am!” the female dwarf shouted, loud enough to make
Cuchúan’s head jerk back. Her breath came hard and fast, the spasms in
her lower regions speeding up.
Cuchúan
swallowed. “Now, just think of the creatures we’ve observed, all
right? They just drop their litter and –“
“Shut
up!” Bladdneit cut him off. Her hands shot up, dug into his
shoulders, deep enough to draw blood. “I ain’t no animal!”
No,
she wasn’t. Maidoyú grew nervous, observing from enough. She knew that
the child was ready to be birthed. It was already moving towards its exit
from the womb and entrance into the world of the living, but the pain…
It was so intense, she could feel it reverberate inside her flitter body.
So could the other female dwarves; they started to spasm as well, not as
much as Bladdneit, but sufficiently to make them concentrate on her own
bodies.
“Help
me!” Bladdneit hollered at Cuchúan. The male shrugged, helpless, while
her hands clawed into his flesh. All he could do was ignore the pain and
clasp her hands.
This
was a sapient giving birth. Maidoyú darted aside, towards a twig,
wondering what she should do. If she should do anything. There was no
tickle inside her now, as if from prayer. Nothing. Bladdneit wasn’t
crying out to the gods, she was asking Cuchúan for help.
I
can’t stay outside, Maidoyú realized. For the sake of the
children… and the mothers.
“I
will help,” a strange voice intruded on Cuchúan.
The
dwarf cast off his woman’s arms, drew his axe with his left hand while
he was swiveling about to face the unknown foe. Then he stopped and looked
up.
The
newcomer was twice as tall as he was. Her skin was pink and soft, not as
nice and craggy as a good dwarf’s should be. She was a woman, her shape
revealed that much under the unrefined clothes she wore. Long, black hair,
dark eyes, a nose that at least was jutting out like a cliff. She was
carrying an amphora in one hand, mist rising from the stopper, and a pile
of blankets in the other.
“Get
out!” Cuchúan grumbled.
The
stranger said, “Your women need help. I will give it.”
“We
don’t want any help! Leave before I cut ye down to size!”
Marrigan
interjected, half rising from her lair, “How would ye help?”
Cuchúan
didn’t look away from the intruder, instead raised his axe, ready to
swing it. “Who sent ye, stranger? The gods? We reject ‘em,
listen? Now get on yer way, leave us alone!”
From
her lair, Marrigan repeated her question.
The
stranger looked at her. “I know how to care for the child’s birth. You
are different from animals, and I can help you.”
“Go
away!” Cuchúan cried, pulled his axe back. “An’ tell yer gods we
don’t want ‘em.”
The
stranger directed her dark eyes at him, and for a tiny moment Cuchúan’s
ferocity wavered. The eyes were so warm and comforting, like dark caves.
“Reject the gods all you want. They do not reject you. Let me help.”
“Let
her, damn you!” Bladdneit cried from behind.
No!
Cuchúan thought. This stranger was sent by the gods, and the gods had
denied hope to the dwarves. He would not permit himself to fall for that
same trap again. That was why he left the cave, why he departed from the
cool, pleasant confines and the myriad of works he and his fellow dwarves
had created.
“Lower
your axe,” the stranger said and put her hand on the blade. It didn’t
cut her. “So your woman and your child may live.”
He
didn’t want to. They were dwarves, they needed no help.
The
stranger gently pushed his axe down. Why didn’t he keep it up? Why
didn’t he swing it? See how her body was cleaved by the blade, and her
voice silenced?
Bladdneit
cried behind him. No words, just a sound of pain and fury.
“Let
me help,” the stranger repeated.
Cuchúan
grunted, then stepped jerkily aside. “My axe is ready, stranger. One
false word, and ye’ll feel its blade!”
“I
know,” the tall woman responded gently as she walked by him towards
Bladdneit.
Maidoyú
was quite aware of the male dwarf’s suspicious glances when she knelt
down next to Bladdneit and spread the first blanket next to her, readying
a second to clean the woman and child, drenching it with hot water from
the amphora.
“Are
ye a goddess?” the female dwarf asked in a low voice, as much as her
pain permitted her.
Maidoyú
busied herself for a moment with her tasks, then looked straight at her.
“Breathe regularly. Feel the contractions in your body, and let the
rhythm control your breathing.”
“Are
ye?!” she challenged her.
The
goddess smiled. “I am the one who helps you give birth to the first new
dwarf. That is all you need to know.” She paused, looked inside the
dwarf’s belly at the baby. “Now push!”
The
time for questions was past. Bladdneit realized that as soon as she heard
the order, and the female dwarf lost herself in the rigors of childbirth.
Maidoyú
herself would later wonder about this moment, how little of it she
recalled. If she would concentrate, she would be able to remember every
instant, being a deity, after all. Yet there was a special kind of magic
to it – so much unlike the ordinary wizardry – that she would always
prefer the misty recall.
Through
the nebulous veil she would remember Bladdneit’s screams, her efforts,
how her face darkened with the strain, how her body contorted. And then
the head appeared between her legs, along with blood, the baby’s gray
skin covered by slimy substance. Bladdneit pushed harder, screamed louder.
Aside,
Cuchúan raised his axe, afraid that his woman was being hurt. Yet he
would not strike down on Maidoyú. Perhaps he knew that she was indeed
helping. Perhaps he was too shocked by the sight of a tiny dwarf exiting
from his woman. Perhaps he was aware that this dwarfling was his child.
“A
little more! Just a little more!” Maidoyú remembered speaking the
words, and she remembered how the baby was finally free from Bladdneit,
how she grasped it firmly, pulled it a bit away, how the umbilical cord
trailed from the infant, and how Bladdneit spasmed again, this time in
relief.
Holding
the child with one hand, she picked the moist, steaming blanket to clean
the slime off the child, spanking it to start its breathing. The infant
coughed alive, its eyes flashed open. They were brown. And the child…
was a girl. A new girl dwarf.
Her
memory grew less hazy at this point when she reached out one hand and
asked Cuchúan to hand her his axe. She was surprised to feel the
weapon’s shaft in her fingers momentarily, without a question, without a
doubt. Maidoyú raised the axe, brought it down between Bladdneit’s
legs, cleanly severing the umbilical. It snapped off – enough for the
moment.
“Your
daughter, Cuchúan,” she said and finally looked at the male dwarf. His
gray face was as immobile as a rock, but his eyes were alight with fire
watching the child on Maidoyú’s arm. The babe cried. The goddess
smiled, then handed it to the mother. Bladdneit gingerly took the infant,
unsure how to hold her. Maidoyú softly whispered instructions to her,
corrected the position of the hands, and enjoyed the smile of joy on
Bladdneit’s face.
“She
is the first of your new race,” Maidoyú said. “Honor her for that.”
“We…
will,” Cuchúan muttered, his voice without any inflection. He sank to
his knees, a smile starting to embed itself on his stony lips, and he
reached out carefully to touch his daughter’s cheek.
Maidoyú
rose to her feet, nodded to the other three females. “I will stay with
you when your times come. Learn from what I do, and pass it on to your
children and your children’s children. I will always be there for
you.”
The
women didn’t respond at once. Too taken were they with the sight of the
newborn, and the realization that soon one just like the girl would come
from their own wombs.
Finally,
Marrigan looked up. “If ye’re a goddess, stranger, it don’t mean we
worship ye. We’ve made our choice.”
“Which
I respect,” Maidoyú nodded. “It doesn’t matter, though. I will be
there for the mothers and the children.”
Marrigan
squinted. “Then ye are a goddess. What’s yer name?”
“I
am the one who helps. That is all.”
“Yes!”
Marrigan screamed, her hands clawing around her belly. “Then start helping!”
Maidoyú
couldn’t help but smile when she shifted position over to Marrigan and
to help her deliver her child. (A son, in fact. She had checked inside the
womb.) A new race had come.
And
Maidoyú had become a new kind of goddess. A happy and satisfied one.
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