Chapter Twelve
“I’m so sorry that I missed that,” Ciyrs said in his mind, transmitting the message to Elianna in his thoughts.
His mate was on the ship with the others while he had taken the vehicle that Oro and Jonah had brought from Uoria so that he would be able to take care of the wounded and the pregnant women during the journey. The strange car was traveling far more quickly than he had anticipated it moving, and they found themselves ahead of even the large transport vessel from the University. Being away from Elianna during this journey was difficult for him even though it was only for a few hours. He hated that they weren’t near each other and that he had no idea what she was going through. Now she was communicating with him through their thoughts, giving him a harsh reminder that she was far away from him and that if something did happen, he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
“It was so beautiful,” Elianna said. “It was so unexpected. We got onboard and I think we all just kind of expected that we were going to spend the next few hours getting some sleep. At least the rest of them were, I knew that I was going to have to be in the infirmary with the injured.”
“The injured?” Ciyrs asked.
He didn’t know what she was talking about. The whole reason that they were in separate vehicles was that Pyra decided the most wounded and the pregnant women should travel in the faster vehicle with Oro and Ciyrs rather than trying to make it all the way to the transportation bay to travel in the larger ship. He knew that she was going to be offering support to those who were in better condition, but he hadn’t thought that any of them were bad enough off that she would need to be in the infirmary throughout the entire journey. The thought made him uncomfortable, as though he was failing even further in his responsibilities.
“Pyra brought the hybrid survivors from the battle.”
“What battle?”
“We encountered the hybrids and the Valdicians,” she said. “There were injuries and we saw them dragging away some of the hybrids. All we could think was that they would be put through the same things as the ones that we rescued from the breeding facilities. They brought them to the ship and I’ve been working on healing them.”
Ciyrs drew in a breath and reached into his bag for one of the bottles of water that he had brought with him from the emergency chambers. He longed for a sip of something cold after days of the warm, still water from the basement. He shook his head, needing to get the thoughts of the wounded who were now on the ship out of his mind. There was nothing that he could do about it right now and he had to trust in his mate that she would be able to use the skills that he had given her through his first healing with her and the methods that he had taught her to stabilize and heal them as well as possible until he could get there to help her.
“Why did he do the tying ceremony on the ship?” he asked, trying to redirect the conversation back to the ceremony between Loralia and Bannack that Elianna had contacted him to describe. “I know he had mentioned something about a tying ceremony when he first met her, but I thought that they would wait until they were back on Uoria to do something like that.”
“I think that’s what she thought, too, but something changed his mind. I was in the infirmary and Samira came in and told me that I should take a break and have a bath.”
Ciyrs laughed, then glanced nervously at the women who had finally fallen asleep across the furthest back section of the vehicle. He didn’t want to disrupt their rest, assuming that it had been a long time since any of them had really been able to sleep deeply, knowing that they were secure and safe.
“That sounds pretty amazing right now,” he said.
The sound of Elianna’s laugh in his mind was refreshing and brought a bigger smile to Ciyrs’s lips.
“I have to admit that it didn’t take a lot of convincing. I felt bad leaving the wounded just so I could take a bath, but they were resting and I knew that there wasn’t much more than I could do for them in that moment.”
“It’s alright,” Ciyrs told her. “You can’t always think of others. Sometimes you have to think about what you need, too. You can’t be a good healer if you don’t. Did you enjoy your bath?”
“More than I think I have ever enjoyed a bath in my life,” she said, then paused. “Well, no.” She paused again and Ciyrs felt like he knew what she was thinking about in those moments of hesitation. “The first bath that I took after getting out of the Covra prison. That was the best bath of my life.”
“I bet it was,” Ciyrs said, wishing that he could rid himself of the thoughts of that dark, horrific time that lingered in his mind.
“Anyway,” Elianna said, obviously wanting to get away from the thoughts just as he did. “After I took the bath, Eden brought me some of the clothes that I had with me for the wedding and told me to put them on. I don’t know what I was expecting, but somehow I just couldn’t imagine that they were going to bring me to one of the lounges and Loralia and Bannack would surprise us all with their tying ceremony.”
Ciyrs laughed again, but he felt a tug of pain in his chest. He knew that that ceremony was one of the most important events in Bannack’s life, and he hated to have missed it.
“I really do wish that I had been able to be there to see it,” Ciyrs said. “I know that was really important to both of them.”
“I know,” Elianna said. “And I’m sure that they were sad that all of us couldn’t be together, but it was something that they felt like they needed to do. It was amazing to see Azrael officiate for them. I know how hard it was for Loralia when she first found out who he was, but it’s obvious how much he loves her, and she seems to be really growing close to him.”
“That’s wonderful,” Ciyrs said.
Suddenly he heard a small gasp behind him. He turned and saw that one of the human women was writhing in her sleep, her face contorted slightly as if she were either afraid or in pain.
“What is it?” Elianna asked, recognizing that his thoughts had turned away from the conversation that they were having.
“One of the women,” Ciyrs said. “She’s restless.”
“I hate to think of what they’re going through,” Elianna said. “After everything that they’ve already suffered, they shouldn’t be traveling like this, and they definitely shouldn’t be going somewhere like Penthos.”
“I know,” Ciyrs said, “but I understand why they wanted to come with us. Would you want to stay in the facility where Ryan kept them? I know that some of them chose to remain there with Jonah, but if it was me, I would want to be as far away from all of that that I could possibly get. I would always be afraid that Ryan would come back and that I wouldn’t be able to get away.”
“But you know that it is very possible that Ryan will show up on Penthos with the rest of the hybrid army. We could be bringing them right to the most dangerous place they could be.”
“No,” Ciyrs said. “Even if he does come to Penthos, they won’t be alone. They’ll be with us, and we’ll protect them. I just don’t know what will happen to them from there.”
“I don’t either,” Elianna said.
He was about to respond when the healer heard the human woman let out a sharper, louder cry. He turned to look at her and saw that she was now sitting part of the way up, her eyes open and wide as she clutched at her belly. She took a gasping breath and looked up at him frantically.
“What’s wrong?” Ciyrs asked the woman, speaking out loud now as he leaned across the seat where he sat to get closer to her.
“It hurts,” the woman gasped.
“What’s going on, Ciyrs?” Oro asked from the front of the vehicle where he was piloting. “Is everything alright?”
The woman groaned loudly and another of them woke beside her.
“Astrid,” the second woman said. “What is it?”
“It hurts,” Astrid said again.
“What hurts?”
“My belly,” Astrid answered. “It really hurts.”
“You can’t be in labor,” the other woman said. “You still have more than a month to go.”
“What’s your name?” Ciyrs asked.
The woman looked at him briefly before turning her attention back to Astrid.
“Zadie,” she said.
“What’s happening?” Ciyrs asked.
Astrid curled around herself, crying out again and wrapping her arms around her belly tightly.
“She seems to be having contractions,” Zadie said. “But she shouldn’t be.”
“Why?” Ciyrs asked.
“What’s wrong?” Elianna asked in his mind.
“One of the women may be in labor, but another said that she shouldn’t be.”
“Is something wrong with her?” Elianna asked.
Ciyrs repeated the question to Zadie, who was now pressing her hand to Astrid’s forehead. By now the other woman were starting to rouse and Ciyrs felt like he was losing control of the situation.
“It’s too early,” Zadie repeated. “She still has weeks to go before she should be delivering.”
Ciyrs relayed the information to Elianna.
“How do they know?” Elianna asked. “She is carrying a hybrid baby.”
Ciyrs repeated this to Zadie, who looked at him sharply.
“Do you honestly believe that Ryan left anything up to fate?” she asked angrily. “He knew every detail of everything that he did. We weren’t people to him, we were living machines. He followed the development of our babies from the moment that they were conceived and knew with almost perfect accuracy when they would be born. Astrid shouldn’t be ready to give birth now.”
“I can’t stop it,” Astrid gasped.
“You’ll have to deliver the baby,” Elianna said.
“I’ve never delivered a human baby,” Ciyrs said. “I’ve only been present for one birth, and I didn’t manage it. I’m going to need your help.”
Zadie looked at the other women.
“You need to stay calm and give us as much room as you can,” she commanded. “If you can, get into the seats further up. Astrid needs space.”
Ciyrs helped two of the women climb over the seat to sit in front of him and then climbed over into the back section where Astrid lay. She was soaked in sweat now and tears had pooled under her eyes. She gasped again, her back arching with the shock of the contraction, and Zadie reached to guide her back down.
“You need to try to relax,” she said. “We can’t stop the contractions now. The baby is coming and you have to help it.”
“I can’t,” Astrid said in a tremulous voice. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” Ciyrs told her. “You are ready for this.”
Astrid’s eyes opened and she looked into his with an insistence that chilled his blood.
“Please,” she said.
It was the only word she said, but he knew that it carried with it far more meaning than the single syllable implied. Her fingers had weakly gathered her skirt up her thighs and over her knees, and when he looked down he saw blood spreading across the blanket beneath her. Suddenly her hands fell away from her legs and he saw her eyes roll back in her head.
“What’s happening?” Elianna asked. “Ciyrs, what’s happening?”
“She’s bleeding,” he said. “She’s not responsive.”
“You have to get the baby out,” Elianna said. “Now.”
The urgency in Elianna’s voice jolted Ciyrs into action. He pushed her dress the rest of the way up Astrid’s legs and pressed on her belly, allowing Elianna’s voice in his mind guide him through urging the baby out of the woman. Zadie cradled Astrid’s head in her lap, stroking the sides of her face as she spoke softly to her. Ciyrs worked as quickly as he could and finally a tiny baby emerged into his hands. He gathered him close to his chest and reached for one of the blankets, draping it over the frail, shivering frame. In his arms, the tiny child let out a weak cry just as Ciyrs looked up and saw the dark outline of a planet building on the horizon.
To be continued…