Souja

Chapter 1-Prologue

Leave Her Johnny Leave Her

Chapter 1

"Agnes! Agnes! We need you!" Lady Isolade Ambergreen practically shrieked as she banged on the door to Agnes' house in the back of her apothecary that was closed because it was Sunday and everyone usually went to their temple of choice on Sundays. But it was early still, a whole two hours before services would start.

"I'm here, I'm here," Agnes said as she opened the door, only half dressed but to see Isolade's daughter Merideth being pulled from the carriage who looked half dead, crumpled up in pain in her father's arms- she immediately understood the urgency of the visit as Agnes quickly ushered them inside.

"What happened?" Agnes asked as Merideth was put onto the cot as Merideth slowly uncurled herself.

"She was trying to get a morning ride in before service. She was thrown but kicked in the gut before she hit the ground." Isolade wept as she and her husband stood aside helplessly as Agnes was grabbing all kinds of things off her shelves and putting them rather haphazardly onto the table next to the cot.

"The marriage to the Whiteales is in only four months! What are we to do if she dies?" Lord Collin Ambergreen lamented.

"She's not dead yet, don't be digging her grave before she's cold enough to go into it." Agnes firmly resolved before she noticed blood under Merideth's bottom from where she was sitting before she laid Merideth down on her back, still clutching her middle.

"Shit." Agnes cursed before she rather unceremoniously checked under Merideth's skirts and had to move Merideth's undergarments out of the way to find the source of the bleeding because she was bleeding profusely and her undergarments were already being soaked in blood and she needed to find which whole she was bleeding from and to see her bleeding from her vagina, she knew exactly what was happening.

"She's hemorrhaging. She's losing her womb." Agnes realized as she did all she could to stop the bleeding.

"No, no, no, no! Agnes, I beg you, charge us whatever you have to, use whatever arts you must- to save her and Merideth's womb. We're done for if she's lost, we'll give anything and everything we have!" Isolade desperately pleaded.

"Send a man to the Souja's. The Souja's have a daughter who can help." Agnes answered before Collin nodded and left Agnes' house and sent his carriage to the Souja's farmhouse to get the whole family before he immediately came back inside.

"What's the plan?" Isolade asked anxiously as she and Collin waited for their man to come back as Agnes had already packed the area with cloths to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

"A trade for a miracle. Nora Souja, my adopted granddaughter. She confided in me that she has no wish to marry or have children. Even though the Lass seems custom made by the creators to do just that. But her parents wish to build a tavern and Nora has the makings to be one of the finest cooks in Dale. If you two can tempt Nora to give up her womb and a measure of her health to Merideth. So that Merideth can recover and then once she recovers, she can bear the Whiteales at least an heir and a spare, Merideth can be saved. Nora looks enough like the Whiteales that any child Merideth would carry and birth wouldn't look suspicious to anyone so that it would be doubtful that Merideth was not the mother. I know the fate of Dale rests on Merideth's wedding to the Young Lord Richard Whiteale. Nora is 17, her womb is ready to mature, and if Nora will be induced to do the trade, Meredith will most likely conceive a male heir on her wedding night. But we have to give Nora and more importantly the Souja's enough incentive to make it worth their while." Agnes told them as she readied her supplies to get her soul forge ready for the trade since she was both medicine woman and witch and she needed the soul forge for this to work.