A War Of Traitors( ARTK, Book 2)

Chapter 28

Ferdrar 1st, 3329 A.G

  The bleeding had begun like any other. Nara's had been regular for enough months, but she'd been so absorbed with other things that she hadn't noticed it's absence for at least two. Then there was cramping.

  That too, was not out of the ordinary for her. A few times in her life the cramping had been so bad that she kneeled over in pain- only to force herself to get up and continue on with her day. She did not believe the bleeding would be any different that day.

  But it was.

  She'd gone back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night to deal with it- and when she woke up a second time she found that she'd bled through her breeches and soaked two thick furs. She'd immediately jumped up- thinking of how to deal with it.

Then, when she pulled her breeches down- she froze.

The clot she saw was no ordinary one. It was larger than the usual- and appeared to be a clot with a slightly longer clot attached to another one.

  Nara was not an idiot. She'd grown up with many woman servants, seen them go from with child to....not. "No no no no...."

  It could not happen to her, could not become a regular thing. If she was unable to have children- what would become of her empire?

  She pictured- if she died first, an old Renard marrying again and making another heir just before his death. She could declare one in the case that she never had a blood child- but what would the point be?

  No- she told herself. I cannot think like this. I am still young. This happens to many women. There is still time.

  Nara took a deep breath. She could not let herself feel either, as she was close enough to breaking as it was. Instead she buried the clot underneath her tent's dirt floor, then set about piling affected furs and her breeches in a corner for those on washing duty to deal with. She would have them put in a pile of clothing belonging to the women of Snowbush- and no one would question it.

  She grabbed two of the extra cloths meant for her women's blood from a sack- along with another pair of breeches and the men's braies she preferred over a chemise. The layers would provide enough protection to make her comfortable not checking again for another hour or two.

  "My queen?" Ysmen suddenly said, standing just outside of Nara's tent. Nara hadn't even heard her approach. "Forgive me for disturbing you so early, but the Snowbush messengers are back. They said they've rode nine days and nights without sleeping once and only stopped four times to let the horses rest. I believe them-  Andruche's horse collapsed as we were talking and they've refused to say what happened until they can talk to you."

  Nara grunted as another cramp hit her- but welcomed the distraction. If she was in front of her people, she'd be forced to ignore her own feelings if only for a moment- and she needed that more than anything. And so she pulled her breeches up, joining Ysmen outside. Nara had made Renard have a separate tent set up days ago so they'd each have somewhere for solitude- but he'd been up for hours and his tent had been closer to her, so Ysmen had gone to him first. He stood beside her then-  the sinking feeling growing in each of their stomachs as they walked closer and closer to the temporary stable structure.

  The women of Snowbush had already gathered around where Andruche and Federyck had stopped- one had begun to tend to Federyck's horse so he could rest, and Andruche had bent down next to his dead mare.

When Nara, Renard and Ysmen easily pushed through the crowd- it became apparent to the former that the latter had not lied.

  Nara had never seen eye bags so large or eyes so sanguine before- or a living horse that looked so exhausted. She turned to Federyck then, giving Andruche enough room to grieve his horse.

  "What.... What has happened?" She asked, though both of their faces said it all.

  Federyck gulped, gesturing to the wagons behind them. "We took two of their wagons and... brought back as much of their food as we could."

A few of the women around them began to understand then too, and the way they acted let others know. Nara gave Federyck a look that demanded he continue.

  "They'd all been slaughtered. Similar to here.... there was not one survivor. We believe Snowbush was where the Vorynese ships docked." Federyck reached behind him to his wagon and pulled out a heavier bag. "We found a few coin stockpiles and their whaleskin coats, so we brought those as well."

  Because they won't be needing them anymore- Nara read in his eyes.

  "Thank you, Federyck." She said, turning to Ysmen. "Will you see that they are given the rest and hot meals they deserve?"

  Ysmen nodded and followed the order without protest. It took moments to get Andruche off the floor and away from his dead horse, but he stumbled from the sleep deprivation and constantly riding as he stood.

  The crying had begun- as well as another round of pain in Nara's lower stomach. A week ago she would have at least tried to comfort the women with words and sworn to kill the people who slaughtered their families- but she no longer had the vigor.

  And so as she walked away with a numbness on her face, some things went unsaid.

  Renard frowned. It was not like her to walk away from her people- and so he followed her. Then, halfway to her tent- she kneeled over and clutched her lower stomach as a particularly bad round hit her. In a few quick strides, he forced himself to catch up to her. "Good gods are you alright-"

  He'd instinctively placed a hand on her back as he asked, but she pulled away immediately. Something was wrong. She'd done so before, but never so strongly.

  When she wouldn't talk to him either- he walked around to make her look at him. "What else has happened?"

  When the wave of pain passed, she ignored and walked around him. He sighed and continued to follow her until they were alone; away from curious eyes.

Still- in  the tent, she wouldn't talk to him.

  "Nara! I know I am not your closest friend in the world- but I also know that you do not hate me and no matter the reason we are married. So why won't you talk to-"

  "Because our child is dead!" Nara finally broke, the scream loud enough that anyone close could have heard. "And I.... did not know I was with child so I can't mourn this normally and... a dead babe isn't...something that's easy to talk about.Thousands of my people are dead and now our child-"

  It was Renard's turn to try not to cry then, or it should have been- but seeing tears stream down the face of Nara Ashhand broke him too. She hadn't cried once in the months they'd known each other... and now that had changed.

  So when he opened his arms- she did not hesitate to accept them.

  And as he cried over her shoulder- she screamed into his chest.