Daughter of Azeroth

36 | I'LL FIND YOU IN THE NETHER

**This chapter contains mature content **

The dark days and nights passed endlessly, one blending into the other, a relentless world of black enclosing them in its womb. The only way to tell the difference between day and night was by sound. At night, all was quiet aboard the ship. During the day, bellows and shouts ricocheted within the cavern's walls, accompanied by the clang of metal and the thud of sledgehammers as the crew and VanCleef's men worked to finish the last adjustments to the ships weaponry.

Myra remained in the sitting room, sleeping, drinking wine and drifting back and forth from the open window, keeping her vigil. She spoke softly to herself now and again, nonsense words that had no meaning to anyone but her. Idira ate her evening meals with VanCleef in a constant state of dread, encouraging Vanessa to talk so Myra might not speak out and say something which would damn them all.

One evening over dinner, Vanessa was telling her father about a story Idira had read to her about a man who had caught a golden fish and was granted three wishes only to lose everything in the end and have less than what he had started out with when Myra dropped her cutlery onto her plate and screamed, crying out in agony. She slid from her chair onto the floor, doubled over, clutching at her torso.

'The baby!' she panted, scrabbling at the material between her legs, pushing her fists into her crotch as though she could force it stay inside her. 'Save my baby!'

A dark stain blossomed out through the material of her gown, spreading fast. Blood. Idira licked her lips, fighting her rising panic. It was all over now. VanCleef would kill them both.

VanCleef bolted over to Myra and collected her up, shouting for the ship's doctor as he carried her into their room. Not knowing what else to do, Idira followed after them, watching as VanCleef pulled her gown up, the blood soaking through her loose undergarments, spilling out onto the blankets. VanCleef held her, and reassured her, saying he didn't know they were going to have another baby and why didn't she tell him, going on about how much he loved her and how everything would be all right. Myra screamed and began to strain, pushing herself up so her back pressed against the wall. She grabbed hold of VanCleef's forearm and bore down, her feet braced against the sides of the bed frame.

'No!' she screamed, even as her body forced her to deliver, giving birth to her unformed child. 'NO!' she sobbed as something bloody and shaped like a little bag slid out past her sodden undergarments and onto the bed. She looked at it in horror and wailed, still clinging to VanCleef's arm. 'Benny! Our baby!'

VanCleef pulled himself free, shoving her away from him. He stood over her, staring at her, quivering. 'You are mistaken,' he said, his words hard and jagged. 'You meant to say my name. That was our baby.'

Myra shook her head, sobbing. 'No . . . '

VanCleef hit her then, so hard she tumbled off the bed and slammed against the wall. Idira backed away and ran up the ladder, crying out for Unambi, tripping on the hem of her dress in her hurry to put distance between herself and VanCleef. Unambi came to her from out of the dark, his yellow eyes gleaming in the torchlight.

'Unambi be here,' he said, his voice warm and reassuring, calming her. 'Hush now, don' ya be frettin', Unambi be here.' He pulled her into his arms, and together they listened to Myra's hysterical weeping, and the sound of VanCleef's booted feet pacing the narrow confines of the sitting room. The ship's doctor arrived, after a few minutes he returned holding something small and round in a bloody towel. He went to the side of the ship and threw it overboard, it landed in the water with a quiet splash. Idira waited until he went back down before running to the ship's side. She caught the last of the towel's material slipping under the water's inky surface. The water rippled, a creature, long and sinuous broke the water's surface, sliding down after the fetus. Idira choked, sickened by the thought of a little baby being thrown to the monsters in the dark waters below, its tiny body torn apart by the creature's razor-sharp teeth. Clenching the railing, she closed her eyes and willed herself to wake up, begging, praying, imploring the Light to make her nightmare end.