Chapter 4 | Familiar Stranger

    “No, please! Don’t leave me. I feel terrified! I need you here. Our baby needs you here.” I implored him to change his mind.

     His face exuded sadness and helplessness.

     I was lying on a bed, sweaty and squirming in pain. My water broke six hours ago.

     Two women on either side of the bed had my arms restrained. Another sharp contraction racked my body and I felt acutely lightheaded. The pain of not seeing my husband again was a thousand times more excruciating than these incessant contractions. I screamed in agony one more time as the shooting pain got worse.

     “I am so sorry baby!” His voice cracked, “We don’t have much time left. He will be here anytime now.”

     “If he is going to kill us anyway, can we not die together? Please stay with me.” I was shaking with sobs.

    He rushed towards the bed and placed his finger on my lips.

    “Don’t say that! You are not going to die. I still have a few men left. I’ll hold him off as long as I can.”

    I tried to stop him but he talked in rapid succession, giving me instructions.

    “The baby is almost here. Yogi is waiting on the other side of the trapdoor. He will take you to safety. Please listen to me for once.”

    He looked at one of the women who was the midwife and she nodded assuringly. He leaned down to kiss my forehead.

    “Goodbye, Neela.”

    And just like that, he rushed out of the room without looking back. The midwife got up from her seat the next moment, preparing to leave.

    “Where are you going?” The other woman who was sitting close to the bed asked the midwife in a surprised voice. Her name was Maya. I knew somehow.

    The midwife stammered, “I-I am sorry but I have to g-go. I don’t want to d-die today.”

    She looked at me with a guilty face and continued, “Your baby is the heir to this kingdom and a potential threat. He will kill the baby the minute he gets here. Trust me when I say that today would have been the proudest day of my life, helping birth the future king, if things were different. But the kingdom has fallen and most people are either dead or taken prisoners. I hope you can forgive me.”

    Maya pulled out a dagger and stopped the midwife from leaving. I asked her to let her go. I told Maya to leave as well, to run for her life, and not worry about me.

    “I will never leave your side Neela. I will protect you until my last breath, even if death is inevitable for us both.”

    The pain took over and my eyes were soddened with sweat trickling from my forehead.

    “One last push, Neela. Don’t forget what a strong woman you are,” she said with tears escaping her eyes.

    Just when I was about to faint, I heard my baby’s cry. Strong and resonating through the empty palace walls.

    “It’s a girl! And she looks so beautiful.”

    I took my precious little baby into my arms, held her near my heart, and closed my eyes. Her cries felt like music to my ears. Just then, we heard a loud crash downstairs, raucous voices, and footsteps approaching our way.

    My husband must have been killed if he is already here.

    My heart rate sped up.

    Maya hurried to open the trapdoor. With every bit of strength left in me, I got up to escape, with my baby in my arms.

    The door to my chamber flung open and my eyes locked with the man who murdered my husband.

    Face and breastplate blotched with blood.

    Gashes cut in his arms.

    He held a long sword in one hand that dripped his enemy’s blood. His eyes looked very familiar even if this was the first time that I was seeing him. 

    He stood in a frozen state at the doorway; his gaze was fixed on me. Maya shook me back to my senses and I grabbed my dagger. 

    More men followed him and looked menacingly toward us. Maya won’t stop shaking me for some reason. 

    “Allena, wake up!” 

    “ALLENA!” 

    “What?!” I got up from my bed in a daze. 

    It was another crazy dream. It felt so real. The fear, the pain.

    And that man seemed strangely familiar, just like the one on the horse that chased me.   

     "Are you okay? You were moaning in pain." Selma asked with a concerned face. The little girl from Yesterday was also standing next to her.

    "Y-yeah, yes! I am fine. It was just some crazy dream."

    "Is your headache gone?" She touched my forehead and said, "You are burning up!"

    "I feel fine. No headache." I said looking at the little girl who was playing with my fingers.

    "Hi, I am your niece," she added with a shy smile, "Brea"

    "Hi Brea" She jumped onto the bed and sat in my lap.

    "You have about two hours to eat breakfast and get ready before they are here," Selma said in a strained voice.

    She looked stressed, and her stress was contagious because I felt it immediately.

    I was going to get engaged to a total stranger today.

    "Your sister will help you get dressed. She picked some clothes and jewelry for you to choose from."

    I slowly walked to take a shower, my head in a daze. I was thinking about that mysterious man again. These dreams feel so real. More real than my current reality.

    My family was cooking up a storm. People were running all over the place and everyone looked nicely dressed.

    "Allena, grab a bite, and go find your sister right after." My mom was hustling around. 

    A fire pit was set up outside the roundhouse with more people cooking and prepping for the guests. 

    My brothers returned from hunting with a pack of dogs that looked more wolfish than any Husky that I had ever seen. They brought home deer or elk, I couldn't say as I did not want to look at the bloody mess.

    "Come with me Allena! I am going to make you look oh so pretty." Iona excitedly grabbed my hand. 

    We went into her tiny room where everything was spread out on her bed. I put on a beautiful tight-waisted teal skirt. It had tiny bells around the waist. The silk blouse was black and sexy. Iona finished the look with a neck collar of silver that she called a torc.

    "You have these leather sandals with small straps that will look great with this dress. Let me go get them from your room." Iona walked out chirpily.

    I examined myself in the mirror. My cheeks were still flushed and I felt nervous. 

    I looked around to find a place to sit down. Iona's room was littered with clothes and makeup tools. By make-up tools, I mean the berries that she squeezed out to color the lips, cheeks, and eyelids. 

    She had a rock with a rough surface among much other strange stuff. She rubbed wet sandalwood on that rock and put the paste into my bathing water.

    She also showed me a dark pigment that faintly smelled of antiseptic. She dipped a wooden stick and took her time applying it to my eyelashes. 

    She carefully mixed a few types of berries and claimed that the resulting lip color would go perfectly with my eyes and skirt color. 

    A warm thought filled my heart as I acknowledged to myself that I found a wonderful sister. Growing up alone, I have experienced such a delightful sort of sibling love only today. 

    "Here you go! You had saved these for a special occasion." The sandals were pretty indeed.

    She fixed my hair with an embellished right-headed pin after braiding it. I loved the finished look with my newly acquired honey blonde hair. The baby hairs formed beautiful delicate curls around my face. 

    Iona clapped her hands and looked very pleased with herself.    

    "You are ready for the dude!"