The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Thirty-One

Venetto appeared from behind Nian and the Tree immediately encased the dragon in vines before he could even raise a hand.

My dragon roared and struggled, and more vines wrapped around his mouth.

"Shut up. I need to concentrate," Nian growled.

With the assured air of a man who had the situation under control, Nian wasted no time for me to get my thoughts together of what I wanted to do next. He took out a dagger and sliced down all the seams of the fruit.

"W-what are you doing!" I screamed then jerked to try to get away from him. His purple eyes flashed then glowed as he glared at me.

"Don't do that again! I may harm the saplings if I cut wrong!"

Tears flowed down my face I closed my eyes, afraid of what I might see. The heady scent of something like berries mixed with cotton candy filled the air.

My eyes squeezed tighter while I waited for the ash Tree to tell me my babies were dead. The only sound I could hear was Ciaran's quiet sobbing and Nian's shattered breaths. I couldn't breathe at all. Human mothers have nine months to adjust to the idea of children but I'd had four days. Nevertheless, I'd already grown attached to the idea of them. But just like everything I thought was mine, I was going to lose my children.

While I was having my pessimistic meltdown, there was a tugging on the fruit which detached easily from my abdomen. I grunted, then felt the spot where it had been. There was an indent where my nonexistent belly button should have been. Mother would never tell me why I didn't have one. Now I had a scar there that proved I had been a mother.

Nion had not said a word yet. After swallowing once, I gathered up my bravery enough to ask of their state. "Are they..."

I swallowed again as more tears squeezed out. It was too hard to say the word. Dead.

"They..." Nian's voice cracked. I knew it. They were dead.

"What? What is it??" Ciaran shouted.

"Quiet, Key! I can hear something..." My voice trailed off as I heard a frail, squeaking sound, followed by another, and then another. I opened my eyes and struggled to get up, but Nian put a hand on my shoulder to keep me from doing so. The fear of losing the babies was pushed away by the vast relief those tiny sounds gave me and I started to push his hand away.

"Wait. You are still in danger yourself. Your infants pulled too strongly on your body because of the unnatural speed of your pregnancy. You should have bore them for two months. How..." He trailed off as he gazed down at me. "How did you even survive?"

"Release me, you blight-infested, root-rotted idiot!" Ciaran yelled from his position on the river bank. "Let me heal my wife!"

Venetto was probably saying something similar but the vines blocked it.

Nian waved a hand at him then pulled one of the squeaking beings from the fruit. Once the infant was lifted out, it began to squall in earnest as the cold air hit its body. Nian had removed my pack, which was sitting next to me when I'd collapsed. I had packed my forty-niners' jersey in it.

"My bac--" I was about to tell him about it, but he'd stripped his own shirt to wrap the baby in. I blinked up at him in shock that he'd care that much about my baby.  I was surprised that he'd been wearing one. I guessed even shirt-eschewing Trees sometimes got cold. If it wasn't for the fact that a wave of dizziness followed by a profound weakness overcame me, I might have been able to enjoy the view a bit more. 

Sue me. I like looking at art. 

I dropped my appreciation and reached out a hand for the infant he held. "Nian... I want to see it. Is it okay?