Crossing Into Forever

Chapter 5 - Mother Stand Your Ground

Mother Christiana was there, in the family room, waiting to hear something from the hospital staff. She was trying to hold herself together for this woman. This woman that she didn't know very well, but knew she was related to as Christina also was a royal from Losslurse. A woman that had been through hell during the last few hours of her life. When the doctors arrived to speak to Christina, she knew from the looks on their faces that Beatrice didn't make it, but this was no surprise to her. The doctors explained that her uterus had ruptured during the delivery, and they couldn't stop the bleeding in time. "And the child?" she asked with some hope still left in her voice. "The baby is doing good right now. We have him in the NICU at the moment, so we can keep a close watch on him."

"Glory be to God!" exclaimed Mother Christina. Tears were falling down her face. She was so devastated for Beatrice right now, but she had joy in her heart that the baby boy had survived.

Once the news had been delivered to the mother, the doctors asked her about the young lady's identity. They needed to find out who she was, for obvious reasons, and also to notify the next of kin of the death and the birth. Mother Christina wasn't sure what to say, as this woman was from another planet that these doctors would not have been aware of. She stammered for a moment and finally proclaimed to the doctors that she didn't know who the woman was. She said she had appeared on their doorstep in labor, and they were trying to help her, so they called the emergency services. She told the doctors that the young woman had told them her name was Beatrice. She told them of the name Beatrice had called the baby before she went unconscious, but other than that, she had no idea who this poor woman was. The other thing she couldn't explain was the odd way Beatrice was dressed. She simply said she didn't know anything other than what she had already told them. The mother told the doctors she wanted to be kept updated on the baby's condition. She also told them, if they were unable to locate any family of the woman, that the convent would like to take the child in and care for him, until his family was found. Not only did she feel an obligation to this child, but she was afraid, this was not the last they had heard of these barbarians and their thirst for blood.

After a week of baby Christian being in the hospital and officials hoping to find the identity of the young woman that delivered him, none had been found. With the absence of family or anyone that knew the pregnant mother, the baby was turned over to the convent until more information could be gathered.

It was only a short number of days that passed after bringing the baby boy home from the hospital before an impatient pounding came from the front door of the convent. Knowing who it was, because she had been expecting them, Christina poised herself and slowly opened the door. The man that stood there, was at least seven-foot tall and almost as broad as the door itself. She couldn't help but feel frightened and she wanted to cower down and run, but she held her position and in a stoic face, asked the savage man what he wanted.

"I've come for the Losslurse child" he bellowed out in a brutish voice.

"If you are speaking of the child that was born to the queen the evening that you murdered all the Losslursean people, he died in childbirth as did his mother."

He eyed her with an untrusting glare, not sure if he wanted to believe her or not. One of his fellow Warbrotums had had a dream and in the dream, he saw a crying baby boy. He felt sure that this was some sort of sign, as there had been no children born on their planet in many years. He sought out a man that he had known to be a sorcerer, and the sorcerer told him that there was an infant boy that had been born on the planet Trobotdom and that child was the future king of Losslurse. He warned that as long as this child lived, the possibility remained that he would pose a threat to Warbrotum. As soon as the leaders of Warbrotum heard this information, they sent their man to Trobotdom to find the child.

He pushed his way through the convent doors and looked around. As he did, several of the sisters that were nearby screamed, and ran out of the vestibule. He turned to look at Christina again and his words came out in a deafening roar.

"Woman, give me the child"

Christina looked at him with a serene calmness. Slowly, there was a slight movement from her habit as her hand could be seen steadily coming out from inside the folds of the garment. In her hand was a small 38 caliber pistol. He quickly came to a sudden halt and squelched his aggressive outburst. He had seen these weapons before when he and some others had spied on the people of Trobotdom and had seen what damage they could do. He didn't understand the magic behind them, but he was not willing to risk losing his life to find out.

"I said, the child died in childbirth, as did his mother" never taking her eyes off him, she spoke with a cool deliberateness and he understood in no unmistakable terms, that she would put up with his presence no longer.

He would have to take her at her word for now. He had no choice. He turned and departed the convent and walked away. She had one of the monks to follow distantly behind him to make sure he exited through the portal, as it was reported back to her, that he wasted no time in doing so.