CAPTIVE

Chapter 21

The house was dim, the fire had been extinguished for the hot summer months. We did our cooking out front of the small long house. I had been unsure of having Falling Water move in when the Matron had offered but it had turned out to be a welcome relief. I was finding the most basic of tasks almost impossible in the last month of pregnancy and, I found, to my great relief that the young woman graciously attended to all of my needs. I sat on the bare floor. Marley was, as always now, tucked snuggly by my side. Her movement drew my attention from the wash basin as she lifted her head and sniffed the air then began whining urgently. I put my hand on her head and stroked her but instead of calming her, her demeanor became more agitated as she crawled even closer and sniffed my thigh first then, the dirt floor beneath us. I looked down at her. My brows creased heavily as I squinted at the earth. It changed from light tan to dark brown. My mind slowly registered the liquid as it flowed slowly across the ground, Marley took another long, exploratory sniff before rising to her feet and nudging my stomach with her cool nose whining incessantly.

My eyes closed slowly then shot open, my body immediately engulfed in fear I cried out to Falling Water. She ran through the door, fright plastered across her face as she stared down at me. Marley growled low towards her as she strained to peer over my large womb. The girl was crouched at my shoulder in a heartbeat. It was as though I spoke in slow motion, the fear oozing from the pores of my face, "Get Bird Song." The girl's brows furled as she thought of protesting but bit back whatever words were gripping her tongue, stood and ran from the small house.

I moved to get up. A low scream shot without warning from my lips as I felt as though I were being ripped apart. Marley jumped back, cowered for a moment, then propped her small feet against my shoulder and tried to lick my face. My hands went immediately to my womb as another pain took hold and I bent as far as I could into it grinding my teeth. My eyes were clamped tight when my ears registered the sound of Bird Song at my shoulder. Her arms were under mine, Falling Water's on the other side. Her voice was calm but urgent, "Get up. We must go into the forest. Get up." My teeth ground together again, "I can't! Something's wrong! Something's very wrong!" A sound of amusement left her as she tugged at my arm, "Yes, something is...you are having a baby, now get up!"

My legs slowly came under me as the two women strained at my arms. I growled again through my teeth, Falling Water cowered away and whimpered as I dug my nails into her shoulder in the grips of another flesh ripping pain. Sweat immediately broke across my body as the sun beat down over my head. The breath was coming out of me in short bursts, a deafening silence fell across my ears as my body turned inward towards the painful cries of the baby within.

My eyes opened as my mind registered the drop in temperature. The forest was cool and shaded. The light danced lazily off the branches of the surrounding trees. A squirrel scampered quickly up a popular as Marley trotted towards it. I could hear the wet trickle of the life giving spring hidden through the underbrush. The earth beneath my feet pulsed and heaved with the contractions of my womb. I gripped Falling Water's shoulder as Bird Song withdrew. The women were talking to each other, their voices sounding like the far away chirps of crickets in my ears. My eyes opened again as Bird Song came back to my shoulder. Her hand was cool as she wiped sweat from my brow, "I have made you a bed on which to deliver your child. We will stay and help but you will have to do the work." The impish smile on her face brought the corner of my mouth up for a breath before my body doubled again, a primeval growl rolling from my throat.

The sun was low in the sky. The light of a small fire cast otherworldly shadows across the trees which kept the focus of my eyes as I breathed through another contraction. All thought of death had now fled my mind. My body was different. I was no longer human. I was an animal of the world, a mother bringing life. I was not myself but a vessel with a singular purpose. This knowledge consumed me and removed all fear, all doubt. I leaned against Bird Song and closed my eyes as she hummed a tune in my ear and stroked my sweat-covered hair. My eyes flew open as I whipped my head towards her, "I need to push." Her face grew broad as she called Falling Water to my side. Standing between the two women naked I crouched down and growled with my entire body as a great contraction hardened my womb and worked its way down through my legs out the tips of my toes and back into the womb of the earth. A short scream burst from my lips quickly snuffed by the urgent panting of my lungs as they sought breath. I had barely time to draw enough to stop the swimming in my head when I was overcome by the primal urge again, bent growled with my soul and pushed. I was bending heavily against the women as I heaved air into my lungs. Another. I cried out. I was being torn in half, I could feel my body ripping, spreading as it was being pulled apart. A little voice inside me suddenly stated in perfect calm that I was about to die, that a broadsword was splitting me navel to neck. The knowledge registered but I wasn't afraid. Peace had overtaken my mind, it had stepped back into the recesses of being, letting my body have full control over my life. Another great growl and my body heaved forward, lungs and heart pumping wildly.

My eyes opened slowly, focusing a small pink form as it came into being, wiggling on a bed of leaves below me. Bird Song swooped down as Falling Water gripped me tight around the waist lest I topple forward on my head. The pink mass wrapped quickly in her arms gave the ear piercing scream of a great eagle. Marley joined her with a high pitched howl of her own. My body followed the movement as it straightened itself and then it was in my arms. I blinked down at the small mass covered in blood and fluid the tiny mouth gaped open screaming at the new world around it. My fingers found small eyes and wiped them clean, cleared the button nose and stared silently towards the wailing ball of life. Her voice came slowly through the recesses of my mind as consciousness began to again take control of my body, "Come...Eyes of the Forest...come..." My elbow was being pulled but I was concerned only for the slimy bundle squirming in my arms. A hand came to my cheek and strongly tugged my eyes from the child as a soft voice rang out again, "...we must take the child to the stream and clean her...clean you." The hand withdrew and my eyes went again to the life in my arms but my legs began to move at her urging.

I sat on a log staring down at the small pink child, skin smooth and clean, wrapped tightly in a shawl. Bird Song knelt in front of me and I met her eyes, a large smile covered her face, "She is beautiful. Now you must put her to your breast so she can eat." Bird Song's hands were cool as she reached beneath the shawl that was wrapped around my bare flesh, cupped a swollen and leaking breast and withdrew it. I stared at her blankly. She nodded slowly and pushed my arms towards my chest. I looked down at the child in my arms, small eyes stared up at me, silver broken by long wisps of green. I felt the tears welling as plump lips clamped down around a hard nipple, gasped as the first strong suck drew it deeper into her mouth. I could feel the milk as it flowed under my skin delivering life to my child.