Olivia (77 page)

“The dreams of the
sigruum
are different from the dreams of other men.”

There was no safe way to argue with that, especially with the memory of her last name in his mouth so sharp in her mind.  And after Urga’s second visitation, she could have no doubt that the gods he claimed spoke to him were real.  And if they were real for her…

“What do you dream?” she asked haltingly.

“I dream of you.”

Cheyenne’s voice dripped like poison in her ear:
You make his furry cock hard every night
.  She tried to shake it off, but it wouldn’t shake far, not with Kodjunn’s calm eyes resting on her with such undisguised heat.             

Her silence did not discourage him.  He came a small step closer, reaching up to pass his hand once over her hair, never quite touching her.  “You burn in me like fire,” he murmured.  “You course through me like water.  You blow through me like wind.”

How unfair
, thought Olivia.  She loved him no more than she did Vorgullum; the thought made her want to touch him, just to lay her hand along his arm, but it was all too easy to imagine where a sympathetic touch might lead when he looked at her like that.  She kept her hands to herself and said simply, “Nothing can happen, Kodjunn.”

He only shook his head, smiling ruefully at the tips of his talons.  “So I have tried to tell myself, but my dreams say differently.  I see you in the sand before that great, dark water with the river that runs beside it.  I see you bending over me and I hold that image close to my heart.  But I think…I think you have been wise to teach your healing ways to Tina as you have done.  As I ought to teach what I know of our histories,” he added, looking back at the wall with longing.  “Because I think that we are leaving and I think it will be soon.”

“But, my son—” she protested, her voice no more than a whisper.

“Has his own destiny.  Who knows?  Perhaps you will come back to him.”  He glanced aside to run his eyes over the painted rock, still smiling.  “Anything is possible, Olivia.  Anything at all.”

“Isn’t there any chance that your dreams are just, you know, dreams?” she asked, but without much hope.

His smile widened.  “No.  Ha.  Not much.  Fate is like a storm.  You can let it bend you, or you can make it break you.  One way or the other, the storm always has its way.  Now our storm is beginning, Olivia.”  He took his hand off the wall and faced her again, fanning out his wings to fill the narrow tunnel.  “What will you do?”

CHAPTER TWO

BEGINNINGS

1

She did nothing.  Don’t dwell on it, she’d told Liz, and it was good advice whether you were talking about delivering a baby or going on a journey for a god.  There were plenty of other things to do in Dark Mountain, not the least of which being all the things that came with having a newborn baby bat, and so she worked on them instead. 

And it was while she was working on them—nursing Somurg in the commons while humans and gullan women scraped and softened the latest batch of cured hides—that Thurga tapped Olivia on the shoulder and said, “Amy is asking for you.”

Olivia sprang up, jarring Somurg out of his comfortable sucking sleep and into furious screams while everyone stared at them.  “Is she in labor?” she demanded, hurriedly burping him.

Flustered, Thurga backed away.  “She didn’t say so.  She is only asking for you.”

Olivia gave her the baby and set off at a run down the hall to the lair Amy had been sharing with Crugunn, Rumm, and several other gullan women, since she refused to move into the actual birthing room until, as she put it, there was a damned good reason.  Personally, Olivia felt that having to share one pit with five gullan was a good enough reason, but it had been difficult enough just to convince her friend to come to the women’s tunnels, so she didn’t push it.

Rumm jumped up when she charged inside, revealing a perfectly contented-looking Amy quietly sewing herself a shirt.  “You got here fast,” she observed.

“How far apart are the contractions?”

Amy rolled her eyes.  “I am not having contractions,” she said.  “I told that twit there was no trouble here.”

“Then why did you call me?” Olivia asked, now that the pleasantries were out of the way.  “Are you experiencing any discomfort?”

“You’ve been nine-plus months pregnant, you know damn well how comfortable I’m not,” Amy retorted.  “I just wanted to get my daily check-up out of the way early so I can take a nap.  You know how it is:  Ask for Olivia and you get a massage, ask for Tina and you get a physical.”

Olivia laughed and gave the gullan women a wave to clear them from the room for a little privacy.

“And I’ve been having contractions,” Amy said when the last of them was well and gone.

Olivia stared at her, then jumped up and raced to the door.

“Oh, don’t have a fit,” Amy said crossly.  “I think I’ve had two real pains in the last hour.  I’ve got scads of time.”

“Well, then, what—?”  Olivia didn’t even bother to finish the question. She just sat there and silently demanded an answer.

“I figure just because I’m having contractions doesn’t necessarily mean I’m in actual labor,” Amy explained.  “But I’m not sure, so I thought it would be best to have you around, as opposed to the whole circus.”

“Oh.”

“But I would like my legs rubbed,” Amy said wistfully.  “And my back, if you could.  My, you look trim.  How’d you lose the weight so fast?”

Olivia smiled as she knelt in the pit and started massaging Amy’s legs.  “All the running around I do and you have to ask?”

“You could take it easy for a while.”

“Yeah, but I don’t really want to.  Once you’ve been safely delivered, I’m going to take Somurg and present him to Murgull.”

“How long will that take, do you think?”

“Just the one night.  I told Vorgullum I wanted to make the trip by myself, you know, on foot.”

Amy nodded, rolling onto her side.  “He said no?”

“He said quite a few things, actually, but no was the gist of it.  The only reason he’s letting me do it at all is because I promised Murgull I would.  They’re big on promises here.  So he caved, but I only get the one day and he might just decide to stick around when I do it.  You know, protect me from afar.”

“Heap Big Husband,” Amy agreed, and looked suddenly depressed.  “Have you seen Kurlun?”

“He’s out there in the front of the women’s tunnels, where he’s been pretty much since you got here unless Vorgullum drags him off to hunt.  The only thing he needs is a carton of cigarettes to be chain smoking while he paces up and down.”  Olivia worked her way down to Amy’s ankles.  “He’s probably going to stay there until you deliver.”

“That’s a comfort,” Amy said drowsily.  “I miss him more than I ever believed possible.  You know, he gave me a baby shower?  He gave me a baby basin, sort of, and some blankets and some toys and another electric can opener.”

“Now you have a matched set.”

“Same model, different color.  I use them as bookends.  Now I just need some books.”  Amy rolled onto her back, then pulled a blanket over her sizable bulk.  “I can’t wait until this kid arrives so I can jump on my man.”

“So you say now,” Olivia teased.

“I don’t care how much it hurts,” Amy insisted.  “I’m needing a lot of loving.  I’m going to—”  She broke off with a yawn, then mumbled the rest of what she’d been saying, and fell asleep.

Olivia sat with her until Thurga returned nearly three hours later with a meal for Amy in one hand and Somurg against her shoulder.  Thurga handed the baby over, looking deeply ashamed of herself.  “I did not realize I had been away so long,” she confessed, and shot Amy a worried glance.  “She really must eat.”

But Thurga would never wake her, and she’d be mortified if Olivia did.  The world of dreams was both real and treacherous; to pull one from sleep too early could lose a person’s soul forever.  Olivia gave her friend a solemn nod, surreptitiously tickling her son’s back right between his webbed baby-wings.  Somurg, predictably, responded with a sleepy howl of protest, which yanked Amy safely out of sleep.  A baby’s cry, Olivia had learned, like any other call of warning heard in nature, was exempt from taboo. 

“Ah, you waken!”  Thurga, relieved, brought Amy her bread and a bladder of goat’s milk.

“Of course I waken!  Turn off the siren, why don’t you?”

But Somurg had already decided that having his wing-skin tickled wasn’t quite the violation it had first seemed and was settling down on his own.  He grumbled some, socked Olivia in the breast, and went back to sleep, snoring just like his father. Olivia sat down, watching Amy drink her milk through grimaces as she rubbed her stomach.  She looked so tired and sore…and lonely.

“Thurga,” Olivia said suddenly.  “It’s time to move Amy to the birthing room.  Make sure the bench is cleaned and get some fresh towels in there.  I’ll sit up with Amy until morning if you can take care of Somurg tonight.”

“You honor me,” Thurga stammered.  She looked in disbelief from one to the other of them, then uttered a little bay of joy and ran from the room.

“God, they’re easy to please,” Amy remarked, looking after her.

“Are you still having contractions?”

Amy’s eyebrows rose.  “Off and on.  Why?”

Olivia stood up, leaning Somurg against her shoulder and running her hand down his soft pelt.  “When Somurg comes here, the gullan are going to follow.  We’ll be alone in the birthing room when you go into serious labor.”  She glanced over her shoulder at the empty doorway, and then offered Amy a small smile.  “Whereupon, I intend to sneak Kurlun in to see his baby born.”

Amy’s eyes went wide and then she let out a little squeal and clamped both hands over her mouth. 

2

Amy cleared her throat.  Olivia looked up from where she was sitting and nursing Somurg, an act that was entertaining not only her sleepy son, but the three gullan women who were supposed to be seeing to Amy’s needs.

In English, keeping her voice very calm and genial, Amy said, “My contractions are five minutes apart and getting stronger.”

Olivia nodded and stood up.  Speaking to the gullan in their own tongue, she asked them politely to leave, since Amy was feeling moody and wanted to sleep.  “I can keep her comfortable until dawn,” she said.  “My son should sleep now.  Fetch me if there’s any trouble.”

They scarcely needed to be asked twice.  The gullan left, the three of them crooning in close-part harmony as they carried Somurg away.  Olivia waited until they were good and gone, then took up a large blanket and wrapped herself in it.  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she told Amy.  “Try to relax and take deep, slow breaths.  Whatever you do, don’t push.”

Amy nodded, closing her eyes and composing herself as though for sleep.

Olivia hurried through the narrow passages and open caves of the women’s tunnels, passing no one…until she reached the women’s commons and Horumn, dozing on a bench before the simple hide flap that separated the women’s tunnels from the rest of the mountain.  Olivia hesitated, took two silent steps forward, and stopped again as Horumn’s eyes opened.

The two of them looked at each other—she with dismay, and the Eldest with uncanny understanding. 

“It is not done,” Horumn said finally.

“You had a good reason for wanting to keep Vorgullum out,” Olivia told her, creeping a little closer.  “No one knew what was going to happen then.  But I have no reason to think that this birth will be any different from mine.”

“It is not done,” Horumn said again, unmoved.

“Lots of things aren’t done,” Olivia said, “until they are.  You had twelve babies, you told me.  Didn’t you ever want your man’s arms around you when they came?  Look me in the eye and tell me Amy shouldn’t have Kurlun with her just because it is not done.”

The old gulla made a face, then sighed and looked away.

“So be it,” Horumn said at last.  “Because it is Amy and because they truly love one another.  Don’t ask me again until your mate makes it law.”

Olivia moved fast, before the Eldest changed her mind.  Kurlun sat alone outside in the tunnels with a single candle, his head in his hands.  He looked up before she could speak, and an expression of absolute horror took hold of his entire body.

“What has happened to her?” he asked.

“Come with me, quickly,” she whispered and smiled.

His mouth opened slightly as he realized what she was offering, then he leapt up and scanned the empty tunnel before running towards her.  She shrugged off the blanket and he wrapped himself inside it, ducking down low and holding his head awkwardly back to try and disguise the great length of his horns.  Olivia led him past Horumn, who had once more adopted the appearance of deep sleep, and brought him swiftly to the room where Amy lay.

Olivia hung the blanket over the open doorway while Kurlun and Amy embraced.  “I hope you were right about quick deliveries running in your family,” she said, peeking once out into the tunnel before letting the blanket close it off.  “Somurg doesn’t sleep through the night.”

Amy labored quietly, with Kurlun helping her to sit up or roll over.  He massaged her as his voice rose and fell in soothing words Olivia was not meant to hear.  Now and then, Amy would whimper or groan, but muffled the sounds against his body as he stroked her hair.  It did not seem long at all before she called for Olivia in a strained, soft voice and said, “I think it’s time.”

“Good.  Kurlun, help her to the birthing bench,” Olivia commanded, and went to wash her hands. 

“What in the hell goes on here?”

All three of them, Kurlun included, jumped and screamed a little.

Tina came inside in two swift strides, letting the blanket drop behind her.  She did not look happy.  “Are you in labor?” she demanded.

“Um.”  Amy looked at her stomach, then pointed at Olivia.  “It was her idea.”

“And I was just coming to get you,” Olivia said, glaring at Amy.

“Oh we are going to talk about this later, lady, I promise you that.  Kurlun, get her to the birthing bench and what are you doing here anyway?” she finished, as surprise bloomed over annoyance.