* * * * *
The woman who could not have been more than 4 and a score years old was pale, sweat dripping from her face, down her neck, backwards into her hair, into her eyes, mouth, ears, and onto the board that had been given to her to lay upon throughout this time of her greatest suffering and pain. Men watched by, full of sorrow, but still held back, knowingly unable to offer aid to this woman in her time of most need. She panted. Her lower lip trembled. Her eyes closed in a wince of pain, before flickering open again. She panted her way through the ordeal, but no one was there to save her, to stand by her, to part the ways and halt it, or say, ‘No!’
She screamed, a tortured sound that resounded through the walls of the whole building.
* * * * *
Mikael’s head tilted off sharply to the side, and his eyes searched over something beyond the wall of the carriage that only he could see. Shifting slightly beside him, Araliah put a soft hand onto his arm, and asked inquiringly, “Mikael, what is it?”
Mikael remained in the daze which had so unexpectedly crept up on him in a whirlpool of feeling for a minute longer, before slowly turning to face Araliah’s worried gaze with a shake of the head and a small smile.
“Come on, Ara, you know me better than that! Surely you didn’t think that something so small as a slight jolt could cause me undue pain, did you?” Mikael asked her, deftly covering the sharp feeling of foreboding that was still washing over him in forceful waves of heat.
Araliah smiled, depreciating of herself, as she lowered her eyes, and removed her hand from his arm.
“Of course I didn’t, you half-wit!” she said, swiftly catching herself back again, “You don’t actually think that I was worried about you, did you? Ha! I just don’t want anything to happen to you until I’ve got your house nice and safely down in my name and signed so that everything’s nice and legal. You’ve gotten me quite used to this life of luxury over the years! You think I wanna give all that up now?”
“No, whatever was I thinking?” Mikael asked, joining in the jollity and taking the jibes in stride with a full bellied laugh of his own, resolutely ignoring his own underlying senses for the moment.
* * * * *
"... a beautiful girl child..."
The new mother sunk in an out of awareness of this world around her and the next. Catching a few words around her here and there, her mind moved back to the blissful cloudy existence where around her stood no pain or fear of danger to her or her newborn baby.
"I fear that the birthing process was too much for her," the midwife still holding the baby itself said mildly to the surrounding clerics. "It does not seem that she will be able to rouse herself from it any time soon."
"That is nonsense!" one of the clerics spoke. "Why, she must stir. Who else will look after this...?"
Abruptly, he shut himself up, knowing as did the others that too much enthusiasm focused on the child in question could bring undesireable attention to it. One of the other clerics looked at him severely, although the other paid his attention to the mother herself.
"Is that your honest opinion?" he asked the midwife softly.
"Aye, it is," she uttered, before hugging the baby closer to her. "Perhaps I should take the babe to its nursery now?"
"No, that will not do at all," (I'm going to give them names; Welma for the midwife, Norin for the first cleric, Seleg for the third and) Gelik said. "She must be within our sights at all times."
The other two clerics nodded their agreement.
"You know how important she is. Now that she is finally come, we must ensure that all is done to maintain her safety and secrecy.
"Of course," Welma acceeded. Again she looked to the still Elayne, who had barely moved since the birth earlier that morn. She sighed softly and rocked the young babe in her arms as though to make up for it.
*
"It has happened, my lord." A magician's apprentice came quite urgently into Laithlyn's court, almost without announcement.
Laithlyn stood up.
"It?" he questioned, just to make sure.
"The babe, my lord. Born earlier this morn, she was. My master bade that I come to you immediately with the news."
"Of course," Laithlyn muttered, immediately in his own mind of what action to take next. "And she is safe?"
"My master reports that she was born within a magicked cathedral. No enemy of hers shall sense her there."
"We can never be sure of that," Laithlyn said, for the first time looking at the apprentice quite seriously. "Whatever else I have learnt, it is always to be on one's guard with matters as important as these."
"Yes, my lord," the magican's apprentice said, bobbing his head acquiesingly.
"How does the mother do?"
"Badly, my lord. It is reported that she had not yet recovered from the ordeal, and an ordeal it was, lord! Such a magical babe and all."
"And the father?"
When the apprentice did not immediately answer, Laithlyn looked up so as to find the answer on his face. However, there was no answer to be had, only a blank look of miscomprehension.
"Why, there is no father, lord," was the only reply to be given.
Laithlyn stared at the boy for a moment, eyes narrowed as he struggled to take this in. No father? How could this be? With the prophecy stating of so many men in this child's life... No father?
(perhaps a copy of the most recent copy of the prophecy in the story descriptions might be helpful?)
"Right then, very well," Laithlyn said, regaining himself much to the apprentice's relief. "Is there any other news?"
"No, my lord." There was a slight pause, and then, "Except perhaps, my lord, that my master bade me give you the message that it will soon be time to call in on old debts." Again the boy stopped, in obvious confusion. "However, I know not what this means."
"Do not fear, boy, for I am assured that I understand the message given," Laithlyn said with a slight nod.
"Is that all then?" he asked the boy once more.
The magician's apprentice lingered on the question a moment longer, before answering with surety, "Nay, my lord, that is the lot of it."
"Then I suppose you would have wish to wash yourself up and find a comfortable bed for the night before setting off again in the morn, is that not so?" Laithlyn asked, already summoning one of his men in waiting from the corner of the hall.
"If it pleases you, my lord, I would be very grateful!"
"Very well then. Follow this man through the halls. He will make sure you have everything you shall need for your overnight stay," Laithlyn said, effectively dismissing him.
With a respectful bow, the boy was off, leaving Laithlyn time only to contemplate his thoughts in solitude.
*
Elayne's mind was filled with terrible impressions; fighting and fear; resentment and hatred. Had this been the world she had brought her child into?
The longer she lingered, the less comforting her world became. It was a world of pain without hope. And then, in the middle of it, a small, warrior girl stood, ready for battle, and with an army of men to back her up. An end to the depression, this girl brought with her the hope that had been lacking for so long.
Elayne could have cried. Indeed she would have. This child would see so much pain, and Elayne would have offered her heart for this to be not so. If only there were some way to save her only daughter from such a fate.
Her eyes flickered open suddenly, met with darkness and a sense of not knowing where she was. She was too weak to sit up on her own, but yet the fact that her daughter was nowhere within sight caused her such panic!
"Hush, calm yourself ma'm," a soothing voice begged of her.
Weakly, Elayne turned her head towards the voice that called to her.
"Your daughter is fine. Just put to bed she was. A fine child she is too. But what are you going to name her?"
"Beloved of God," Elayne prayed softly. She blinked, and looked to the midwife sitting by her tiredly. "Her name will be, Danae."
(now I know i've written this before! Pretty much those exact lines naming the babe)
The midwife's lips lifted in a smile that was barely noticeable in the dim light coming through the large windows of the room.
"Tis a wonderful name," she told Elayne. "I will let the clerics know of it just as soon as they come back down here."
Elayne nodded her head once, as her heavy lids closed once again, releasing her back into unnatural sleep.
*
the original – the new – combine
“Elayne, wake up dear. It’s a girl. Elayne? Can you hear me? You just birthed a girl.”
Elayne stood silently next to the tall, cathedral-like windows, cradling the young babe in her arms lovingly, for a moment timeless within time. Wordlessly, she looked down to her, loving her with her eyes, loving her with her heart. It was a period untouched by the world around them, untainted by external influences. In those sparse moments, Elayne felt the culmination of all that she had ever wished for and ever held dear, now contained in a small, warm bundle, wrapped securely in her arms.
“You’re going to have to tell her soon. She’s becoming far too attached to the child as it is. You know that she can’t keep her!”
“Yes, yes, just a little longer, don’t you think? After all the pain she went through in getting her here!”
“Every minute will make it harder for the inevitable separation. You know as well as I how it must be.”
“I’ll call you Danae,” on a whispered breath. “It means…loved by God…”
Elayne looked up to the three clerics as they came to stand around her.
“Yes? What is it?” she asked, striving for coolness, at the same time as holding her babe closer to her breast.
“You know what must be done, Elayne. It has been foretold for centuries. You have known it this whole time!”
“No…please! Tell me it’s a mistake. Tell me there’s been a mistake. It’s another baby. There must be another baby…there must be!”
Met with such wide, innocent eyes, glistening with the brightness of pain and of unshed tears, the three men found themselves powerless to step forward any further. It was left to the tall, winged man, winged like the child’s own mother, to step forward. Merely stretching his arms out, he made clear without words his uncompromising intention to be handed the baby. With a small whimper, the woman, with utmost care, placed the babe of her own womb into the large hands of this creature of deliverance.
With a wordless nod, the man met the woman’s eyes long enough to show that he was not the emotionless monster he somehow appeared to be. On a sigh, made by the movement of the man’s wings, he was gone, leaving a mother in shock behind to stare after them. Her baby, and the man who had taken her away.
For hours after, the three clerics stood by, full of sorrow, but still held back, knowingly unable to offer aid to this woman in her time of most need. Uselessly, they stood, as she crumbled and fell, her eyes soon growing an angry red, made by the unrelenting torrents the flood of tears down her face. For ages afterwards, the only sound made was the senseless babbling of the woman, in her anguished state of motherhood, no more.
* * * * *
In her dreams, she was standing up against a tall window, staring at the bright sunrise. In her arms was cradled the baby Danae. (again, this I have written before, but I shall write it again to see if I can write it better this time)
The child smiled up lovingly at its mother, and stretched her arms up to Elayne's face. With a smile of her own, Elayne freed one of her hands to play with the little fingers reaching up to her so lovingly. Those fingers grasped tight hold and brought them into her mouth, her little legs kicking joyously at the fun of it.
Again, Elayne turned her face to the sunrise, enjoying it as though it were her first and her last all at once.
"Would you stay will me through everything that's to come?"
"Well that's an unfair question. How am I to know what is to come if it has not yet come into being? And by that same token, how will I know what I act like at this time in the future from sitting here with you now?"
A smile.
"You silly. I do not ask of every little thing to come. Just the life commitments. You do love me still, don't you?"
"Elayne, my love, how could I not?"
"Well, I come not from any great family. I know, and you know, that I have not a great deal to offer you. How with all that is here in the world could I ever hope to keep you?"
Playful tussling.
"Because, my dearest Elayne, you have the one thing that would hold me to any one person in this world, or the next for that matter."
"And what, prey, is that?"
"My eternal love for you."
Outside, the sunrise began to grow stale. The newness of morning was beginning to pass on and the grey clouds were on their way. The wind picked up, causing the nearby trees to sway. It would be a storm before long. Elayne knew that she should step away from the window.
"Dorrain, I have something I fear that I must show you."
"You fear? What a strange thing for you to say, love."
"Please. I am serious in this. Do not mock me."
"I would not dream of doing so. Prey, what is it that causes you such anguish?"
"I do not think that I have been completely honest with you on what I am thus far."
"What you are? Why, you are a loving, beautiful, well off woman, soon to be married to her great and dearest love, or so I should hope!"
"Yes, of course I am all of that. But I am more also."
"Oh? What is the nature of this 'more'?"
Lowered eyes.
"My! What on... when... did you...?"
"I have always. Over years I have grown to control when they come out. I had not shown you before because I had not been sure of your reaction..."
"Not sure of my reaction? To this? No bloody wonder. What... is that?"
Shame.
"It is... they are... my heritage. I am of the winged race. Please, how could I have told you before now?"
"How could you have hidden it from me for so long?"
"There is more."
"More."
"I am pregnant. With your baby."
"Pregnant. And will this... baby... inherit these same... heritages?"
"I do not know."
The glass shattered. The peace of the morning sunrise was lost. The storm was in. Immediately the baby Danae began to cry piteously. Both the midwife and the clerics came to aid soon hence, the midwife lifting Danae from Elayne's arms.
"Please, why are you doing that? I can take care of her myself. Give her back to me."
"You will not be here long enough to look after her as you should. She must be given over to someone who can truly look after her. She is too important to be lost."
"I know that! I'm her mother, don't you think I realise... not... going to be here long enough? Dear heavens, what do you mean by that?"
"Enough said, we should put the child away this once. Come along."
"No, she is my baby. Please, don't take her away! No!"
"You are only causing more harm than good. You know what is best for her. You have seen what she will do. Let us start her on that path now; before it is too late."
"On that path? That path leads to pain! Don't you see that? Let me be mother to her. She needs her mother. I need her."
>
"The world needs her more. She has been born for one reason and one reason only."
"She is just a child!"
"The world could be lost if not for her."
"I don't understand. Please, give her back to me."
"Nothing more..."
"The midwife found her there like that this morning. There was nothing more that could be done for her by that stage."
"So she's..?"
"Dead."
"And the child?"
"We shall see."
"She will have to be moved. How long can we ensure her safety here?"
"Months yet. Perhaps even a year. But then, a lot can happen in a year..."
** * *
"The child is now an orphan?"
"Yes, lord."
Laithlyn thought this concept over for a moment.
"Who looks after her at present?"
"I believe it is the clerics, my lord."
"Is she safe?"
"As far as has been disclosed."
"Then that is all I need know at this time."
*
"The child needs a woman's hand in her upbringing."
"Then hire a wet nurse. My work here is done."
The clerics looked to each other. Ever since the child, Danae's, mother had been found dead only months after her birth, the clerics had been at a loss over what to do next. It had always been assumed that the mother would take care of all the motherly duties, while the clerics were left free to teach and train the child of her heritage and importance in this world.
Soon after Elayne's death, Welma had quit her post, having said that her place had been only to bring the child into the world, not to sacrifice her own life and wellbeing to keep her there. She had taken the mother's untimely death as a bad omen, and fled as quickly from the sanctuary as possible. It had been either bring in a new and possibly dangerous woman to act as Danae's carer, or to take care of her themselves.
As it stood, they were still indecisive about it, and viewed the child itself with caution and wariness.
"Something has to be done about her. And soon."
"I agree. But what? It is too early to be training her ourselves. Why not have us take care of her? Rather than some stranger whom we have no garantee will be safe to the child's life. It is Danae's life that we must put up above all else."
"But what do we know about children, much less babies?"
And so the argument went on, back and forth, much to the young infant Danae's discontentment and being so ill looked after.
*
Laithlyn looked down at the man who had strode down into his court and kneeled at his feet. If 'man' was even the right word to be used here.
Whatever he was, he had two lengths of golden wing spanning from where his shoulder blades would be. They hung down to the floor at present, but were estimated to span several feet when stretched out to their full width.
"Excuse my intrusion, Lord Laithlyn, but I come in reference to the new born child Danae." The winged man looked up to Laithlyn's eye with irises of golden to match his wings. "I could have come to you with these concealed as I can also do, but to come thus would have seemed as a willful deceit to you within your own manor. I thought to have more respect for you than that."
"Indeed," Laithlyn murmured, not sure what to think, having never seen anything of this kind in all his years of battle. He had of course heard stories of its ilk, but like all others, had thought them deeply rooted in myth. None had been reported to see anything of the like in as many years as these stories had been flying around.
"My kind is known as the Ikari; winged beings. There are not many of my kind anymore, after years of hiding, fearing what we are. Like you, our kind has eagerly awaited the birth of this Danae for as many years as we have been in hiding."
"So you... your kind then knows of the child's prophecy?" Laithlyn questioned.
"Oh yes," the Ikari said, straightening a little. "There was even contemplation, from the wording of the prophecy, that the child herself may even be of the Ikari, although that may also be just a myth our kind want to believe."
He paused in his speach. When it became apparent that Laithlyn was not about to say anything, the Ikari spoke again.
"If you do not believe that we wish to work with you in the name of the child, believe that we do not wish harm upon her." The Ikari looked into Laithlyn with eyes that could not be mistaken for anything but sincere. "She is the only hope left to our people. We have no wish to see her put in unnecessary danger."
"Then it would seem that even if we are not on the same side, we at least fight for the same goal," Laithlyn said graciously, finally speaking his thoughts out loud. "Arise, and please, what is your given name?"
"Si'imarne," was the reply, as he rose to his feet. "I was the one chosen by my tribe, small as it may be, to come to this place on behalf of my people and speak to you, as it was seen that you should play a major part in this child's life for a time."
"Me?" Laithlyn asked, now curious in spite of himself. "What possible part could I play in the child's life?"
"Do you not yet know?" Si'imarne asked of him. "You shall act as her guardian until such a time as her permanent guardian is called into place."
Laithlyn stared openly at the Ikari, his jaw suddenly grown slack.
"I will leave this place tonight. Already I have trespassed to long within these walls," Si'imarne stated. By now, he had pulled in hi golden wings for the most part of his stay, but that did naught to hide the impressive personality that he so obviously was.
"Nay, not at all," Laithlyn insisted. "I must insist you stay here longer. This is incredible, the find of your species, after all this time."
"I did not come to this place to be gawked at or paraded around," Si'imarne told him politely but firmly. "I arrived here with but a job and a message to pass on, and having done that, I have now outstayed my use to your people. It is far past time that I returned to my clan."
"You will return then, if there are further matters which we must discuss about the child," Laithlyn questioned.
"I will return. You can be assured of that. Keep your seers alert. There are many things to happen yet, and we need all be prepared for them."
Si'imarne and Laithlyn faced one another, equals in all respects and acknowledging of the others' obvious powers. In the tradition known to man, Laithlyn stuck his hand out, ready to be shook as a conclusion to their business in this time. In the tradition of his own kind, Si'imarne grasped hold of Laithlyn's arm at the wrist and held it firmly a moment, before letting go with a nod.
"Peace be with you in these times," he wished of Laithlyn, with a glance over the entirity of his court to show that the sentiments passed also to them.
"And be with you," Laithly returned without hesitation. "Fly safe."
*
Danae was just beginning to learn how to walk enough to cause a stir within the cloistered world of the clerics. Left to themselves, they knew not what to do with her. How could they properly study for what was to come if one or more had to stay in constant servielance of her? It was an impossible situation!
Add to that that she was always wanting of food, but never eating what they offered; always needing attention, but not appeased by the attention that the clerics offered her; always wanting to move about, but unable to get to those places fast enough or at all. Her cherubic face was more often than not screwed up in tears that the clerics were all but helpless to stop, and all in all, sleep for them was a thing well of the past.
"I wonder if our ancestors could have handled this situation any better," they groaned to one another by day, before invariably one or more of them moved to tend to Danae.
Little work was getting done, and they were scarcely closer to finding out a long term solution to her safety than they had been on the eve that she had been born.
The added responsibility of the young girl child needed to be lifted from their shoulders before more harm came of it than good.
*
"Si', you are arrived back home!"
As a favored among his clan, Si'imarne met with a warm and hearty welcoming from his people, as they had seen and sensed him coming and had flocked out in groups to meet with him. Wings were worn openly and with pride. Littler wing spans for the smaller children, but no less magnificent for it. They were younger signs for what they would eventually become.
"Do'riem wishes to speak with you."
Nodding and putting aside the many children and women who crowded around him, Si'imarne trudged towards the middle of the camp to meet with the head Ikari of their clan.
"Do'riem, I come," he announced with respect.
"Ah, Si'. Welcome back. You took rather longer than you had expected, I see."
"That is true," Si' responded.
"And how did those you revealed yourself to recieve you?" the head questioned.
"I found them to be quite accepting of my... situation. However, in times such as these, a little open-mindedness is all but expected."
"Yes yes, very true." Both men were free to have their wings openly visible in the canvas tent they met in. Do'riem's were a far darker shade than Si'imarne's golden wings. They blinked slowly with bigger eyes that were not dissimiliar to those belonging to a doe as was another physical trait more noticeable in many of the Ikari.
"I imparted their leader, a man by the name of Laithlyn -" Si'imarne's tongue struggled its way around the foriegn sounding name. "- with the knowledge that he would be the first to act in the place of the child's guardian when such a time arose."
"Things move quickly. I fear that time is coming sooner than even we expected," Do'riem reported. "As well the humans should be alerted by their own seers in the coming hours. It has been seen that the child's position within the sanctuary can not be assured for very longer."
"What threatens?" Si'imarne asked curiously.
"The one and the same. Those who would steal her to their own advantage. It must not be allowed to happen."
"It will not."
Some of the tenseness in Do'riem lessened for a moment with Si'imarne's sure words.
"Am I to take it that you are prepared to do all that is required in order to ensure the continued safety of the child?"
"On my life, as I have vowed," was Si'imarne's answer, steady as ever.
"Very well, I prey you, visit your young family. You can not have long with them until again you are called away," Do'riem informed him with a degree of regret.
"How soon?" Si'imarne asked.
"First dawn."
*
"Papa!"
The name was chorused around the fine quarters that were rewarded to Si'imarne and his family in recognition of his position beneath the head Ikari. Three young children and a beautiful woman with raven colored hair came towards him on stout and chubby as well as long and beautifully formed legs.
Si'imarne knelt down to take his elder two sons in his arms, while his youngest, a daughter, held on tight to her mother's hand.
"Re'eita? Will you not go greet your papa with your brothers?" his wife and mother of his children, Si'ilaria questioned softly.
Looking up at her father, with both of her brothers crawling haphazard all over him in no safe looking way, Re'eita's eyes widened and she shook her head.
From above her, Si'imarne chuckled.
"I don't blame you, chiquita. I wouldn't fool around with this bunch either if I had a say in it," he admitted, shaking the eldest of the two.
"Hey!" they both cried, and renewed their squirmish against their father in earnest.
"Alright boys, that's enough for now," their mother informed them with a firm though kind tone.
The boys knew their mother well enough to know when to take her words seriously. With regretful groans and grumbling, both boys slid off their father with one last playful shove from either of them.
"Sa'miel, Ca'mael, will you not both sit down to your dinner now?" their mother asked, raising her eyebrows pointedly, as their younger sister detached herself from her mother's hand and walked on unsteady feet towards her smiling, awaiting father.
"Papa?" she asked shyly.
"It's me, sweetheart," he answered, moving nearer to her and keeping his arms open for her to fall into, which she promptly did as soon as she was within falling distance.
Si'imarne picked up his youngest lovingly within his arms. Already at only half of a year, she grew the lumps over her shoulder blades where later wings would pierce the skin in time for her first coming of age ceremony.
As a family, they all sat down to the table, ready to eat. After that was finished and done, a few games passed between father and children for a while as their mother cleaned up the meal's messes. Then it was time for bed, a time that was greatly vetoed until long after sundown, when Si'imarne could finally hold his wife within his arms for the first time since arriving home that afternoon.
"I trust that your journey was well had?" she asked him as she spread her wings comfortably to either side of them, ready to snuggle safely into the haven of his arms.
"It was that indeed," Si'imarne responded, depositing a kiss on the crown of her head.
She swiveled her neck around to look up at him lovingly.
"What was that for?" she asked him with a smile.
"What?"
"I love you," she said, shifting back again and wrapping his arms around her tightly.
"I love you."
For a moment, they were silent, comfortable within each others company and the relative silence coming from the other end of their quarters where their three children were already well on their way to a deep sleep for the night. Si'imarne sighed, knowing that he had to tell of what Do'riem had revealed to him.
"The child is in danger."
"Oh no, not so soon, surely?"
" I must go to her immediately on the morn. First dawn." Si'imarne hugged Si'ilaria tightly as he said the words. They both knew they had so little time together until the next time he was called off.
*
Golden wings caught the light of first dawn on them. At the same time, the clerics opened their doors to a scheduled, if early, arrival into their sanctuary.
"My thanks go to you, dear priest."
First blood was shed within the walls of the sanctuary, and the door left unprotected from the violence that then entered it.
Waking up, Danae already had tears in her eyes and wet on her cheeks. Kicking her legs caused the remaining covers on top of her to fall away, and as soon as she realised that she was alone in the bedroom, she opened her mouth to howl.
The two remaining clerics rushed up to her room, giving thanks along the way that relief would be coming that day in the form of a safe haven for the child that would free the clerics up for the work that had been intended for them all along.
Passing by one of the windows that overlooked the entranceway to the sanctuary, one of the clerics chanced to look out, stopping dead when he saw the trio of dark clad men striding up towards their steps, the third cleric among them lying already dead in a pool of his own blood seeping from the neck.
"Dear lord!" he cried, "We must get to the child at once!"
The sense of urgency was heightened immediately. Within the building itself strode the three outsiders, glancing around immediately for clue of where the special child might be kept. The most authoritive of them all strode purposefully towards one tall window open to the sunrise, before claiming that there was nothing anywhere around there and to move onwards.
Upstairs, the two remaining clerics opened the door to Danae's crib room, clutching her in their arms and exerting their best efforts over quieting the child's loud crying sounds. It would be the first thing to alert the intruders to them if she continued in such wailing.
Having just caught sight of the eastward, tall windows of the sanctuary, a sense of urgency gripped Si'imarne, causing him to fly harder in order to reach his goal swifter.
Up the stairs the three dark men ventured, ears peeled for any sound that would help them on their search. A look passed between the three of them at the muffled hint of a child's tears, before they hastened on their way.
The two clerics stood stranded in the child's room, communicating desperately with eyes and silence alone. The one holding Danae had a hand clasped firmly over her mouth. Although she was still whimpering, it was nothing to the sound she had been making only minutes ago. However, it would still be enough to spoil them when the intruders came closer. They had to find a way of calming her completely.
Danae's lower lips trembled, feeling harshly the waves of panic alive in the room; the fast pumping of an adreniline packed heart beat beneath her backbone. She wasn't allowed to calm them as they stood there. They were stifling her every moment and sense. The growing desperation was almost at fever pitch, and the child of one year did not know what she would do when it burst.
The three men came upon the landing, pausing to put their ear up to every door along the way, not opening them in case that allowed for a quieter escape passage for the remaining clerics and the child after they has passed them. The creak of a floorboard under one of the men's feet caused the other two to jump. A mean glare was passed around before the search for sound was continued.
He was too late. He was going to be too late. What if they got a hold of the child before he got there. What if he was too...
One of the cleric's eyes widened as he glimpsed the fast approaching being coming towards the window of the sanctuary. He motioned urgently to the one holding Danae and as quietly as possible, they both made to open the window wide.
Had that been a sound? The sound of something squeaking?Quietly as the intruders that they were, the three men hastened towards the door behind which they thought they had heard the noise.
A little more, a little more. Who had forgotten their duty of oiling the joints in the windows? It had not seemed so important over the colder season, but was quite terrible to them now in this time of urgency.
Si'imarne flew in still closer. He could now see the child Danae, held safely within the arms of one of the clerics. But safe for how long? As he neared the window to their room, he awaited the windows to be sprung open to emit him. It was an expectation that never came through.
Both clerics jumped back as the Ikari flew directly through the window, shattering slivers of glass all throughout the room. The cleric with Danae in his arms shielded her face and body from the glass as best as he could. Si'imarne would have openly berated the two clerics for their slow wits and stupidity with the window if had not the three intruders burst through the door behind them at that very moment.
"Get the child. I care not what happens to any of the others, just make sure the child remains unharmed!"
From such effort at silence came an explosion of sound. Neither cleric very apt at the skills of fighting mostly dodged around the scarce furnature in the room, while it was left to Si'imarne and his training to attack and disarm the intruders as best as he could.
In the midst of fighting, he happened to glance across the room at the cleric holding Danae who was dangerously close to losing her right there. Knocking the man he was fighting on the side of the head rashly, Si'imarne did not even wait for him to fall to the floor before rushing to the cleric's side.
"Hand the child to me," he commanded in a tone that brooked no argument.
"But what about these men..."
"I care not. The child is my only concern. Hand her to me."
The cleric could not refuse the summons twice and handed Danae to his impatiently waiting hands. As the exchange was taking place, the intruder nearest the cleric sliced him in even parts.
Seeing the distruction all around him, the cleric rushed up to Si'imarne as he perched on the railing of the window sill, prepared to take flight with the child secure in his arms.
"Please, I prey you, are you just going to leave me here?" the only remaining cleric asked in a panic.
A quick last glance around the room and Si'imarne said, "If what they have done to your friends is any indication, you will not last long to regret being left."
Si'imarne flew off as a blade ran the cleric through from behind far enough to have badly injured the Ikari also had he remained perched where he'd been only an instant longer.
Without another thought to the useless sanctuary, Si'imarne flew onwards to his tribe, the child cooing contentedly in his arms.
*
"She can not stay long here. We have no way of garanteeing her safety with us for any short period of time." Do'riem glanced down at the child fondly a moment. "Although, she is quite a beautiful one, isn't she? In either case, the ones that came after her could have seen the direction you came here in. You must set off once again and take the longest, most indirect path to Laithlyn's manor, thereby assuring that you will not be followed. Take there as long as you need. Our clan will have moved in its settling place by then, but you shall find us wherever we go."
Si'imarne understood his orders. Without even a pause to greet or farewell any member of the clan, he took the the air once again.
*
"She is on her way now. You are the only one who is able to see her well looked after in this time. Do not fail in this."
"My lord, the Ikari returns."
Laithlyn drew himself up in his bed just after the sunrise with as must dignity as he could muster so soon after waking and such a deep dreamstate. He dismissed the messenger with a wave of his hand and dredged himself out of bed. It looked like he had his answer to the questions over his dream.
But what was he ever do to with a young, girl child?
* * * * * [umm, can you say 'missing scenes'?]