Sword Masters (50 page)

"It's Elise, the baby's coming," he said out of breath.

Jena looked at Tarius. "It's too soon."

"Where are they?" Tarius asked.

"At the birthing hut," Rimmy said.

"Send for the witch Jazel. Tell her what is happening. Go at once," Tarius ordered. Rimmy took off running again, and Tarius took off in the direction of the birthing hut, changing into the Katabull as she went, her speed increasing with the change.

Radkin ran up to Jena. "Jena . . . what's going on?" she asked.

"Harris and Elise's baby is coming," Jena said.

"It's too soon," Radkin said. Jena nodded and ran in the same direction Tarius had gone.

* * *

Tarius burst through the door of the hut and was glad to see that besides the head birth attendant there were two others in attendance.

Tarius walked up and put a hand on Harris's shoulder, and Harris looked up at her with a terror in his eyes that he had never known in battle.

Elise was obviously in pain.

"Can you stop the pains?" Tarius asked the head birth attendant. "Keep her from having it yet?"

"We tried," he said, "but her water broke a few minutes ago, and the baby is coming."

Elise just cried. Tarius looked at her. "Nothing will happen to your baby, Elise. I won't allow it." Tarius sounded ridiculous, and she knew it, but Elise seemed to calm down immediately.

Tarius let go of Harris and pulled the attendant to the side. "Is it too early? Can the child live?"

"It is rare, Great Leader, but not unheard of. If the baby is breathing when it is born, it may live."

"I sent for the witch Jazel, but it will take her most of a day to get here," Tarius said.

"We will do everything we can," he said. Tarius nodded.

"It's my fault!" Harris screamed suddenly. "The child is deformed like me. He's dying because of me!"

To everyone's shock and surprise, Tarius walked over, took Harris by the collar, jerked him to his feet and dragged him from the hut. Outside she looked him straight in the eyes and slapped him hard. "Calm down! The child should be so lucky to be deformed like you. This is
not
your fault, and it's not Elise's fault. This sort of thing happens, that's all. You have to hold it together for her." Tarius hugged him quickly. "We will do everything we can do, Harris, and what you have to do is be calm and strong."

Harris nodded, and together they walked back inside.

Jena got there out of breath. She went to the other side of Elise's bed and took hold of the hand Harris wasn't holding. She said nothing, there was nothing to say. This whole thing reminded her a little too much of her own loss, yet she felt she had to be there for her friends.

About an hour later the baby was born, blue and not breathing. "I'm sorry," the attendant said with sadness.

"You give up too easily," Tarius said. With tears streaming down her face she pushed Harris out of the way and took the baby from the attendant. It was still attached to its mother by the throbbing umbilical cord. Tarius scooped the goo from the baby's mouth and nostrils, covered both with her mouth and breathed into him slowly. They all just watched her in awe, thinking her mad. "Get me a blanket." The attendant handed her one. Tarius wrapped the tiny baby in it and continued to do what she had been doing. Except now she also started rubbing the baby's chest with her thumb.

Elise was screaming and crying in grief, and Harris was trying to comfort her.

Jena put a gentle hand on Tarius's shoulder. Her tears rolled down her cheeks unchecked. "Tarius . . . the baby is gone. Let it go . . ."

"I am not crazy!" Tarius screamed. "I have seen Robert do this to wounded men on the front to bring them back." She continued what she was doing.

The baby made a tiny cry, so low it could hardly be heard, yet everyone in the room was suddenly quiet. Tarius held the baby upside down and slapped his butt. More mucus came from the baby's nose and mouth, and she quickly wiped it away with the blanket. The baby's color was changing from blue to pink as she watched. He was breathing, labored yes, but he was alive. Tarius carefully handed the baby to Elise, who looked at him and smiled through her tears. She still cried, but this time they were tears of relief and joy.

The birth attendant undid the blankets just enough to tie a string around the umbilical. "Do you want to cut the cord?" he asked Harris.

Harris looked from his son to Tarius. "I want Tarius to do it with her blade."

"I would be honored." Tarius pulled her blade and cut the cord where the birth attendant instructed.

"You must show me what you did, Great Leader," he said with admiration.

Tarius nodded silently and sheathed her sword. She wiped the baby goo and blood from her mouth with a towel one of the lesser attendants handed her.

Harris undid the baby's blankets and looked at his feet. "He's all right!" Harris cried. "He's tiny, but he's not deformed." Harris looked at Tarius. "How can I ever thank you, Tarius? You saved our son."

"Harris, you saved my life, remember?" Tarius said. "You owe me no debt; it is I who will owe you. Always."

"We shall name our son Tarius," Elise said. "It was you who brought Harris and I together, and you who breathed your very breath into him to give him life."

Harris nodded in an approving way. "If it's all right with you and Jena, Tarius."

"It is," Tarius said.

Jena nodded silently.

"I . . . I have to go now." Tarius stepped quickly from the hut.

Jena looked at Harris. "I better go check on Tarius. I am so happy for you all." She left to go after her mate. She found her a few feet away leaning against a tree with her hands on her knees and crying like Jena had never seen her cry before. Jena went to her and put an arm around her waist. "Tarius what's wrong? You saved him. He'll live now. I just know it."

"I don't know why I'm crying," Tarius cried. "Yes, I do. Your child—
our
child died because of me. Who was there to save
him
? Not me."

"Tragon killed our child, Tarius. You are no more to blame than I am. All I had to do was ask Arvon to take me to you, and he would have done so. But I was afraid, so I waited till it was too late. It was not to be, love," Jena said gently.

"I had just told them I wouldn't allow their child to die, but when I was standing there breathing into him and rubbing his chest I was just guessing. I had seen Robert do it, but that was on full-grown men. Not a tiny baby. And even with all Robert's skill, most of the grown men didn't live long. For a minute I was as sure as everyone else that the baby was dead, and that I had failed Harris. Harris, to whom I owe my life. It was just luck, and the will of the Nameless One that the baby started to breathe. Then Harris and Elise heap these honors upon me. There was only one other time in my life that I have felt as helpless and as truly frightened as when I was holding that tiny baby in my arms trying to breathe life into it. That was when I realized that Persius was going to expose me in front of you." She dried her face on the back of her hands. "He named his son after me. Me! And I owe
everything
to him."

"And he owes everything to you. So the two cancel each other out, and there is no debt between you. He knows how you feel about him, and you know how he feels about you." Jena smiled then and kissed the top of Tarius's head. "If it makes you feel any better, you can name our first son Harris."

Tarius smiled and stood up; she hugged Jena tight. "And I was just thinking how confusing it was going to be to have two of me running around."

* * *

The baby struggled that first night, but by noon the next day Jazel was there with her powders and her potions. Within hours the baby's breathing became more regular, his appetite increased, and his color improved.

Tarius invited Jazel to eat with them. She sat across the table from Tarius. "All right, so what is it you want now?" Jazel asked after they had finished their meal.

Jena laughed and started to clear away the plates.

"I want you to go to Amalite with us. To help us annihilate the Amalites," Tarius said. "Run a few stealth and silence spells, do a little medicine."

"I'll do it on one condition," Jazel said.

Jena didn't let her finish. "Tarius is not sleeping with Helen."

"Now damn it, Jena," Jazel said. "Put yourself in my position. How would you like to have a woman who was always lusting after another? If Tarius would just do her once and do a really bad job of it, slobber and fart maybe start talking about a beheading—Helen has this fear of being beheaded—my life could get back to what it once was."

"Sorry," Jena said.

"Then I'm not going," Jazel said crossing her arms across her chest.

"All right then," Tarius said.

"Over my dead body!" Jena screamed out angrily.

"Jena, we have to do what's right for our people. We all have to sacrifice. Of course I can't promise to do a bad job, because I am after all the Katabull." She looked at Jena with meaning, and Jena smiled.

"Yes, you are the Katabull," Jena said.

"What the hell has that got to do with anything?" Jazel asked.

"Sometimes when I'm . . . Well, you know doing it. I become the Katabull."

Jena looked starry eyed. "Does she ever!"

"After that, I really have no control over what I do sexually."

"It's amazing!" Jena moaned out.

"Wait a minute," Jazel said suspiciously. "Are you trying to scam me?"

"It's a little-known fact about the Katabull," Tarius said. "But I wouldn't worry, Jazel. I mean after all it's a one-time thing, and Helen does love you, doesn't she?"
"The last thing I need is you doing her so good I can never compete!" Jazel fumed. "OK, then here's my compromise. Whenever you are around Helen, you have to wear this special potion which will make you unappealing to her."

"Will it affect me as well?" Jena asked.

"No . . . All right, so it's not really a potion, it's just a fragrance Helen hates, but maybe it will do the trick anyway," Jazel said. She shrugged. "So, I guess I'm going to go fight your war with you."

Three weeks later, the Kartik armada set sail for the coast of Amalite.

Hestia, Dirk and the royal retinue rode on the Silver Eagle with Tarius, Jena and the Marching Night.

Hestia was taking a sword lesson from Tarius on the deck. She had thought herself a fair swordswoman, but after four minutes of sparring with Tarius the Black, she felt inadequate and wondered why she hadn't stayed home in her castle where she was safe.

"She's very good," Darian said to Dirk.

"Tarius is trouncing her, so how can you tell?" Dirk asked with a laugh.

"By how long it's taking for Tarius to trounce her. There is no shame in losing a sword fight to Tarius. She's the best swordsman who ever lived," Darian said.

"You're her woman's father, aren't you?" Dirk asked.

"Yes," Darian said. "I once tried to have Tarius killed, did you know?"

"No, I didn't," Dirk replied.

"Well, I did. I was filled with a red rage and couldn't see past my own hurt and embarrassment. I thought I'd never get used to the two of them together. Now I can't imagine them being apart. They just seem to belong together."

"After the war, will you remain in the Jethrik?" Dirk asked curiously.

"No. If I live, I will go back to Kartik. Jena is there, and she tells me they'll start their family when they get back. I hope I live to tell my grandchildren stories about sitting on the deck of this ship heading for war with the Amalites, talking to the queen's consort."

Dirk laughed and nodded. "I hope we all get to tell stories to our grandkids."

* * *

Hestia held up her hand. "I must rest."

Tarius nodded. Hestia sat on a chair, and Tarius sat on the deck getting glares from every Katabull that saw her. She waved a flippant hand in the air, dismissing their disapproval.

"So, have I got time to learn everything about combat and strategy before we land and start fighting?" Hestia asked.

"I thought that's why you were riding with us," Tarius said with a smile. "The truth is you can only learn technique from practice. You learn warfare by fighting in it. You wanted to be Hestia the Warrior Queen, so prepare yourself."

Hestia nodded. "I'd rather die being Hestia the Warrior Queen than live being Hestia the Dull," she said. "I was trained for battle all my life, yet I have never really crossed swords with anyone. I have never drawn my enemy's blood or had mine drawn. I have never watched my opponent's life drain from his body or wondered whether I was about to die. Look at you, Tarius. Your body is a map of scars telling where you've been and what you've done. Minstrels write songs about you and your adventures, and bards weave tales. There is no one in all the world who doesn't know who Tarius the Black is. I doubt the average Kartik in the street even knows my name let alone anything about me. I'm a good ruler, but a highly forgettable one. I don't want to be. I want passion; I want this." She flung her arms wide. "The sea wind blowing through my hair on a ship with the best fighting force the world has ever known going to do battle against our enemies with no idea of the outcome."

"War isn't romantic, Hestia . . ."

"Jena has already told me the little speech you gave her, so spare me, Tarius," Hestia said. "I know all the cons of going off to war. The gods know, my advisors have pointed them all out to me. Leaving my younger and dumber brother in charge while we're away, the very real possibility I'll be killed, and all the rest. I just don't care anymore. I know it's a terribly selfish thing for a monarch to say, but I want to have an adventure, to truly taste life. I want to do something that I want to do. This is something I want to do."

Tarius nodded. "Like me you were born to the sword."

"How can you say that after you just trounced me?" Hestia said in disbelief.

"Because I beat everyone," Tarius said smugly and jumped to her feet without using her hands. "I'm also the Katabull." She took off for the helm where Jena was standing looking out to sea.