Pawns and Queens--a 15th Century Gwynedd Story--Chapter Thirty-Five

[Evie]

Previous chapter: https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3272.0.html


Chapter Thirty-Five

September 28, 1464
The City of Rhemuth
The City Walls
Evening

The guards watching from the City walls had seen signs of enemy activity earlier in the day that appeared highly suspicious. A barge had appeared from someplace downriver, likely not Concaradine or Desse, since both of those river port towns had been secured by friendly forces since the attacks on both earlier in the month, but the enemy continued to be supplied from other ports downriver nonetheless. This barge appeared to contain thralls, for the passengers offloaded slightly upstream of the official Rhemuth river docks, at the new temporary docks built further upstream on the Eirian just a little out of range of the wall catapults, all had clean-shaven heads.

The mystery of what the Eistenmarckers meant to do with their latest shipment of captives was soon cleared up when the main gates in the middle of the enemy breastworks were opened and some of the enemy soldiers appeared, pushing and pulling a large trebuchet into the space just beyond it, yet still out of bowshot of the Rhemuth archers.

It was, in theory, just barely within range of a few of the wall catapults on the section of the City wall closest to the enemy gate. But the nearest catapults would first need to be moved to more favorable positions in order to hit it with their missiles.

In the meantime, the sky began to rain men. These were still alive and in one piece, at least on their way up. By the time they made it to the ground or rooftops within the City walls, the same was not true for most of them. Yet enough of the captives survived their initial rough landing that some effort needed to be made to save them nonetheless, and others were injured by being beneath collapsing roofs or directly in the path of flying people hurled through the air at great speed.

"Call to the Castle and Cathedral for Healers!" Lord Anthony ordered, sending two of the garrison's soldiers to summon aid for the injured and dying. "Physicians also, or anyone with experience in tending to the wounded!"

The catapults were moved into place and their aim repositioned, but still the rain of screaming captives continued falling on the City.

#

September 28, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Melisande's Apartment
Late evening

Melisande had finally managed to get the girls to sleep, a task made more difficult by the fact that the City was under enemy attack again, and even though this time the activity seemed to be concentrated in the northeastern part of the City farthest from the Castle, and there were no signs of ghostly apparitions flying about, her daughters were still scared by the thought that the nightmarish events they had once been subjected to might possibly recur. Fortunately they were in the part of the apartment block that was furthest from the City, making it impossible to see any of the frantic activity in the city below from the small windows overlooking the garden courtyard, but it was still evident from the sounds of mounted riders coming and going and the heightened sense of alert all around them that something unusual was taking place not very far away. Even Mellie, with her purely human senses, could pick up on that much, and her children were far more sensitive to such things, being Deryni.

If Colin came home anytime soon, she would need to consult with him on the best way to help the girls through such emergencies. It was not the sort of thing she ever imagined she would need to do without him present to help.

Mellie returned to the room she shared with Lucie now, since Anneke had recently started sleeping too lightly for Mellie to sneak back into the room with her daughters once it was her own bedtime. Lucie had recently secured a position for herself in the new Royal Nursery as a part-time nursemaid for the newborn Princess Cynewyn, and Anneke and Emmeline had also been invited to the nursery for a few hours a day, ostensibly to play in a chamber filled with suitable amusements for young children and learn some social skills, but also in order that they might begin learning such things that royal daughters were expected to learn even in their tender years. Anneke had reached the proper age for learning her letters and numbers, so she would be spending a few hours of each day undergoing tutelage as well. Mellie was glad her daughters would receive such educational opportunities, but she felt a little at loose ends now also, since she had originally expected such lessons would naturally fall upon her to provide.

Then again, she was about to find her hands full caring for another baby, provided they both survived the birth. Mellie felt more than a few qualms about that too. She had been diligent about wearing the Queen's embroidered charm ever since it had unexpectedly returned to her keeping, but would her sporadic use of it have been enough to give her the protection she needed? She had also not started wearing it at all until several months into her pregnancy, not realizing she was pregnant to begin with, and surely the late start would not have helped either. Colin seemed to think that she was in a lot less danger here, giving birth in Rhemuth Castle with access to trained professional Healers rather than just the village midwife in Candor Rhea, but Mellie was less sure. As much as she adored the man, there were many times when he had been steadfastly certain of things he had been just as strongly wrong about.

"How are you feeling?" Lucie said, glancing back at her with a concerned look. She was still standing next to the window, gazing down at the activity in the garden below.

"Tired," said Mellie. "And anxious. I just wish the war was over and things would go back to normal."

Lucie turned. "You aren't still wanting to return to Candor Rhea, are you?"

"Want to? Yes. My happiest years were spent there, and I refuse to let the Jouvians take that from me. But with the girls being educated here, and still so young, I doubt I will be able to go back for a few years." Mellie sighed. That had not been her most joyous of moments, when the realization first struck her that she would need to remain in Rhemuth, if not at the Castle itself, for the time being, once the war ended and Colin returned as the victorious King (God willing!) and settled into proper newlywed life with his beautiful and gracious Queen. Mellie would be quite extraneous then, an unwanted reminder of what the rest of the Court considered his misspent youth, best forgotten. She was heartbroken, yet resigned to her loss, as she had known from the very beginning that her liaison with Colin would someday end up this way, and she had chosen to spend what time she could with him nonetheless, deciding his love was worth the cost.

An odd familiar tightening began in her abdomen. She frowned. It couldn't be a contraction yet, she was certain. The Royal Healer had told her that the baby wouldn't be due until the middle of October, and Melisande's hasty calculations from the only date the child could have been conceived assured her of the same thing. Hopefully this was just the mild, irregular sort that sometimes came upon a woman before her time, but which led to nothing.  She shouldn't be experiencing genuine contractions for another two weeks.

Neither should she be experiencing the sudden gush of liquid that drenched her ankles as she stood in the doorway of her bedchamber. Mellie inhaled sharply, lifting her skirts to check the puddle of liquid at her feet and wetting the hem of her chemise while Lucie, startled, grabbed up a candle and moved towards her to help.

Mellie knew that a gush of watery fluid was normal at some stage in the childbirth process, although with her previous pregnancies it had only happened after she had been laboring for several hours. It was meant to be clear though, or nearly so. It was not meant to be light pink.

"Let me help you to bed, Mellie," Lucie said, looking very pale. "You look like you might faint."

Mellie allowed herself to be assisted. "Go fetch the midwife, or if any are available, a Healer," she told Lucie. "I think their chambers are near the Infirmarium."

"I'll go at once," Lucie said as soon as Mellie was safely settled onto the bed. "I'll come back with help as soon as I can."

"Don't worry," Mellie tried to reassure her frightened friend, very much aware that Lucie was also pregnant with her first child and not wishing her to be spooked by the process. "It will likely take several hours. Once you find help, you can go sleep in my bed in the girls' room, or maybe take them with you somewhere else. That might be best, don't you think?"

Lucie nodded. "I'll figure out something." She ran out the door, flying down the corridor as quickly as she could to find someone who could help.

#

September 28, 1464
Outside the Rhemuth City Walls
The Enemy Encampment
The Royal Pavilion
Late Evening

"My liege!" the Torenthi scout exclaimed as he gasped for breath, "the main body of the Gwyneddan army is less than ten miles away, approaching from the north and east. I think their King hopes to pin us between the river and the city walls by dawn."

"Does he now?" King Torval asked, not appearing particularly worried. "Well, we must go on disappointing him. Don't worry, boy, I doubt Kolya will attack tonight or even first thing in the morning. It would be foolish of him to engage our fresh troops with his tired ones at the end of a forced march. If we strike camp now, we should be able to evade him easily enough. If we get the timing just right, we could loop around his flank and catch him between the river and the walls. And if not, we can still avoid getting cornered."

"Or we can avoid fleeing like startled rabbits and just stay put," Ingrid offered, looking quite annoyed by her husband's idea. "So what if they think they can corner us? I can confuse their minds and get them hopelessly lost trying to find their way here, just like I did when they tried to enter the Cleyde Valley during the summer blót. Do you doubt my abilities?"

"Well, that whole 'Bride of Fire shall be wed for the sake of the land' babble hasn't exactly panned out, has it?" Torval retorted, equally irritated by his wife. "You and your forces can remain if you prefer. While I don't mind engaging with the King of Gwynedd's forces on my own terms and terrain of my own choosing, I have little desire to carelessly throw away more of my Torenthi army than I absolutely must, and since you rather stupidly decided to fill our barges with thralls to use as missiles rather than with the winter provisions our army needs to stay on its feet, I've been thinking it might be better to return home for the winter, replenish our supplies, get several months of decent rest, and try again in the spring anyway. Besides, I thought you only wanted Kheldour."

"I've changed my mind," said Ingrid. "Rhemuth will be much more pleasant in the winter, and if you would just hold your ground patiently, it will be ours in just a few more days. Kheldour is better suited for a summer palace. And with that tiresome Rémy out of the way, I might take Carthmoor as well. Lots of nice ports along that stretch of coastline for my ships to dock, and you can still have Corwyn if you like."

"Nice of you to allow me to keep a portion of my intended kingdom!" snarled her husband.

King Haakon, who had been riding along the banks of the Eirian, came back through the camp at a canter, reining in and leaping off his horse, handing it over to one of the hirðmenn to take care of before dashing into the pavilion. "Móðir, one of our scouts just returned from across the river. He says there are enemy forces heading this way from the west, maybe half a day's march from here. Can I go fight them?"

"They're likely meeting up with the main force that's moving in from the north and east," Torval informed his stepson. "I was planning on moving my forces around their flank to attack them from behind before they can do the same to us. You can join your forces with mine if you wish, Your Majesty."

Haakon, pleased to be invited man-to-man, grinned at his royal peer. "Won't that be a lovely surprise for the Gwyneddans! When do we strike camp?"

"We do not!" Ingrid snapped. "The Eistenmarcke army follows my lead! I am the Konungamóðir!"

"So you are," said Haakon. "And in case it has somehow escaped your attention, Móðir, I am the Konungr! My men follow me now!"  The young King stalked out of the pavilion, shouting orders to his hirðmenn.

Torvan raised an eyebrow at his pregnant wife. "So, are you still planning on staying behind? I can leave the pavilion for you if you are."

Ingrid scowled, refusing to give in. "Of course I am staying, as will my shield-maidens. Who else do you think is going to provide magical cover for you stupid, hotheaded arses?"

#

September 28, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Melisande's Apartment
Night

The Royal Infirmarium had been empty, and even the midwife had not been in the small room nearby that was assigned for her use. Lucie had been quite in a panic by the time she ran back downstairs, nearly rushing headlong into the Queen of Gwynedd.

"Please, Your Majesty, it's Mellie! She's gone into labor, and I can't find the midwife, and there's no one there to help her!"

Catalina stared at the girl in shock. "Mellie is in labor?" Her mind raced as she tried to remember Colin's paramour's due date. "It's still a couple of weeks early, isn't it? Is she sure?"

Tears sprang into Lucie's eyes. "Her water broke. And I don't know what to do!"

"All right." Catalina's mind raced furiously. "Run to my apartment–you know where it is, right? Tell Lady Amina I require her assistance at once. Then go to Queen Alixa's apartment and let the Queen Mother know to meet me at Melisande's apartment. If she should balk, tell her the Queen requests and requires her assistance. If you happen to see any of the castle maidservants along the way–especially any who have been through childbirth themselves or at least have attended a birth before, you might as well send them up also. Where are Mellie's girls?"

"They're still in the apartment, asleep in the next room, Your Majesty."

Catalina hoped they were still sleeping, and hadn't been awakened by sensing the onset of their mother's labor pains, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. She could send them straight back into sleep if they had.

"All right. Once you have found Amina and Queen Soraya and anyone else you think might prove helpful, you can take the girls up to the Royal Nursery for the night. Maybe they'll think it's a grand adventure, getting to sleep in the playroom." A sudden thought occurred to Catalina. "Do you happen to know if Mellie still wears an embroidered scrap of ribbon next to her chest?"

"The one pinned to her chemise?" Lucie asked. "Yes, I think so. Prince Rémy gave it to me back at Candor Rhea, but I didn't want any reminders of him, so I told her she could have it if she liked it." The young woman looked puzzled. "Is it important?"

Catalina breathed a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how much."

#

September 28, 1464
The main Gwyneddan army encampment
Duchy of Haldane
Night

"Your Majesty," said Sebastian, appearing very confused. "Eldred and I took the Via Rûmana as close as we dared to Rhemuth before breaking away from the main road and bearing west, hoping to spy on their encampment from that direction, only everything that ought to be in that location appeared to be gone!"

"They've broken camp, then?" asked the King.

"No, I meant Rhemuth looks like it's gone!  I mean, obviously it's not, and eventually I was able to use that Anviller trick Lord Salim taught us to see through the illusion, but Eldred never could see through it himself, being human and not having a dose of the new elixir with him. When we rode to a hill where we should have been able to see the entire city and encampment in the distance, all we saw was the confluence where the Eirian and the Molling Rivers joined. My mind tells me everything is still there, but our eyes say otherwise." Sebastian frowned. "They may also be on the move, because the encampment looked a lot smaller than I remember it being, once I was able to see it, but at this point I'm not even sure what is real and what is just my mind playing tricks on me."

"How much smaller did it appear?" Nicholas asked.

"Even that is difficult to say," Sebastian answered, sounding frustrated. "It's maybe a third the size it once was, but some of the tents I saw look like Jouvian ones that were left behind when their army surrendered. The Royal Pavilion is still there, though, as well as the breastworks, and they've got at least one active trebuchet still standing." He grimaced. "It appeared to be firing live men, though I'm really hoping that was just another illusion. It was really hard to tell for sure through the mist."

"Through the mist. Hm." A magical sort of mist, no doubt. It gave the King a glimmer of an idea, but he wasn't sure how practical or effective it would be. Wouldn't hurt to run it by Lord Arilan anyway, or perhaps Corwyn or Cassan. Thinking aloud, he idly asked, "What drives away mists, I wonder? Ordinary ones, that is?"

Sebastian frowned. "I don't know, sire. Breezes, maybe? Or sunlight? Morning mists usually disappear once there's a bit of light and heat in the air, don't they?"

Nicholas nodded thoughtfully. "Of course, I doubt this is any ordinary sort of mist. But it sounds like trying to focus on discerning truth from illusion is going to be very difficult in the middle of a pitched battle, even with our Deryni troops knowing the Anviller trick and the human soldiers using the elixir, yes?"

"Eldred didn't have any elixir with him, so we haven't had a chance to test that, but I am not sure I would have the necessary focus to see through illusions while also trying to land a sword swing or aim a spear properly." Sebastian looked very worried by the prospect.

"So I suppose we'll need to figure out how to clear that mist," said Nicholas. "At least the human soldiers greatly outnumber the Deryni ones; maybe the elixir will give them more of a fighting chance if my idea doesn't work."

#

September 28, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Melisande's Apartment
Late Night

Amina was furious! She could have been sound asleep in her own bed, but here she was instead, attending to the King's puta and her malparido while the Queen ran around the castle like a mere errand girl!

"¡Levántate! You need to walk." Amina hoisted the woman out of bed, throwing one of her limp arms over her shoulder and supporting her at the waist to force her upright. She hoped she wouldn't be contaminated by the contact, but until the birthing stool could be found, the birthing process would be faster if the whelping woman wasn't lying flat in bed. "Madre de Dios, you are fat as a cow!"

The woman took a few steps, then went completely limp. Amina uttered a string of curses under her breath and dragged her back to the bed. A flash of color beneath the puta's almost obscenely sheer nightgown caught her eye, and Amina stared at it in disbelief. No, it couldn't be! How could she have acquired another Andelonian charm? Surely La Reina hadn't made her a new one?

Amina swiftly unpinned it from the woman's chemise, tucking it into her belt pocket. She would dispose of it, but not here. La Reina would be back at any moment, and if she spotted Amina holding it, she might ask inconvenient questions. Catalina was far too innocent and tenderhearted for her own good. She had no idea how much damage this puta could do to her marriage, poisoning her husband's mind against her. He would make a laughingstock of his Queen by plowing and seeding his kept woman here in the Castle right under her very nose.

The door opened, and Catalina re-entered the room. "Mellie?"

"She fainted," said Amina. "Maybe she will die. I have seen it before, women too weak to keep bearing baby after baby for men with little self-control...."

"Basta, Amina!" Catalina rushed to the woman's bedside, taking her hand to check her pulse. Even unconscious, the puta's belly tightened with another contraction, the movement putting Amina in mind of a feeding serpent. The serpent in Eden, the one who caused the fall of mankind. That loathsome creature fit for nothing but being crushed beneath one's heel.

Her preciosa, Amina thought, was far too innocent for this world. She did not think she needed protection anymore, but she did. And Amina would stop at nothing to protect her. It was her honor and her duty.

"Queen Soraya is on her way. If you can't be helpful here, go be useful somewhere else," Catalina chided her. "Go check the Infirmarium and see if the midwife has returned yet. If not, head into the City and find one of the Healers. The trebuchet has stopped, likely due to all that fog out there, so surely at least one Healer can be spared now!"

The woman began to stir. Amina gave her a disgusted look and stalked out of the apartment.

#

September 29, 1464
The main Gwyneddan army encampment
Duchy of Haldane
Midnight

King Nicholas sent couriers out to find Prince Camber's and Duke Joscelin's forces, hoping that each group contained at least one Deryni who was skilled with weather working, for that would be needed for the plan he had in mind.

At his own camp, his squire Oisin MacArdry and Cinhil's former squire Edmund de Nore sat in the King's pavilion, looking over a map of the Rhemuth area.

"Oisin, I want you focused on creating bright flame or perhaps handfire above the map. Imagine Rhemuth having a particularly bright and sunny day. Perhaps focus more on light and gentle warmth, if you can manage that, rather than too hot a flame. I'd rather not be roasting out there in my armor. Edmund, you will take the fan and keep a breeze going across the map towards...let's see...." Nicholas tried to envision which directions the three combining forces were most likely to approach from, so as to avoid sending the magical mists towards any of the approaching armies. "Fan them towards the west, I suppose, or slightly towards the southwest might be better."

"Your Majesty, what if we happen to encounter the enemy army after dark? I might be able to subtly enhance existing sunlight, but I'm pretty sure I can't create it!" asked Oisin, looking rather nervous about the prospect of needing to do the impossible.

"No worries, just do the best you can. If we meet them after dark, both of you can focus on increasing the breezes instead, but I suspect Torval at least will want to engage us during daylight hours. There is no guarantee any of this will work anyhow, but if it can give us even a little bit of an advantage, I'd rather try it than not," their King said. "And once the fighting actually begins, hopefully you'll be able to stop then. I imagine Ingrid will be taking to the field at that point, and I doubt she can sustain her illusions while actually in the thick of battle, leading her men. But God only knows, when it comes to her seether-magic."

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Melisande's Apartment
Midnight

Queen Soraya first assisted Lucie with her son's daughters, using a gentle but firm word of command to ensure they would follow the young woman straight to the Royal Nursery, where they would fall right back asleep and not awaken until the next morning, with no memories that might serve to alarm them. That task accomplished, she entered the room where her son's former paramour lay.

"Catherine, you shouldn't be here," she admonished her pregnant daughter-by-marriage quietly. "I've given birth to seven children, let me take over from here. You don't need any anxieties or fears marking your heir."

"As I doubt my male heir is likely to ever experience the travails of childbirth, I'm not too concerned about that, Maman," Catalina said as she moved to one side to make room for Queen Soraya at the bedside. "But I am very concerned about Colin's mental state if he returns only to discover we've lost Mellie."

At the sound of her name, the young woman stirred, her brilliant blue eyes fluttering open. "Colin's here?" she whispered.

"I'm afraid not," Catalina said. "And we are still trying to find you a Healer or midwife, but in the meantime, would you mind if Queen Soraya has a look to see how far you've progressed? There's a chance we might need to deliver the baby ourselves, and possibly here in your bed, as we've been unable to find the birthing stool either, and apparently you passed out when Lady Amina tried to help you walk earlier. Can you remember that?"

"Can't...remember...." Mellie whispered, grimacing as another contraction coursed through her.  "Feel...a bit cold."

Catalina placed a hand on Mellie's brow, concerned to find that her skin felt a little clammy.

"I'm going to have a quick look, Melisande," said Soraya, lifting the hem of Mellie's nightshirt. She turned slightly pale. "How do you feel right now? Compared to your previous births, does this feel similar or different?" Catching Catalina's eye, she added in Mind-Speech, She's bleeding. Not a great deal, but more than she ought to be at this stage, which makes me wonder how much more she might bleed once the baby arrives.

"Feels...a little like Emmeline's birth. Nearly died." Tears sparkled in Mellie's eyes. "Shouldn't have risked it again...."

"It's a little late for second thoughts now," Soraya said, patting Mellie's hand. "I know you might not be able to help yourself, but try not to push if that urge comes on. Fortunately I think you're not quite far enough into your labor for it to come on yet, so hopefully that will buy us more time to find you a Healer."

Catalina found a linen towel and folded it into a pad, hoping that would help staunch the flow of blood. She cast her senses outwards, looking for Amina, finally finding her near the Infirmarium. Good! Hopefully she had found someone there who could help.

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Near the Infirmarium
Early morning hours

Amina spotted the midwife coming down the corridor. From the stains on her apron, she had just returned from another birth. She looked exhausted.

"Happy news?" Amina asked, gesturing to the apron the midwife was in the process of removing.

"Aye! The Countess of Kierney is safely delivered of a healthy boy. Her lord husband will be right pleased once he returns from the war. I'm just here to pick up a few tonics to help Her Excellency regain her strength after her ordeal, then once I'm done with that, I'm for my bed. Unless...were you in need of me, my lady, or were you here looking for the Healer?"

Amina smiled. "I checked the Infirmarium, but the Healers don't appear to have returned yet," she said quite truthfully. "I am glad to hear la contessa is doing well. Por favor, don't let me keep you." If asked, she could say with equal truthfulness that the midwife had been otherwise engaged assisting with another birth that morning. That was likely where the birthing stool had ended up also. Feeling quite cheerful about having discharged that particular unwanted duty, she wandered off.

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Melisande's Apartment
Early morning hours

Catalina had a sudden thought. Lucie had told her that Mellie still wore the embroidered charm next to her skin. Perhaps she could move it a few inches lower, touching the skin above her womb rather than just above her heart, moving the energies of the spell a little closer to where the magical intervention was needed. Also, she recalled Queen Alixa telling her of some sort of 
royal birth girdle she'd worn during Cynewyn's birth, which also carried some form of protective spells inscribed upon it.

"Maman, where is the royal birth girdle normally kept? Would Alixa still have it in her chamber?" Catalina asked as she turned the neckline of Mellie's nightgown inside out, searching for the ribbon that was meant to be pinned to it.

"I'm not sure. I don't recall seeing it in her chamber since that evening, so she might have returned it to the midwife's care," said Soraya.

Catalina extended her senses again, looking for Amina. She could sense the woman leaving the part of the castle complex that housed the Infirmarium. Did you find the midwife?

I found out the Countess of Kierney also went into labor sometime this evening, Amina promptly replied.

Catalina groaned. Then go find a Healer. I think this is shaping up to be a more complicated birth than the usual, so that might be the best option anyway.  Opening her eyes, she spotted an odd glint of something shiny lodged between two floorboards. Picking it up, she discovered it was a small brass pin. Had this been the one Mellie used to pin the ribbon to her chemise? If so, maybe the pin had come loose when Amina was trying to get Mellie back into the bed, so the ribbon must be around somewhere. Catalina knelt, peering under the bed.

"What are you looking for, Catherine?" Soraya asked.

"My mother gave me a protective charm against injury or death in childbed. I gave it to Mellie, since Colin told me she'd been warned any pregnancy would carry a high risk after Emmeline's birth." She straightened, furrowing her brow with concern. "It's not here. But I know she's in the habit of wearing it, because I asked Lucie earlier this evening if Mellie still has it, and she told me she does."

"Maybe it's slipped into her gown," Soraya said, pulling the fabric away from Mellie's chest to peer down the neckline. "Mellie, do you recall taking your charm off? What does it look like, Catherine?"

"A small bit of embroidered ribbon."

"I don't see anything of the sort," Soraya told her, looking at Mellie with concern, for she could sense the young woman sliding in and out of consciousness again, even though her contractions were growing stronger and more closely spaced.

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle Gatehouse
Early morning hours

Amina was so sleepy, but she knew if she didn't do what she was charged to do, there would be hell to pay. With La Reina sending out mental calls for her every few minutes, she dared not go back to her bed just yet. So she ventured out of the Castle and a few feet down the King's Way, careful to remain within the part of the city directly below the castle, where the street was well lit and clear enough that the moonlight overhead shone brightly down on her. Here she was risking her safety being out in the City at this God-forsaken time of the night, when even the enemy seemed to have fallen fast asleep, and for what?

Amina hoped the puta would just go ahead and die quickly.

A man in green rounded the corner ahead of her. She was fairly sure it was the wrong shade to be Healer Green, but just on the off chance, she turned around and went the other way.

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Melisande's Apartment
Pre-dawn hours

Mellie's labor had changed, the interval between her contractions growing much shorter now and the waves of pain more intense. Catalina did what she could to mitigate the pain, but she could do nothing about the increased bleeding soaking the makeshift pad. Soraya brought a new one to change it out with, but they both silently worried that Mellie would lose her battle.

"I'm scared," Mellie whispered.

"I know," Catalina said softly. "I'm sorry. I wish we could be more helpful." Glancing at Soraya, she added, If we can't find a Healer, maybe it's time to call in a priest. Even with her inexperience with birth-related matters, Catalina could sense that the infant Mellie carried was starting to experience some form of distress, and there was some sort of shift in Mellie's condition that she couldn't explain, but that felt terribly wrong nonetheless. "Is there anyone...." Catalina tried to figure out how to frame the question. "Do you have a confessor here in Rhemuth you would like us to find for you?"

Mellie uttered a sad laugh. "It was Camber, but then he left for the war. I suppose it doesn't really matter who you ask." Another contraction rippled through her, and she squeezed Catalina's hand as hard as she could, which was not nearly with as much strength as Catalina would have liked. She sensed Mellie's strength was beginning to fail, and that she might not have enough left to push when the time came, yet she was also very worried about what might happen once Mellie did start to push. She could lend Mellie more strength if she needed to. She couldn't lend her more blood.

"I've called for my confessor, Father Aleghieri," said Soraya. "He is on his way. I might need to meet him at the door when he draws nearer, so he'll find the right apartment."

"Will you care for my children?" Mellie asked Catalina. "I know it's a lot to ask."

"I am rather hoping you will still be around to do that, Mellie. Keep fighting! I'm not going to give up just yet." She squeezed Mellie's hand, trying to figure out if there was any way she could reach Colin, but even if he was close enough to hear her mental call, she couldn't imagine he would be conveniently near a portal so he could get here in time. So much change and chaos had come into their lives from this damn war!

The war. That brought another thought to the forefront of her mind.

"Maman...those Jouvians that Princess Cécile brought back with her a few nights ago, where are they housed? The man with the wife and son?"

The Queen Mother shook her head. "I'm not sure, the Castle is so full right now. Maybe in the Keep?"

"I keep thinking of him as 'the Blocker,' but what is the prerequisite for being a Blocker?"

Soraya smiled. "He's a Healer! And I doubt he would have gone into the City with the others, especially if he doesn't know Gwyneddan. But I know a little Jouvian. I'll see if I can find him." 

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
The Queen's Apartment
Dawn

Amina finally decided she had 'searched' long enough. It was getting more difficult to avoid others making their way back towards the castle. She returned to her bed at last, falling asleep almost immediately to enter the sweet dreams of the righteous.

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
Mellie's Apartment
Dawn

It had been one of his more challenging cases, and in the end, he had needed to send one of the royal ladies to fetch the midwife for assistance in helping him visualize what was likely happening in the young woman's womb, for obstetrics was far from his own area of expertise. Fortunately by the time the sun rose, the midwife was found sleeping in her bedchamber. The Royal Healer had returned as well by then, as had young Healer Saoirse, who had no experience in childbed matters, but much experience in staunching the flow of blood. What he lacked in language fluency, he made up for in the ability to exchange information by means of psychic rapport, the three Healers and the midwife learning to work together smoothly as a team to help their two patients as they battled to save the lives of both mother and child.

At last the child had been born–a second son for the King–and handed to his grandmother, for the young mother was still too weakened from her blood loss to do more than glance in his direction as they informed her she had given birth to a boy. Master Healer James continued to monitor the patient to make sure she was no longer bleeding freely, and the midwife checked the afterbirth to ensure none was left inside the patient's womb where it might fester and cause infection.

The lady's son was small, but that was little surprise considering he had been born two weeks earlier than expected. Healer James told the Queen that it was fortunate he had waited that long to put in an appearance, for babies born much earlier than that tended not to survive. The Queen Mother swaddled him warmly and took him closer to the hearth to ensure his continued warmth, and the window shutter was closed to the dawn's light to protect his eyes.

"I think my work here is done," said the midwife. "I'll swing by the nursery to see if Queen Alixa's wet nurse can help care for the little lad until his mother is better able to feed him herself, since Queen Alixa prefers to feed the little princess herself as much as possible, so there's little use for having a wet nurse handy if she won't be of use to someone."

The young pregnant Queen herself, now that the immediate crisis was over, fell into a nearby chair, tears beginning to stream from her eyes.

Healer Berthelot reached into his bag, finding a scrap of linen that might serve as a handkerchief. Searching for the proper Gwyneddan words, he tried to reassure her. "Votre Majesté, it is not always like this, the childbirth."

Queen Catherine laughed. "Sweet Jesú, I should hope not! Our kind would have gone extinct in the first generation after Eden!" She wiped her eyes. "Merci beaucoup pour votre aide, Maître Jordanet."

"The child is small and somewhat frail, but he does not appear to be in danger of dying. If that should change, I can baptize him then, or if he should take a sudden change for the worse, any of you can do so if it's an absolute emergency and no priest can be called in time," said Father Aleghieri. "I know Madame Midwife has had to do so before. At least I am relieved to know I won't be needed to administer the Last Rites for a dying mother. If the boy continues to thrive, we can hold off on his baptism until his father returns. Do you know what the boy is to be named?"

"I am not certain," the Queen replied. "I believe Mellie's father's name was Edward, but I forgot to ask if she planned on giving that name to her son." She stood, crossing over to crouch beside the bed, placing a gentle hand on Mellie's arm. "Mellie, did you want to name your son Edward?"

"Edward...Nicholas...."  Mellie's whisper was barely audible. "Colin." She seemed on the verge of falling asleep.

Catalina was not sure how she felt about the child bearing her husband's name, but then she thought about it from Mellie's perspective. She had loved Nicholas Haldane. This would be her last son by him. If she could not keep the Colin she had loved from her youth, at least she would have this one.

"Edward Nicholas FitzCarth...I mean, Fitzroy?" she repeated, making sure she understood Mellie's intentions correctly. As for the change in surname, Mellie's children were no longer the natural-born children of the Duke of Carthmoor, they were now the children of a king.

Mellie gave a faint nod.

"I'll add his name to the family records and see if I can find a courier to deliver the news to His Majesty."

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
The Queen's Apartment
Shortly after dawn

Catalina's exhausted steps took her into her bedchamber at long last. In the truckle bed, Amina snored quietly.

The Queen watched her sleeping camarera with an odd sense of disquiet. Slipping out of her outer garment, she hung up her giornea on the clothes bar and began unlacing the sleeves from her gamurra, hanging them up as well, accidentally knocking Amina's belt off the bar in the process. She reached out quickly, catching the belt pouch before it could hit the floor and wake Amina.

Something small and brightly colored fell out of the pouch, fluttering to the floor. Catalina froze as she recognized what it was.

Rage rose up within her like a red mist, momentarily obscuring her vision. She willed her anger to subside, replacing it with steely resolve. Catalina sent out a questioning tendril of thought towards the sleeping camarera, finding her shields down, fully unguarded. She probed further, Mind-Seeing Amina's thoughts and activities of the past few hours.

The Queen withdrew, exiting the chamber through the door leading into the King's Bedchamber and crossing the short distance from there to where Lord Salim and Lord Riordan were just beginning to stir from their slumber. My Lords, We request and require your assistance, she Mind-Spoke through their closed door.

#

September 29, 1464
Rhemuth Castle
The Queen's Apartment
Shortly after dawn

Amina found herself abruptly and rudely awakened by her two male Andelonian colleagues and a couple of armed castle guards. "Que pasa?" she muttered sleepily before sitting upright in shock, clutching her blankets around herself. Why were there four men in her bedchamber, of all places?!

"Doña Amina bint Nasir al-Zahra, you are under arrest by order of Her Majesty the Queen of Gwynedd," Lord Riordan informed her, looking far sterner than she had ever seen him.

"But...No entiendo!" She couldn't understand what was happening. Surely there must be some mistake?

"You will be taken to the Castle Keep to be held until His Majesty's Court in two days' time," he continued.

They couldn't do this! Not to her, a fine, upstanding Andelonian lady of sterling reputation! "I have done nothing wrong!"

"You will have a chance to plead your case before the Crown when you are brought into Court," said Lord Salim, looking grave as he handed her a giornea to wear over her nightgown.

"But what am I being charged with?" Amina asked, genuinely confused.

"Attempted murder of the mother of the King's children and the King's son."


Next chapter: https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3276.0.html

[DerynifanK]

Oh my, too much excitement. Battles inside and outside the castle. I thought all along that Amina should have been sent back to Andelon, but I didn't think she would actually try to kill Mellie. I wonder what will happen to her. Thank goodness Berthelot was available and could help and they finally got the midwife and Saorise to help. Both Mellie and her son survived and I hope will thrive. Catalina is remarkable that she would fight so hard to save a woman who might be regarded as a rival.
I also hope Nicholas's weather working ploy works as well as Dhugal's did and the forces attacking Rhemuth will be defeated. Time for this war to finally end. Wonder who will survive and who will not.

[revanne]

Just when it might have been reasonable to hope for things to calm down a little.

[Evie]

Oh my, too much excitement. Battles inside and outside the castle. I thought all along that Amina should have been sent back to Andelon, but I didn't think she would actually try to kill Mellie. I wonder what will happen to her.

You will find out soon, although perhaps not until next week, since I think the focus shifts to other characters on the battlefield this coming Thursday.

Thank goodness Berthelot was available and could help and they finally got the midwife and Saorise to help. Both Mellie and her son survived and I hope will thrive.

Well, Mellie wasn't supposed to, but then she and Catalina managed to convince me the sequel might be more interesting if Mellie survived. In the original germ of a story concept, Mellie was meant to die despite a valiant effort to save her, and Catalina was going to have to help Colin pull it back together enough to go back and win the war, as well as convince him to accept his newborn son, since Mellie's death wasn't his fault. But somewhere along the way, I decided it would be more interesting to see how that dynamic continues to play out if Mellie survived the birth. All things considered, I have been way more lenient on my characters in this story than I originally set out to be.

Catalina is remarkable that she would fight so hard to save a woman who might be regarded as a rival.

I suspect a war and everyone fighting for survival does a lot to help put things in perspective. Plus, Catalina is well aware that Colin's feelings for her are still very new and very much under development, so she would not want to risk alienating him by not doing her utmost to save Mellie, despite Mellie being her rival. Can you imagine if word somehow got back to him, "Yeah, it's sad, but the Queen basically just tossed up her hands and said 'No midwife to be found? Guess Mellie dies, then! That's one rival out of my hair...."? 

I also hope Nicholas's weather working ploy works as well as Dhugal's did and the forces attacking Rhemuth will be defeated. Time for this war to finally end. Wonder who will survive and who will not.

Given that we are down to our last three chapters (plus the epilogue), I guess we will find out very shortly!

Just when it might have been reasonable to hope for things to calm down a little.

Things will calm down a little...in about three chapters. 

[Evie]

I found this YouTube short video and thought it was both funny and possibly helpful. It's the actress Saoirse Ronan explaining how to pronounce several Irish names, including "Saoirse" and "Oisin," which is the name of one of Colin's squires, so I thought it might be useful to link to it here.

I love Irish names, but for people used to English orthography rather than Irish orthography, I realize they're an absolute pain to try to sound out.    (Though supposedly easy enough--according to Irish speakers, at least--if you can train your brain to stop looking at the letters as the English alphabet and sound each one out according to how the Irish language uses them instead.)

[DerynifanK]

Thanks for the video on how to pronounce Irish Names. Reminds me of the Polish names who have all consonants and few vowels only they have lots of vowels and not enough consonants.

[Evie]

Thanks for the video on how to pronounce Irish Names. Reminds me of the Polish names who have all consonants and few vowels only they have lots of vowels and not enough consonants.

I've discovered if I'm stuck on a name pronunciation (whether Irish or from some other language), chances are that YouTube has a pronunciation video for it, at least if I spell it correctly in the search bar. It's also sometimes a good source of names if I am looking for some from a particular culture, because the videos will usually show spelling as well as pronunciation and sometimes the name's meaning.

[revanne]

I was at school with a girl with a Polish dad. She said, "ignore what it looks like, just learn how to say it."

That has stood me in very good stead with Welsh and African names too.

[Demercia]

Fabulous chapter.  Was it intentional that Edward Nicholas shares his birthday with a certain darkling Duke?
And it seems to me that Catherine has some sympathy for Melie, so that her care is not only to protect Colin and her own position.

[Evie]

Fabulous chapter.  Was it intentional that Edward Nicholas shares his birthday with a certain darkling Duke?
And it seems to me that Catherine has some sympathy for Melie, so that her care is not only to protect Colin and her own position.

The birth date was not entirely planned, but it's a great coincidence. I used a due date calculator to work from the only potential date of conception, which gave her a due date in mid-October (I think the 15th or 16th). But I needed the baby born sooner than that, but still viable, so I moved his birth two weeks earlier, which in a time period before modern incubators were available would have been about as early as one could expect the baby's lungs to be developed enough for him to survive outside the womb. That just happened to fall around the same time as Michaelmas.

Similarly, it was easy enough to figure out Catalina's and Cecile's due dates using the same method, though Cecile will give birth a few days early for story arc purposes. (Plus I figured given all the stress she has been under, that would certainly be plausible.) In Alixa's case, I worked out when I needed the baby to be born, then worked backwards to figure out a plausible time period when she could have been conceived.

Catalina does have a lot of sympathy for Mellie. She knows how difficult it would be for her to have to give up Colin if their positions were switched, and she's only known Colin for less than a year, so she knows that giving up a ten year relationshp with him would be even more painful. She also has come to know Mellie well enough to at least suspect that Mellie walked into her relationship with Colin with eyes wide open, knowing it couldn't possibly last forever, but willing to accept him on whatever terms he could offer her because of her love for him. It was the sort of choice that Catalina could never have made (since as a King's daughter, defying her father and doing something similar would have likely resulted in Riordan being executed and her spending the rest of her days in a convent, so she would never even have been seriously tempted, knowing how badly that would turn out), but it's a price that Mellie has willingly paid that Catalina is able to understand her reasoning for.

The length of human gestation ended up determining when other key events in the story needed to happen. I knew, for instance, that I needed the war to continue at least into late September or early October, since Colin needed to still be away from Rhemuth when Mellie's birthing scene happened.  In fact, that's why the baby was born a couple of weeks early; I didn't want to stretch the war that far into the autumn months! I also needed Alixa to be in her final days of pregnancy before Cinhil's Duel Arcane so she could be visibly pregnant from her vantage point on the city walls, but she couldn't give birth until after his death or she wouldn't be able to attend his funeral, and I didn't want to do that to her. Cecile's baby will be born a tiny bit early just so she can be out of her confinement in time for some key events in the sequel story.  And since we know which visit home to Rhemuth resulted in Catalina's pregnancy, I can already calculate when the new Heir to Gwynedd is expected to put in an appearance in the sequel, at least barring anything unforeseen, so other events will need to be planned around that.

[DerynifanK]

Using captives as living missiles was truly barbaric. What was it supposed to accomplish other than to cause fear and chaos? Were they trying to distract the defenders of Rhemuth while they carried out some other nefarious scheme? Certainly these "live" missiles did not cause any physical damage. Psychological warfare?

[Evie]

Using captives as living missiles was truly barbaric. What was it supposed to accomplish other than to cause fear and chaos? Were they trying to distract the defenders of Rhemuth while they carried out some other nefarious scheme? Certainly these "live" missiles did not cause any physical damage. Psychological warfare?

Exactly. They were trying to demoralize the enemy by using Gwyneddan captives as missiles. They weren't aimed at the castle walls (since that wouldn't do any physical damage to them), but at the people of Rhemuth, since that would cause plenty of emotional damage and mayhem. It might have brought them closer to surrendering, but even if not, it would have been a heck of a lot to clean up, and with any luck might end up spreading disease throughout the city, since even though they didn't know about germs back then, they did know that prolonged exposure to dead/decomposing bodies could potentially cause disease if the dead couldn't be collected and buried promptly. It was also a way of showing contempt for the people of Gwynedd. "Look, this is all your people are good for. They weren't even worth keeping alive as thralls."