A Dangerous Destiny: The Pure One Book I

Chapter Six

MANNA

For nearly two weeks Manna watched as Fiona lay in a half-conscious state, pale and feverish. The ordeal with the Council had taken its toll on her nerves and strength and though Manna used her skills as best she could to ease Fiona's pain, she feared her efforts had little result. As the days passed one after another with little improvement from her patient, Manna began to worry that her efforts to save both Fiona and the baby would all be for naught. 

Fiona was weak. It was all Manna could do to force her student to eat and, even then, Fiona could only manage little. Still, as her weakness grew, Manna noticed a strange force building around Fiona, an aura surrounding the bed where she lay. Something powerful growing bit by bit. Every time she approached her unfortunate student, Manna was filled with a strange sense of foreboding. There was something coming. Unable to sleep, Manna spent many nights at her kitchen table in watchful waiting, her tired eyes finally closing until the next morning, when the light of the sun would rouse her aching body to wake beside a long cold cup of tea.

It was well after midnight, twelve days after the Council's visit, that Manna was awoken by heart-rending screams. Running to answer Fiona's cries, she found the Nita lying among wet sheets with the unmistakable pink tinge of blood. Fiona's face was nearly pure white, her face set in mask of pain as she sucked in shallow breaths through gritted teeth.

"The baby," she managed to gasp, "it's too soon."

"Shush, shush," Manna soothed, doing her best to calm her. "Breathe deeply." As she examined Fiona, Manna saw that there was no question. The baby was coming, early or not, and she rejected the possibility that she would lose both mother and child without a fight. With Fiona's moans speeding her pace, Manna hurried to prepare for the arrival of the infant, boiling water, bringing fresh linens and smelling salts, all while continuing to instruct her student to remain as relaxed as possible.

As Elder Nita, Manna had helped deliver many babies in her lifetime, but she had never seen one extract such a toll on its mother without bringing death. As the child attempted to force its way into the world, the screams wrenched from its mother were hellish. Fiona spent hours crying and writhing in agony, and though Manna kept an endless supply of cold compresses to cool her, her student's body remained drenched in sweat. As she twisted and cried out, Fiona cursed the child inside of her. She cursed the God himself.

Manna stayed by the Nita's side throughout, allowing her student's nails to dig into her arms until they were stained with blood. "You can do this, Fiona," Manna had coached. "You will give birth to the savior of our people. And she will be kind, and wise." Though the child was not yet born, Manna could sense it already. As she put her hand to Fiona's stomach, she could feel the throbbing, pulsing, of the power contained within. The sensation sent an uncomfortable shudder along Manna's skin, though she did her best to hide the fact from Fiona. She wondered if Fiona could feel it herself, the strange surging of pure power threatening to burst forth.

After nearly twenty-seven long hours, when Manna had nearly given up all hope, the Nita gave a final cry and the baby was launched into the world. There was a horrible silence. Fiona collapsed backwards onto the pillows, entirely still. The wet bundle Manna held made no sound. Then all at once, the room exploded in a cacophony of noise and power. The very air seemed to tremble. Manna looked down at the child and the child stared back, black eyes lucidly returning Manna's gaze. Manna felt her heart thudding hard against her chest as she was lost in the dark pools, her body shaking. Time itself frozen in the dark expanse of those eyes. And then, the baby blinked.

All at once, the room returned to normal. When the child reopened its eyes, Manna could see that they were a soft brown like those of her mother, flecked with a hazel around the edges, no longer the black pits she had stared into moments before. She could hear Fiona's breath, though it was shallow, and saw the woman's chest lightly rising and falling. Manna stared at the baby again and as she did, the child wrinkled up its face and began to cry. Manna pulled the infant close to her. 

"Hush now dear one." She whispered. "We will protect you. And you will be good. You will be virtuous." She repeated this like a mantra trying all at once to calm the baby and assuage her own fear. To soothe away the dread she had felt staring into that power, those black eyes. As the baby's wails quieted, Manna's lips moved in silence uttering a prayer to the God above.

"Please, God. Let my words be so. Let the child live and walk in the light. Lead her not to darkness. Let this girl be the salvation of our people." Manna heard Fiona stir from beside her.

"Does the child live?" Fiona's voice was faint, barely above a whisper. Manna went to her side bending down to present the baby in her arms. "See for yourself," Manna said, forcing herself to don a confident smile. "Behold, your baby girl."

Fiona closed her eyes as tears began to slip down her cheeks. "So it is a girl." She opened her eyes again, gaze deliberately avoiding the child and staring at Manna instead. "She is already doomed."

"Fiona do not say such things."

"I speak truth," she said, her anger and sadness giving her voice strength.

"Do you wish to hold her?"

Manna saw the tears in her eyes as Fiona shook her head and turned her back on the baby, curling her body into a tight ball. "She is never to be my child, Manna. You must keep her from me."

"Fiona," Manna said gently, bringing the child in closer to the bed.

"Keep her away!" she shouted, curling in on herself even tighter, eyes closed, arms clutching at her head as if to keep out the world from the small ball of misery she had created with her body.

The sound of Fiona's voice frightened the baby who began to cry again. Manna rocked the girl back and forth until she once again relaxed her little body. She cleaned the infant and then placed the girl in a small cradle she had prepared, kissing her forehead tenderly, before returning to Fiona. The Nita lay against the pillows crying softly, still curled up in a fetal position.

"Oh Manna," she said." What have I done?"

Manna smoothed the hair back from her brow with a wet cloth fragrant with the sent of chamomile and valerian root to calm her. "Hush child," Manna said, soothing Fiona as she had the baby. "You have done well. Rest now." Fiona sighed deeply, relaxing her body into the pillows propped around her head.

"What is her name?" Manna asked.

"You should call her Katara, 'the cursed,'" Fiona said. Her tone was bitter, her eyes distant.

"No," Manna said. "We shall call her Karina, 'the pure one,' and we will pray that she lives up to her name and destiny with dignity and grace."

Fiona smiled slightly. "Karina," she said, trying the name for herself. "Yes. May she be more pure than those who have brought her into this world." Manna bent over and kissed Fiona's forehead.

"Sleep now, you need rest. Sleep and dream of the good your child will do in her lifetime." Fiona closed her eyes. Exhausted as she was, the woman's breath soon slowed, and her body relaxed as sleep overtook her. Manna walked to the cradle. The baby too had fallen asleep now, no doubt trying to regain strength from the ordeal that had brought her into this world. Manna pulled a chair up beside the cradle and watched the small form within, as her belly rose and fell, her limbs and face limp, deep in slumber.

"Karina," she whispered. "Sleep well, my pure one."

Manna leaned back in the chair. She tried to block from her mind the phantom echo of the horrible chorus that had come forth with the girl. She tried to imagine the baby as a powerful leader, and not the frightening creature with black eyes. She tried to imagine the girl bringing about the prophesied salvation. And when these visions failed, she tried to imagine nothing. Manna sat there for hours in the soft silence, until she herself finally drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

This is the end of Part One. Would love feedback from anyone who makes it to this point. Thanks for reading!!!