Misfit Trials

Chapter 22

The restorative that Atlantes had given to Marta seemed to work amazing feats on her. She continued the day's journey without difficulty and that night, she and Rumpelstilzchen made love under the stars for the first time in nearly a year. But by the time they arrived home, Marta was having trouble walking. Her breathing had become more ragged, her shoulders drooped, and her complexion began to sallow.

Once they arrived home, Marta immediately took to her bed. She stayed there for several weeks,until her strength slowly rebuilt. By the time she recuperated, she found that she was pregnant. We were the happiest that we had been in our entire lives.

But Marta didn't stop her prayers at the church. If anything, she went more, supposedly to thank God for giving us a child. She didn't eat as much as she should. She didn't rest. She prayed and prayed, and prayed some more.

Rumpelstilzchen tried to convince her that it was time to stop all the prayer. "Remember what Atlantes said. You are too weak to continue to do this, liebling. You will hurt the baby."

But even this did not deter Marta from her fanatical obsession with prayer. "No, Rum. Our Father God has blessed us with a child. It is only right that we thank him with our body, heart, mind, and soul. You should pray with me!" Her eyes lit with a maniacal light. "Yes, you should pray. Kneel beside me, Rum! We will thank God together." With that, she knelt to the floor, intoning prayer after prayer. Rumpelstilzchen knelt beside her, tears in his eyes as he tried to figure out what to do.

Even Marta's family could not convince her to give up this dogmatic and dogged practice. Only when she collapsed, time and time again, was Rumpelstilzchen able to bring her home and get her to sleep and eat. But as soon as she could walk again, she was back in the cathedral, praying.

Though she ate little, Marta's stomach began to grow and the live of the child inside her could be seen in the sharp kicks that shook her belly and the odd undulations when the baby took over. The midwife had told Rumpelstilzchen that the baby will take what it needs to survive, no matter what the mother does. Because the child was not getting nourishment from the food that Marta ate, since she ate so little, it took what it needed from her body. She began to look skeletal everywhere,except for her stomach and eventually was unable to walk to the cathedral because she was too weak.

This turned out to be a blessing, for Rumpelstilzchen was able to keep her in bed and feed her on a regular schedule as prescribed by the midwife. This helped Marta to gain some weight back, but she still spent the majority of her time in prayer.

Finally, the time came for the babe to be born. The midwife, along with Marta's mother and sister, and Romy were there to assist with the birth. It took all day and most of the night. And could hear Marta's Rumpelstilzchen creams from outside of the door to their hut. As the day wore on, her screams became weaker and more sporadic. Eventually, Romy came out of the hut in search of Rumpelstilzchen.

Her hair and clothes were disheveled and blood streaked her apron. Tears stained her face and her body shook as she dropped into Rumpelstilzchen's arms.

"Oh, Rumpie!" Romy cried, using the childhood nickname that Rumpelstilzchen had left behind so long ago. "Oh, Rumpie!" She dissolved into tears.

"What? What is it, schwester? Stop crying and speak, damn you!" Rumpelstilzchen shook Romy's shoulders to get her to stop crying long enough to tell him what had happened.

"It's Marta," she choked out. "She's dead."

"No..." Rumpelstilzchen murmured and he wasn't sure if he had spoken aloud. "No. No!" Each subsequent word became louder until Rumpelstilzchen was screaming. "What do you mean, she's dead. She can't be dead!"