Dark Moon: The Birth

The beginning of a story I posted on Ions.

"You must take the baby now, while I still breathe for him."
"I've found a torch. We will have light." Quentin could not see Borders blackness of the cave, but the torch smelled fresh enough. He dropped to his knees and pulled flint and steel from a leather pouch suspended from his shoulder. An ember glowed on the second strike, and the torch flared with little help from him.
Borders lay with legs splayed, her back against a rock. Her face was pallid, and flecks of light red foam sputtered at the corners of her mouth. The arrow in her chest swayed slowly when she breathed. "I'm cold," she said.
"The ground is cold and damp." Quentin knelt beside her and wiped the bloody froth from the corners of her mouth. "I'll make a fire."
A stone ledge had been hewn into the rock, though what kind of tools were used, Quentin did not know. The rock was smoothed and polished, almost like glass, and indented slightly. At one end, in a shallow pool of water, a million small creatures awoke. they pulsed in unison, or so it seemed, and filled the cavern with an eerie yellow light. Beside the ledge, an ivory colored chest, the hinges and hasp turned black with age. The legends spoke of such a place.
Borders ran a gentle hand over her bulging belly. "The pains have stopped," she said.
Quentin gently opened Borders dress. The flesh around the arrow as purple and puffy, and there was very little blood. He gently ran his hand under Borders' back, feeling and probing, until at last he found what he was looking for, a small hard bump well to the left of the spine.
"The arrow head is just below the skin. I'll have to push it through, cut it off, and then pull out the shaft."
"The baby," Borders said, and her head dropped toward a shoulder. She remained immobile several seconds before her head snapped up, and she stared wide eyed at Quentin. Her hand shot out and grabbed Quentin's tunic, and though she grimaced with pain, she sat forward and pulled Quentin toward her. Behind her, the rock ledge seemed to shimmer slightly, and the pulsing light flared for an instant.
"Take the baby now! Take the baby and go into the void," Borders said through gritted teeth. The wildness in her eyes subsided, and she fell back, exhausted.
"It will kill you if I take the child.? Quentin glanced at the ledge, and the pulsing in the pool seemed to quicken. "No one knows what lays beyond." But even as he spoke, he pulled the dagger from its sheath. He began to hum a soothing sound as he carefully cut the cloth away from Borders' stomach. Still humming, he went back toward the front of the cave, and found Bordens' pack. It was in disarray and almost empty, but the leather sewing kit was still intact.
There was a tinge of blue around Borders' lips when Quentin returned to her. She lay with her eyes closed, and swaying of the arrow was slow and gentle. Quentin knew Borders had said a soothing sound of her own, and he was careful not to break the mood.
Quentin laid out needle and horse hair thread so he could find them quickly. He wiped the blade of the dagger on the leg of his leather britches as he prepared to make the cut.
"That's an interesting way to get a baby out, but not one that I recommend." The voice was soft and bemused and seemed to be whispered directly into Quentin's
Quentin scrambled backward, swinging the dagger wildly, but it did not find her mark.
Instead a little man in a multi-colored robe seemed to shimmer into his view. He bent forward with his hands on his knees, and smiled almost gleefully as he surveyed Borders.
By Dulap's horn!" The little man squinted. "That's a Taluvion arrow!"
Quentin rocked to her feet. "Who are you?"
"I haven't seen an arrow like that in two and half hundred years." The little mused. He man turned and walked toward the pool. His hand seemed to shimmer as he dipped it in and turned.
"But who the hell are you," Quentin looked around quizzically, "And what place is this?
"This little one is peaceful now, but when she wakes up, she'll be as mean a snake." The little man started toward Borders, but Quentin leapt between them
The little man held up a cautionary finger, and his manner changed subtly as he brushed pass Quentin and bent over Borders.
"You can call me Cully, or you can call Colin, but you don't have to call me anything at all. You won't be here that long."
"I can fix the damage this barb has done." The little man continued, as he pulled the arrow out of Borders' chest, "But I can't fix what you have done to her."



Toward the front of the cave, the scraping clawed paws on stone, and the skittle rocks: Something was coming.
"Hurry, now!" The little hastened to straighten Borders' clothing. "Pick her up!"
"What's coming?" Quentin was seized with an alarm not like any he had felt before as the little man commanded.
"The hounds!" The little man had already started up some narrow hand holds in the shear rock wall.
"That way be wondrous creators, and lustful people, and deep felt love." he pointed to tunnel half hidden in the gloom. "Or bathe in the pool.
The little man had disappear from sight but he voice echoed
"Choose! And choose wisely. You will not pass this way again."
nnnn