Do Or Die [Nuworld 4] (37 page)

from the end of the bar.

“Don’t you worry, you old fool,” Beel shot back. “I promise you I’ll protect that old

cow you keep around your house from a safe distance.”

“Why, you…” The soldier jumped from his stool but several men stopped him.

“Young Beel there just wants to make sure they’re plenty of bastards in this town so

he has lots of company,” another soldier hollered above the laughter.

Beel about knocked the whore from his lap as he lunged at the man who had just

spoken. Jeers and laughter followed as Beel knocked the man off his stool with a quick

blow to the side of his head.

“It seems to me it’s more important that a child grow up happy than tied to two

parents who can’t stand each other and so run around making more just like him,” Beel

spat back, as he defended his lifestyle.

More laughter and loud toasts of approval and disapproval went around the room

as the man jumped to his feet and lunged at Beel. Andru sat back in his chair and raised

his mug to his younger half-brother as the boy sent the man flying across the room once

again.

“Look out there.” Gilroy leaned toward Andru and gestured to the large window

that looked out onto the street. Ana and Meah stood across the street looking into one of

the shop windows. The two women laughed over something and Andru felt his heart

warm. Ana liked her. Somehow, he had to get the woman to like him too.

“They just don’t seem like very practical things to wear.” Meah cocked her head as

she studied a Gothman dress on display in the shop window. “I don’t see how the

Gothman women wear something like that when they clean a house all day and take

care of children.”

“I think that dress there has other practicalities.” Ana grinned as she looked at the

tight-waisted, pale brown dress that hung in front of her.

“Ah, to seduce a man.” Meah nodded in understanding.

Ana couldn’t believe how naïve and virginal her new friend actually was. She was

starting to believe she’d spent her entire life growing up in a Crator temple. “I’m going

in there.” Ana started toward the door.

“Ana!” Meah seemed shocked as her feet fixed themselves to the ground. “I don’t

want to go in there.” She whispered the words.

Ana laughed. “Sometimes, you amaze me. You come across as so wise to the ways

of things, but when put to the test you’re absolutely innocent.”

Meah scowled and crossed her arms but Ana wasn’t daunted. “Fine, you stay out

here. Here, hold Darien for me. I’ll be right back.”

Andru found himself staring out the large window as Meah stood alone on the

sidewalk with Darien in her arms. She looked down at the baby as if not too sure what

to do with him and then looked up and down the sidewalk. Andru was only four

winters older than Meah yet there were times when she appeared so young. Not much

different from the young girl he’d chased wild boars with while visiting her clan as a

child. She was beautiful even then.

“How am I supposed to learn how to care for a little one like you by the new

winter?” Meah mumbled to the child, who simply blinked at her.

She pulled the child up toward her shoulder and studied the people on the street. It

was a busy morning in Bryton. Families were preparing for their menfolk to leave for

the Norther country and women were hustling about buying last-minute items for

them. She caught sight of a store several doors down with a wooden sign hanging away

from the building that advertised herbal remedies. She looked down at the baby in her

arms and then looked up at the faded blue sky and sighed. What business did she have

trying to birth a child who had a papa she now despised? Oh, if she could only turn

back the clock to the point where she still loved him. A tall man with blond, thick curls

walked past her and she did a double take. No, he wasn’t a Bryon, but for a moment she

thought he was. He eyed her as he passed and smiled a toothless smile. Meah looked

away quickly. When she had thought he was Andru, her heart had exploded. She

reacted out of fear for the man, right? There certainly weren’t any of her old feelings for

him, not after what he’d done to her.

There was no sign of Ana through the store windows where she had disappeared.

Meah decided she’d probably be in there for a little bit. She started to walk toward the

herbal remedy store. There was no harm in asking the shop owner what potion could be

made to rid an unwanted pregnancy. That was the best thing to do after all, wasn’t it?

Andru’s body tensed. Where was she going? He watched her walk toward the

herbal store and look up at the sign. The woman was trying to decide something. He

watched as she looked around once again and then headed for the door of the store. She

wasn’t considering ending the pregnancy, was she? He almost clobbered his head for

being so dense. It was hard enough for his ego to handle the fact that this woman

wanted nothing to do with him. Hell, any other woman would be tripping him to get

him into her bed. But to fathom the thought that she not only didn’t want him but

didn’t want his child was more than he could imagine. Any woman in her right mind

would scream with joy if she found out she was carrying a Bryon child. Andru stood

up, prepared to march over there and stop her, but then he froze.

“Now, dear child, this is not something you want to do.”

Meah spun around on her heels to face a tiny old woman. The woman didn’t wear

the same type of clothing that the rest of the folks in Bryton wore. Her dress was made

of animal skin and what looked like no more than a piece of rope served as a belt.

Coarse white hair twisted in a knot behind her head and her skin was tan and leathery.

“I beg your pardon,” Meah spoke politely in spite of her shock at the oddly dressed

old woman. “Did you say something to me?”

“Meah, Crator sees things in a grander sense than you can.”

“Who are you? How did you know my name?”

“Oh, sweet thing,” the old woman laughed. “Crator knows you very well. I am

simply his humble servant.”

“Ah, well then, may Crator go with you.” Meah smiled and turned from the old

lady back toward the store.

“Meah, the first offender is tortured with remorse and begged forgiveness with

bitter tears that weren’t seen. The second offense would only cause the same pain and

torture. Crator doesn’t want to see his loyal servants suffer so dearly.” The old woman

patted Meah’s arm, then placed an old, deformed hand on Darien’s head.

“A blessing for you, little one.” Then she looked down at Meah’s stomach and

placed calloused fingers on her. “And a blessing for this one too. Be safe.”

Meah looked down at the hand on her waist with a look of horror. She hadn’t told a

soul she was pregnant. Not one single person. Of course, she knew Dr. Digo would

report the pregnancy to Tara, and more than likely she would tell her family, but they

obviously weren’t going to do anything about it. She certainly couldn’t be the first lady

the heir to Gothman had made pregnant.

Meah lowered her chin to the top of Darien’s fuzzy head. Who was this old lady,

and how did she know Meah was pregnant? Sometimes old women had a knack of

telling when young women were pregnant. They’d been around so many pregnant

women in their lives they could tell by the look in their face. Maybe the old woman just

guessed she was pregnant. All she had to do was deny it. She certainly didn’t look

pregnant.

“Why are you blessing my…” Meah looked up and stopped talking. The old

woman was gone. She looked down the street in time to see a large dog running away

from her down the middle of the street. She noticed immediately that no one else

seemed to notice the huge beast.

Breathe.

She couldn’t breathe. She struggled to take in a large gulp of air and looked toward

the dog again, but now she couldn’t see it anywhere. Darien squirmed in her arms and

she realized she was holding him too tightly.

“Are you trying to take my baby from me?” Ana giggled and Meah jumped around

to face her. “Wait until I show you what I bought. It will make Gilroy wild.”

“I’ve got to go.” Meah handed Darien to Ana quickly, forcing the young woman to

rearrange her bags.

“Good grief, you’re as white as a sheet.”

“I’m sorry. I really have to go.” Meah reached for her long, thick braid and began

twisting it in her fingers. She smiled weakly at Ana then hurried across the street to

where her glider was parked. She was so completely distraught that she ran right past

Andru without even noticing him.

“I’ve got to be wrong,” Meah mumbled to herself as she hurried into her trailer and

straight to her landlink. “In fact, I’m sure I’m more than wrong, I’m absolutely sick in

the head.”

She opened the Runner transmission and accessed the index. Running her finger

down the screen she searched for a particular file that gave the physical description of

the dog-woman, the servant to Crator who appeared to Tara and helped her become the

leader of all Runner clans. If Meah remembered the story correctly, the only other

person on Nuworld who had ever seen the dog-woman was Andru.

“Here it is, I think.” Again, she spoke to herself. She quickly scanned the printed

story when it appeared. The man who wrote it was from the Blood Circle Clan and had

died several winters ago. He told the tale of Tara fighting the Test of Wills in order to

take her place as rightful heir to rule the Runner clans. The story said she fought

warrior after warrior without tiring or obtaining any wounds. It explained how the

dog-woman appeared to Tara again and again, guiding her with riddles and telling her

to have faith in Crator. Then she found the paragraphs that told what the dog-woman

looked like.

“Oh Crator, it was her.” Meah leaned back and grabbed her heart. “But why did I

see her?”

She had no answers but suddenly felt very sick to her stomach. If this is what it is like

to be pregnant, why do women do it over and over again? she thought as she ran down the

hallway to the bathroom.

“Meah?” Andru opened the trailer door slowly, prepared to have something