Starport: Zeta Prime (Alt) (17 page)

She dove and rolled across the floor, missing the next
swipe narrowly, but determination thrust Misha on. She had to win
this fight for her own survival, and she jumped into the air,
picked up
Jillian from the
ground and then flung her like a rag doll against a solid tree
trunk. The impact of the landing made Jillian’s bones feel as
though they had splintered into thousands of pieces, and she lay
crumpled and numb, unable to move as Misha came for her once more.
She screwed up her eyes tightly as Misha’s arm raised to lay the
final blow.

Chapter
Nineteen

Jillian
waited for
the sting of a hit that did not come. Instead, she heard a shout.
Male voices and the thunder of feet pounding the floor. As she
prized open her eyes she saw Charin and Camil seize Misha by the
arms from her sideways view on the ground. And Faron. Faron was
coming for her. He scooped her into his arms and she was carried
back to the village, the sounds of Misha screaming filling her
ears. Faron was talking to her the whole way but she couldn’t make
out what he was saying. Now she was safe, now he had her, she
relented to the pain. Her gashes throbbing and her body
battered.

Jillian
was carried
into the village, the pain was making her confused, she heard
voices around her, whispering. She thought she heard Cara and
Sennan, but it was like she was listening underwater. She couldn’t
understand any of the words and was too tired to respond. Plus she
felt cold–really cold, her skin still clinging onto the dampness of
her earlier swim.

She was
laid on a
hard surface and covered with gloriously warm furs. As heat began
to filter into her extremities, she found herself becoming more
aware of her surroundings. A searing burn at her face shocked her
into full consciousness, as she cried out. The healer was looking
down on her, a soaked cloth between his fingers.

“
Sorry, I just need to
clean this up.” He explained.

Faron
was at her
side, stroking her hair. She managed a weak smile at
him.

“
Jillian. How do you feel,” he asked? She wriggled her
fingers and toes, checking they were all functioning as they
should. It hurt, but mostly she just felt bruised.

“
I’ll be okay.” She
reassured him and tried to sit up. The healer gently pushed her
back down.

“
Once your cuts have been cleaned, you’ll be free to go.
Until then, you need to stay still.” She winced as he dabbed her
cheek with the cloth again but the sensation soon went
away.

“
How did you find me?” She questioned Faron.

“
We were on our way back
from hunting. It was Charin who saw you first, he spotted you from
the branches as we travelled. He said that he saw Misha strike you,
but we were still a fair distance away then. We moved as fast as we
could. I’m sorry we were late.”

“
You weren’t to know. I’m just glad you came. I think … I
think she would’ve killed me, Faron.”

His face hardened, the muscles
tense.

“
I will deal with her appropriately later. You are safe now,
let’s just get you better.”

After the healer had finished with his swabs,
Jillian was given the all clear. She
had cuts and bruises that were already beginning to turn purple but
no permanent damage had been done. Faron helped her down from the
table and supported her as they left the hut. She hobbled but was
able to walk, dismissing Faron’s insistence to carry
her.

“
I’m going to visit Misha
now. I want to know what the hell she was thinking.” He told
her.

“
I want to come with you. Really.” Jillian could be stubborn
when she wanted to be–she had to be there to make sure that Misha
told a truthful version of the events, having a strong suspicion
that she would try and manipulate the story to her favor somehow.
She knew Faron would see straight through it, but she wanted at
least the dignity of being able to speak up for herself against
Misha’s lies.

Faron
led her towards
a familiar looking hut–it was the place that she had been held when
she thought she was prisoner. As they got closer, his pace
quickened and his mouth set into a hard line. He burst through the
door.

“
I want an explanation from you and I want it to be
truthful.” He raged.
Jillian
had never seen him so angry, he was frightening–his eyes set with a
cold glare. Charin had been sitting in the hut with Misha, and even
he sprang back with the force of Faron’s fury. She was chained, as
Jillian had been, and scuffled against the wall–cowering from the
tribe leader and his wrath.

Jillian
wanted to be
just as angry, but seeing Misha tremble, bunched up on the ground
invoked sorrow in her. Misha’s eyes were full of tears, of fear and
despair that her life as she’d known it was over. She shook
violently as she cried, looking for all the world like a tragic
child. Jillian knew how it felt to be looking at the end of
everything you knew. She had been subject to it when her parents
had died, when her first love broke her heart, when her own people
turned on her and most recently–when she thought that she had been
kidnapped by a hostile race.

“
You have put my mate at great risk–and by doing so my
first-born child, too. This attack was unforgivable, for you
attacked my seed, too. How dare you? How dare you betray and defy
me? How dare you risk the lives of my family? This is a great,
great dishonor Misha,” Faron continued to boom at her.

Jillian
thought her
head had exploded. His child? He thought she was carrying his
child? A wail from Misha made her decide to deal with his statement
later–the state of her despair was a pressing matter, Jillian
couldn’t bear to watch another woman’s emotional pain spill out so
raw in front of her.

“
Please, Faron.” Jillian touched him lightly on the arm to
stop his tirade. He looked to her, sparks in his eyes but she shook
her head.

“
She knows she did wrong.
Look at her. She is remorseful. Enough.”

“
I should banish her from the village,” he said, lowering
his voice slightly.

“
You should, but you are
too kind. She has paid for what she’s done simply by your
disapproval. It’s the worst punishment she could imagine right
now.”

Charin had
been stuck to the wall during this exchange, but after Jillian
finished speaking, he gave Faron a questioning look, as if asking
permission. Faron nodded his head and Charin crouched beside Misha,
trying to comfort her with whispers.

“
Please, Faron. Don’t banish me. I won’t ever do anything
like that again. I don’t know what came over me,” she
begged.

“
You are fortunate that Jillian is compassionate. You will
not be banished–but you will be watched very closely. Charin, can I
assign you that task,” Faron asked?

Chari
n looked pleased
with his new job, accepting with enthusiasm.

As he comforted Misha with a hug, she turned to
Jillian with an expression on her
face that said more than a million words would be able to. She
looked remorseful, apologetic and humbled. Jillian tilted her head
towards her, to show that she got it, she understood.

Faron
left the two of
them and escorted Jillian outside. She was glad for the silence
they walked in as she thought about what he’d told
Misha
—
that she was carrying his baby. It just couldn’t
be possible. Natural pregnancies had died out back on Earth–the
government’s unsuccessful way of trying to control the still
increasing population problem.

Men on Earth had their sperm frozen in their late
twentie
s and then they were
sterilized–all men were required by law to have the operation done.
It was easier and cheaper than doing the same process on women, so
Jillian knew she had the right…bits and pieces. But she knew
nothing of pregnancy, nothing about what to look out for, what to
expect.

Couples who
were ready to have children did so outside of the body. The egg and
the pre-collected sperm were developed outside of the body, in an
artificial chamber. It was less intrusive and easier to monitor.
She sneakily looked at Faron, his arm still supporting her as she
walked. She felt bad, sure that he was wishfully thinking. The idea
had set in her mind now, and she began to wonder if she could
possibly have his baby? It was obviously something he wanted, and
she’d have loved to be able to provide him with a family–but
wouldn’t it be biologically impossible?

Cara and Shana rushed to her as she made it to the communal
tent.
Faron kept her close to
his side as they talked.

“
Jillian, I’m so sorry we left you, I had no idea Misha was
out there. Are you okay?” Cara’s petite features were scrunched
with worry.

“
I’m fine, honestly. Just hungry and bruised.” Jillian
leaned heavily on Faron to sit down at a bench. Sennan brought them
both food–a pile of juicy roasted meat that melted like butter in
her mouth, and some of the green vegetables they had been picking
from the farm that day. She kept her mouth full of food, enjoying
the friendly and supportive chat around her, but not feeling much
like joining in. She was too preoccupied with her thoughts of
children. Of her children.

She was taken aback by how much she wanted it to be so, how
much she wanted it to be able to happen. What if she couldn’t give
him a family? Would he leave her? Would he be disappointed and
regretful that he chose her? Now Misha had told her about unbinding
rituals
—
she presumed it to be their version of
divorce–she began to feel insecure for the first time since she had
arrived at the village.

Cara, Sennan and Fenn fussed around her. Fenn was adamant
that Misha should have been banished, but
Faron insisted that Jillian had been against such
punishment, and stated that second chances should be
allowed.

“
I saw Misha’s pain
once she had come to terms with the seriousness of her
actions. That alone will be enough suffering.”

Jillian
nodded her
agreement with his statement, but still could not distract herself
from the preoccupying thoughts of babies. Faron picked up
immediately on her withdrawal from the conversation and demanded
that she let him take her to rest. She didn’t argue, tiredness
hitting her like a truck. She also let him carry her back to their
dwelling, her limbs felt clumsy and heavy, and she needed to feel
his arms around her.

He placed her gently atop of the fur bed, its softness
instantly soothing
Jillian’s
aches. He lit the fires and came to lie beside her.

“
Faron. What you said earlier, about me carrying your child?
It’s just I don’t think…I don’t think it’s possible for me. For us.
I’m pretty sure you’ve got it wrong. I’m sorry.”

“
Jillian. You are pregnant with my child. Here. Feel.” He
laughed at her doubts and lifted her hand, placing it on top of the
bare skin of her flat stomach.

Jillian
felt nothing
but the warmth of her palm, and looked at him, still concerned,
sure he was wrong. But the door of hope was still ajar, and she
reminded herself that she wouldn’t have known what to feel for
anyway. She had never learned about pregnancy. Of course, natural
births did occur back on Earth, but they were extremely rare, and
she had never personally seen it.

“
I don’t feel anything.”
She whispered. He placed his own hand on her, moving hers to the
side, and a wide smile formed on his lips. He answered her with a
kiss then swept her up in his embrace.

“
You will. You will.” He
assured her.

“
If I’m not though, you
will stay with me, won’t you? Would it be too hard for you to, if I
can’t give you a family?” She felt upset suddenly.

“
None of your concerns are relevant, Jillian. We will be
parents soon enough. Now try and get some rest, my forever.” He
sounded sleepy.

Jillian
lay blinking
in the firelight of the room long after Faron had fallen
asleep–feeling a confusing mixture of worry and excitement. Once
she heard his steady breathing, she dared to place a hand on her
stomach again, and as she did so, she wished harder than she had
ever done before.

Chapter
Twenty

Over the
next few weeks, Jillian began to believe Faron’s words more and
more. At first, she thought she’d come down with a bug. Her muscles
were aching and she felt nauseous at various points in the day.
Particularly when faced with that hot milk and honey
drink.

“
I’m sick,
Faron,” she
croaked to him one evening.

“
You’re pregnant, Jillian. Don’t worry, the sickness will
pass.” He dismissed her with an air of amusement at her persistent
denial.

It wasn’t until she went back to bathe
with the girls at the pool that she finally allowed herself to
believe.

Cara, Fenn
and Shana had come for her one day when the sun was unbearably hot
in the fields. Jillian was quick to accept the offer, feeling no
residual fear as to what had happened the last time she had been
there. However, the four of them had to endure a ten minute lecture
from Faron. She was not to be left alone, at any time. They were
all to leave together. The girls giggled about his cute
over-protectiveness as they made their way to the cool relief of
the shaded lake.