Chapter 3. Unseen foe.

Winona looked out the window at the lush garden below. Eight months, eight months ago was her son's birthday and on that day she found out that she was pregnant. She placed her hand on her swollen belly. Her pregnancy was baffling, the physician was unable to tell who the father was, all he said was that it was the oddest piece of DNA that he had ever seen before. She gave a small smile, Rhea had decided to stay with her during this time. For that she was grateful since she did not have many friends.

"Winona."

She turned around to see her Rhea come up to her.

"You should be in bed." Rhea remarked.

Winona just gave her a smile before turning back to the window. "I am feeling fine now Rhea. I can't just stay in bed and wait."

Rhea's face was etched with concern, "I understand but lets face it, you have already passed out ten times, ran a dangerously high fever for two weeks, had muscle cramps, plus you had headaches for no reason at all. And all this was within eight months.

Winona bit her lip as she listened to her friend. "I appreciate your concern but I feel fine." She told her in a gentle voice.

Rhea was not convinced, "Winona---"

Winona turned around again to look at her friend. "Rhea." She interrupted.

They locked gazes for a few minutes before Rhea turned away. "I'll go get something warm for you to drink instead." She murmured as she accepted her defeat.

Mahatma and Rosalind ran through the field of flowers full of joy and laughter. Rosalind caught up to Mahatma and tackled him.

"Hey." Mahatma laughed as he dropped to the ground.

Rosalind sat on top of him and the smile grew bigger on her red rosy cheeks. "Let's do that again."

"I don't think so." Mahatma grunted as he rolled over and knocked her off his back in the process."

Rosalind frowned then smiled again as Mahatma stood up. She looked at him with her sparkling blue eyes and giggled.

Mahatma frowned and ran his hand through his light red hair. "What's so funny?" he asked. No sooner had he said that when he felt something crawling up his back. He reached his hand back to swat away what ever was behind him when he was promptly stung on the hand. His eyes widened as he turned around and saw a horde of wasps coming straight at him.

Rosalind laughed as Mahatma began to run to a small lake that was nearby and dive in. She began to walk to the sparkling, clear lake when she heard a buzzing sound near her ear. Not bothering to look she began to run as fast as she could to the lake. "Coming in" She yelled as she dived in. When she came up for air Mahatma was staring at her with and irritated expression on his face.

"That was not funny!" he exclaimed.

She giggled, "Sorry." She said giving him an innocent smile.

Mahatma sighed and a mischief grin appeared on his face. Diving into the water he grabbed her legs and pulled her under.

Rosalind had only a moment to take a deep breath before she was pulled under. Thrashing her arms she reached to pull Mahatma's hair just as he released her. Finding she was free she swam back up to the surface to find that Mahatma had climbed out of the lake. "That was not nice."

Mahatma just smiled at her as she climbed out and wrung her light brown hair out as best as she could to get the water out.

They were both soaked to the skin however the sun's rays began to quickly dry them off. "Why don't we pick some flowers on the way back?" She suggested.

Mahatma smiled, "okay its fine by me as long as we don't run into a Glrechter wasp nest."

"Ok." Rosalind agreed.

As they picked flowers Mahatma lagged slightly behind. The voices had come again last night, even louder then before. He gave small sigh as he wondered what the voices were trying to tell him. Before he knew it they had almost reached the palace. Mahatma stopped and stared up the hill where it stood. It always looked tall and menacing from the outside. But inside was filled with beauty and felt full of love. He smiled but it quickly faded when images raced through his mind and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

Rhea came back into the room with a brimming cup of steaming herb tea, "Winona I brought you some-----"She quickly put down the cup on a nearby piece of furniture and ran over to Winona.

I will win, they will lose. They will suffer, I will gain. They will become weak, I will become strong. I am the causer of turmoil, I am the darkside. Destroy me they cannot, I feed on life forces and inhabit their bodies. This is what I do, I cannot change, will not change. It makes no difference about who or what I am. I possess the light but favor the darkness. The darkness conceals me and feeds me energy from fear, hatred, anger, rage. I trick and destroy for I am the destroyer. Ah soon, soon.

The voice came and went over with the rush of wind that swept over Mahatma and Rosalind. Rosalind paid it no mind as she concentrated on getting Mahatma to wake up.