Another week passed. Chamberlain stayed in bed during most of it, not wanting to move much, but would manage to try near every day. La came by to help him if he wasn't in the throne room at a certain time. Tasks around the castle still needed to be done with no Gelflings around to do them.
The General had taken another batch of Garthim out of the castle to get more Gelflings for their essence, so he was off the Chamberlain's back for awhile.
La had gone out for a couple days to that special spot in the wilderness to get some of those shelled treats her mate was asking for. She liked them herself, but they tasted sweeter to her mate, who was almost incapacitated right now. She wanted to do things for him now that he could barely get out of bed for even the daily Crystal ceremony.
La would go tell the Emperor that the Chamberlain wasn't feeling well.
The Emperor demanded to know what was going on once again and let her know that apparently, the Scientist knew something, and he was going to send for him shortly if La didn't know what was going on.
"His back is hurting so bad. And he has bad indigestion." La tried to make up something fast.
"Very well. But he better get over it by tomorrow." SkekSo declared.
La was grateful that the Emperor had believed her. She hurried to tell her mate.
"I told him you are unwell and couldn't make it to work today... he seemed to understand… you can just rest." La said.
"Like my job around castle, but baby not making it easy on me." Sil replied.
La sat on his bed and put a hand on his stomach, giving it a little rub. The baby kicked out at her hand. "You shouldn't give your parent such a hard time, little one." she said. It kicked her hand again, as if answering her.
"Almost like he hears you. He moves after you talk to him." Sil suggested.
La smiled. It would be nice to know if her baby could hear her even from inside her mate's belly.….
The next day, Sil still didn't feel well, but he made it to his job and did what he could before going to bed again.
The day after that, he had a strongest craving for those shelled treats, and his mate was so busy doing work for the Scroll Keeper that she couldn't make it to the usual place for catching those treats for him. He decided to go himself. He felt well enough to be out of bed and was done with his tasks. But he was determined to go to bed when he returned.
His back still ached, but he was managing. He made it to the carriage station. "Armaligs, prepare to depart!" Sil ordered.
Three Armaligs slowly made their way to the carriage Sil was using. Sil managed to climb inside it as the little slug-like creatures got in and rolled into balls, like tires. He felt the carriage raise and begin moving. These three were used to going to the place every day, or near that.
When La finished her work, she went to check on her mate to see how he was doing. She didn't find him in his room or their private spot. He must have other work around the castle, or went to the secret shell-treat spot. That was a really bad idea in his condition, as far along as he was now and hardly able to move. She just hoped he would make it back alright by himself.
…..
The carriage arrived and stopped. Chamberlain carefully manoeuvred himself out of it to go find his favorite treats. It was a little ways off.
He had been feeling some small pains all morning; he had just thought they were just regular pregnancy cramps. But they had been getting stronger on the somewhat bumpy ride. Sil had grunted and groaned the whole way.
"This will be final ride here until after baby comes. I must tell Emperor about baby after get back. Cannot hold back for more time." Sil talked aloud to himself. He held his back as a jolt of pain shot through it. Without the essence, he had problems with the sciatica pains. But more often, it was more associated with the pregnancy itself.
The Armaligs were released to go eat themselves, on nearby foliage while Sil went to go find his prize.
The walk to the plants where the treats were was still a bit off. Chamberlain's walk started to turn into a rather strong waddle. His limping increased as a strong cramp began to seize his stomach, what he thought it was. But the cramp tightened more than usual.
Chamberlain began panting and stopped. His hands gripped his belly. He suddenly bent over when the pain finally erupted.
"Ah! Oh, oh, OWWWW!" he cried out. The pain made him fall to his knees. He found himself desperately trying to breathe. He tried to keep from collapsing to the ground. He put his left hand on the ground, holding himself up.
The contraction felt like it was squeezing him hard from the inside out. Sil had felt many kinds of pain in his life before, but none like this. He cried out again.
When it finally passed, he let out a big breath. He took several deep breaths. "That... hurt!" he exclaimed. After that one, it was no doubt to him that he was in labor. He knew the baby was coming after what he had been told about it.
The baby had taken just the right position in his pelvis, near to his bladder. It was ready to descend the slow process.
Sil found the strength to rise and went for a nearby tree. He had to sit down and collect his thoughts. He wasn't ready to go back to the castle yet. He was still hungry, but food was not on his mind at the moment. He pulled his robes up to look at his extremely swollen stomach.
"Are you finally on way, baby?" he asked his child. He felt it move inside him. That had to be a yes, because it wasn't long before another contraction came on again. Sil screamed his lungs out.
Since he was lying on his back, both hands grabbed his belly and he lurched forward to try to find some source of comfort as he tried to get through the pain. Now he wished he had never left the castle. It was too late to go back. The bumpy ride would do him no favors when he was having contractions.
"Wish SkekLa was here." he moaned when it passed. "Need SkekTek to deliver. But too much pain to move..." Sil panted. "Not moving."
He wished he had a way of sending someone for help to get the help that he needed. But out here, who would help him?
If the alliance with the Gelfling hadn't been shattered, even a Gelfling would able to deliver the baby, but he would only tolerate that as a last resort and there was no one else around out here. Or so he thought.
…..
Back at the castle, the Scientist knew that the day was approaching when the Chamberlain would have his baby or babies, and the secret couldn't wait any longer. It had to be told, no matter what SkekSil's punishment for him was. He was tired of waiting to hear that the Emperor had been told the secret, and seeing nothing had changed. It was clear to SkekTek that SkekSil was too cowardly to tell this secret.
Just as he was finishing up with upgrading a repair on his draining machine, the Emperor came in to check on his work.
"How goes this repair?" SkekSo asked.
"Very good, my Emperor. But I must ask you something... do you know where the Chamberlain is right now?" Tek replied.
"I have granted him to go out to his ally out in the wilderness he's been talking to for so long." So replied.
"Is that what he's been telling you?..." Tek asked.
"Yes. Why...? Is there something else going on?" So asked.
"Emperor, there's something you need to know about him as of late. There's more to his strange behavior than you know." Tek explained.
"What's there to know about it? He acts like he normally does when he's around me. Lying and deceitful. Directing how things are run around the castle." So declared.
"I mean more like when he gets defensive and such. He's been hiding something from us all for awhile..." Tek explained.
"And you know what this 'something' is?" So asked curiously.
"Yes. He said he was going to tell you when he was ready, but it's been going on for too long now, and I'm afraid it'll be here before too long. He won't tell you until the last moment. I'm the only one he knew to tell because it has made him sick off and on for so long. Another part of his strange behavior was all the stomach problems." the Scientist explained more.
"Go on, Scientist." Tek had So's full attention. "What will be here soon?"
"Sire, this has never happened before to any Skeksis, but somehow, SkekSil has come to be carrying a childling." Tek declared.
"Impossible. I decreed that there was to be no mating among us." So growled.
"I know, Sire, and the Chamberlain would not give out who the other partner was in the child's creation. It's still a mystery to me. But the other Skeksis need to know. Our numbers are about to grow by at least one or a few. Just think though, Sire. We lost three of our number in the battle against the Gelflings. We could use this, even if they are SkekSil's offspring." Scientist explained a good point.
The Emperor thought deeply for a few moments. "Hmm. You do make a good point, Scientist. We should welcome the Chamberlain's new babies then. But he will be punished for not telling us."
"Yes, he should." Tek agreed.
"I will see to it that he is when he gets back. I will see the babies when they are born. That is clear." So proclaimed.
"Yes, Sire. I still don't know when SkekSil will have them, but from the looks of him, he'll be having them soon. I'm quite sure about that. He can barely move anymore." Tek stated.
"I have noticed that too. He pants hard when he comes into the throne room. He's limping too." So said.
"Pains no doubt cause him to do that..." Tek said. "What do you plan to do with the babies once they have arrived, Sire?" he asked.
"We will wait and see, Scientist. They would be useful in building our numbers again. But what would they grow up to be? Younger ones could also be a threat to my leadership." the Emperor declared.
"Yes, it's possible, but we could use some younger ones as well, to fight in battle too. To have some young and fit to fight against our enemies." Tek explained. "We will raise them to not be a threat to us, but to the enemies. There might be some things that Garthim can't always do. There's no telling how long it will take for the young ones to grow up, but they are Skeksis too. We could give them names and titles when we find out what they can do, what they are raised to be..."
"Very well. If you see the Chamberlain before I do when he gets back, send him to the throne room." the Emperor ordered.
"Yes, my Emperor." Tek replied with a bow.
The Emperor left the lab. Now he knew about the big secret and why he had seen the Chamberlain acting strange for so long. Tek felt proud of himself that he revealed the secret that Sil couldn't bring himself to tell and it needed to be told.
The labor part was inspired by some of my other favorite shows/movies. It's a long section, so I divided it into two parts. Next, you will get to meet SkekSil's baby.
