Chedva

Kai helped Besai carry Cole's stretcher to the healers, who worked in a facility above ground.

Although Cole was unconscious, it was clear that he could still feel pain. He moaned loudly in his sleep, hands clenched to fists. His wrists were rubbed raw from pulling against the bonds on the whipping post and every inch of his back, from his neck to his waist, had been cut open by the whips. Pieces of skin hung loosely, like a door with a broken hinge.

When the healing women saw Cole, they immediately went to work. Kai eagerly helped, although their language barrier was an inconvenience while they were tossing around instructions. Still, he did his best. He poured antiseptics on Cole's back which- admittedly, looked more like one huge piece of meat than a cluster of wounds- and helped sew the salvageable pieces of his skin back together. Besai sat on the floor in a corner, looking guilty about not knowing how to help.

It was impossible to tell how many lashes he had received from Kozu. It could have been forty, or it could have been eighty. There was too much criss-crossing to tell.

Once they were certain that they had done all they could, Kai helped them wrap the bandages. This proved to be difficult, since every time Cole moved a muscle, he ended up breaking stitches.

But finally, about an hour after the sun had disappeared behind the trees, they finished, and Kai allowed himself to slump onto the floor next to Besai, completely drained.

As he looked over his obsession of the past hour and a half, he felt a mixture of satisfaction and dread. They had done all they could, but what if it wasn't enough? Cole had lost a lot of blood. Too much. If they had been on Ninjago Island, he would have gotten a blood transfusion from one of the Northern hospitals. But since these women did not have the equipment, Kai knew that they would just have to wait and pray that he eventually woke up.

After the healers left the room, Besai immediately stood and rummaged through cabinets until she found a box filled with small bottles of ointments. Kai watched with interest as she smelled each one carefully, then mixed a few drops of each into her hand.

"What's that?" Kai asked.

Besai began to rub her mixture into Cole's wrists, feet, neck, and other seemingly random areas. "Heeling," she said. "Orunge, lemon, und..." She trailed off, not knowing the correct word in Kai's language. "Red froot."

"Grapefruit?"

"Doo not remembur."

"So you're giving him an oil treatment, then."

"Oyil?"

"What you have there."

"Oh." Besai continued to run Cole's skin with her oily hands. She clearly knew what she was doing, because all of her movements were smooth and calm. The room began to smell like citrus.

She eventually turned away from her patient and regarded Kai thoughtfully. Then, she picked up a few different vials and stirred up a new, recipe. She knelt beside Kai and reached out her hand, then hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked.

Besai, looking nervous, waited a moment longer. "Heeling," she said. "Hold steel."

Kai blinked in surprise as she began to run a greasy finger under his nose, then massaged the back of his neck. It smelled like a mixture of overly sweet peppermint and coconut. "Wow," he coughed. "That is potent stuff. What is this supposed to do?"

"Relaxing," Besai explained. She jerked her hand away as if she had been stung. "Herengla'asi," she said, bowing her head in respect, hands on her lap. "That was...bad."

Herengla'asi? Kai thought. That's a new word. I wonder if it's an apology?

"It smells nice," he said, trying to calm her down. "Is it wintergreen?"

Besai lifted her head. "Has no name," she said. "Dark Knight brings eet to us. Helps weeth the heeling."

"Did I need healing?"

"You are not calm," Besai explained. "I am trying to...reelux you."

"Relax," Kai corrected. "Thank you. I do feel a little better." It was the truth. The scent of...whatever she had rubbed on his face eased his mind a bit.

Besai smiled timidly. "Chresh." She wrapped her hands around his wrists and rubbed his exposed veins with the last of her mystery ointment. "You sleep," she said, pressing her palm into his chest, nudging him toward the wall. "I weel stay up, watch Dark Knight."

Kai's skin buzzed at her gentle touch. "I-I'm fine," he said. "You should sleep. I'm going to wait for him to wake up."

Besai nodded- she was not about to disobey an order- and curled up against the brick wall, keeping a good distance between them. Orange light from the lanterns gave the room an ambiance that made it hard to not feel sleepy.

In another room, Kai could hear the jumbled sounds of women talking intensely in their language. He'd gathered that a child was being born, and that the mother was facing complications. The healers had long since left Cole in Kai and Besai's care so that they could go help.

Kai looked at Cole again. He was laying on his stomach, wearing a fresh pair of trousers; his last pair had been thrown out because it was so soiled. His bloodless skin starkly contrasted his long black hair, which was now clean and combed out of his face.

He seemed so different when he wasn't wearing that mask of anger and hate. Right now, his expression seemed almost...neutral. Relaxed.

Kai looked over at Besai, who was trying to get comfortable on the cold floor. "Hey," he said softly. He grabbed her arm.

Besai froze for a moment before hesitantly allowing him to pull her close. She sat stiffly with her head on his shoulder, looking a little bit scared as he wrapped an arm around her. It was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but it only seemed to make her more afraid.

Kai pulled her hair from her eyes and kissed her forehead. "Sleep," he gently.

Seeing that she had no choice, Besai closed her eyes, arms stiff at her sides.

Besai was breathing deeply within a few minutes, sound asleep in his arms. Kai found himself nodding off a few times despite his efforts to stay awake. That oil mixture almost worked too well.

He wondered where Cole got the oils from. Why would such a powerful, feared man be stealing- he certainly wasn't purchasing- essential oils? It didn't make sense.

Kai jerked his head up with a gasp. He had fallen asleep.

Stupid, he scolded himself, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. Besai was still sleeping soundly. She finally looked comfortable, which was a good sign. She was starting to trust him.

A baby was crying behind the wall. The mother had given birth. That was probably what had woken him up.

He looked out of the small slit of a window on the wall to his right, then breathed a sigh of relief. It was still dark out. He hadn't slept for too long.

Kai heard a soft moan, and he caught movement in the corner of his eye. The baby had woken Cole up, too.

Cole's eyelids fluttered open, and he tried to stretch. It was a difficult move, since he was laying on his belly with stiff bandages restricting his movement. The glow of the lanterns reflected in his eyes as he examined the room. "Kai," he mumbled weakly. "So...they haven't killed you yet." He blinked drowsily. "I'd get up and slap your face, but...I'm a little occupied."

"Haven't killed me yet?" Kai asked. "Well, aren't you just the biggest optimist. And thanks. I'd love to slap you, too. But I've got a sleeping person on me."

"Why do I smell like a grapefruit?" Cole asked hoarsely.

"Besai thought it would help," Kai said. "With what, I wish I knew. Maybe it's supposed to keep out infections?"

"Eh," Cole rubbed his face awkwardly, grimacing at the pungent smells all over his hands. "I guess."

The baby let out a particularly loud wail, and Cole's eyes shot wide open. "My baby," he said. "Help me up, Kai. I need to see my baby."

"What?" Kai frowned. "Cole, you don't have a baby. Close your eyes and go back to sleep."

Ignoring Kai, Cole planted his hands on the table near his face and tried to push himself up. "Are you going to help me get out of here, or am I going alone?"

"Stop," Kai whisper-shouted, trying not to wake Besai. "You're being ridiculous. Don't make me get up and tie you to the table."

Cole finally gave up and laid his head back down with an impatient grunt. His bandages were already splotched with a little red. "Fine," he said. "But you need to sleep, too. You could use those bags under your eyes as coin purses."

Kai rolled his eyes and nodded. Besai shifted, face burrowing deeper into his shirt. "Kozu says that he doesn't want you back," he said. "I wonder if that means that you could escape, and he wouldn't care."

"Don't!" Cole snapped. "He'll kill Hagar and my baby."

Kai rubbed his forehead. "For the last time, that's not your baby."

Cole mumbled under his breath, but did not argue back. He was breathing deeply in under a minute, fast asleep again.

Kai allowed himself to nod off, head falling into Besai's hair as the baby's cries quieted. I wonder if being insane makes him less sensitive to pain, hethought as his mind faded. That would be kinda nice, actually...

Cole waited until he was certain that Kai was asleep before opening his eyes again. Hagar, he thought. I have to get to her. He gritted his teeth as he got his arms underneath himself and pushed. Pain ripped through every nerve in his body, so intense that he almost fell over.

Did he feel bad about tricking Kai? Not particularly. That guy was a control freak. Besides, he was too busy focusing on his task to worry about morals.

Breathless and dizzy, Cole finally sat upright. Stars danced in his vision, and he had to pause for a moment to settle his head. He felt nauseous and stiff.

He looked at Kai and the woman on the floor. It worried him that they were so close. If Overlord ever found out that they cared for each other, he would use it against them.

Cole would warn them when he got back.

One... He gripped the edge of the hard bed. ...Two... Feet in the floor...and... Three. All of his weight shifted to his bare feet as he stood up.

"Agh..." He could not help the stifled cry that managed to escape his clenched teeth.

Thankfully, Kai was still asleep when Cole staggered out of the room. Once he was out of doors, he searched the nearest tree for a good branch that he could use to support his weight. Then, he called to a seven-year-old girl who was trotting by with a large basket of oranges, asking her to get it for him.

The child obeyed immediately, setting the basket down at the foot of the tree before reaching up to get the stick. She handed it to him a moment later, then picked up her basket and waited for further instructions.

He dismissed her with a nod of thanks, then continued down the path. A waxing moon gave off a dull light high in the sky, surrounded by millions of bright stars. There was hardly any breeze, making the air feel hot and muggy.

There were only four structures above ground in this village, aligned in a square around a center filled with fruit trees: Building One was the home where the mothers, infants, and expecting women stayed. Building Two was where mothers stayed with their toddlers. Buildings Three and Four were the brothel and the hospital.

He began to wonder about Kai. The annoying brunette looked a little tired, at least ten pounds skinnier, and was wearing a beard ugly enough to scare away his mother, but surprisingly good. He had not been Transformed, nor had he been killed. So that could mean only one thing.

Cole was being replaced. He would most likely be executed within another twenty-four hours, with Kai holding the horrible rank of mercenary-slave in his place.

He hoped that when the Overlord finally killed him, his death would be quick. Drowning would be an excellent method of execution, since it was relatively painless. Or maybe getting beheaded would be best.

Judging by the wicked burning that twisted his insides, he was probably already dying. Maybe he had been poisoned.

Cole forced himself to stop thinking about it. Overlord, being the careful and calculative person that he was, certainly had a slow, painful death prepared for him. No amount of wishful thinking or desperate pleading would change that.

With that thought drifting through his mind, Cole stopped before the door to the first building.

He was so nervous. It had been over a month since he'd last seen Hagar. What if she didn't want to see him? What if she was sick, or something was wrong with the baby? He knew that if the child was deformed- cleft lip, fused fingers, Down syndrome- then she would be killed.

Stop acting foolish, Cole told himself. If anything was wrong with the baby, Kozu would have already taunted me with the news. She's fine.

Still, those little fears did flip-flops in his empty stomach as he reached for the door handle and pushed the door open.

Built similarly to the hospital, the entryway opened straight into a hall with rows of doors on either side. Lanterns lined the walls, set about thirty feet apart. The ceiling was low. Cole would hear the sounds of a few scattered voices trying to comfort crying infants. There were probably a few hundred women in this building, although it was hard to count when the rooms were separated.

Cole started down the hall. A few women passed by, eying him nervously. The Dark Knight was an object of fear and awe for these people. But mostly fear.

After counting off seven doors to his left, Cole stopped and rested a hand on the door handle. All of those fears redoubled, and he nearly turned away.

He scolded himself again. I just need to see her, he thought. If she's sleeping, I won't even wake her up. I'll just...run in, then run out. I'll be back in my room before Kai even realizes I'm gone.

With a deep breath and a silent prayer for courage, he opened the door to the square room.

There were fifty neatly rowed cots, each with a thin blanket and pillow. Hardly enough for women who worked so hard to procreate.

After a quick scan of the room, Cole found her sleeping on a cot in the middle of the room. Still leaning on the stick, he limped over to her and sat on a vacant cot beside her own. He puffed out a controlled breath, trying to stay quiet as more stitches broke on his back.

Hagar's chest rose and fell in gentle cadence. Her brown hair was matted, flying in all directions around her face. She was laying on her side, one arm around a tiny bundle under the gray blanket with her.

Cole was overwhelmed with emotion. Hagar's face looked heavy and careworn. She was about twenty-five, making her one of the oldest women still alive in this prison camp. She had been nine when the Overlord killed her family and forced her into this life of servitude.

Cole had told himself that he did not need to see the baby. But now that he was here, he knew that he could not leave without at least seeing his child's face. So he propped his stick against the side of the bed and reached out to pull the blanket back.

The stick slipped to the stones at his feet with a loud clatter. He grimaced.

Hagar shifted, yawned, and hugged the sleeping baby closer to her chest. She did not wake up. A woman pregnant in a cot behind Hagar did, though. But she simply rolled over with a light groan, not willing to try and complain to the Dark Knight.

Cole retracted his arm with a silent curse. He wasn't going to see the baby if its face was pressed into Hagar's breasts.

So he gave up, opting instead to try and reach for his stick. He gave up after bending down about three inches. "Ah!" He gasped as skin tore in his shoulder.

"...Cole?"

Cole looked up at Hagar, face still contorted in pain. "Yes?" he answered finally.

Hagar's gray eyes were open, blinking wearily in the torchlight. She smiled softly. "You came back," she whispered in Cole's native tongue. "I had heard rumors, but..." Her Keitorin accent was almost nonexistent because she had spent most of her childhood years as a citizen of Ninjago.

"Yeah," Cole said. "I'm back."

Hagar sat up and threw her legs over the side of the bed. She was wearing a loose grey dress that could be untied in the front; the standard garb for lactating mothers.

She dropped to her knees in front of Cole so that she could talk to him face-to-face. Tears ran down her cheeks. "I was so scared," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. "I-I thought you would not return, and Kozu would take our baby."

"Me too," Cole said quietly. His arms slid around her waist. "I shouldn't have tried to escape. Not without you, Sage."

"Why did you try to leave without me?" she asked.

"I wanted to come and get you," Cole explained. "I was just...scared."

"Scared?" Hagar pulled away. "Of what?"

Cole had no answer.

Hagar fingered his reddening bandages. "Are you in a lot of pain?" she asked.

"Do I look like I'm in pain?" Cole asked. "I think whatever the Overlord injected into my arm is pouring acid into my heart. My back feels like fire. I'd be vomiting right now if I had anything in my stomach to reject."

Hagar looked sympathetic. "You look like you lost a lot of blood," she said. "It is probably anemia." She turned around and lifted the tiny baby from her cot. She wrapped it in her blanket, then held the bundle out. "Would you like to see your daughter?"

Cole felt as if he had been struck by lightning as Hagar set the child in his open arms. It was wonderfully overwhelming. "What's her name?" he whispered breathlessly.

Hagar's face darkened. "Overlord came while I was delivering her," she admitted. "He said that her name was going to be...Achim."

Cole felt some of the wind get sucked from his sails. Achim meant revenge.

"No," he said. "If Overlord wants us to call her that, he's wrong. She needs a good name."

Hagar looked relieved; she had not liked it either. She climbed onto the bed beside him. "What do you want her name to be?" she asked.

Cole pulled the blanket away from the baby's face. Her dark face- a mixture of Sage's dark skin and Cole's white- was soft and swollen from her time in the womb, and her eyelids drooped heavily as she yawned. Cole traced her round cheek with his thumb. She looked just like her mother, except for the fuzz of soft black hair on her scalp.

He hugged the baby close to his chest, all pain forgotten. "Chedva," he said. "That's her name."

Hagar was silent.

"Is something wrong?" Cole asked.

"No," Hagar said. "I am just surprised that you chose one of the Keitorin names. I thought you would choose something with stronger Ninjagian roots."

"Well, I was thinking that Alin might work," Cole said. "But...I just decided that Chedva fit her better."

"Hmm," Hagar hummed. "Yes, I agree. The first one was better." She reached out and touched Chedva's nose, making her squirm and smack her lips. "I love her so much, Cole."

Me too, Cole thought, although he wasn't comfortable saying it out loud. He shifted his position on the bed so that he faced Hagar, then leaned in and pressed a firm kiss on her lips. It was not a deep or passionate gesture, but he felt that it could get his message across.

When he pulled away, though, Hagar was crying softly.

"I'm so sorry," Cole said quickly. "I-I should have asked first. Are you-"

Hagar got a hand behind his neck kissed him, shoulders shuddering with her sobs. Cole could taste her salty tears as she deepened the kiss.

She pulled away breathlessly several seconds later. "Of course I am not angry," she hiccuped. "I am happy. When Kozu shoved me against the wall two weeks ago, demanding to know why you h-had not yet returned, I was scared. I thought that maybe you had been lying to me when you t-told me you wanted this baby."

Cole's eyes wavered. "Oh, Sage," he said, stroking her hair with his free hand. "You know better than that."

"I know," Hagar said. She wiped her face with her hands. "It is just...hard to believe that I could ever be so lucky."

"Lucky?" Cole asked. "How? You're a slave on an island run by my perverted father, with no hope or freedom for you and your child. And your lover is a spineless coward who's almost gotten you killed several times."

"Is that how you see yourself? A coward?" Hagar asked, shaking her head. "Cole, you are the only one with the courage to stand up to the Overlord. You have bravely suffered through the hardships of losing your family, and even killed the Overlord's body once."

"He just got a new body within a minute," Cole argued. "And no one has stood up to the Overlord before me because no one has been able to match my stupidity." He looked down at Chedva. Her grayish-blue eyes blinked slowly up at her father, and she cooed. "And...since I lost my family, I've become a miserably broken wreck."

Hagar sighed. "Look around you," she said, gesturing to all the women around the room, many with infants. "What do you see?"

Cole followed her hand with his eyes. One mother near the far corner of the room was shushing a three-month-old boy. A teenager was sleeping with a hand resting atop her swollen belly.

"What am I looking for?" Cole asked.

Hagar was quickly becoming impatient. "What do you see?" she asked again.

"I see...women," Cole answered. "Most sleeping."

"What do all of then have in common?" Hagar asked.

Cole blinked away the remainder of his tears and looked closer. "I don't know," he said. "All of them are with a child."

"They are alone," Hagar said. "Do you not understand? I am lucky because I have you here. Every other man treats us like toys that are to be played with once, then thrown away. But you," she grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her eyes, "you are beating yourself up because you think I would be better off without you?"

She let go of his chin and ran her hand through his hair which, now that he thought about it, was clean and combed. Had Kai done that? The thought made him flush.

"I am so fortunate to have you, Cole," Hagar said, eyes watering. "No other woman on this island has the opportunity to have a single mate and stay with him forever. It is a blessing, and I cherish it with all my heart."

Chedva cooed again, as if in agreement.

Suddenly, Cole's eyes were moist. What was this feeling in his deep pit of emptiness, where his heart used to sit? Was it joy? Comfort?

Or...was it love? The one thing that had been so far out of reach that he had given up on ever obtaining it?

...Only to have an angel catch it and bring it to him.

"I don't deserve you, Sage..." Cole's voice wavered.

"Wrong again," Hagar's voice was consumed with passion. "You deserve so much better than a whore like me." She was starting to cry again. But blessedly, their baby stayed quiet through the whole thing.

"I-I won't leave you again," Cole promised as his tears dripped down his chin. "Only an execution could keep us apart." He didn't have the heart to tell her that this execution might come quicker than she thought.

Hagar laughed through her sobs. "You see?" She kissed his neck. "I do not know what I ever did to deserve you."

Cole, feeling entirely overwhelmed, could not come up with a good response. "Hagar, do you remember my cave?" he whispered in her ear.

"Of course," Hagar answered. "That is where Chedva was conceived."

"Right," Cole nodded. He pulled away and wiped his face. "Listen, this is important. If anything happens to me, or if Overlord threatens you, run there. It's the safest place on the island."

"Okay," Hagar said. "But how anemic are you?"

"I don't know. I only just woke up; I never got the chance to ask. Why?"

"Because your thoughts are all over the place."

"I don't believe it," Cole said, and grinned. "Anyways, my back hurts."

Hagar rolled her eyes, then kissed his cheek. "You should get back," she said. "The healers will not be happy with all the blood you have lost on your excursion."

Cole decided that she was right. The last thing he wanted to do was make Kai panic and make a scene by running around the compound trying to find him. "All right," he said, crestfallen. He looked back down at the now dozing baby in his arms and sighed softly. He lifted the child and breathed a soft kiss on her forehead, then handed her reluctantly back to Hagar.

He pointed at the stick on the floor. "Do you mind..."

Hagar cradled Chedva in one arm, then reached down to grab the makeshift cane. "Do you want help getting back?" she asked, handing him the stick.

Cole rolled it between his fingers as he contemplated this proposal. "Won't anyone notice you're gone?" he asked.

"No," Hagar said. She bent down again and grabbed a grey sling from under her cot. With deft, experienced fingers, she tied it tightly around her, then unwrapped the baby and stuffed her inside. "If anyone asks, I will tell them I am on my way to the latrine."

Cole nodded. "That could work."

Chedva, thinking that she was going to get fed, squirmed and gave a halfhearted mew. When she realized that her mother was standing up instead, she whimpered.

Hagar shushed her softly. "It has been a couple hours since I last fed her," she explained. "She is getting hungry."

Cole accepted Hagar's hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet. "Should you feed her before we go?"

"No. Nice try. We are leaving now."