Poison Orchid

Chapter 24

“Riley you are going to stay here until you are asked to come to your grave. You are going to tend this woman anyway you can, am I clear?” asked Riley.

Riley again looked at Isis as if she was speaking Hebrew. The woman who was lying there opened her eyes slightly and looked up at them. Her eyes sparked up a little at the sight of Isis. That was also because she couldn’t see the two other invisible visitors in the darkness of the barn.

“Can you gimme some food?” said the woman, the woman was not at all a woman, it was a young girl hardly a few years older than Isis. And according to Fluffy she was about to give birth by tonight or next morning. Looking carefully at the girl, Isis saw dark shadows under her eyes and broken and sunken cheeks explained all her story. A mistake of teenage pregnancy, after which her family refused to take her in, the boy ditched her and she had no where left to go. The most surprising thing was that how the hell she was even alive this close to forest and those leeches in human form had let her live.

“Open your mind, Mistress. Close your eyes and open your mind,” came Fluffy’s voice again in her mind.

Before Isis could open her mind and see the life force, Riley broke her attention and said, “Isis, this woman needs food if she wants to survive giving birth.”

Isis nodded her approval and went down on her knees to the woman and asked, “May I know your name?”

“Sarah,” said the girl in a feeble voice.

“Okay Sarah. You need to be strong for yourself and your child okay?? By your looks it feels you will be delivering tonight and you need to be strong for that. I shall bring you food and medicines and someone will tend to you. Will that be good?” prompted Isis.

The girl named Sarah was not in a position to say anything at that moment, so she just nodded at the prospect of getting food after 3 days. Even she herself knew that she won’t be alive after this night but she just wanted her baby to live.

“Fluffy you need to call Gruffy with food and water and some of my Aunt’s herbs and medicines at this moment. Can you do that?” asked Isis in her mind.

Fluffy nodded vigorously and went at a distance and started howling, yelping at a peculiar note. And Isis started working on making a fire so as to provide some warmth to the already cold and weak Sarah. A few seconds later the charm and the incantation she was reciting worked and the fire blazed giving comforting warmth. Isis stood up and walked and pulled her towards the fire as much softly as possible so as to not cause her any discomfort. Sarah was thoroughly dehydrated but she needed copious amounts of water in her body if he needed to give birth. Riley came and sat by Sarah, wanting to comfort her but she couldn’t risk her exposure because she would probably have a heart attack from the shock of seeing a ghost.

Suddenly Riley found Gruffy coming in leaps and bounds with a heavy tote bag in his mouth. Isis identified the bag as her Aunty’s but how did her Aunt pack the things hearing Gruffy. Gruffy came near her and laid the bag at her feet and then sat back on his haunches waiting for Isis to pet him. Isis ruffled his head and said in her mind, “Good work Gruffy. You are such a good boy, mama’s boy. Take some rest.”

Sarah opened her eyes and looked up at Isis who was unpacking the soup and the food items that her Aunt, wait, no no this bag was not packed by her Aunt. This was packed by Grandma Brassia. So that is the way in which Gruffy was able to communicate so soon and the bag was packed without any question. A note dropped from the bag. Isis picked it up from the dirty hay floor and before opening it she said,”Sarah, listen you have to be awake and keep your mind open. If you find something unusual please do not panic.”

Sarah opened her eyes and said weakly smiling,” You are an angel. Nothing you do can scare me and actually nothing scares me anymore.”

Riley could not check her emotions anymore and took the bowl of soup from Isis’s hands and started feeding Sarah slowly with patience. But right then Isis could not afford to lose any more time because it was already past eight and she needed to prepare for the release of the trapped and tortured souls of the girls and also birth of Riley in a new body.

“Riley, I need you to listen to me,” said Isis telepathically.

Riley looked up Isis with surprise in her eyes and said,”I am listening, tell me.”

“Sarah is going to die tonight in childbirth. And the fetus she is carrying is already dead. The only way I can keep you in this world if you are born again in a new body. The child’s body does not have a soul, so it would not be a problem to transfer your soul to the baby’s body but this is the first time I shall be doing this so…”

“I have full faith in your abilities Isis. You have no idea of how powerful you are. What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to stay here with Fluffy and take care of her making sure she has ample food and fluid in her body and take your bodily form and talk to her and comfort her and make her talk to you and keep her sated and awake. I shall be charming this whole zone so it is invisible from human eyes. But I need you to be at your grave right at midnight so that I can free your soul and bring you back to this body. Any questions?”

“Won’t she be afraid looking at my hideous form?” asked Riley tentatively.

“No Riley. You are absolutely beautiful and you are going to be her first baby. So what else do you think can be more special for her? Ask her what she wants to name you,” saying this Isis opened the note from her Grandma Brassia.

‘Girlie,

You are definitely my granddaughter and also your mother’s daughter because you are insane like me and caring and loving like your mother. I got to know from a little birdie about what you are planning to do and I have no doubts on your capabilities but come home soon. I need to give you some things.

And place the obsidian charm on the dying girl’s body for her protection and strength.

Waiting,

Yours insanely,

Grandma’

This was absolutely something like what her grandmother would say. Isis quickly pulled out the obsidian charm bracelet from the bag and placed it on Sarah’s bony hand. Sarah opened her eyes once more at her touch and looked up.

“Can I have some more?” asked the girl.

“You can have as much you want Sarah,” said Isis very softly and laid down the rest of the food that Brassia had packed along the potion for strength which she poured in the flask of chicken soup and handed everything over to Riley when she cut of a short chunk of Sarah’s lusterless dry hair and got up with it tying it to sticks and called Gruffy while she went outside to plant those on four sides of the barn and started chanting the strongest protection and invisibility charm. When the spell was in place she started jogging back home with Gruffy at her side.

When she reached home she was breathless and dirty and found Rossetta waiting for her in the living room.

“Grandma is waiting for you. Immediately to the basement,” said Rossetta taking in her appearance.

Isis went down to the basement with Gruffy at her heels. Brassia was hovering about impatiently and moving about in way as if she was agitated. When Isis entered the basement the first statement she gave was,” Necromancers are supposed to raise dead and do evil things as we have been always condemned to but you are changing the whole dictionary of being a Necromancer Isis.”

“Is that a bad thing?” asked Isis tentatively.

“That is something that people have never heard in their whole lives and not even in their deaths that a Necromancer is bringing a new life to this world without giving birth, so technically you are going to be a mother and that too unwed and you are not even adult. But I must say that I am proud of you because even your normal thoughts are also so out of the box that even I have to be on my toes always to keep up with you. That is not a bad thing, that is a revolutionary thing in our world and I am proud to a part of this. And Rosa before you say something feed the girl and let her concentrate on the tasks that she needs to do,” huffed Grandma Brassia.

“Grandma, from the time Isis called upon you, you have done nothing other than spoiling her and you are keeping on doing that. Do you know the aftereffects of this?” asked Rossetta in an angry voice.

“I shall know the aftereffects only when I see the future in the child’s eyes. Rosa go and feed the girl. You do not understand what she is doing now so at the least don’t discourage her from doing the right thing,” said Brassia in an equally heated voice.

Rossetta went outside and returned back with a plate of minced pies and handed over to Isis, “Eat this and ….” She was rudely interrupted by Grandma Brassia saying,” Whatever you are going to utter don’t do that now. Hold back your words.”

Isis started eating the pies, not to mention but the pies were so delicious that she started gobbling them up. Isis had no idea that she was eating pork pies and she did not even think about it because she did not know it in the first hand. In the mean while Rossetta brought her a clean pair of clothes which she needed to change so as to be protected from the vagaries of nature because the forest at night is not a kind place. Isis dressed up even without bothering that her Aunt and Grandma were looking at her half-naked.

“You are sure about the whole process, right?” asked Brassia.

“Yes Grandma,” replied Isis wearing her pants. She was dressed in black from top to bottom which made it better for camouflage at night. As she was putting on her boots Rossetta said,” The process of birthing is a difficult one and you need a lot of things for that. Do you have all those?”

“Give her lots of clean cloth and an empty can for taking water from the stream. The medicine to ease her pain has already been placed in the birthing mother’s system,” said Brassia. She continued saying, “Look girlie, I expect it will be a difficult birth. Make sure that the soul of your spirit is placed in the body of the baby before it is born so that the mother hears the cries of the child so that she die satisfied without any kind of pains. She has suffered enough in the hands of those whom she loved.”

“Tell me Grandma, how come you know so much about the woman? Even I do not know this much about her!!”

“Your pets are extremely intelligent and well-trained. How do you think that the girl has been surviving from the past fifteen days? Fluffy has been taking her food every day and don’t be scared. Be confident while birthing. Moreover if you find there is a problem in coming out of the child, close your eyes, feel your power coiling around the child’s body and bring her out. I am sure you will be successful in everything tonight. You have Mother Goddess’s blessings with you darling.”

Isis already had packed her backpack earlier because she knew that it won’t be possible for her to come back home and pack her bag and then go hiking. She took the bag, kissed her Aunt and went hiking with Gruffy to find the graves of the girls and set them free from this pain that they were enduring all night.