Poison Orchid

Chapter 28

When Isis reached the barn, she found that Sarah was very weak and almost collapsing. Fluffy was pawing her body in order to keep her awake and Gruffy was on guard waiting for her arrival. The moment Isis was visible Gruffy ran towards her and leapt at her breast, licking her, his eyes filled with care gratitude and concern. Isis could never understand how could they both love her such unconditionally but she was very grateful for all that they did for her. She petted Gruffy and went to Sarah who was hanging by a thread. Isis opened her inner eye and found that her life force was very dim. She needed to do something fast enough otherwise Riley won’t be with her anytime soon.

“Fluffy bring me a sharp stick and gather some more sticks for the fire,” ordered Isis opening her backpack which Gruffy had brought from the woods.

Fluffy set out immediately to find some sticks and brought back to Isis the sharp headed stick using which Isis started marking a circle around Sarah with the symbols necessary for her protection and safety and would her back her life until the birth process was complete. The moment Isis finished the circle of life along with the sacred chant, Sarah woke up inside the circle with a whimper. Isis did not waste anymore time because time now in her hands was limited and the clock was ticking. It was now a race against time.

Isis took out the small urn with great care and precaution and set it outside the circle. She uncovered the blankets and the clothes on Sarah’s thin body and exposed her pregnant belly. Isis took out the jar of fragrant and herbed oil and drew the same set of symbols as those of the circle on her belly along with the chants. When Isis was done she uncovered the lid of the urn and closed her eyes.

“I am Laelia Isis Haronti, the descendant of great Priestess of Haronti. With the power of death and life that runs through my veins I ask you, thy noble and tortured soul to arise and take refuge in the womb of this mother. She awaits to give birth to you O child, awake and arise…”

Riley’s soul which was a pure white bright light arose from the urn in the form of a small orb which Isis kept protected with her hand so that the winds do not scatter away the energy and carefully channeled it over Sarah’s pregnant belly. As the energy of Riley’s soul entered Sarah’s womb she screamed out in pain. Sarah clutched her stomach and again let out a shriek. It meant that Riley had successfully entered the baby’s body and she was alive and kicking now wanting to get out of the dark warm refuge. By that time Fluffy had collected enough sticks for a fire and Isis burnt the fire which was roaring and placed the small kettle filled with water on the fire.

“Sarah, it is time. You need to be strong now, your baby is coming,” said Isis taking hold of Sarah’s hand and taking out the long piece of cloth which was stuffed.

“Gruffy, are your paws clean?”asked Isis.

Gruffy nodded his head saying no, and Isis remembered that Gruffy had dug out the graves which made his paws dirty. Isis smacked her forehead at her own folly and said, “I am so sorry boy, I forgot that how good you were today. Just take care of the heating kettle.”

Isis beckoned Fluffy amidst Sarah’s cries of pain and said, “Fluffy tear this cloth into medium sized pieces and keep one large piece for swaddling the baby. Gruffy go and bring me a bale of hay which I can use as support for her waist.”

She did not waste time looking at them or monitoring their activities knowing that they were more than enough capable of following word by word of what she had said just then. She pulled of the blankets from Sarah’s lower body and helped her to get rid of the track pants and the panties. In the meantime Gruffy brought the bale of hay which Isis carefully placed beneath Sarah’s hips. The contractions were now happening at short bursts and Sarah was very tired.

Isis opened her legs and tried finding if the baby’s head was coming out of the body or not, when she could not find that she closed her eyes and placed her hands on her stomach and tried seeing what was happening inside her womb with her inner eye. What she saw scared her out of her wits. The foetus was struggling to get out of the womb but could not moved because of the umbilical cord wrapped around her throat. Isis was feeling so helpless when Fluffy spoke in her mind,” Remove the chord from her throat with your own cord of power and let her struggle her way into this world. This one is a fighter, she is going to make it fine.”

Isis followed what Fluffy said and started cleaning the blood and water which was seeping from Sarah’s v****a and started compressing her stomach with wet cloth which had been dipped in hot water and in her mind she opened her cord of power and slowly put it inside Sarah’s body and steadily removed the umbilical cord which made it easier for the baby to slide out. Sarah let out another scream of pain and opened her legs wide instinctively as if she knew that her baby was coming out.

Isis was ready to catch hold of Sarah’s baby on the cloth and suddenly Riley emerged from her womb into the world with a strong wail, making it known to the world about her arrival. And after that Sarah let out another push giving birth to another child for whom Isis was not all ready. But she instinctively caught hold of the boy whose life was very weak.

“Sarah, you have got twins. It is a boy and a girl,” said Isis with as much excitement she could show.

“I heard only one cry, did he not make it?”asked Sarah.

“He has made it but he is very weak, I don’t know if he can survive at all or not but we can try,” said Isis.

“Take my life and please let him live. I know you are not a normal human girl, you can do this. Please let my son live,” pleaded Sarah.

Isis did not know how to react to this strange request, she already had gone against nature and brought a dead back to life and now this was going over the tops. She was not ready to kill a girl for the sake of her motherly emotions, this was absolutely ridiculous.

“I know what you are thinking, that how will you kill someone in order to keep a child alive. Look there is no logic behind my request if you think, but there is a lot of logic again if you think over it. There is nothing more left in my life to be alive anymore and how much you console me knew that I was alive for giving birth to my children. So please I beg of you, hear me out and let my boy live,” said Sarah in a weak voice, her voice was already faltering from weakness and exhaustion along with blood loss.

In the meanwhile Isis felt that the boy’s breaths had stopped and his heart had given up completely. If she had to do something it had to be now otherwise the Deathkeeper would claim the child.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to even try to live anymore?” asked Isis, urgency in her voice was palpable.

“Yes dear, nothing more would be probably more worthful in my life other than saving my children. Let them know what a bastard their father was, and how much mean their grandparents are. My daughter will be named Snow and my son will be named Ogon. Snow White and Ogon White. This is my last wish , please carry them out,” saying this Sarah closed her eyes.

Isis placed the small boy on the hay and drew a circle of life around him and rubbed of the circle from beside Sarah leaving it incomplete. She started chanting releasing her chord of power in Sarah’s body and took out the essence of her soul and placed it inside Ogon’s small body and as soon as she had finished the boy cried out with a similar full hearted wail like his sister had done sometime earlier. When Isis looked up, she found that Fluffy and Gruffy had already licked Snow’s body cleaned and were trying to swaddle her back in her cloth which made her smile.

At the same time she felt empty that she had taken the life of a girl to save the life of a child. The babies needed milk and she didn’t have any, now there mother was also dead so no option of giving her kids the colstrum which they desperately needed. And she only had poison in her bloodstream which she cannot give to any child.

Both the children were now mewling and crying, Isis took them up in her arms when she found that someone she knew was standing outside the barn and looking at her with intent dark purple gaze. She was least bothered about who was looking at her because she knew that her wards were strong enough to keep intruders away. She soothed them by singing a song which she knew Aunt Rossetta sang for her when she was a kid in order to keep away the bad dreams. The children were asleep in sometime when she lay them down on the hay and packed her bag swiftly and but did not stop singing. Then she pulled her backpack over her shoulders and took up the kids on one arm each pulled it in a way that the children were snuggled in the warmth of her breast.

“Fluffy and Gruffy, after I go out of this barn, I shall ward it again so that the fire does not spread outside and it is your responsibility to pull the hay over her body and set it on fire. I don’t want any remnants of her body as witness against us,” said Isis looking at both of them.

Gruffy nodded and stayed back and Fluffy accompanied Isis despite several warnings and threatening. Isis knew that it was Gabriel who was standing outside the barn so she chanted the protection spell without pronouncing the words. Once she was outside safely, Gruffy put out one stick from the bonfire and placed it on the hay which started burning immediately. Gruffy trotted back at a slow pace and they all watched the barn burning together along with which Sarah’ s body also burnt.

“How do you suppose to go home alone now you have two new born babes in your arm?” came a voice from behind Isis, which she recognized to be of Gabriel’s.

“How I manage my affairs and what I do in my life is absolutely no concern of yours Gabriel. So leave me alone and if you will allow I need to provide these babies with nourishment, please stop following me, the woods are not a safe place to loiter around after the dark,” said Isis without even glancing at him.

“I don’t need to ask then that why is safe for you and not for me right? I won’t ask you anything at the moment but let me drop you home at least. It is gonna be a long walk to your home I suppose,” offered Gabriel in a concerned tone.

Right at that moment Isis was so damn tired that she did not even think of refusing his offer,it sounded the best thing that could have happened to her at that point of time and now she was not alone , she was responsible for two babies as well.

“That will be great Gabriel, you know. I am too tired to do anything anymore,” said Isis eliciting a smile on Gabriel’s face.