Chapter 3
The Birth Of IsarAbout the time the moon reached full for the third time since they left their home village, Fern began to feel the child in her body was ready to be born. She who had always been so lithe and agile was beginning of late to be clumsy, to feel her body cumbersome and heavy, and many times she accepted the helping hand of Karne over rocks and ridges where before she would have scorned to be so dependent.
At night she could feel it moving inside her restlessly, and she lay under the stars staring all night into the immensity of the sky and wondering about the child that was to be born.
It was not Karne’s child, but Wardyke’s, the result of rape and fear. Karne and she had discussed it many times since he had recovered from the initial pain and shock of the knowled
