fandomania | The Adventure continues... (Reply)

Thank you for all the clicking and viewing. Please continue to help my hatchlings and eggs? I do the same for you.

Our hatchlings:

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Our eggs:

“Patra? Dearest girl! Why are you crying so? You will be safe soon.” Haral whispered, confused.

I removed my blankets and showed him my pregnant body.

Realization came quickly to Haral. “We were afraid this might happen. With you being so fertile and so lovely, it was inevitable. But we understand. Donal still loves and wants you. You are not to blame nor should you feel ashamed of something that was not within your control or of your choosing.”

“Then why do I feel like I have betrayed Donal and my marriage vows? Why do I feel like I am unclean? Why do I feel that Donal will find me disgusting because another man touched me?”

“Because there are many forms of rape, child. You may not have been brutally raped, where your rapist hurts you and beats you into submission. You were enslaved and not capable of saying ‘no’ by the very fact of your captivity. This is also a form of rape. Your rapist may have had the appearance of caring, but if he still persisted in taking you when you didn’t want him to that is also rape. Donal totally understands what you have been through. Remember, he too was once a slave. He knows and understands better than you seem to give him credit for. Please give him a chance to show you once again how much he loves you?”

“I wish I could, but they will never let me go, even if you were to offer them all the money in the world for my release. They are positive that I am carrying the son that the Shah has been wanting. And they may be right. I think that I am carrying a boy. They will never let me go. That is why I will not survive childbirth this time. I cannot go on living like this. It is the only way out. Only the grave will release me from this prison I am in.”

Haral grabbed me by my arms and shook me slightly. “This is the kind of bad thinking that always gets you into trouble, Patra. You will stop this right now!” Haral ordered me quietly. “Your freedom is at hand and all you can think of is death. Stop this!

“Now get up quietly and dress as warmly as you can. You can do this without attracting attention?”

I felt stunned at his vehemence. I nodded that I could and proceeded to dress as instructed.

When I finished and turned around, there I saw Loysa standing between us. She had grown so much in the year that I had been gone. Haral leaned down and told her to take us to Donal. She nodded, holding on to both of us. The world turned golden and I found that we were standing in an encampment within a forest glade.

Within seconds of our arrival, Donal had run up to me and gathered me quickly and fiercely into his arms. “Oh Patra! My Patra! Oh, my love, I thought I had lost you forever!” He kissed me passionately and then held me tightly once more.

All that I could do was cry and sob. I felt so unworthy, so sullied, so unclean. I didn’t understand why he wanted to touch me and kiss me when I was so defiled.

“Shh! Shh! Shh! Love, I know and understand the ordeal that you have been through. I know that you feel violated and ashamed. I understand. But you are still the woman that I love! You are still my life and my world. I will always love you. You could not prevent what happened to you. I know that. I am not happy about what you have gone through. But I also don’t blame you for any of it. You have done nothing to dishonor yourself or me or our marriage. I can see that you aren’t ready to accept this yet. But I will never stop loving you. And I will not allow you to push me away because of your self-doubts or your irrational guilt. Please, just let me love you and care for you and let me bring you home to safety? Will you let me?”

Through my tears and unhappiness, I did nod my head ‘yes’ and let him hold me for as long as he wanted to.

“As much as I hate to interrupt your reunion, although we may be hundreds of miles away from Rajfahar Capital, we still are not, by any means, safe yet. We need to leave here and ride for the port of Ostas in Užjūris, where our ship is waiting to take us home.

“However, I need to ask Patra one question before we ride. My dear girl, I know that this may be painful, but do you know what happened to my sister, Rosa? Last anyone saw of her was with you the day of the raid and she disappeared when you disappeared. Do you know where she is?”

It took me a few moments to compose myself to give a coherent answer. “Rosa was captured with me. We were transported to a prison camp, which I think was in Tuščia Žemė. We were questioned and tortured there and she died in my arms from the abuse that she suffered. I do not know where they buried her body. I am sorry that I cannot give you a better answer.”

Uncle Haral, Donal and the other family members in the party looked upset and shaken. Uncle Haral said, with tears running down his face, “Thank you. I am grateful that she died comforted by you. When we return to Alfaria, I will hold a funeral ceremony to pray that her soul will find passage to the next world. I know that my brother is going to take this news very hard. The two of them were very close and depended on each other tremendously.”

Uncle Haral shook himself out of his sadness and stated, “Well, the time to mourn is when we are all safe and home. We need to ride as quickly as we can, before anyone notices that Patra has gone.”

The party started to mount their horses. Donal took me up with him and held me as we rode. He felt that given my condition, it would not be good for me to ride astride. I also felt that he wanted to make sure that we would never be parted again. Little Loysa rode with Haral in his arms. She was too young and small to ride on her own. She also looked tired from using her teleporting powers. Once we were all mounted, we left the camp and rode north towards Užjūris.

We rode all night and well into the next day. If Donal hadn’t been holding me, I am sure that I would have fallen, as it didn’t take long for me to become exhausted. I did not complain or ask for rest breaks. I didn’t want to hold up the party and endanger them in any way. They were risking their lives to rescue me. I could not let my comfort bring further hazard to them.

When we stopped to eat and rest the horses, I was barely conscious. It took a lot of effort to even swallow water, let alone food. Donal grew concerned, but I told him that we needed to get out of Rajfahar as quickly as possible, or else all the effort would be in vain. He allowed himself to be overruled and we continued on.

By nightfall, we stopped at some caves in hills not far from the border. I was near the end of my strength because of the riding and because of the contractions that had started hours before. The baby would be making its arrival early. I was too tired to care or worry about whether the baby or I would survive. I tried to hide my pains, so as not to disturb everyone’s rest. Once they were all asleep, I crawled further into the cave and, gagging my agony with a roll of cloth between my teeth, I gave birth to my son, Yusaf. I don’t know how long we lay there or when we were discovered. I lost consciousness after expelling the placenta.