Chương 1: Deuce

The labor wasn't as hard as she'd been warned it would be, but that didn't make it easier. The Hand and her assistants hovering around her, helping her through the process, had carefully masked expressions as they tended to her, but she didn't care about them. They were wondering why she had bothered to go through with this. There was no practical reason to do so. Yes, the child was innocent, and did not deserve death, but still...! But no, she had gone through the pregnancy.

She had refused the philtres that would have caused an abortion and sent the child out of her, poisoned and stillborn. Her ferocious defense of the babe had frankly startled and alienated many of those who knew her, especially knowing where it came from. -The Hand is planning to turn me in the womb and strangle me on the umbilical cord. I do not need to be turned. Do not let her hands in you. - The cool voice wafting up from her belly sent her eyes fixing on the woman bending over to inspect her.

"Corporal, your child seems to be coming out the wrong way." Her hand pressed forward.

"My child is head-down and coming out correctly!" she snapped back, and the Hand flinched back at the cold rebuke.

"Get out of here!" she snarled at the woman, who backed away sharply.

"If you cannot even tell a head from a foot, you do not belong in here!" The wide-eyed assistants looked at their senior, whose face soured immediately.

"Forgive me, you are correct. It seems I was in error..."

"Get. Out!" Tiya screamed at her, livid with anger. A Healer, planning to commit murder on a child? The motherly woman looked offended, exasperated, and startled at the same time.

"See here, Corporal, there is no need to react so..."

"You are either incompetent or a fool! Get OUT!" Tiya screamed at her, and the Healer was almost physically forced back by her voice. Exasperated and overruled, the Hand gave her aides sharp looks, and strode from the birthing room, wiping her hands of the mess.

"And you two!" Tiya snarled at them instantly, interrupted by another pang shaking her belly.

"If my son is not born and delivered safely into my arms, alive, I will gut you both and hang you both from a pole!" The two hesitated, knowing that the plan had been for the child to 'perish unfortunately' by any of several methods, but it was plain that the woman meant what she said. Others could deal with the child. Tiya saw the submission in their eyes as they steeled themselves to just do their jobs properly, and let others handle the fate of the boy.

-They will do their jobs properly, - the cool voice murmured from inside her. -Alright, the final push is coming up. If that knife they use to cut the umbilical cord gets anywhere near me, I'm going to have to kill them. - Tiya didn't nod, acknowledging the voice as she tensed. She could feel power swirling inside her, inside her womb, gentle and soothing, and building up for a gentle push. The delivery itself was almost anti-climactic after the tenseness faded.

The boy was brought forth in a display of stinking amniotic fluid, caught in a ready warm towel, and cleaned carefully as a short knife flashed, severing the umbilical cord.

"Give him to me NOW!" Tiya demanded harshly, uncaring of the mess between her legs or the cramps already starting as the placenta began the process of being ejected, too. The aides hesitated only fractionally before delivering the still-messy boy into her arms, even before they could strike him to get him to break the film on his lungs and breathe. She quite startled them when that was the first thing she did, turning the tiny baby over and striking him exactly once.

He coughed once, ejecting and breaking the membrane, and promptly began to wail softly, almost more relieved than hurt. -Let's not do that again, - the boy murmured as she turned him back over. The tiny, slightly-pointed ears were expected, and his hair was very black, while his skin was much fairer than the olive tones of his mother. He did not look like his father, for which Tiya was quite grateful, and for just an instant, his tiny, squinting eyes opened and met hers.

They glittered with a silvery sheen, brilliant and pure, like no natural hue of eyes. Even the watching aides were startled to see it.

"I have him," Tiya said fiercely, continuing the cleaning process, helped by a gentle wash of magic under her fingertips that was cleaning the child off much more effectively than the threadbare cotton.

"Give me a swaddling blanket." The helpless aides did as requested, but only one of them remained behind after they cleaned her up and waited for the post-pregnancy ejection. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The tiny, tiny hands had no strength, but she could feel the touch of them on her skin, like little points of cool fire.

-I will help eject the placenta, and then start removing the physical complications of the pregnancy as soon as they leave you to rest. You should be back to normal well before nightfall, and we can leave. - Tiya gave the little bundle in her arms the gentlest squeeze, a protective gesture that would not hint at anything as she kept her distrustful eyes on the aides who had finished taking care of her, one retreating patiently to the side while the other exited the chamber.

Nobody was coming in to greet her or congratulate her on the birth, but that was hardly unexpected. The sheer idea of giving birth to a half-breed fathered the way this one was had garnered her tons of disapproval, such that her entire career in the Imperial Legions was basically forfeit at this point. There was great understanding of motherhood in the Legions, commanded by women as they were. For children born of rape, not so much, and especially children born of rape by non-humans.

Legitimate half-breeds were not treated well in the Empire. A child born of violence? Especially a male child? He could expect nothing of support from any about, and Tiya was neither highborn nor from a wealthy family. She was a farm girl with some strength and skill with an axe, signing up with the Legions for perhaps a chance to become an Amazon and one of the true champions of the Empire.

Fighting elusive, ghostly elves on the borders of the Empire who were defending their forests and lands against the incoming legions of soldiers with deadly guerilla warfare of all kinds, was definitely not what she had expected to be doing, let alone being surrounded, capture, and humiliated by masked raiders with long pointed ears who did not deign to speak to any of them at all. It was a thing unspoken, especially among the women of the legions, only the undead up in the North not devolving to the tactic.

It was also one of the great reasons why the Legions had a low opinion of male soldiers in general, and had little sense of mercy towards them. Raping legionnaires was a good way to earn the slaughter of anyone fighting on the other side, which in turn triggered more such behavior on the parts of their enemies. The fate of the children sired by such actions was nearly universal.

Her refusal to follow them had been surprising, upsetting her friends, commanders, and squadmates that she was not getting rid of unwanted vermin. She had not bothered to explain herself, she had simply refused obstinately and unreasonably. Being pregnant had naturally cut into her military duties and sent her back behind the lines, unable to serve with the others, so most considered that she was simply using the pregnancy as an escape from the fighting... cowardice, basically.

Her willingness to grab for her axe when insulted that way to her face had quenched some of that behavior, but the whispers behind her back never really stopped. She didn't care. The voice in her belly told her to stay silent on the matter, and she had never been known for being overly thoughtful.

Ever more dogged stubbornness was all the pressure falling on her received, sometimes with flying fists, and her frankly savage ability to defend herself and the child she carried had won her unwanted respect despite herself. The magic the child gave her to defend them helped a lot, too.

As he promised, the follow-up ejection took about an hour, delighting the aide who wouldn't have to wait around any longer with the unreasonable, quiet soldier cuddling her half-breed of a son. The placenta was removed, the fluids cleaned up as Tiya was wiped down one more time, and then the aide quickly removed herself from the room. Whether she would return with food or drink in some time was a different matter, as the subtle discrimination was already beginning.

Golden Light shimmered over Tiya's chest, stealing down into her and moving slowly towards her belly. Muscles, skin, and organs stretched and distorted by the pregnancy seemed to burn with a soft, warm fire that made her moan in relief despite herself. She could feel the magic trembling in her nerves, setting right her posture, the strain on her back and legs and balance, mending and adjusting matters back to a level before the lesser physical activity had made her go soft.

She clenched her hand, calluses rippling and her bicep seeming to gleam as her forearm redefined itself. She had done exercises recommended by the voice, swirls of new inner power going through her and helping immensely with trying to stay in shape, but the simple need to protect her baby meant she could not endure the level of physical conditioning she had always been able to. But it was all coming back. She could feel it.

The Restoration magic was something offered only by the most competent Healers to mothers, an extravagance and luxury for those held in highest regard by the Priestesses blessed with the power. She gave the newborn boy her nipple, and a pleased sigh rippled through her mind as he began to slowly draw in the milk. She had seen a great deal of what her son could do, but growing up faster was not among those things, it seemed.

"I have everything ready to go, Deuce," she assured him. He had directed her on how to stitch together a working papoose, helped her make up a list of supplies, and even how to pack more efficiently. -I know you do. Thank you, Mother, - the babe replied softly, and Tiya smiled fiercely, clutching him proudly. Her Legion term of service lapsed at midnight, and she had not re-signed, not that the Legion would treat her well with a child weighing her down.

Children were to be left behind and reared with relatives or husbands not involved in the fighting, or even to the common camps run by the Legions for those women who bore children by multiple fathers over time. Leaving the Legions to care for a child was not uncommon, although frowned upon, but to do so for a half-breed was basically an admission of cowardice to many. Tiya had broken a lot of teeth and jaws of those who had dared to say such things to her, until they had not dared to do so. Courage?

What did they know of courage? She had a baby to protect from them, the cowardly bastards who wanted to kill an infant! Her eyes closed but her thoughts intent and focused, Tiya sat back and let the magic flow through her, rebuilding what she'd lost, and making her ready to get out of this place. She would not miss it. She had a son to raise, a son like none of them could imagine, and she, she had been chosen to be his mother! She smiled fiercely.

Her son would change the world, and she would watch him do it, and those close-minded cowards would only be able to look on and dream that they could have been chosen to be his mother instead...