The Queen's Blade Prequel II - God Touched (12 page)

“
No, you'll run if I let you go, and I need you to...” She
groaned, then relaxed, panting. “...Help when the baby
comes.”

“
No!”

“
Please, Blade. I'm sorry to... put you through this, but...”
She strained again, her face reddening, then flopped back.
“...There's no one else.”

He glanced
around, hunted, yet trapped. “I could have fetched the midwife by
now.”

“
She lives in the slums. It's miles away, and hard to find. I
know you, you wouldn't have...” She groaned and panted. “...Come
back.”

Blade shot her
a quick glance, his eyes skipping off her nudity, his face heating
again. He picked up the dress. “Don't you want to put this on?”

She shot him a
disbelieving look. “I'm in the middle of giving birth. I'm not
going to put on a damned dress!”

Blade
swallowed hard and winced as she gripped his bruised hand again.
She cursed and writhed, and the stench of blood grew stronger. His
eyes were drawn to something pink and glistening, smeared with
blood, that emerged from her crotch. It had a face. A cold wave
washed over him, and everything went dark.

Lilu relaxed
as most of the pain abated. The worst was over. A soft thud in the
straw beside her made her glance at Blade, who was stretched out,
his eyes closed. After a moment of stunned disbelief, she giggled,
then gasped as another contraction gripped her. The baby slid out,
and she sat up and picked him up, wiping the slime off his face
with the hem of her dress. He wriggled and raised his fists, then
drew his first bubbling breath and wailed. Lilu smiled, stroking
the thick black hair that clung to his scalp while she counted
fingers and toes.

Lilu wrapped
him in her skirt and lay back, holding the infant on her belly. He
bawled lustily, but appeared to be unhurt despite the kicks that
had thudded into her abdomen less than a time-glass ago. She
glanced at Blade, smiling at his peaceful slumber. Here was the
Master of the Dance, the deadliest assassin in all of Jondar,
unable to stomach the sight of a birth.

Wise women
always said that the pain of a birth would kill a man, and she
thought that they were right. The baby howled, and she bit through
the umbilical cord and placed him on the straw. After burying the
afterbirth, she knelt to pull on her dress, which would make Blade
happy when he woke, she mused. She wondered why he had come to the
whorehouse. How had he known about her plight? That he had come
warmed her heart, and she leant over to kiss his cheek, wiping off
the drop of blood that she left on his skin. It came from her nose,
and she wiped her face with her skirt, which also wrapped the
infant.

Lilu smiled at
him. “I shall call you Endellar. Storm Born. Endel for short. There
may be no blizzard tonight, but you came into the world in the
company of a human storm, and he lies in the straw, senseless from
shock.” She giggled and whispered, “He's God Touched.”

Turning to
Blade, she hesitated, almost loath to wake him, he was so peaceful.
Placing the screaming baby in the straw again, she wriggled closer
and stroked the assassin’s cheek. Somehow, he stood above the dross
of humanity, pure in spirit and flesh, though stained with hatred
and rage. His penchant for cleanliness bordered on fanatical, and
she often wondered whence it stemmed. Sighing, she gave his
shoulder a little shake. A scraping sound made her glance around.
Benaar stood there, staring at her with angry, bloodshot eyes.

“
So, the slut has birthed a bastard,” he growled. “You were
supposed to die, and your bastard with you.”

Lilu shook
Blade harder. “Wake up!”

“
Who've you got there?” Benaar enquired. “Another victim? Looks
like you rutted 'im to death, poor sod.”

Lilu thumped
the assassin. “Wake up! Blade!”

“
Blade?” Benaar's eyes widened, then narrowed. “What's 'e doin'
'ere? You two were in cahoots, innit?”

“
Stay away from me!” she shouted when he stepped
closer.

Lilu fumbled
on Blade's belt for one of his daggers, sliding it free of its
sheath with a soft, deadly slither. The baby screamed, and Benaar
cast him a hard glance.

“
I'm going to shut that there brat up, too.”

Lilu
brandished the dagger, aware that it was razor sharp. She had seen
Blade stropping his weapons for time-glasses to hone them so finely
that they could slice through a cloth that was dropped on them.
Benaar smiled and took another pace forward. Perhaps he did not
realise that Blade was liable to wake at any moment, or at least,
she hoped he was. She also hoped that he was a good fighter when
not armed with a plank or faggot. Benaar leered. Lilu glanced at
the assassin, and, in desperation, pressed the tip of the dagger
into his belly. Blade jerked upright with a snort, whipped around
and punched her in the side of the head. Lilu fell back, her skull
ringing. The assassin scrambled away from her, looking alarmed. He
glanced at Benaar, confusion mingling with his alarm.

“
It's one of them,” Lilu cried. “He's one of the men who tried
to kill you! He's the one who hit you with a rock!”

Benaar drew a
long, wicked looking knife and lunged at Blade. The assassin quit
the straw in a bound, moving so fast that Lilu's eyes could not
follow him. Benaar swung around, finding the assassin behind him.
Blade drew a dagger, then jumped back when Benaar charged him. As
the assassin landed, he bounced high, one foot lashing out. It hit
Benaar under the chin and sent him crashing into the straw. Blood
bubbled from his throat, and he croaked, gaping as he struggled to
breathe. Blade looked down at his feet, as if realising something,
so startled did he look. Lilu followed his gaze and gasped. Three
inches of bloody steel protruded from the end of his boot, and a
clean blade jutted from the other. The assassin looked stunned,
turning to stare at her, then Endel. The baby's screams
reverberated around the barn.

“
Shut it up,” he snarled.

Lilu scooped
up the infant and clutched him to her breast, but he continued to
howl. Blade glanced around, then at the jerking, twitching man who
died on the straw. She pushed her finger into Endel's mouth, and he
fell silent. Blade tucked away his dagger and retrieved the one she
held, returning it to his collection.

“
Come, we've got to get out of here before someone else
comes.”

Lilu nodded,
wondering if she would be able to walk so soon after giving birth.
Struggling to her feet, she wobbled on rubbery legs, sparing a
glance at the gaping man who gurgled on the floor. Blade headed for
the door, apparently expecting her to be able to keep up. She
tried, her legs shaking. He glanced back with knitted brows and
beckoned urgently.

“
Hurry up!”

“
You try running when you feel like you've just been split in
half.”

Blade snorted
and came back to grip her arm and drag her forward, but she almost
fell.

She cursed.
“It's not that I don't want to go faster, Blade, it's that my legs
aren't working all that well right now.”

With a growl,
he bent and scooped her up, his expression thunderous and his nose
wrinkled. Lilu gaped at him in astonishment.

“
You stink,” he muttered.

“
So would you if you'd just squeezed out a baby.”

The assassin’s
eyes flicked down to the child, filled with distaste.

Blade paused
in the doorway and glanced up and down the street, which was quiet,
night almost fallen. He trotted across the road into the next
alley, slipped into the shadows and strode along it. Lilu gazed at
him, fighting the urge to kiss him. By the time he reached the end
of the alley, she could resist no longer. Sliding her hand around
his neck, she kissed him with all the pent-up passion she harboured
for him. Blade recoiled as if she had slapped him, and the next
thing she knew she was sitting on the ground, her rump smarting. He
swung away, scrubbed his lips and spat. She stared at him, shocked
and mortified.

When he faced
her again, his face was twisted with disgust. “Gods! Why did you
have to do that? I want to be ill! What in Damnation, Lilu?”

She hesitated,
a sob catching in her chest. “I just... wanted to say... thank
you.”

“
How many times must I tell you not to touch me? And then you
go and do that!” He scrubbed his lips again and spat. “Disgusting,
filthy trollop!”

Her eyes
stung. “If I'm such a disgusting filthy trollop, why did you save
me?”

“
I don't know! I want the information you almost got yourself
killed for!”

“
So I'm to blame now?”

He threw up
his hands. “How should I know? I wasn't there!”

“
Well I wasn't! I asked questions for you so I could find out
their names and they beat me half to death!”

He hawked and
spat, grimacing. “I'm not blaming you, for god's sake. Except for
that.” He gestured to his mouth. “Don't ever do that again.”

Lilu stared at
him, noting his pallor and haunted eyes. There was far more to it
than a kiss from a whore, and she wondered what.

“
All right,” she murmured.

“
Come on, get up,” he said, pushing up his sleeve to rub his
tongue on his arm, his face twisted.

Lilu rose,
clutching Endel, who remained miraculously silent, sucking his own
fingers now. Following Blade down the alley, she watched him hawk
and spit, scrub his lips and scrape his tongue with his
fingernails, trying not to let it upset her. They passed a public
fountain on the way to his rooms, and he stopped to gargle with the
water, which she considered was probably none too clean, and did
not mention that she had seen beggars pissing in it before now. A
small revenge for his humiliating reaction, and one she hoped she
would not come to regret when she found out the reason for it.

Blade banged
open the door to his room and slammed it behind her, going over to
the fireplace to throw logs into it. Endel gurgled, and she sat on
the bed and held him to her breast, smiling at him. Blade glanced
around and jumped up with an oath.

“
Gods, Lilu! Must you do that here?”

She wondered
if there was no end to his aversions. “Where must I do it?”

“
Behind the damned curtain!”

She glared at
him. “No! I will not! What's the matter with you? I kiss you and
you act as if I was the city sewer. I feed my child and you want me
to hide. I give birth, and you pass out!”

“
I did no such thing!”

Lilu giggled,
shaking her head. “That lie won't work. I was there, remember? What
happened when you keeled over, then? Were you taking a little
nap?”

He looked
confused, swinging away to grip the mantelpiece. “I don't remember.
You were shouting, and then that thug was there.”

She sighed.
“Yes, you passed out. For several minutes. I thought it was
sweet.”

“
Sweet!”

“
Yes.” She giggled again. “The great Dance Master, senseless at
the sight of a baby's birth.”

“
It's not something I've seen before. I'm used to snuffing life
out, not seeing it come into the world.”

Lilu sobered,
frowning at him, and held the baby tighter. For anyone else, it
might not have been a good idea to mock the deadliest man in the
city, but she was not concerned. He bent and unbuckled the steel
blades on his boots without bending his knees, and she marvelled at
his suppleness.

Blade lighted
a fire and fetched water, boiled two pots and filled a bath, which
he soaked in for a time-glass. Lilu rocked Endel to sleep when he
finished his feed, then sat and stared into the fire. Her insides
were leaden and her eyes drooped with fatigue.

When Blade
emerged, a towel around his hips, he gestured to the alcove. “The
water's still warm. Wash the baby too, you both stink.”

When she
emerged half a time-glass later, refreshed and sweet scented, he
sat on the chair, staring into the fire with a distant expression.
She had wrapped herself in a sheet, since her dress was filthy, and
Endel slept on the bed. Settling on the mat, she studied the
assassin.

“
What was that all about?”

“
What?”

“
The kiss. I could understand a little bit of disgust, because
I'm a whore, but that was extreme. I don't kiss my customers, you
know.”

He grimaced,
looking away. “Spare me the details.”

“
I will, if you tell me what your problem is.”

“
None of -”

“
My business.” She nodded. “I know. But let's just say I want
to know, and you want the names of the men who tried to kill you,
so it's a fair trade.”

He rubbed his
brow. “No, don't do this.”

“
Why not?”

“
It's not fair. What I want is meaningless to you, but what you
want is something I'll never reveal to anyone.”

Lilu stared at
him. “I think you just did. Someone did something terrible to you
as a boy, and it involved kissing. Your father?”

“
No.”

“
So it was after your father died. The Cotti?”

Blade rested
his head on the back of the chair and closed his eyes. “Stop
it.”

“
But the Cotti don't bugger boys, or are the tales
wrong?”

“
They don't.”

“
So... it was just kissing?”

He raised his
head to look at her. “Why aren't you tired after rutting with men
all day and squeezing out a baby in the afternoon?”