The Core. Peter Brett V.

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      ‘Push,’ Darsy said.

      It was a pointless request. Leesha could feel the baby moving the moment they had her propped on the edge of the bed. It was coming whether she pushed or not. She was fully dilated, her water broken all over Wonda’s fine wooden armour. It would be over in moments.

      But then the child thrashed, and Leesha cried out in pain. Darsy, too, gave a cry, seeing Leesha’s stomach distend as tiny hands and feet thrust into the lining. It felt like a demon inside her, trying to claw its way free. Fresh bruises were forming atop the faded ones all over her abdomen.

      ‘Can you see it?’ Leesha demanded.

      Darsy sucked a breath and moved back in between the makeshift stirrups. ‘No, mistress.’

      Corespawn it. She was so close.

      ‘Help me up,’ she said, gripping Wonda’s hand. ‘It will be easier if I squat.’ She bore down, trying to squeeze the child free.

      Again the child struck, hitting her like a horse’s kick. Leesha screamed and stumbled, but Wonda caught her, easing her back to the pillows.

      ‘It is as I feared,’ Amanvah said. ‘Mistress, I must cut the child free.’

      Wonda immediately interposed herself. ‘Not a chance.’

      Darsy rose, the large woman towering over tiny Amanvah. ‘Not if you were the last Gatherer in the world.’

      ‘Leesha vah Erny am’Paper am’Hollow,’ Amanvah said. ‘By Everam and my hope of Heaven, I swear to you, the only chance you have to survive this night is for me to cut you.’

      Wonda had her knife in hand now, and Leesha knew how fast the woman could use it.

      But then Amanvah did something Leesha could never in a thousand years have imagined. She dropped to her knees, putting her hands on the floor and pressing her forehead between them.

      ‘By the blood we share, mistress. Please. Ala needs you. Sharak Ka needs you. You must believe me.’

      ‘Blood you share?’ Darsy asked. ‘What in the Core …?’

      ‘Do it,’ Leesha growled as the thrashing continued.

      ‘You can’t mean …’ Darsy began.

      ‘I can and I do, Darsy Cutter,’ Leesha snapped. ‘She’s better with the knife than you and you know it. Swallow your pride and assist.’

      Darsy scowled, but she nodded as Amanvah produced stones from her hora pouch. ‘I will put you both to sleep …’

      Leesha shook her head. ‘Calm the child, but I’m staying awake.’

      ‘There is no time to take herbs for the pain,’ Amanvah said.

      ‘Then get me something to bite on,’ Leesha said.

      Amanvah’s eyes crinkled as she smiled behind her veil. She nodded. ‘Your honour is boundless, daughter of Erny. Pain is only wind. Bend as the palm, and let it blow over you.’

      The child’s cries filled the room, the babe wrapped in swaddling and thrust into Wonda’s arms while Amanvah and Darsy finished their work. Darsy was suturing the wound as Amanvah prepared hora magic to speed the healing.

      Wonda stood stiff as any new father, terrified she might squeeze the child too hard and crush it. She looked down at the tiny olive-skinned face, and Leesha knew the young woman would die to keep the baby safe.

      Leesha’s arms twitched, wanting to reach out, but she needed to remain still until the work was done. For the moment, it was almost enough to know the child was healthy and safe.

      Almost.

      ‘What is it?’ Leesha asked.

      Wonda’s head snapped up like an apprentice caught daydreaming. ‘Mistress?’

      ‘My child,’ Leesha begged. ‘Is it a boy or a girl?’ So much rode on the question. A male greenland heir to Ahmann Jardir might provoke outright war with Krasia, but a daughter would be no less a target. That the Krasians would come for the child was never in doubt, no matter what Amanvah swore. But when they came – now or over a decade hence – hinged on Wonda’s next words.

      Wonda cradled the babe in one arm as she opened the swaddling. ‘It’s a b …’ She frowned, looking closer.

      At last she looked up, face twisted. ‘Core if I know, mistress. Ent no Gatherer.’

      Leesha stared at her, incredulous. ‘You don’t need to be a Gatherer, Wonda, to know what parts a boy has and what parts a girl.’

      ‘That’s just it, mistress.’ Wonda looked terrified.

      ‘Babe’s got both.’

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       Olive

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      For perhaps the first time in her life, words failed Leesha. She stared open-mouthed, mind racing as the child’s screams rang through the room.

      A babe born with both sets of parts was not unheard of. There were documented cases in her books of old world science, but it was another thing to find it in a live child.

      Her child.

      Tarisa peeked over Wonda’s shoulder and gasped, turning away.

      Leesha СКАЧАТЬ