Greeting Readers
We are now in the final parts of Fell Dragon before we reach the end of the road. I hope all of you have enjoyed the book series up until this point.
Doran was impressed with how quickly Saita bounced back after her talk with Lardan. It was as if her heart and fears had been laid to rest. She took the time to reconnect with her family and took up the mantle of queen once more. It was hard work, and though there were people who could no longer trust her, she made it work for the majority of her people and allies.
However, the longer she worked, the more noticeable her pregnancy became. While the population was thrilled that Bolx had managed to leave an heir behind, there were some who questioned her ability to lead in her current condition. Myla was more concerned over her health as it would seem the morning sickness that should have been in the first trimester had raged into overdrive now. Saita had managed to delegate a lot of her duties on days that the nausea was at its worst, but there were days that her council was privy to her bouts of illness. However, Saita refused to back down from her role, even when the twins became more active and started turning.
Injuries old and new made the pregnancy difficult and painful, leaving Saita with little sleep. Doran would often find her and Red-Eye walking around the castle to stem the pain. She stubbornly didn’t give in to the pain, even when it struck during meetings.
Doran watched her ride the pain out each time, never stopping what she was doing for more than a second to catch her breath. However, the closer she got to her due date, the worse the pain seemed to get. At this point, Red-Eye was her constant companion, which Myla and Doran were grateful for, as they couldn’t be with Saita all the time.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly, despite the pain, and Jarah had been telling Saita that despite being premature for normal human births, the twins were just about ready to be born. Saita ignored his warning and ignored her mother when she echoed what he had said. Everything seemed fine until the pregnancy reached its thirty-sixth week.
Saita was in the middle of discussing the training of new troops and the possibility of having them train with the Saith when a grunt suddenly escaped her lips. She stood, put both hands on the table, dropped her head, and hissed between her teeth. No one around the table was surprised but no one made a move to support the queen. Doran kept an eye on his watch. This wasn’t like her usual expressions of pain, and he strongly suspected it was a contraction.
After a minute, Saita shook her head and continued what she had been saying but didn’t sit down again. After about twenty minutes, now not talking, Saita clenched her jaw strongly, as others around the table were talking. Doran noted that her jaw remained locked for a minute before she relaxed. Again, he remained silent. That was until she hissed under her breath another twenty minutes later. Now he was sure this wasn’t false labour, and he needed to get her to end this meeting.
“A lot of what is being discussed here can be delegated.” He said softly, under his breath, so only Saita could hear him.
“Two more points.” Saita whispered back to him.
It was a not-so-subtle order for him to remain quiet, and so he did, continuing to time the contractions. While they seemed strong and painful, they remained twenty minutes apart. He understood why Saita was fighting as hard as she was. She was trying to gain back support and didn’t want to look weak in front of her generals. However, Doran could see that they too were timing the contractions as he was. Many of them had their own wives or had experienced birth before, they weren’t stupid.
True to her word, Saita wrapped up the meeting as quickly as possible, without making it seem rushed. As soon as she was done, she sat down and she dismissed those at the table. No one tarried, knowing that if they did, their queen would feel that she too should.
As soon as only Doran was left, Saita lowered her head to the table and groaned loudly. She then took a deep hissing breath in and held it for a few seconds. She had gotten used to the pain during her pregnancy, but this was far worse and though she knew her brain was exaggerating, she couldn’t help but think back to lying on the experiment table with her heart exposed. The thought immediately brought tears to her eye and a quiet sob escaped her mouth.
“Saita, this isn’t false labour.” Said Doran softly as he put a hand on her lower back to feel what was happening inside of her. “Do I need to get an ambulance?”
“No, it’s just painful, the contractions are far enough that I don’t need an ambulance.” She sat up with a sigh and took a few deep breaths. “I’m okay, I need to go to my room.”
Doran snorted, “If you were birthing a single child then having a home birth is fine, not with twins.”
“There’s a bag in my room, with things I want.” She lowered her head to the table again, “Ow!”
“Okay, okay.” Doran allowed her to grip his hand, “Breathe through it.”
“I need that bag.” She begged between clenched teeth.
“Red-Eye, do you know what bag she is talking about?”
The Wolven looked up from the corner of the room and nodded his head, “She’s been packing it in and out for days now.”
“Go get it. I’m getting her to Jarah. You can track us, so come as soon as you have the bag.”
The Wolven got up and stretched before padding over to Saita. He nuzzled the extended belly, feeling the contraction and the confined, squirming of the twins.
“Soon, Mistress. They will be here soon.”
Then he loped from the room.
“Let’s get to hospital.”
Saita hadn’t been under the watchful eye of Jarah for more than a few minutes before her family started streaming in. It had been a while since a royal had been born and everyone was eager to meet Saita’s twins. Jarah had managed to chase the majority of them off to allow Saita to get more comfortable.
Myla had stayed to ask, “Who do you want me to get for you?”
“Siar and Silens at the very least, but could you stay?”
Saita turned to look at her brother, who had already managed to partially fill the room with gifts for the arrival of his niece and nephew. She smiled painfully at him and said, “You need to contact the Saith and then you’re taking over the fort.”
“What! I thought I could at least stay.” He moaned.
“I love you, I really do, but I’m not comfortable with you staring at me while I try to give birth. Really not something I want my brother to see.
He frowned but accepted the job, “Is there anything I need to know before you make me sit on the throne again.”
“You can’t still be pissed about that.” She hissed between her teeth as another contraction started.
He only grinned at her and waited for her to find her words again. When she did, she said, “All the paperwork is done, Doran can show you what needs to be handled.”
“I’d being chased out too?”
“Everyone listen.” Said Jarah sharply, “With Saita’s altered biology, we have no idea what to expect. This could be a relatively standard birth or there could be complications. I will need to monitor her, and I can’t do that with this room flooded with people. Who has been timing the contractions because I’m sure she’s been ignoring them for most of today.”
“Twenty minutes apart and lasting about a minute.” Said Doran.
“Alright, everyone out, I’m going to get her prepped and we can decide and who gets to visit when. I know you all want to be here, but I can’t have myself or her overwhelmed. Give us twenty minutes and then Myla and Karesh can come to visit from there you can all have shifts until the active labour starts. Go on, get.”
Once the room had cleared Saita sighed heavily, “Doran was so insistent that I come to hospital, but the contractions are still too widespread.”
“I told him to keep an eye on you because you’re stubborn. Your altered biology has me worried. We both know you should never have gotten pregnant, but you did, and I am not sure your body knows what to do. I have to monitor and help where I can. Push comes to shove, pardon the pun, I will send you to have a C-section if anything looks like it’s too much for you.”
“You’re the doctor.”
“Come on, let’s get you into hospital attire and do all the fun stuff like drawing blood and pain relief. Have you considered an epidural?”
Soon, my readers, soon.
For those of you who have never heard of Fell Dragon you can find Book 1 here, Book 2 here, Book 3 here, and Book 4 here, Book 5 here, Book 6 here, and Book 7 here
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I love discussing my books!
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
Saith Characters Recap
Human Characters Recap
Alternate Timeline Brucel
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 44>>You are Here>>Part 46
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