Chapter 21
Seda
Warmth radiated against the walls as Elco stayed close to Seda’s cell. Esper’s screams echoed through the night, and Seda stayed awake, listening intently and offering support to her friend. No one got any rest, not even Elco.
“I’ve heard this happen thousands of times. Her child will be here soon,” Elco told Seda as he studied her.
Seda nervously chewed her nails but stopped when she tasted the dried blood on them. She felt weak from lack of sleep, and dehydration was draining her strength. She stood and slowly moved closer to the bars again, with Elco watching her curiously as she drew nearer.
“Where do you come from?” he asked her, sniffing the air around her again.
Esper’s cries faded, and Seda looked at Elco’s shadowed form curiously.
“I’m from Joro, Elco,” she responded.
Obviously.
“Were you born within Joro?”
“Yes, I was. My parents found me when I was a few years old, wandering the streets in Orience. They tried to find my family, but couldn’t locate anyone searching for a daughter who matched my description.
I was raised in Joro, Elco. I was found when I was small.
I’m from Joro. Maybe I was born here.” She held her arms in the air, pointing all around her as she considered the idea. It was possible.
Elco watched her in silence.
What a strange creature. Elco threatens, and then he wants to chat?
“Are there any other human cities?” she asked.
“Not that I’m aware of. When the dome was created a thousand years ago, all of the humans were inside,” he responded.
“Then I’m from Joro,” she stated, crossing her arms over her chest.
Esper cried out again, her labored breathing echoing down the hall. Seda uncrossed her arms and ran to the bars.
“The baby is coming!” Esper yelled through clenched teeth. She screamed into the dark room once more, then silence fell around them.
“Esper?” Seda called out, holding onto the bars firmly. “Esper? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”
Seda heard the sound of scrambling and patting. “Please… Please… Please…” Esper begged into the darkness, pleading with anyone who would listen.
Seda felt as if her heart had frozen, and she held her breath, praying with her friend for her baby to take its first breath. Minutes went by as they listened to Esper pleading for her baby to breathe.
“The child did not survive,” Elco said dimly as he let out a low sound from the back of his throat.
Seda fell onto the hard ground and dry heaved.
Esper’s heart-wrenching cries echoed through the room, and Seda’s eyes welled up as she sobbed for her fearless friend.
Her friend, who couldn’t bear to leave her beloved and had bravely stood up to injustice by joining her at the Wyrd, a friend who suffered assault, a friend who just went through pregnancy and birth alone, and a friend who just lost her only baby in her arms.
My courageous friend.
The flashing orange light stopped.
A sob tore out of Seda, and she cried into her hands, no longer caring for the mess on her palms. How could a world be so cruel, so unjust, so inhumane?
The door opened, flooding the area with bright torchlight and the voices of men. Seda moved back from the bars and pressed against the wall. Elco growled protectively as he stepped in front of her cell. The light illuminated Elco, and she saw him clearly for the first time.
Seda gasped.
Elco was massive, with a back covered in ruby-red, scaled skin and four powerful, black-furred legs with red cuffs tied to chains around his front paws.
His long, spiked tail curled around his body, and his black, leathery wings neatly folded against his sides.
His mouth had long, jagged teeth, and his head was that of a large cat, with a long, black mane.
Elco was breathtaking.
“She finished giving birth,” a Rozzer said as he approached and shone his torch into Esper’s cell, drawing Seda’s attention back to the men.
“What the fuck is this? It’s dead!” Alexi yelled at Esper. “Did you kill it, you stupid cunt?”
“My baby… My baby,” Esper whimpered as the creaking of her metal bed rocked back and forth.
Alexi and the other Rozzer hurried to open Esper’s cell door and rushed inside. Seda heard the sounds of violence and stood up, running to the bars.
“Stop hurting her! Please!” she begged, her voice cracking. She shook the bars, her chains clattering with every move, desperate to escape and help her friend.
The sound of each punch caused Seda to grip the bars tighter until her knuckles turned white and her hand cramped with tension.
Esper was not resisting. Why was she not resisting?
“My baby,” she heard Esper say weakly when the sounds ceased.
The Rozzers dragged Esper out of her cell. Blood stained her clothes from childbirth, and her face was swelling from their violence. She held a very small baby tightly in her arms, pressed against her chest, with the umbilical cord still attached.
Seda gasped and withdrew her hands, her fingers still curled into the shape of the bars, unable to relax her stiff joints.
Esper tenderly kissed the baby’s forehead as they pulled her away. But she looked up at Seda, their eyes meeting. Seda felt her stomach drop.
For the first time in months, she saw her friend—beaten, broken, dirty, and severely malnourished.
The sound of the metal door closing blocked out all remaining light. The room was once again bathed in a low, crimson glow from Elco.
Seda’s shock and fear were replaced with fury that seeped into the depths of her soul, and a familiar vibration echoed within her chest.
How dare they hurt her friend! How dare they put their hands on a grieving mother! How dare they deprive her of enough food during her pregnancy, force her to carry this child, and make her endure these conditions! How dare they hurt innocent people!
She began breathing heavily through her nose, and her chest rose with each furious breath.
Elco looked at her, and his eyes widened. He slowly backed away from her cell.
“Moon-flutter…” he whispered as he faded into blackness.
She would stand up for her friend, shielding herself and others from the darkness that consumed them, and do everything in her power to avenge those who had hurt them.
As her anger intensified, devouring her submissive obedience like a monster itself, she promised herself that the feeble Seda from before was gone, replaced only by a relentless, wrath-filled drumbeat.
The useless Seda of the past was dead.