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The sweat streamed down Larra’s straining
body. She gasped in pain and
clenched her teeth on the leather strap she had
requested. Beside her Rupali
applied another cool, damp cloth, wiping away the sweat that streamed from
her.
She had requested that she be carried into
the garden to give birth, and the spray from the fountains helped lower the
temperature, but could do nothing about the
pain. Labour had begun halfway
through the night and it was now late
afternoon. As with her other
births, her baby was taking its time, apparently not pleased at being asked
to vacate its cozy home.
She bit back a cry as another contraction
rippled her abdomen and the midwife urged her to,
“push.”
“I am pushing,” Larra
thought. “It’s not
as if I hadn’t done this
before.” She clamped her
teeth harder and bore down, attempting to ignore the incredible pain as her
pelvic bones were forced apart.
She remembered her first
pregnancy. She had been in labour
almost a day giving birth to James.
Her second with Jia Li had been almost as
bad. Only her second daughter,
Jane had been relatively easy, birthing in only eight
hours. This one promised to be
long and painful.
She had been offered a local narcotic, some
sort of leaf from a rainforest plant, but she had turned it down, not being
certain of the effects on her unborn
child. As she experienced an
especially painful contraction she seriously reconsidered the
offer.
“Push,” the midwife urged
again. Larra complied, bearing
down with all of her strength. She
felt a sudden shifting within her.
“It’s coming,” the midwife
cried. “Try
harder.”
Larra bit back a cry of
pain. The birth was
agonizing. She gripped Rupali’s
hand until the girl winced and pushed.
She was rewarded with an even greater burst of pain and then another
feeling of movement.
“Aahh!” The feeling of relief was
so intense that she was almost overwhelmed by her own endorphins, and then
a wrinkled squalling creature was placed between her engorged
breasts.
“Another daughter,” she murmured,
taking her newborn infant into her arms.
She looked up at Rupali and smiled.
“She’s beautiful,” the Indian
girl said.
“Really?
She looks like a screaming red prune to me,” Larra
commented.
She waited until the umbilical was tied off
and then held the child to her breast.
The greedy little mouth enveloped her
nipple. It was a sensation she
had always thoroughly enjoyed; at least until her nipples became so sore
she wanted to scream.
“What are you going to call her?”
Rupali asked.
“I hadn’t really thought of that,”
Larra answered.
In truth she had
not. This child was different
from the others. Those children
had been conceived out of acts of love; this one was a child of
rape. Blankly, she looked at
Rupali. “I can’t think
of anything at the moment,” she
said. “I will wait a
day.” As it turned out the
matter was solved for her.
“Sevti,” the maharaja
said. “I will call her,
Sevti.”
Larra wanted to point out that it was her
child to name, not Sundara’s, but she did
not. Somehow the Hindi name for
“White Rose” seemed appropriate for her fair-skinned, violet-eyed
daughter.
Sundara had invited himself to the harem,
as was his right. It was apparent
that he did not for an instant consider it improper for him to take charge
of his favourite concubine’s child whether it was his or
not. Larra, however, had ideas
of her own on the subject, but she would wait until she was fully recovered
from the childbirth before voicing them.
What she had to say would most likely not meet with Sundara’s
approval and she wanted to be strong enough to take alternative action if
it was so required.
Sundara did not stay long and Larra retired
to her area of the harem to nurse her
child. Since the birth she had
been moved from the large rooms she had occupied to an area where Sundara’s
other wives raised their children.
Until they were once again ready to entertain their lord they lived
slightly apart from the other wives, although they shared common areas such
as the gardens.
For the last few weeks Rupali had been staying
apart from her although there was nothing to stop the Indian girl from visiting
every day. This time as she settled
herself on her divan Rupali followed her.
Larra smiled a greeting as Rupali settled
beside her. Their common ordeal,
and the fact that they shared a background different from that of the other
members of the harem and Tigalava society, had made them very
close. They chatted for awhile
while Lara suckled Sevti and then Rupali became serious.
“The maharaja has sent for me,”
she said. “I plan to
go.”
“That is your wish?” Larra asked,
her elegant brows arching.
“The Japanese destroyed my
world. My parents are probably
dead. The plantation where I
was raised is gone. And I lost
my virginity to the Prahgan. There
is nothing left for me in my old world.
Even if I could go back and my parents had somehow survived I would
be considered dishonoured. No
one would marry me. I would be
regarded as little better than a whore.”
Larra nodded her
understanding. Indian moral codes
were strict and frequently unforgiving.
If Rupali returned she would be an outcaste in her own society, however,
there was an alternative.
“You could come with
me. I would welcome you as my
friend and companion.”
“I am not like you,” Rupali
replied. “You are a great
lady, a scholar, and a warrior. I
am only the daughter of a foreman on a
plantation. I have found my place
here. I am considered beautiful
and desirable. And the maharajah
is willing to take me as I am.”
Larra
understood. The dark-skinned
Tigalava were fascinated by the light complexions of the two women who had
mysteriously been saved by their god.
Sundara most of all. When
he had made love to her he sometimes had simply stroked her body wondering
at her soft, white skin. The
fact that he had invited Rupali to his bed meant that she too was
accepted.
“My offer stands,” Larra said,
“but first I must see if Sundara will release
me.”
She was not entirely too certain about her
status with the maharaja. He
had invited her to his bed until a month before her time and then had visited
her daily, primarily to chat with her about her world and to play ashte
kashte. It was clear that he
found her fascinating, not just because of her exotic beauty, but also as
a woman of intelligence and strength of mind; characteristics that were absent
in his usual harem-mates.
It was a day until Sundara appeared
again. Before that she had seen
Rupali. She didn’t have
to tell Larra whether or not her session with the maharaja had gone well.
Her blissful smile told her that.
Larra wondered how Rupali would adjust to sharing the maharajah with
the other women of the harem. It
would be her problem as well if she stayed.
She was holding Sevti as Sundara
entered. He knelt before her
divan, bringing himself down to her height, and reaching out, caressed her
cheek lightly.
“And how fares the
divine light of my eyes?”
“I am well, my lord,” Larra
smiled. “But there is something
of import I must discuss with you.”
Sundara settled back, a dark glint in his
eyes. “Yes, my
lady?”
Larra kept her eyes steady, maintaining her
composure. She knew what she
had to say might anger her lover.
“My lord, the time has come for me to return to my
people.”
“That cannot be,” Sundara responded,
getting to his feet. “You
were favoured by Vinayakudu and given his
blessing. You are now part of
the Tigalava and part of my harem.
In our history, no woman has ever left the protection of her
lord.”
“I have my own life,” Larra
continued. “Surely you must
see that I am not like other women.”
“Indeed you are not,” Sundara said
without anger. “I had never
expected to meet so unusual a woman.
But now you are part of my
household. You will stay and
fulfill the will of the gods.”
Larra bowed her head in acknowledgement of
the maharajah’s will. She
was relieved that her words had not made him
angry. She had not expected him
to acquiesce to her request, but thought it worth a
try. Now she knew that she would
have to escape the Tigalava on her own.
She was not at all perturbed, as even with
Sundara’s permission to leave, she was still not fit enough to travel
yet. She needed to recondition
her body and properly equip herself before she tackled the wilds of
As the maharajah left the harem she opened
her breast bindings and offered her nipple to the infant.
As the little mouth closed over
her teat she smiled. “Soon,
little one,” she thought, “we will be
free.”
Purwanto slunk through the
forest. It had not taken
For the next hour he plodded on, wishing he
had never approached
The canyon suddenly opened in front of him
and he stopped, not wishing to move into an open space without reconnoitering
it first. Finally satisfied that
it was safe he moved slowly into the open and found himself in a much larger
canyon. However, it was not the
canyon that drew his attention; it was the enormous carving of an elephant
cut into the canyon wall.
Purwanto
swore. “I found it!”
he exclaimed. “I found it
after all.” He turned and
began to hurry back the way he had come.
He had to get back to
Katie studied the massive gate that blocked
the canyon and then she moved back to where the other women
waited. “Looks like we’ve
hit a bit of an impasse. There
is no way we can get past that gate without exposing ourselves to attack
from the sides of the canyon.
We’ll have to try and find a way
around.”
“That will take time,” said
Amy. “What if the people
behind that gate have Larra?”
“It will take even more time if we are
ambushed and captured. Even worse
we could be killed. If Larra
is still alive I doubt her captors will suddenly decide to kill her after
all this time. We have to be
sure. We are probably her only
chance.”
Reluctantly the others
agreed. “Let’s go back
to the rendezvous point,” Katie
suggested. “We will be early,
but it will give us a chance to look for an alternate route on the way
back.” She picked up Lin
Yao. She and the others often
took turns carrying the little girl.
It was the only way that she could keep up, even though she could
walk much farther and longer than any other seven-year-old child Katie had
ever seen.
Wallace studied the
ground. “They camped here
for sure. After that I’m
not sure which of the two canyons they
took. There are boot marks going
off in both directions.”
Judy looked uncomprehendingly at the
ground. Wallace had been trying
to teach her the rudiments of tracking, but she was completely hopeless when
it came to seeing anything on hard
ground. “Perhaps they split
up,” she suggested.
“Perhaps,” Wallace
agreed. “It’s not something
I would do, but I’m not them.”
“What do you think we should do?”
Judy asked.
“Follow them I
guess. Thing is which group do
we follow?” Wallace
sighed. “Let’s stay
here tonight and then think a bit more on it in the
morning.”
Lisha’s eyes
gleamed. Beside her Melissa and
Jia Li followed her gaze. Melissa
spoke first. “Well, we’ve
found them. Now what do we
do?”
“Now,” said Lisha, “now we
hunt.” She looked at Jia
Li. The Manchu girl looked back
and smiled.
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