Anwen grunted in pain. She didn’t scream, screaming only made thigs worse. The midwife looked up from her position between her legs.

“I can see the head, just a little bit more,” she said, her French accent making her words sound more beautiful than the task actually was.

Anwen grunted in reply and pushed harder. Finally, with a rush of fluid the baby was delivered.

“A boy! It is a boy!” the midwife exclaimed.

Jubilation at the birth of a son was common, especially in the nobler families. For Anwen, there was no jubilation. To her, a boy was just as good as a girl. Though Asena would likely disagree with her on that point.

Thane Zulu

Thane watched his mistress pace the width of the room again. She’d been doing this more often of late. In all the years Thane had known the Lady Asena, he had never seen her so worked up.

“My lady, tell me what troubles you,” he told her.

Asena sighed and said nothing for so long he thought he would have to ask her again.

“Akira’s scars are what’s troubling me,” she replied wearily.

“So the child has scars, what of it?” he asked confused.

“These aren’t just any scars, Thane. They’re lash scars. Akira was whipped close to a thousand times when she was sixteen. Something about them isn’t sitting right with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure but when I touched them it felt like they radiated power and not the good kind either.”

“That my dear is exactly the case,” a deep baritone voice replied, startling them both. “Those lashes were imbued with the worst kind of curse.”

“No, Master Arrhenius, it didn’t feel like a curse,” Asena told the newcomer.

“Then pray tell, what did it feel like?” the newcomer asked.

Asena didn’t answer right away and Thane didn’t expect her to. All of her pacing boiled down to this. She knew something was dreadfully wrong with that girl and if not fixed properly, she would die. The man went to repeat his question but Thane held up his hand. He knew his mistress well. She would answer his question but in her own time.

“It’s a power I have not felt for a very long time,” she finally replied. “Mavi would know more about this power as he was the one who first discovered it.”

“I would know what power, sister?” the old drunk slurred.

Thane had forgotten he was even still here.

“You have felt the power running through Akira’s scars, have you not?” she asked.

“Aye, I felt it the moment I met her,” Mavi hiccupped. “Power like that don’t come cheap and when used on innocents like her, it takes root in the very soul. Once it takes root, it either festers or it dies. In Akira, it did neither. It’s draining her life away, one heartbeat at a time.”

“But how?” the man his mistress had called Master Arrhenius asked.

“It is rare for this kind of thing to happen, since it only happens to those saved from death by the goddess Freya. The curse, if you can even call it that, only does this in those favored by the gods. It angers the goddess Hel, who rules Helhiem, and lays claim to those not killed in battle.”

“Then there is no way to save her?” Arrhenius asked.

“Aye, there is a way but only a priestess of Hel can remove it,” Mavi answered gesturing with his bottle of Scotch. “And those are even more rare than this curse. She’ll live until I can find one, unless you tried to exorcise it already.”

Mavi glared at Master Arrhenius.

“What was I supposed to do, let her suffer those nightmares?”

“She still has those?” Mavi asked surprised.

Thane watched as Master Arrhenius gave Mavi a strange look before nodding. Mavi grumbled something no one understood before scrubbing his face and standing.

“Right, listen closely old man because I will only say this once,” he said pointing at Master Arrhenius. “Do not touch that girl, unless it is to keep her alive. Do you understand?” Master Arrhenius nodded so he continued. “There is only one priestess of Hel still living that I know of and she may have knowledge of another.”

“Why not bring her?” Master Arrhenius demanded. “If Akira’s condition is as bad as you say, why go to this one to find another?”

Mavi sighed but it was Lady Asena who answered the question.

“The priestess of which he speaks is far older than either of us put together,” she replied smoothly. “She was the one who made us this way and she has no love for my brother.”

“Well that puts everything at risk!” Arrhenius exclaimed.

“No, I will go with my brother and I will be the one to speak with the priestess,” Asena answered calmly. “She will speak with me.”

“Are you sure sister?” Mavi asked. “What could you have that she wants?”

“An apprentice.”

“What?!?”

“The promise of training another priestess will be enough to garner her cooperation.”

“And if it is not?”

“Then I will make her hate me as well.”

“My lady, we may need her help again,” Thane spoke up for the first time. “Do not alienate the one person who may be able to help us should the need ever arise again.”

“Thane, the life of Akira is far more important,” she replied sadly. “If she requires something more immediate, she can take my immortality.”

Silence descended on the room. No one hardly dared a breath. The Lady Asena had stolen the breath from their very lungs, none moreso than Thane.