The Holding Pen

 

On either side of them the Fae riders twisted on their Sprint mounts, causing the horrid spider beasts to shift and, when they did, the barbed spiracles on their legs waved back and forth. Behind the group, Alpen heard the cries of other ship passengers who were not careful enough to avoid the waving barbs as they walked the wide aisle of ground between the Sprint phalanxes.

Stealing a glance behind him, Alpen reached back to touch the playpen, to make some connection. This was a battle like nothing he had experienced, beyond his ability to comprehend, a tortured battle of patience and alertness. He was not used to holding himself in obeisance to the enemy. Victor and victim were all he had known.

They were the first of the ship's caravan to pass through the wide stone arch. Alpen looked sideways at Fallon as they entered a large space perhaps ten warriors square with no ceiling and thick stone walls two warriors high. Several Cawthingi guards came forward and pointed them to a shaded corner, where they huddled together.

Erthen appeared to be sleeping or catatonic, so Alpen helped Fallon and the boy sit on the sandy ground against the wall. He glanced furtively at the guards before giving Bebe a hug and looking in on the babes in the playpen. The group's subservience had made them non-threatening and uninteresting to the guards who turned their attention to the other prisoners as they filed into the enclosure.

Bebe touched Alpen's arm as she opened the door to the playpen. He looked up to check on the guards and nodded. She reached into the playpen to gather the babes into her lap. A choking sound came from her and Alpen stole a glance sideways.

Alithea, sitting next to Bebe, emitted an agonized cry at the limp figure of Darden in Bebe's lap. She reached in to touch Alamea, then drew back and looked to Fallon a warrior's distance away. Unable to see into the cage and preoccupied with Erthen, he glanced toward Alithea's cry. She tried to say their child's name but her throat closed and only a choking sound came out.  

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Bebe reached into the playpen and scooped up Bella's limp form, then turned to look at Alithea, who leaned in to Bebe and stroken the fine fur on the small body in Bebe's hand. Alithea's outburst caught the attention of the Cawthingi guard who turned toward them. Waving his prod stick toward Bebe, he held out his other hand.

Alpen began to rise in anger but Fallon laid a hand on his forearm. The guard stared at Alpen, daring him to a challenge, then turned back to Bebe and motioned her to pass him the still body in her hand. Bebe looked to Alithea, then stretched out her arm to the guard.

He gently took Bella and held her close with a look of concern on his face, then opened his mouth as though to eat her. Fallon couldn't stop Alpen, who rose up as though he sat on an invisible spring. The guard tossed the dead Bella to the sand and struck Alpen's face with the prod stick. A spark leapt from the tip of the stick and Alpen's head flew back. Fallon reached up to steady Alpen, then pulled him down to the ground next to him.

The guard said something to Alpen while holding his gaze, then bent down to pick up the dead baby. Alithea stifled a cry in her throat. The guard turned to Bebe and ceremonially handed the baby to her. He looked sideways at Alpen and said something to Bebe, then backed away. Finally, he turned to the horde of prisoners milling into the large space.

 Fist clenched in his lap, Alpen growled, "When I kill him, I will spare his children." He turned to Fallon. "What did that slug say? Can you understand Cawthingi?"

"He called you Ibik feces," Fallon said. "Here let me look at your face." Fallon inspected the burn mark from the prod stick.

Alpen pushed Fallon's hand away. "What did he say to Bebe?"

"He was sorry that the babe had such a defective father as you," Fallon said.

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"He was goading us, looking for an excuse to bust one of our heads," Fallon said. He looked left at Alithea sitting next to him and gingerly put a comforting arm around her.

Her face in her hands, she asked, "What kind of mother am I? How could I do this to her?"

"It was the heat in the belly of that darkness," Fallon consoled her. "We couldn't know. We thought we could make a good life here."

Sitting on the other side of Alithea, Bebe listened impassively. She had lost too much. She turned to look at Alpen sitting on the other side of Fallon. "Where will we bury our babes?" She turned to look at the groups of prisoners filling up the space. How had they all fit in that cramped space?

Alpen stole a glance at the guard then leaned across Fallon and held out his hand over the playpen toward Bebe. "We had better bury them here. You saw what that guard did. We have no value to these Cawthingi dogs. They will throw our children out like yesterday's meal."

Bebe looked at the people milling about. "What will we dig with? Are you mad?"

"We can try, damn it!" Alpen said in a fierce whisper. He reached between himself and Fallon as they sat on the ground and started to dig a hole next to the wall with his fingers.

Fallon slid closer to Alithea to give Alpen room. He glanced down. It was hard sand like the sand they ran on earlier that day and Fallon had little hope that they could dig deep enough to put the babes in and cover them up. As more prisoners came into the compound, the sound of different languages hurt his head. His brain kept chasing a phrase here, a word there. Again, he heard what he thought was their language, the familiar cadences of the Jade people. Then it would disappear.