Tara Runeweaver's Arc

Chapter 24 of 29

The first pain woke Tara before dawn. It was sharp and early, weeks before the moon she had counted on. She pressed her hand to the carved stone Bjorn had given her and breathed through it. The bone chime sang outside. Bjorn was already gone to the rune monument, his hand on the ring. Good. She dressed slowly and walked to the vigil hearth where the midwife waited. The eldest midwife took one look at her face and knew. She rang the iron bell tower beside the hearth, three slow pulls. The clan would come and wait by its sound. Then she turned to her herb beds behind the stone wall. Tara followed and saw the truth at once. The raised stone beds under their netting were stripped bare. Frost-bitten stems. Empty soil. The midwife had not yet stocked for an early birth. "I need root and leaf I do not have," the midwife said. She held up her fur-lined satchel. Its bone clasps hung open. "Without these, I cannot stop the bleeding if it comes." Tara felt the next pain climb up her back. She gripped the stone wall and counted. The midwife's hands were steady but her mouth was tight. Tara thought of the cave past the ridge, the one with carved walls and a fire pit that never died. Wild herbs grew thick in its warm pocket of stone, sheltered from frost. She had passed it many times. "I know where they grow," she said. "I will go." The midwife shook her head. "You will labor on the path." Tara took the empty satchel from her hands. "Then I will labor and walk. Ring the bell again when I return." She went alone. Each pain bent her against trees. She reached the ice cave and knelt by the fire pit. Mint, yarrow, the bitter root the midwife named. She filled the satchel and clasped the bones shut. Walking back was slower. She bit the inside of her cheek the way Bjorn did and kept her feet moving. When she came through the gate the chime was still singing and Bjorn's hand was still on the ring. The midwife opened the satchel and her face changed. She pulled Tara into the birth tent and laid out the leaves on clean cloth. "You did what I could not," she said. Then she gripped Tara's wrist and her voice dropped. "But the child is turned wrong. I felt it as you walked in. The herbs will hold you. They will not turn the babe." Tara lay back on the furs. Outside, the iron bell rang again, calling the clan to wait.