My computer died..but not my drive to write!

Unfortunately I was unable to restore any of my old content, however, I have started a new story, with my new computer :) You can find it here... The Way it Is

Chapter 12

She lay on the cold stone bed shivering, the days had quit mattering to her, she couldn't tell how long she had been there any more, there was no change, no light to signify a new dawn, no moon to rise on a new night, just dim fire flickering, always flickering, and their laughs and shouts echoing down the corridors.

They had left her  alone in the room, she had tried to keep track of the days then by how many meals she was given, for every third meal she would mark a day off, eventually after months of meals she grew tired of it and quit counting, it had been 8 months then, she wondered how many more had passed since.

She moved slowly off the rock that was her bed, her large belly protruding, slowly breathing as it tightened in a painful vice again.

She had believed they would find her at first. Even when the ZeeGog's took their turns with her, each laughing at their new toy as she screamed and cried, she had believed they would burst in and save her, but with the passing of the hours, as her stomach began to expand she began to understand, they were right, no one would find her, she would never see daylight again.

"Estrella, you need to sit Shellan." She knew it was news, and before a word could escape she already knew that he was there to tell them Kyla was dead.  The world grew dark as she collapsed on the floor.

"It's too much, Cadel, it's too much not Kyla and my mother, how are we suppose to keep going?  What does Moldar want from us? Why were we left to survive if this is our future, our sisters, daughters and mothers taken before their time?"

She couldn't cry any longer, her eyes had long ago dried up, now there was only great heaving dry sobs ripping from her raw throat.  "The baby, what happened to the baby? They said she had given birth, well where is the child she gave birth to?"

Cadel held his wife, he sighed, frustrated that he had no answers for her.  "We don't know, we looked but we didn't find the infant, it can't be more then a few hours old and without it's mother's milk it won't survive long, I'm sorry, so sorry."  He felt like a failure, they all did, all the Warriors returned to their homes, their heads hung in defeat, the laughter of the enemy ringing in their ears.

"We won't let them win love, not this time, Moldar gave us all a second chance and we will find a way to bring them down this time."  He just wished he believed it as strongly in his heart as his voice made it sound.

The child screamed as they placed it upon the alter, the hooded figures gathered around, "Our Great Moldak, we have given you what we promised, a girl child, please reward us for our faithfulness!"

The room grew dark and the child grew silent as the figure appeared scooping it up and into it's arms, "You have done well, but our work is far from over. Do not lose vigilance now, do not think the battle won yet."

The fires in the room were extinguished with their master's final orders and as his voice still echoed off the walls one by one the torches burst into flame.  The ZeeGogs looked where he and the child had been, both vanished into the darkness.

Chapter 11

" She's gone, Kyla is gone!" Estrella had went out to the garden to help her, and found the garden empty, she had ran all over screaming for her first born daughter, all to no avail.
Trae ran out the door, fear etched hard in his face, "I'm going to get my brothers, we will find her Shellan!"

They spent months looking for her, the Warriors scoured the woods, gone from their own homes for weeks at a time, coming back with empty hands and heavy hearts. "I don't understand, Shellan, it is like she vanished, we find nothing!"  Estrella had cried over the weeks, cried for baby girl that she had birthed and lost, praying to Moldar that she be found unharmed, as each day passed, she knew that the chances of her being alive lessened. Finally she understood, the Warriors were no longer looking for her child, they were looking for a body.

A year had passed since Kyla disappeared, and finally all agreed that to search any longer was futile.  The warriors returned to their families. " The girls are to be married Shellan."  Trae knew it would be hard to tell Estrella the news, the twins were barely 17 years of age, still babes really.

 He tried to brace himself for the anger he was certain would come from the words he spoke.  Estrella stood up from the garden, and for the first time he noticed the lines in her face that had not been there before, the last year had aged her.

He had argued when Gideon announced it was time for his daughters to be married, he had argued long and hard, but in the end he had lost.  "It's important that time not be wasted!" he was told, "We don't know what the ZeeGogs are up to, or how quickly they are gaining strength, we must mate our girls as soon as possible, then they appeal less to Moldak for they are no longer young virgins and there is less strength to be had from taking them."

"The weddings will take place in a month, it is out of our hands Shellan and now we must trust Moldar."  He didn't like it any more then his Shellan did, but she must face it, just as he had.  "Now we prepare, Gideon has chosen good males for each of our girls, they will protect them and love them I am certain!"

The sun shone down on the two brides as they prepared to meet their new husbands for the first time.
Each nervous and scared, they fidgeted with each other's  dress and hair, trying to forget the life changing event that was to occur in just a few moments.

  Laila the youngest of the twins was wearing her mother's gown and had her hair pinned up in loose  falling curls around her face. Nesha had chosen a gown made of silk, it hung off of her slim frame in soft falling curtains, accentuating the best of her figure.  Her hair like the gown was left soft and flowing.

A Fae wedding is never a small event and so the family had spent many sleepless nights preparing for the triple wedding.  All the usual things had to be done, and a perfect location had to be selected for the nuptials. After scouting local spots the family decided to use the same location their mother and father had taken their vows in, it was the perfect place to start a new life. Since it was to be a double wedding a second arch was built.  As the couples stood beneath their arches and said their vows the scene couldn't have been more ideal.

The wedding was beautiful in every way, everything seemed perfect, both brides were, of course, stunning in their gowns, and the grooms handsome and brave in their warrior uniforms.

The cakes were amazing confections each sporting layers of rich moist fruit cake, filled with creamy custards. The food was delicious, showcasing the finest of culinary delights available on their island prepared with care and love.

Yet despite the beautiful brides, brave warriors, and delicious banquet the wedding seemed shrouded in a heavy drapery of despair.  Everyone in attendance knew the wedding ceremony was incomplete, there was a bride missing.  The guests said farewell to the brides and grooms and headed back to their own homes, each wondering if Kyla the tiny girl that had stole all their hearts would ever return, or if this was just the beginning of a dark time on Moldaria.

Chapter 10

Edith walked over to the twin's cribs.  It seemed she never got a decent night sleep anymore.  As she tried to get Stryke back to sleep, she wondered what they would become.  She was a first in their world now, giving birth to the children of the ZeeGog's high Priest.  The entire Island held it's breath wondering why it was allowed.

Edith held her little son close before placing him back in his crib, "You'll battle for good, you must, and warrior can do no other, and you are just as much warrior as you are one of them!"  In the days after she had returned home, when they discovered she was with child much debate was went into, it was even suggested that when she delivered the child should be killed.  Her Grandfather stopped all talks of that quickly.  "She is with this babe for a reason, we must trust that Moldar has a plan."

She glanced over to her other son, Slayd, still sleeping so peacefully. She hadn't thought she could love a child, not a child created like they had been, but she loved them both more then her own life. When Slayd came into the world and she held him the first time she knew then that it was the good from the bad given to her, and then she felt his brother coming and she was doubly blessed.

"Edith is to have no more children, she is not to be mated."  Jareth watched his wife's as he gently broke the news to her.  "Gideon says that to mate her would destroy Moldar's plan, it has come from Moldar himself, these will be her only children."   

Celia felt the tears stinging her eyes, they weren't tears for herself, but for her daughter who would never know the love a man can bring into your life. "Certainly if Moldar doesn't wish for her to have children he can make it so without sentencing her to a life alone!" her husband hung his head, and she knew it wasn't a battle that could be won.  "What Moldar says we can not argue, not if we are true followers of his.  She will not be mated."  

"Perhaps though she could still attend the camp, still enjoy the time with the other children her age." She couldn't accept that this was the life for her only daughter, that the twins brought forth from agony and shame would be the only children she would ever bear, those children would keep her daughter from ever knowing the full bonds of husband and wife, it seemed so unfair.

"Nae Woman, there is to be no mating camp this time, there are not enough girls and males.  Each family will be told who they are to mate their children with, it is that simple and that complicated, there is no room for worries of romance and love."  Jareth thought back to their own camp, it was a wonderful time for them all, but he also remembered the look of horror on his wife's face when she was told he was to be her husband.  It worked out just fine for them, it would work out for the others as well.

"There is talk that Cadel is to be married to one of Estrella and Trae's daughters."  His wife turned around from the bird she was preparing horror on her face. "That can't be husband, Cadel is Angel and Saber, his children will be large, our own were almost too large for me to bear, and I am made for bearing large babies!"  

"Moldar knows what he does, and Gideon will not make a bad mating as long as he seeks Moldar's guidance.  

I am certain it is meant to be, there aren't many other choices available. Our children are all related to half the island!"

The sun shone down brights as Estrella finished her work in the garden.  It had been almost six years since the  island girls were kidnapped and recovered.  For many months after a heavy cloud of doubt and fear had settled over them all, they had held their children closer to their sides in those days following the attack.  The fear faded slowly, and now it seemed all had forgotten the horror they felt those dark days.  Estrella looked down at her chatty daughter, Kyla, always filled with wonder at her world.  She was thankful her own children had been spared the nightmares the girls from the other families had endured.  She watched Kyla run off to find her sisters and knew that time was passing quickly, too quickly.

Chapter 9

The birth of the twins was a joyous surprise, and went much smoother then their first daughter's birth.  The twins were tiny, so tiny Trae worried about holding them, afraid he would damage them in his clumsy hands.  The joy of the birth, was quickly overshadowed by a deep mourning that invaded their island. Children were missing, everywhere in each house children had been taken, always girls.

Only one had been found and recovered, Kathleen Santos, Rafe and Marlena's oldest daughter was discovered dead in the woods, the condition of her body sent waves of panic and desperation throughout the island as the warriors continued looking for the other two missing girls.

"She's alive! I can feel her breath!"  Jareth knelt beside his young daughter's broken body, in one fluid motion he picked her up off the ground and into his arms, so gently she didn't make a sound. "Don't worry Edith, it's all over now, you're safe now!" He murmured as he ran towards the tunnel. So focused on his daughter, he didn't even notice he was the only one leaving.

It was moments later that Rafe heard the tiny whimper and saw the other one, too young to understand the horrors she had witnessed, sitting in the corner, her tiny legs bunched up to her chest, her arms wrapped around herself and rocking.  "It's Annaleigh, she's alive, scared witless, but alive!" Rafe scooped the trembling girl in his arms gingerly trying to avoid scaring her further. "It's OK, you're safe little one, we have you now.  Revenge comes later men, lets get her home to her Papa, I foresee a very happy reunion in the near future!"  With that Rafe turned and began the long decent back into the daylight.

" Where were they, did you find any of the ZeeGogs?" Kern took his little girl in his arms and busied himself looking her over, head to toe.  "She doesn't have so much as a scratch on her?  What happened?"

 Rafe sighed, "I don't know Kern, we found Edith as well, and she is alive, but barely, they worked her over good. I don't have any more answers now then when I left.  We can only guess their motives, my guess is we interrupted them before they got to Annaleigh."

Kern sat down, his daughter still in his arms, "What are we suppose to do, how do we stop them if they are always one step ahead of us? We need help, I have prayed to Moldar for an answer and nothing is coming forth from him."

"If they keep killing our girls, soon we will all die with no heirs left to carry on our names and our heritage, soon everything will be for nothing, as it is now, it is hard to know who can marry who without their being relatives involved."  Rafe had been puzzling over this for some time, it concerned him greatly as his son was left with no one to marry, there hadn't been a girl born that was not related in some way to them. They had already lost their only daughter, Kathleen to the Zeegogs, and now it seemed his only son would never pass on their heritage either. He felt they had lost the twisted game the God's were playing, when Kathleen was found dead.

The shrieking filled their cabin as his wife tended to Edith, Jareth was beside himself with rage, she had been violated, his little girl had been violated and tortured. He would get revenge, he would find some way to avenge all that had been taken from her.

Celia gently swabbed the cuts and tucked the covers in around her daughter, thankful that she had slipped into unconsciousness finally, she needed to rest, and Celia suspected that rest would not come naturally to her little girl for a long time.  She had cleaned everything the best she could, had wiped away the dirt and fluids the filthy pigs had left on her, and now all that was left was waiting, waiting for her to heal, waiting to see if she would ever recover.

Chapter 8

She recovered quickly from the birth, and soon was anxious to take their new daughter out to show her off to the neighbors.  They were the last of the couples married, and had been the last of the couples to produce offspring.  How Estrella had longed for a baby of her own when her friends would bring their little one's over to visit, it seemed hardly believable that  her little girl was here.

Kyla grew fast, before Estrella knew it she was walking all over the place, and talking up a storm.  She was as inquisitive about life as her mother had been, and as ornery as her father.  The days of Estrella and Trae being inseparable were over now, Estrella frequently had to stay home with their little girl while Trae hunted, but she didn't mind, she loved every moment of being Kyla's mom.

Estrella was shocked when the news reached her, Kern was a widower, with two tiny babies left to raise alone.  Duray had died a few days after giving Kern a daughter.  Estrella traveled over to visit her brother as soon as she heard the news.  He was devastated, he had loved Duray with his whole heart, and her sudden departure from life had left him shattered.  Estrella stayed with him for a few days, helping with the baby and just giving her brother a shoulder to lean on.

Trae was amused by his Shelan's new love for visiting, of course her extended visit to Kern was completely understandable, but it seemed she was off visiting one of their neighbors now at least once a week.  He couldn't blame her really though, he loved showing their little girl off as much as she did.  It seemed the older Kyla got the more charming she became.  He had seen that little girl turn the most macho of the warriors into babbling fools with her smiles and giggles.  Any of the warriors would do just about anything to protect her and keep her happy.

"They found the Coven, but failed to eliminate any of them, they seem to be growing stronger, Torek was injured pretty bad in the fight, and we almost lost Gideon."  Jareth sat with his wife over breakfast, he had returned home less then an hour before, and was exhausted from the journey and the battle, but he knew Celia anxiously awaited any news he had to share.  "Maybe the old timers should retire and leave the battles to the young men.  Marrok's youngest is growing into a fine warrior and soon it will be time to start training our own children."

Celia looked over at her husband, so primitive in so many ways, he still clung to many of his old customs, but for her he had gentled a lot.  She remembered her wedding day now with just a shade of embarrassment, how doomed she had felt.  That changed, not immediately, their wedding night had been brutal, and she was left feeling even more terrified of her husband after the event.

Time changed it though, when she gave him their son, then she saw how gentle he could be. Finally she gave him the chance her mother had begged her to give.  They started talking really talking after that and he explained to her that he was only keeping with their ways, and she accepted a bit of roughness as she knew it pleased him, and though reluctant to admit it, she found she enjoyed just a bit of pain, but he never took it so far again. Watching him with their little daughter, melted her heart completely towards him, when he looked at her and held her, well as far as Celia was concerned he could walk on water!

"Perhaps we should call another meeting, before things get worse, is there any sign of them multiplying?" She knew he could smell how frightened she was, his nose was good for that, he knew how she was feeling often before she even knew.

 "Nay my wife, as far as we could tell, and from Estrella's reports of her time in there, there are only males, so they can't multiply, not unless Moldak has a new trick up his sleeve.  Not even Moldar himself can reproduce without a female!"  It was their greatest fear, they would acquire a female and breed more of them, more of them when they weren't able to get a handle on the few that already plagued their island.  "Seems they aren't doing much right now, which makes us all a bit jumpy, they are up to something, we just don't know what it is!"

" Estrella, are you sure Jareth shouldn't escort you home, it is awfully late."  Estrella smiled at her friend, "Nay I have Moldar to protect us, we shall be just fine!"
He watched them from afar, her carrying the girl child..the child held their future in her and he had been given the privilege of making sure she fulfilled the destiny his master had planned for her.  His master wouldn't be kept weak for long, already his feeding from their time with the child's mother had strengthened him, now it was just a matter of time before he would be as strong as he was in the before and as he strengthened so would they.  The shadowy figured passed quickly out of sight, for now he had other matters he had to attend to immediately.