IV
Binding Promises“Am I dying?” The woman breathed in vast, racking sobs. Beside her, a man drained of all blood clutched at her hand. “Is the baby dead?” the woman managed. The man squeezed his eyes tight, his throat working convulsively.
Iskra sighed. They were all fools here – a hardscrabble town of ignorant farmers and border guards without a thought but their humdrum tasks and crude pleasures.
“The baby is fine,” she said. “The pain will pass.” Birth in Kalnar might be painful, but at least it wasn’t complicated with magic. All she needed to do was deliver the baby. All the mother needed to do was occasionally push. Painful, not difficult. “When I tell you, bear down. Not until I tell you,” she added sharply as the woman tensed.
“Aren’t you a little young for this?” asked the ma
