“Yes, I was. My parents found me when I was a few years old, wandering the streets in Orience. They tried to find my family, but couldn’t locate anyone searching for a daughter who matched my description. I was raised in Joro, Elco. I was found when I was small. I’m from Joro. Maybe I was bornhere.” She held her arms in the air, pointing all around her as she considered the idea. It was possible.
Elco watched her in silence.
What a strange creature. Elco threatens, and then he wants to chat?
“Are there any other human cities?” she asked.
“Not that I’m aware of. When the dome was created a thousand years ago, all of the humans were inside,” he responded.
“Then I’m from Joro,” she stated, crossing her arms over her chest.
Esper cried out again, her labored breathing echoing down the hall. Seda uncrossed her arms and ran to the bars.
“The baby is coming!” Esper yelled through clenched teeth. She screamed into the dark room once more, then silence fell around them.
“Esper?” Seda called out, holding onto the bars firmly. “Esper? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”
Seda heard the sound of scrambling and patting. “Please… Please… Please…” Esper begged into the darkness, pleading with anyone who would listen.
Seda felt as if her heart had frozen, and she held her breath, praying with her friend for her baby to take its first breath. Minutes went by as they listened to Esper pleading for her baby to breathe.
“The child did not survive,” Elco said dimly as he let out a low sound from the back of his throat.
Seda fell onto the hard ground and dry heaved.
Esper’s heart-wrenching cries echoed through the room, and Seda’s eyes welled up as she sobbed for her fearless friend.
Her friend, who couldn’t bear to leave her beloved and had bravely stood up to injustice by joining her at the Wyrd, a friend who suffered assault, a friend who just went through pregnancy and birth alone, and a friend who just lost her only baby in her arms.
My courageous friend.
The flashing orange light stopped.
A sob tore out of Seda, and she cried into her hands, no longer caring for the mess on her palms. How could a world be so cruel, so unjust, so inhumane?
The door opened, flooding the area with bright torchlight and the voices of men. Seda moved back from the bars and pressed against the wall. Elco growled protectively as he stepped in front of her cell. The light illuminated Elco, and she saw him clearly for the first time.
Seda gasped.
Elco was massive, with a back covered in ruby-red, scaled skin and four powerful, black-furred legs with red cuffs tied to chains around his front paws. His long, spiked tail curled around his body, and his black, leathery wings neatly folded against his sides. His mouth had long, jagged teeth, and his head was that of a large cat, with a long, black mane.
Elco was breathtaking.
“She finished giving birth,” a Rozzer said as he approached and shone his torch into Esper’s cell, drawing Seda’s attention back to the men.
“What the fuck is this? It’s dead!” Alexi yelled at Esper. “Did you kill it, you stupid cunt?”
“My baby… My baby,” Esper whimpered as the creaking of her metal bed rocked back and forth.
Alexi and the other Rozzer hurried to open Esper’s cell door and rushed inside. Seda heard the sounds of violence and stood up, running to the bars.
“Stop hurting her! Please!” she begged, her voice cracking.She shook the bars, her chains clattering with every move, desperate to escape and help her friend.
The sound of each punch caused Seda to grip the bars tighter until her knuckles turned white and her hand cramped with tension.
Esper was not resisting.Why was she not resisting?
“My baby,” she heard Esper say weakly when the sounds ceased.
