Over surrounding sounds of disbelief and terror, came a wet crackling, and the two Cemandian soldiers caught under its grip stopped moving. The rest, unable to see because of the shield protecting them and unable to hear over the impact, felt the ram lifted skyward. The lucky ones let go.
"What is it?" Theron demanded, shaking Tadeus by the arm.
"Majesty! I can't see it!"
The kigh held the ram for a moment, then threw it back over its shoulder.
"Take cover!"
Corporal Agniya dove for the side of the track and hit the ground shrieking as a piece of jagged metal as big around as her thumb went through her thigh.
"Push, Annice! I can see the top of the head!"
Pjerin threw himself flat as a wheel whistled over his head, then crawled to Theron's side.
"How do we stop it!"
"We can't!"
"Jazep?" Tadeus twisted around and grabbed at the panting bard. "What are you doing here?"
"Was following Annice's trail. She's doing this."
"Doing what?" Tadeus wailed.
"Near as I can figure, it's a giant, uh, well, earth kigh."
Pjerin rolled over and stared at the creature methodically stomping the barricade to kindling. He should have known. "I've got to get to her!"
"Hold it!" Theron snapped. "No one goes anywhere until we know what's going on!" He jabbed a finger toward Jazep. "Bard?"
"Yes, Majesty." Jazep swallowed, trying to catch his breath. "I Sing earth. Annice is…" He broke off, searching for the words. "Annice is earth right now."
Theron gritted his teeth. "Very bardic. I thought the kigh were less… physical."
"Usually they are, Majesty."
"Can you stop it?"
"I don't think so, Majesty. If I'd been here since the beginning, I might have been able to contain it, but…"
"Try!"
"Yes, Majesty!"
"Would you stop that!" Stasya shrieked as Vencel and everyone else on the battlements frantically flicked their fingers out in the sign against the kigh. "It doesn't work! It never works! And it certainly won't work against this!"
Pushing people aside, she ran for the stairs in the inner tower. She had to get to Annice. If anything had gone wrong, she'd never forgive herself for not being there. She knew that if she closed her eyes, she'd see the crushed bodies of the two Cemandians etched into the lids, but the only thought she could hold onto was, I warned her about this Mother-goddess shit.
"Just a little more, Annice, and I can help. Deep breath. Hold it. Now push."
Jazep began to Sing. The kigh paused, one foot raised. It shivered, as though it were shaking off a fly, and then continued to shuffle forward.
"Keep Singing," Theron commanded.
Clear of the debris, Pjerin stood and began to run for the gates.
Exactly halfway between the two forces, the kigh stopped and suddenly swung one massive arm, the blow taking a huge chunk out of the mountain.
"Head's clear." Elica bent and sucked the tiny mouth and nose free of mucus.
A faint cry of protest seemed to fill the room.
Annice tried to track the sound and failed. "What…?"
"It's your baby, Annice. Give me one more push and we'll get the shoulders…"
"My baby…" Staring down over the bulge of her body, Annice found herself responding to her first glimpse of an oddly shaped crescent of wet hair with a sudden surge of energy. She didn't know whether it was caused by rapture or relief. She used it without caring.
The kigh began to rock back and forth, shifting its weight from one leg to the other. Jazep fought to Sing to another rhythm. The mountain began to tremble. The walls of the keep began to shake.
"It's a girl, Annice."
Annice lay back against the pillows, the midwife's arm supporting her shoulders. Very gently, she touched the grayish-pink and bloody bundle still connected to the faintly pulsing cord that Elica laid on her stomach. "A girl?"
"Healthy in every way."
"You sure?" She'd never seen a baby that looked quite so… so…
"Trust me." Wrapping the umbilical cord around her finger, Elica kneaded Annice's abdomen with the other and began to work the afterbirth free. "I'm a healer. If there was something wrong, I'd know."
"She's beautiful, Annice."
The midwife's smile was no longer irritating. "She's slippery." Annice tried to cup an arm around her daughter's tiny back, but she was just too tired. "Are you sure she's not going to fall off?"
"As if in response, the baby squirmed and made another, louder, protest.
"She looks… annoyed."
"She's been through a lot." Elica tied off the cord, cut it, and wrapped the afterbirth in a piece of clean sheeting. "Let's get the two of you cleaned up and…"
The room shivered.
Loose rock careened down into the pass.
The hall rose up to meet her boot. Stasya staggered and kept running. I should have been there. I should have been with her.
The huge oak gates creaked on their hinges and the portcullis shook against its supports as Pjerin pounded into the court.
Elica threw out one hand to support the baby and another to support herself against the bed. "What in…"
"Annice!" Stasya exploded into the room. "Annice are you all… oh."
"It's a girl, Stas." Her voice was gone yet again. It didn't seem to matter.
"Oh, Nees." Stasya sank to her knees by the bed. "Are you all right?"
Annice reached out and touched the other woman's cheek, realizing now what had been missing all along. "I'm glad you're here."
Tears in her eyes, Stasya turned her head to softly plant a kiss on Annice's palm. "She's…"
The room shifted again. A crack ran down the outside wall.
Suddenly reminded of what was happening outside, Stasya rocked back onto her feet and darted to the window, wrestling the shutters out of their clamps. "You've got to sing a gratitude, Nees."
Annice looked up from investigating five perfect fingers. "A what?"
"A gratitude. Now."
Elica took the bard firmly by the arm. "Stasya, this is no time…"
Stasya shook herself free and returned to Annice's side. "Have you ever delivered a bardic baby before?"
"Well, no, but she's a baby like any other."
"Granted. But Annice Sings all four quarters and right now, the answer to the Song she's been Singing the last few hours is outside indiscriminately tearing the pass apart."
"She hasn't been Singing…"
Annice remembered the rhythm of the pain. High notes. Low notes. "I think," she said slowly, "I have." She looked at her daughter and smiled. It wouldn't be hard to Sing a gratitude.
The kigh fell apart so quickly it very nearly took Jazep with it. He rocked back on his heels and would have fallen had Theron not flung up an arm in support.
He blinked at the pile of dirt nearly blocking the pass and let his Song trail off.
"Annice?" Theron demanded.
"She's fine," Tadeus was grinning broadly, his hair blowing around his head. "She had a girl. They're both fine. Stasya's with her."
Jazep gestured into the pass. "Shall I try to Sing it away, Majesty?" he asked.
Theron looked thoughtful. "No," he said after a moment. "I think we'll leave it there while Prince Rajmund and I discuss a new treaty as a reminder of what Shkoder can call to its defense."
"But, Majesty, we were in as much danger from it as the Cemandians were. We weren't controlling it. Annice wasn't even controlling it. And unless the circumstances were repeated exactly, I doubt anyone could ever call the kigh up like that again."
The king smiled. "I don't see any reason we have to tell Rajmund that."