Moon Guardian

Chapter 3... The Child with no Woman

 CyberAlias: There you are again... what can I say, if you've made it this far, I must be doing something right. I dedicate this to TrudysTattle. Her writing is amazing. So sweet and pure. Just be careful... she might get you sucked into the "North and South" madness like she did me.

Trudy, if you're reading this, thanks to you I currenty sport all north and south episodes on DVD. And guard them like gollum did his ring. :/ I hope you're happy!

Enjoy!

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The joys of motherhood, they called it. Obviously, they were grossly mistaken with their choice of words. He had barely been walking five minutes and this one just wouldn’t-

“Be silent!” He hushed as the tiny fingers gripped on his midnight black hair and tugged. “Hush little one, you’ll get us found and killed.” The baby only took it as encouragement to cry louder. Theodore glanced down at the child, oddly it hadn’t occurred to him to check the sex of the child, come to think of it, it didn’t occur to him to think this plan through either.

He looked down at the child, “Oh, you’re a girl.” He almost groaned. To him, that explained all the crying and wailing and difficulty. He looked down at the baby… the blood on her skin was crusting and the mucus and plasma solidifying. “We need to find water little one” He walked further down the forest, dirt path illuminated by the full moon till the branched and leaves gave way to a clearing. Clear water shimmering silver under the moon’s light beckoned. He removed his boots, breeches, the shreds of his tunic till he was stark naked. Still cradling the baby, Theodore walked slowly into the pool of water, so clear it was almost black; the stream tickled through his toes with every step, his dark hair bathed in moonlight, bronzed skin caked in dirt and mud, forehead glistening with a slight sheen of sweat, Theodore submerged himself and the babe underneath the warm water. The dirt dissipated from their bodies to float in a whorl of brown colour around them cupping water in his hands he washed his hair, her face, his arms, her legs, till the water ran in tiny rivers down their bodies showing that it was clean.

Theodore lifted her up from the water to see his handiwork. No longer covered in grime she looked completely different. Her eyes still not fully opened revealed slits of muddy brown pupils. Dark skin adorned by droplets of water caught and reflected the light of the full moon. She seemed to tower over him in that moment, small, tiny… translucent. He stared at this child, fascinated and his mouth moved on it’s own accord.

“Luna” He named her. His moonchild.

He emerged from the water; skin slightly pruned and Luna cooing lightly in his arms. Kneeling down he completely shred his tunic and velvet coat and used them to swathe her in in them then donned his breeches.

When he found his crew they were just putting out the fire. Greg was the first one to spot him “Theodore! Where the bloody ‘ell ‘ave you been! We were about to send out a search party for ya. That we were.”

No doubt, he thought sardonically

“Say Theo, what you got there mate?”

Only then did Greg notice the bundle Theodore had cradled to his chest “No doubt spoils of some sort.” He clapped Theo on the back, with a toothy grin, “Well show us.”

He stepped back slightly. Big mistake.

“What is it? We ain’t good enough to show yer spoils?” someone asked.

“Show us!”

“Look at the way he’s holding it!”

“I bet it’s gold.”

“I bet it’s silver.”

Someone reached for the bundle and he reacted instantly crashing his fist to the man’s face so violently that his knuckles cracked. The whole place for a moment was silent. Silent enough to hear the ‘bundle of spoils’ start crying. Then came the uproar

Someone punched Theodore in his core making him hunch over in pain, another snatched the ‘bundle’ from his arms. The one named ben pushed him to the ground violently and kicked his abdomen repeatedly. Some other joined in, whilst the rest were arguing on what to do with the child bundle.

“I say we burn it! Tis a babe, God will forgive us.” Timmy said loudly.

“Cut off the head and be done with it!”

“Kill the child!”

The crew hailed in agreement.

From the ground Theodore could only see the feet of his attackers, ‘Kill the child’ they said. Not his Luna! Not his child. “No!” he screamed, “Leave her be!”

Someone spat in his face, “Shut yer mouth ya bastard! Ain’t even yer kid.”

“Maybe if ye beg… We’ll consider” Someone suggested

“The high and mighty Theodore, begging? Bulls piss!”

“Please… don’t kill her.” He stated loudly enough for everyone to hear

Some of them stopped, “So yer too good to pillage with us, too high and mighty to fuck the natives but yer begging for a child?” Greg asked

“I say we kill him and this child and tell his father the natives got to him!”

What began as murmurs of contemplation turned in to shouts of agreement as they further entertained the thoughts of Theodore lying lifeless somewhere in the soil, never to be found. Maybe the father would even compensate them for their troubles. Yes, the more they thought about it the more it became appealing. Dragging Theodore to his feet they held him fast, “Watch, they killing the baby” someone whispered in his ear. And watch he did, someone had a blade to Luna’s tiny chest. They were going to stab her in the heart, he suddenly realised. “No! No! Stop Please!” He shouted, “Don’t do- oof!” they silenced him with a blow, and another, then another.

“Oi! Timmy stops it! I want him to see.” Greg said as he pressed the blade into the babe’s skin. As soon as the metal penetrated through she started to cry loudly in pain, and as soon as he saw the droplets of blood seeping out, he began to thrash wildly in his captors’ arms. “You touch her and I’ll make sure none of you live to regret it!”

Ben struck him across the face then spat, “And what yer ganna do, eh high and mighty boy?” He raised his hand to strike Theodore again when his eyes went wide and he collapsed. For a second Theodore was confused. There was no blade in Ben’s back, but as he looked around, others were falling too.

It was then that he saw them; there were ten maybe fifteen figures, shrouded in the darkness with bodies as dark as night and faces smeared with mud, they stepped forward soundlessly to circle the entire camp. Two met Greg, one snatched the baby from his arms and the other twisted the knife out of Greg’s hand.

“No. Kill.” The one with the baby said, as his partner drove a short spear slowly through his body. Just as wordlessly, they slinked back into the shadows, all but one, the man holding Luna. Putting the baby down, the dark huntsman bent to scoop some dirt in his hand, he brought out from a small pouch some dry leaves, which he crushed, then spat into it forcefully. Using a finger he mixed it into a paste and smeared it into Luna’s wound. Locating two flints he struck them together creating sparks that landed on the poultice, abruptly setting it on fire for a moment then dying down just as quickly. He stood up straight, fixed a steely glance at Theodore then left, just as quietly as his men had done.

There were seven men dead, the thirty two that remained stood paralysed with fear, Theodore stood shakily feeling slightly empowered, went over to the child, picked her up.

Pointing at one of them, he commanded, “You, get me an animal with milk.” Then turning to face the rest of them he said, “We sail at dawn.” Lastly fixating a glare at Timmy, he spoke, “Row us to the ship.”

He could still feel the dark huntsmen’s eyes on him as he cradled Luna to his chest and whispered reassurances in her ear while Timmy rowed them across the glistening water towards the looming ship.