The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier

Chapter 34 - New Life

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

And now I am excited to present to you the chapter in which baby Walker arrives! The action below takes place seven hours after the end of the previous chapter...

Chapter 34 - New Life

Seven hours later...

"Ladies!" Mr. Wu hollered from the foot of the stairs up toward Nya's bedroom. "They're coming!"

As they attended to the raven-haired woman, Miss Gayle and Sam managed to hear his warning in between the sounds of Nya's heavy breathing and moaning as she endured the pain of childbirth labor. The housekeeper-turned-midwife and her blonde assistant looked at each other.

"Go with him," the housekeeper urged the younger woman, knowing what she was thinking. "I be handlin' things till ye get back."

Sam nodded. Mr. Wu was an honorary father to her, Kai, and all the young men and women of Garmadon Ranch, and she wished to stand next to him and face whatever peril was approaching their home.

Before she went downstairs, however, she paused to stop at her own bedroom and retrieve her firearm, the weapon which had seen action 40 years earlier during the snake invasion while it was owned by Bansha, the legendary markswoman.

Once again, Ninjago Town has been invaded by slimy snakes of another kind, Sam grimly thought as she hid the gun in her skirt pocket.

Mr. Wu was about to limp out the door with his cane onto the front porch when he heard Sam's footsteps clamber down the wooden staircase.

"Sam, you don't need to come outside," he told her when he realized what she was doing. "No one knows what in tarnation those scalawags are capable of."

"They took Kai, Mr. Wu," the young woman responded matter-of-factly, throwing her shawl over her shoulders. "My greatest fear came to pass, so I don't think I'm capable of being afraid of anything else in this world."

The ranch owner slowly nodded in understanding. He opened the door for her, and they walked outside. They could hear Blaze and Flash barking from behind the house, no doubt pulling against the chains that tethered them to the oak tree near the picnic table. Mr. Wu wisely made sure to secure them so that they would not make nuisances of themselves and provoke the ire of any Purple soldier with an itchy trigger finger.

Sam helped Mr. Wu climb down the steps of the front porch. They watched a sea of purple uniforms swarm in the distance, slowly but surely getting closer.

After a short while, they observed a smaller group of Purple Army riders approaching the main house. Some riders bore purple banners. Others appeared to be pointing their weapons at the ranch owner and the young woman.

The advance Purple group finally halted a few yards away from the two Garmadon Ranch residents. The leader pulled in front of the others and spoke to them. "This property is being claimed in the name of the rightful king of Ninjago," he announced.

Sam wondered why the blond-haired leader looked at her peculiarly. Suddenly she realized that she recognized him.

"Jake Clouse?" she asked incredulously. She could scarcely believe she was looking at the same suitor she had rejected years ago, on the advice of her daddy. Though his features were generally the same as she remembered, his chin was more chiseled, and his eyes were more...iniquitous.

"Good afternoon, Sam," he said, a grin spreading across his face once the young woman's exclamation had verified for him that she indeed was the girl he had courted years ago. "It's nice to see you again after all this time. I understand you got married and so you are now Samantha Smith. Is this your husband?"

Sam frowned. "No, Jake. This is Mr. Wu, my husband's employer and the owner of this ranch. You would know better than I would, Jake, where my husband is. Your people captured him while he was on a reconnaissance mission."

They were interrupted by a sentry riding up on a horse. "Announcing the arrival of General Chen!" the soldier called out.

All the purple-clad men saluted as a horse carrying a short-looking, cigar-smoking man with long sideburns trotted up to where Jake stood. He stopped his animal and saluted back to his subordinates. They dropped their hands from their foreheads back to their sides but remained still, except for the sentry, who dismounted his horse.

Chen dismounted his own horse and handed the reins to the sentry before walking up to stand next to Jake. He continued to chomp his cigar. Sam detected the aroma of alcohol.

The general looked at Mr. Wu, then looked at Sam. Keeping his eyes on her, he grinned and took the cigar out his mouth. "So, Capt- I mean, MAJOR Clouse, why don't you introduce me to our newest prisoners?" He wiggled his eyebrows at the blonde.

Sam had gotten over her morning sickness a few weeks ago, but the lecherous stare from the Purple general made her feel queasy once again.

Jake made brief introductions among Mr. Wu and Sam and General Chen.

The superior officer ignored the ranch owner and focused on the young woman. "It is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, my dear," he said, taking her hand and giving the back of it a kiss, in the traditional way women in the courts of the king were greeted, back when the ancient monarchy existed.

"The pleasure is not mutual," she replied tersely, yanking her hand back.

"Oooh, feisty! I like that in a woman. I'll bet you like that quality in my daughter, don't you, Clouse?"

Before Jake could respond, the sound of an especially loud blood-curdling scream from Nya within the house reached their ears outside.

Miss Gayle surely needs my help now, Sam realized. She glared at the two Purple officers. "If you'll excuse me, there is a baby being born inside the house right now, and my help is needed!" She gathered her skirt, turned on her heel, and ran back up the stairs into the house.

Jake was about to run after her but Chen stopped him. "Let her go for now. We'll have a talk with her later. But you" - he nodded toward Mr. Wu - "are coming with us. You got a room in there where we can talk privately?"

"My office," Mr. Wu replied, pointing his cane toward the door.

"It might have been your office," Chen chuckled, pushing the ranch owner toward the porch steps, "but it's MY office now! I've decided that your ranch will be the perfect place for the Third Division of the Purple Army to camp for the winter, once we build a few telegraph poles between here and town."

"Yes," Chen continued, smiling as they walked up the steps. "Lots of room to spread out, lots of cattle over yonder for tasty steak dinners, and a nice warm brick house to serve as the officers' headquarters."

And a nice opportunity to be 'social' with a pretty lady, he thought to himself.

Within the next hour, a baby boy was born on the upstairs level of the Garmadon Ranch main house.

As Sam watched with a lump in her throat at witnessing God's beautiful miracle of birth, Miss Gayle laid the precious bundle in his mama's arms before wiping her eyes with her sleeve. The auburn wisps of hair on the baby's head left no doubt that he was his father's son. The father who was sadly absent.

"Howdy, Edward James Walker," an exhausted Nya softly welcomed him with tears rolling down her cheeks - tears of happiness for the arrival of her child, and tears of sadness that her beloved Jay was not around to share the special moment.

"Edward is the name of your granddaddy," she whispered to her son, gently stroking his tiny ear. "And James is the name of your daddy." Nya's voice gave a little hitch of sadness at the thought of her missing husband. "Your daddy and I decided to call you EJ for short," she added quickly.

The baby wiggled his arm and grazed his mama's chin, as if in response to say that the name was acceptable to him.