50 The birth of the twins (1/2)
An Ning labored for eight hours to expel the twins from her body.The difficulty was so great that everybody in the village became concerned. It was one thing for an Amazon to give birth to twins but it was different when the mother laboring was the presumptive leader of the tribe and the twins the first of its kind in their long history.
An Ning was almost out of her mind with the pain. She hovered between insanity and nightmare but still her body refused to obey her command and give birth to her children.In a moment of clarity, she ordered the women to take her to the spring where the clear water buoyed her up and eased the tension in her belly.
The eldest, a boy, was born first. He left her body the instant An Ning submerged in the pool. The little girl followed not long after, her little lungs inhaling air and screaming at the same time. The women covered the precious little babies in wads of cotton then cleaned An Ning up and carried them to their bedroom inside the cave, where the little family slept in comfort.
An Ning woke up to the feel of little hands kneading at her breasts, little mouths pulling at her still tender nipples. The precious twins were rooting like pigs at her breasts, their faces red, their eyes closed.
”You look beautiful,” she whispered as she tenderly caressed their cheeks. ”I wish your father was here so he could see how beautiful you two are.”
”They are precious, aren't they?” Nyra said, standing looking at them from the open door. ”When are you going to tell Han that his children are born? Don't you think he deserves to know?”
”There's still time,” An Ning said casually. ”I didn't know you'll be back soon.”
Nyra came into the room and sat on the side of the bed, her forefinger playing with one tiny hand.
”We found the men. I've sent Gara to get them. I think they'll be here by tomorrow.”
”Where did you find them?”
”I did as you suggested and trailed one of those Nobel laureates. I gathered these so called scientists together and told them I was pulling the rug off their projects and not giving them any more money so they panicked. This guy actually led us to the building basement where apparently Yu Yan or Merius built a huge laboratory for human guinea pigs. I was so incensed by what I saw that I did as you suggested and killed the man. The rest of those scums are living on borrowed time as we speak.”
”Destroy everything they own even their family. I don't want anyone profiting from these monsters' so-called work. Leave them nothing but the clothes on theirs backs,” An Ning ordered grimly.
”It will be done as you said,” Nyra nodded. Her fingers trailed softly on the cheek of one child. ”What are you going to call them?'
”Castor and Pollux,” An Ning said without hesitation. ”Polly will be a good nickname for the baby girl.”
”I don't think she'll be called Polly for long,” Nyra laughed. ”She looks like a Pollux to me.She has yours and Hippolyta's eyes.”
”Castor will stay here with us. I don't care about any old customs the tribe may have followed in the past. These are my kids and they stay together with me.”
”Your choice,” Nyra shrugged. ”It's not really a custom but rather a choice. We are a tribe of women. Of course, that says something of who we are as a whole. But I think it's different in your case. You bore twins. A girl and a boy. I think that portents the path the Amazons will follow in the future.”
”That we need men to survive?”
”That we have to adapt to the times,” Nyra corrected. ”Your son will be the first man to live here amongst us from his birth to his youth. Can you imagine that? He will grow up with the Amazons. A man child. Who knows, the others will see this and will be encouraged not to give away their sons anymore.”
”If that happens, then change will come fast for Saravia. We need to put up some barriers to protect ourselves.”
”The spring water?” Nyra asked.
”That and the entire grove,” An Ning said. ”Grandfather's magic will not stand the test of time. Someone stronger may appear and destroy the shield he's put around it. Hippolyta's spring alone will cause wars to erupt and we don't want that to happen.”
”What do you suggest then?”
”I have something in mind. I still need to calibrate some nuts and bolts for it to happen though.”
”We'll don't make it too long. I've just been told that three Amazons are pregnant. It's becoming an epidemic,” Nyra laughed.
An Ning was surprised but laughed along with her. It seemed that the once abandoned village was stirring up with more than one tiny life. The barriers it once put up to hide itself from the world were weakening. One little push and those barriers will tumble down, exposing Saravia to outside influences it may or may not survive.
Once the twins were born, strange things began to happen in Saravia. The big rock that used to protect the village from adverse weather split and cracked. What's strange about it though was that by cracking and splitting up, the ground revealed an underground passage that led to a river below.
The presence of the river stunned the village. The river flowed down a cave that zigzagged to the mouth of a bigger river some miles away which then washes into the ocean.The underground river on the other hand gave An Ning another headache. Fortunately, the river basin which the underground water flowed into was part of a bridal gift Li Cheung gave Hippolyta on their wedding day. The gift was a large parcel of land that included the river and some parts of a still unexplored mountain.
But the underground river seemed like an omen to An Ning. It portent a change that she was not sure she could handle yet. Another strange thing that happened concerned the twins, Castor and Pollux. An Ning was wakened one morning by the feel of something sharp digging at her breasts. When she looked down, she saw her nipples bleeding. The twins though seemed unconcerned about the taste of blood mixing in with the milk. Their tiny faces were flushed, their eyes opened.