Page 60 of What Blooms in Barren Lands

He exhaled very heavily, his breath shaky, and his posture changed to convey the angst of someone who knew that something he had feared was about to happen.

“It’s close to impossible.” I ran my hand along the side of his face. “My surgeon told me it likely wouldn’t happen even with the help of modern medicine, let alone without it.”

“I know. I doubt I’d have the courage to even suggest it otherwise, knowing the risks for you. No matter how appealing the idea is of seeing your pussy covered in my cum.”

He sought me in the dark, and his lips pressed against mine with agitated urgency.

“Sothat’syour motivation. I should have guessed ...”

The owl hooted for the final time before departing with a loud flap of its wings.

21

THE DIE IS CAST

Autumn was well underway, and although it was still sunny on most days, the air was crisp and cool, and the days started getting noticeably shorter. We were back in Ascu for a few days, enjoying a well-deserved break after having cleared the whole mountain region all the way to Vizzavona.

Vizzavona was a small town tucked neatly between forest-clad hills, separating the northern and southern mountain regions of Corsica. It would be our next target and the first proper town to tackle. But before going there, we had to wait for newly trained archers to join us from the colonies we had secured in the previous weeks, providing us with a much-needed respite in our own settlement.

Having agreed that only an hour-long training session per day was sufficient, I found myself swiftly sucked into the swirl of domestic chores. These ranged from cooking and cleaning to doing laundry and mending clothes. Which meant that I was likely the only person not enjoying that little holiday.

Compared with the inventive tasks of training new archers and with the excitement of being on the road, clearing, I could not help but resent these mundane occupations, necessary though they were. I kept reminding myself that others, mostlymen, were engaged in tasks less boring but even more unpleasant, such as hunting hares and mouflons, and the subsequent skinning and gutting of their prey, heavy repairs of the fence and the buildings, and digging of latrines. However, these reminders didn’t help much either, because each time they made me realise how much I missed not only Einar’s company, but also the camaraderie I shared with most of my trainees. I only saw Einar at night. The rest I only saw at meals. I couldn’t wait to leave again, a sentiment which was only somewhat alleviated by having the chance to reconnect with Amit, Kevin, and especially with Monika, given our shared spectrum of drudgery.

One day, just after lunch, she and I sat by the crackling fire in the dining hall, enjoying a brief moment of respite. This was the first time it was truly just the two of us since my return, and I was glad for the opportunity to speak to her privately. She seemed off, pale, and tired. She had barely eaten anything during the meal, which I was glad for on the one hand, as I was allowed to polish off her ration of stew as well as mine, but on the other hand, it alarmed me to no little degree.

“So, how are you?” I asked her in a gentle tone of voice. “How are things with Albert?”

“Vell ... good,” she replied unconvincingly, not quite meeting my eye.

She shifted her weight, and the ancient couch creaked loudly in protest.

“Monika, what’s wrong, darling? You know you can tell me anything.”

I leaned closer to her, troubled by the dark shadows underneath her eyes and the fatigued lines that had no business being on her youthful forehead.

“I know. But I don’t know how tell you.” She paused as a couple of women on a lunch duty walked past us, their arms loaded with stacked dirty plates.

“I’m afraid to tell. For you it vill be hard to hear.”

My heart sped up, and I felt as if I had taken a plunge into a pool of icy water. Suddenly, I knew with absolute certainty what the matter was with her.

“You’re pregnant!” I gasped. “God, you as well?”

The initial shock had passed, and I began worrying that she expected a different reaction from me. Joy and heartfelt congratulations. Perhaps an offer to organise a baby shower. I made my best effort to whip my brain cells into submission to make them provide me with anything resembling a civilised response.

“Vho else is?” Monika asked, puzzled but unoffended.

The desolation in her expression allowed me to abandon my search for the correct words to express happiness I didn’t feel. Because plainly she wasn’t all that ecstatic about her new situation either.

“Oh, just this woman we met, never mind that.” I shrugged off in reply. “Uhm ... did youwantthis to happen?”

“No!” she assured me in an incredulously affronted tone of voice, as if wanting to ask how such a thing could even occur to me. “But I think Albert did. I tell him to be careful. But he often vasn’t and I couldn’t stop him ...”

“That bastard,” I hissed, “I could kill him.”

“I’m terrified,” she admitted, her eyes welling up. “I vas so scared to tell you. I vas scared I lose you as a friend.”

“Darling, of course not,” I assured her truthfully and pulled her into a hug just as three more people walked past, casting curious glances in our direction. “That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about.”