"Whats allowed?" Giamond asked, his tone completely serious. "Oh! The ritual! Yes, Rose, it is allowed, it is mandatory that the elders be present. To see that she has taken seed." He scowled now. "It is usually a more sacred ritual though in that it is shared with atleast mutual respect, if not love. Undar knows no love so cannot give it I am afraid." He turns his head away. "Ah... Poor Aria... Would it were me..." He sighed.
Rose watched feeling her stomach knot. She gently squeezed Giamond's hand softly.
"Life's not very fair..." she murmured.
"But Aria does like you. Can't she...leave that guy after she's pregnant?" Another thought struck her suddenly.
"Will I have to do...that, too?"
**********
Atheria all but snarled when she found Giamond's house empty.
*You have failed us.* The voice boomed through her head.
"No! I can still get the child!"
*You have been given more then enough time to complete this small task. We ask only this life in return for the power we've given you...If the child is not within our grasp very soon, we will strip you of your powers.*
"No, not with him... But there may come a time when the child from this bedding will be in season... Then you and, if the fates are kind, the boy child from this union will be the only ones to keep the southwood elves alive... We have compromised our blood too much as it is by diluting it with that of the Drow... But we had to, it was the only way." Giving her a look of acknowledgment he said. "But when that time comes it will be your desision to make daughter."
The ground broke open at Atheria's feet and a clawed, gnarled hand snaked up from the opening. The stench of sulfur filled Atheria's nostrals and she fought back a gag. The creature that was digging itself from the earth had the face of a grotesquely skewed pig. Its voice was a shrieking whine. "If you cannot do this task than I, Fu-Kar, will! And after I have finished with Rose I will come back to drink blood from your shattered skull!" It bellowed into her mind, its skin gleamed with the greasy sheen of pig's fat. It stood a head and a half taller than Atheria and with the simple flicking of his hand she doubled over from an indescribable pain in her womb.
*The Figure Almost laughed and Silenced himself, Loving the attention, he stood there crouched on the treelimb silently,
Grinning and waiting for him to get JUST Close enough..*
Tightening the intencity of Atheria's pain for just a moment longer to show her his seriousness the demon towered above her , his piggish face gloating over her frailties. "You know I could destroy you in mere moments and that if you fail me once more, ONCE MORE! I will feast on your living flesh for all of etrernity!" Fu-Kar oinked at her, his snout moving as he spoke.
"A...a demon's been sent to get me if...if Lady Atheria fails...."
***
"Of course, Master..." Atheria kept low to the ground in a forced bow, waiting to be given permission to leave. Afraid to leave before and be punished.
"A demon?! In the heart of our home?! This cannot be!" With that Giamond burst through the circle of elders that surounded Undar and Aria. The two of them writhing on the bed, oblivious to the intrusion, but the elders turned to Giamond, eye's demanding an explination from him for his actions.
Rose watched Giamond's movement towards the elders but was pushed back by a strong gust of wind that kept getting stronger. The shadows tried to anchor her, but the winds only increased.
Atheria smirked and shivered at the presence of the nearby demon. Rose was being slowly forced back to them, away from the safety of the elders.