Adoliyah’s A+ Parenting
CW: Death, blood, kidnapping, blink-and-you-miss-it implied dubcon, extremely nonhuman parenting standards, blink-and-you-miss-it nonsexual nudity
Characters based extremely loosely on Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. No knowledge of the game is needed to read this piece.
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Adoliyah crouched behind a pillar, settling her burden at the base of the protective statue. She then pulled out a bone-handled ivory dagger and slid it in as the bundle began to squirm. That done, she left it behind, drawing a second dagger as she paced just out of sight of the guards standing at the door.
The first one died silently, her blade severing the connection between brain and lungs. The second one was harder, but she managed to place a blade in his heart before he could shout. Good.
She didn’t have much time. The scent of blood would soon alert her enemies – and rouse what she needed to protect before she was ready. She couldn’t let that happen.
Adoliyah bit the first two fingers of her glove, tugging it off in one swift movement. Now-bare skin tugged against the iron spikes braided into her hair, drawing blood. She traced her blood onto a sword that no longer belonged to the dead guard, shaping runes older than the palace she stood in. A low murmur and a skim of her hand half an inch above the surface of the blade, and it hummed in her hands. The whole process took less than a minute.
She took a breath, rousing the dragon’s rage that had fueled her life. Another, soaking in the rising scent of blood as shouts began to ring out –
She leapt through the door, slashing out at the warriors guarding the golden chariot she was after. They were good. In fact, they were some of the best she’d ever taken on, and that was no small feat. They didn’t draw their bows – they weren’t stupid – but there were ten swords headed her way. She dove under the first one, taking advantage of his surprise to bring the dragon-blooded sword through his stomach, severing his spine. She slammed the upper half of his torso forward, dropping it on another foe, and then she was far too busy to know what she was doing.
Ten opponents were a lot, even for a warrior of her caliber. By the time it was over, the scent of blood was thick in her throat, and not all of it belonged to her enemies. Now alone, Adoliyah laughed. It was like she was young again!
With the skill of decades of practice, she shoved the blood-joy to the back of her mind. She wasn’t nearly human enough to get rid of it entirely, but they weren’t safe yet. She didn’t need it to be gone. She needed more to draw on, if they were attacked again.
Another calming breath, and she returned to the bundle she’d abandoned. At the top of a sack that held two weeks’ worth of stolen supplies, a demon-fanged infant with Adoliyah’s emerald hair teethed on the carved-bone handle of the knife she’d given her.
Adoliyah lifted her daughter into her arms, humming quietly as she extracted the dagger from the child’s grip. Toriya immediately began to fuss, but her mother hushed her, sliding two bloody fingers into the child’s mouth for her to suck. “I know it’s not what you want, sweeting, but it’s all I can give you now. Just wait a little longer.”
Adoliyah slung the pack onto her back and returned to the golden chariot. It was enspelled, she knew – as she should, given that she had been kidnapped in it. The trick was figuring out how to make it respond to her.
“Chariot,” she said, not unkindly. “We need to go to the monastery of Duma near the Last Bastion. Can you take us there?”
In response, the gilded floor lifted under her feet, heading for the break in the ceiling that allowed it to leave. Toriya burbled a laugh, squirming in her mother’s arms and grasping for the sunlight. Adoliyah settled her safely on the pack and drew her bow. The next few moments were crucial. If her kidnapper decided that the magic chariot he so valued was a reasonable price to pay, to keep his blood from escaping… it didn’t bear thinking about. At least, Adoliyah wouldn’t have to worry about it, since she’d be dead.
But it took time for them to be noticed. Longer than Adoliyah had planned for, but it stood to reason that the guards would be looking outward instead of in at the isolated captives. The chariot gained speed, arcing out over the city, and only a few arrows and mage-blasts had time to follow. There were a handful of flying warriors sent after them, but those moved even slower than the projectiles. Nothing came even close to stopping them.
Adoliyah almost cried in relief, slumping against the side of the basket. “Thank you, my friend,” she murmured, placing one hand on the rim. She had no idea if it would understand, but she was feeling sentimental.
She had a few minutes of silence before Toriya began to cry, the freezing air of the high winds stinging her tiny face. Unlike the rest of Adoliyah’s children, Toriya had been born in the warm humidity of the Demon King’s court, and the sensation of cold was new to her. Adoliyah chuckled softly. “I’m coming, sweeting,” she half-sang, removing her breastplate and mail with the ease of long practice. The dress and embroidered breastband were next, freeing one blood-streaked breast for the child to reach. The squalling stopped immediately as the scent of blood and mother’s milk reached Toriya’s nose. Adoliyah hadn’t planned on any other children, and certainly hadn’t planned to raise one on the blood and milk that roused the dragon in their bloodline, but it was certainly better than Toriya’s demonic heritage.
The child drank greedily – Adoliyah’s sneaking around had required her to put off feeding as often as usual. Even as cold hardy as Adoliyah was, having half her chest bare in the cold and rushing wind was difficult. But Toriya needed milk, and the feeding wouldn’t take that long.
Of course, that didn’t mean she was unhappy to put her clothing back on. She even dug her old woolen blouse out of the pack to slide on under the wrap. Her trousers and cloak, however, went to replace the swaddling blanket for Toriya. The original was made of delicate lightweight silk, which wouldn’t do at all in the weather they were going to be dealing with.
Adoliyah fussed over her daughter until her eyes refused to stay open. Then she opened the pack out, providing some measure of protection from the metal floor, and curled up around her daughter. Safe. They were both safe.
It was wonderful.