The Birth of Darkness

 

The woman laid on her back holding her stomach as another wave of labor pains hit her.  Sweat covered her body as her body rested on a bed covered in dried blood and dried semen.  Her breathing was staggered as the labor pains continued.

Khalfani, the owner of the brothel, burst in her room with a bucket of cold water. “So, you’re finally pushing that little bastard out of you, huh?”

Khalfani!...Gods….pain!”

She let out a wail of pain as she felt the baby enter the birth canal.  Her body trembled with the pain.

“Don’t you dare die on me, you little bitch!  You’re worth money to me!”

Rayna let out a sob. “I….want to….deliver my baby!”

Khalfani narrowed his eyes. “Hurry up so I can drown the little brat!”

“What?!”

“If that brat is a boy, I’m going to drown it!  I have no use for a boy. The men who come here don’t want to fuck another man!  They want a girl to screw!  Your girl will learn how to spread her legs to any man who buys her!  Much like you, my little whore!  And you better think again if you think you won’t work tonight!  I don’t care if you are giving birth now!  You are going to work tonight!”

Rayna threw her head back and cried as the labor pains intensified.

“Keep up that crying, girl, and I’m going to kill the baby no matter what it has between its legs!”

 She heard footsteps running up the steps and saw the door burst open. 

Bakura Itemri burst through the door with a growl.

“YOU BETTER NOT DIE ON ME, YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTH- SLUT!  YOU’RE WORTH A LOT OF MONEY TO ME!” Khalfani threatened again.

Bakura lunged for Khalfani and slammed him against the wall. “You bastard? Where is the midwife for which I paid for?”

A woman’s scream of pleasure came from the next room.

“She’s earning her keep, Bakura!”

Bakura’s partner entered the room and saw Rayna on her back in pain. 

She looked at Marik as he stood by the bed.  She saw a distant look in his eyes.  It was a sad look.

Rayna’s breathing became sharp and uneven. 

Amunet….”

Rayna had a tear fall from her eye.  “Please help me…help me give birth to my child….”

The white-haired thief slapped Khalfani and growled. “I gave you money for a midwife for her!”

Khalfani struggled against Bakura. “That bitch didn’t earn her keep and will not come in to help until she does her quota!  Anything these women own is mine…..including their time!  I tell them when and who to pleasure!  Even this bastard coming out of this slut’s womb is mine!”

Bakura trembled with anger and pulled Khalfani out of the door. Meanwhile, Marik Ishtar put a silk scarf under the woman.  He didn’t want the baby to be born on a mattress soiled with dried blood and dried semen.

The sound of a body falling down the stairs preceeded Bakura entering the room.  He kneeled beside Rayna and stroked her hair.

“I’m scared, Bakura,” the woman whimpered.

Bakura held her hand.  “I’m here, Rayna. It’s going to be okay.”

The woman gasped and whimpered in pain.

“I’m here, Rayna.  Breathe.”

The woman took a deep breath and screamed, squeezing Bakura’s hand tightly.

Marik put his hand between Rayna’s legs. “The head is almost out, Rayna.”

“Bakura,” the woman whimpered. “Make the pain stop.”

The white-haired thief watched the woman in pain.  He deeply cared for Rayna. He loved her.  “I have nothing to give you, Rayna. I’m sorry.”

Bakura reached over and grabbed a cloth and dunked it into the bucket of cold water.  “Why is this water here?”

The woman’s eyes filled with tears. “Khalfani was going to drown the baby in the bucket as soon as I finished giving birth.”

Bakura looked down at the cold watery grave that could have caused the death of the baby.  The bucket was large enough to place the newborn and watch it smother and freeze in the icy water.

“We’re here now, Rayna. We won’t let anything happen to the baby.”

“One more push, Rayna,” Marik said from the foot of the bed.

The woman squinted her eyes as she gave one last scream of pain. Her body expelled the child from her body and into the waiting arms of Marik Ishtar.

The white-haired thief sterilized his dagger with the burning candle in the room and cut the child’s umbilical cord.  Marik cleaned the blood off of the baby and wrapped the baby in the white silk scarf that they had stolen.

Marik looked at the infant in his arms. ‘This could have been my son…..but….my son…was killed…by Yami’s guards…..I never held my son.’

“I love you, Bakura Itemri,” Rayna whispered.

“I love you, Rayna,” the thief smiled as he kissed her cheek.

Rayna looked up at Marik. “How is my child?”

Marik handed Rayna her infant. “It’s a girl.”

Rayna moved the sheer material covering her breast and placed her nipple by the baby’s mouth. The baby suckled at its mother’s breast.

“She’s as beautiful as you are,” Bakura whispered as he smiled at the child he fathered by her.

The woman’s smile faded.  “Bakura? Could you stay with me? Khalfani was staying with me, hoping you wouldn’t show. He wanted to drown my daughter when I was finished giving birth to her. What is to stop him from taking her while I sleep and slitting her throat?  I don’t want you to leave me.”

Bakura turned a threatening eye on the brothel owner.  He let out a growl.  “I don’t want to leave you, Rayna. I’m staying right here! Ishtar, can you stay with her? I’m going to conduct a little business with Khalfani.”

Bakura grabbed the bag of gold jewelry and left.  Marik kneeled beside Rayna watching the infant girl nurse from her mother.

Rayna turned to Marik.  “Thank you for helping me deliver my child, Marik.  It….it means a lot to me.  You saved my daughter’s life.”

Marik stroked her cheek with his fingers.  “I never helped my wife deliver our child….my child and my wife were slaughtered, the baby ripped from her and cut open with a sword.  I lost my child.  I lost my wife.  I’m glad I had a chance to do this.”

“Not many men have a strong enough stomach to watch a woman give birth.”

Marik sighed as he took the baby girl’s hand.  “The elders of the tribe told me how to deliver Amunet’s baby.  But….I never had a chance to see my child alive.”

Rayna reached up and pulled Marik down for a kiss.  “You saved my baby’s life, Marik.” The woman smiled. “Thank you so much.”

“What are you going to name your daughter?”

“Aria Kanika.”

Marik smiled. “Beautiful name for a beautiful child.”

“You’re such a sweet talker, Marik Jibade Ishtar.”

He smiled.  “I’ll make a bed for your baby.”

Bakura returned as Marik made a bed for the sleeping infant out of blankets.  Bakura handed his partner a gold necklace. “Go take that and sell it.  Go buy a decent cradle for the baby.”

Marik nodded and left. 

Bakura sat beside her and stroked her cheek.  Khalfani told me he forced himself into you.  That is what caused you to go into labor.”

Rayna closed her eyes tightly and cried. “Yes. It wouldn’t have been the first time he forced himself into my body.”

He leaned over and hugged her.  “My girl……I’m not going to leave your side, Rayna.  I will not let Khalfani harm you or this baby.”

Rayna buried her face in Bakura’s shoulder crying while the sounds of two women moaning in fake ecstasy filled the brothel.

************************************

Pharaoh Yami walked through the gardens to the house of his general and step-brother, Anubis.  He heard an infant wailing in the home and a violent slap.

“Stop crying you little bastard!”

Yami entered the home of Anubis and saw a naked, wailing infant boy laying in a filthy corner covered in cobwebs and dirt.    

Anubis bowed before the pharaoh.  “My pharaoh, what is it you desire?”

Yami crossed his arms.  “The scribes and prophets have given me a piece of….unsettling news.”

“What could possibly intimidate you, my pharaoh?”

“The scribes have looked in The Book of Prophecy and have foretold the birth of a child who will lead to my destruction.”

Anubis narrowed his eyes. “You are all-powerful!  No mortal man may bring you down.”

Yami scowled at Anubis.  “The ‘mortal man’ is a ‘mortal female.’”

Anubis laughed. “Impossible!”

Yami looked down at the child in the dirty corner surrounded by dirt, feces, and spiders.  The child laid on the wooden floor.  “See that this child does not live to his eighteenth birthday.”

“Why?”

“He will stand against me.  See that this child knows his place.  I plan to teach him his place when the time comes.  See that this child does not have the desire nor the drive to stop me.”

Anubis’ wife removed the lid from the steaming cauldron. “I can boil the brat alive now.  It wouldn’t make any difference to me.”

Yami shook his head. “You will not boil the child or leave the child food for the wild dogs.  He could come in handy eventually.”

Anubis’ wife grumbled. “This little bastard deserves to die!”

“No, woman!  You will not take this child’s life with your hands! He could become an invaluable killing machine.  He could be indispensable.”

Anubis chuckled. “You just want to wait until he grows up so he can pleasure you in bed like all of your other slave boys!”

Yami looked at the naked infant. “All things come in good time, Anubis.  Begin strengthening your army.  I will not be brought down by any mortal man.  And I refuse to be brought to my knees by a female!”

Yami left the house, cursing that Book of Prophecy.  “I will not be brought to my knees by a lowly female!  I must find those Items of Legend….those Millennium Items hold the key to me achieving ultimate power!”