I heard the creaking sound and then a rustling sound. The footsteps weren't clear but I could hear it still.
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I set my arrow well on my bow, pulling the bowstrings and walking forward on my toes with my hands still holding on firmly to the finger tab. I took quiet steps, making sure I made no noise with the dried leaves under my toes.
“Feiran!!” I heard my name being called from behind and so did I hear a sudden flee in front. The prey was gone!
“Gerald! Can you ever be quiet? Can your lips ever not move?”
“I wish I could hold back, my lord,” he tried to catch his breath, panting heavily with his back bent and his hands rested on his knees.
I straightened my back and turned fully to face him as I placed my arrow back in the quiver, staring daringly at him. I waited for him to pronounce an irrelevant thing so that he could stay the whole day in the dungeon.
“Your…” he pointed behind him without being able to form a word. He swallowed hard, with his eyes shut.
“Gerald!”
“My lady is in labor, my lord!” he finally said. I stared at him with my eyes wide open. I moved swiftly towards him, glaring at him.
“You should have spoken quicker!” I yelled in his face before I began to run.
I ran as fast as my prey would run away from death. I ran as though I was being chased by death itself. I could hear Gerald running behind me but he was far back.
A few minutes later, I was flinging the physician's door open.
“My lord you cannot be here,” the maidens helping the female physician said as they tried to stop me but my eyes looked for my wife.
“Where is my wife?!” I asked out of urgency but it sounded more like I was angry.
“Please, you shouldn't be here,” they repeated. Only then did I look at them.
“Stop me, if you can!” I said angrily.
The female physician came out from the inner room with a dire look on her face. That scared me.
“Please, my lord. My lady requests for your presence.”
Immediately, the maidens move aside and I hurriedly to the inner room.
As I got in, a mixture of blood and water hit my nostrils but the cry of a child wasn't heard.
“Ageila!” I called as I hurried to her side, bending on my toes. “Ageila, my love.”
“I can feel the baby. I can’t feel the baby, Feiran!” her voice was filled with fear and pain. Then, she began to cry.
I quickly held her hand as I could see the pain in her eyes. I wiped the tears from her cheeks and the sweat on her forehead.
“You can feel the baby, my love. You will feel the baby. Come over here, Shegan,” I gestured for the female physician and she hurried back to her with two other maidens. “Do your thing,” I instructed and she nodded, giving a slight bow.
This was my first child, the heir to my throne. I wasn’t going to sit back and watch my wife suffer as well as my child.
“Please, push my lady,” Shegan pleaded.
Ageila looked up at my face with uncertainty and I stood a bit, placing my hand on her belly for a few seconds and tapping on it thrice. Suddenly, the baby gave two kicks and I smiled.
“Now, push my love!” I smiled at her as I resumed the position I was in.
I was still holding her hand, squatting beside her and she pushed with everything in her, with a scream of pain and eyes filled with tears streaming down.
“This is for us, this is for our child!” I encouraged her as she yelled, pushing with all of her might.
“This is our first fruit. Push him out like you would plow a fruit on its tree!”
“Push Ageila! Push him out!” I yelled and so did her scream increase then it was followed by a cry.
A cry from my child.
She collapsed on the bed and the maidens rushed to her as they wiped the sweat from her forehead and tried to make sure hadn’t fainted.
I got up slowly from where I was and walked slowly to Shegan who was holding my child in her arms. His cry filled my eyes as I moved closer to Shegan and tears slowly rolled down my cheeks.
A flesh of my own.
As I got to Shegan and she was going to hand him over to me, she asked. “How do you know it was a male?”
“Oh, the kick I got earlier was mighty. It was strong. Couldn't have been from a female.” I smiled with tears still rolling down my cheeks and Shegan nodded.
She did the necessary things she needed to do on Ageila who had passed out before looking over at me.
“You know the custom, my lord,” Shegan said and I looked up from my child.
“I must spend time with my child,” I said and she nodded.
“It has to be now. A few minutes after the child arrived.”
This was the custom.
When a child is born in our clan, the father goes to the forest for three days alone with the child. This was a bonding method believed to make the child a warrior and in my case, it was to show the child the territory, to build him to be a warrior.
If the child was a female, she would have spent the time with her mother, regardless of the state she was in after birth. This was the custom. Our culture. During this time, the child would not be announced until the father successfully comes back from the forest after the third day, then the child would be pronounced alive and healthy. The celebration then follows as well as the naming of the child.
This is my submission to the Inleo prompt suggestion for the month of May. The topic is "cultural norms.....". You can join here. This is the calendar
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
See me smiling and kicking the wall. 😝. I knew it! I knew it. Who the heck was that guy from the grave! Shit 😂.
My Angeila is back on earth with my son! My instincts were never wrong. I could feel it.
So I am officially a father now wow!. Thank you so much for pushing so hard! Thank you so much for doing this for us.
I will head into the forest now with our baby, I will feed him with coconut milk and show him how to become a brave warrior like his father.
Oh God!!! Abdul, you are crazy 😂😂😂😂
I can feel your excitements from here. Is this not madness??? 😂😂
Can you imagine? You are living in a fantasy world 😁😁😅😅
Yeah. You got me crazy in your fantasy world. And I think I will keep dwelling in it as much as you keep bringing them.
Don’t you think it’s worth getting mad for? 😂. Seeing my flesh right on my arms. Haha 😆
Only one look from the physician and you were scared 😂
😂😂😂😂 before someone will kpai my baby
It is a good story, @sabrinah. You set the scene, you provide a climax (crisis) and offer a resolution. The dialog is strong and helps to drive the story forward.
Thank you for sharing this with us, @sabrinah
Thanks a bunch 🥰🥰🥰
!LOLZ
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Too many cheetahs.
Credit: marshmellowman
@sabrinah, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of benefice-net
(1/10)
This is one of the best stories I have ever read. I can feel the the joy and nervous in the protagonist, the king. We somehow seem to share this culture, though ours is not in the forest. In my culture, the mother spends time with the baby first and gets fed with the first milk from the mother which is believed and scientifically proven to be the best milk for babies. After that, the father can them take over the child from the mother.
I must say it is a very interesting story, I thought and wished it had no end because I was really enjoying every line of it.
Nice work and I would love to have more quality stories from you.
Thanks a lot
The pleasure is all mine.
Thanks for the great work.
This is a beautiful story Sabrina!!
Good show!! Jolly Good show !PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@seki1 just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @sabrinah.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/1 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
Thanks a bunch 🥰