The Chronicles of Amon book 1 LINK

  Chapter 3.

  Weeks went by uneventfully. The couple continued following the clan, always from a safe distance, scavenging what little food the clan had overlooked. But eventually, as the female continued to put on weight, it became increasingly difficult for them to maintain their pace.

  Day by day they dropped farther behind. Day by day the young male ventured farther away from his mate, searching for other food sources.

  Eventually it became obvious that they could no longer follow their old family. The female had grown so large that it was all she could do to walk, and then only for short distances without having to rest.

  Then one day she refused to travel at all. The young male was at a loss. Feeling helpless, all he could do was pace back and forth, occasionally stopping to sit close to her, comforting her as best he could. He could see from her expressions and movements that she was very uncomfortable. But there was nothing he could do to help.

  He knew they needed to eat, but he was afraid to leave her long enough to find food. She was too exposed and vulnerable where she was. Eventually with his help and persuasion they moved a short distance to a better hidden spot under some low hanging ferns.

  The space under the ferns was cramped, barely large enough for the two of them. She continued shifting, trying to find a comfortable position, but never seemed to be able to. Eventually she nudged him completely out of the space, gesturing for him to go find something for them to eat.

  Reluctantly he did as he was told.

  After only a few steps he looked back to see how she was doing. The place he had chosen was a good one. He couldn’t see her at all. Satisfied that she would be safe for a while, he turned and hurried off.

  It was late in the season. Food was becoming harder to find. Much of what he did find had begun to rot. It took him longer than he expected to find enough to carry back for his mate. She must be starving by now, he thought. I must hurry.

  Night was falling faster this late in the year. It was becoming difficult for him to retrace his tracks. He was beginning to feel desperate, fearing that if he didn’t find their hiding spot soon, he wouldn’t be able to until morning.

  Too frequently he had to stop to orient himself. Every time he stopped be became more desperate. He wasn’t sure he was headed in the right direction. He was near panic.

  Then not far away, he heard a faint moan. It’s her! Something’s wrong! He dropped what little food he had found and ran headlong in the darkness toward the sound.

  Their hiding spot was a good one. He had walked right past it without even noticing. If it had not been for her moan, he would have missed it completely.

  He rushed in under the fern to see her lying there writhing in pain.

  In that moment the area around them became bathed in a soft blue light. Everything he saw was the same color. He crouched there frozen, his breath caught in his throat. The two of them lay together motionless.

  He detected a slight movement just overhead. Afraid to move, he glanced upward cautiously between the leaves. He could make out a strange rectangular shape, unlike anything he had ever seen in nature. The light was emanating from the object.

  In ‘words’ that were in his ears as well as in his mind, he heard: “I am here to help. Be not afraid.”

  A thin mist began emanating from the base of the object. It smelled like fresh-blooming flowers, pleasant, relaxing. He was feeling light-headed, drowsy, like he was about to fall asleep. He turned toward his mate.

  She was no longer writhing. She wasn’t looking up at the object. Instead her attention was focused nearer the ground. She didn’t seem to be disturbed, more curious than alarmed. The young male turned to look in the same direction.

  There, just at the edge of the mist something was moving. It was tall and slender, with slow deliberate animal-like movements. It’s upper body was indistinct, extending upward into the darkness above the blue haze. It walked upright on two legs. But these legs were long, hairless. They kept moving toward them slowly.

  In him mind and in his ears he heard more words.

  “From the time of your changing, you have known of my coming, though then you did not understand.”

  For what seemed like a very long time the young male remained inert, dazed, trying to absorb all that he was feeling and hearing and seeing. Gradually he became absorbed in a feeling of well-being and security. After a time he drifted off into relaxed slumber.

  He awakened just as the sun was breaking the horizon. Rays of yellow-orange light shot through the overhanging fern, jolting him into wakefulness. A strange sensation was coming from inside his head, like ringing in his ears, only not so loud. It wasn’t annoying, just, different, almost pleasant.

  He remembered the voice, distant, almost like a dream. He remembered “Be not afraid.” He wasn’t. The voice comforted him.

  She was still there at his side, cuddled close. There was a strange covering draped around her. It looked like an animal hide; some sort of deer, perhaps. Instead of being shocked, as he would have been otherwise, he took this as though it were nothing out of the ordinary. The mere fact that he had done so was a shock in itself. Yet he felt strangely comfortable with it all. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt no fear, no apprehension, no feeling that would alert him that something was amiss.

  His mate’s attention was focused on something she was holding close under the cover. She paid him no notice.

  He noticed a stirring under the covering, accompanied by a muffled mewing sound. His mate shifted her position, letting the cover fall away slightly. There, held in her arms was a suckling infant. He could see only the head and one shoulder.

  His mate looked up into his eyes. They were moist, tears pooling in the corners. Her gaze suggested strong emotion, stronger than anything he had ever perceived before.

  He looked from her, back to the tiny newborn she held close to her breast. It was naked, devoid of hair, except for a small patch on its head. One tiny hand clutched at the hair between her breasts. Gently, she eased the tiny infant away from her breast, turning it so that he could see it clearly. It was a male. The tiny round face, lips pursed, eyes closed, moved ever so slightly, mewing contentedly.

  The young male turned his attention to his mate. Gone were the creases around her eyes. Gone were the furrows in her brow. Her face seemed to glow with an inner light. He could feel it. It was as much a part of her as he knew it was a part of him. When he looked down at the tiny infant in her arms a new word came to his mind. It described perfectly the feeling that the three of them shared. Love.

  As the next few days passed, the memories of that night began to clarify. He remembered the words, though their meaning wasn’t always clear.

  The tall figure called himself Evander. The young male had accepted this without question. Evander explained that he was a human, a man. He explained that the “change” he and his mate had undergone had been necessary so that their offspring would also be “human.”