The Runesmith Chronicles Ch. 23

"After two months I showed back up at the cave with the books, this time she met me out front and guided me into her home. Ikuno took my books and gave me the potion..."

"With some very specific instructions, I might add," said Ikuno sounding annoyed.

"Yes, with some very specific instructions. That was the last time I saw Ikuno until today. I ran home and had to wait a couple more days until the middle of my cycle. That time it was a success and a few months later you were born."

"Merantha," growled Ikuno, "tell him the whole truth."

Kal's mother sighed, "Ikuno told me that both your father and I would need to be holding the bottle as I drank the potion. That way it would take some lifeforce from both of us to make me fertile, I didn't know about Ikuno's lifeforce being part of it until tonight." She took a shuddering breath, "I couldn't tell him. After thinking I was sleeping around on him then thinking that I was going completely crazy, I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I was damaged and the only way we could have a child was through magic. That night I took the potion all by myself and tripped your father into bed."

"I had given up a third of my lifeforce when making the potion. This meant that if she had done as I asked they both would have stayed above the halfway mark and not been in any danger of fading away."

"But that would have meant that Mother lost two-thirds of her lifeforce making me. By what you said before, being that low she should have faded," said Kal.

"Should have." Ikuno sighed, "I hate telling you this right now but I didn't just avenge your father and grandparent's deaths when I killed that werewolf, I avenged your mother too."

"Now I'm really confused," said Kal with Perra nodding in agreement.

"Go on, Ikuno," Kal's mother urged the oni.

"When Kal was telling me about your history he said that you never took another man, that his father was your soulmate," Merantha nodded, "If that was the case then he would have helped bolster you until your lifeforce could begin to regenerate on its own. Unfortunately, it's a very slow process for humans and..."

"My father was killed before mother reached the halfway point," said Kal as Ikuno nodded in agreement.

"I think if the werewolf had come a year, possibly two, later then your mother would have been fine, Kal."

Kal took his mother's hand in his, "How on earth did you manage to hang on for so long?"

Ikuno opened her mouth but Kal's mother shook her head, "I think I have the answer to this one. You, Kal. I held on for so long for you."

"You said yourself Kal that this all started not long after you came of age. Each time she has become noticeably weaker has been when you did something showing your independence," explained Ikuno. Kal hated to admit it, but she was right, he just hadn't been able to see the connection.

"I've watched my son become a fine young man, a man that his father would be ever so proud of," she said smiling up at him and squeezing his hand. "Help me up, Kal," his mother asked. She left a hand on his shoulder and gestured to Perra with the other. "Perra, I'm truly amazed at the woman you have become, so different from the frightened child who first arrived here," she said, raising a shaky hand to the girl's cheek before drawing her in. Kal's mother looked straight forward, "You too Ikuno." The oni gingerly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the woman. Merantha pulled in Kal and Perra on either side until they both reached around the oni's and his mother's back and clasped hands. Kal gritted his teeth in an attempt to control his emotions while tears flowed freely down Ikuno and Perra's cheeks.

"Twenty years ago, you gave me a wonderful baby boy who I've loved and cared for and protected as best I could. Today, I give him back to you."

Kal's mother let out a contented sigh and sagged into Ikuno's shoulder, her arms slipping from around Kal and Perra's necks and falling to the bed.

Kal choked back a sob as he waited for his mother to take another breath.

She never did.