Inside, the hut smelled of rushes and sage. Two young boys scuttled to the corners when Cai entered, Alaysha but one pace behind her. She watched as they pulled fur blankets from a chest made of cedar. In moments they had a comfortable, almost decadent bed made for Alaysha, thankfully across the room from Cai. They never once showed their faces, rather kept their eyes and heads tilted down at their feet. She had no idea how they could manage to do so many things without looking ahead at where they were going, but she supposed a few seasons of forced practice can do wonders for a person's skills.
She thanked the boys profusely and touched one of them gently on the forearm. He let out a squeal and then went rigid, apparently working hard to keep from running away.
"I don't bite," she said and grinned, hoping to ease the boy's fear. The other looked wary, but seemed less apt to bolt than the first.
Two sharp claps sounded, catching Alaysha's attention. She looked up to see Cai glowering at her. "You have much to learn little maga."
"You don't thank the boys?"
"There is nothing to be grateful for."
"Everyone likes to be appreciated; even an Enyalian boy."
"Another thing you must learn. There is no Enyalian boy. Not everyone who seeks shelter here is Enyalia."
"I thought –"
"I understand that's what you thought. But Enyalian is our word for warrior. A woman must earn the word. As for the boys, they aren't used to being addressed without purpose. They must think you mean to kill them."
"With kindness?"
"They are kind to the sheep before the slaughter."
Alaysha nodded silently. She tried to offer the boys a look of apology, but they had scuttered to another corner where a pile of straw afforded them some sort of bedding. Alaysha was grateful that they at least had something to sleep on; she wouldn't put it past these women to make children sleep on hard ground. Her own childhood wanted to worm its way back into her memory, but she squashed it down determinedly. She would learn from those hard lessons, but she would not be broken by them.
Cai stood in the middle of the room and for a second seemed to be trying to make a decision, then shrugged her shoulders and fell into a series of stretches and squats the like Alaysha had never seen. The hand movements alone were a thing of beauty, but when she combined them into fluid motions of her feet and arms, and all those worked with her sword and blade, Alaysha could see that it wasn't just brute strength that gave the Enyalia an edge, but the combination of every sense that made up their body. She had the feeling she was watching something very sacred and when the woman stretched finally, the tips of her fingers scrabbling at the thatch of the ceiling, Alaysha squeezed her eyes closed just in case the woman looked her way and caught her watching.
Alaysha waited for what seemed like hours for the woman to fall asleep. The boys had gone under seemingly as soon as their heads touched the straw, and in the small amount of light from the fire that burned in a hollow in the ground and sent its smoke through a makeshift chimney, she could see that they were wrapped around each other, one of them sucking his thumb.
After what seemed an eternity, Alaysha got up and fed the fire with peat just in case any of them grew cold and thought to rise through the night. She wanted to get to Yenic before morning came. She wasn't sure where he was being held, or if he was being held somewhere at all. It was this realization that made her decide to wake one of the boys.
She chose the one sucking his thumb because he was the one who hadn't jumped when she'd thanked the other. She touched his shoulder gently and his eyes flew open immediately. She put a finger against her lips to indicate she needed him to be quiet. "I need you to gather some herbs for me. My belly hurts and I need to make it better."
It wasn't true, of course, but she couldn't very well ask him where Yenic was, not here in Cai's Lodge. The last thing she wanted to do was alert the woman, or to get this boy in trouble. He got up quickly and without bothering to wipe the sleep from his eyes, trudged toward the door. Alaysha followed him and when the flap lifted to the sound of frogs calling for mates in the distance, and they had cleared the Lodge and were making their way into the forest, she caught up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I don't need herbs," she admitted. "I need to know where they keep the solstice men."
He had an intelligent face, eyes that showed deep thought processes beneath his brow. The moon was turning full, offering plenty of light to see by, and Alaysha realized why tomorrow would be the beginning of the solstice, set by the rhythms of the moon and the coming of warmer nights, longer days. She could see the boy was afraid to speak, obviously uncertain of what would happen to him if he told.
"It's okay," she told him. "I won't tell anyone. I'll tell them you gathered me some herbs for my sore stomach and then went back to bed."
He looked back over his shoulder to where several of the warriors were tending the fire and keeping watch.
"Never mind them. They'll be my problem."
He bent over and leaned towards a short bush where a few spindly flowers clung. They must have been bright pink during the daylight, but looked more like the color of a sick ear now. He picked a few and pressed them into her hands. "There's a small hut just past the tiltyard. He will be there."
Alaysha made a show of rubbing her stomach, just in case the women were watching, and she whispered a thank you to the boy. He reminded her of Aedus, not scrawny-looking or as ill-fed, but with that furtive kind of fidget to his posture that she'd had when they'd first met. He said nothing in return, merely shuffled back off toward the lodge and disappeared behind the flap. She hadn't expected him to say anything, actually, and in truth thought it was very smart of him to act as though he had done exactly what she'd asked.
She stole a glance towards the women around the fire; they were looking in her direction as she expected, but they paid subtle attention without making a great show of it. Even still, they didn't seem overly worried or concerned that one of the newcomers was up and about the middle of the night.
She wasn't foolish enough to think that Yenic would be alone. She moved toward the trees, working her way into the few shadows the tree trunks made with the shrubberies. And hoping the warriors around the fire had assumed she'd gone back to bed. It was interesting that at night there was more fragrance in the air than during the day; she noted several whitish blooms spread open and stretching toward the moon. The smell was almost intoxicating. Without thinking, she brushed her hand along a row of them and lifted her fingers to her nose, inhaled deeply. But for the circumstance, she could have enjoyed this quiet evening.
She picked her way along from shadow to shadow, finding her way even further into the woods surrounding the village. She'd begun to think she had veered off into the completely wrong direction when she caught a lick of flame off toward her left. A small fire, indeed, but enough that she realized she had indeed gone too far left as well as too far ahead. She backtracked, keeping her eye on the bit of flame that showed through the trees. She got close enough that she could see a single warrior squatted directly in front of the lodging made entirely of spindly poles and animal skin. A makeshift lodging if she'd ever seen one, able to be erected quickly and taken down without much effort. Several of these could be made, she realized, depending on how many were needed, and then disassembled without leaving a trace.
She'd undoubtedly found Yenic, but how would she ever get inside with this brute of a woman sitting in front? She'd have to get around from the back, maybe slip beneath. But of course, if she could slip in, then was very possible the occupant could slip out. There had to be something more keeping him here than just the single woman in front of the fire.
She studied the area carefully, scanning it in small blocks moving from one grid to the other with painstaking care. It took long, exhausting moments that frustrated and tested her patience; she went over the area three times before she saw it: two seemingly naturally occurring bits of debris at the back of the dwelling. They both pointed distinctly toward each other, but far enough apart that an unsuspecting eye would never notice they were a pair. Alaysha worked her way backwards from the lodging, taking great care to study anything that looked out of the ordinary. When she saw the thin bleached ligament stretching from the edge of the animal hide up into the trees, she realized what the danger was to an unsuspecting eye. The Enyalia had assumed that anyone wishing to rescue a man from that tent would be in enough of a rush not to take the time to check for traps.
She smiled to herself and crept through the trees, hoping the woman in front wouldn't decide to do a check. Instead of the back, Alaysha would move slightly to the side. Since the side closest to her had too much noise-making leaf litter, she opted for the one furthest away. She was so focused on making as little noise as possible, and keeping her eyes out for the sentry, that she didn't see the nearly invisible ligament stretched chest high from tent to tree. When it brushed her shoulders, it rattled what Alaysha took for nut casings just above her in the trees.
She cursed to herself and froze. It was useless, however. The sentry came around with her hands on her massive hips, staring directly at Alaysha as she stood midstep with one foot in the air.
Just her fortune, the sentry was Enud, and the Enyalian looked incredibly pleased to see her.
"No doubt you saw the whip trap," she said grinning.
Rather than answering, Alaysha's eye went to the tree. Now that she looked closer, she could see several sharpened stakes attached to the top of the thin sapling.
"We always make that one easy to spot; then the other one becomes much more effective."
"And what if I'd not spotted the first?"
The woman sent her fingers trailing across the circlet on her thigh, making the teeth rattle. "Then I suppose you would be dead."
A chill went up the back of Alaysha's spine. "I want to see Yenic."
"What is a Yenic?" The woman pronounced the words carefully.
"Yenic. The man inside. I want to see him."
"Plenty of time tomorrow. Plenty of time, plenty to see, tomorrow."
Alaysha heard a sound come from inside and then Yenic was peering around the side, looking sleep deprived and haggard. Even though she'd seen him just that afternoon, she drank in the look of him.
"I'm alright Alaysha," he said. "Except for being unable to sleep, I'm fine."
"Big day tomorrow."
"Something like that." He grinned.
Enud watched the exchange in seeming boredom until Alaysha stepped toward him. Then she came to life like a sun-heated serpent who'd just found its dinner within striking distance.
"I think not," she said, crossing her arms and using her considerable breadth to bar Alaysha's way. "Your little man is mine now."
Alaysha didn't want to think about Yenic belonging to anyone, least of all this snake of a woman. She had to think of a way to let him know she would find a way out.
"I'll be there for you," she said.
Enud made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a chuckle. "It will do him as much good as it will do you," she said.
Alaysha ignored her. "I will be there."
"I know what's going to happen," he said. "On my journey here. Bodicca told me."
This time Enud spat on the ground. "Traitor," she mumbled.
Alaysha turned her. "Without the traitor you wouldn't have this fine man to cast for tomorrow," she said.
Enud leered at Yenic but not with a look of desire, at least not sexual desire, the emotion that burned in her face was one Alaysha understood well, having seen it on Corrin's face as he tortured her, on Yuri's face when he learned of Saxons kidnapping. It was one of revenge, and Alaysha couldn't help wondering what Yenic might have done to make the Enyalian hate him so.
She spoke to Yenic without taking her eyes off Enud's. "Just know that I'll be there. Cai has promised me that Gael will not be cast for. That just leaves you. And I'll be there."
Enud had apparently tired of the exchange and stepped forward so that she towered over Alaysha, looking down at her. She'd eaten onions, Alaysha could tell, and she seemed quite pleased to wash Alaysha from head to toe with her breath. "Komandiri Cai is a woman of her word."
"I believe you." Alaysha stepped away, her shoulder catching again in the ligament line, making the nut casings rattle in the tree. She gave one last look toward Yenic as he backed up and disappeared behind the dwelling. She heard a small scuffle coming from inside and imagined he was settling into bed, thinking about how things would go the next day. Alaysha spared a thought herself for it. She had no idea what it would entail, but she would do what it took to win him away from these warriors, and when she was at last able to have him to herself without interference, they would secret Gael away and rendezvous somewhere in the woods with Aedus. They'd be on their way.
But one thing niggled at her conscience as she made her way back to Cai's Lodge. It was the way Enud had so heartily agreed that Cai was a woman of her word. It made her wonder exactly what had been behind those words that Alaysha didn't understand.