Birdsong woke Alaysha. She rolled over on the makeshift bed and stared at the thatch of the ceiling. The boys were already up it seemed; she could hear them scuttling around the room. She propped herself up on her elbow and scanned for Cai. The Enyalian was nowhere to be seen.
Alaysha shot out of bed in a panic. How long had she slept? Had she missed the casting already? Apparently even as on edge as she was, exhaustion and fatigue had been quite able to steal her body and lull her to sleep. The battle in the burnt lands, the draining of her power, carrying Gael. Enough to make her sleep for days. Even sprinting to the door, she could feel the effects deep in her tissues as they practically begged her to stop moving. She lifted the flap and stared outside. Plenty of activity, more than she'd ever seen in the hours she'd been here.
Several warriors were sharpening blades, spitting on the edge and rubbing fingers to test sharpness. Warriors that weren't sharpening blades were performing the same strange ritual she'd watched Cai complete before sleep. A couple of stock women stood silently with their arms crossed, spoons sticking up between their bosoms. She spotted Cai standing outside of Thera's hut, both of them in focused conversation. The door flap was open, and women streamed in and out.
Not a perfect development.
She strode across the compound and at Cai with all the defiance she could muster. "Where's Gael?"
Cai looked at her the way one would look at a bothersome child. "Gael? You mean the man?"
"Yes, you know I mean the man. Where is he?"
A woman bumped into her as she exited and knocked Alaysha a couple of feet away from the door. Cai moved to catch her and gathered her beneath her arm, pulling her close. Alaysha could feel the teeth of the woman's circlet digging into her thigh.
"The man is no concern of yours, little maga. I thought you understood that."
"You said he wouldn't be cast for."
"And he won't be."
"Then what is all this?" Alaysha took a swipe at a particularly large Enyalian, ending up backhanding her across the tricep. The woman spun on her quickly, her hand poised to encircle her neck when she noticed Alaysha was under Cai's obvious protection.
"Komandiri," was all the woman said and strode away.
"What is all this?" Alaysha said again.
"Have you more to say to our bone witch?" Cai said, changing the subject.
"About his mark? You know I don't."
Cai turned to Thera. "Have you more to say to this little witch?"
Thera looked to be considering. She sent her gaze up and down Alaysha's form from foot to face, lingering on the tattaus, and then shook her head. "I think she has nothing to tell me."
Cai's hand went around the back of Alaysha's head, her fingers trailing beneath her hair, tickling just behind her ear lobe. "Then I'm afraid, little maga, that it is time for you to be off."
"No," she said. She thought of Yenic, of her promise. She thought of Gael inside, probably still suffering from his injuries, about to suffer whatever indecencies these women planned for him. "I told you. You know what I can do."
Cai shrugged. "I do. And I also know you won't do anything."
"That's a big risk. But you're not counting on the men themselves. You don't think they'll let themselves be subjected to your whims."
"Many men before them have. You must know little of men."
"You know little of these men."
"Look around you, little maga. Look at how many Enyalia are here still. Your man inside is barely able to lift his head to drink, let alone heft a sword. And your Yenic whom you esteem so highly, was brought in by a single Enyalian so docilely he could have been her pet. I doubt we'll have any trouble."
"I won't go."
Thera tired of the exchange and started to say something when she paused, mouth open, hand already lifted to wrest her away from Cai. But her face changed so quickly, so drastically, Alaysha knew something had to be going on. She pulled away from Cai, who also turned to face what Thera found so intriguing she couldn't even close her mouth.
At first, Alaysha expected it meant they were under attack from the young wind witch. Instinctively, she drew her self together, readying her body and mind to harness the power that she could already feel tingling beneath her skin. She'd do her best, everything she could to keep the power from draining Gael, from draining Yenic, but she had no guarantee she could control the thirst that well. They might well die this day. She swallowed, thinking she'd have to let go before the air began to thin and she couldn't breathe, but when she saw that the bedraggled forms stumbling into the village, her mouth went dry in surprise.
It was Cai who spoke. "Bodicca," she said in obvious confusion.
"And Theron," Alaysha heard herself say.
She was about to rush forward to help him with the still hunched and wounded Bodicca when two warriors stepped toward them from behind, blades in hand and to the ready. They grabbed for both in unison, and pulled them sharply to their backs, meaning to slice the throats of the uninvited interlopers.