The battles began with much less ceremony than the casting. Alaysha wasn't able to spend even a few moments with Yenic; he'd been dressed by the boys and fed, obviously. He sat next to the fire, untethered, but guarded by several large warriors. Alaysha remembered the story Edulph had told her about Yenic taking on three of his best soldiers without so much as a blade. Yenic had used anything he could put his hands to, and in the end he used his powers over fire to scatter them. She tried to catch his eye, thinking he could use the flame even now to cause bewilderment, that they could run. But she knew it would be a waste of time.
He wouldn't use his connection to his mother for fear it would reveal them, and even if it might mean his escape, Alaysha knew he wouldn't risk it. Too close, he'd said, and she hadn't understood, but she decided to trust his decision. Whatever too close meant, in the end it meant he feared it. Aislin might never cross the burnt lands herself, but she obviously had some skill Yenic feared.
Alaysha began to understand why Cai said it would be a long day. She could imagine in Theron's time when there were a dozen men to cast for and fight over, that the solstice battles must have gone on for weeks. With one man and only five fighters, it would certainly go faster, but these were no ordinary soldiers. Each Enyalian, whether blonde or brunette, whether thin or squat, had skills that would surpass most warriors Alaysha had met. The only person she'd seen with such natural gifts for battle was Gael, and even he didn't possess the coldness it needed to take a comrades life so mercilessly.
These women had grown together, trained together, and yet here they were fighting against each other, to their ultimate demise, over a man that none of them found desirable. They fought for the right to continue their line, and obviously saw each sword sister as secondary to that duty.
The lots had been drawn by small stones scratched on by soot from the fire. By some odd chance, neither Enud nor Alaysha's stone was selected first. Rather, two women of equal size drew their blades against each other.
It began when the Sun was at its zenith, and that battle still drug on now far past that.
Alaysha was as entranced as if she was watching a dance and no more. Without the emotional connection to the assailants, she could study their movements, examine any habits that were born of the same training bidding them to move with instinct. She wasn't certain that all of the women would fight the same way, but she was confident they would have similar battle habits.
What she noticed was that the women used both arms equally skilfully. Sword in one hand, blade in the other, those lengths of steel were extensions of their arms and where they bid them strike, they struck. The muscles in their thighs never quivered with effort even when they squatted to avoid a blow, or when they leapt to advance. She expected to see movements like Cai had practiced in her lodge, but if those were movements of battle, they were not put to use during this fight. There was very little of beauty in the battle, and more of pure brutality.
At first, Alaysha believed she could watch each movement and study every minute swing, but when the fight wore on into the early evening with no seeming victor in sight, she actually grew bored. She scanned the crowds, hoping to see Bodicca or Theron. She was surprised to see Enud and Uta in deep conversation, seemingly oblivious to the battle unfolding. A tap on her shoulder startled her.
"They conspire," a voice said.
Theron. The wrinkles in his face were dirt filled and the alert black eyes were red rimmed.
"I thought they –"
"Hid this poor shaman away; yes, yes. But they have more to concern themselves with than the activities of a weak-willed man." He seemed entirely pleased with himself.
Alaysha wasted no time. "When it's my turn to fight," she said. "I need you and Bodicca to retrieve Gael. Get him out of here."
"So this witch thought she would use the solstice to create a distraction? Does she not see she cannot win?"
"Whether I beat Enud or not isn't the question, Theron. I only need to empty the village of as many of my people as I can."
"And this witch will bring the power, yes yes? A good plan if not flawed."
"How is it flawed? If they can't be bothered to watch over you, then surely the same is happening to Gael. Bodicca is strong enough –"
"The same is surely not happening to Gael."
"What do you mean?"
"Gael is even now performing his service."
"He can't be. The solstice hasn't begun."
"Solstice begins today. Yenic's casting isn't complete, no, no. But the large warrior—well, his fate is sealed already."
"He can't be. He's drugged –"
"Drugged, yes yes. But not in the way you think. That demon chalk witch uses my own sacred brew against us."
"We have to stop it. Theron, we can't let Gael be debased that way."
Theron's eye traveled to the two Enyalia battling in the dirt. A collective sigh went up from the crowds when one fell, and a wiry stock woman ran forward, throwing herself onto the prone body.
"The first loser, yes, yes." Theron's face clouded over and he swallowed repeatedly. Alaysha noticed he shivered and pulled his arms together over his chest. "We can smell hair burning, yes we can. Such a terrible smell."
Alaysha reached out to touch him on the arm and he startled. The eyes that he turned on her took a moment to focus. "We will do what we can for the warrior, but know that Uta will not let you win."
"I told you that doesn't –"
"Matter. Yes, yes. The shaman knows that. But what the witch doesn't know is that Uta is not honourable. Even her general doesn't understand that."
"Uta wants me dead."
"Uta will do what she needs to, to keep this witch from draining the village. She will believe it's the right thing, oh yes she will. Her komandiri might even come to believe it too in time."
"Because the men will die anyway," Alaysha said, letting what she'd known all along settle into her psyche. They used the casting as a distraction, letting Alaysha believe she was buying time for Yenic, for Gael, when all along they knew that so long as the men lived, Alaysha wasn't a threat. Once they died, things would be different. And they knew Alaysha was capable of killing the entire tribe. She began to wonder if the dead Enyalian raid party had actually encountered the wind witch at all. If those women cast for Edulph somewhere out past the village. Why else would they let such a ceremony occur if they were under threat of attack? Of course there was no threat of attack. She realized that now.
She even started to think that if Enud succeeded in killing Alaysha the problem would be solved—if Alaysha died fast enough that she couldn't bring on the power. That made her wonder if she would be fighting one warrior, or one warrior with an assassin nearby, ready to strike before Alaysha could bring the power to save herself.