The announcement hit Faruz like a club. How would he keep his friend safe during the battle? His new wife shouldn’t have to raise their child alone. Though there was no way to make sure every deserving father survived the battle, Faruz felt as if he’d taken a punch to the gut. He felt responsible for this man, as well as all the others. Each one had a family—someone who was counting on him to survive. They were fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. He had to do everything in his power to make sure they could defeat the enemy army.
Aibek and Dalan slapped Wayra on the back and shouted their congratulations, while Faruz sat stunned by the sudden realization of the scope of his responsibility.
His friends laughed and joked while Faruz looked from face to face, wondering if these men would still be alive next week, or next month... or whenever the assault came.
Before much time had passed, a group of ladies approached, looking for dance partners. Faruz immediately offered to partner with Zifa and quickly spun her onto the dance floor, relieved to escape the prison of his melancholy thoughts.
* * *
Aibek wasn’t sure who he should ask to dance, and so was relieved when Ahren grabbed his arm and led him into the throng. He didn’t look back to see who his other friends chose for partners, but instead focused on the spritely young woman in his arms. He still didn’t quite trust the girl, but he’d set that aside for the night.
He danced the steps as if he had known them all his life, easily keeping up with the fast rhythm of the song. Ahren smiled and led him farther into the heart of the party. They danced and laughed until they were both out of breath, then retreated to the boardwalk for some fresh air and rest.
“That was great!” Ahren smiled up at her companion. “You’ve been practicing.”
“Yes, I had Serik teach me,” Aibek replied sheepishly, then pointed to his friend in the Pavilion. “Faruz has been working on his dancing, too.”
They both laughed as they watched their friends dancing feverishly along with everyone else on the floor in a fast, complicated routine.
“He’s doing great.” Ahren clapped along with the beat. “This one is Zifa’s favorite.”
“Then I’m glad he practiced it.” Aibek gave her a slight smile. “He was really hoping to get to dance with her tonight. I think he was a bit embarrassed the night of the wedding.” He led her to a bench under a string of lights.
“I noticed that. You were both kind of a mess that night.” She laughed.
He chuckled with her. “I guess we were.”
He looked out into the darkness beyond the rail behind her and wondered what she thought of him now. How would she react if he reached over and put an arm around her shoulders?
She shivered in the evening air, and he frowned in concern.
“Are you ready to go back into the party? It’s a little cold tonight.”
She waited for a group of partiers to pass on the boardwalk, then slid a little closer to him and looked up into his face. “It is a bit chilly, but I’d rather stay out here for a while longer if that’s all right with you.”
Aibek grinned and stretched an arm around her, pulling her close to his chest. She sighed, shifted closer, and snuggled into his warmth. Aibek tried to stay calm, but his heart was pounding in his chest. She felt so warm and soft in his arms. Should he try for a kiss? He wasn’t sure how she would take it, and he wasn’t sure it would be wise. He didn’t need a romantic relationship right now, with the battle looming ever closer. Besides, he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t turn on him again tomorrow. She hadn’t been predictable or reliable so far.
He’d enjoy her closeness for now, and maybe try to take things further after they had won their freedom. That would be the best option. Besides, he wasn’t even really sure she liked him. He enjoyed her warmth for a few short minutes, then took a deep breath, stood, and offered her his hand.
“We should get back to the party before someone misses us.”
With a confused expression on her face, Ahren slowly placed her hand in his. “I guess you’re right. Do you want to dance some more?”
They walked toward the Pavilion side by side.
Before he had a chance to respond, a group of warriors from a nearby village approached them.
“You’ve done a fantastic job getting everyone ready to fight together,” a tall, dark-haired man said.
“It’s been amazing to see people progress so quickly,” said another, “Your captain is truly amazing.”
“Thank you.” Aibek watched Ahren slip silently away to her friends, who were sitting on the other side of the party. “I’ve enjoyed working with all the warriors and watching you improve.”
Soon, another group of villagers joined him, and the conversation he’d just had was repeated nearly word for word. He glanced out into the crowd, hoping this wouldn't be the pattern for the rest of the night.
* * *
Ahren slipped away from Aibek when the visiting warriors approached.
What am I doing? Did I really just cuddle with the interloper on a bench for everyone to see?
She shook her head in disgust and searched through the crowd until she found Ahni on the other end of the Pavilion. Moving with the rhythm of the loud music, she shoved her way through the crush of bodies until she stood beside her friend.
Ahni glanced at Ahren, then returned to watching the dancing couples. It was enough for Ahren to see the tears in her eyes. The two girls had only become close after Tavan’s murder, but it had been long enough for Ahren to understand how hard that day was for her friend. Even so, she was beginning to question the validity of Ahni’s arguments against the council. None of her predictions had even come close to the truth. All of the council members, including the interloper-mayor, worked hard to make sure they knew the will of the citizens. They encouraged input from the people and often took the suggestions and made them happen.
She cast a sideways look at Ahni just in time to see what the girl was focused so intently upon. Aibek was walking with a group of men toward the front of the Pavilion, his back to them. He was laughing, a sound Ahren hadn’t heard much since the visitors had come.
Almost before Ahren could react, Ahni slipped a small dagger out of her sash and moved toward the mayor’s group.
“No!” Ahren shouted, struggling to shout over the noise of the boisterous crowd.
She ran toward Ahni, arms outstretched. Before she would have reached the armed young woman, Ahni turned, surprise evident in her dark, tear-filled eyes.
Ahren reached to grab the weapon, but Ahni was faster. She swung the dagger in a clumsy arc, but it connected with the flesh at the top of Ahren’s left arm. A bright red stain bloomed across the top of Ahren’s pink gown, and pain flashed through her mind.
Ahni screamed at her, “What are you doing? I have a clear shot. Let me take it.”
“No! He isn’t what you think. He’s kind. He’ll help you if you’ll just talk to him.” She grabbed at her friend’s wrist with her uninjured arm, desperate to get the dagger away from the girl.
Ahni had the advantage of size—there weren’t many people smaller than Ahren—but the latter had considerably more strength from the weeks spent training with Zifa.
She wrestled the dagger away from Ahni, then was caught completely off guard when the girl lunged at her, tackling her to the ground. Ahren dimly heard the screams of partiers around them as her head struck the hard wooden floor. Dizzy from the impact, she tried to roll to her side, then Ahni was on top of her, crushing the breath from her lungs. Ahren gasped once, then Ahni’s head crashed into her own. Darkness descended upon her like a curtain, and the screams faded into silence.
* * *
Once again, Aibek found himself running through the crowd of revelers toward the source of the screams. This time, he discovered Ahren unconscious and pinned beneath her friend. An alarming pool of blood grew around them, though he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. He rolled the girl off of Ahren and saw a slender
dagger protruding from the larger girl’s upper abdomen. The blade pointed upwards, toward her lungs and vital organs. It had to come out. Blood gushed from the wound as soon as he pulled the knife free.
Faruz appeared out of the throng and dropped to his knees beside the wounded woman. He pulled off his neckcloth, immediately pressing the fabric into the wound to try to stop the bleeding. It was no use. No matter how hard he pressed, the blood continued to flow. The woman made a gurgling sound in her throat, and Aibek looked up at her face. Blood bubbled on her lips, frothing with each breath.
He groaned, “Oh, no.”
There was nothing more he could do for the girl. He left her care to Faruz and turned his attention to Ahren, who lay still and silent on the edge of the dance floor. She had a distressingly large lump on her forehead, and she had a wound just below her left shoulder. More blood oozed from somewhere beneath her, but he wasn’t sure if it was Ahren’s. She was frightfully pale under the blossoming bruises. Aibek pressed his fingers to the inside of her limp wrist, feeling for a pulse. It was steady and strong.
“Where’s Valasa?" He shouted. "Someone bring the Gadonu!”
Beside him, Faruz checked the other girl’s pulse, then shook his head. She was gone.
“What happened here?” Aibek shouted at the gathered crowd. “Did anyone see what happened?”
22
Ready
“I can’t believe they approved this,” Eddrick whispered to his wife as they crouched in the bushes near the enemy encampment.
Ilodus had risen overhead, and Koviom was climbing the eastern horizon. They provided enough light for Eddrick to see the camp beyond their hiding place. The army’s camp sprawled over the grassy hillside, a mobile city filled with energy and aggression. The soldiers were mostly short, heavily muscled, and hairy. They all wore beards down to their waists and had unkempt, long hair. Eddrick shuddered at the sight. He’d been watching the army for most of the day but hadn’t grown accustomed to their dirty, ragged appearance.
“Me, either,” Kiri whispered in return. “I’m glad they did approve it, though.”
A taller man in an immaculate yellow uniform strolled into the clearing. He wore his hair neatly trimmed and his face clean-shaven, and Eddrick assumed he must be an officer. The soldiers gathered around the fire leapt to their feet at the man’s approach.
“Listen!” The officer shouted to the men who were still milling around. “We’ll be in the forest within the week. Make sure you’re training and getting plenty of rest. Remember the plan—the first wave will go in and wear them down, and the second wave will finish them off a few hours later.” He gestured to the men standing around him. “You all are in the first group. You have to hold steady until backup arrives. It shouldn’t be too hard. These people haven’t fought a battle in over a hundred years.” He laughed, and the soldiers joined in.
As he spoke, he began pacing the circle that had formed around him. He stopped now, waiting for the laughter to die down.
“Remember, this time we leave no survivors. Our job is to send a message to all the villages in the forest that Helak’s army is not to be taken lightly. If we like the place, we might just move in and stay a while.”
He chuckled, then straightened and began scolding one of the younger men for some small problem with his appearance.
Horrified, Eddrick and Kiri hurried to tell their son of the enemy’s plan.
* * *
Unsure how badly Ahren was injured, Aibek and Faruz carried her to Valasa’s house on a makeshift stretcher. The wound on her shoulder had stopped bleeding, but the knot on her head was still growing. Her right eye was blackened and swollen, and the bruising continued to march down her cheek and into her hairline. To make matters worse, Aibek had found another lump on the back of Ahren’s head, likely from where she’d hit the floor.
Just as when Alija was stabbed, no one could tell them exactly what had happened. This time, however, one witness came forward. The woman had pulled Aibek aside before they’d decided to move Ahren, and told him Ahren had been holding a dagger when the other girl lunged and knocked her to the ground. The description fit the way he’d found the women and most of the injuries. But he couldn't explain how Ahren’s shoulder had been injured. Perhaps, there had been a fight for the weapon.
Aibek paced in Valasa’s den, waiting for word on Ahren’s condition. Would she be able to pull through this? She was awfully small. He’d been struck by how tiny her frame was when he’d held her against his chest earlier in the night.
**What did that embrace mean to her? Was it a distraction? A way to get me to trust her so I’d let my guard down? Had she meant that dagger for me?
Answerless questions vied for his attention, but he pushed them aside. Dalan had stayed behind to notify the other girl's family and help them prepare her for the funeral. Maybe he’d have more information when he returned.
When the large clock chimed midnight, with no more information than he’d already gathered, Aibek bid goodnight to the house-staff at Valasa’s home. He trudged down the boardwalk to his own house, Faruz walking silently beside him. Valasa still hadn’t emerged with news of Ahren, and Dalan hadn’t learned anything from the other woman’s family.
Aibek hoped Ahren would wake soon, both so he’d know she would survive and so she could fill in the holes in the story. Part of him didn’t want to admit that she was likely the force behind the poisonings and the attack on Alija, but it was hard to ignore the evidence he’d gathered tonight. Still, there were so many unanswered questions. Tomorrow, he’d go and question the prisoner once more. Maybe she’d talk, now that her friend was severely injured and another woman was dead.
As soon as the men entered their home, Faruz said goodnight and disappeared into his chamber. Aibek followed suit, bone-deep fatigue making his body heavy and sluggish. He needed a good night’s sleep if he was going to figure anything out.
* * *
Aibek woke with a pounding headache, rolled to his side, and pulled the blankets over his face. The sunlight streaming through the curtains felt like knives in his head. He knew he needed to be up, checking on Ahren and questioning the prisoner, but he couldn’t force himself upright. Every time he tried, the room spun, and the pounding in his head became almost deafening.
Have I been poisoned again?
He stayed in bed for most of the morning, until Valasa brought him a vial of some foul-smelling liquid to drink. Aibek tried to decline the medicine, but the Gadonu was firm. He stayed at Aibek’s bedside until the tincture was gone, then walked away mumbling something about childhood diseases. Aibek couldn’t bring himself to ask about Ahren. He’d face that situation once he felt a little better.
He didn’t know what the old man was grumbling about. He wasn’t sick; he just had an awful headache. He forced himself out of bed long enough to build the fire up to a blinding blaze. It must have been an unusually cold night because it was freezing in his room this morning. Before long, Faruz came stumbling into the room. He was shivering, too, and several large, deep red blotches covered his head and neck.
“What happened to your face?” Aibek asked.
“There’s nothing wrong with my face. I’d be fine if I could get rid of this headache. I’m so glad you have a good fire going. I can’t get warm. Have you heard anything about Ahren?” At that point, Faruz got a good look at his friend. “What’s all over your face?”
“Oh, no!” Aibek stumbled to the mirror on the dressing room door. His face had spots just like Faruz’s. “We must have caught some weird disease! That must be what Valasa was talking about. And no, I haven’t heard anything about Ahren or the other woman yet. I haven’t had the energy to ask anyone.”
Faruz peered at himself in the mirror over Aibek’s shoulder, turning this way and that to get a better look at the angry red splotches. “What do we do now?”
Aibek met Faruz’s eyes in the mirror and saw his worries echoed there. Their enemy would arrive any day now, Ahr
en lay wounded at Valasa’s house while another woman was dead. They still didn’t know what Tamyr’s role in the attacks had been, and now they were both feverish and spotted. They had too much to do to spend time in bed recovering from some bizarre disease. Before he could get too worried, Valasa strolled into the room.
Aibek pounced on him without preamble. “What’s going on? How long am I going to be sick?”
“It looks like you’ve caught a very common illness. Usartma usually only lasts a day or two. But I’ve never seen it in an adult before. I guess you didn’t have it as children?”
Aibek sank into his favorite chair by the fire. "I’ve never even heard of it. It’s common here, then?”
The Gadonu nodded. “Nearly every child here gets it before the tenth birthday. It generally isn’t serious. It just wears you out for a few days. The spots only last a day. You need to get plenty of rest if you want to get over this quickly. Now, off to bed. I’ll have Serik bring you some broth.”
Aibek caught Valasa’s sleeve. “Wait! I have to know. How is Ahren? Has she awakened? Who was the other woman?”
Valasa sighed and dropped his hands to his sides. “Ahren will be fine. She’s been awake several times now, but only for short periods. She’ll need time and rest to recover from the head injuries. Her arm should heal without any problems.” The healer sighed again, and a look of sorrow crossed his normally cheerful countenance. “The other girl was Ahni, the daughter of one of the elders. Her father said she’s been acting strangely for months now, since before the boys overthrew Tavan. She was apparently expecting a child. Her father said they had no idea who the father could be.”
The Nivaka Chronicles Boxed Set Page 25