Bone Witch (Elemental Magic, #3)

by Thea Atkinson

  Eventually someone caught sight of them and hooted loudly, sending dozens of women finally bustling about. Several small children, boys it looked like, hustled toward the fire pit, seeming intent on scooping broth into a beaten metal bowl. Alaysha could smell spices and broiled meat even from this distance and it made her mouth water instinctively.

  Cai reined in her beast and a boy with long white hair and owlish blue eyes took them without comment. The Enyalian leapt from her beast and hoisted Gael over her shoulder, barking at the boy all the while.

  "Get me the bone witch," she growled. "And be quick."

  The boy darted off as quickly as he'd come. He disappeared into a squarish lodge tucked into a lush garden of herbs and strange flowers. When he returned, it was with a wiry woman about the same age as Cai, her black hair twisted into ropes that piled on top of her head, held there with bits of twig and bone. The hands that wiped themselves on a flax rag were marked with black pictures very much like a tattau. Above the delicate nose, sat two wickedly black eyes that rested on Alaysha in an expression that put Alaysha in mind of Theron; the rest, the face, the width of the woman, her hawkish nose and arched brows reminded her of someone else, but no woman she knew. Rather, she thought she could detect a bit of Yuri to her posture and deportment; her profile certainly had that haughtiness her father wore so often.

  But that was the least shocking thing: that this woman reminded her of two people she knew. It was the other quality to her features that made Alaysha's mouth gape and her speech escape her. This bone witch had a tattau on her chin, sloppily done, perhaps, with much less finesse than Alaysha's, and a few uneven symbols, but that was only a fraction of what made her speechless.

  Because only a witch with similar powers to Alaysha's would have a mark like that, and that had to mean that Theron's clay witch was right here in Enyalia.

  Chapter 8

  The bone witch wasted no time in her attempt to help Gael, which meant anything Alaysha wanted to ask of lower priority; she sent a scurry of boys to fetch a litter made of woven thatch and tied by aged sinew to some sort of hollow poles. She was probing Gael's body with deft black-marked fingers even before the litter was settled next to him.

  "His ribs are cracked in three places," she said to no one. "A few wounds that could use threading." She continued her examination and made a small sound of discovery. "The other wounds will heal with attention, the swelling will retreat." She eyed Cai suspiciously, her furrowed brow an indicator that she thought Cai responsible and she wasn't the least bit pleased. "But this knot needs draining."

  Alaysha already liked her.

  Cai shrugged as though an answer to a question was left hanging in the air without being voiced. Her leathers creaked as she leaned over him. "He would be worth saving." It sounded to Alaysha like an admission.

  Thera gave an almost imperceptible nod, Alaysha caught it, believing she knew what they were thinking.

  "You can save him, then?"

  The witch moved closer to Gael, leaning in so that she could listen to his heart, then feel for his breath. She inhaled deeply, exhaled very slowly as though she had become part of Gael's breath. Then she squeezed her eyes shut pensively.

  The wait was unbearable.

  "Please," Alaysha said. The pleading was in stark contrast to her threat of before, but she didn't care. She watched his chest move, his eyelids with their smoky lashes resting like smudges at the top of his cheeks, and she thought if she lost him too, she wouldn't be able to keep the peace within herself long enough to care if Aedus and Theron had crept within power's distance of the camp. Or if Yenic was here, somewhere. She knew better than anyone that the threat of unleashing the power was not an idle one.

  Without answering, the bone witch grunted in satisfaction. She looked up at Cai. "He'll be ready."

  Cai nodded, looking pleased. "Good enough. Take him."

  The boys who stood around quietly made to grab for the litter but couldn't lift him. One of them ran off and came back with another half dozen and they struggled their way to the witch's lodge. Alaysha watched them go with trepidation. She waited to see if someone would explain what Gael would be ready for, and ended up having to ask.

  In reply, Cai put a massive palm on Alaysha's shoulder, leading her away even as Thera led the litter across the compound and disappeared behind the leather flap. Alaysha watched over her shoulder as Gael disappeared inside behind her, then she turned to Cai, who had been talking all the while. Alaysha must have missed most of it, but she caught one word now: solstice.

  "What does that mean?" She'd heard Theron say it in the burnt lands when the Enyalia was but a mere threat.

  Cai extended her arm, sweeping the air in front of her to draw Alaysha's attention to the village. The dwellings were a mishmash of styles from animal skin to stone and thatch, to mud bricks. The trees on the outskirts formed a border where beyond lay such beauty and lushness, Alaysha immediately thought of her oasis where she'd first met Yenic.

  "Yes," she said, thinking she understood what the woman was trying to tell her. "It's beautiful."

  "Beautiful, yes, but do you not notice anything else?"

  Alaysha pursed her lips, considering. "You have a forge. An oven. Your people are tall, broad." She shrugged. "A village like any other except for your stature, of course."

  Indeed, there was a tiltyard were soldiers practiced. Young boys came through the trees from gathering wood, the smell of roasted meat hung in the air. But for knowing these women were the best fighters she'd ever seen, she couldn't imagine what the secret might be. She pulled away from Cai, who was obviously the chief here. Too many of the women avoided her eye—all but the warriors, at least. Those met Cai's gaze with respect and deference. Each woman who rattled past as they strode through the village, their thigh circlets dancing together like teeth. Each woman –

  And then she realized what it was that was different about the Enyalia. She watched as a slow smile spread across the woman's full mouth as she saw Alaysha's comprehension.

  "Are all your warriors women?"

  "You are observant, little maga."

  "Don't you worry about attack?"

  Cai seemed to want to avoid the question but offered an answer eventually. "Who would attack the Enyalia?"

  "Anyone."

  The woman shrugged. "Generations ago, I suppose. Every now and then, now. But most of those who know of the Enyalia also know our ferocity. Once, more than a dozen full seasons ago, a man did come with warriors. I was young myself, then. Nowhere near old enough to take up a sword."

  "And?"

  "And we lost a good deal of women. One or two warriors. He was said to have come from here, but who knows the real truth of it."

  Alaysha found this intriguing. "You didn't kill him?"

  "He should have died several deaths at our hands." Cai's expression turned stormy. Alaysha didn't dare press her further. Instead, she scanned the village, mentally counting the faces she saw, the number of weapons, all things she did instinctively because of Yuri. There were plenty of women who didn't look like warriors, and she knew at least a handful were behind them by at least a day. Still, not so many Enyalia that the village couldn't be taken by a large army. Assuming a person had a large army. Which she didn't. If she was careful, that could work in her favor. If she was careful.

  "Your numbers –"

  Cai nodded. "Not as plentiful as of late. And with the solstice coming and us not being able to complete the raid –"

  Alaysha wasn't sure which word was more surprising, but she thought one would be more likely answered than the other. "Unable?"

  The woman had a habit of tapping her fingers along her biceps when she was considering how much to reveal. She was doing it now. "We counted three men for solstice."

  "Three?"

  Two more taps against her bicep, and this time the woman's lips tightened into a long thin line. Alaysha waited.

  "You risked yourself for your large man," Cai said final
ly.

  Alaysha hadn't thought about it that way; it hadn't been that much of a risk. Riskier would have been to let him die, but she couldn't explain that to this woman. What she could explain was the real truth.

  "There was no other choice for me."

  Cai halted at the tree line where a gaggle of young girls fought each other to the point of bringing blood. Alaysha made to stop them when Cai held her back. She eyed Alaysha with some speculation, the deep green seemed to move as the pupil kept adjusting to the variance of light, the thick russet lashes like a dying flame. Alaysha was lost for a moment, brought back from her worry about Gael and her sense that this warrior's eyes were more soulful than she let on, by the voice that was as emotionless as Yuri's could be when he wanted something difficult.

  "I see you care for your man, little maga, but you must let him go."

  Alaysha stomach grew tight. "I told you; if he dies –"

  "I believe you. Trust me. I know your power. But that's not why."

  "Why then?"

  The woman sighed and turned back to the girls where one still stood, but surrounded by others sitting, nursing sore knees, bloody noses. "We are not all Enyalia from birth. Our madres consume the sister flesh that worms its way from between her legs along with us. When we first suckle, she ensures we taste the death of our own weakling sustenance and so it shows us that we must find a way to live without her. The only women who would do such a thing are warriors. Warriors beget warriors."

  Alaysha held onto her gurgling stomach at the description.

  "The Enyalia war like we breathe. No man, no one-man, no dozen men, can stand against us and live. No one man against one Enyalian. No ten men against one Enyalian."

  "But Gael did."

  "Gael? What is this word?"

  "His name. Like you are Cai, he is Gael."

  "Oh," she murmured thoughtfully. "You name your males?" Then she swatted away the question and smiled down at Alaysha. "It doesn't matter. Your man stood against us. He killed. He very nearly won." There was something strange moving behind those eyes: respect, perhaps. Desire? Maybe. Whatever it was, it was quickly replaced by the implacable composure again and the moment was gone. "Rest assured, your man will not be cast for."

  "Cast for?"

  "The reason for the solstice. Every warrior who wishes to, has the right to choose a man."

  Alaysha let her eyes wander toward the girls who had risen again to best the winner. None of them made a sound as they struck out. Their movements were fluid even as children.

  "And you have only three men to cast for?"

  Cai's green eyes settled on Alaysha. "It's not every woman who would risk her life for a man. No woman that I know of. No Enyalian. And yet you carried your man at great risk of exhaustion and fatigue. It speaks more of you than it does of him. Only an Enyalian would have suffered so greatly without complaint."

  Alaysha had the brief sense she was being complemented. The woman's palm ran down the length of her arm and Alaysha had to work not to pull it away.

  "And so while we have three for solstice, which would already be a pitiful lot, we have two to cast for. As I said, your man will not be included."

  Alaysha floundered about, trying to subtract Gael and add an invisible man to Edulph in order to come up with two. It was an impossible task. She didn't dare hope. She didn't, but Bodicca had mentioned the solstice. She had taken Yenic from Aislin to save him.

  "Who is this second?"

  Cai spoke carefully, as though she wasn't sure how much to reveal. "A sister came with another. Not as fierce as your man, but still very capable. He, too, had marks like these." She touched Alaysha's chin so tenderly, she barely felt the thumb run along her jaw and flick over her earlobe. "He must also be yours, little maga. It's only fair to warn you that he will be cast for. The lesser warriors who want to, will fight for him."

  "So he lives?" Her stomach clenched, waiting for the answer, bracing against the negative possibility.

  Cai nodded. "He lives. Any other time of the year and he would not." She made a face. "Nor would your men today have lived. We meant to take them alive and hale, but—well, they spoke to the Enyalia soul."

  Alaysha's mind was racing. Yenic was here. Safe. Gael had been certain he'd be dead, but he was here, right now. Alive and well.

  "Might I see this marked man?"

  Cai shrugged impassively. "It's not forbidden, but then no woman has wanted to visit a man before the quarter solstice before." She furled her russet brow in thought. "Nor has an outlander woman visited us before. He is free in a sense, to do as he wishes while he's here. But that doesn't mean it would be a good idea."

  "But you're their leader, surely –"

  "I am the komandiri. Together with the bone witch, I lead. Not alone. Never alone."

  The bone witch. Clay witch, to Alaysha. The other one of her own kind. She must have recognized Alaysha's tattaus the same as Alaysha knew hers for what they were. Had she been hiding here all along, deep within the land no man could penetrate? It was clever. Very clever. Now it made sense why Theron said he'd been this way before, why he'd worked to get through the burnt lands: his witch was here.

  "May I meet with your witch?" Alaysha asked and touched her own markings absently.

  Cai noticed and nodded. "I'll see to it."

  "Good." Alaysha felt the small padding of hope creeping along her spine. So much to do, and all finally within her grasp. Cai turned to walk away, Alaysha presumed to bring her to Thera, but it wasn't the time. Gael needed the witch. Right now, the best thing was to tend to the other matter.

  "Can you take me instead to the man? The one with markings like me."

  "Little maga," the Enyalian said, almost affectionately. "There is no other man capable of moving but the marked one. And we don't go to a man. We bid him come." She nodded toward the clearing to the left of the girls where the fire pit sat, sooty and black.

  "You'll find a good spot there," she said. "I'll have the young ones send him to you." She began to leave but halted. "First, if I do this for you, you must promise not to use your power when the large one dies."

  Alaysha ignored the phrase: when he dies, choosing instead to believe Thera would manage to save him. "Of course," she said. "I promise."

  "Good," Cai said, showing very even and perfectly white teeth in a smile that would have enraptured a dozen men. "I would hate to have to kill you."

  Chapter 9

  Alaysha found the glade easily enough and waited uneasily. What would she say to Yenic, how would she react? His inaction against his mother that led to both her father and her sister's death had been the single moment of true betrayal after several long days of mistrust and doubt, when she'd stubbornly stuck to the belief that he loved her. The moment she knew she even had a sister, that she wasn't alone; the moment she remembered, her long memory releasing its stronghold, allowing her to recall touching the heel of her twin as they slipped from their mother's womb, that moment was the one Aislin chose to send her power dancing in flame through the girl's body.

  That was the moment of her sister's death and Yenic had watched it happen.

  A step sounded, crushing dead leaf litter and she turned to meet him. The time had arrived and whether she was ready or not, she had to face him.

  The moment she saw him, all doubt washed away.

  "Yenic," she said, unable to keep his name from her lips. She wasn't prepared for his shock, for the way he fell to his knees, his head bowed. He still had the same broadness to his chest, the same beautiful skin, but the arrogance was gone.

  "Not again," he mumbled. He rocked back and forth, hugging his chest, refusing to look up. "There's no need to torture me so."

  She hurried to kneel next to him, gathering him against her. "Yenic, love."

  A gasp. "Alaysha?" He sounded uncertain, but hopeful.

  "Yes. Who else?"

  He buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply. "Deities save me," he murmured over and over. "It smells
like you."

  Then she realized that he'd believed her dead, killed by his own mother. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been horrified, watching her twin burn before his very eyes into a pile of ash. Things had certainly escalated then. Bodicca stole him away to maintain the surety that Aislin would not also kill Yuri's son, Saxon. It occurred to her that he hadn't known it was her twin that died.

  "How?" he said. "Is this too some trick?" He cast about, searching for something that obviously wasn't there.

  "Trick?" Alaysha reached for his cheeks and pulled his face out where she could see it. She searched the honey of his eyes, trying to find the spark within that looked like liquid flame. It too was gone. "No trick. It's me."

  He searched hers, and seeming to find what he was searching for, scrambled to his feet uncertainly.

  "It's a good likeness, for sure." He backed away carefully. "But you won't fool me again."

  "Fool you? No. Yenic. You're confused. The journey, the stress, it's addled your mind."

  "My mind is addled by your magic, Mother; but no more."

  "Your mother, Yenic," Alaysha said, confused at his rambling. "My—father. They used us. I know it's impossible, but I had a sister," she choked on the words, trying not to take in his haggard form; it was well fed, yes, but also drawn and fatigued.

  "My sister died beneath your mother's power that day. It wasn't me."

  "Not you?" He looked wary. "The flame, where is the flame?"

  She shook her head. "No flame. The fire is out and smoking only. How can I convince you when your eyes can't?"

  He raked a hand through his hair. "My eyes have deceived me before."

  "I had only one twin; they can't deceive you again."

  "Can't they?" He laughed but without humour. "Tell me how we are bonded." He hid his careful scrutiny beneath hooded eyelids, waiting.

  She couldn't help smiling. "Such an easy test, Yenic." She reached for him and when he would have avoided her touch, she ran a finger beneath his eye. "My tears. You consumed them and only then did I have reason to live again."

  "She would know that." He looked at her in panic. "Tell me more."