by Zoey Draven
“It seems everything can be used for something,” I commented, looking around as Hukan led us deeper inside.
“It is the way of the Dakkari,” she told me, walking next to me. “To be wasteful is an insult to Kakkari. And if we take something, we must replenish it.”
“Is that what those golden seeds were for before we left the old camp?” I questioned. “To replenish?”
“Lysi,” she said. “Seeds that will produce food for the next horde or the next herd of animals that passes through. You get and then you give. Even during your tassimara, there were seeds planted in every lantern, so wherever they landed, wherever Kakkari’s wind took them, they would flourish and provide.”
My lips parted. “Really?”
I’d never known. I remembered the glowing lanterns lifting into the sky that night, twinkling like stars. I thought that…wonderful.
“Lysi, it is tradition. It is the Dakkari way.”
I’d heard that more times than not…the Dakkari way.
“Even the southlands,” Hukan continued, stepping over a fallen vine, “are evidence of this.”
I saw her look over her shoulder, at my guards, as I asked, “How so?”
She didn’t answer. At least not right away. We walked deeper and deeper so that even when I turned, I could no longer see the warm glow of the camp.
“The kuveri grow this far inside?” I asked, getting a little nervous with the darkness, though I hid it as best as I could. “There’s hardly any light. It’s a wonder that they grow at all.”
“They thrive best in darkness,” she replied and after a few more minutes of walking, she said, “Here we are.”
There was a small grove of kuveri berries, growing on grey, bushy, wild plants at the base of the stones the black vines grew on.
“Let us hurry, Morakkari,” Hukan said, already plucking some of the berries off and dropping them into her basket. “The grand meal grows near.”
I nodded and helped her pick the little fruits off the nearest bush.
“Thank you for bringing the sweet bread yesterday,” I commented after a little while had passed, once a quarter of my basket was filled. “It was delicious.”
Hukan inclined her head. After another moment, she said, “I always enjoy when the horde comes through the southlands. It is bountiful here, is it not?”
“It certainly seems so,” I said.
“Perhaps because there are no outsider settlements anywhere near here,” she commented. “They are the opposite of Dakkari. Wasteful, all-consuming. They do not care of the destruction they leave behind. They only take.”
My hand paused in plucking a berry off the bush. My eyes flashed up to her but her expression seemed innocent enough. “Human settlements, you mean?” I questioned slowly.
“Lysi,” she said immediately. She looked up at me, her green-rimmed eyes contracting on me. “Oh but you are not human anymore, are you, Morakkari? I meant no offense.”
Yes, she did, my gut told me. She’d meant to say that, had said it purposefully to hurt me, to draw a clear line between us. Dakkari and human. In her eyes, I would never be Dakkari, despite her words.
Inhaling a long breath through my nostrils, I didn’t want to give up. I didn’t want to go back to ignoring the other’s existence because it made things awkward around camp, around Arokan.
Brow furrowing, I said carefully, “Hukan…I want there to be peace between us. For Arokan’s sake. He cares for you deeply. I know you have never liked me. I know you think Arokan can do better than me.”
She paused in plucking as well, turning to look at me with an unreadable expression. There was a familiar flickering in her gaze which made dread pool in my belly, which made me think that once again, we were back to where we’d been before. I wondered why it had reversed so quickly.
“But he chose me,” I said, steeling my voice, needing her to understand. Softly, I confessed to her words I had not even told Arokan yet. “I love him. And I believe he loves me too. I am his queen and I am not going anywhere, no matter what you—”
I heard rustling and quick footsteps behind me. I heard the hiss of a blade and I spun around, my heart pounding in my chest, knowing that something was wrong.
In disbelief, I saw two Ghertun hovering over the still bodies of my guards. They were on the ground, blood pooling from daggers sticking from their sides. The Ghertun had snuck up from behind. They’d never even had time to draw their swords.
My basket of kuveri dropped to the forest floor and I gasped, backing away, their slitted eyes directly on me.
“Hukan,” I said softly, swallowing past the lump in my throat, my eyes going to the daggers imbedded in my guards’ side. If only I could get to one. “We must—”
I turned around, only to find three more Ghertun standing behind Hukan. My eyes widened in alarm.
“Watch out!”
She didn’t move and avoided me when I reached for her.
The Ghertun didn’t make a move towards her.
“This is her?” one of them asked, that raspy, slithering voice making bumps break over my flesh.
“Lysi,” Hukan replied, her eyes cold, her jaw set. She turned from me, looking at the Ghertun over her shoulder. She wore an expression of disgust as she regarded him, her lips pressing together. “You said you would not kill the warriors.”
“H-Hukan,” I whispered in shock. Then anger enveloped me, rage that made my hands shake. She’d betrayed Arokan, betrayed me, betrayed the horde. And now two innocent Dakkari were dead because of it.
“Hurry and take her away,” Hukan snapped at them. “Before he realizes she is missing.”
Realization flooded me and without another moment of hesitation, I turned on my heel and tried to run.
Only to be caught by the two Ghertun that had killed my guards. I struggled in their arms, jabbing my elbows anywhere I could, trying to turn my head to bite them. All they did was let out a disgusting sound resembling a laugh.
“Remember our agreement,” Hukan said, her tone cold. “You never harm another member of the horde, never come close to our camp, or the Vorakkar again. Do you understand?”
“Yes, female,” one of them hissed, the leader. He approached me, brushing past Hukan. I smelled his rancid breath, felt the heat of it brush my cheek, as he said, “Our king will find her quite…amusing. An enemy horde king’s bride. We will be rewarded greatly.”
Hukan’s jaw clenched and she looked away from me.
And I realized there was only one thing left to do. I just prayed someone would hear me.
I dragged in a deep breath, about to scream as loud as I could.
“Arok—!”
The Ghertun’s fist struck out. I felt pain explode at my temple.
Then the world went dark.
Chapter Thirty-Three
When I woke next, I smelled smoke.
My head was throbbing but I tried to keep still, to assess the situation first.
I was lying on my side in a clearing. Still in the black vine forest, I realized, when I saw the jutting rocks, but I knew the forest was large. We could be anywhere inside.
My hands were tied in front of me with a rope, so tight that I couldn’t move my wrists. My feet were bound in the same way, but I noticed that the rope was thin. It wouldn’t take too much effort to cut, if only I could get a blade.
Behind me, I heard them. The Ghertun. I’d counted five before they’d knocked me out. Were there more now?
I heard one speak in their own tongue and I suppressed the shiver of revolt that went through me.
Suddenly, I was flipped over to my other side so that I was facing the small fire pit they’d constructed.
They must’ve guessed I’d woken, I thought, eyeing them with a glare, my jaw set, my head pounding.
There were still five Ghertun. Five Ghertun that had plotted with Hukan to take me away.
I was a fool.
I remembered how Hukan’s attitude towards me seemed to flip
so suddenly, how she’d greeted me and offered to make me sweet bread after coming out of the black vine forest. Had she met with the leader then? Had she begun to think of a way to lead me into the forest without rousing my suspicion?
She made me think that there was hope for us. She asked for my help—how that must have grated on her, I realized—in order to lead me into a trap. Now, my guards were dead, only because they were doing their duty. They’d never seen their deaths coming.
The leader of the group—a Ghertun with a deep, ugly scar across his jaw—crouched in front of me. His legs were like a pyrokis, bent heavily at the knee joint and his feet were clawed, the bones heavily raised. I heard those claws digging into the earth next to me as he balanced himself.
“You wake,” he noted, cocking his head to the side. I smelled fermented brew on his breath and I saw metal jugs being passed between the other Ghertun. “How fortunate.”
They had traveling sacks and rations, which told me they’d prepared for this journey From the Dead Lands? I remembered the leader had mentioned a king. A Ghertun king.
“You will all die for this,” I told him, my voice surprisingly calm. “The Vorakkar will—”
His hand flashed out again and light burst in my eye. He’d slapped me this time. Hard enough for my flesh to throb, but not a punch that rendered me unconscious.
“Your horde king will never find us, human,” the leader rasped. Then he let out that awful laughing sound as he said, “Besides, you were betrayed. It seems someone wanted rid of you. Why would you want to go back?”
The thought of Hukan’s betrayal enraged me. “Why did you take me then if someone wanted rid of me? Maybe there was good reason for that.”
His expression sobered. “Because that Dakkari filth killed the king’s son. One of them at least. As penance, our king wants you.”
My brow furrowed.
The scout. The Ghertun scout that Arokan had executed had been the king’s son? Why had the king’s son been a lowly scout?
“Oh yes,” the leader said. “We have been watching you for a long time. Waiting. First, the king will take you. Then, he will take the horde king’s head.”
“You can’t fight the horde,” I scowled. “You would never make a dent. They are skilled fighters and the Vorakkar is the best of them all.”
The leader laughed again. “We have great numbers now. An army. We have waited to strike and soon, we will not only destroy your horde. We will be able to take all of Dakkar for our own.”
“You lie,” I rasped.
“Never,” the leader purred. His expression quieted and he cocked his head to the side, studying me. “We were very surprised to learn a horde king had taken a human as his queen.”
I glared up at him, my jaw clenching.
“Then again, human cunt is…divine,” the leader said softly, leaning towards me, his breath and words making my stomach turn. “Soft and warm and so tight. No wonder the Dakkari wanted you warming his furs.”
I spit in his face, rage and disgust making my body tremble. Arokan had told me that he’d witnessed Ghertun attacking settlements, both human and nonhuman settlements alike. He’d told me that the Ghertun only killed and pillaged and raped.
“If you touch me, your death will be slow,” I promised.
The Ghertun wiped his face with his hand and then, to my disgust, licked his palm. He grinned, his slitted, dark eyes, shining from the fire burning the earth, where a skewer of roasting meat turned.
“Delicious,” he purred, making my belly drop in dread. Then his shoulders dropped and he leaned back. “Unfortunately, human, you are meant for our king. He would know if we had…sampled.”
The other Ghertun grumbled and laughed a bit, telling me they all spoke the universal tongue. That surprised me. I thought Ghertun nothing more than barbaric, savage beasts. How was it that so many knew a second language?
I swallowed. There was no way in hell I’d let them take me to their king.
Arokan will come before that ever happens, I thought, that knowledge sinking in. He would come for me. He wouldn’t rest until he found me.
I almost felt sorry for these Ghertun. Almost.
“However,” the leader continued, “it seems you need to be taught a lesson, human.”
He said something in the Ghertun tongue over his shoulder and my eyes flickered to one rummaging through his travel sack, only to pull out a short metal poker.
My breathing went shallow when he placed the end into the fire, letting it sit, turning it until the end was red hot.
“You will be marked anyway,” the Ghertun leader said, seeing where my eyes turned. “We will save our king the hassle.”
Eyes widening, I squirmed in my bonds as the leader retrieved the poker and approached me. My heartbeat revved in my chest, adrenaline rushing through my system.
“Don’t touch me,” I yelled, trying to wiggle away. But the bonds were too tight. I struggled harder when two Ghertun approached and held me down, pushing me flat onto my back, tearing my tunic until my shoulder was exposed.
Panic lit my veins as I eyed the hot poker. There was a symbol at the end. Three, horizontal stacked lines.
The leader got closer and I kicked out my feet, connecting solidly with his groin.
The leader cursed, hissing, and rage flashed in his gaze when he dropped to the ground, the poker falling from his hand. In the Ghertun tongue, he yelled at the two holding me down and one grabbed my legs roughly, though I thrashed.
Then the leader picked up the poker. “Human bitch,” he hissed. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
I screamed as the searing pain registered. He pushed the symbol deep into my flesh and nausea churned in my belly when I smelled my own skin burn.
It only lasted a handful of seconds, but the moment the poker left my skin, despite the chilling pain that numbed me, I struggled again, desperate to break out of their grasp. Inhuman sounds rose from my throat as I thrashed.
Satisfaction went through me when I once again managed to kick the leader, this time right in the jaw.
His face snapped to the side but when he turned it to look at me, I saw his nostrils flare. My breath hitched when I saw his own leg reared back.
I only had a moment to shield myself, to shield my exposed belly, before he launched a powerful kick into my side, shaking my body, my breath whooshing out of my lungs until I gasped and choked for air.
He crouched low over me again as I lay there, struggling to breathe.
I looked up at him, eyes wide, frightened for the first time because I wondered if I’d been able to protect the baby enough.
“Test me again,” the leader growled, “and I’ll do a lot more than mark you, human.”
That was the last thing I heard before his fist flashed out again, knocking me unconscious once more.
The next time I woke, the pain registered almost immediately. My side ached, my face throbbed, and my shoulder radiated icy heat from my burn.
Over head, I saw the sliver of the moon. From its position, I knew it was in the dead of night and time was slowly creeping into the early hours of morning.
Realization hit me. I’d been gone for hours.
Arokan would know by then I was gone. In my gut, I knew he was already searching for me, but if he hadn’t found me by now, if he hadn’t been able to track the Ghertun that had taken me, would he find me?
They must’ve covered the tracks well. They must’ve taken me deep into the black vine forest and I wondered if Arokan would find me in time. They must feel secure in the knowledge that the horde wouldn’t find me, especially if they were eating and drinking and laughing at their leisure.
My eyes sought out the group of Ghertun. The fire had died to embers, but I could still see the glow of their eyes in the darkness.
They were still drinking. I watched them, trying to lay as still as possible, knowing that the darkness would shield me at least a little.
They were growing sloppy as the hours drew
by. They were laughing, speaking in the Ghertun tongue, lounging about. Every now and again, one’s eyes would flicker to me, but I closed mine quickly, feigning sleep.
I watched them for a long time, however. With every sip of brew they drank, a plan formed in my mind. I realized I didn’t need to wait for Arokan. I could handle this myself. My husband had given me the knowledge to handle this myself. We’d trained for hours and hours together, for weeks. I just needed to time everything right.
I was a queen of a Dakkari horde. Arokan saw a strength in me and over the weeks and weeks that I’d been with him, I’d begun to see that strength too.
While I was no horde warrior, I could escape a handful of drunk, stumbling Ghertun, couldn’t I?
I had to believe I could. There was no other option. I was running out of time before they took me further from the horde, into the Dead Lands.
Studying them, I saw three out of the five had a dagger on them. Good odds. I remembered the night Arokan had taken me into the forest, back at the old camp. I remembered what he’d said. That I had used his weakness to draw him close and that was when I’d struck.
I could do the same thing, I realized.
If I could taunt over a Ghertun with a dagger, I could grab it. They might be too drunk to realize otherwise. I had to hope they were.
So, I opened my eyes and didn’t close them whenever one happened to look my way. I stared at them and one nodded over to me, informing the leader that I was awake.
The leader glanced over at me and I held my breath, holding his glare. He ignored me, taking another swig out of the metal jug before passing it, saying something in Ghertun that made them all laugh.
I saw one get up from the fire and go off into the dark forest. It gave me an idea.
“I need to empty my bladder,” I called out.
“No,” the leader replied.
“It’s urgent,” I said, steeling my voice.
He ignored me.
I tried again. “You really want me smelling like piss for the entire journey? Because I will go in my pants if I have to. You’ll be the ones who’ll have to smell me.”