A Hollow Mountain (The Brightest Shadow Book 2), page 66
Soon she spotted Mohuno working with one of his men. He straightened and trotted over to them. "Hello, Laeri. Is there any news of Tani?"
"I'm sorry, Mohuno, there isn't. I think she's still looking for Slaten."
"If he hasn't been found by now, he's probably dead." Mohuno saw her flinch and his eyes softened. "I'm sorry. I hope both of them are still alive. Why did you want to speak to me?"
"Oh, ah... have you met Natala? This is, um, her." Laeri moved to the side and gestured to Natala, who bowed gracefully. Mohuno gave her a hard look, his eyes always sucking everything in. Laeri didn't understand how Tani didn't find him scary.
"I don't believe I have. You are one of the Bloodskins?"
Natala lowered her head again. "I am."
"I trust that Laeri did not introduce us for the pleasure of our company."
Though Natala hesitated, Laeri nudged her encouragingly, and eventually the other women spoke. "You've likely seen how many women remain from broken clans."
"I've noticed." Mohuno's gaze left them and slid over the mountains. "Nearly all the Skullcrusher men were killed as well, and only we and the Stormpeaks know that their village lies undefended. I thought that perhaps the Steelbones should offer them an invitation."
"You could, but that would be too large a number of women, even if your clan endured this."
"Oh, I disagree. We need more, because not all women are as attractive as you." Mohuno briefly grinned at her, then twitched as if something pained him. Though Laeri searched for some injury, she didn't find one before he spoke in a harsher voice. "But you're right. Why did you bring this up?"
"I have an agreement with the errants to transport some of the survivors back to their lands, and more than enough volunteers. But without the defense of a clan, it will never work."
"Why should I stick my neck out for you? Just so you can take resources away to the north, never to be seen again?"
"Because you need an alliance with the errants." Natala smiled and Laeri felt a spark of joy as she realized the other woman's cleverness. "I spoke with some of your men, and it seems that you are struggling to organize trade with them. Beginning with an agreement here would be a good start, would it not?"
Mohuno's eyebrows shot up and he regarded Natala in an entirely different way. Though they weren't being very friendly, Laeri thought that they both had good ideas and it seemed they could talk to each other. She pulled their hands together and patted the top of both before speaking.
"I hope you can find some way to help more people. All I can do is help those who are injured, so I should take my leave."
Natala gave her a grateful smile and Mohuno simply nodded, his thoughts obviously elsewhere. Leaving them to their planning, Laeri returned to the main camp. It had not been so long since she had checked the injured, but it never hurt to be more dutiful. No matter how many times she expunged infection, the poor condition of the camp allowed it to flare to life again. She could try to clean the tents for the injured, but nothing could clear the foul air drifting from the battlefield.
Yet as she walked back, Laeri knew that she was only forcing herself to remain busy. The one injury in the camp that truly needed her help was Chief Bufogu, and she was still not permitted to see him. She tried to tell herself that perhaps it was the Legend's will that he remained injured at first. After all, if he had been awake, he probably would have prevented Natala and Mohuno from helping the surviving women.
"Laeri, it's time to go."
The voice made her jump and she whirled to find Melal. Not only Melal, but Veron! Laeri rushed to embrace the older woman, but she affectionately patted Laeri on the face instead. When Laeri pulled back she couldn't help but beam at them. "Veron! I didn't know you had arrived!"
"Too late, this time." Veron glanced around the camp sourly. "And I didn't find what I wanted."
"It doesn't matter." Melal waved for both of them to be silent and Laeri realized just how somber he looked. "We may not have the seal, but the Legend still calls us to Mount Tmil. It is... not the path I had wanted, but it is the path forward. We leave tonight."
"Tonight?" Laeri yelped the word at the same time Veron cursed it. "But... there are still so many injured!"
Melal's gaze finally turned to her, staring as if she spoke a foreign language. It seemed to take him several heartbeats to even understand what she said, then he shook his head. "The wounded have served their purpose, forging the way to Mount Tmil. Now we need to slay the remaining Deathspawn and climb to the peak to meet with the Sage."
"Don't we need everyone for that?" Veron asked. "I don't see Tani or Slaten."
"They stand closer to Mount Tmil than we do. We travel east and the Legend will lead them to join us."
Resolutely as Melal had spoken, Laeri and Veron managed to convince him to give them another day to prepare. Or rather, Veron cursed and argued while Laeri pleaded with her eyes. When he eventually relented, he stalked out of camp to sit on the eastern edge, staring at the mountain peak.
If it was finally the proper time, what would the Sage tell them? As Laeri walked back into the camp, she wondered if hearing his destiny would finally give Melal all the purpose he needed. Or did he have to find the seal for that? It was all too confusing, so she set the matter aside and focused on what little she could control.
When she returned to the house, she had braced herself for another argument. But to her surprise, Patule no longer barred her way so cruelly. Instead he merely stood back, watching everything. Denugo stepped forward and grabbed her arm, smiling but pulling her into the house roughly.
"You have one day, girl. Can you heal Bufogu?"
"Oh! Thank you for letting me try!" Laeri went with him willingly, but when she saw the chieftain she gasped.
He lay atop blood-encrusted furs, his body still a horrible mess. The torn skin on his shins and face had mostly healed in the Bloodskin way, but the rest festered with open wounds. Laeri sank to her knees beside him, her eyes slowly sweeping over the shredded muscles of his arms, the visible ribs, and the tangled mess of his stomach. In places he was more pus and rot than man.
A normal man would have been long dead, but Bufogu still clung to life. Yet she realized that his breathing came shallowly, and his sein had begun to falter. His body attempted to fight all the injuries as well as the infection at the same time, and it was not equal to the task.
Could she heal him? Fearsome as his injuries appeared, she was well-suited to the task. Driving out the infection and closing his wounds would be difficult, but she could complete the work without exhausting herself. The true challenge would be his stomach and everything that had been torn within. She lacked the skill for a complex healing, but if she repaired the damaged flesh, surely his body could restore the rest.
And yet as Laeri raised her hands to his body, she found herself hesitating. Even in sleep, his face looked cruel. She remembered him letting Melal charge ahead into danger, remembered how coldly he had cut apart his prisoners.
The thought horrified her, and Laeri tried to send her sein out through her hands, but she could no longer connect with herself and her power faltered. For the first time since she had been a young trainee, her mind and her sein were not in accord.
If she healed Bufogu, would he order the death of more innocents? Would he stop Natala and Mohuno from helping the survivors? Laeri clenched her eyes so as not to look at his face, trying to remember everything she had pledged. Her task was to fight for life, not to decide who lived or died. It was her solemn duty to heal him if it was at all within her power.
"Well?" Denugo loomed in her face, startling her as he growled out the words. "Can you heal him or not?"
"I... I'm sorry, I can't."
Guilt lanced through Laeri's heart the instant the words left her mouth. Tears in her eyes, she tried to take them back, but her throat filled with her jagged thoughts. Before she could say anything, Patule grabbed her by the arm and dragged her from the room, muttering about useless lowlanders.
Laeri stood outside the house, staring at nothing. She could have turned back and pushed her way in, healing the injured chieftain as she should. Instead, she lowered her eyes and shuffled toward the wounded.
Chapter 50
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"The original Tale of Emdore and Emlioon is a brief story, told in the repetitive style of its era. Most readers are more familiar with the Saga of Emdore and Emlioon that expands upon their tale, amending many notable omissions, such as having the principal characters speak to one another before truly falling in love, and giving detail of their errant rankings during the war. It is exceedingly unlikely that this tale was based on any historical source, so much should be made of the fact that in some variants the two return to Espal or Wahleen while in others they die together in battle. The original endings where the two leave Breilin have endured mostly in the most maudlin of variants, designed to appeal to the base emotions."
- commentary on The Tale of Emdore and Emlioon
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As she sat by the fire, Celivia continued to chew through the half-rotten meat. She barely noticed the taste anymore, and when scorched enough, it even tasted good. Not because of the meat itself, but the luck that had brought Slaten back to her. Though she currently sat with her band, she was thinking about the next time she could talk to him.
"You shouldn't have to eat that, Celivia." Krafan shook his head with a look of disgust. "You deserve better."
"But the supply chain is running out of food," Celivia said. "I don't mind. It's better than all of you shitting yourselves."
A few laughed, but she noted that Fijn frowned as he sat forward. "Why would we be running out of food? We lost half our forces in that battle... if we hadn't, would we be starving now?"
It would have been better if he didn't say such things out loud in front of the others, but since it was too late, Celivia only shrugged. "You know how generals make decisions. They knew that many of us would die in the battle and so they planned for less food. If we're running out, that just means we survived better than they expected."
"Because we're stronger!" Big Ragh thumped his chest with a grin. "Our training is paying off!"
Their limited strength in sein had made no difference at all in that hellish battle - if anything had increased their chances of survival, it had been simple discipline. Yet as the others celebrated over their remaining beer, Celivia couldn't accept any victory. Her band had survived - even Splinters, unfortunately - but Brifik still sat in drunken shock. And the battle had accomplished nothing.
"What's our current assignment, Kaen?" Ghasfik started to say more, but Huthur threw a pebble at his head.
"We survive that battle and the next day you're hungry for more?"
Ghasfik refused to budge despite the groans from the others. "We need to know. Do our commanders consider that a victory or a defeat? Will they call us back to Sotfaal? Station us in Wahleen? Or are we being thrown against the humans again?"
Seeing that her second got through to the others, Celivia realized that now was the time to tell them. "Our official orders are that we continue marching on Mount Tmil, but after being bloodied like this, they have second thoughts. I overheard the Zeitai speaking with the other masters and it seems all of them will withdraw from the field. If that leaves a human master defending the target, then the battle might be unwinnable."
"Zeitai Kreue?" Puga spoke with a tone of awe and Celivia realized how casually she had mentioned him. She tried to wave it aside, though she reflected on how strange her life had become.
"He defended us from the last ambush, but it seems the humans want to stop his war. I don't know why, or what will come of it."
"Speaking of humans... why that one? Is he really a valuable captive?"
Celivia hesitated, uncertain how to answer that question. She was saved when Ghalia walked up to their camp with a broad grin. When the band turned to look at her, she simply continued grinning, waiting for someone to ask. Big Ragh beat Celivia to it. "Are you healed, Catainan?"
"Better than ever!" Ghalia struck her own stomach with a resounding thump. "The healer they have in the main camp... damn, he's good with his hands. Never had an internal injury healed that well."
Usually Ghalia sat with the others, and the band was clearly eager to talk to her about the battle, but that day she moved on. Celivia noted that she was moving to the small cluster of trees where Slaten was kept and it bothered her more than she expected. She sat for a while longer before finding an excuse and following.
On the way, she passed Reina, sitting apart from the others and sharpening the nicks from her cleavers. "Rei, is everything fine with Slaten?"
"I still think you should have bound him," Reina said, "but the human has been honorable. You may want to protect him from Ghalia." She looked back down to her work. Though her efforts had saved many Bersk lives during the battle, it was only a fraction of their company and Reina's mood would be vicious for days.
Celivia had placed Slaten away from the others for his own protection. He wore a metal collar with a chain attached to a tree, but the collar wasn't locked. Though she was within her rights to take prisoners, if other mansthein wanted revenge and decided otherwise, she wanted him to be able to defend himself. So far they had been left alone on the edge of the mansthein camp.
As she drew closer, Celivia found herself stepping silently and avoiding a direct line of sight. She hadn't intended it, but instead of following Ghalia, she slipped to the other side of a tree and observed quietly.
Slaten sat with his legs straight in front of him, apparently imprisoned but delving into his own sein. Before he looked up, she saw the fire of his sein. At first she thought it was an empty sphere of many flames, some red and some so dark blue they were almost black. Then she realized that within the shell burned a completely clear flame.
That fire shifted as he focused on Ghalia instead. The Catai walked directly in front of him and leaned against the tree at his back so that she filled his vision.
"That was quite a blow. It took an elite healer to get me back into shape." She spoke Coran, which was fortunate because Celivia preferred not to hear Slaten's broken Futhik.
"I apologize," Slaten said, "but you were attempting to kill me at the time."
Ghalia laughed and thumped the tree with her fist. "I don't want an apology from you, human! For a start, I want to know what that technique was. Not the little wind you threw in my eyes, the blow with the pommel."
"It is called a hammer stroke. It repurposes the way I inhabit the blade with my sein to deal a blunt strike, as I didn't think I could cut your skin." From her position Celivia could see Slaten relax slightly as he discussed the technique. He tensed again when Ghalia leaned nearer.
"Ha, wise man! You didn't have a chance, but you're the first man here with the balls to try something like that." Ghalia bent down, one massive knee hitting the ground between Slaten's legs. At once a threat and a proposition. "You left an impression on my guts with a steel sword. You want to try with a different one?"
Judging from the way Slaten shifted back, Ghalia must have been pushing her knee further up between his legs. Celivia knew that she should step out and say something, but waited to hear what Slaten would say. She didn't truly believe that he would be taken in by Ghalia's aggressive sexuality, yet...
Slaten's response was quiet. "I don't think that elite healer of yours would fix a human's shattered hips."
Though Ghalia laughed again, she didn't back away. Celivia pushed herself off the tree and finally approached. "Don't commit war crimes, Ghali."
"He wouldn't have thought it was crime." Ghalia grinned a challenge, but she did rise back to her feet. "Your loss, human. Now Celi, don't you commit any war crimes either."
Ghalia left the trees quickly, long strides taking her to the campfire. Celivia could hear her greeting the band and beginning a loud story, but it came distantly as she watched Slaten. He was always difficult to read, and at the moment she had no idea what was thinking. Part of her wanted to apologize, yet it felt hollow given the circumstances.
"Is that her real personality," Slaten asked, "or does she act that way to make soldiers accept her?"
The relief that flooded through Celivia shocked her. Ghalia might be able to earn the band's respect by sheer force, but that would never work on Slaten. Since they had last met, his sharp edges appeared to have sharpened further and she found herself minding not at all.
"It's some of both." Celivia sat down with her back to the same tree, just far enough away that their shoulders didn't touch. "You observed that rather quickly."
"Your soldiers are loud. I may not be fluent in Futhik, and some of their words are strange, but I've had no choice but to listen." Though he still spoke quietly, Slaten was smiling now. She wasn't sure if he could see her face and found herself smiling too.
"Leading a band isn't what I wanted, but since they wouldn't make me a Catai, this was the only path forward."
"Toward what?"
"Toward preventing more meaningless battles like that one." Though Celivia longed to talk to him about so many other things, she recognized that their central problem still stood between them. "Did any of this matter? Do you know if this Sage actually has anything to do with the Legend?"
Slaten was silent for some time, then spoke even more quietly. "I can tell you that when I met him, I felt the Legend in a different way than I did with the Hero." He proceeded to tell her about their meeting, and though Celivia suspected that he withheld information, she didn't press. After all, he was voluntarily giving her critical information when he knew that she might not use it for his best interest. In return, she freely told him her thoughts on whether the army would continue.
When they finished, they were silent for a time. Celivia turned all the new facts over in her mind and uncovered a question she hadn't intended. "Do you think the Zeitai are simply mansthein Heroes?"
