A Hollow Mountain (The Brightest Shadow Book 2), page 8
"But have you ever gotten close to one of them? They're just covered in hair. Uh, not good Seinan hair like yours, band leader. There's all kinds of little bristling hairs coming out of every hole. It's repulsive."
Several others chorused agreement, which prompted an odd smile on her face. "They're hairier than most mansthein, but they have far less hair than a Feras. You feel the same way about Feras mansthein?"
To her surprise, she received immediate affirmations from all around, some of them surprisingly vitriolic. Abruptly Celivia realized that she had let herself relax and hadn't considered her words carefully enough. For her, the Feras were just one of many types of mansthein that one could easily love - memories of Zerril came to mind. But most of the men in her band had probably never gone far from their home villages before joining the army. To them, Feras mansthein were nearly as alien as humans.
Unfortunately, the band saw her displeasure and it killed the conversation. All at once, the distance stretched wider between them. Before she could think of how to stop it, Krafan leaned forward to catch her gaze, trying to project sincerity as he spoke.
"Kaen, I know you think we're a bunch of ignorant peasants, but we're not. We don't think females should be in the pits or anything. We don't even care that Huthur is bent, so long as he doesn't creep up behind us at night..."
Huthur threw a pine cone at Krafan's head and a few laughed. Briefly. The tension around the fire was obvious, actually worsened by Krafan's abrupt sincerity. Celivia was torn between a flicker of guilt that she had been thinking of them that way... and an enduring cold gulf between herself and the rest of her band.
"You're missing the real question." Fijn spoke crisply, and when he drew everyone's attention, he raised an imperious finger. "The real thing we've learned is that our band leader would fuck a human."
Celivia snorted and made a rude gesture. "I'd say 'in your dreams' but you'd better not."
Thankfully, she'd gauged correctly: the band needed a break in the tension and laughed uproariously. It might not have gone away, but the simple mockery had flattened all the negative implications for now. If Fijn had proved that they could mock her safely, that was probably a step in the right direction.
"Band leader!" Big Ragh got down on one knee in front of her. "Please, you don't have to subject yourself to that! I would reluctantly volunteer t-"
"Go fuck yourself. Human or mansthein, nobody else will."
Several laughed and Brifik spoke through a snicker. "Or you could ask Huthu-" A pine cone smacked him directly in the face. Brifik let out a cry and somehow got part of it in his mouth, which led to his attempts to spit the pieces out drawing more laughter from everyone. The uncomfortable spell seemed mostly broken, though Celivia decided that it might be best to retreat before things could grow worse.
Nobody objected when she walked away from the fire, so she considered it a success overall. She went out to lean against a tree, noting that two followed her. Ghasfik had risen to his feet immediately, as if he wanted to speak to her, but Krafan was the one who actually pushed forward to come up beside her.
"I'm sorry about all that, Kaen Celivia."
"It's fine." She gave him a flat smile, hoping that his interest was merely polite. "I've been a soldier for years, remember? A band should be comfortable with itself."
"Yes, but I imagine this must be difficult for you. The men are used to fighting without women, but you're surrounded by men at all times..."
Was that what it implied? Celivia let her smile drop a bit. "I need to keep watch, Nin Krafan."
"I didn't mean anything by it, Kaen." Krafan seemed a bit deflated in a way she couldn't entirely interpret. It might not have been the obvious invitation, but he did feel rejected. "But very well, I'll leave you alone."
After the extended conversation, Celivia just let him go. Ghasfik was waiting further back, but didn't approach her immediately. In that time, her mind wandered.
What Krafan said was not remotely true. Being surrounded by a group of men belching, shitting, scratching themselves, and generally stinking of filth did not incline her to think about men at all. Not that women wouldn't stink after marching this long, but most would have taken more care to clean themselves.
That made Celivia think back to Reina and how carefully she would clean her teeth. Even if she was still covered in bloody rags from a seinrage, she always kept her teeth in excellent condition. Though the two of them were no longer together, and Celivia believed that was for the best, thoughts of all of Reina's careful habits brought a smile to her face.
Somehow Celivia ended up thinking of Tani.
It hadn't been anything she had realized until that moment, yet Celivia found herself thinking of the way that Tani's short hair brushed against her neck. Or the way her slender body looked in the rain, or the flickering of her fingers around her knives... it had been one thing to appreciate them, but Celivia hadn't expected those images to stay with her so strongly.
Especially because she'd destroyed that friendship, possibly forever.
She was grateful when Ghasfik interrupted her with a cough. When she nodded back to him, her face now completely still, he spoke in a low voice. "I think that was good, band leader. The men didn't know how to act around you."
"Thank you."
"But, in my opinion, you need to follow by pushing them hard. I don't know if you really want to be their friend, but you can't be. Not if you want to give the hard orders, and especially not if you actually want to make something of this position."
It was a valid reminder. "I'll order a double march for several days and try to fully scout our territory. Will that do?"
"Very good, band leader." Ghasfik gave a slight bow and left her alone. She reflected that he was a good second, though it would be premature to assume that she could truly rely on him.
Though she was usually comfortable being alone, now Celivia was surrounded by ghosts of past decisions. Perhaps the best medicine would be to throw herself into her work. As he'd said, make something of the position...
~ ~ ~
For several days Celivia pushed her band harder than normal, though she tried to do so without malice. They grumbled a bit at the pace, but good-naturedly. When they marched the others seemed more comfortable with her, and in the evenings, though she didn't usually join them, there was a little friendly banter.
It was a narrow path to walk, but so far she seemed to be walking it. More importantly, she was able to focus more of her attention on the task that had been assigned to them. She knew the valleys they ranged fairly well now, so she checked for signs of raider activity. On occasion they saw someone in the distance, but the humans always retreated.
Then a messenger delivered a command from Lieutenant Tamanin that took them outside of their normal region to investigate a report. When they arrived in the tiny human village, they found it wrecked. Several men lay dead and a woman had been impaled upright, but what struck Celivia was the wastefulness of it. The raiders had grabbed whatever they could carry and ruined much of the rest. This wasn't even an act of war, only simple barbarism.
Her band investigated the village, though she didn't think they'd find anything she'd missed. The real reason she gave the order was to give the men a bit of time. They'd seen some fighting and death, but that didn't mean they were hardened to sights such as these.
While she waited near the edge of one broken home, Celivia noticed that Splinters was loitering outside as well. Since she didn't want to think about what she'd seen either, she decided that now was as good a time to confront him as any. He started to move away, but she intercepted him.
"This is what we're fighting against." Celivia swept a hand over the wreckage. "I know you don't like me, but I need you to fight with me."
"Eat shit." This time Splinters actually made full eye contact with her and she saw the contempt there. "The only reason I obey is because I know you'd execute me the first chance you got."
"If I wanted to kill you, I could. What I want is to understand why you're acting this way."
"You're part of that program to train females from the pits, aren't you?" Though he asked, the sneer on his face suggested that it was no question. "They took a bunch of whores and gave you everything. Education, training, equipment... then you come back like you own the world, thinking you're better than us..."
Celivia didn't let herself respond in any way. She wasn't sure how. In her estimation, there was likely no way that she would ever get through to him. Part of her wanted to kill him right that moment and be done with it, but that would only bring her more problems. Just as she was about to reprimand him, she heard the wind whistle unnaturally.
Three spears flew from the trees toward them. Faster than most could throw a spear, but not thrown with so much sein that she couldn't react. One was on a path to miss them altogether, the second was aimed for her but she could dodge aside, and the last headed toward Splinters's chest.
She reached out and knocked it aside. The next moment she regretted it.
There was no time for that; Celivia pivoted to call to the rest of her band. "Ambush! Get down!"
Though the raiders had thrown at her first, their timing was only off by a heartbeat and her warning came almost too late. She saw Little Ragh take a spear to the shoulder before the others dropped behind cover. Some managed to duck behind the damaged buildings, and Huthur was holding a blind that let him shield two others, but others simply hit the ground, leaving them completely exposed from most angles.
Celivia caught a glimpse of movement in the trees and launched herself toward it, her whip flying from her side. She lashed it around the raider who was drawing back for a throw. The blades dug deep, yet he grunted in surprise more than pain, shocked to see her. There was no time for him, since there were two more beyond him.
They turned and hurled their spears at her, but their movements were easy to read. Celivia released her whip and lunged past the spears, cutting the second raider's throat before he could even draw another weapon. The third could follow her movements, so he wasn't weak, but his attack was too clumsy and the horn of her knife buried itself deep in his eye.
She turned, still on guard, and that discipline was what gave her enough time to react. The human whose arm she'd whipped hadn't even tried to pull it out, he'd simply rushed after her to attack.
Fortunately, he was no more skilled than his comrades. Celivia buried one knife in his neck and the other in his chest. She pushed him to the ground to finish him off, noting how powerfully his sein still surged even with such wounds. The raider whose throat she had slit was somehow still on his feet, holding his throat closed with one hand and scrabbling for his weapon with the other.
Neither of them survived a knife directly to the head.
Once she was sure they were dead, Celivia turned back to the fight. It had all occurred fast enough that the rest of the battle hadn't progressed far. Since there didn't seem to be any more raiders throwing spears from afar, she took the moment to watch her band in combat.
It wasn't pretty, both in terms of their lack of organization and how the eight of them struggled against three raiders. These humans didn't have a deep understanding of sein, but her band was mostly untrained soldiers. She could tell that Big Ragh used his sein to enhance his strength, possibly subconsciously. Fijn was quick, though she wasn't sure if sein was involved. Other than Ghasfik, whose experience was clear, none of the others were remarkable.
Her fears of them attacking her had been misplaced. Instead, they needed her help.
Working together, they'd managed to bring down two of the raiders, but the humans kept struggling up despite the band hacking at their bodies. Meanwhile, Celivia could see that one of the others was preparing himself to jump at Big Ragh. She leapt down toward the village, hoping she would be in time.
Big Ragh realized a moment too late, suddenly stumbling back as the human let out a war cry and began hacking at him. The taller mansthein avoided the blows only by falling down. He started to desperately scramble back, but his opponent was too quick.
Celivia arrived behind him, knives entering the human's neck and back. She tore her blades back and kicked him to the ground. Meanwhile, the rest of the band had finished off the others, but Big Ragh just stared up at her in shock. Finally, the attitude he'd carried toward her had broken.
"Thanks for holding him off." Celivia extended a hand down to him and he hesitantly took it. She couldn't resist using her full strength to lift him back to his feet.
She looked over her band and saw that they were badly shaken. Though they hadn't taken any casualties, they had been expecting to fight other soldiers, not sein-trained warriors. Apparently their training hadn't included outnumbering a superior warrior and being repeatedly crushed, the way hers had. Little Ragh was on his back clutching the spear in his shoulder while the others had an assortment of lesser injuries. The damage to their morale could be the worst part, though.
"We won this time, but there could be more." Celivia spoke loudly enough to draw their attention and then began giving orders. "Krafan and Big Ragh, scout for others without going out of sight. Ghasfik, look at the bodies and learn what you can. Fijn, collect all their weapons. Huthur, Brifik - start doing something about all our damaged equipment. Splinters, you guard Little Ragh while he gets that spear out."
All of them rushed to move. Though she knew it was partially just because they desperately needed anything to occupy themselves, she was still slightly gratified. In reality, she was fairly certain there were no more raiders in the area, but they might be avoiding her.
Splinters glowered at her as he turned away. He knew that she'd saved his life, but it didn't matter, which stole all the pleasure from their victory.
She wasn't quite sure what to do with herself and didn't want to be seen standing around doing nothing. Fortunately, Ghasfik came up to her soon and spoke in a low voice. "These humans are from the Redbranch clan."
"How can you tell?"
"Most wear whatever pieces of cloth they can find, but each clan has some symbol. For these, it's the branches they weave into their collars." He showed her with his foot on one of the corpses. "They might not be red, but the trees in their village are."
Celivia turned toward him and lowered her voice further. "These aren't warriors like the ones you referred to in the past, are they?"
"No. The Redbranches are a weak clan, but even they have much stronger warriors. This must have been a raid by young men seeking glory, and they only attempted the ambush because we found them too quickly."
"In that case, we have difficult days ahead. I propose that we return to Fort Corfaal. We can tell the band that it's to report, but we need to get those injuries checked and to give them some time to recover."
"That's probably a good idea."
For a time they just stood together, staring over the remains of the battle. Despite everything, Celivia found herself feeling lighter again. She had experienced some discomfort with her decision to betray the Coran resistance, even if she believed it was the right thing to do, and even more betraying her human friends. But these raiders killed humans and mansthein alike, and she felt no uncertainty that wiping them off the face of the earth would be good.
"Tell me, Ghasfik... how do the Redbranches respond to ambushes?"
"Ambushes?" Her second looked back at her, then shook his head. "You must understand, this is not usually a position for ambitious leaders. Our goal is to prevent them from gathering in force and taking the fort. I don't know if anyone has actively hunted them."
Celivia turned to her second and smiled. "In that case, we have another reason to go back to the fortress."
Chapter 6
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"Text: Once I prevailed over the horrible elements, dear reader, I found myself in the great nations of the north together known as the Maenhu. Extraordinary Espal, proudest and greatest, lies in the west, peculiar Portant lies in the center, and woeful Wahleen extends far to the east. I will write much and more of the cultured glories of Espal over the coming pages but I will also beguile you with tales of the warriors of Portant, who grind up acorns and pour them into their ears, believing that it grants them strength, or the wanton warrior women of Wahleen, who can make their hair come alive and strangle men.
Gloss: All these accounts of the Maenhu are heavily influenced by the fact that Telekrainas lived only in Espal. Some scholars believe his tale of ground acorns is a misunderstanding of the customs of Portantese mystics. I am not convinced it is a misunderstanding of anything."
- excerpt from The Annotated Travels of Telekrainas the Great
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The journey became more difficult the deeper they traveled into the Sotunn Mountains, yet though Slaten struggled with the climb, he knew he fared better than many. Two of the injured Bloodskins, including the one whose ribs he had broken, fell and no longer rose.
To Slaten's surprise, they were simply abandoned by the other raiders, and later the others referred to the fallen as weak children. He had noted that the men who died after the battle had been treated strangely, struck with blades and spit upon, yet the actions felt more ritual than scorn. It was difficult to understand exactly why they did any of it while he reflected on the fact that one of the fallen had been the one he struck.
His name had been Badobu. Slaten wasn't sure whether or not he carried the man's blood, but it didn't matter.
It seemed a strange practice to call someone weak for succumbing to an injury, yet that was clearly their way. Slaten noticed that though Laeri didn't assist any of the Bloodskins, those that lived healed remarkably well. One man he had cut several times no longer had any scars, as if his body had entirely forgotten the injuries.
Clearly, the Bloodskin clan possessed a remarkable sein technique that healed them: working out its details was the real question. Tani was certain that they all fought on animal instinct and that there was nothing to learn, but Slaten wasn't convinced. The Bloodskins did seem more similar to one another than most groups of warriors that he'd met, but there were other explanations. They might be hiding their secrets, or he might fundamentally misunderstand their teaching methods.
