Bone Witch (15 page)

T
here was time, evidently, to also take your leave of the
people you loved just in case you lost. Alaysha couldn't stop chewing on her
lip; four of the women strode off to what Alaysha assumed where their homes
while Enud merely stood with arms folded, feet planted shoulder width apart,
with her face an impassive mask of purpose. Once, she caught the woman exchange
a silent glance with Uta who had taken to collecting bits of leaves from young
barley plants. Why she'd do it herself when she so obviously preferred the
chattel labor of the boys was a mystery.

For the first time, Alaysha realized her
plan was foolish, but then, what else could she have done? She had her doubts
the Enyalia would let her leave peacefully; Cai and the witches knew her power.
They surely understood the risks to their village if both Yenic and Gael were
to die. She'd promised Cai she'd not bring the power, but she had no intention
of keeping the vow; it had been made when she didn't understand the breadth of
it. It would be impossible to spirit the men away now; with Theron and Bodicca
in the village, the Enyalia were hyper vigilant.

While Alaysha had been relatively safe in
the village, she wasn't foolish enough to think she was free. Casting for Yenic
would buy her time as well as Gael. Time just might mean Alaysha would be able
to use their solstice against them.

"He's not safe yet," Cai said
from behind her.

Alaysha waited for the woman to stand next
to her before she spoke. "At least he has a chance."

"Don't you realize you've not bought
him any time but wasted yours?"

Alaysha ran a toe across the grass,
watching the blades fold over and spring back upright. "If I win then your
village is safe from my power."

"It is safe at any rate."

The oath Alaysha had made or just
arrogance? It didn't matter in the end.

She felt Cai's hands on her shoulders and
she was spun to face the warrior who pulled her close, lifting her just a bit
so that her face upturned. "Foolish maga, you have no chance of
winning."

"Then you have a problem."

"Do you think Uta or Thera will let
you live long enough to test your powers? That threat is weak by now, and I
would think more a problem for you than us."

Alaysha studied her bare foot. "How
so?"

"What if by some miracle you do
win—what then? You'll have to take his life. It's what you cast for."

Alaysha met the pull of Cai's green eyes,
so much like Yuri's she realized now, except a softer shade than Yuri's icy
blue, somehow more emotive. "I'll refuse. Like Bodicca did. Like
Alkaia."

"Little maga, they were true
Enyalia." There was a chuckle in Cai's tone, but it wasn't mocking. Her
palm traveled down Alaysha's back, pressing gently. "Your flesh is not
nearly so hardened. Your spirit isn't made of the same steel."

Alaysha licked her lips. "I'm his only
chance."

"And what happens to his chance when
your power in its fear drains the fluid from the entire village, including your
man?"

Alaysha shrugged in the woman's hold and
her eyes moved to the pulse in the woman's neck; she couldn't hold Cai's gaze
anymore. It was probing far too deep for her liking. "That won't happen.
I'm not afraid."

Cai let her arms fall and folded them
across her chest. She seemed to want to say more, to be searching for words
that might change the outcome. Instead, she settled on ordering Enud away from
Yenic. When Enud went storming across the compound and into a small hut made
purely of animal skin and wooden poles, Cai nodded to Yenic. "There's no
need to stand there longer, man," she said. "Go find a boy to feed
you."

"And dress him," Alaysha said.

Cai gave her a queer look. "No reason
not to," she said. She flicked her wrist, and a young boy came running,
the same boy from the previous night. He stole a quick peek at Alaysha and the
small tremor that crossed his face could have been meant as a smile if she
cared to interpret it. "Get the man food and clothes," she told the
boy.

Alaysha made to follow behind the two of
them, thinking she could spend some time talking to Yenic, work out a plan that
had them disappearing through the night, but Cai stopped her.

"You asked me what I would do for the
person I cared for."

"Yes," Alaysha said.

"If I couldn't save them, I would do
what Enud is doing. I would find a way to hurt the person who harmed her."

"I've done nothing to Enud."

Cai smiled slowly. "No, but your man
in Thera's Lodge did. And he loves you."

The realization struck Alaysha in the
middle of her solar plexus. The woman Enud had wept over: not a sister, a
lover.

"Enud will kill you, little maga. She
will not let the others win the chance to fight you."

"I won't let that happen. I have
skill, yes; but I know I can't win against the likes of Enud. Except my father
taught me not to fear, not feel." She met the warrior's gaze stubbornly.
"Trust me. I can take this whole village if I need to without a single
care."

"There's no need for threats,"
Cai said. "I told you that if I couldn't save the woman I cared for, I'd
do what Enud is doing. But if I could, the person I loved would not feel one
moment of pain. And so there is also no need for fear."

She left Alaysha standing alone, watching
her back as she strode away through the crowds of stock women chattering
noisily and threatening young boys with their spoons.

T
he battles began with much less ceremony than the casting.
Alaysha wasn't able to spend even a few moments with Yenic; he'd been dressed
by the boys and fed, obviously. He sat next to the fire, untethered, but
guarded by several large warriors. Alaysha remembered the story Edulph had told
her about Yenic taking on three of his best soldiers without so much as a
blade. Yenic had used anything he could put his hands to, and in the end he
used his powers over fire to scatter them. She tried to catch his eye, thinking
he could use the flame even now to cause bewilderment, that they could run. But
she knew it would be a waste of time.

He wouldn't use his connection to his
mother for fear it would reveal them, and even if it might mean his escape,
Alaysha knew he wouldn't risk it. Too close, he'd said, and she hadn't
understood, but she decided to trust his decision. Whatever too close meant, in
the end it meant he feared it. Aislin might never cross the burnt lands
herself, but she obviously had some skill Yenic feared.

Alaysha began to understand why Cai said it
would be a long day. She could imagine in Theron's time when there were a dozen
men to cast for and fight over, that the solstice battles must have gone on for
weeks. With one man and only five fighters, it would certainly go faster, but
these were no ordinary soldiers. Each Enyalian, whether blonde or brunette,
whether thin or squat, had skills that would surpass most warriors Alaysha had
met. The only person she'd seen with such natural gifts for battle was Gael,
and even he didn't possess the coldness it needed to take a comrades life so
mercilessly.

These women had grown together, trained
together, and yet here they were fighting against each other, to their ultimate
demise, over a man that none of them found desirable. They fought for the right
to continue their line, and obviously saw each sword sister as secondary to
that duty.

The lots had been drawn by small stones
scratched on by soot from the fire. By some odd chance, neither Enud nor
Alaysha's stone was selected first. Rather, two women of equal size drew their
blades against each other.

It began when the Sun was at its zenith,
and that battle still drug on now far past that.

Alaysha was as entranced as if she was
watching a dance and no more. Without the emotional connection to the
assailants, she could study their movements, examine any habits that were born
of the same training bidding them to move with instinct. She wasn't certain
that all of the women would fight the same way, but she was confident they
would have similar battle habits.

What she noticed was that the women used
both arms equally skilfully. Sword in one hand, blade in the other, those
lengths of steel were extensions of their arms and where they bid them strike,
they struck. The muscles in their thighs never quivered with effort even when
they squatted to avoid a blow, or when they leapt to advance. She expected to
see movements like Cai had practiced in her lodge, but if those were movements
of battle, they were not put to use during this fight. There was very little of
beauty in the battle, and more of pure brutality.

At first, Alaysha believed she could watch
each movement and study every minute swing, but when the fight wore on into the
early evening with no seeming victor in sight, she actually grew bored. She
scanned the crowds, hoping to see Bodicca or Theron. She was surprised to see
Enud and Uta in deep conversation, seemingly oblivious to the battle unfolding.
A tap on her shoulder startled her.

"They conspire," a voice said.

Theron. The wrinkles in his face were dirt
filled and the alert black eyes were red rimmed.

"I thought they –"

"Hid this poor shaman away; yes, yes.
But they have more to concern themselves with than the activities of a
weak-willed man." He seemed entirely pleased with himself.

Alaysha wasted no time. "When it's my
turn to fight," she said. "I need you and Bodicca to retrieve Gael.
Get him out of here."

"So this witch thought she would use
the solstice to create a distraction? Does she not see she cannot win?"

"Whether I beat Enud or not isn't the
question, Theron. I only need to empty the village of as many of my people as I
can."

"And this witch will bring the power,
yes yes? A good plan if not flawed."

"How is it flawed? If they can't be
bothered to watch over you, then surely the same is happening to Gael. Bodicca
is strong enough –"

"The same is surely not happening to
Gael."

"What do you mean?"

"Gael is even now performing his
service."

"He can't be. The solstice hasn't
begun."

"Solstice begins today. Yenic's
casting isn't complete, no, no. But the large warrior—well, his fate is sealed
already."

"He can't be. He's drugged –"

"Drugged, yes yes. But not in the way
you think. That demon chalk witch uses my own sacred brew against us."

"We have to stop it. Theron, we can't
let Gael be debased that way."

Theron's eye traveled to the two Enyalia
battling in the dirt. A collective sigh went up from the crowds when one fell,
and a wiry stock woman ran forward, throwing herself onto the prone body.

"The first loser, yes, yes."
Theron's face clouded over and he swallowed repeatedly. Alaysha noticed he
shivered and pulled his arms together over his chest. "We can smell hair
burning, yes we can. Such a terrible smell."

Alaysha reached out to touch him on the arm
and he startled. The eyes that he turned on her took a moment to focus.
"We will do what we can for the warrior, but know that Uta will not let
you win."

"I told you that doesn't –"

"Matter. Yes, yes. The shaman knows
that. But what the witch doesn't know is that Uta is not honourable. Even her
general doesn't understand that."

"Uta wants me dead."

"Uta will do what she needs to, to
keep this witch from draining the village. She will believe it's the right thing,
oh yes she will. Her komandiri might even come to believe it too in time."

"Because the men will die
anyway," Alaysha said, letting what she'd known all along settle into her
psyche. They used the casting as a distraction, letting Alaysha believe she was
buying time for Yenic, for Gael, when all along they knew that so long as the
men lived, Alaysha wasn't a threat. Once they died, things would be different.
And they knew Alaysha was capable of killing the entire tribe. She began to
wonder if the dead Enyalian raid party had actually encountered the wind witch
at all. If those women cast for Edulph somewhere out past the village. Why else
would they let such a ceremony occur if they were under threat of attack? Of
course there was no threat of attack. She realized that now.

She even started to think that if Enud
succeeded in killing Alaysha the problem would be solved—if Alaysha died fast
enough that she couldn't bring on the power. That made her wonder if she would
be fighting one warrior, or one warrior with an assassin nearby, ready to
strike before Alaysha could bring the power to save herself.

A
laysha did her best to look as though her entire being was
focused on the battle she would have to undertake, but her mind was racing
behind the mask of composure she wore. She couldn't bear to watch the next
battle as it began; this one was between Enud and the victor of the first, and
both of them were vicious, not dancing at all. This time, there was a desperate
ferocity to the battle. The victor used her feet as well as her sword, kicking
at Enud, her entire body twirling full circle, sweeping Enud's feet from
beneath her. Enud recovered quickly enough, but she came up bloody from a
grazing of her opponent's blade. Three movements later and it actually appeared
as though this battle would be over quickly. Alaysha scanned the women watching
the battle, searching for evidence of an assassin. Could it be that stock woman
there who hung a little too close to where Enud had placed her belongings? It
might even be that young girl who was lifting pikes from a pile, testing their
weight, thrusting them almost playfully at the air.

In truth, if she examined the area it could
be any one of these women. The boys had been set to work collecting wood and tying
thatch and dried rushes to a formation that looked like a large sword stuck
deep into the ground. It was far back enough into the woods that she hadn't
noticed it before, but as it became thicker with tinder, it grew more
noticeable.

Outwardly, she knew her posture was
straight, but she couldn't stop the fidgeting her toes had started doing. She
kept stealing glances at Yenic, his face kept turning into Gael's, and she
found herself cursing her stupidity over and over. She glanced at Yenic again
now. He stood between two large women, swaying just a bit as though he too had
been drugged. No wonder he did nothing to save himself. She wondered just what
kind of brew Theron knew how to make that could lay a man as large as Gael out
cold on the bed and yet leave Yenic, much more wiry, much slimmer, standing
swaying on his feet. His eyes held a far-off look, and he kept straining to
stare into the fire pit, shaking his head when nothing rose from it but smoke
from a dampened fire.

If only she'd tried to get to Gael earlier.
If only she hadn't trusted them to see he was healed. She should have thought
it was too easy. But she'd been so worried about him. It was a mistake to think
that women of this sort, who cared nothing for men, could be interested in his
welfare. She only hoped that Bodicca and Theron could manage to get him out of
the bone witch's lodge. She hadn't had contact with Aedus at all since that
first day, but she hoped against hope that the girl was somewhere safe.

But Yenic. Even if Theron and Bodicca
managed to get Gael away, how would Alaysha rescue Yenic?

It seemed there was nothing to do but wait
and watch. And even that time died as quickly as she realized it. Enud stood
over her opponent's form already, her foot planted on the woman's back. Her arm
raised, sword in the air. She turned her vengeful eyes to Alaysha and then
kicked the woman away as if she were a roll of moss.

Alaysha searched for signs of exhaustion in
the warrior's face and saw none. Even as her mouth went dry, three Enyalian soldiers
came forward to collect the dead woman and they hoisted her onto a pyre laden
with fragrant rushes and pine. Enud squatted in the pool of blood that had
collected where the woman fell, and without taking her eyes from Alaysha's, she
ran her hand through the fluid.

"Come, little witch. The ground is
thirsty for your blood." She streaked her hand across her chin, leaving a
trail of blood in a ribbon that mocked Alaysha's markings.

Strangely enough, Alaysha thought of
Corrin. She'd been trained from the time she was small for battle, and the
brutal men had done his job well. She knew how to shut out the fear, ignore the
sounds of shouting, of weeping, of cheers. She'd learned under that brutal hand
how to focus everything she felt and feared into the energies of her hand and
her legs and each muscle and every fibre beneath that muscle.

She stepped forward, pulling her sword from
her back, offering her enemy a confident smile.

She only hoped the woman believed it.

There was no fear. There was only a keen awareness.
Alaysha knew every hair on her body was straining to feel the currents of
movement, the subconscious knowledge that her opponent had shifted, that she
had begun to attack. The din of shouting disappeared and in its place rose the
sound of her own heart slowing at precise moments, pulsing, then flooding her
legs with fuel. She stepped left; Enud's blade swung down straight to the empty
space she'd been in an instant before. A small victory to have avoided the
first blow, but there was no time to savour it. She was already swinging
around, her sword in both hands, aiming it level, catching Enud's blade and
biting into the metal. A jolt slammed into her elbow, telling every muscle and
nerve in her hand to let go.

Deities, the woman was strong.

She danced to the right, kicking at the
ground for purchase and leapt just in time to avoid the sweeping arc of Enud's
sword trying to take her from the legs.

It was obvious the woman was playing with
her. Testing her patterns. It could be her only advantage; the Enyalia all had
similar training and understood how each of them would fight. Alaysha could use
her own foreignness to keep the warrior on edge. It wasn't enough to keep her
alive long, it wouldn't be enough to draw the battle out very long, but it might
be enough for the others to get to Gael, and it might be enough time for the
assassin to step forward. It wasn't that Enud could best Alaysha, it was more
that Enud needed to make a quick death, one that wouldn't afford Alaysha the
time to bring the power. Alaysha wasn't foolish enough to believe that Enud's
blade would be the one to strike that blow. And so she had to fragment her
mind, split her body awareness into two consciousnesses. One had to deal with
Enud, the other had to lie in wait for the assassin.

Almost instinctively she exhaled as she
swung, inhaled as she pulled back. She saw a flicker of movement from Enud's
eyes; for one moment the warrior had taken her eyes from Alaysha's. It was one
instant, but it spoke volumes. Alaysha knew it was the critical moment. She
spread her arms, her sword held out to the right, ready to swing; her left arm
waiting to feel the shift in the air. The attack was coming from behind. Enud
was swift. Too swift. There would be no way to meet the assassin without exposing
herself to vulnerable attack from Enud.

And then she felt it. The fine hairs on the
back of her shoulders moved enough to lift her skin in tiny goose bumps. She
swung halfway to the left, her right hand toward Enud, her left toward the
assassin, spinning as Enud stepped left, stepped right, trying to confuse her,
to let the murderer in close enough.

She took the chance. It was a mere fraction
of her own heartbeat, but she took it. She brought her sword in a solid swing
to the left, gripping the handle with both hands, using the weight of her body
to arc powerfully to the left. She swung with everything she had, knowing that
whatever her sword contacted, would go down if she swung hard enough, she could
keep going back toward Enud. She'd have to find her feet, then. Wait for the
attack.

Her sword bit into solid wood and Cai's
green gaze flicked over her so quickly Alaysha barely had time to register the
surprise in them. Cai? The assassin. Alaysha felt a moment of betrayal then of
resignation. So be it, she thought and wrenched her sword away from the wood,
readying herself to strike again.

The Enyalian pulled her shield away and
slipped close to Alaysha all-in-one movement, grabbing her by the waist,
pulling her hard against her. Alaysha could feel the woman's heart tremoring
against her back. She saw the young warrior from the day before who had played
at battle in the tiltyard so fiercely lying on the ground. A mace three times
the size of any Alaysha had ever seen lay next to her. The chalk witch stood over
her, glaring at Cai.

"This is not honourable, Uta,"
Cai said. "The maga said she would leave. She gave her word she would not
harm us."

"You're foolish, Komandiri," Uta
said. Her gaze fleeted over Alaysha's shoulder and she remembered the battle
was not over. The sound from behind her reminded her that Enud was still
fighting. Cai spun at the same moment Alaysha realized it, easing Alaysha
behind her. "Back-to-back, little maga," she said.

They moved as one, Alaysha feeling each
movement Cai made and mirroring it is best she could. It was no longer a simple
casting battle, it ceased to be the moment the Komandiri stepped within it.
There was no telling how many Enyalia would make this battle their own.

Enud struck out, forcing Cai backwards.
Alaysha moved forward with the warrior at her back. Cai seemed loathe to engage
and Enud took advantage of it. She hefted her sword much more fiercely, and Cai
blocked each one, seeming to take great care not to strike to do damage. It was
obvious she was the greater fighter, that Enud understood it, but that she also
knew Cai was not fighting to the death.

"My sisters will not be gentle with
the man, witch. Not his body, nor his mind." Enud laughed. She didn't
sound the least winded, rather she sounded invigorated.

"Stand down," Cai told her.

"I won this right," Enud said.

"You won the right to battle this
woman, but what you've done is dishonourable."

They shuffled, Cai careful to keep
Alaysha's back close enough to feel each movement. Alaysha watched the faces of
each woman she was spun to see. The pleasure in the battle had left their
faces. Now they looked angry.

"Stand down, Enyalian," Cai said
again. "We'll stop this madness and resume later."

"You protect a foreign witch over your
own people?"

"I protect honour over all," Cai
said. "My oath is to my sword sisters and to their honour. We celebrate
women of power, we do not murder them."

Alaysha scanned the faces. She watched
Yenic, his mouth working as though he was speaking, his eyes glazed over,
staring into the fire pit. He managed to draw small fingers of flame from the
smouldering logs. She flicked her gaze toward Uta, whose mouth was drawn in a
tight line, Thera, standing next to her, whose hand went at the same moment to
her neck with a look of confusion; both collapsed in a heap on the ground.

An arrow bloomed in the neck of another,
but this warrior did not collapse. Instead, she spun to face her attacker,
sword drawn, blade on the other hand. And several others, who in the same
moment had begun gripping their throats with both hands, the mouth gaping open
like fish landed on the side of the river.

In the same instant, Alaysha felt her lungs
tighten. Power unfurled itself from beneath her breastbone, searching for the
source of the attack, wanting retribution for it.

Because an attack it was. Not just from one
enemy: but from three.