Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2), стр. 26
“Who are you?” the warrior said, looking at Emer and me.
“I will ask the questions,” I said. “You will provide the answers. Where are you bound?”
“I will not answer your questions,” the warrior said defiantly.
I walked to him, bent down and grasped the shaft of the arrow through his thigh. I yanked on it, pulling the bronze barbed tip back into his wound, causing him to scream in pain. Releasing the arrow shaft, I stood up.
“Where are you bound?” I said again.
“Nisa, I am going to Nisa,” he gasped.
“You’re a messenger,” I said. “What is your report?”
The warrior stared at me with renewed defiance. “I will not tell you.”
I stooped and reached for the arrow shaft.
“No, please, stop,” the man said.
“I was to carry a battle report to the Dabar.”
“What battle?” I said. “Where?”
“The enemy attacked our forces this morning in the forests west of Thiva.”
“The siege engine builders?” I said.
“Yes,” the man said with a grimace.
“What news is there of the battle?”
“When my commander told me to ride to Nisa, he feared defeat,” the warrior said sullenly. “The enemy was setting fire to the siege engines as I rode away.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I will not slay you.”
Turning, I said to Emer, “Let’s go. Leave him.”
As I walked away believing Emer was following, I heard a groan and then a loud sigh. I turned to see Emer wiping the blade of her rakir on the warrior’s cape. He had slumped onto the road and had a grievous bloody gash to the throat.
“I said to leave him.”
“I could not bear to see him suffer,” Emer snickered.
“He wasn’t going anywhere with an arrow through his thigh,” I said. “He was a wounded, unarmed warrior. What of your warrior codes?”
“He was not a warrior,” Emer retorted. “He was a rebellious slave. My codes permitted me to slay him.”
“I don’t approve of murder,” I said. “You kill too easily.”
“Spend weeks in a cage where your captors refuse to give you food and don’t permit you to wash,” Emer shouted. “Then, you may judge me, commander. The rebels are vermin.”
I turned away and walked back toward the camp.
Emer gathered wood and built a small fire. The night was cold. We had not spoken until I told her I would sleep. I retrieved a blanket from my saddle and lay down on the ground close to the fire.
“May I share your blanket?” Emer said.
“You didn’t bring your own?” I said.
“I had a warrior’s cape until you told me to throw it away,” she muttered. “I didn’t think I would need a blanket.”
I sighed. “Yes, you may share the blanket,” I said, rolling onto my side with my back to her.
Emer lay down and scooted close to my back, covering herself with the blanket. I felt her warm breath on the back of my neck.
“I hate them all,” she said, her voice breaking.
“Because they are males or because they are slaves?” I snapped.
After a time, she replied in a whisper. “At the enclosure in Nisa, the guards forced us to copulate with them, until enough days passed that we stank too badly because they would not allow us to wash. They held us down and took turns. They defiled us again and again.” Then she cried.
“All?” I said.
“Yes, all,” Emer sobbed. “Even the badly wounded warrior who was unconscious when you found us.”
Rolling over to face her, I took Emer into my arms. She pressed her face to my chest and wept.
“Emer, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I’m glad you killed that courier. We will slay as many of those vermin as we are able.”
Sadly, I had learned why things had felt awkward with Idril.
14
The Army Marches
When I woke up, Emer’s arm draped across me, and she was sleeping with her head on my chest. My right arm had fallen asleep. I moved it to restore the circulation, and she woke up and quickly untangled herself from me, looking sheepish. It was still cold. I put the blanket around Emer’s shoulders, tossed more sticks on the fire, and blew on the embers to get it going again.
“What’s the plan for today, commander?” Emer said after stifling a yawn.
“We will remain here and observe the road,” I said. “I suspect Dabar Cooke is awaiting word from his force west of Thiva that the siege engines are ready. I expect he will grow impatient and march his army north within a few days.”
“Then what?”
“We will shadow them until they stop and make camp the first night out of Nisa. Then I will attempt to sneak into the camp and take him prisoner.”
“Why not just kill him?”
I explained my fear that killing Cooke might create a martyr and result in only making the rebels more determined.
“What am I to do?” Emer said.
“You will wait with the baacaases for my return with Cooke,” I said.
“You can’t capture Cooke alone,” Emer said. “Are you mad?”
“I’m not putting you at risk, Emer,” I said. “If the rebels catch me, all I have to worry about is them killing me. If they capture you, we both know the other cruelties they would inflict upon you.”
“I’m a warrior, I will do my part,” Emer said stubbornly.
“Yes, you will,” I said. “You will wait with the baacaases.”
I threw Emer some dried meat and bread from the saddlebags. Then I took rations for myself. We sat by the fire and ate breakfast. After the meal, we refilled our water flasks at the brook and hiked back to the paved road. Overnight, gutas had reduced both the body of the rebel warrior and the carcass of his baacaas to bones.
Gutas are opportunistic canine-like omnivores, predators of small to medium-sized animals, birds, and reptiles. They are