Water Witch (18 page)

"Is this how you've evaded us,
Witch?"

Alaysha peered, leaning into the shadows.

The voice was a familiar one. The speaker
shifted from shade to shade and finally out into the light.

"You cover yourself with filth to hide
in the shadows. Pitiful for a witch, I'd say."

She knew him now, and she knew as soon as
she saw him that all chance of freeing Aedus was gone.

She tried to keep her voice level when she
spoke. "You've been looking for me?" She asked Drahl. "Why? I
thought Father wanted me to find number nineteen." She'd almost said
Yenic, but caught herself just in time.

"It's taking too long. He wants to see
the eyes and know it's done."

She shrugged, but a flash of insight came
so quickly, she was afraid she'd given herself away. "Number nineteen is
with this band. Hiding from us within their ranks."

"Then kill them and be done with
it." His gaze narrowed, and she thought she saw suspicion behind his eyes.

"I would have, except I thought I saw
your property with them as well. I wanted to be sure before I attacked."

"My property?"

"Yes. " She tried to watch his
face for reaction without appearing to be studying him. "I believe they
have someone who belongs to you."

"I have enough slaves." He waved
his hand dismissively, "What do I care for one more?"

She turned away from him. "That makes
it easy then." She looked back over her shoulder. "You might want to
move back a few kubits." She nodded her head at the other set of eyes.
"Him too."

Drahl grunted, apparently satisfied she was
about to complete the task she’d been sent out on. He inclined his head toward
the trees, and three more men slipped out from behind tree trunks.

She took a decided step in the opposite
direction of the rogue’s camp, praying to The Deities that Drahl would move his
men toward the camp. She had no doubt about their reception once the sentries
caught sight of them.

"Take yourselves at least a couple of
kubits in to be safe."

She took a breath and trudged forward,
thinking she’d double back when they were out of sight and in the chaos, she
was sure to get to Aedus, sure she’d be left unguarded.

Drahl and his men didn’t even bother trying
to be quiet, they were so confident the enemy would soon be dead and they'd be
well enough away to escape all danger from the witch. She could hear them
laughing among themselves, crashing through the thicket. Walking their mounts
noisily through the brush.

Good. They’d be noticed. And quickly. That
meant she had to hurry. Once she could only hear them from a good distance, she
turned to the right and circled. She knew the camp was at the break of the
treeline, with sentries posted everywhere in the bushes. The natural sneakiness
of a rogue band meant they’d want to disappear quickly and melt into nature. So
while they hadn’t given consideration to how smart it would be to camp far
enough into a clearing that they couldn’t be taken by surprise, they at least
understood the value of escaping should they be come upon. Or they were just
stupid, making the wrong assumption that they were the ones with the advantage.

Twice, she caught an overhanging branch in
the face in her haste, and once she stumbled over a root she wasn’t watching
for. But soon, she was close enough she could almost smell the roasting fire.
From her spot in the trees, she could tell the sun hadn’t set yet. Still some
time before Edulph took the next digit. If she was lucky. Now all she had to do
was wait until the sentries either found Drahl, or Drahl walked unawares into
the plain.

She crept closer, close enough she could
see the fire. The horses were resting, tied to fallen trees. Just under two
dozen still, so she knew they were all close to camp.

She crouched behind a large rock trying to
see past the horses, to the fire. Luckily, they were a small enough group that
they kept together when they camped and didn’t sprawl out like an army did. She
knew she should be looking to count forty or so bodies in all, including Aedus,
but there was no telling how many would be in the trees. Some were hunched,
cloaked, around the fire. She could make out three of these in the encroaching
gloom. Was one of them Edulph? She couldn’t know for sure.

A racket to her left told her Drahl and his
party had been spotted. Shouts met her ears, as did the clanging tension of
metal in the air. Only the discipline of a dozen battles and hundreds of
training sessions let Alaysha keep her attention on the fire.

Several forms lifted from places she’d not
noticed: behind trees, crouched next to fallen logs, shadows that were pools on
the ground: all lifted, and lighted, grabbing blades and rushing the darkness.

All but one form that no longer crouched at
the fire. Aedus. She’d scrambled, fell, and scrambled again toward the horses, where
she fell again and lay still beneath the belly of the largest mount.

Alaysha wasted no time.

She sped into the clearing and threw
herself beneath the beast. The feel of the scrawny shoulders beneath her hands
was a relief; the frightened eyes peering up at her, a shock.

"You’re not Aedus." Alaysha could
hear the disappointment in her own voice.

The girl shook her head.

"Aedus is gone."

"Gone?" Alasha had a hard time
keeping her voice down or the despair out of it.

"With Edulph."

The skirmish had escalated into a fully
fledged battle. Several men had leaked from the treeline into the clearing and
the shouts had turned to the low grumble of grunts that came with the effort of
battle. Drahl was a scout, not a warrior. He’d not be able to hold his own for long.
Soon it would be over and she still hadn’t found Aedus.

"Where did they go?"

The girl shook her head. "Into the
woods."

She pointed toward where Alaysha had come
from.

She grabbed the girl’s hand, counted the
fingers with her own. Grabbed for the other. All ten were there. She groaned;
so it had been Aedus's finger sent with Yenic and not a substitute.

"But why?" Alaysha sat back on
her haunches, deflated. It made no sense. Unless he expected her to try and
sneak in, but in that case, why not just lay a trap so she wouldn’t succeed.

He was far more unpredictable than she’d
thought. It seemed he planned to lure her ever closer to Sarum while he made it
impossible to get to Aedus, and made Alaysha’s desperation to get to her all
the more urgent.

She huffed and scanned the trees and plain.
There were several bodies on the ground and at least a dozen fights still being
fought. Those were tiring, however, and a victor would soon be clear.

She heard a gathering shout from a voice
she recognized and knew it was Drahl calling his men to retreat. It was clear
the rogues would be too tired to follow and were disinclined to finish them
off.

She had to get out of there.

The girl gripped her arm. "Don’t leave
me here." Her face was white with fear in the dark.

"I can’t take you."

Alaysha studied her, thinking. She could
quench this entire firepit of madness within seconds. And the world of Drahl,
and of this fighting. She could safely get away to Barruch and be off to free
Aedus without worry of being followed.

But this girl would die.

Did that matter?

She would probably die anyway; either from
hunger or at the hands of these ruffians.

"Can you ride?"

The girl nodded.

"Then get on a horse and make your way
back to the west. A day straight along, maybe a day and a half past a small
stream to a place of unusual desert. You’ll see a grove of trees. Go there.
It’s the best I can do." She set to spring off into the undergrowth,
hoping she’d not already been seen, when the girl clutched at her arm again.

Alaysah shook her head. "I can’t take
you."

"They’ll catch me."

"What do you matter?" It was
blunt, but there wasn’t time to play at diplomacy.

"I’m Yuri’s daughter."

The bald statement took the air from
Alaysha’s lungs. She knew her father had children besides her, but except for
the tiny heir, she’d not been allowed near any. This girl couldn’t be more than
eight or nine. Aedus had to be around the same age – maybe a season or two
more.

She grabbed the girl by the hand without
saying a word to her and pulled her along as she crouched, and ran to the
trees.

She couldn’t believe her good fortune that
they found shelter behind a copse of trees without being noticed. She turned to
the girl, knelt in front of her.

"Tell me."

The girl stammered, and worked at her eyes
with her palms, but she managed a few words of nearly unintelligible speech.
Alaysha had to be patient. She held onto the small shoulders in the darkness
and tried to ease the girl’s shivering.

"Tell me about Aedus."

"I told you, she’s gone."

"Why do they have you? How could they
have managed it?"

The girl’s shrug stole Alaysha’s last ounce
of patience.

"You know something. If you’re Yuri’s
daughter you must know why you’re here."

She could tell the girl was trying to be
brave. She could feel the effort the girl made to stop trembling.

"I was playing. A man slipped out of
the bushes. We rode for days from Sarum. That’s all I know."

"But you’ve seen Aedus?"

The girl nodded. "We were kept
together for the whole day we were here."

"Was she okay?" Alaysha wasn’t
sure she could stand the answer.

A voice came from behind her in answer.
"She gets less okay each day."

Alaysha froze in her spot. She knew she’d
waited too long. Now she was caught. She sensed at least one man behind her.
She took her time getting to her feet.

Too bad about the girl, but now that she
had her, had met her, she couldn’t let her die the same death as these
bastards, she'd have to refrain from using the power.

She turned slowly. Yes. Two. She realized
she’d left her sword with Barruch, hoping to be fleeter of foot. Now she wished
she’d been smarter.

"Tell me about Aedus," she told
the men.

The both looked at her and laughed at the
same time. One came forward to wrestle the girl from her arms.

"Don’t touch her," Alaysha had
gone to the trouble of getting her safely away from these men, she wasn’t about
to give her back to them.

The man didn't back off, but neither did he
make a move toward the girl. Alaysha took that as a good sign.

"You were waiting for me," she
said.

"Edulph was sure you would come."

"And Aedus?"

"She believes her brother is saving
her from us. Stupid girl."

Alaysha looked at the girl -- her
half-sister-- if she could be believed. "Why her? What does she
have?"

He snorted. "Questions you should ask
Edulph."

"What about Drahl? My scout." She
added the last with the hope that they would worry over the danger of him
escaping and warning Yuri.

He laughed and his companion slapped his
thigh with his palm in warped humor. "That dog? He has slunk back to his
den. He will be found."

He didn't need to say what would happen
when he was found. Alaysha sighed. Should Drahl manage to live and return, he
would find Alaysha with these people. He would believe, rightly so, that she'd
let him walk into a trap. He just wouldn't know why. Had he known about the
girl? Surely not, or he wouldn't have ordered their deaths so blithely.

"The girl and I want to sleep by the
fire. And we want blankets. And I want a sword. A sharp one."

The sky had turned crimson and the whole
campsite looked bathed in blood. She prayed to The Deities they could make it
through the night without having to shed any more.

It took a few moments, but the man nodded
and shuffled off. He returned when Alaysha and her sister were feeding the fire
to make it good and high, it's light casting a few good horse strides in each
direction.

She tested the edge of the blade he brought
and nodded at him.

"Fine. Now you and your men will sleep
beyond where the light rests. If you so much as come within a few steps of it,
I will kill you without thought."

He smirked but said nothing. He would test
her, she knew that. Maybe him or another, but she would be tested. She hoped
she could get through the night without having to use her thirst, but she would
use it if she had to. Better the girl died at her hand than be subjected to a
horde of callous men.

She spread the bearskin he'd brought as
close to the fire as she could and bid the girl crawl beneath it. Then she
covered her with the other and sat next to her, sword in hand, facing the fire
but painfully aware that her back was unprotected.