Water Witch (15 page)

"I wonder what he promised them to
keep them in such good order," she mused aloud.

"Who knows," Yenic said,
stretching his legs so the soles of his bare feet reached the fire. Three days
slow travel, and she could still see the faint green phosphorescent gleam
beneath his eyes; but she wouldn't mention it.

"Do you think Edulph will ever let her
go?"

He shrugged. "Would you?"

She gave it consideration and didn't like
where her mind went. "I can't keep killing."

"Well, you do make a pretty good
threat just by your existence."

"But he'd never be able to know if I
would turn on him or not."

"Exactly why you shouldn't have let
him know you cared for her. Now she'll never be safe and you will never be
free."

"Should I have killed them all in the
oasis, is that what you're saying? Because if you are, remember you're the one
who stopped me." Her face burned just thinking about how he'd accomplished
it.

"I stopped you because I didn't want
him to see your full power. Better he believes in it but doesn't yet have
evidence. That's why it's taking so long to get to Sarum. I bet Edulph is
trying to decide if you're real or not."

"And in the meantime, he won't release
Aedus."

"Every day we stay with them proves to
him how much you care. She is his weapon against you."

Alaysha thought it over. "So if we
just left?"

"Aedus loses her usefulness."

"He might kill her."

"Yes."

"And you would have us take a
chance."

"I am to protect the witch. Even if
it's from herself."

"I don't need protection."

He said nothing to that, merely took
another drink and eased back onto his elbows, face lifted to the night sky. She
thought he might say something, as though he needed to unburden himself, but he
kept quiet for a long time. She finally had to prod him to speak.

"Maybe you are powerful," he
answered. "But you are also young and you are untrained."

She doubted this was what was on his mind,
but at least he was speaking again.

"Does that bother you?"

There was a shrug in his tone. "We
hoped your nohma would train you to control your power."

"She couldn't. She's been gone these
last dozen seasons."

He nodded. "Yes. And you went on
killing."

She felt a niggle of shame but pushed it
away. A warrior did not feel shame either. "Then why didn't you come for
me?"

"We tried." He looked at her.
"Plenty of times. We came for you through other villages, but you always
arrived with your father and took them. We had to wait until you were old
enough to begin to question your father's ways for yourself. We didn't think
he'd use you to systematically decimate the whole tribe. And when we did
realize, it was too late. The oasis was the best we could do. It was our last
stand."

Alaysha thought back to the mud hut and the
strangeness of the smoke inside. "Magic," she murmured.

"Our own brand, yes. Those crones you
saw, they were the others. They used the last of their powers to protect me.
Now they're gone."

He shifted so he was closer to Alaysha, his
hip next to hers. The crackle of the fire was the only sound for a while as she
ran all he'd said through her mind. That she'd been wanted enough to be
searched for. That there were others like her.

Yet the things her father said also echoed
through her mind. These people were her people – were they like Edulph and his
band, bent on selfish chaos? They might be her mother's people, but that didn't
mean she wanted any part of them. She'd struck out on her own, and she meant to
be on her own.

"Barruch and I will have gone before
dawn," she said finally. "If what you say about Aedus being useless
is true, then I'll show them I don't care."

"Good choice," he said.
"We'll let the fire go down now so they're uncertain of when we
left."

"Not us," she said.
"Me."

"You'd go without an Arm?"

She got up and went to her horse, where her
blade was, where her fur was tucked into the basket, where her tinder bundle
was. "This is my arm," she said, hoisting the blade. "And these
are my legs." She patted Barruch's rump. "I've needed nothing but
these for years."

He shook his head. "You're young. You
need training."

"If it's as you say, the only thing I
care about will be safe when I leave."

"You care about only one?" he
asked and she had to look away so she could lie easier.

"I can't afford to care about much
else. Yuri has been right all these years. My only protection from myself or
anyone else is to care for nothing." She kissed Barruch between his eyes
and pulled her fur from his basket, thinking that even though she wouldn't
sleep, she could pretend, and then she could slip away before dawn.

She planned to leave as soon as Yenic fell
asleep, but he sat by the fire for hours. Contrary to his initial plan, he
didn't let the fire die down at all. She didn't see him feed it, necessarily,
but she knew he must have off and on through the night because every so often
it would blaze brightly.

Twice, she realized she'd fallen asleep and
felt herself jerk awake. Each time, she peered beneath Barruch's legs at the
fire and the slumped form beside it, waiting to see if it moved or stayed
still. Both times, within moments an arm reached out toward the flame seeking
warmth.

So he wasn't going to let her creep away
after all.

She got up and quietly packed her things
plus the provisions she'd tied into her basket before they'd had left the
oasis: a comb of honey wrapped in leaves and tucked into a pouch, a few
peaches, and the last of the frog legs they'd roasted. She tucked her fur
beneath Barruch's saddle and clucked at him to move. She planned to lead him
out of camp then climb on and ride as fast as she could. With any luck, she
could be far enough they'd only catch up when she was out of range of harming
Aedus.

They could send all the scouts they wanted
then. A few scouts she could handle.

She had Barruch's reins in her hand when
Yenic crept up to her. She felt him close enough in the dark that she could
touch him if she wanted.

"I'll try to get her away," he
said to her and she nodded even though she knew he'd not see it.

"Only when it's safe," she said.
"And only if they decide she has no use after all."

"It's the best chance for her."

She did reach for him then, and his hand
found hers. She found comfort in his touch. "I know," she told him.
"But if my leaving doesn't do what we hope for, try to get her away from
Edulph. Brother or no, I don't trust him."

Yenic squeezed her hand. She looked back
towards their fire only to see it had gone much dimmer.

"Don't worry," he said, following
her gaze. "I put dirt on it. There's nothing like a bit of earth to temper
a flame."

"Or water," she said.

"Or water." The hand that had
been in hers moved to her chin and rested there. "If this works, I'll
bring Aedus to the oasis. We'll wait for you."

"I don't know how far I need to go
before it's safe."

"It's all right. We have enough there
to keep us fed and watered until you do come."

"What if I don't?" She stepped
away from him. "Come to you, I mean."

His soft chuckle moved through the
darkness. "Oh, you'll return eventually."

"You can't know that."

"But I do."

She felt him reach out for her again, and
the warmth of his palm on her lower back surprised her. Before she could stop
him, he had pulled her close and placed his mouth on hers. It brought all the
heat of his kiss from the oasis to mind, and she felt as though her throat was
on fire. He tasted of ale and smoke and a delicious mix of honey and peaches.
She wanted nothing more in that moment than to stay and travel this journey
together, no matter what the outcome. She had to brace herself to pull away.

He held her cheek in his palms. "We're
bonded," he said. "You won't be able to help yourself."

He stepped away to mince back toward the
tempered fire. Curiosity urged her to follow him and find out what he meant,
but reason won out and she pressed herself through the bushes, pulling Barruch
along behind her.

By mid afternoon Barruch had taken her
halfway to the oasis. In the light of day, things seemed far more fixable. On
his back, with her hair being taken by the breeze, and the rhythm of his
gallop, Alaysha could clear her mind and focus. So much had changed in the
quarter turn of the moon, so much had shifted. In these seven turns, she had
learned more about her life than in the eighteen seasons she'd lived. To
discover her nohma, a woman far too young to be a grandmother, had actually
been her aunt made sense. She'd always felt close to Nohma – she just always
believed it was because the woman was the only replacement for a mother she'd
had. Now she knew the truth, and the truth seemed to be a strange jumble of
information that melded between Yuri's story and Yenic's.

Now she had a foster sister. One who was in
danger. Every instinct told Alaysha to stay and fight for the girl, but she
knew to do so would put her in even greater risk.

She didn't care if her father's tribe was a
target. They'd no doubt make short work of Edulph's rogue band if they did
attempt an attack alone. All the more reason for Alaysha to run; better she not
tempt her father either with her power. She wouldn't let herself be used as any
man's blade ever again.

If only she had the ability to control it
completely, she'd not have nearly so much to worry her. In fact, if she could
control the thirst, she'd immediately cease to be useful as another man's
weapon. And it seemed the only link to her being able to do so, she'd left with
that decrepit group of villains.

"Bonded," she shouted to Barruch,
just so she could hear her voice over the thunder of his hooves. "What
could he mean?" In her father's tribe the word bond meant to vow
allegiance. It meant above all others, a warrior would choose an emir to die
for. She'd never sworn a bond oath to her father or any other.

She let Barruch slow when she smelled
water. He would need to drink and rest; she'd ridden him harder than she'd
expected, and in truth, she needed food. The peaches in her pack were probably
bruised by now, but that would just make them all the sweeter.

She left off when they came in sight of the
stream they'd stop at a day earlier on their way to Sarum. They'd filled their
leather sacks there, and then drunk from them the rest of the days when the
water within was musky and hot.

The stream was refreshingly cool. She
pulled off her tunic and splashed into the water, letting Barruch, who was more
finicky, sample his refreshment from the edge. She would be cold for a while
when she got out, but she'd be clean and the smell of cowardice would be well
behind her.

She hitched herself up on the bank so she
could semi-float, semi-recline without the current taking her far. She looked
up into the filigree of branches and leaves that made the encroaching dusk even
more gloomy. The moon brooded on the horizon of treetops, waiting for the sun
to blink out and give night its rule.

She supposed she could set up camp right
here. There was a mound of earth covered in thatch and dead brush that she
could crouch against. Her back would be protected while she slept, and to her
front any encroaching enemies would have to splash through water to get to her.
It was a forceful enough current she doubted anyone would try at night. That
left her sides exposed, but Barruch would nicker and nudge her if he smelled
anyone strange.

She eased up out of the water and pulled
her fur from beneath Barruch's saddle so she could wrap in it while it was
still warm. It smelled of animal sweat but she didn't care; it stopped her
shivering.

Upon inspection, the area proved better
equipped for an overnight stay than she'd originally thought. Tinder from dead
branches littered the ground and stream bank. Probably from trees that drowned
when heavy rains came and covered a few feet of their trunks with stream water.
Moss too, was abundant, making her tinder bundle catch easily on the bits of
scavenged brambles.

Before long, she was sitting in front of a
roaring flame, peach juice gathering on her chin, wrapped cozily in her animal
fur while the darkness came alive with the sounds of courting frogs.

Except that she missed Aedus and Yenic, she
had never felt so content.

"I hope you enjoyed your peach, old
man," she said to Barruch, who had begun to break wind in a noisy manner.
She resolved not to ever feed him another, even if she found a cache of them.

She knew the oasis had enough on that one
tree to fill her basket three times over, and she knew she was mere hours away
from reaching it. Something kept her from going there, though. She wasn't even
sure if she would stop there tomorrow. The way Yenic had looked at her, certain.
The way he'd said they were bonded. Her belly squirmed in a pleasant way and
that made her made her feel confused and anxious. She felt such longing that
she couldn't identify it until she found herself reliving the way his lips felt
against hers and the way she felt her heart tremor madly when it beat next to
his.