City of Gods [Book 3 of the Teadai Prophecies] Page 5

  Haranda stepped toward Cass but her features were faint, darkened by shadow. “When the Goddess wants them, She will bring them to us. Do you intend to bring this girl into our fold now? She is a middling and a child. She can’t be oathed until she’s fully mature.”

  Cass studied the girl who snuggled beneath her cloak and something moved in her. “Ebbi is indebted to me. And I’m indebted to her. Without me, she’ll die.”

  “We’ll get her safely to the hamlet. She won’t die.”

  “She’ll kill herself if I don’t allow her to serve.”

  The others murmured but it was Wren who stepped forward now. “Where are you from, child?”

  “Men stole me.”

  “Where did they steal you from?”

  Ebbi got quiet. Perhaps she didn’t remember. That wouldn’t surprise Cass, considering all that had happened to her. And the Goddess only knew how long she’d been working in the brothels. “Kard.”

  “Ah.” Wren pointed to Ebbi, pressed fingers to her forehead, opened her palms to the sky, and motioned to Cass.

  Ebbi’s body moved with excitement and Cass’s arm fell from her shoulders. “Yes!” The child repeated the gesture. “I serve!”

  Wren’s looped braids swung as she turned her head to Haranda. “If this child isn’t allowed to serve, she’ll have no choice but to kill herself. The isolated tribes of Kard and Hared have very strict and highly engrained rules. Young as she is, I’m not surprised she remembered those rules.”

  “We can’t allow her to kill herself.” Haranda held the lantern up near her face. “But the Goddess doesn’t allow children to serve, Wren.”

  “She can perform as a middling servant and take oaths when she becomes marriage age. Once we get back to the Land of the Goddess, she’ll be altered anyway.”

  Haranda nodded. “As you wish.”

  “I’ll bring this up to Ved’nuri.” Wren no longer seemed concerned with using Gypsy terms in front of middlings, perhaps because they had acquired so many from their recent travels who hadn’t yet taken servant oaths. And since Ebbi would follow, whether or not they wanted, what did it matter now?

  Ebbi shivered and Cass pulled her close to keep her warm. “What does that hand gesture mean, Wren?”

  “Roughly translated, it means ‘honored servant’. Ebbi must believe that you saved her life in some way.”

  “She was working at the Clamoring Jackass.”

  Ebbi nodded. “I’m a whore.” She snapped her head to Cass and there was just enough light from Haranda’s lantern to see that the girl had a worried look on her face. “Not whore. I’m a child. I serve. What you do with him?” Ebbi pointed. “Pond scum.”

  Cass looked down at her root father and suddenly had no emotion about him whatsoever. “Leave him to freeze. Let the wolves have him. I don’t care. Just keep him away from the children.” Her words were directed to the Gypsies and the child seemed to understand that. She led Ebbi toward the camp in near darkness, not waiting to see what the others did with her root father.

  Chapter 4

  Henny screamed out in the night. Adelsik jolted awake and it took several heartbeats to realize where she was just now. Lost Miner’s Hamlet. Women slept in the stone buildings with new slatted roofs, shutters and doors, new-oathed and younglings in this one. Saldia and Cass jumped from their sleep and joined Adelsik in the cold dark. The fire in the old hearth burned low, and the stone floor bit at Adelsik’s bare legs and feet as she made her way to the youngling. Henny was curled on her side, sobbing.

  Adelsik’s heart banged against her chest. “Henny? What is it?” The youngling didn’t answer. She simply wept as her body trembled. Adelsik placed her hand on Henny’s forehead to find her hot with fever. Gypsies didn’t become ill. Then she touched something warm and wet on Henny’s back and the youngling screamed out. “Henny? Saldia, she’s hurt.” Cass gave her a lantern as others in the building began to wake. The wetness came from Henny’s head as well, and the straw bedding had turned dark. Adelsik’s heart caught in her throat. “Oh, Goddess, Henny.”

  “I’ll get help.” Cass started up but someone opened the hastily erected door.

  Haranda’s silhouette stood out in the dim light of the reflected moon on snow. “What’s wrong? Did I hear Henny?”

  “Yes.” Saldia crouched next to Adelsik now. “She’s bleeding. Her head and her back. She has a fever.”

  Adelsik held the lantern for Haranda and glanced at the familiar shadows around her. Saldia, Eletha, Zarenia, Pim, Tsianina, Gwen, and others who had bunked in this building were awake no. All except Maesa. That woman could sleep through a wind funnel. Two orbs floated just above Haranda’s head so Adelsik put the lantern down and went to wake Maesa.

  “Maesa? Maesa? Wake up.” She placed one hand on the woman’s shoulder to shake her and realized with horror that her body was stiff.

  She couldn’t have told anyone what happened in the next few heartbeats. All she heard was a rush of blood in her ears and her own ragged breath. Someone screamed. The sound came from her own throat. Hands pulled her back and forced her to the ground. Someone spoke but she couldn’t hear or see. Blind? Perhaps. Or maybe the lantern had gone out. She had no idea how long she sat in the darkness, hearing only her breath against murmurs and movement.

  She suddenly felt trapped and flailed at restraining hands, pushed past restrictive arms. “Maesa?” Memories flooded her and sight returned as she scrambled to where the other woman lay. “No. Please, Goddess, no. Not Maesa.” The still body lay colored with death, the lips too dark, the face too pale.

  Predula and the other healers had crowded around the two prone women. Henny still sobbed as Payatt Koi leaned over her.

  Predula had hands on Maesa but she pulled away and shook her head. Haranda wept. Wren started to cover the youngling with a blanket but Adelsik caught her hand. She scooted to the youngling’s head and caressed cold cheeks. Hot tears ran down her face and fell onto the straw bedding.

  Wren placed a hand on her shoulder. “You can’t do anything for her now, Adelsik.” Her voice caught.

  Birek pressed past and threw himself onto Maesa. He held the body as one might cradle a newborn and wept in silence. Hands put Adelsik’s stockings and boots on while she sat, numb, tears streaming down her cheeks. Could this be the Netherworld? Could she be caught in someone’s nightmare? Hands wrapped a cloak around her and pulled her to her feet but her legs gave out and someone caught her.

  “I have you,” a soft voice said into her ear. She turned her head to see Lyssinya pressed close, long red hair loose and mussed.

  Hesitantly, Adelsik tried her legs and they held. She allowed the Sage to take her out into the cold where others had gathered, some weeping, some cursing, no one knowing exactly what had happened, except that one of their kin had died in the night and another was bloody.

  Lyssinya fished into Adelsik’s cloak pockets and pulled out her sheepskin gloves. “Put these on.” The Sage’s voice was as tender as a mother talking to her babe.

  She obeyed without much thought, moving as one who had been on the road too long without sleep. The old errant, Ryder, came toward them. Adelsik’s heart raced and she grabbed his arm. “You see Death. Why didn’t you stop him?”

  Sympathy poured from Ryder’s old eyes. “I can’t stop him in the Netherworld. He comes after the other one now. I must get to her.”

  She immediately released him. Henny screamed behind the stone walls of the ancient building. Adelsik started that direction again but Lyssinya restrained her.

  “We’ll only get in the way, Adelsik. Let the healers do their work.”

  “The Netherworld. We can help.”

  “I was there. I saw nothing. There’s nothing we can do now but wait.”

  Servants began to stoke the outside fires that were kept burning throughout the cold night.

  One handed Lyssinya a smoking lantern. It stunk of rancid animal fat. The Sage threw a worried look over her shoulder then focused on
Adelsik again. “Come. Let’s sit.” They walked to one of the trunks and sat. Adelsik leaned against the woman for support and Lyssinya stroked her arm. They sat that way for what seemed an eternity, silent, except for Adelsik’s quiet sobs and Henny’s sporadic screams.

  “Henny was beaten,” Thad explained to Siri as he crossed to one of the fires. His throat caught. “Attacked in the Netherworld. We’re still trying to figure out what happened to Maesa. That a bloody fact. Ryder says Death took her in the Netherworld but he doesn’t know how.” He brushed an ungloved hand across his wet face and turned back for the buildings.

  Lyssinya’s nails dug into Adelsik’s flesh for a heartbeat. “Bloody snake.” Her head flipped toward The Big Iron.

  Of course! Why hadn’t Adelsik thought of that? Mindona. That woman had beaten Haranda and Thad in the Netherworld. Whipped them bloody. Elder Siri had her bound with the Azure Amulet but Croferituus probably had something to do with this. No one had seen the yellow-eyed woman since the day she ran off and Taniras’s wolves lost her scent in the river. The Hunters had no better luck once they’d recovered their strength and joined the search.

  But even if Mindona got free of her binding, how did she find Maesa and Henny? Every Gypsy and Sage now knew how to stay hidden in the Netherworld, even younglings, though they weren’t told details of what they did, only how to do it. Servants and middlings couldn’t be harmed from the Netherworld. Only those who harnessed the Energy could be sent to their bodies with injuries. Maesa had a slight amount of slumbering Energy, not enough to do anything on her own, but she should never have been found.

  Fresh tears made their way down Adelsik’s cheeks as fire grew in her belly and her hands shook with rage. Sudden clarity filled her mind and before she realized it, she was halfway to The Big Iron, even ahead of Lyssinya. When she reached the wagon, she tossed animal skins away from the bars. The place had become even more crowded with the addition of Cass’s root father. Straw had been strewn everywhere along with blankets so they wouldn’t freeze in this unusual weather, and a fire blazed nearby. Snow seeped into Adelsik’s boots but she ignored the cold. She would have to oil them against wetness. Funny she would think of such a thing now. Her head itched but she ignored that too.

  She stepped close to the bars and Lyssinya pulled her back with some effort. She yanked her arms away but kept her distance. “What have you done, Mindona, you blood-sucking beast? And where is your idiot partner Croferituus?”

  Dawn was closer than she first thought and gray light began to create shadows against the white snow. Why not let the prisoners freeze? They weren’t worthy enough to live. Some were just simple middlings.

  Mindona smiled and smoothed her white-streaked hair with obvious trouble since her wrists were secured to the bars. “The little snips should learn to keep their footprints where I can’t get at them.”

  Adelsik lunged for the woman but came up short when someone grabbed her. Thick, hairy arms. LePon. “Get your hands off me, you big oaf!” He didn’t obey, so she leaned as far forward as she could manage in his vice grip and focused on Mindona again. “You attack defenseless girls in their sleep. Is that some sort of disgusting fun?” Then she realized something. “No. It couldn’t have been you, could it? You’re not a strong enough slumberer.” The errant woman narrowed eyes and her smile now looked forced. “Croferituus has done this.” Adelsik’s voice grew low and dangerous. “Where is she, Mindona?”

  “I don’t know,” the woman said in a flippant tone.

  “You lie.”

  “Get the Bankari herb mistress,” Lyssinya said to someone.

  “The healers are already with the younglings.”

  “Bring the herb mistress to me.”

  Adelsik didn’t know why Lyssinya wanted the Bankari woman. There were no herbs to make a person tell the truth, at least not that she’d learned about in her classes.

  “Is Henny all right?” someone asked.

  “The healers are with her,” Taniras said in a strained voice. “She’s well cared for. I can’t say the same for whoever did this.”

  Adelsik struggled against LePon’s tree trunk arms to no avail and the wolf singer moved in front of her. Black eyes that seemed reflective in the dawn light searched her own. A single tear fled down Taniras’s dark cheek. “Let her go, LePon.”

  As soon as Adelsik was free of the man’s iron grasp, she lunged for the wagon, but Taniras snagged her by the arms, an unusually strong grip for a new-oathed woman. “If you harm her now, Adelsik, we may never find Croferituus.” Her voice seemed calm, yet fire lit her eyes.

  “I won’t kill her. Not yet.” The words seemed distant. Maesa couldn’t be dead. She had laughed with Adelsik just last night.

  The herb mistress ran up, breathless. “What took you so long?” Lyssinya said in an unpleasant tone. “Never mind.” She latched onto the Bankari woman and pulled her out of earshot.

  Taniras kept her grip on Adelsik and glared back over her shoulder at Mindona. “You stink of lies, woman.”

  “You sleep with dogs, Gypsy.”

  “I walk with wolves. You lie with dogs.”

  What happened next caught Adelsik up short. Taniras growled. This was no sound a normal person could make. The singer sounded wild, animal. Wolf. Mindona flinched and quickly pulled herself straight with a defiant huff, but Adelsik had seen her reaction, and no doubt so had everyone else. Adelsik jumped when the wolf singer turned abruptly and stared with those black, reflective eyes again.

  “Growling won’t help, Taniras.” The shade walker had a brow raised. Her red brimmed eyes revealed that she’d been weeping but her face became set and hard.

  “Perhaps not. But it makes me feel better.” There was no humor in the Maricari woman’s tone. Taniras then hooked an arm in Adelsik’s and led her, forcefully, toward one of the fires.

  “Let me go.” She tried and tried to pull away. Angry grunts flew from her mouth but Taniras didn’t let her go. Instead, the singer forced her onto a large, tree trunk. Arms wrapped around Adelsik and Taniras began to sing an ancient lullaby, just a few words.

  She calmed a bit. “Maesa.” Memories of the previous day filled her mind.

  She had been standing with Taniras as they conversed with Maesa and Birek. The new-oathed woman, Gwen, still wore the silver bangles on her multiple braids, despite the fact that they must be frigid in this weather, and her head was uncovered. Adelsik’s mind showed the scene as though it were being performed on a stage in front of her.

  “I don’t see how Gwen can sleep with those things in her hair.” She had commented.

  Taniras looked over her shoulder and shrugged. “She’s used to it. You’d be surprised what a body can get used to.” She scratched absently beneath her hood, which caused Adelsik’s head to itch.

  “What about you? What’s it like to talk to the wolves?”

  “They’re a sight more intelligent than a lot of middlings I’ve known.” She smiled to reveal white teeth against dark skin.

  Adelsik chuckled. “I’ll wager they are. Are they nearby?”

  “Yes. Always near.” One gloved finger tapped her temple. “At least in here.”

  “There you are!” Camlys sprinted to them. The Gypsy hunter wore a shortcoat over wool tunic and breeches. Her bow and quiver bounced against her back. “I wondered where you got off to. Adelsik.” She tipped her head.

  “Camlys.”

  The two Maricari women began to chat, so Adelsik made her way to some of the day old biscuits the servants had put out on a trunk. At least Taniras and Camlys had mended their ways. They had been friends since childhood but when Taniras was a youngling, the two seemed to do nothing but squabble.

  Maesa walked up and put arm around Adelsik’s shoulders. “How are you?”

  “I’ll be better once we have summer back.” She grinned and the cold air bit at her dry lips. Her head itched and she scratched absently. “How are things with you and Birek?” Gwen cleared her throat as she approached, tho
se silver bangles tinkling. “I know, Gwen. We’re not supposed to talk about their relationship. But the two are marriage age, and Maesa and I have been friends for a while.”

  Gwen raised a red brow and Adelsik braced for a tongue-lashing, something the woman could be quick to administer, even to another new-oathed. But the tall, lanky woman smiled and leaned close. “I have no argument. But don’t let Elder Siri or Grenwin catch you.”

  Maesa smiled, the first in a while Adelsik realized, and said, “That’s an understatement. Grenwin seems to think I’m still in infant loincloths.” The three chuckled. “What she doesn’t know is that Zarenia confides in me. She’s offered some very good advice about keeping my backside out of a sling with that woman. I thought my nurse was a hard woman because she didn’t allow me to go outside without a belt when I was a child. Grenwin could probably make my old nurse weep with a single look.”

  They laughed, which caught Zarenia and Hallia’s attention and the two women joined them. “What’s so amusing,” Zarenia said in her northern drawl.

  Her demeanor had changed since their release from Croferituus’s spell. She actually smiled now.

  Maesa blew into her gloved hands. “We were just comparing notes on Grenwin.”

  Zarenia smiled. “Yes, she’s quite a formidable woman.” She shook a gloved finger. “She’s also loyal. Don’t forget that, youngling.”

  “Never.” Maesa had smiled at her former clan sister.

  A raucous from The Big Iron jolted Adelsik from those cozy memories and bitter realization hit her in the stomach like a rock. Any calm Taniras’s song had instilled was gone again. The singer allowed her to make her way to the wagon with several others but kept a hand on her arm as they walked. Elder Siri had a frown on her face and the large woman took long steps in front of them, unhindered by her breeches.

  When they arrived, Mindona sat screeching at the top of her lungs. She was so hysterical that Adelsik couldn’t make out what she said. Lyssinya stood with narrowed eyes and a cup of steaming liquid in her hand.