But they were still vastly outnumbered.
They needed to run.
48
Alena saddled her horse with the rest of her family. She dreaded another long day of riding.
But she feared the conclusion of that long ride even more.
Sooni had decided the night before that she had seen enough. There was nothing to be gained by delaying another day, and the speed of the invaders had to be taken into account. The rest of the clans remained rooted in their camps. The two forces would most likely meet the day after next, unless Sooni stopped them.
More strange phenomena had been reported at the camp when they returned, but now Sooni had the beginnings of an explanation to share with the others. Some among the invaders had formed a connection with the roving beasts of the plains. Sooni called it soulwalking, a term Alena had never heard before, but understood intuitively.
While Sooni and her family scouted the invaders, the Etari camp had also been observed, both by birds and wolves. There had been no attacks, but several creatures had been spotted. The assumption was that the invaders knew just as much about the Etari as the Etari knew about the invaders.
Regardless, Sooni’s task remained the same: see if there was a way to avoid war and learn more about the mysterious invaders.
The family rode in silence, a nervous energy running between them.
Alena drew close to Azaleth. “Where do you think the invaders came from?”
It was a question she had been turning over in her mind since she had first heard of the invaders. At first, she had assumed it was some segment of the empire that had sailed around and attacked the Etari from behind. Her first glance the day before had put that idea to lie. Whoever the invaders were, they weren’t from the empire.
Anders I had conquered the entire continent from end to end, with the exception of Etar and Falar. All lived under the empire’s banner, but Alena had never seen such pale skin.
Which led to her most unsettling question. If they weren’t imperial, Etari, or Falari, where did they come from?
The Etari didn’t seem as disturbed by the discovery as she was. Last night there had been no talk of the question, and Alena wanted to know why.
Azaleth signed indifference. “Probably the Lolani.”
“The who?”
“The Lolani. The great scourge.”
I’m confused, she signed.
“It’s an old story, one we learn as children. Long ago, the Lolani came and fought for control of the land.”
“How long ago?”
A sign of uncertainty. “Long ago, well before the wars with the empire.”
“We don’t have any story like that.” In fact, there weren’t many stories at all from before the establishment of the empire. She had heard whispers of older stories, but not many. Most were tales of creatures no one had ever seen. In school there was the history of the empire and little else. She understood history didn’t start with Anders I, but these seemed like stories that should have spread.
“What’s the story of the Lolani?” she asked.
“There are a few, but they all agree on a few facts. Long ago, foreign invaders came to our land, and to yours as well. They were strong fighters, but a number of clans banned together to fight them off. It was before the Long Winter. After the Winter, they were never seen again.”
“Long Winter?”
Now it was his turn to sign confusion. “Didn’t you learn any history?”
Alena could name the meaningful events of every emperor since Anders I. She could tell the reasons behind every minor rebellion and what changes had resulted. But she didn’t have the faintest idea what events Azaleth spoke of.
“The Long Winter was, well, a long winter.” He spoke as though he was instructing a child.
“How long?”
“Several generations.”
“What?”
“I forget exactly, but three or four, if my memory is right.”
Alena thanked Azaleth for the information, then angled her horse away so she could think in silence. Had she been lied to by the empire?
It made her question her entire education. The Etari had never given her any reason to doubt their stories. No one particularly cared whether or not she believed them, which made her more willing to accept the tales as true. Azaleth considered the Long Winter to be a piece of common knowledge. And because Alena couldn’t name a major historical event before Anders I, she didn’t have a reason to argue. In academy, any questions about the far past resulted in the same story: the land of the empire had been filled with disparate, uncivilized, warring fiefdoms. No one worried about what took place before Anders I’s reign because it hadn’t mattered.
All Alena’s thoughts of history and education fled when they came upon the Lolani. The invaders couldn’t number more than two hundred, but a menace hung over their camp. Alena thought back to her last visit, to the deer who had walked demurely to the slaughter. The memory clung to her, no matter how she pushed it away.
Most of their family stopped, well in sight of the invaders. Sooni motioned, and a small party broke apart from the others. Without a shared symbol of peace, Sooni had elected to advance with only a small number of her family. Four of them rode forward. Sooni would negotiate, Alena observed, and two warriors flanked them if danger appeared.
They rode close, stopping over three hundred paces away from the invaders’ outer perimeter.
Alena spotted two wolves, lying in the grass, watching her with eyes that seemed too alert not to be human. Her heart raced and her hands sweated as she held onto the reins.
For several long moments, she thought their friendly overtures would be ignored. The invaders continued walking forward, a loose collection of warriors that maintained no discernable order. And yet, as Alena watched, she wouldn’t say they were disorganized. They reminded her of flocks of birds, flying together yet individual all the same. In places, two or three gathered together.
