One man broke from near the center of the pack, turning toward Sooni’s small contingent. Alena watched as the man seemed to part the tide of warriors walking past, moving perpendicular to the rest.
The man stepped away from the rest of the Lolani and Alena received her first real look at him. Her first impression reminded him of the Etari, of their effortless movement. As she noticed more features, she began to see the differences.
The Etari lived hard lives. Food needed to be hunted, and local plants needed to be harvested nearly every day just to survive. The resulting labor left them strong, able to run for leagues before experiencing even mild fatigue. But despite their readiness for warfare, the Etari were relatively peaceful. Alena knew small skirmishes happened regularly on the imperial border, but interclan fighting was almost nonexistent.
The Lolani warrior seemed to be a product of a similar lifestyle, with one notable difference: he was covered in pink scars. Some were long and thin, most likely the result of sharp steel cutting flesh. Others were round, scar tissue spidering out from a puncture wound. The man appeared to be of about thirty years, if age was judged the same among the Lolani. He approached with a confident swagger.
Alena immediately disliked him. Every movement spoke his contempt for Sooni and her family. Alena suspected the outcome of the discussion before it began.
“Greetings,” said Sooni, her tone tentative.
Alena hadn’t considered the problem of language.
The Lolani man studied each of them in turn. Alena refused to turn from his cold examination. He gave no other response.
“Do you understand our language?” Sooni tried again.
The awkward moment stretched between the two parties. The invader made no attempt to speak, but there was no disguising the intelligence behind his eyes.
Sooni sighed and tried again, speaking in a language Alena didn’t understand.
It caused a reaction, though. The man in front of them grunted. “Don’t try to speak our language ever again.” His Etari was as fluent as Alena’s.
Sooni’s reaction was muted, a quick flicker of surprise over her otherwise impassive features. “Your Etari is impressive.”
She left the question unspoken, hanging in the air. Where did the Lolani learn?
The warrior gave no answer.
“What is your purpose here?” Sooni asked.
Even though the Lolani was on foot and Sooni rode a horse, Alena felt as though Sooni was being looked down on. Like they all were.
After another long pause, he answered. “To make this land our own.”
Sooni looked past the man to the crowd of Lolani, now mostly past their position. “You seem to have come poorly prepared.”
The invader followed her gaze and gave a smile. “We were worried we had brought too many.”
The quiet confidence in the man’s tone unsettled Alena. It was a boast, but not the chest-beating claims of young warriors trying to catch her eye. It was the confidence of a man who knew his abilities.
What worried Alena more was that his perfect Etari meant he probably knew the abilities of his enemy as well.
And he still felt confident.
Alena forced herself to mentally step back, to become an observer of the situation.
“We are willing to trade, if it is goods that you seek,” Sooni said.
Alena had always known Sooni as a confident, wise leader. But somehow, next to this man, she seemed uncertain and hesitant. She seemed small next to him, smaller than their difference in physical sizes alone would explain. Her offer, although a reasonable one, sounded weak to Alena’s ears.
“Does the hawk trade with the squirrel?” the Lolani asked.
Alena felt, more than saw, their guardians tense up on either side of her. Such insults weren’t tolerated well. Another wrong word, and they would have war on their hands.
But Sooni had been chosen for a reason. She gestured. Relax.
The guardians obeyed, but the tension remained.
“This land is ours. We will fight to defend it, and you are vastly outnumbered.”
The Lolani waved his hand dismissively. “If you fight, you will die. This land has made you weak. Bend your knees and submit, or fight and die. It makes no difference to us.”
Compared to the Etari, the Lolani warrior looked positively relaxed. Even here he was outnumbered. With no escort, Sooni could kill him easily and ride to safety.
What was she missing? How could this warrior be so confident?
When Sooni didn’t immediately respond, the Lolani warrior pushed harder. “Do you speak for your people?”
“Yes.”
“Then decide, now. Submission, or annihilation?”
Sooni stared hard at the man, as though her examination would unravel the layers of mystery surrounding him.
Then, without another word, she turned her horse and left.
Alena was surprised, but she turned her own horse and followed suit.
The Lolani laughed, a deep, grating sound that followed them as they retreated from the meeting.
49
“We need help,” Brandt said.
Ana nodded.
Hidden safely, deep in the woods, the two warriors discussed their plans. Their initial panic had faded, and they debated heading straight to Landow or pursuing the invaders further and learning more about them.
Brandt took a deep breath, knowing how this next part would be received. “I think you should return to Landow and let Kye know.”
Ana’s eyes flared, and Brandt held up a hand to stall her retort. “Right now, Kye knows nothing. Even if you can’t give him exact numbers, your warning should give him time to prepare some defense. That information is vital.”
“We stay together, Brandt.”
“Even if by splitting apart we could prepare the empire for an invasion?”
She shrugged. “Any plan comes with risks. If we separate and something happens to me, you would never know. There’s no point in following them. We both need to return to Landow with as much haste as we can muster.”
Brandt shook his head. “We don’t know enough for Kye and the emperor to make wise decisions. We need to find the main body.”
The argument had gone in circles since their fight. Which was why Brandt suggested splitting up. But he understood. They stood
