He had no answer that would satisfy her. She watched him closely and understood.
“Brandt…”
Her voice shamed him. The pity and the pain were almost too much to bear.
A cloud of birds rising in the distance caught their attention. They rose from the trees Brandt and Ana had just come through, not too long ago.
They were being hunted.
Ana met his gaze. “Will you run?”
Had he given up? Had he finally been pushed too far?
That low voice called to him still, a seductive desire, an end to it all.
But he was too much of a coward to do so in front of Ana.
He stood. “Let’s go.”
She watched as he walked over, grabbed his knife, and sheathed it.
Then they ran, pursued by the invaders.
50
Sooni’s return to the camp the next morning generated a commotion. Rotger was among the first to approach her. His expression was question enough.
No, Sooni signed.
Rotger made the gestures for battle, high above his head where everyone could see. The families, waiting for just such a signal, began their final preparations.
Sooni dismounted and Alena did the same. Sooni gestured for Alena to stay, but the others were to prepare with the rest of the family. The men did so, leaving Rotger alone with Sooni and Alena.
“They have no interest in negotiation,” Sooni said.
Rotger frowned, his facial expression mirroring Alena’s thoughts perfectly. “What do they hope to accomplish? They can’t win.”
“Their spokesman seemed confident,” Sooni replied. “And so are we. One of us must be wrong, but I am not sure who.” She paused. “Caution is warranted.”
Agreed, Rotger signed. “We already know they soulwalk. We’ll expect other internal manipulations.”
Alena thought more discussion was warranted. They were marching off to battle, but Sooni and Rotger made the decision seem so easy.
The process jarred against her imagination. Shouldn’t this be harder? Should she insist they try again for peace?
Sooni turned to Alena. “What did you notice?”
Alena froze. She hadn’t expected to be questioned, but why else would Sooni have asked her to stay?
She thought of the cold confidence in the Lolani’s face, the way he seemed taller than them even though they rode high on horses. “He believes they are stronger. Whatever they plan, they are not concerned by how we outnumber them. He looks down on us.”
She didn’t think her observations amounted to much, but Sooni signed her agreement, and Rotger looked thoughtful. He gave a sharp sign of agreement and turned to his other duties.
Rotger’s trust in Sooni surprised Alena. He hadn’t asked for details of their meeting, or questioned Sooni’s decisions. He accepted her word and led the Etari to battle.
Alena followed Sooni, her mind caught in a loop. She was riding into battle.
With her family, yes, but before the sun set on this day, there would be war.
Now, more than ever, the Lolani’s calm confidence shook her. He knew he was outnumbered, and he didn’t care. Were they all reacting exactly as the Lolani expected?
She tried to focus her mind on the assumptions underlying the upcoming battle, but her mind was like a wild horse, running where it chose.
This was foolishness. Even after all the training, she was still one of the weakest members of the family. They would be better off without her.
Alena glanced over to the eastern horizon, where her true family lived. A thought tickled the back of her mind, but she ignored it.
How had their lives turned out? She had asked herself that question frequently in the first few months after her escape from the empire, but more rarely now. Jace would be a man, ready to fight for the empire. Did her father still work from sunrise to sundown, his eyes reflecting the blazing light of his forge? Alena’s hand instinctively went to her knife, still sharp after all these years.
He had tried to show her how to care not just for her possessions, but for the world she lived in.
She missed them all, a deep ache in her chest. She longed to see them again.
It wouldn’t be hard to ride away. Surely she’d earned the trust of the Etari by now. Surely they would let her ride.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Azaleth, riding up next to her. “Thinking of leaving?”
She smiled. “That obvious?”
Yes. He returned her smile, but there was no mirth there. “You will ride next to me. We have trained together the most, and we both know how the other fights. I will do my best to make sure you are safe.”
The words were exactly what she needed to hear, and she suspected he knew that. He didn’t promise her safety, like a soldier from the empire would. Azaleth couldn’t promise that. But she knew he would die if it meant saving her life.
She couldn’t turn her back on that devotion.
Perhaps it was time to claim her Etari family as her own. She could accept Azaleth and truly become a full part of the clan. No one had ever shown her the depth of kindness he had.
She would fight by his side. And after, who knew? Perhaps she would become Etari in truth.
Alena was surprised how little time it took the clans to prepare for battle. They were ready to ride in almost no time at all. Bows were strung, rocks were prepared, and steel examined.
Then they rode, their journey made largely in silence. Alena studied the faces of her family. A casual glance revealed little, but as she watched, she noticed the tics that revealed their true emotion. They were like her, terrified of what was to come, but pushing it down and riding forward anyway.
Azaleth’s voice interrupted her, barely strong enough to be heard over the sound of the horses. “Soon, you will need to focus only on yourself. Distraction will be dangerous.”
She signed her acknowledgement.
It was good advice, even if her innate desire was to watch. What little martial ability she had required constant focus.
The riders paused when they came within view of the Lolani
