Fierce

Chapter 4

Kiri

Captured

She woke with a start and knew at once that the rain still fell with horrible intensity. Somehow she could tell by the light that it was later in the day.

"Rayl?"

The bundles at her head were jerked back.

"Here. Speak softly, Kiri Hatun."

Rayl squeezed into the shelter and sat in the gap with her knees pulled up high. Her eyes were bright and she seemed utterly calm.

"I'm so hungry," Kiri meant to speak steadily but her voice stuck in her throat and when she got the words out half of them croaked in her throat.

Rayl held out the water skin. Kiri snatched it and drank greedily. Once she'd stopped to take several gulping breaths, Rayl handed her a small, blue egg.

Kiri stared down at it lying in her hand.

"What do you want me to do with it?" she asked and gazed over at Rayl, mystified.

Did she want Kiri to carry it for her?

"Eat it, Kiri Hatun. You must keep your strength."

Revulsion filled Kiri. She thrust her hand back at Rayl and wrinkled her nose in disgust.

After a pause, Rayl took the egg. She struck it once with a tiny, sharp stick and flung back her head, draining the contents of the egg into her mouth.

Kiri turned her eyes away and only just stopped herself from retching.

A soft laugh came from Rayl.

She looked at Kiri with glimmering eyes, full of mischief.

"You must eat it, Wife of the Chief. You will die if you stay so nice."

"I cannot," Kiri said faintly, the bile rising in her throat. The thought of the runny yellow yolk and the clear, watery egg white send spasms through her stomach.

Rayl reached into her leather pouch and drew out another small egg. Kiri shook her head vigorously and turned away with stiff lips and resolute mouth.

Rayl shrugged and tipped the egg along the same path as the first.

Kiri frowned and curled her lip.

"Why are you offering me such an item, Rayl. Fetch me something better."

Rayl studied her with a still face and made no answer. The silence lengthened and the colour rose in Kiri's cheeks. Her fingers clutched at her dress and twisted the fabric between her fingers. Still Rayl neither spoke nor moved until at last Kiri dropped her head.

"I must go out, Rayl. I need to make water."

"Come," Rayl spoke without a trace of hostility and rose to her feet.

Kiri crawled out. Her limbs protested and she half fell. A strong hand grasped under her arm and helped her out of the shelter and to her feet. Rayl brushed down Kiri's dress with a few pats that were not necessary. The rich red was dulled by the mud Rayl had smeared on it and encrusted with grit. Only the leaves and twigs obeyed Rayl's hand and fell away.

The entire sky was pale grey. Stinging, fine rain fell and the low grumble of distant thunder echoed intermittently. Kiri could smell the dampness everywhere. Wet dirt, wet leaves and her wet, filthy self. She gave a shuddering breath.

Rayl took her along a small, winding animal trail that led up behind the ridge and pointed to a tree where Kiri should go. She turned her back to give the young woman privacy. Kiri looked at her set shoulders and realised for the first time that all Rayl's work during her time of brokenness had kept her muscular and lithe, very different from her soft, indolent self. Although sound of mind, Kiri hadn't extended herself in any physical way.

A new feeling of respect climbed into Kiri's chest. She finished her business quickly, the feeling of vulnerability heightened in the untamed wilderness. A grunting, coughing with a rumble at its depths sounded close by.

Rayl whirled about and stared into the trees behind Kiri.

"Quick."

She drew her knife from her belt with one hand and clutched Kiri's arm with the other. She hustled the younger woman down the path and back to the shelter, peering over her shoulder all the way. She pushed Kiri in and crouched in the doorway.

"What was it?"

"Big cat," Rayl answered. Her eyes were busy and the knife was ready, "they roam these hills. We're lucky we avoided them last night as we travelled. Now we know one has its den around here, we must be even more careful."

"Oh," Kiri moaned softly, "oh, if only I were back in my tent, in the safety of the village. Oh, Great Mother. Why has this fate befallen me?"

Her arms were clasped around her knees and she rocked back and forth.

"Lamentations will aid you not, Hatun," Rayl was stern, "it was not fate that sent you on this path but the foolishness of my cousin. He did not heed the warnings of the wise but trusted in unworthy men."

She looked so stern that Kiri straightened unconsciously.

"That is Fate," Kiri retorted but the whine had vanished, "for Yavar is a good man, nonetheless."

"True but that has not kept us safe."

Silence fell between them and lasted for a long time, each woman lost in her own thoughts.

Rayl cleared her throat.

"I must leave you now. We need food."

Kiri nodded trying to ignore the clutch of fear in her heart. To be alone in the wild forest was dangerous, always dangerous.

Without further explanation Rayl rose and slipped out of the shelter.

"Wait," the word burst from Kiri's lips, "what if the lion comes?"

"I did not build the shelter to keep the rain off you, Hatun, but to keep the wild beasts out. Stay in, keep the door plugged and you will be safe."

Kiri shivered.

"Stay in the shelter," Rayl said, "no matter what, and keep your knife at hand."

Kiri fingered the handle of her knife and breathed in deeply. It was silent now that Rayl was gone. She listened, her ears sharp and alert. Bird song filtered through the forest. Kiri sat and listened and kept quiet and still.

Rayl was gone for so long that Kiri felt sure she'd come to harm. The shadows lengthened across the earth. Fingers of sunlight shone through the lattice of branches and they slid across the inside as the sun set.

Kiri peered through gaps in the sticks of her shelter and gazed about anxiously. The shadows deepened into twilight The rays of the sun were gone but she could still make out a little. She pushed through the shrubby plug and gazed about.

Gazing upward, her eye fell on a pale smudge, deep in the gloom. It blended perfectly with the creamy patches upon the trunks of the crowded trees. Her focus sharpened and she realised that the pale smudge was Rayl's face.

She was high up on the side of the ridge and Kiri saw that Rayl was looking further down from the shelter. Kiri craned her neck, straining to follow the direction of Rayl's gaze. She leaned against the latticed branches of the shelter in her efforts, creating a crackling, swishing sound.

Rayl's face turned swiftly and across the distance her dark eyes struck Kiri like a blow. She raised a finger to her lips and gazed away again. Kiri looked also and this time she saw what Rayl stared at. A young man was crouched on the slope of the high ridge also but further along. Kiri's eyes widened. She recognised the figure. It was her kinsman, Kynan, who had stayed behind to hold back the enemy while she and Rayl escaped.

Again her thicket moved as she leaned on it in her joy and relief. Rayl's frightened face, sent ice into Kiri's bones. The woman stared at her as if for the last time. Kiri's blood froze for in that moment she heard it - voices down below. They were below Kynan, below Rayl's position and below Kiri, down on the forest floor.

The ice in her blood travelled to her bones and through her whole body. Kiri trembled violently. She crouched, as still as a mouse, quiet and on high alert.

The voices below were joined by another. So there were at least three. Kiri waited for the shout. Waited for the sounds of men sprinting toward her hiding place but the low voices kept on speaking. As she listened to the noises they made, Kiri realised they were setting up camp right under the shelter.

There was no way Rayl could join her there. Kiri couldn't creep out. Her young kinsman couldn't shift his position. They were stuck. Kiri looked back toward Rayl, seeking her face, looking for some direction but the place where Rayl had stood, pressed close to the cream and brown trunk, was empty. Like a quiet zephyr, she had slipped away into the twilight. Rayl was gone.

A tear slipped down Kiri's cheek. She had the strangest impulse to just rise from her hiding place and walk down to the fire of the enemy and surrender. She fought it back, heat rising into her face. They would do unspeakable things to her. Then they would kill her or keep her to sell in the slave markets.

No, Kiri. You must not move.

The murmuring voices rose to a shout. A swirling stamp of feet and legs, swishing through the leaves and crashing through small, brittle logs carried so clearly through the still quietness of the forest.

Kiri searched the ridge for Rayl but she was long gone. Kiri's frightened eyes flew to where Kynan was hidden and let out a gasp. Rayl was there, a knife pressed to the youth's throat. Her cold, black eyes met Kiri's and reminded her that she had no knowledge of this woman, this new, sharp Rayl. Once again Rayl lifted a finger to her lips. Then she pulled the boy back into the thickness of the undergrowth and Kiri was alone with her fear and the sounds of a rapidly approaching enemy.

The footsteps approached and Kiri shrank back as far as she could. The door was throw aside and a rough hand reached into the shelter and clamped onto Kiri's arm. She squealed as it tightened and inexorably drew her out of the dim comfort of her hiding place.

"Well now," a gruff voice spoke above her head. She glimpsed a thick, shaggy beard and another grinning wolf head mask pushed up over a hard face. Two enemy warriors grabbed her by the arms and rushed her, tripping and stumbling down the steep slope to the camp at the foot of the ridge.

A roar of laughter met the two warriors as another long beast of a man rose from warming his hands at the flames of the fire and stood watching the men descend with their find.

"A woman!" he roared, slapping his thigh and letting out a great guffaw. He ran a hand over his short beard. He was dressed for travel and fighting with a thick felt tunic and layered leather armour. It was cinched at the waist by a wide belt which held long, curved sword from either hip. Kiri's frightened eyes saw the dangling gold figurine that swung from his left earlobe. Scythians.

He lifted a chunk of dried meat to his mouth, speared on the tip of his knife, and chewed calmly as he watched his men half drag/half carry Kiri down the foot of the ridge and over to the fire.

Another man turned from bending over a heavy pack and Kiri gave a cry of recognition. It was Boru, thank the Sky Father. Boru who was head of the Lateri warriors and her husband's closest friend. These men were friends of the Lateri tribe, not enemies.  They must be out looking for her now that the attack upon the village was repulsed.

A wisp of suspicion crossed her mind; had Rayl helped her to escape or had she actually kidnapped her amidst the terror? The image of Rayl holding a knife to Kynan's throat returned to Kiri and her suspicions of the newly awakened Rayl deepened.

She opened her mouth to cry out in relief to Boru but the look on his face as his eyes fell on her, snatched the words away. She saw his eyes widen in shock followed by the flicker of some other emotion. Then his eyelids narrowed and he looked sly. When he opened them wide again, they blazed at Kiri and she shrank back, a new fear coursing through her body.

"A tasty morsel to brighten up our damp, cold camp," the beastly man said, grinning at Kiri and the two men dragging her in, "how did you get out here, my pretty?"

He thrust the knife back into his belt and stepped toward her until the men pulled her to a standstill. He was close. He lifted a hand and brushed it along her cheek. Kiri caught the whiff of dirt and horses mixed with the meaty smell of blood and the sharp stench of sweat. Her nostrils flared and she reared back in her captors' arms making them all laugh again. The leader reached for her again.

"Stop," Boru stepped up beside the other man and placed a hand on his arm, "she was the wife of the Lateri chief."

If you missed chapter 3 in the last newsletter, you can find it here