“Come on, Adira, you have to move faster than that,” Ashni muttered, seeing the siege machines in the distance. The siege towers would narrow the battlefield and block in whatever chariots made it through. They could pick the chariots off one by one, and the soldiers too. The Black Dogs wouldn’t be able to rip through the towers without much effort and by that time, she’d have taken care of most of them with the help of a few expert Shadow Walkers, who already summoned their own demons.
More enemy troops cascaded down the hill and Ashni assumed Layla was doing her part. She took a small band to the side, terrorizing the edges of their foes, meant only to push more of them forward. Ashni held in a laugh. Once the stragglers had arrived on the base of the hill, the siege towers barricaded them in.
“Ready the catapults!” Ashni raised a hand. Ropes snapped into place. She dropped her hand and watched the projectiles fly. Sharpened bolts took down the middle ranks, and when her Shadow Walkers called forth their demons, barely shaped creatures of smoke with gaping maws, whose roars were more than enough to pause the Black Dogs. The creatures tore through the enemy ranks, cutting in at all angles, rotting away all things they touched, armor, weapons, and foe. Chaos erupted from their enemies.
For the opponents who made it through the fire and the caltrops, Ashni and her forces waited. A small wave of people came at her. The more she swung the Ivory Claw, the more her arrow wound throbbed and bled. She unsheathed the Golden Feather and used that sword to beat back the masses.
The flames crackled ahead with burning soldiers falling from it. People still came from down the hill, driven by Layla and her sort. The chariots found themselves without space to maneuver thanks to the siege towers boxing everyone in and their Black Dogs were confounded when confronted by larger creatures of the night. And just like that Ashni’s side began to crush their foes until the enemy figured out how to properly retreat. Ashni’s victory came swiftly after that.
I can’t believe this crazy idea worked. The plan came together as Ashni, Adira, and Layla envisioned it. While they had done the false retreat plan a few times, they had never done it with so many moving parts where the opponent had the clear tactical advantage and didn’t have to chase them in order to win. They gambled here and won big.
She blew out a breath. I’ll never doubt having the gods’ favor ever again. There was no way the gods were upset with her. Not with this victory.
Chapter Eleven
NAKIA WRUNG HER HANDS together as she waited for word of the battle. She paced outside of the tent she shared with Ashni, feeling useless and out of place. Looking around, she wondered if others left behind felt the same way. How could they? Their…Her thoughts stopped. What’s Ashni to me? She didn’t have the words for their relationship.
Would she be my fiancée? Her mind had trouble wrapping around the idea of being engaged to a woman, even though she understood the concept well enough. She asked to marry me, and I am more than willing and the Roshan allow it. Is this a normal betrothal?
“I’ll have to ask when they return,” she mumbled. If they return. Dread bubbled and burned in her stomach. It was quite possible when she saw Ashni that morning, it could’ve been the last time. She should’ve paid more attention, drank Ashni in, showered her in kisses. Why didn’t I do that?
Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed it down to avoid vomiting in camp. She didn’t want the people left behind to think she couldn’t handle herself. How does Adira’s wife cope? Nakia hated to think she might have to ask. She didn’t have any real relationship with Adira’s wife. Maybe she could use Bashira as an intermediary.
“Is there anything I can get you?” a slender woman asked, making Nakia pause in her constant pacing. She didn’t have on a uniform, so she wasn’t a soldier. She was dressed in light colors, trousers, and sandals, even though most of the camp seemed to be in boots. Nakia wasn’t sure what to make of her.
“Who are you?” Nakia inquired with an arched eyebrow, annoyed. She had worrying to do and pacing helped her.
The woman bowed her head, feathers braided into her curly, dark hair shifted to one side. “I am one of the general’s assistants.”
Nakia frowned. “She has assistants?” She felt like Adira was a woman who did it all on her own.
The woman shrugged. “Yes, in a way. Since her spouse doesn’t travel with her, a couple of people go on campaign to make sure she uses the tech Saniyah develops properly. We also get a chance to witness what the army might need and develop things in camp or send word back to Saniyah, so she can create things.”
Nakia nodded. An army probably had more than soldiers in it anyway. The camp looked like a small city, even without the army there. There were probably all sorts of things that went into making it run properly.
“Is there anything I can get you?” the woman repeated, her brown eyes warm. Her expression made her copper face glow like freshly glazed pottery. She was older than Nakia, probably older than Adira, and gave off an almost motherly presence.
Nakia shook her head. “No. I’m just adjusting.”
“To life in camp or to life waiting for a warrior to return?”
“Both,” Nakia said before she realized it. Living in the camp wasn’t even that difficult. Everyone, especially Ashni, was ready to move heaven and earth for her comfort.
The woman gave her a soft smile. “You’ll get the hang out of it, living in the camp anyway. My spouse is a warrior. The wait is always going to be hard until your loved one is back in your arms. In fact, I choose to come with the army just to keep track of my wild woman.”
“You’re married to a woman? Are any of the women around here married to men?” Layla seemed like the only one. No one treated her as if it was odd, but it seemed like every other woman she met was in a relationship with another woman.
The woman laughed. “There are plenty, if that’s your thing. There are also plenty of men married to men.”
Nakia shook her head. At this point, she could understand the concept of a same sex relationship thanks to her feelings for Ashni, but a relationship and marriage were two different things. Hell, marriage and feelings were two different things. Yet her feelings for Ashni made her want to marry Ashni and that seemed to be mutual. She shook those thoughts away. Now wasn’t the time to have a philosophical crisis.
“How do you handle waiting for your spouse to come back from a battle?”
“One, I have friends and we all distract each other. Two, I work if I have any ideas. Three, I walk around until something catches my eye,” the woman replied, ticking off each of her ideas on her fingers.
“And I caught your eye.” Nakia wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She didn’t want to be pitied. She just wanted Ashni back safe. Is that too much to ask? Is the anxiety threatening to gnaw a hole in my chest, the gods saying, yes, it was too much to ask? She’d pray for peace if only she didn’t already know her peace was Ashni. Ashni’s return was the only thing that would make things right.
She shrugged. “Friends have gotten drunk and inspiration hasn’t hit me.”
“You could get drunk as well.”
“I don’t like to drink when we’re on campaign. I definitely don’t want to be drunk when my spouse comes back or if my spouse doesn’t.”
“Wouldn’t the latter be the best time to be drunk?”
She shook her head. “No, because then you can fool yourself into believing the news isn’t real and you have to deal with it again when you sober up. I’ve seen it happen. I don’t want that.” She gave Nakia a hard look, as if telling her she didn’t want that either.
Nakia took a breath as thoughts of waiting for Ashni after countless battles drifted through her head. What would I do if Ashni didn’t come back from one of them? Hell, if Ashni didn’t come back from this one? What would my life be like without Ashni? She couldn’t imagine her life, with or without Ashni. She couldn’t figure out what her life was right now. Stop with the deep thinking already. It’s not making this
any easier. She’d save the questions for when Ashni was back. She will be back.
To distract herself from negative thoughts, Nakia nodded and then looked around the camp, if only to figure out why the woman came to her of all people. There was little movement in the camp. Barely anyone was outside of their tents and those who were, sat calmly, doing something quiet to occupy their time. She probably looked like a nervous wreck, pacing outside of the tent.
“You must think I’m pathetic.” It made her throat burn to admit it.
“Of course not. We’ve all been where you are. The first wait. Perhaps we could take each other’s minds off of it.”
Nakia shrugged. “What do you suggest?”
“Do you play chess?”
Nakia almost said no, but she did. Ashni taught her and told her she was good. Maybe she could improve enough to one day play Ashni. It would be a great way to take her mind off of a great many things as well.
“Do you have a set?” Nakia had no idea where Ashni kept anything.
The woman nodded. “I’ll get it and be right back. I’m Farzana, by the way.”
Nakia nodded and then Farzana was gone, coming back in a few moments with a chessboard in hand and a bag of pieces dangling from one finger. Nakia was a little out of practice. She took long moments to make moves, but Farzana didn’t seem bothered by it, waiting patiently each time it was Nakia’s go. Farzana won the first three games, but it was harder and harder each time.
“Cheating on me already?” The question caused Nakia to gasp and look up. Ashni was hardly a foot away, looking worse for wear. Her skin, generally the color of dark sand, was covered in mud and soot. Much of her honey brown hair was out of her braids, going off in all directions.
Nakia was out of her seat before she realized it, her heart racing with both relief and concern. She’s alive! “You’re hurt.” Ashni had an arrow sticking out of her arm, blood oozing down the limb to drip from her fingertips.
Ashni glanced down at her arm, as if she had no idea there was an arrow through her flesh. She had the nerve to scoff. “Oh, this. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not ‘nothing.’ You’re bleeding!” Nakia wanted to run her fingers over the wound, but she didn’t want to risk making things worse.
“This is the part where you order her to the medic to get fixed before the wound festers and she dies,” Adira said, standing behind Ashni with an almost delighted glimmer in her eye and amused smirk.
Nakia straightened as she stared Ashni down. “She’s right! You need medical attention. Come on. I’ll go with you.” She took Ashni by the hand.
Adira snickered, but Nakia ignored the sound, along with Ashni’s protests. Nakia didn’t know where she was going, didn’t know who might be a doctor in the camp, but eventually one found them. She suspected Adira sent him their way. Next time I have spare time, I have to get to know who is who around the camp, so I’m not completely useless if Ashni needs me again. They went to the Queen’s tent but didn’t go in. The doctor needed the daylight to get a proper look at the wound.
“It’s fine,” Ashni said through gritted teeth, hand on the arrow shaft as if she had plans to yank it out.
“Can you let the doctor work, please?” Nakia huffed and swatted Ashni’s hand away from the missile buried in her flesh.
The doctor, a rather young looking man, gave her a small smile as he unwrapped tools from a leather satchel. Nakia swallowed as she took in the sight of the tools. She hadn’t seen a doctor operate before. She wasn’t sure what to expect while Ashni seemed more put out than anything else.
“Get on with it, so you can tend to troops who actually need it,” Ashni said with her nose turned up.
“Highness, you do realize if I don’t tend to this, you could lose your arm,” the doctor replied.
Ashni frowned. “You must be new if you don’t know I can tend to my own minor wounds.”
Nakia glanced at Ashni. She knows how to mend wounds? Nakia wouldn’t know what to do if she had an arrow in her arm. She wouldn’t know how to take care of minor wounds, either. I have so much to learn if I’m going to keep up with anyone around here.
“I know you can, Highness, but maybe let others do their jobs as well,” the doctor replied.
Nakia gave Ashni’s healthy hand a squeeze to get her to leave the poor doctor alone. It worked to the point where Ashni looked at her and smiled. Nakia smiled back and then noticed the doctor holding up a pair of shears, snapping off much of the shaft of the arrow. She gasped and he gave her a look with a tilt of his head. She suspected she was pale, and they hadn’t even got to the gruesome part yet.
“Perhaps you’d rather wait in the tent as I tend to the queen?” He nodded toward the open flap of the tent.
Ashni gave her a soft look. “It’s fine. You don’t have to stay and watch.”
Nakia didn’t want to, but felt like she had to. Standing with Ashni through this seemed like she was offering support, even if Ashni didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. But, she didn’t want to see Ashni hurt any further, even if it was to fix her. Taking a breath, she squeezed Ashni’s hand. Ashni smiled at her. Even with the beautiful distraction of Ashni’s smile, she still noticed the doctor cutting into Ashni’s bicep out of the corner of her eye.
“What are you doing?” Nakia’s voice sounded hysterical, even to her. She could feel the blood drain from her face, and she dipped to the side a little as if about to pass out. Ashni gave her hand a tug, helping her regain some awareness of what was going on. Nakia gritted her teeth and forced herself to remain standing. She’d have to get used to the sight of blood.
Ashni kissed the side of her head. “Calm down. He’s not hurting me. Well, he is, but not in the way you think. He needed to cut the wound and make it wider to pull the arrow out. If he just pulled it out, it would take a lot of flesh with it. It’d be like a skewer.”
Nakia winced at the image of a chunk of meat being torn out of Ashni’s arm. Ashni gave her hand another squeeze. Taking a breath, she tried to steel herself. She should support Ashni. She was with a warrior queen. Surely this wasn’t the last time Ashni would show up wounded, and she’d want to be with Ashni those times as well.
“Did you get more sleep after I left earlier?” Ashni asked.
Nakia had to swallow to find her voice, turning her gaze from the gaping wound to her love’s eyes. “I tried. It was cold without you.”
“I was tempted to stay. You’re better company than Adira any day.”
“From the way you call her a nag all the time, I feel like that’s not much of a compliment.”
Ashni chuckled and her amber eyes danced with amusement. “You’re learning. I see you were dusting off your chess skills as well.”
Nakia nodded. “I tried. I was going to lose, though, and I already lost three games before you showed up.”
“Well, at least you saw that much. I’ll practice with you after I get cleaned up. There’ll be a little downtime as we wait to see what your father does next. I’ll enjoy helping you grow, so the next time you see Amal you can pounce on him like a hungry lion on a gazelle.” There was an evil twinkle in her eyes, like Ashni couldn’t wait to see that and watch her brother throw a tantrum.
“So, the battle was in your favor?”
“I suppose you could say that. No one won, but we didn’t lose. Your information on Ferox made the whole thing possible. I hope to thank you later for it.” The look in Ashni’s eyes told her how she wished to show her gratitude, and it made Nakia squirm. Yet the look didn’t betray the fact that she had a wound cut open and an arrow yanked out of it. Amazing.
“You’re injured. You should be thinking about that. I know I am,” Nakia said. She wanted to take care of Ashni, help her heal, and whatever else a caretaker was supposed to do for someone who was hurt.
Ashni rolled her eyes. “It’s not serious.”
Nakia might have believed that, but then Ashni winced. Nakia glanced at the wound to see the doctor holding the b
loody arrowhead in brass prongs. Ashni glared at him, silently scolding him. The doctor ignored her.
“That’s a beauty,” the doctor said, twisting the arrowhead in his grip.
Nakia wasn’t sure what he meant, all she could see was blood and gore dripping from the weapon. Then it was out of sight, placed in a little pan by the doctor’s feet. She made the mistake of looking at the wound. Blood poured from it now. Her stomach twisted and bubbled. Her eyes went back to Ashni’s face as she resisted the urge to gag. She searched Ashni’s face for some sign of agony.
“I’m all right.” Ashni placed a soft kiss to Nakia’s forehead.
Nakia nodded for lack of a better thing to do and felt foolish for even doing that. But, she didn’t move from where she was. She wasn’t sure how much time passed, but she remained there, holding Ashni’s hand. Ashni tried to make conversation, but Nakia couldn’t muster the proper responses for more than a few sentences. Eventually, Ashni waved her free hand and flexed her fingers.
“Good job, doc, especially on the stitches,” Ashni said.
“Change the bandage at least every two days,” the doctor replied as he packed up. He handed Nakia a small jar. “Put this on the wound before rewrapping until it’s fully healed.”
Nakia nodded, her chest swelling. She was given responsibility, not just any responsibility either. She was set to look after the queen, the person in charge of the doctor’s dream, the army’s dream, and the soon to be conqueror of the West.
“Let’s get you cleaned up and get some food in you,” Nakia said and she was off before Ashni could say anything.
Nakia went from not knowing her way around camp to making sure Ashni got what she needed. Ashni spurted objections, but she did as she was told. She was washed and changed into more comfortable clothes. Nakia even managed a servant to take Ashni’s hair out of the now half-done braids she wore for battle, letting her scalp breath under wild, long curls. The way Ashni sighed and her eyes fluttered shut as the braids came loose let Nakia know she had done the right thing. It wasn’t until Ashni sat down for a meal that Nakia paused long enough to enjoy Ashni’s return. She curled up into Ashni’s side, away from her injured arm.
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