Alicia bent to pick her bag. “Why don’t you take him to Iram? It’s the only place where Vindha’s will does not prevail?”
Ameel’s mother bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know if my husband would agree to move. This has been our ancestral land for as far back as we can both remember.”
Alicia slung the bag over her shoulders and looked at Ameel who was just getting out of the pen. He held four eggs in his hand while a peeved hen pecked at his leg. “He is old enough to be apprenticed to a mage. It’s time his training began, or else he might do something with his gift that could harm him or someone else. Think about going to Iram. He will get much-needed training there, and you will all be safe.” She turned to watch the boy as he carefully washed the eggs with water from a bucket.
He handed her the eggs. “You require anything else?”
Alicia ruffled his hair with her free hand. “Nothing else, young master.”
“That will be six silver coins then,” he said bravely.
She laughed. “Oh! Fleecing me, aren’t you? Never mind then. Here you go.” She gave him the money from her purse.
As she walked away from the hamlet, Alicia knew she paid a great deal more than the eggs, dried meat, bread, cheese and a few assorted spices were worth, but it was worth seeing the smile on the young man’s face. He was a clever salesman, and probably got enough from her to feed his family for a few months. She didn’t begrudge him the coins. But she begrudged the childhood that was stolen from him.
How many children were living in fear, hiding their talents, or getting enlisted in Vindha’s army without consent? How many lost their fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters to this war that was thrust upon the mainland by a king driven mad by ambitious greed?
“What happened?” Kayleb strode forward, pulling his sword forward in one clean motion as she walked back to him.
Alicia realized she was glowering. “Sorry. It’s…” She dumped the eggs in his hand. “I can’t believe one man can wreak havoc on so many lives?”
Kayleb looked down at the eggs. “Who is going to cook these?”
“What?” Alicia whirled to face him. He took an instinctive step back. “Oh, fine. I’ll cook.” She snatched the eggs from his hand, nearly breaking one.
“Maybe it’s not a good idea…” Kayleb sheathed his sword and reached for the eggs, but Alicia was already taking down her pack. After taking out a pot, she put the eggs in it.
“We’ll just boil them,” she said, thrusting the pot in his hands.
“Alright,” he said with all the cautiousness of a man who knew that anything he might say may set a woman off.
Rather than use magic, she took out her flint to make a fire. Once the fire was roaring, Alicia set up a small three-leg tripod, and hung the pot from it. Seeing that she had forgotten, Kayleb put some water in the pot. He sat opposite her. She gave him a wedge of cheese, and a few strips of meat.
“I am an excellent cook,” she said.
Kayleb watched the eggs carefully. “I’m sure you are.”
“My sister Zo isn’t. She always hated cooking.”
“Alright.”
“Oh! You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me. I’m not temperamental,” she huffed, annoyed by his careful demeanor.
“As you say.”
Alicia glared at him, and a moment later they both burst out laughing. “Oh! I don’t know…I guess it was the fear in that mother’s eyes that got me going,” said Alicia after they had both quiet down. She told him the entire story.
Kayleb ate his portion of the cheese. “It’s not just here. It’s happening everywhere. The war is making everyone jumpy.”
“I just wish we could do something about it.”
“We are. By destroying the temple, we are taking the first step towards ending this war.”
She looked down at the glowing fire. “Is that why you suddenly decided to come with me?”
For a moment his jaw clenched. Then he smiled. “I’m Vindha’s enemy. He wanted me to die in those caves. By escaping that punishment, I have only delayed my fate, not evaded it. Whenever, wherever, he finds me next, he will kill me…perhaps after prolonged torture. By joining hands with you, I am at least doing something to hurt him. We may even succeed in this crazy scheme, and if that happens I’ll die a happy man knowing that I did something to thwart his plans.”
“Or you may live, and after we defeat him you can take back your throne and rule your people as you did before.”
He shook his head. “I was defeated on the battle field. My men died trying to fight by my side. I’ve no right to live anymore. The horrors of those caves…” his voice shook. “My honor is no more.”
“You will fight another battle and maybe save thousands of other lives. Isn’t that something worth staying alive for?”
His lips quirked in a half-smile, his face taking on a dreamy expression. “I’ve seen death, and it calls me.”
She didn’t know what to say. Had he seen a vision? Or was this the result of horrible mental and physical torture done in the caves? He had been raped by the succubi. Those horrible beast women had the ability to make a man their sex slave by ripping away his free will, thoughts, and emotions. Kayleb wasn’t to blame for what happened there.
But how could she convince of him that? Alicia didn’t have the words to say what she felt, but she wanted him to understand that what happened in the caves had no bearing on his future.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she blurted. “The succubi…”
“Those eggs look done to me.”
He didn’t want to talk about it. She understood. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to talk about this. “Yes. They are.” She took the pot off the fire and fished out the eggs using a wooden spoon.
They ate the eggs and the rest of the meal in a companionable silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Their journey had just begun. What else was in store for them? How much horror would they have to see before they discovered the actual hiding place of the temple? Would they be able to destroy it?
There were so many things on her mind, but this wasn’t the place or time to say them. After banking the fire, and packing their supplies, they moved on. The rest had done the horses much good, because they galloped across the bushy terrain with speed.
The sun was a hazy ball of orange fire in the distant western sky when Kayleb stopped his horse. “What’s that?” He pointed as Alicia neared.
She shaded her eyes with her hand to get a better look. It looked to be a procession of men, women and children walking laboriously through the knee-high grass. They were following two wagon carts, driven by large, grey oxen.
“Why would these people leave the roads and take the wagons through this rough terrain?” he wondered out loud.
“Maybe they are on the run, or hiding from someone?”
Kayleb turned the horse around. “Let’s just go the other way. I don’t want any unnecessary trouble.”
“Hmm…” They couldn’t afford to waste time meeting new people. Most likely these were villagers from a settlement who were leaving the area to avoid detection by Vindha’s mages. She nearly turned her horse, but a movement caught her eye.
A young boy, no more than thirteen, collapsed on the ground. He should have gotten up, but instead two men picked him and placed him in the nearest wagon. He could be tired, or exhausted from the long trek under a burning sun, but something made Alicia take a closer look at the caravan. Except for two young girls, most of the people were adults. There were no children or infants, or even adolescents in the procession.
Her gelding reared its legs, eager to follow Kayleb who was already some distance away. Alicia pulled at its reins, forcing the horse to stay in position. The wagons were well-screened, their cargo hidden by canvas sheets lashed to the top and the sides to make makeshift walls and roof. Their pace was slow and deliberate as if the drivers didn’t want any jolts to disturb those in the wagons.
These people were on the run,
but not from Vindha.
Alicia pressed her foot into the gelding’s flank, urging the mount to canter towards the caravan. As her horse neared the wagons, the villagers stopped. The men formed a semi-circle around the wagons, shepherding the women behind them.
“I’m a healer,” she said from a fair distance away, acutely conscious of the three men who were holding short crossbows, their aim on her. “I can help you.”
“We don’t need any help,” said one of them.
“The children will die if you don’t take my help. Please, I can save them. I have the herbs and potions that will make them get better.”
“It’s the quilla disease. Nothing can save them.”
Alicia dismounted. “I’ve saved children who have suffered the same symptoms. Red splotches on the torso and face, high fever, delirium and blood from the nose. Please let me see them.”
“She is a mage,” one of them whispered to the other. “How else could she know about the children?”
Alicia nodded. “I am a mage, but I don’t wish to harm you. Let me see the children. Let me help you.”
A woman, well past her middle age, walked to the men and whispered something. A short discussion later, they parted. The woman was wearing a red band around her head, signifying her status with the villagers. Her skin was leathery and brunt, from being out in the sun for too long. These were tribal people, and the woman was their healer.
“I am Ana,” she said, beckoning Alicia forward. “Have you really healed children with quilla before? I have never heard of any survivors.”
Quilla was a contagious disease that spread from person to person. It wasn’t clear as to how the first patient acquired the disease, but its victims were always children. The younger the patient, the greater was the ferocity of the fatal malady. Alicia had been working on saving those with quilla for the past seven years, and surprisingly the medicines that worked the best were the simplest and most easily available.
“Tell your men to go gather Idi,” she said, her mind already focused on the task at hand. “I’ll need lots of it. How many patients do you have?”
Ana eyed Kayleb who came forward to join Alicia. “Eight.”
“Your men should also gather fresh dua. Both these weeds must be available in these plains.” Alicia handed over the reins of her horse to Kayleb. “Ana, I want you to make a fire and start boiling water.”
“Who is this man? Is he your husband? Is he a healer also?”
“No, he isn’t,” she said with a wave of her hand, her mind already somewhere else. “After all these weeds are collected, tell your men to start collecting grass to make pallets for the children. At night we will shift them out of the wagons and into fresh air.”
“At night?” Kayleb’s voice rang out amongst all the chaos. “We will still be here at night?”
Alicia turned. She walked back to him, and pulled him a little distance away to get some privacy. “I just can’t leave these people. The children will die.”
“If we stay with them far too long, we’ll also die. In case you have forgotten, Vindha’s trackers must be following us. We left survivors in that clearing. You think they haven’t reported back to him?”
Alicia chewed on her bottom lip. She was torn between the desire to resume their journey and complete their mission, and helping these people. But being a healer meant her first duty was towards anyone who required her services. She could no more tear herself away from these suffering people than she could tear off her limb.
But she couldn’t forget the fact that the reason she had set off from the island was to destroy the temple that was the instrument for bringing more demons in this world. They longer they delayed, the greater the chance that Vindha would give birth to new demon mages.
“Until tomorrow morning then,” she promised. “If they are not better by then, we will move out.”
“Quilla is a dangerous disease. What if you get infected?”
It didn’t generally affect healthy adults but she had seen a few die from it. “I’ve been exposed to it before, but it might be safer for you to stay away,” she said.
Kayleb shook his head, looking frustrated. “I’ll take my chances with you,” he said.
As she walked away, Alicia thought she heard him mutter the words, “damn woman,” but couldn’t be sure. Her mind was already on her work. It was important that she examine each patient and assess their individual needs.
As she moved closer to the wagons, Ana joined her. “What else do you need? I have many herbs and medicines.”
“Let me see the patients first.”
The first wagon revealed three girls, one of them near unconscious. All of them had the dark red splotches on their face and chest. “Internal bleeding,” Alicia muttered. The other wagon had five boys, four of them critical.
The evening passed in a blur of activity. Water boiled in pots. Alicia added dua and idi in copious quantities. She had the basic medicines that needed to be added to the mix in order to get the desired results, but she was pleasantly surprised to see that Ana kept a good store of all required herbs and roots. Alicia explained each step to Ana, making sure the older woman understood the need for each ingredient to be added at the right time, and in the correct quantity. Once the medicine was prepared, it was cooled.
“Every child needs to drink two cups now, and two cups in the morning. Use a spoon to dribble it down the throats of those who are unconscious,” she instructed.
While the men collected grass, made the pallets, and muttered amongst themselves, the seven women of the tribe got busy following her directives. Alicia personally took charge of one boy who was most critical. His nose had already started to bleed as the blood pooled inside his body began to spill out. She poured two cups of the liquid, drop by drop, in his mouth, taking care that he drank it all.
It was a time consuming work.
In the meantime she discovered that these people belonged to a large tribe, but once the disease broke out, they were asked to leave their ancestral land for fear that they would spread the infection to the other eighteen families. It was harsh punishment, but quilla forced the tribe to give preference to the healthy families over the sick ones. Now, these seven families had no tribe or land of their own.
By the time she finished it was well past midnight. The pallets were set, and each child was moved out into the fresh air. Ana took out blankets but Alicia forbade them to be covered.
“They will be cold at night,” a mother worried.
“The cool air will help reduce their fever,” Alicia soothed the women. “Keep on checking them at night, and if there is any bleeding, or if anyone of them has high fever, let me know.”
That night none of the adults slept much. They sat around a fire, taking turns to check on the children, to soothe and comfort them.
“It’s a full moon tonight,” said Ana. “The window to the other world is open tonight.”
“What’s that?” Alicia added a cup of warm milk to some medicines and mixed it together with a spoon. She picked up the pestle to ground it.
Kayleb took the bowl from her. “Here. Let me do that.”
Alicia sensed his need to do something. He wasn’t a healer, and there was little else to do tonight. Hopefully by tomorrow they would be on their way. This delay could cost them their mission, but she couldn’t in good conscience leave these children to die without offering her help.
“It is the belief of our people that on the night of every full moon, our dead ancestors can travel from the otherworld to offer us guidance. We hold a séance every fortnight to talk to the spirits of the dead.”
Kayleb ground the mixture with more force than necessary. “And did they tell you about quilla?”
Alicia glared at him. Ana didn’t seem to take offense. “In the last séance the spirits were more agitated than we have ever seen them. They showed us death, but we thought it was from the constant threat of the king’s mages. It is sometimes hard to decipher the meaning of th
e images they show us.”
“The king has taken your men?”
“Men and women.” Ana spat in the fire. “His mages took our people to serve as slaves. We have no protection against their magic. No one can stand against their mighty powers.”
One of the women started to cry. She said something to Ana but Ana shook her head. Another woman said something, and then another. An argument broke out. People wanted Ana to hold a séance, but she refused because she wasn’t the shaman. Some of them had lost their children and wished to know if they had been taken under the care of their ancestors. Others just wanted a traditional ritual for comfort.
“Hey!” Alicia stood. “Calm down.”
Peace prevailed. As everyone settled back, Alicia gestured for Ana to join her. They moved a little away from the fire.
“Why do you need a shaman to communicate with the spirits?”
“It’s just the way it has been always done.”
“Would you be able to do it if you tried?”
Ana folded her arms, looking adamant. “I’m the healer of the tribe, not the shaman.”
Alicia smiled. “Look around you. This is your tribe now. These people look up to you because they have no one else. They have lost their home, their children, and their way of life. If you can offer them a little comfort tonight, would it hurt you to do so? To them you are their leader, their healer, and their shaman.”
Ana chewed her bottom lip. “I could try. It doesn’t require much preparation to call the spirits.”
Alicia put her hand on her shoulder. “Then do it. At the very least, it would offer them some measure of assurance about their current predicament.”
The women went back, and after Ana announced her decision, the people cheered. Everyone, even the men, covered their hair. Ana began the chant.
“Why do we have to do this?” Kayleb passed the bowl back to her. “Do you really believe they can call on the spirits of their dead ancestors?”
The Warrior Mage Page 9
