Ferene woke the next morning to an unfamiliar campsite.
Six Hatharen lingered idly around the clearing, fully dressed for combat. Rilya, Filraehen, and Sathar wore their breastplates, with Sathar also wearing an armored skirt and greaves. Ilraghen's armor matched Alri's, heavy metal-lined cloth. Telhrian covered himself with a cloak covered in steel studs. As she pushed herself to her feet, Rilya and Telhrian approached Ferene, placing her armor in front of her, then backing away. Looking at the metal plates, they seemed cleaner than before, though not polished. Ferene pulled on her leather chestpiece, then strapped on the spaulders and arm guards, acutely aware of all six of them watching her. Next she fastened her knee guards before sliding on her gauntlets. She could not remember the last time her armor felt this clean. She looked to the side of her borrowed bedroll, seeing her great sword, her short sword, and her knife, laid out neatly. The latter two, like her armor, looked clean, but the primary sword appeared to be untouched. Bending down, Ferene tucked the knife into her boot and slid the short sword onto her belt, standing up with her last sword in her hand.
Five Hatharen all bowed to her, stepping away once again. They positioned themselves to form a ring, with Ferene and Ilraghen making up the last two positions, slightly inward from the rest. The space between them was empty, the cooking setup and the rocks they used for seating moved to the sides, adding to the formation of the circle.
One Hatharen stepped forward, towards the center. Ilraghen drew his weapon, a sword slightly shorter than Ferene's secondary. The blade gleamed unlike any other weapon Ferene had seen before, the gray metal darker than most steel, seeming to not just catch the light of the sunrise, but hold it. He pointed his weapon at her.
“Ilraghen will see you as one of us only if you are able to disarm him before he disarms you.” Telhrian spoke from his position to Ferene's right. “The rest of us have agreed to this. If you can best him in this contest, you will be awarded entrance to the stronghold of Yonthal. If you lose, you will be given a choice. Have your tongue cut out and be allowed to return to your human lands, or die.”
As soon as Telhrian finished speaking, Ilraghen rushed forward, swinging his sword at Ferene. She blocked the attack, falling back. The ring of Hatharen followed the two of them as they stepped over her bedroll, Ilraghen attacking relentlessly, driving her further and further backwards. Staying calm, Ferene blocked blow after blow, staying calm, waiting. The attacks felt familiar to her, in an odd way. Another swing came, and Ferene blocked, her body shifting to the side, waiting for a second attack that didn't come. The pattern fell into place – his fighting style was very similar to Rilya, except he only held one sword, his other hand free.
On Ilraghen's next attack, Ferene forcefully swung her sword to intercept, knocking him away. She stepped back again, finally making space. Holding her sword up, point towards him, she made her own attack, a quick experimental thrust. Ilraghen sidestepped, trying to close the distance, but Ferene swung her sword sideways, driving him back.
Taking a breath, Ferene tried to think, watching him warily stay at the edge of her range. His armor matched Alri's – was he another scout? The six of them seemed to have different roles. Ferene moved in, swinging her sword diagonally downward with a powerful slash. Ilraghen jumped backward, staying out of her range. Shifting his grip on his sword, Ilraghen paced sideways, keeping his eyes on her. After dodging another quick swing, he frowned, drawing the long knife with his other hand, falling into a two weapon stance, low, the short sword held upright in front of him and the knife bracing it from behind.
Ferene didn't know what to make of the pose, and tested him with another quick thrust. Moving both weapons to meet the attack, Ilraghen caught her sword between his blades and pushed downward. If she had committed harder, her opponent could have pushed her sword into the ground, but the light attack didn't have enough force in it for that. She pulled back and immediately thrust again, higher this time. Ilraghen performed the same parry, pushing her sword to the side with both of his weapons. Stepping forward, Ferene pushed, gray steel sliding against black, until his sword and knife met her crossguard. Face to face, Ferene smiled, twisting her sword. Ilraghen managed to pull his knife back in time, but his own sword was yanked out of his grip.
Despite her partially successful disarming maneuver, Ilraghen still had the advantage, at least for the moment. With a dagger in his hand and Ferene's sword both not in a good position to block and too long to effectively fight at this distance, he stabbed at her shoulder, trying to get the tip of his knife under her spaulder. A quick shift in her stance threw off his aim, pain blossoming as the blade cut through her flesh and ground against her collarbone. Taking one hand off her sword, she grabbed his wrist before her opponent could make another attempt, squeezing and twisting, trying to make him drop his last weapon.
Ilraghen shouted something at her, grabbing her wrist with his other, trying to pull free. Ferene bashed the hilt of her sword against the underside of his arm, though with only one hand on the massive weapon the blow carried little force. Yelling at her again, his empty hand fell away from hers, and finally he let go of his dagger, stepping away from her. They faced off once more, Ilraghen grinning while holding Ferene's short sword, pulled from the sheath at her belt.
Just like the first time, Ilraghen advanced on Ferene, aggressively swinging at her, not giving her a chance to use her superior range. This time, however, Ferene did not resort to blocking. Instead she directly challenged, clashing her weapon on the stolen one, pulling them face to face once more. Ilraghen held Ferene's short sword in both hands, trying to use his height to push her down.
Recently, Ferene's height always matched or exceeded her opponent's. Looking up at a larger foe brought back old memories, fighting with other children in a cave as adults looked on, laughing at every mistake, every injury. Old instincts spoke to her. Changing from pushing upwards, against him, Ferene suddenly pushed her weapon to the side, letting go of it. Ilraghen fell forward as Ferene ducked down and rammed her good shoulder into his chest, wrapping her arms around his body and pushing him off balance, onto his back. He hit the ground, hard, losing his grip on his weapon. Ferene pounced on him, pinning him to the ground, and he yelled something.
“Stop!” Telhrian yelled.
For several seconds, Ferene stayed frozen, one arm in the air, ready to break Ilraghen's face. As she calmed down, her muscles relaxed, her arm falling as she slowly stood up. Somehow, she won. The realization had just started to hit her as she found herself pulled off her feet. Ferene let out a surprised yelp as Rilya lifted her up, holding Ferene with one arm under her back and the other under her legs. Rilya was smiling at her, laughing, while Ferene felt her entire body shaking after the fight.
The seven of them collected the various pieces of the campsite. There was not a lot of it, to Ferene's surprise. The place she spent the last five days turned into little more than a few blankets, the cooking pot, and some various small tools, all of which vanished into the saddlebags of the two horses.
The biggest thing to take was the remains of the Direag. Long, burnt bones filled the fire pit, resting in the ashes from the beast's body. Dividing these into smaller bundles, some were strapped to the horses and the rest were distributed to the group to carry. Ferene found herself holding the upper half of the skull, Telhrian's work from earlier leaving several markings carved into the top surface.
With the luggage assigned, the six Hatharen set off, the two horses following behind, and Ferene in the middle of their line, next to Rilya, as the sun hung high in the sky. They moved around the edge of the small forest, following the mountains as they traveled east. The sun set, and they kept moving. Ferene wanted to run, to stretch her legs fully, but held herself back. After hours of walking under the stars, Alri, in the lead, called out, and all six of them stopped.
Breaking for camp here turned out to be far less involved than the larger campsite from before. No blankets or bedrolls, just the six of them taking off the larger pieces of their armor, if they had any, and huddling together in groups. Telhrian and Alri sat down, backs against a rocky outcropping, shoulder to shoulder, and fell asleep. Ilraghen, Sathar, and Filraehen grouped up, leaning against each other. Rilya pulled Ferene over to a patch of thicker grass and lay down, gesturing to the space beside her. She took a look at the group, noticing Filraehen still awake, even as the two men drifted off to sleep next to her. With a shrug, Ferene shed the metal pieces of armor from her shoulders, arms, and knees and lay down next to Rilya.
The next day involved more walking. Her companions chatted between themselves, leaving Ferene out of it, though Rilya occasionally touched her arm or back, drawing Ferene's attention for a quick nod or smile. Despite the intimate moments the two shared, Ferene still felt awkward not being able to properly communicate, though it might be for the better, since her conversations with previous travel companions ended up more awkward than the silent communication between the two women.
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When the sky grew dark, the mood of the group changed. All of them started glancing towards the mountains as Alri slowly led them closer and closer to the massive wall of stone. Finally, they stopped, at a seemingly normal crevice. Ferene had seen several like this over the last two days, but four of her companions waited as Sathar and Rilya stepped forward and pushed against one side of the opening. At their combined touch, that side moved, a boulder that fit in perfectly with the wall rolling slightly, widening the cut and revealing the hollow path behind the boulder, wide enough for three people to enter side by side. Rilya turned to look at Ferene, grinning before she vanished into the darkness. The rest of the group followed, Ferene going ahead of Filraehen who waited at the end of the line with the horses.
Inside the tunnel, the darkness did not last long, a gradual turn hiding faint starlight streaming in from above. Ferene exited the other end into a wide chasm, the stars above framed by the walls that stretched upwards. On the ground in front of her lay a walled wooden platform, ropes attached it vanishing into the sky above. Rilya and Sathar already stood on it, checking the ropes attached to the chest-high side walls at the four corners. The bones they carried were stacked in the middle.
“It's time for you to enter Yonthal, the northern stronghold in the mountains.” Telhrian said from beside her, the first she'd heard him speak in the last day. Stepping onto the platform, he gestured for her to follow. Ferene stepped forward, along with Alri, leaving Filraehen and Ilraghen with the horses. Ferene and the other two added their Direag bones to the center pile, and Sathar grabbed a loose rope hanging down at one corner and pulled on it sharply two times. After a short delay, the platform started moving upwards.
To a mixture of disappointment and relief, the lift did not go all the way to the top of the mountains. As much as Ferene was curious about the top, the platform moved very slowly. It came to a stop less than a third of the way up, taking long enough for her to go through surprise at the movement, excitement, and eventually to boredom. There was very little to see with the chasm walls all around them, though looking upwards she eventually made out rope and wooden bridges spanning the gaps.
Where the lift stopped, the chasm widened, opening up to a set of caves running along the walls. The group stepped out to one side, being greeted by two Hatharen. A third stood back, where the ropes lead to a group of horses standing around a large wheel contraption. Looking around, Ferene saw buildings built into the caves, lights flickering in doorways. Yonthal was literally inside the mountains.
As the five of them stepped off, taking their cargo with them, the platform slowly fell back into the abyss, the giant wheel turning slowly. The two Hatharen that greeted the group looked at Ferene oddly, followed by a long exchange with Alri that Ferene could not understand. After several minutes, Telhrian led her into the caves, taking a wooden walkway up from the lift landing. With the caves not being even, the pathway from house to house sloped up and down, twisting along. As they walked, Ferene started to see patterns in the design. Most of the stronghold – which seemed more like a small town, now – was built of small houses in sets of three. Some of these groupings were side by side, others separated by the occasional larger construction. One such building appeared to be a smithy of some kind, with multiple chimneys hugging the upper wall of the cave and ending in the open air of the chasm. On the other side, she saw more of the same. The other repeated installation was chicken coops. Every set of three houses had a coop. Closer inspection revealed that many of these groupings, both houses and coops, stood empty, no lights in the houses, the walkway leading to them dusty from lack of use. To Ferene, it looked like nearly half the town stood empty.
Their path through the stronghold led them to a walkway, branching off to a group of three small houses, arrayed around a central patio with a chicken coop, just like all the others. Telrhian and Alri made for the house to their left, and as Ferene started to follow, Rilya tugged on her arm, gesturing to the one on the right. Ferene followed her, seeing Sathar enter the middle house.
The house was a simple three room building, two small bedrooms on either side of a central common area with a table, chairs, and a small stove. Rilya pulled Ferene to one of the two bedrooms, stopping to take off her armor and weapons, placing them on a shelf nearby that had individual spots for each piece. Ferene followed suit, looking around for a place to put her things when Rilya took them and distributed them to the lower shelves, even pointing out a spot against the wall for Ferene to lean her sword. When they were both clad in only their underclothes, Rilya pulled Ferene onto the bed.
Unlike the overly soft bed back in Cefgras, this one felt right. The thin mattress pushed back, not immediately trying to eat the two women as they sat down on it. Rilya smiled at Ferene, rubbing her back, and then lay down. The bed was just big enough for the two of them to sleep side by side, rubbing shoulders slightly. Ferene let out a sigh as she lay down – she could not remember the last time she had a bed like this.
Just as she started to relax, she bolted upright at the sound of footsteps. Rilya grabbed her shoulder, stopping her. A voice called out, and Rilya answered. A moment later Ilraghen looked into the room, saw Ferene, frowned, and left. Ferene listened to him walk to the other bedroom.
She woke up the next morning to the surreal feeling of Rilya next to her, still sound asleep. Pulling herself out of bed, she put on her shirt, leggings, and boots, and stepped outside.
In the central hub of the three buildings, most of the squad sat in a circle around a stone cooking pit Ferene missed last night. Walking over, Ferene saw they were mainly eating eggs, and frowned. Filraehen noticed her, and used a pair of tongs to pull something out of the pit, setting it on a wooden plate which she handed to Ferene. After a moment of inspection, Ferene identified it as sliced potatoes, sprinkled with some sort of herb. Sitting down in the circle, Ferene silently ate, watching her companions. All of them had some kind of biscuit on their plate, in addition to eggs.
Telhrian sat next to Alri, the two of them talking occasionally between bites. Sathar sat between Filraehen and Ilraghen, all three of them oddly close. Rilya sat down beside her as she ate, taking a plateful of eggs and biscuits. Whenever one finished eating, they remained seated, waiting for the rest. At the campsite, people took their meals and ate wherever they wanted, so this felt like some sort of special ritual that Ferene was involved in despite lacking any understanding. When Rilya finally finished, all of them stood up, Ferene following suit a moment later. Telhrian spoke several words, and everyone else repeated them, then they all broke out of the circle, heading off in different directions.
Ferene jogged over to Telhrian as he and Alri started to gather all the things from the meal. “What was all of that?”
“We celebrated the fact that all of us came back alive, again.”
Ferene stayed silent, watching as the two collected the stacked plates and utensils, setting them aside. Finally, Telhrian turned to her. “You can stay here, and train with us. There will be a lot of interest in your fighting style, and I feel there is much you can learn. You are, of course, free to leave whenever you want, but I hope that you stay a few weeks, if not longer.”
Questions flew through Ferene's mind. Excitement. What she had wanted from Linara, Telhrian now presented to her. “I don't normally sleep in beds. Or with others.” She eventually said.
He paused, looking at her, then at Rilya, tending to the chicken coop near the edge of the wooden platform, closer to the open chasm, then at Ilraghen, standing with Filraehen as the two walked along the path, vanishing from view behind another building. “You are worried that you are disrupting something?” Ferene nodded. “You already know that those two are not interested in each other romantically. They may live together but your presence will not cause any trouble, and if it did, he can always stay with someone he is more interested in.” Telhrian turned his head once more, looking over at Sathar, who stood at the edge of the chasm, operating a rope pulley to bring something across from the other side. It looked like a bucket.
“Those three seem close.” She said, remembering them sitting together both on the journey over and at breakfast.
“It is not uncommon for multiple members of a squad to start to feel that way. Sathar and Filraehen are very welcoming to him.”
“So what are the pairings for, then?” She finally asked. “You said you could not tell an outsider. I'm inside your town now.”
Pressing his lips together, Telhrian looked at her, considering. “This is a very private matter, but I suppose you should know.” He sat down, gesturing for her to do the same. “Hatharen are very bad at...breeding.” The word came out quickly after the pause, unlike his normally slow and deliberate speech. “Unlike humans, we do not produce children at will. Once every several hundred years, a female will undergo a change, which she can...share with a male. The two of them will spend some time together, working to...satisfy their new needs.” He stumbled over the explanation, his eyes wandering, trying not to look at Ferene. “There are not many of us, so it is important that this opportunity to have a child be taken. The partners are an arrangement to make sure this can happen, regardless of other circumstances. When this happens to Rilya, she would seek out Ilraghen, even if she normally would not. To fulfill her duty. And he would respond, even if he normally would not, to fulfill his duty.”
Ferene frowned. Telhrian grew quieter, now looking downward, almost shamefully. “So Alri would go to you, which is what she normally does.”
His face turned red. “Y-yes, she would. When that happens. That is part of why we celebrate returning together. It means there is a greater chance that we will be able to help our people grow. The war we fight, sometimes we lose too many. If things go badly too many times, there will simply not be enough of us left. It is a danger we have to live with.”
“If I stay here, do I have to find a partner?”
A moment of silence followed her question. His face went from red to pale. He took a deep breath, and looked up, directly at her.
“Those like you, with mixed blood, cannot have children. That is one of the main complications with having you here. Our society is built around something you cannot participate in. You will be the odd one out, and we cannot send you elsewhere to find a partner, like we would do to keep numbers even.”
Ferene shrugged. “Don't have to worry about that, then.” She said. The information did not change her plans, she never thought about children before. However, Linara's warnings about staying away lingered in her mind.