It was late, but the people of Gaerlom were crowded around the bonfire to listen to Kindra plead her case. As she looked at the men, coral-tipped spears their only weapons, she knew she couldn't win against the Obsidians. But she could kill Pike and save Kaye—maybe even Gar. She would die a warrior, named or not.
The ground trembled and everyone turned north, where the moonlight was blocked by smoke rising from the mountain. They began whispering, and Kindra heard snatches of ‘mountain’, ‘silkie’, and ‘angry’.
The chief cleared his throat and the crowd settled. He nodded to Kindra.
“I’m Kindra Odion, a warrior of a tribe across the mountain named Fie Eoin. My sister, Kaye, lived with you for a time this winter.”
A few people whispered again, and one man stepped forward. “Are you a silkie too?”
“I’m a warrior. I don’t know what a silkie is.” Talking made her face throb, and she touched the hide covering the left half. “My sister’s been captured by the Obsidians. They attacked our tribe, but before that she said you might be willing to join us against them.”
Another tremble ran through the ground, and everyone began to speak at once.
“Mountain is angry—we let the Obsidians take the silkie.”
“If they kill her, Mountain will explode.”
“We have to stop them.”
“What if they stop us?”
“What if she wasn’t a silkie at all?”
“Of course she was; the silkies left when she disappeared.”
An argument broke out among the men, and Kindra gripped her spear tighter. If they decided Kaye wasn’t worth saving, Kindra didn’t know what to do.
“It doesn’t matter what she was,” Timin yelled above the argument. “The Obsidians said they wanted to kill her to make Mountain explode. If we don’t save her, Gaerlom will be wiped out.”
“What if Mountain doesn’t explode when they kill her?”
The argument began again as they debated the merits of giving their life for a girl who may or may not be a silkie.
The chief held his arms overhead and cleared his throat. “We were willing to fight them at the beginning of the winter. Even if they kill her now and Mountain doesn’t explode, they will still destroy us for refusing to hand her over.”
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“That’s true,” Kindra said. “Their chief will not forgive you that. The Seven Tribes were the only ones keeping the Obsidians from conquering further south. If we don’t defeat them now, they’ll be here by mid-summer.”
There was a long moment of silence as the tribe thought about that.
“Please,” Kindra said. “You’re the only ones who can help. You can fight this battle with me across the mountain, or you can fight it here, alone, in sight of your wives and children.”
There was a bit of grumbling at that, but one man spoke. "How will we know who not to kill? We don’t know your tribesmen."
She grabbed Timin's spear and began drawing the mark of Eoin in the dirt. "Don't kill anyone with this tattooed on their wrist. These are my loyal warriors."
Another man stepped from the crowd. "How do you know that mark?"
She stood a little straighter and eyed him suspiciously. How did he know the mark? "It is the mark of my ancestor, Ian Odion."
He didn't back down. "It is the mark of my ancestor, Ian of the Horse Clan."
"That's the mark in Ian's Cove." Timin stepped forward and looked at it before turning to them. "Kaye knew it too."
Bryant, who had been hiding at the back of the crowd, spoke up, and everyone turned to him. "Ian the Odion grew up in Gaerlom."
"What?" Kindra said.
"Who are you?" the man who claimed to be Ian's descendant said.
Bryant turned his gaze on the man. "I'm Aledan. Ian the Odion grew up in Gaerlom before taking his men across the mountain to form Fie Eoin."
"How do you know that?" Kindra eyed him. She could trust him to tell her what he thought was the truth, but how could he know this was true?
He stared at her. "All of my people know about Ian the Odion. Much more than you do, to be sure. He tried to destroy us."
A low mumble went through the crowd and Kindra gripped her spear tighter. "Everyone in Fie Eoin knows he brought the Seven Tribes from the Faye Lands. He saved us."
When Bryant spoke, his voice was flat. "Because the Faye are so dangerous."
Kindra turned her back on him—she'd seen how 'dangerous' the Faye were. "So, Ian grew up in Gaerlom. That makes us kin."
The man's gaze slowly travelled from Bryant to her. "Indeed, and if we are kin, it is my duty to help. Despite the company you keep."
She tried to smile, but the hide pulled on her injured skin. "Believe me, the company was no choice of mine."
He bowed and stepped forward, turning to stand next to her as another man stepped forward. "My wife is of the horse clan. It’s my duty to help as well."
More men stepped forward—all the families interwoven in a community such as this—until only a few remained undecided.
"The woman has proven a bond to our tribe, but what do we get from it, for giving our lives?"
Kindra's shoulders went back as she took a deep breath. "You get the protection of Fie Eoin's warriors, as well as trade rights with our village."
"And if your village expires?"
"Then you are destroyed by the Obsidians regardless." She stuck the point of the spear into the ground. "We are the only thing keeping them from the pass to you and the tribes to the south." She looked at the Gaerloms and the crashing ocean beyond them. "You can fight with me and give yourselves a chance, or you can let the Obsidian Nation overtake you without a fight."
One man walked forward and looked in her good eye. "You do not believe you will survive."
Kindra swallowed as her chest contracted, and when she spoke her voice was not as strong as it had been. "No, but Fie Eoin will. And you will. I will die a warrior, and I will save my people." She looked at the mountain where the weaponless Faye lived. "I will not go without a fight. I will not give up on my kin." She turned back to him.
The man from the horse clan spoke. "And your kin will not give up on you."
The chief nodded deeply as a mummer of acceptance when through the crowd. "So be it. Gaerlom will join their Aledan brothers in war."