Alize blinked her eyes open. She lay sweating under too many blankets in the shelter of a Hrumi tent. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, dry and foul tasting. When she pulled herself out of bed, she found her limbs weak and stiff. Outside the night swallowed the land except for the campfire flickering amongst the silhouettes of Hrumi tents. The smoke twisted and curled towards the sky. Its path was still clearer than Alize’s own.

Seeing Alize, Sosje rose to her feet and met her at the boundary of the darkness, grasping her hands tightly.

“How long have I been gone?” Alize murmured.

“Since yesterday,” Sosje answered.

Alize closed her eyes and inhaled. “That’s the longest yet.”

“Come to the fire, Alize,” Benay bade. “Sosje tells us you are suffering from the ill effects of losing your dagger. We’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s not just me,” Alize responded bleakly, “All the Hrumi in the Parousia prison are without their daggers, and they too suffer the same effects.”

Benay closed her eyes and exhaled. “You already knew we are pressed for time.”

Looking around the campfire, Alize cringed to see the soulless woman sat with the Hrumi, one wrist bounded with a thick cord connected to a stake in the ground.

Like a dog.

“But,” Benay continued, “you will be glad to learn that we have voted to grant you the additional time to seek an alternative to our arrangement with Arouah. With one provision.”

Alize frowned into the silence.

“You will take a sister with you to Parousia and place her under arrest with the others, so we may have better contact with our sisters in the prison. We need you to maintain your position on the outside.”

“Go into the prison?” Alize repeated. “Who would be so foolhardy to undertake such a task?”

Benay forced a sad smile. “It will only be until you or the Kogaloks arrange our sisters’ escape. It has already been decided.”

To her chagrin, she watched a sister rise. The shadows dancing on her face kept her features in fluctuation, but Alize knew she was no Western clan member. She stared straight ahead, though her chest heaved under the scrutiny of the others. She wore her resolve like armor.

It scarcely mattered. “I will not commit anyone to the prison,” Alize uttered.

“I’m afraid,” Benay said sadly, “such choices are a luxury that we no longer have. You will take Menah or you will not return to Parousia at all.”

And Alize found herself wondering when choices had ever been something any Hrumi had. She slumped, too exhausted to object.

That evening she heard the soulless woman speak for the first time. Benay addressed her firmly, demanding to speak to Arouah. At first the woman made no response, but began to jerk. Her eyes rolled into her head and her fingers splayed before a low voice erupted from her throat.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Alize noticed her sisters shifting in discomfort, but Benay leaned forward to hear the woman’s words.

“The Hrumi have wish for my council?” The woman mumbled.

“We inform you of new developments,” Benay answered. “We have concealed a sister inside the city, as a free province woman. For her, we request more time to evaluate the situation of our sisters.”

“The Deku are moving, Benay. I have not yet ascertained their purpose.”

“We only ask for a few more days. We will keep your alliance against the Deku, never fear.”

“Very well. Let us both continue to monitor the situation. I will report what I learn.”

“I will do the same,” Benay promised, giving Alize a pointed look. “Good night.”

After the soulless woman uttered her words she slumped over as her muscles relaxed, jostling the Hrumi sitting next to her. The sister jumped from her seat, clearing the way for the body to fall. She brushed her hands nervously

“Did you tell him about me?” Alize asked Benay over the fire.

Benay looked up. “No. You are my sister, and my first duty is to you. Though I hope, Alize, that you may change your mind about the Kogaloks. Sosje says you can call the echoes – imagine what that could do against the Deku.”

“I cannot call them anymore.”

Benay’s face fell.

“Besides, I need to know what we’re fighting for first. Why are the Deku attacking the Hrumi, why now?”

“We don’t know. We think perhaps they fear us because we are immune to their soultrussing. That is, after all, why Arouah sought our alliance.”

“It’s never bothered them before.” Alize took a deep breath. She had not convinced her sisters in the prison of any additional options. She dreaded how she would fare with the free Hrumi, but could not stop herself from trying. “I believe we do not yet see the full picture, but we know the Deku have made other enemies, others who might become allies for us.”

Benay tilted her head. “Of whom do you speak?”

Alize could hear the silence snake around her. “Of the Ginmae.”

Benay faltered for a moment before finding her voice. “The dead can offer us no aid.”

“They are soultrussed, not dead, but anyway I speak of the living. Two have survived-”

“One,” Benay corrected.

Alize looked at her in surprise. “You know?”

“Arouah knows. The girl is dead.”

Alize shuddered. She had roused Davram by playing on that his hope for his sister’s survival. “But prince still remains. He has no choice but to fight.” Let Davram find the courage, Alize added silently.

“You forget he has never come forward.”

“Perhaps he too seeks allies. If we stand against the Deku, he may come to us. And with his alliance, we could bridge the gap to others. I know how the governments see us, Benay. They fear us, and for all the wrong reasons. But we are not so far apart, and we can no longer afford to appear to be.”

“What do you propose?” Benay asked, her tone earnest though wary.

Alize inhaled. “Our first priority is to our sisters, but I believe we can also evaluate who else stands against the Deku. The Ginmae prince cannot remain silent much longer. The time has come for the Hrumi to fight, but not alone, not anymore. The Deku may roil the sea and cloud the horizon, but there are lighthouses lining the shore if we only seek them.”

You might find friends, Kell had contended in the autumn, if you cared to look for them.

Alize thrust Kell from her mind and continued undeterred. “We can survive this storm. Together we too can conquer the wind. We-”

“Conquer the wind?” An elder Hrumi interrupted. Her small eyes brightened and around her, the women began whispering in hushed excitement.

“That’s what Hesna used to say,” an eastern clan member finished her thought.

“Hesna,” another voice chimed, “She knew the stories of the Deku better than anyone.”

“Didn’t she have a protégé?”

“Alize,” Sosje asserted clearly. Pride edged into her voice. “Alize was her protégé.”

The Hrumi women returned their gazes to Alize. They regarded her anew, with respect, diffidence. But for Hesna. Alize recognized, fortified but pained simultaneously. Not for me.

Under her sisters’ gazes, a phenomenon began. Echoes began emerging from Benay, shooting towards Alize in the darkness like embers erupting from the fire. They sank into her body and the heat began to build, just as it had during the Temple battle.

Alize bent over quickly to stretch her palms upwards and grant the echoes back to Benay.

She could not bear to hold them.

Benay nodded cautiously as she accepted them. Her weariness cloaked her, uneasy in the firelight. “It seems you have convinced us. You know your task, my sister. You have five days before I concede to Arouah to continue in his plans.”

Alize nodded grimly, recognizing her dismissal.