Bird of a Cage [BoW 4]

Chapter 5

People talking behind his back. Taidra heard the whispers from behind the tent walls. The fabric wasn't as thick, so some people seemed to think it was. They were talking about when they were going to abandon him. Not just him either. Others were hurt beyond saving; who was too much a liability to risk taking to a new location? Someone was blind now. Someone was too injured and was regularly needing pints of blood to keep from passing out. Feno denied that it was going to happen, but the man couldn't meet his eyes. He was nervous that it was true too.

Taidra clutched to his love at night. Would Feno leave him too? Feno followed orders, but would he break to safe Taidra. Taidra wasn't sure. He trusted Feno more than anyone else he'd ever met, but duty vs love had never come up before. Inai had always ordered Feno to keep Taidra safe above all over orders. Nordsol, waste of space that the General was, would not order such a thing. Taidra didn't trust the man to simply abandon him, however. Taidra knew too much. He was too dangerous to risk the Dmar getting a hold off. Nordsol was going to have him killed in the name of the cause. Feno refused to listen to reason. Taidra wasn't sure what to do. He was too vulnerable like this. Would it be an attack? Would he wake up to someone smothering him with the pillows? Or would it be poison? The waiting was unbearable as his stomach churned with new ideas of how best to get rid of him.

Waiting for the worse was never fun. His commander trying to kill him was bad enough, but maybe that was better than Sakmi getting his hands on him. Whatever plans he had for Taidra could not be good. Sakmi's spies were close. He'd heard Blek giggling with his sister when someone had fallen over in the mud. Feno agreed. The brats were around, watching, waiting. Nordsol thought otherwise. Maybe the commander was really Dmar. Would explain why the man was making decisions that sabotaged the camp.

The rain was endless but possibly the only reason he was alive right now. They wouldn't move in the rain. The mud made it too hard to move the supplies. They had to wait for it to stop. Every day they waited was another day of risking if the Dmar were going to come crashing down on them. It was another day of the injured healing and reducing their chance of being left behind.

It stopped.

Taidra stared up into the darkness, heart fluttering in his chest. Feno was not here. The dampness of the world was overbearing. It was almost hard to breathe, but he couldn't panic now. The rain was bound to lull from time to time. Maybe by morning, it would start up again. Even if it didn't, the ground would need a bit of time to dry. His wasn't the end.

Something moved. Too close for comfort.

Taidra grabbed his dagger from under his pillow. He twisted, but the figure ducked.

"Taidra!" A familiar and unwelcome voice hissed. "Stop! I want to talk."

"I knew Sakmi knew our location!" Taidra said, keeping his voice low. It wouldn't do for people to walk in on him chatting to Dmar.

In Lixa, Ravn could blend in. The town was big enough that strangers, even ones from other continents, weren't blinked at. Here, in a Namya camp, was a different story. Ravn was Fini, and it showed. His skin was a dark brown. The people from the wastes tended to be darker than the pale plains-folk, but that was more from the constant unforgiving sun than their natural shade. Even at his lightest, Ravn was a rich ochre. He was the son of a trader who had died in the ports. Before Sakmi had swept him up for his hoard, Ravn had grown up in the ports working for various rigs. Then his shadow magic had bloomed, and he became valuable to the right people.