The Lioness of Shadi

7 - The Horse Warrior

In the soft farmlands that followed the edges of the marsh, Aham-Nishi was a typical Kullan settlement, halfway between a hamlet and a proper stop along the Long Road. The little town was a collection of homes built of tightly bundled reeds, centered around a mud-brick granary. A labyrinthine city of tents around it gave it a much more raucous air than the average farming village. Many tents were little better than a lean-to, dyed in patterns that indicated their owner and perhaps whatever wares they carried. Beyond that circle to the south were the hide tents of the Sut Resi, painted in bright ocher symbols.

Ilati almost didn't know what to make of it. Had the world beyond Shadi changed at all? Life here seemed to flow along like a stream, barely aware of what had happened. People toiled in their fields and vegetable gardens, chattering or maybe even singing, the smell of mud, green growth, dung, and wood-smoke filling the air. Oxen huffed as they pulled simple plows, tails swishing to drive away flies as they worked.

The sight of a Nadaren banner flying to the north, red as blood, chilled Ilati to the bone. There an encampment of soldiers had settled, though she didn't dare look closely enough to even pick out figures among those tents. No matter what Eigou said of Ilishu's conquering fury slumbering in her heart, the pounding in her chest was far more flight than fight. She stepped backwards the moment she realized what those tents were: likely many of the men who had destroyed Shadi.

Perhaps things in Aham-Nishi were not so placid after all.

Menes settled a hand on her shoulder, squeezing with a reassuring promise. "We will be careful."

Ilati nodded. Her fingertips found one of the healed scars on her face, reminding her that these would be easily visible from a distance. If you can remember the why, you can survive, Ilati told herself. Eigou had grown fond of saying that when there was focus, there could be no fear. His perpetual verbal battery had a ring of truth to it.

The one-eyed sorcerer cleared his throat. "I'd like a drink, and where there is the smell of beer, there is the smell of news."

Menes frowned. "There will be soldiers there as well."

"Then we will keep our eyes to our own business." Eigou draped an arm around Ilati's shoulders as they walked, leaving the lead for Ankhu in Menes's hand. "Do you still want to talk to the Sut Resi? We will have to enter their encampment if so. They keep their wealth in herds and weapons, one of which makes them unpopular with soldiers and merchants alike, so they tend to be off on their own."

Ilati pulled in a deep breath. "It seems strange that the Nadaren would permit anyone who does not bend to their will."

Eigou chuckled. "The garrison here is likely not large enough to contend with them. The soldiers will do as soldiers do and wait until they are reinforced, by which time at least this tribe of the Sut Resi will likely have moved on. Surely you have heard of the great vexation that is trying to combat them."

"I heard many curse them for fighting where and when they wished, then vanishing back to their plains whenever it pleased them." Ilati managed a faint smile. "Quite the raiders."

The sorcerer bowed his head in an acknowledging nod. "With Ilishu no longer maintaining a strong defense, Sebet has settled upon bribing them to keep their distance while Sarru deters them with farmers turned soldiers and the occasional bit of magic. Neither solution is a good one, and that vulnerability leaves them weak to Nadaren influence as well."

Ilati's brow furrowed. "Because they cannot focus on both threats at once or because Nadar may promise them a defense against the Sut Resi?"

Eigou grinned slyly. "Why Ilati, it is almost as though you spent a childhood at court. I imagine you listened more than they gave you credit too. The answer to your question is a simple truth: both. Nysra is no fool and will use the fact that he has proved he can subjugate the mighty. The foolishly optimistic might see him as an antidote to the barbarian hordes, and those too crafty for that game must learn, perhaps the hard way, that they cannot fight both."