Angelfire | The Whispering Wall #3

Seventy One: The Camp

"Have you ever seen a Varthian tribe before?" Grace murmured to Nova as they approached a sprawling collection of tents and wagons.

"Only when they've visited the city," Nova said, eyeing one of the huge cattle the Varthian tribes favoured. The animal chewed placidly on grass, occasionally shifting its weight and watching their party walk past with utter disinterest, but at the shoulder it was almost as tall as the average person and its horns were the length of a man's arm. "And even then, it wasn't the whole tribe."

Grace looked about them with bright interest, a familiar academic glint coming into her eyes. Nova was interested, too; she'd been in meetings with Harkenn and Varthian ambassadors and it had always been fascinating to hear about a lifestyle that was so unlike anything she'd known in the Reach or in Caelum. She just wasn't as interested as she was nervous. She knew the patterns of their journey now. She didn't welcome the change in routine, the addition of so many unknown faces.

The Varthians made their party's previous camps look spare and woefully amateur; despite living in the open air, the tribe's campsite was as inviting as any city home. Large firepits blazed between the tents and enclosed wagons, and children ran amok between the dwellings, chasing each other with shrieks of delight. Small clusters of them hung near the adults that had gathered to watch their arrival, staring and fiddling with braids and small handmade toys. Decoration adorned every stretch of canvas, every plank — threads of beads, painted patterns, feathers, worked metal charms, and everywhere, in front of almost every home...bones.

Some were clearly animal bones, others more ambiguous. Everyone knew the traditions of the Varthians, but it was one thing to know it and another to see it. There was a reason that tribes were never allowed within city limits except for the festivals — their way of life was harsh and often brutal, and Harkenn's rule only extended to them in the most tenuous of ways.

Nova drew closer to Grace, hand sliding to the sword hilt at her belt, as they walked past a tent that had hung above its opening the unmistakable curve of a human jawbone.

"Relax," a voice said behind her. Nova glanced back, unnerved enough that she needed the aura to help her identify who had spoken, despite the fact that they'd travelled most of the journey with Yddris's former tutor. "It's tradition for them to claim enemy body parts in tribe disputes, but they wouldn't dream of hurting anyone they'd offered their hospitality. It would mortally offend Varthi."

That was not as reassuring as Thirris had undoubtedly hoped it would be, considering they had just passed a wagon with a string of teeth draped over the door.

"Isn't this fascinating?" Grace whispered, following Nova's gaze.

"Wasn't the first word that sprung to mind," Nova muttered back.

The camp was bewildering in size; it was hard to imagine how the tribe coordinated so many people while travelling, let alone how they found enough food to support them all. Their party eventually caught up to itself in the large central meeting area of the tribe camp, a wide stretch of grass surrounded by the largest tents, and occupied in the main by a huge bronze-coloured bowl containing a heap of ashes. Nova looked around them at the grasslands, now purpling in the dusk, and wondered if she wanted to know how they managed to set such enormous fires in a place with so few trees.

"Welcome," a booming voice called, from somewhere ahead of them. Their party had concertinaed on itself, pressing together against the presence of so many Varthians; it wasn't just Nova who was nervous. She spotted two brown cloaks through the crowd, and tugged on Grace's arm, dragging her to stand behind her brother. In a place like this, Nova didn't want to be the only one guarding Grace's back.

Thorne glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, hey."

Grace grinned impishly at him, the only one in Nova's field of sight whose aura wasn't flushed with nerves, and raised pointed eyebrows down at Thorne and Astra's linked fingers. There was no need for aura to feel Thorne's scowl in response.