Shadows of Voryn

Chapter Nineteen

T'ara

   There was blood pooled in a mixture of mud where the woman lay dead. Eyes opened, her face was stricken with horror and pain being the last thing she felt. T'ara stare down at her in dismay.

   Two days of fighting, they were back outside of Scallibis in the small village. There was a day free of fighting and time away from the city was needed. They exited the wagon in front of the longhouse. The woman she'd wanted to protect from her husband, was no more and as T'ara stepped out of the wagon all she wanted to do was find the husband and kill him.

   "Mind your fucking place," Forqo warned.

   Grimacing, T'ara said nothing, wrist still bound as she lined up with the hyenas, forced to look at her dead body. These people were forgotten with no one to prevent such a death like this from happening. By the foul odor, she'd been lying here more than a day. There was a deep jagged cut across her woman's neck.

Taking a breath, T'ara could hear the man in the shed, and by the sound of it, drunk and mad.

People moved quickly to their personal homes, some sitting about, like there was nothing important to do. Children played in mud while the women worked at cleaning clothes in buckets of water by a small well to the distant.

The shed door opened, the man staggering out, drunk and forgetful of his dead wife. T'ara heard the cries of his children begin, peeking out the door at their father and seeing their mother. The scars he'd leave on his children did not seem to matter to him, as he hovered his dead wife and poured mead over her dead body.

T'ara didn't care that she was chained or that she would get punished, moving toward the man but was blocked by Forqo as he shoved her back. "I thought...I told you to mind your fucking place."

"I did not give acknowledgement to your order. I would have thought you'd gotten the hint." T'ara stared up at Forqo, unafraid and tired of his disdain toward her. She did not fall scarce to his aggressive posture. "I do not deny that I have learned a lot from you. But...outside of training, I am my own person and cannot stand here and act as if I see nothing."

"Do you not see by now that you've brought headaches to us. We could be at Scallibis right now, being treated of value, with mead and food in our bellies, on our day of rest." Forqo stepped forward, making stance clear, he would not move. "But now...because of your outburst at the banquet, they do not trust that you can behave. So we are punished with you."

T'ara could tell the other hyenas were angry too. She should have not reacted last night and despite having non desire to take anything from King Virion, she could not expect them to think the same way. "I will make it up to you all. that does not change how I feel about here and now." 
T'ara tilted her head to the side, the man taking another drink from his cup unaware of the threat near him.

"Shut the hell up." The man grabbed a broom next to shed door, chasing them further into the shed.

T'ara swallowed her anger. "You are right. What I do, affect you all. But here...they are clearly people who are forgotten. King Virion will not send any to punish you or the hyenas. These guards don't know us. They will punish me."

Forqo looked up and muttered. "Talk sense to her?"

"Her mind is clear. I stick by her side," Livei said, not moving.

Forqo growled. He shook his head tired of arguing and left her to take risk.

As soon as the shackles were removed, T'ara strode into the shed where the father was beating his children and pulled him off.