The next morning, Phoenix awoke gently, stretching lightly as to not disturb the naked woman draped over him. Her head lay on his shoulder, and a hand on his chest. He smiled, and dipped his head to kiss her hair, then extricated himself from the bed slowly, and Lindani turned over to his spot of it, stealing his pillow. He smiled again, opened the flap, and stepped out into the brisk morning air.
Spedro was already awake, and sat turning a charred carcass over a spit. Upon closer inspection, Phoenix could tell it was a small hog, with a curious hole in its head. Gathering that Spedro had used his gift to hunt, sending a small stone through the animals brain, he said nothing, feeling a bit awkward as he sat next to the brother of the woman in his tent. Noticing the small pot of boiling beans in a thick sauce beneath the pig, Phoenix’s mouth began to water.
Spedro did not speak either, shooting small glances at Phoenix from the corner of his eye while turning the handle of the spit. The two sat for some time, and whenever one if their gazes would catch the others, they quickly looked away. At last, as though they were synchronized, both Lindani and Ember threw open the flaps of their respective tents, and stretched in the sunlight. The two men’s eyes caught, and the corner of Spedro’s mouth twitched. Phoenix’s followed suit, and soon the two men were laughing openly.
Spedro laid a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder, still laughing. “And here I thought this would be uncomfortable.”
“Relax my friend,” said Phoenix. “We are both well within our bounds.”
“That we are,” Spedro laughed, going back to cooking breakfast.
The two women came to the fire, and sat on the opposite side, deep in a whispered conversation. Both Spedro and Phoenix heads snapped up when they both started giggling, and their mouths fell open, as they could plainly tell the subject matter of the women’s conversation.
“The pig is finished,” Spedro finally said, causing the women to break off their conversation, and Spedro started slicing chinks of meat into bowls, spooning beans on top of the meat, the thick sauce running off the sides. The four dug in, and not much conversation was entered into as they ate.
Finally, with over half the pig gone Spedro rose, started slicing into it, salting it heavily, and placing it into his pack. Phoenix was striding toward the tents, to bring them down, when the sound of a rustling caught his attention, further from the camp then any of them. Not the sound of an animal, Phoenix was sure. He twirled around, going into a crouch, and lighting his hands. The three noticed this, and taking their cues from him, all assumed combat stances, with Lindani pulling water from her skin, Spedro bringing a rock to float above his palm, and Ember pulling air to her, causing her hair to flow out behind her. The rustling continued, coming closer all the while.
The four did not have to wait long however, as an old woman stumbled into the camp, dirty and disheveled, with dirt encrusting her face and hands. She came forward a few more steps, and Phoenix rose, moving toward her while the others kept their stances, ready to protect him if necessary.
“What are you doing out here?” asked Phoenix, standing a few feet away from the bedraggled woman.
The woman’s eyes widened at the sight of the four, and a crazed look enveloped her features. “I will not return! I will die before I do!”
Phoenix took a step back, prepping to defend an attack from this woman. He would usually laugh at the thought of an elder attacking him, but this woman, even in her crazed state, exuded an immense power that Phoenix could not understand. “Calm down. Tell me where you will not return to, and I shall see to it that you do not.”
“No!” screamed the woman, stretching her hands to the sides, and Phoenix could feel the power emanating from her palms. Moving quickly, Phoenix pulled water from Lindani’s water skin, and enveloped the woman with it, freezing her hands and feet where they were. “We are friends! We do not wish to harm you!”
The woman’s lips pulled up in a sneer, showing her aged and yellowing teeth. “Do not trifle with me, boy!”
The ice encompassing her limbs shattered, and Phoenix stumbled back a step, surprised. The woman’s hands came forward, palms pointing directly at Phoenix’s chest.
A dull thump resounded in the woods, and the woman’s body folded to the floor, while Phoenix let out the breath he did not know he held. A small rock lay beside the woman, while a small cut on her temple oozed blood. Phoenix turned to thank Spedro, who wore a surprised look. Catching Phoenix’s eye, he shook his head, pointing to Lindani. The olive woman brushed the dirt of the rock from her hands, and came forward, standing beside her mate, staring at the body of the woman on the floor.
“Who is she?” Lindani asked, to which Phoenix only shook his head.
“I do not know. But we need to find out.”
Lifting the woman from the ground and tossing her over his shoulder, Phoenix strode to his and Lindani’s tent, telling Ember to bring him a length of rope. He laid the woman down, and set to tying her hands and feet together, though in a comfortable position. The four were crowded into the tent, watching the old woman’s chest rise and fall steadily as she breathed deeply, unconscious.
“We wait till she awakes,” Phoenix said. “Then we will find out who or what she was running from.”
The four waited the rest of the day, while Spedro went to hunt another meal. He returned just before nightfall, a dead fawn over his shoulders.
“Has she awoken?” was his first question, as he set about cleaning the kill.
“Not yet,” answered Lindani, pulling a few potatoes from her bags.
She sat on a log, using a sharp knife to peel them. Ember pulled some carrots from the same bag, while Phoenix lit a fire, and placed a pot over it. Adding some water and flour, he mixed until it thickened, then added some more water and the drippings from the pork to fashion a sort of gravy. Spedro finished cleaning the meat, cut it into chunks, and added it to the slowly simmering pot. They let it cook in relative silence, and the women added the vegetables when the meat was almost done.
Their stew finished, Phoenix used a ladle to spoon it into bowls, and the four ate silently. Words were not needed in this circle, as the silences were not awkward.
Before they finished however, a voice came from the tent in which the old woman slept. “Water, please.”
Lindani rose, and grabbed her water skin, and the four followed her into the tent. Dropping a few drops of water into the now conscious woman’s mouth, they waited until she coughed, and spoke, fear replacing the crazed look from earlier in the day. “You will take me back to Demetrius then?”
Struck, Phoenix was the first to find his voice. “You were his prisoner?”
A questioning look took over the woman’s features. “You are not bounty hunters?”
“We are not,” answered Ember.
“Yet you know of Demetrius?”
“We do,” stated Spedro.
“If you are not bounty hunters, then why am I tied up?”
“Because you attacked me,” Phoenix said. “You are a Zuhdalee of some type, and almost used your gifts on me.”
“I apologize young man, but I did not know who you were, and I have been chased by the bounty hunters for weeks. No food, no rest.”
“How did you come to be his prisoner, and how did you escape?” Lindani asked.
“If you untie me, and give me a bit of the food you have cooked, I will tell you all you wish to know,” she answered, and Phoenix moved forward, and released her from her binds.
She stood shakily, and they led her out to the fire, and Lindani handed her a bowl of food, which she ate quickly.
Lindani refilled the bowl, and the woman ate half of it before setting it down and wiping her mouth with her sleeve. “Thank you. And now I realize I do not know who any of you are.”
The three introduced themselves, with Phoenix going last. “I am Phoenix, of Yaag.”
The woman’s eyebrows rose swiftly. “Son of Doritan?”
Perplexed, Phoenix gazed at the woman a moment before answering. “I am. How do you know me?”
“I am Cannit, of Charget. I know who you are because Demetrius knows of you, and has placed a price on your head. I trained all of his Piaslay.”
The four rose quickly, all ready to kill this woman, who sat contentedly, eating the last of her food.
“You are a general of his army?!” queried Phoenix, ready to kill this woman the moment ‘yes’ left her lips.
“I was, but no more.”