“Perhaps water,” said Chaldrin, the hand which was surely his tightening upon my arm. “We must immerse her in water, and drive this fever from her!”
“No!” said another voice, one which seemed like S’Heernoh’s, yet was it filled with greater authority and force than it had ever held. “The life sign, we must replace the life sign upon her, to quiet its agitation! If we fail to do so, she will not survive!”
With the sound of many voices and presences about me I attempted to force open the lids which had closed over my eyes, yet to no avail. The illness and flame heat rose higher and higher within me, and then came a touch which brought the ending of darkness.
Dim was the candle-lit interior of Ennat’s tent, close in the warmth of the fey which had not advanced far from the time the darkness had taken me. I had awakened to find myself upon the sleeping leather of the Keeper, my life sign returned to its place about my neck, all illness and flame heat gone from my flesh. I had sighed with relief at their blessed absence, then had raised myself to sitting to look about at those who filled the tent.
“Mida sees to her own,” said Ennat, smiling in satisfaction as she came forward with a pot of brewed daru for me. “I had no doubt that you would be returned to full health, Jalav of the Midanna.”
“I, too, had no doubts,” said Chaldrin, who sat to my left, “yet am I greatly relieved to see you awake, sister.”
“And I!” said Mehrayn, lookin upon me from his place to my right. Much did it seem that he wished to touch me, yet was he aware of the life sign I wore, the life sign which would take the pleasure from his touch. “Do you hunger, wench?” he asked, keeping his light eyes upon me. “You slept the healing sleep only for a short while, yet have you ever wakened from it with hunger.”
“I know not whether my hunger stems from that or from not having fed in some time,” said I, sipping at the daru to quiet the inner rumblings Mehrayn’s words had brought forth. “What ever the cause, hunger is most certainly with me.”
“Allow me to see to the fetching of your provender,” said Ennat, crouching to put aside her own pot of daru before straightening again. “Your presence honors my tent, Jalav of the Midanna, and I would see the honor continue for a while.”
Her warm smile lit her way from the tent, and for a long moment no other word was spoken. Mehrayn and Chaldrin and Aysayn and Ilvin and Wedin and Dotil and I; all of us sat unspeaking, and nearly unmoving.
“To think that that nearly was done to Ladayna,” said Aysayn at last, a tremor of illness passing through the dark eyes of him. “Had she not only taken her life sign, had she attempted to put it about her neck—”
“Surely Sigurr guarded her and kept her from it,” said Mehrayn, attempting to soothe his brother’s upset. “We none of us know the full power of the sign given by the gods, yet were we all guarded from it. None were harmed—save that one who sought to steal the power for her own. Even my wench now sits before us restored to health.”
“For which we all thank the gods,” said Aysayn with a nod, producing something of a smile. “Nevertheless, as soon as our battle with the coming strangers is done and I have returned to the city, Ladayna will be taught the true meaning of punishment. Never will I forget the sight of those flames rising from the female’s flesh, consuming her with agony... !”
“Brother, enough!” protested Chaldrin, his eyes upon the trembling which had come to my hands. I, too, would never find the sight of Kalir’s ending leaving me, and this was an added burden I must carry: never again to allow another the touching nor taking of my life sign. The true blame for the doing was mine alone, for had I sought out Kalir before she awakened and reclaimed the life sign, it would not have been able to do her as it did. Had I not been so pleased to be free of the thing, had I not been so foolishly unconcerned—Abruptly I emptied the pot of daru I held, put it aside, then removed my life sign, angrily pulling it free of my hair before wrapping its leather about the hilt of the dagger in my leg bands. That dagger was the one given me by Mida, the matching sword lying to the right of the leather I sat upon, neither showing the least harm from having been upon Kalir at the time of her ending. It gave me little surprise to see it so, for the weapons were also possessions of the goddess, as was the life sign I wrapped about the hilt of the dagger. Although I must surely keep that life sign from the hands of others, I would not allow it to bind me to it, taking all of pleasure from my life, leaving naught save duty and lack of feeling. Little enough of pleasure was allowed Mida’s chosen, and this little I would not permit to be taken from me!
“It was my intention to thank you earlier, sisters,” said I to Wedin and Dotil, deliberately seeing naught of Aysayn’s embarrassment and the faint dismay of Chaldrin and Mehrayn. No more was to be spoken upon the matter of my life sign, and this the males quickly understood.
“For what do you thank us, Jalav?” asked Wedin, raising herself from the floor leather to take my emptied pot and turn toward the fire with it. “Little aid were we able to give you, with our sisters guarding us so closely. They feared we would be branded traitors, you see, and had no wish for so dishonorable a fate to touch us.”
“It must please you to know that the love of your clan sisters is yours,” said I, smiling my thanks for the refilled pot which Wedin brought me. “The tale of your escaping from observation long enough to build the pit must truly be one to be told and retold.”
“Pit?” said Dotil as Wedin reclaimed her place beside her. “What pit do you speak of, Jalav? We built no pit, nor were we able to escape from our sisters. They bound us in leather to be certain of this, and we were unable to free ourselves.”
“And yet there was a pit in the forest,” said I, speaking slowly and sipping at the daru in an attempt to clear the renewed confusion from my thoughts. “In the trial I was put to, with the pursuing warriors no more than a pair of reckid behind me, pain and weariness curling me nearly to the ground—a covered pit in a ring of bushes was my salvation, taking me from the sight of those who hunted me, allowing me the time of rest and healing I would not survived without. Also was there provender in the pit to heal my hunger—and bits of cloth in Summa blue and Hosta green to guide me to this haven. And you say you have no knowledge of it?”
“Not we,” said Wedin, exchanging looks of deep mystification with her sisters. “Perhaps the males—?”
“I know naught of any pit in the forest,” said Aysayn with a shrug, looking to Ilvin. “Likely we rode at the time with this wench and the others with her, attempting to reach this place.”
“And the Sword and I were otherwise engaged,” said Chaldrin as Ilvin nodded her agreement with Aysayn. “Even had we known of your need, girl, there were too many seeking the service of those who followed you, to allow us the opportunity for such a doing. We, also, know naught of it.”
“Surely it was the doing of your lady,” said Mehrayn, and this time his hand came to touch my hair. “As your need was so very great, she took what measures she could to see to it.”
“Perhaps,” I allowed, not caring to speak my thoughts more fully. Never before had Mida given me even half so great an amount of assistance, and I could not bring myself to believe she had this time done so. Where the pit had come from I knew not, yet was this no more than one mystery among many.
“And were you greatly pleasing to those who demanded your service?” asked Ilvin of Chaldrin, an evil leer covering her face. “A male such as you among the Hitta would have been drained to the final drop before being allowed the sleep of exhaustion.”
“I think, wench, I must show you how far a distance it is to my final drop,” said Chaldrin with calm pleasure, looking upon Ilvin the while Mehrayn. Aysayn and the Summa laughed. “Never yet have I done so, yet surely has the proper time now arrived. You will have the feyd you require before needing to take seat again upon the back of a kan.”