'Can we risk a fire?' He noted black stains that suggested the stone had been used as a hearth before. Close to, he also noticed that the old woman had a distinct odour, mostly thanks to the hide wrap she wore, and to whatever was matted into her hair.
At least she doesn 't smell of any fever or incontinence that would threaten us with some illness.
'How is she going to light that?' Risala was watching the old woman askance.
'Are you sure she has no magic?' As Kheda turned to ask Naldeth, the old woman stood up stiffly and walked towards the young mage. He and Velindre both stiffened. Velindre had set her magelight clinging to the rock wall just in front of the painted dragon and the pale flame flared azure.
The old woman gently took Naldeth's hand, tugging at him. He followed her obediently to the hearth, mystified yet willing to cooperate. The old woman pulled his hand forward and thrust his fingers into the sticks.
Kheda saw unmistakable exasperation in her eyes. 'She wants you to light it.'
Naldeth smiled at her and looked at the others. 'I can keep the elemental aspects confined within the cave without anyone being the wiser.'
'What about the light?' Kheda asked. 'A savage need not be a mage to have eyes in his head.'
'It won't leave the cave,' Naldeth assured him.
Kheda wavered for a moment, then nodded. 'Very well, then.'
Naldeth smiled briefly as he gently removed the old woman's insistent hand from his wrist. Snapping his fingers, he dropped a scarlet flame into the dry twigs. They crackled and the fire rapidly shifted from the scarlet of sorcery to a reassuringly natural gold.
'Do you think we dare sleep now?' Velindre yawned and Naldeth couldn't help but do the same.
'You two can try. We'll keep watch, or I will, if you're exhausted.' Kheda glanced belatedly at Risala.
She managed a thin smile. 'We can sleep when we're on the Zaise?
'Are we taking her back to the ship with us?' Naldeth studied the old woman, who was sitting quietly by the fire, one hand on her bundle, studying the painted walls of the cave. Her expression veered from awe to fear and back again.
'We'll discuss that in the morning.' Now there was firelight to see by, Kheda realised the outer layer of the woman's bundle was a furred and spotted hide faded to a dun between grey and brown.
Not from any beast we've seen so far. Which isn't all that surprising, given that we've not exactly been on a hunting trip. I wonder if the furry beast is predator or prey?
His stomach rumbled with protest at the thought of food. Risala came to sit beside him and tugged her leather sack open. 'Has anyone got any food left?'
'I have a few pieces of sailer bread.' Naldeth looked surprised as he investigated the bag Risala had given him before they left the Zaise. 'And some meat.'
'Share it out.' Kheda saw the old woman watching with open curiosity. 'Give her some as well.'
'What do you suppose she wants with us?' Velindre accepted her meagre share and sat leaning against the cave wall.
'How are we going to ask her?' wondered Naldeth. He tore a piece of sailer bread in half and chewed on his own portion as he offered the rest to the old woman.
'I don't know.' Kheda watched her turn it this way and that, furrowed brow creasing further with bemusement.
She sniffed at it and tried to take a bite. As she opened her mouth, they all saw she was lacking a significant number of teeth on one side of her upper jaw.
'She can't chew that.' Exasperated, Risala shook her flask to attract the old woman's attention and unscrewed the cap to drip a little water onto her own sailer bread. 'It's softer this way,' she explained as she bit into it with an exaggerated smile.
The old woman cocked her head on one side and held out her piece of bread. Risala wetted it for her and she tried again. A faint smile deepened the wrinkles on her fleshless face as she evidently found the bread more palatable.
Kheda swallowed the last of his own bread with difficulty. 'Is there any magic you can use to make her understand our tongue?'
'Us?' Unexpected pain twisted Naldeth's face. 'No, we—'
'Elemental magic can't do things like that.' Velindre spoke over him sufficiently hastily to pique Kheda's curiosity.
Is there something you 're not telling me? Or do you just want to avoid discussing another instance where all your vaunted powers can't actually solve a problem at hand?
Kheda turned his attention to the old woman, who was steadily chewing the stubborn sailer bread. He saw her dark beady eyes slide from Velindre to study him with new frankness. The warlord found himself intrigued.
'What do you want with us?' He tried to put his question into his tone, raising his eyebrows and spreading out his hands in supplication.
The old woman narrowed her eyes, considering him thoughtfully. After a couple of abortive gestures that conveyed nothing to Kheda, she reached for a stick of firewood waiting beside the little blaze. Gnarled knuckles tightening, she snapped it clean in two and set the pieces down on the floor.
'What does that mean?' Naldeth wondered, perplexed.
The old woman silenced him with a peremptory wave of her hand and carefully counted out five more sticks. Looking at Kheda, to be sure he was paying attention, she picked them all up and, with an exaggerated lift of her elbows, tried to snap the entire handful at once. Laying the sticks down carefully next to the one she had already snapped, she folded her thin arms and looked expectantly at Kheda.
He rubbed his beard. 'Do you suppose she knows she's vulnerable alone and that there's strength in numbers?'
'It's difficult to think what else she could mean.' Risala handed the old woman a strip of the dried duck meat Naldeth had found in the depths of his bag. 'And she doesn't look stupid.'
'I don't think any of these savages are necessarily slow-witted.' The young wizard surveyed the intricate artwork decorating the cavern thoughtfully.
'But why has she thrown in her lot with us?' Risala looked troubled. 'Where did she come from?'
'Would you throw yourself on the mercy of that villain wearing the skull mask?' retorted Velindre.
'Especially when you're old enough to qualify as dragon fodder,' Kheda agreed with distaste.
'She knows we're wizards.' Naldeth picked a dark shred from between his teeth. 'She must have seen us take on
the skull-faced mage. She saw us beat him. She must think we're a fair bet.'
I'd nearly forgotten about that little display of yours. Thank you for reminding me, Naldeth.
'Just what did you two think you were doing back there?' Kheda demanded abruptly.
'Besides saving some innocent girl from being raped or worse?' Naldeth was wholly unrepentant.
'And making sure that villain and his brutes were sufficiently distracted not to stop us escaping,' added Velindre tartly.
'Will he come after us when it gets light?' Risala shivered even though the fire now had the cave cosy and warm.
'Let him,' scoffed Naldeth. 'There's no subtlety to his magic, no sophistication, no true understanding. In Hadrumal he'd be no more threat than some buffoon at a masquerade.'
Kheda was stung. 'We're not in Hadrumal, wherever that may be, and he has a sky dragon's power to call on. These people wrought havoc in Chazen with their crude magics.'
'Only until you had magic to counter them.' Naldeth sounded incautiously patronising.
Fatigue tripped Kheda into an ill-tempered response. 'That masked wizard couldn't brutalise these people without magic. Everything I see here tells me Archipelagan suspicions of mages are more than justified.'
'It's not a question of magic,' Velindre broke in before Naldeth could snap back. 'It's a question of power, Kheda. I'll grant you magic gives that rogue his power, and sustains it, just as long as everyone else is too cowed to club him over the head some night when he's sleeping. But the magic is just the tool he misuses. There are warlords in the Archipelago who rule through fear and violence and they don't need wizardry to accomplish that, just the strong arms and sharp blades of their swordsmen.'