Adica, puffing slightly, clambered up beside him. Her expression had altered completely from only a few moments before. She no longer had any comfort left to give him. She no longer had any thought except for the task she had to complete when evening came. “They’ll have to attack. Their only hope is to stop me from weaving my part of the working. They’ll be trying to strike at all seven of us, each in our own place.” She glanced up at the sky. “With the gods’ blessing you and the others released the Holy One from the Cursed Ones’ bondage so she could work her weather magic. The skies are clear. We have only to survive the day, and then we will be free of their curse forever.”
He stared, trying to measure the force gathering in the village, where Beor, Urtan, Kel, and the others sheltered. Here, along the ramparts, even children armed themselves with clubs and staves. Hooves sounded below him as Sos’ka and her companions came up underneath the walkway. They had no way to get up the ladder to see over the palisade.
“What is the Hallowed One’s wish?” Sos’ka cried. “We are here to protect her.”
They had prepared for many things, but not for an army of hundreds. He faltered. How easy it was to be reckless with other people’s lives! But centaurs and human fighters watched him intently. They would not falter, no matter the cost. They had walked a harder road than he had, and for many more years. Determination would carry them forward.
Yet he had seen the Cursed Ones close up as well, and surely the Cursed Ones held determination close to their hearts, too.
No wonder war was a curse.
One of the Cursed Ones rode within a bow’s shot of the village and loosed a burning arrow. It sailed over the palisade to land, sputtering, in the dirt. Another arrow flew, and a third and a fourth, then a shower. Children ran toward the safety of the houses, only to be driven back when the thatched roof of the men’s house caught and began to burn, twin to the fire that consumed Adica’s house, another funeral pyre.
Sorrow and Rage panted below, gazing loyally up at him. It was easy to think now that his heart had died of sorrow yet again. It was easy to act because he knew he, too, would die. It was simply not possible to go on living without her.
“Adica, you must go up to the stone loom. Their arrows can’t reach you there. I want ten adults to attend her. Make sure she’s covered and safe. You’ll have to lie low all day, beloved. Can you do that?”