Page 16 of War

His upper lip curls just the slightest, and it makes me think that he’s disgusted at the sight of me.

The feeling’s mutual.

All of a sudden, he gets up. I swallow delicately as I crane my neck to look up at him.

He’s not human.

There’s no mistaking it now. His shoulders are too wide, his muscles are too thick; his limbs are too long, his torso too massive. His features too … complicated.

He pulls the needle-thin dagger from the holster encircling his bicep. At the sight of it, a bolt of adrenaline rushes through me, which is ridiculous considering that I asked for death moments ago.

“San suni ötümdön satnap tulgun, virot ezir uni itdep? Sanin iravim tilgun san mugu uyuk muzutnaga tunnip, mun uç tuçun vulgilüü,” he says, circling me.

I spared you from death, and yet now you seek it out? How you insult me wife, I who have never been known for my mercy.

Each word is gravelly, resonate.

Under his scrutiny my throat bobs. “I’m not going to keep my life just so that you can make me kill others,” I say, my voice hoarse with fear.

At my back, I sense the horseman stop.

Is he once again surprised I can understand him?

Before I can turn around, he takes one of my hands. It’s only now, when he’s touching me, his calloused hands swallowing mine up, that I realize I’m trembling.

I take a few deep breaths to settle my mounting anxiety.

War leans in close, his mouth brushing my ear. “San suni sunen teken dup esne dup uynikut? Uger dugi vir sakdun üçüt?”

Is that what you think I want with you? To make you another soldier?

He laughs against my hair, the sound making my skin prick. I flush, unnerved at his words.

I feel the cool metal of War’s blade as he inserts it between the bound hands at my back. There’s a brief pressure as his dagger presses against my bindings. A second later I hear a rip as, in one clean stroke, War cuts the twine and frees my wrists.

My arms sting as blood flows back into them.

“I know what you want from me,” I say quietly, beginning to rub out my wrists.

“Uger uzir vurvi? San vakdum tunduy uçit-uytin.”

Do you now? How transparent I have become.

War comes back to my front. He’s still grimacing at me, like I’ve offended his delicate sensibilities.

“A hafa neu a nuhue inu io upuho eu ha ia a fu nuhueu a fu Ihe,” he says. His tone and the language he speaks seem to change and soften.

There are many things I can give you that Death cannot.

“I don’t want your things,” I say.

The corner of War’s mouth lifts. I can’t tell if his smile is mocking or amused. “Ua i fu ua nuou peu e fuhio.”

And yet you’ll still get them.

He eyes me over. “Huununu ia lupu, upu. I fu ua fu ipe huy.”

Clean yourself off, wife. You will not die today.