Page 53 of The Witch who Trades with Death

Chapter Fifty-Three

The orders for the militia went out soon after the chief’s decision: defensive positions all night. Civilians were to leave their homes and spend the night in designated bunkers which were more easily defensible than hundreds of smaller buildings. Those bunkers included the town hall, the Old Family estates, and practically every inn and tavern in town. Upon hearing the order, Heimili started making soup and chuta for the night’s guests. Sava had arrived at the inn hours earlier with the Poison Darts, something that warmed Khana even as she realized they were protecting her against the rest of the town. Heimili didn’t mind; he roped all of them into food prep.

The line to seek refuge at the inn began forming an hour before sundown. Heimili and his workers scooped out bowls of soup, refusing all payment. “We have enough worries. I’ll not have empty stomachs be one of them,” he said. Most of the guests still left tips, the most Khana had ever seen.

As Khana and her unit left the inn, fully armed and armored this time, she passed dozens of people going into the inn for shelter. After the first nasty look, she kept her eyes down.

Haz draped an arm around her shoulder and loudly said, “Sure glad you’re fighting with us tonight, since you’re the only person who’s been able to stop witches, night creatures, and a whole company of archers. Not like we’ll be seeing any of those, of course.”

That got a couple of the nasty looks to turn away, one even becoming guilty. Khana poked him in the ribs. “You’re not subtle.”

“Good. Subtlety doesn’t suit me.”

Their unit was stationed outside of town, with most others. Yxe explained why: “Many commanders throughout history win by targeting the enemy’s food supplies. It’s actually a favorite tactic of Emperor Yamueto from his earlier campaigns.”

It was late spring. The fields of potatoes and barley were just sprouting. While Neta assured everyone the chief had emergency stores, destroying the food here would still be a major blow.

Archers climbed onto the rooftops of farms and houses, now empty of occupants. Khana scanned their faces, looking for Sava. She couldn’t find him anywhere. Disappointed, she followed Neta and the rest of the Red Frogs to their position in the farmland east of the village. They weren’t far from the tundra field they’d trained in.

“At least it’s a warm night,” Xopil said as the sun sank behind them. He was right: their breath didn’t even mist, and they sweated in their armor.

“What if we’re wrong and he doesn’t come for the farms?” she asked.

“The other companies are within the town itself. They’ll be the first to know,” Neta said. “But Yxe’s right: chances are, he’ll go for our food. An army that can’t eat can’t fight.”

Khana watched the dying sun paint the sky blood red. Units around her brought out torches, and a few bonfires made of bone got started, the better to see their incoming attackers.

It was during this bustle that Chief Phramanka marched along the companies, a stone-faced Sava beside her. Behind them trailed a man in dark brown servant’s wear, leading four yaks that must have been from Phramanka’s own farm. They went straight for the Poison Darts.

“Khana,” the chief said. “A word?”

She stepped forward, glancing at Sava. He kept side-glaring his mother. “Yes?”

“We need you to act as bait.”

Khana’s heart stopped. “What?”

“I’m sure there were better ways to say that,” Sava said.

“I don’t have the patience for blunting any edges,” Phramanka retorted. “The emperor’s larger goal is to overrun the town, of course. But he seems personally invested in you. We can use that to our advantage. So…”

She motioned to the yaks behind her. “When the fight starts, get glowing. Draw him to the archers. They’ll fill him with so many arrows he’ll never get the life force needed to heal himself.”

Khana couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe.

Sava said, “You don’t have to–”

“Yes, she does,” Phramanka interrupted. “It’s not a request, it’s an order.”

“I–I can’t,” Khana stammered. “He… I can’t.”

The chief huffed. “I wouldn’t order you to do this if I could do it myself. But this is the best chance we have at ending this now, saving countless lives.”

Guilt mingled with the fear choking her. She couldn’t go anywhere near Yamueto without freezing up, couldn’t even think about him. The only way she could do this was if she was able to hide, blend in with the other soldiers. Not act as bait.

“I can’t,” she stuttered.

Phramanka gave her a disappointed look. Sava glared at his mother, muttering, “Trauma. I told you–”

“What if it wasn’t Khana?”

She jumped, not having heard Neta come up behind her.

“He doesn’t care about anyone else,” Phramanka said.

“We’ll be fighting at night,” the serji pointed out. “He’ll be high in the air, too far to make out any details in the darkness. He’s only going to be looking for the person that glows. And since Khana can give rabala to other people to heal wounds, it makes sense that she’d be able to make them glow, too.”

Phramanka raised her eyebrows, considering it.

“We wouldn’t even necessarily need one person as bait,” Sava added, enthusiastically latching onto the idea. “We could get multiple decoys running around, causing confusion. While the enemy tries to figure out who’s who, we shoot them down!”

“Divide their forces,” Phramanka murmured. “All right, serji, we’ll go your way. You and any other volunteers – not you, Sava, you’re leading the archers – will lead them on separate chases. Send your volunteers to me and I’ll give them a route through town. Sava, go to the other Old Families. Tell them to give us either four yaks or a dozen goats, each. That’ll give us a good starting point.”

He nodded and ran off. Phramanka went to check on the rest of the soldiers. Khana turned to Neta. “I’m so sorry–”

“Don’t,” her serji said. “She doesn’t get to endanger the life of my soldier without at least considering other options.”

“It’s not your fight.”

Neta’s eyes flashed. “The emperor is leading an attack on my home, killing my people, and endangering my family. What part of that isn’t my fight?”

Khana said nothing.

Neta nudged her. “Come on. Let’s see if we can talk the rest of the unit into this.”

The others proved remarkably easy to convince. Neta barely got “absorb life force” out of her mouth before Haz squealed, “We get to be witches? Yes!”

Itehua held up a hand. “What exactly happens when one of those flying monsters snatches us up like the damsel we’re pretending to be?”

“You’ll survive the fall if you’re glowing,” Khana assured him. “You just have to get out of the grip.”

“Chief Phramanka’s going to give each of us a route through town, to lure the imperials to the archers who’ll shoot them along the way,” Neta added. “We’re not fighting together this time: we’re splitting up. Divide and conquer.”

“We’re sure they’ll fall for this?” Xopil asked. He stood next to Khana and put a hand just over her head, which barely reached his breast. “We look rather different.”

“They won’t notice in the chaos until it’s too late.”

Khana’s guilt forced her to speak: “Maybe Xopil should sit this one out. He has a wife and son.”

“And some of the fastest legs this side of the mountains,” he assured her.

“Yamueto doesn’t want you dead,” Neta pointed out. “He stressed that he wants you alive. So, pretending to be you is one of the safest things anyone can do tonight.”

“Still, we should come up with some sort of order,” Itehua said. “Animals have less life force than humans; we might not all be able to do this.”

Khana kept her face neutral. She could summon more life force beyond whatever animals Phramanka could find for her. But if she did, that would endanger more of her unit, and carve out more pieces of herself.

“Good point,” Neta mused. “All right, let’s go by height…”

By the time Sava returned with several more animals, the unit had an order of priority: Lueti was first, as the closest to Khana in size and stature, followed by Yxe, Haz, Neta, Itehua, and finally, Xopil.

Neta glanced at Sava and said, “We’ll talk to the chief about our routes.” And with that very unsubtle announcement, got the rest of the unit to leave him and Khana alone.

“I’m sorry,” Sava said. “Ma told me this plan, and I tried to talk her out of it–”

“It’s a good plan,” Khana assured him. “Even I can see it. I’m just… I can’t do it.”

“I know. I saw you when he arrived.” He jerked his chin at the rest of the unit. “These are the volunteers?”

“They insisted.”

“Good.” He smirked and leaned closer conspiratorially. “Ma was really impressed by Neta’s quick-thinking, and everything else she’s done. Don’t say anything, but the next time we need to promote a serji to midya, her name is probably going to come up.”

For the first time since seeing Yamueto, Khana smiled a real, joyful smile. “That’s wonderful! Oh, I can’t believe you’re making me keep that quiet!”

“We don’t want to ruin the surprise, now, do we?”

She huffed. “I hate you.”

He reached up to touch her face, but his hand hovered.

She leaned her check into his palm, letting it ground her, pretending that that were back at the inn rather than a battlefield. That they were safe, maybe about to sing in the tavern or go to bed.

He kissed her, barely more than a brush against the lips, then stepped back. As soon as his hand left her, Khana felt cold.

“We’ll bring him down,” Sava promised. “Tonight.”

“Tonight,” she echoed.