Page 70 of The Witch who Trades with Death

Chapter Seventy

A strange sense of numbness settled over Khana as Yamueto’s blood soaked the ground. The fighting gradually stopped as everyone realized what had happened. The unit carefully stepped away from the Reguallians, circling around Khana. Except Sava, who went forward to a huddled Athicha. His face blanched when he saw who his friend cradled.

“He’ll come back,” a Reguallian declared, breaking the silence. “The emperor will return.”

“He’s descended of the gods,” another agreed.

Khana laughed, feeling light and airy. Because it didn’t matter that Lueti and Neta were dead. She had a workaround. “Death doesn’t care.”

Xopil whistled again, like one would for a horse.

Khana hauled herself to her feet, exhausted, but knowing that they weren’t out of danger yet. If they didn’t leave now…

A behemoth roared, flying over their heads and landing a little way from the fire. Their behemoth. Xopil whooped and rushed over, petting the night creature’s scarred pelt with a coo. “Good boy. Oh, you’re such a sweetheart! You came when I called!”

Haz choked. “Right. Sweetheart.”

“Poison Darts, we’re leaving,” Sava ordered. “Athicha, come on, you can carry her…”

With the behemoth and witch, the Reguallians shied away, keeping wary eyes on all of them. Yamueto’s head dangled from Khana’s fingers. She held it up for them to see. “For anyone wondering, Haz and I struck a deal with Death – Vigerion, Muobra, Tsermayu, whatever you want to call them. They gave me the power, knowing what I’d do with it. Yamueto will never return.”

The unit mounted their flying steed, thankfully still saddled. Khana lingered last, daring the soldiers to attack. None did.

“He’ll come back,” was all one of them said.

She bared her teeth. “Then we’ll just kill him again.”

Yxe lost whatever had remained in his stomach over the side of the poor beast as they flew. Khana could see Haz smiling, right behind her, but his joy was dimmed. Lueti was still a night creature, and Athicha had Neta’s bloodied body laid over their legs.

They reached Pahuuda just as the sun rose. By then, Khana was ready to fall asleep in the saddle, despite the multiple layers of blood dried into a crusty shell over her skin and clothes. She roused herself as the behemoth circled the town, causing everyone below to come out and ready their weapons.

Sava whistled, some complicated pattern that turned all the military coordination into cheering. “All right, Xopil, put us down.”

He did, with about as much grace as the last time, on his own farm. The sudden landing almost threw them from the saddle.

Tlastisti gaped at them from her door. “What on earth?”

“Honey, we got a new pet!” Xopil cheered.

“No!”

“Yes!”

“Xopil!”

“He’s a sweetheart!”

Tlastisti buried her face in her hands. The rest of the town poured out of their homes, running to the fields to see. Chief Phramanka and Thriman pushed their way through the crowd, as did several other Old Families. The chief’s face melted with relief when she saw Sava.

As the unit stumbled off the behemoth, Khana hollered, “I need the families and loved ones of Neta Cituva and Lueti, right now!”

“Why?” Phramanka asked.

“Because they’re dead, and I need to bring them back.”

That caused a spur of whispers and shouts. Sava and Haz also protested while Athicha looked hopeful. Khana silenced them all by throwing Yamueto’s head at the chief’s feet. “The emperor is finished, and I know how to revive the dead. Fully. But there is a cost, and it’s one I cannot bear alone.”

She explained her deals with Death to the crowd. By the time she was done, the townsfolk had grown considerably. She was interrupted once by a woman screaming and running to Neta – her mother. Athicha and Sava let her cradle her daughter but calmed her down enough to let Khana finish what she was saying. Heimili also made his way through the crowd, latching onto Haz as soon as he saw him. She doubted he heard a word she said, but that was fine.

“…accepted Haz’s sacrifice instead of mine,” she concluded. “Which means I can bring someone back. But I cannot slice off parts of my own soul anymore. I will need someone else to make a sacrifice.”

Varisa wiped her face. “What do you need from me?”

“Either a great passion, or however many years of memories Neta’s been alive…”

“Do it.”

Athicha snapped their fingers, stopping Khana in her tracks. They signed something, and Haz’s jaw dropped. “Oh, shit, yeah. They might let us do that!”

“Do what?” Khana asked.

“Athicha’s asking if we can spread the deal. So instead of one person taking the whole brunt of it, we have a bunch of people take smaller hits,” he said. “I mean, you brought me in there with you. Why not more?”

“That’s definitely worth a try,” Phramanka declared, her first words since Khana began her explanation. “We’ll start with Neta, then your other fallen comrade.”

Unsurprisingly, all the Poison Darts volunteered, as did Athicha, Sava, Varisa, and Heimili.

A few people glanced at Athor Cituva. He shook his head. “I’m not meddling in Tsermayu’s affairs. That’s not natural.”

“Coward,” Heimili accused.

“I’m not!”

Any other protest was quelled when Phramanka herself joined the pile. Thriman then squeezed his way through the mini crowd to join his wife and son. “So, we just touch Khana, and she drags us to this shadow realm?” he asked.

“Theoretically, yes,” she said.

It was awkward and crowded. Several people had to crouch or even lie on the cold, muddy ground to get to her. All four limbs, the front and back of her torso, and the top of her head were covered in hands.

Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Death, we wish to trade.”