Cursed: Traitor's Trail

Chapter 17 Part 1

Aya lifted the partially filled bucket from the well. The dirt and dust that filled the water source in had been dug out enough to allow a slow pooling of water at the center. There was no time to filter it, or wait for the murk to settle, resulting in skins of mud being loaded onto mounts for the long trip eastward. She poured the brown liquid from the bucket into the skin, the fourth attempt, filling it at last.

This needed to go faster. They worked for hours and still only had the first wave of evacuees prepared. She placed the sealing plug and carried the skin toward the line of mounts. Twice, she attempted to pass the burden to the young Magi working diligently at their loading tasks, but she found herself wholly ignored, or at the least avoided. She struggled to keep her patience, if it wasn't Hamor or his followers glaring at her for being free, it was youth pretending she didn't exist.

She heard what Hamor said at the gathering, that he and those with him did not want her to evacuate with the Magi. Only Jaob's command kept her from a second, unjust, banishment. Unfortunately, Hamor seemed to have overtaken command of the evacuation.

The third Magi that avoided her nearly had a skin upside the head. They didn't have time for such nonsense.

A gentle hand rested on her shoulder.

"They fear your power, that it is not controlled...and the rumors that you are the traitor who caused all of this," Nauni gestured in a grand sweeping motion to the village and those fleeing its confines. She offered Aya a small, apologetic smile and lifted the skin from her hands.

"And you?" Aya questioned. "What do you believe?"

Nauni inhaled a deep, steadying breath, lifting her gaze to the remains of the village. Several of the tents were dismembered and bundled tightly for use on the steppes. The crops that she once tended so proudly now stood withered and unhealthy. The cricket enclosure lay, still broken, its inhabitants escaped in the night. Behind them, near Bane's stump, mouselings stood, sorted into groups; those old enough to keep pace with the herd, and those who would be left to die without the care of the Magi. A heavy loss.

"When I came to New Hope three years ago, it was the first time in my life I felt peace." She paused and Aya sensed the presence of her judging gaze, assessing. "My mother was a whore." She said at last, softly. "She was taken as a young girl and slaved to the king's army, sleeping with the warriors for whatever they would provide her. I grew up like that, in a small village near the capital. No one would associate with her unless they wanted her services, and they wouldn't acknowledge me at all. It didn't surprise anyone when I changed. Not even me. New Hope is the first place I have been alive. Like all possibilities opened before me, and for once I had a clan."

Aya tipped her head in acknowledgment, there were people with far more to lose than herself, she realized.

"I believe the Magi are in trouble; we cannot afford to take a traitor with us."

Bitter disappointment swelled in Aya's heart. If Nauni had turned on her, as well, she wouldn't avoid banishment, she needed at least one ally to counter Hamor.

"But we cannot afford to leave behind good Magi for the misfortune of arriving in New Hope at a poor time," Nauni amended.

Aya offered the woman a relieved smile, some of the terrible pressure finally lessened. It was nice to have a friend when the world was looking so hostile. She had been feeling a bit exposed without Bane or Jaob to stand up for her. And if she admitted the truth, she was afraid. She had seen what was coming, had seen into the mind of the man who ran the approaching army. She shuddered at the memory of the dark cruelty she witnessed.

Nauni was right, they couldn't afford to take the traitor with them, but what could she do to prevent it? As much as she didn't want to be left behind to die alone on the steppes, she didn't want to make the same mistake against another. She had failed to gather evidence that any one of the Magi were at fault.