Into the Storm

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Rayl didn't look back at the death throes of her kinsman's village but clasped the arm of Kiri Hatun and drew her forward. The young queen staggered over the rough ground but Rayl forced her onward.

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"Ease your grip, Rayl," Kiri Hatun commanded but to her surprise, Rayl neither eased her grip or nor slackened her pace. "Rayl!" she exclaimed, "You're hurting me. Let go!"

"They will hurt you a lot worse," Rayl snapped, "be quiet. Keep moving."

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Kiri gasped. This was the woman who hadn't spoken more than one word in two years. A woman who acquiesced to her every command or ignored her if she was in one of her absent trances. But now Kiri was too frightened to protest and quickened her pace as bidden. Rayl led her into the forest and they slipped among the shrouding darkness of the trees like foxes heading to earth. Kiri felt safer in the trees. Rayl was an invisible shadow by her side.

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"Will they come after us?" Kiri asked.

"Assuredly. We don't know where they are, where their camp is or their outriders. It is not safe to speak. Be silent."

 

Their footsteps sounded loud in the deep quiet. Kiri's foot landed on a branch which snapped with a sharp crack that cut through the air. Rayl whirled around and was back beside her in an instant. She clamped a hard hand over Kiri's mouth and pulled her down under the edge of a hollow log.

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"Quiet," she whispered in the trembling young woman's ear.

Rayl lifted her head and listened. A grumble sounded in the distance and a flicker of lightning cast a brief light through the forest. Yes, there it was again. The thud of a heavy tread. It came from behind them but not from the direction of the hapless village.

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Sky Father, keep your war bolts from showing our hiding place, she breathed.

She wrapped her arms around Kiri Hatun and squeezed tight. If the queen uttered a sound, they would both be lost. Her hand clamped across Kiri's mouth again.

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"Over here," a guttural voice spoke, "I heard a branch break."

 

More footsteps. Closer now. Carefully, Rayl slid the knife from her belt. She could hear heavy breathing. Kiri quivered in her arms. A fresh wind blew through the trees and the fresh smell of rain filled Rayl's nostrils. A brighter flicker of lightning shot through the sky. Rayl saw the two enemy warriors from the corner of her eye. She dared not move her head to look fully at them but it seemed that they had looked up at the sky rather than around the forest. Rayl held her breath.

 

The darkness pressed in on them and strange night creatures cried in the distance. At any moment Rayl expected the enemy warriors to step forward and run right over her and her shrinking companion.

 

One of them grunted and spat. "There is nothing here."

The other growled his agreement. They stepped away and the two women listened to shuffle and snap that marked their passage through the forest. The wind picked up and sent the leaves dancing among the thick branches. A hushing, rushing noise filled their ears.

As soon as the sounds of the warriors faded, Rayl jumped up. "Come on," she grasped Kiri's hand and drew her in a direction away from the departed warriors.

 

They ran now until Rayl heard the smooth liquid sounds of running water. An

ominous roll of thunder growled, deeper and louder and very much closer. Another flicker of lightning revealed a shallow, narrow stream.

"A storm comes," Kiri panted.

 

Rayl didn't reply. She ducked down beside the stream and scooped up a mouthful of water with her hand. She slid a water skin from her shoulder and dipped the end of it under the tugging water until it was heavy and full.

She dug her hand into the soft mud at her feet and without explanation, smeared it down the side of Kiri Hatun's face.

 

"What are you doing?" Kiri drew back but Rayl caught her hand.

"Quiet."

 

Still without explanation, she continued to cover the young woman in a layer of wet, sticky mud until the softness of her skin was rough and no longer white.

"Ugh stop, Rayl, you've made me filthy, cold and so uncomfortable," Kiri whispered piteously.

"Hiding is the only thing that will keep us alive for the next few days," Rayl whispered back. She held her face close to Kiri's. Her dark eyes and the outline of her pale face were just visible in the gloom. "We must keep on at night and hide during the day."

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"But where are we going? And there is a storm coming, Rayl. Don't you think our men have defeated the enemy by now and my husband will wonder where I am?"

 

Rayl took Kiri's cold hand in hers. She was quiet for a long time. "I fear you will never see Yavar Khan again, Kiri Hatun," she said at last and Kiri heard the sorrow in her voice, "it was no random raid but a planned attack. Those warriors we saw were confident. I fear the Lateri people are no more. We must go on, into the storm. When your kinsman comes, he will take you back to your people."

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A sharp boom thundered above them, shocking them both into a frozen stance.

"See," Rayl said quietly, "the Sky Father agrees with me. We will go into the storm and we will be protected."

 

Confidence rang in her voice and Kiri marvelled.

"What has happened to you, sister Rayl? You are...better?"

 

A long and many branched flicker of lightning spread its fingers across the sky and Kiri could see Rayl's face clearly for those brief moments.

"The inner knowledge has returned to me, Kiri Hatun. I remember everything from the time I lost all things dear to me and came to the Lateri tribe. I will have my revenge. My enemies will feel my anger and my vengeance. The Fire Mother whispered it to me in my time of shadows and now the Sky Father growls his agreement."

 

Kiri felt the thrill of dread travel up her spine and prickle along her forearms. In that moment she believed Rayl utterly. The fresh wind blew stronger with a damp, earthiness that heralded rain. A sharp splattering hit the tossing leaves of the forest canopy and the fine mist that surrounded them turned to firm droplets.

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"Where will we find shelter?" Kiri asked humbly.

"We will not seek it. This storm is a gift - it will keep the warriors close to their camps and the rain will hide our trail. We go on."

 

Without another word, Rayl drew the dirty, miserable queen into the stream and pulled her along in its shallows until her feet became numb and she was more afraid of the next step than the enemies all around them.

 

"Why must we go on, Rayl?" Kiri Hatun said with a sob in her voice. She had done her best to walk through the night without complaint. Heroically, she had ignored the damp and the discomfort but now every muscle quivered and her feet were bruised. Her self-control was dangerously thin. Rayl heard her plaintive voice. She didn't alter her steady strides.

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"I told him to go east but escaping those warriors sent us in a different direction. I'm taking us in a curve. Soon we will be heading in the right direction once more and your kinsman may find you."

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Kiri dared not think about whether Kynan lived or what Rayl would do with her if he did not come.

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Rayl looked up at the smudgy sky. The great expanse of blackness was turning grey at the far edge. Soon the first fingers of dawn would steal across it. She and Kiri must be well hidden by then. She slackened her pace and peered about with sharp eyes. The beech wood trees rose in slender columns all around, their green leaves showing bits of yellow that would spread and deepen as high summer waned into winter.

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Already the chill nipped at her cheeks and drove the colour into them. She must find shelter - some cleft in the rock or deep den to keep them protected from the cold fingers of the wind and safe from hostile, eager eyes. With the instinct of one of the wild creatures, she left the clear ground at the foot of the birches and dove into the thick cluster of bushes and shrubs that hugged the base of a small rocky ridge, dotted with massive boulders and chunks of rock, half broken off from the steep swell of the ridge.

She burrowed deeper and Kiri, despairing yet desperate, crawled after her. By the time dawn blushed in the sky, they were tucked in under a leaning rock surrounded by bushes.

Kiri was stiff and cold but Rayl showed no sign of discomfort. She ran slender fingers over the ferns, smoothing any broken ones, removing any trace of their passage.

The promising dawn had gave way to deep grey rain clouds. With the sullen colour of a winter lake, they spread across the sky adding gloom to the weary escapees. The rain pelted down. Drips of it ran down the sides of the rock and the wet end of ferns slid across Kiri's face and found gaps in collar of her dress. She felt its coldness slide next to her neck and she shivered at the growing damp between her shoulders. The scarlet headdress was lost and her hair was soaking and she was cold. The chill intensified across her back and she sat in a daze of misery. There wasn't much shelter under the lee of the rock but Rayl dug away at the rear with a stub of stick until she'd scooped out a smooth, long hollow. Without looking at Kiri, she gathered old broken branches from the thick tangle about them and laid them along the rock in a line, closing in the hollow.

Hunger gnawed at Kiri's belly, it knifed deep in her middle and her stomach uttered an audible growl. The corner of Rayl's mouth lifted but immediately tightened back again. There was no food. They'd had no time to gather any. The khan's wife had neither coat, gloves or heavy boots. Her dress was wholly inadequate protection in the harsh climate of these hills.

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With great energy yet careful precision, Rayl hauled leafy branches from bushes around her and used them to cover her shelter of branches. Kiri watched as Rayl hunkered down on her heels and examined her structure with her head on the side. Kiri rubbed a dirty hand across her face. Surely this could not be the mindless creature who, just yesterday, sat working the loom in manic haste. She watched Rayl look over her structure and fetch more dried fronds to fill a gap. The woman's eyes were full of intelligence.

Kiri shivered. Had a wild spirit snatched the old Rayl away and entered her body instead?

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Just then Rayl glanced over at her with such a knowing gaze that Kiri trembled and fright prickled all over the skin on her body.

 

Rayl strode over. "Stand," she commanded.

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Kiri obeyed. Rayl examined her from head to toe with that new, razor sharp gaze.

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"We have no food and are still too close to our enemies to hunt or light a fire. Will you endure the hunger and the pain?"

 

Kiri bit her lip and nodded. Rayl gestured her forward and leaned her head in the direction of the small, hidden shelter.

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"You will sleep in there."

 

Obediently, Kiri pushed her way into the hollow. The sturdy branches and the leafy ones were close to her face. She could clearly see the smooth bark and the rough patches of moss, the green veined leaves and the short twigs. She gritted her teeth and laid down on the dirt, heartily wishing for her own comfortable bed with its warm, smooth blankets and the heavy furs.

 

She blinked as a tangle of leaves and twigs scratched the top of her head but she was too tired to lift it and move away. She closed her eyes and let the weariness steep through her body. Oh, the ache in her feet, the heaviness of her legs and the damp and the cold! It would kill her, she was sure. Another bundle closed up the end of the shelter and she was dimly aware that Rayl stuffed more bundles of twigs and leaves at her feet. Kiri sighed and let go, sinking into an uneasy, cold sleep.

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