Page 100 of Obsidian Throne

Da’ had said the land was mine to do with as I wished. I doubted seriously this is what he had in mind, but I also knew he would respect this decision. Because the men in Lochlann didn’t discount the decisions the women made.

Unlike here.

Unlike my husband.

The Unclanned spoke among themselves, and I would have known what they were saying even if I hadn’t caught snippets here and there.

Who was I, a woman, to ask this of them? To promise them a different life? To deliver on any of those promises?

When they returned, it was with a decisiveno.

“We don’t swear fealty to women, milady,” Andrei said. “But we will fight for coin, for food.”

That wasn’t good enough. We would already be outnumbered. Out-armed. I needed more from them.

My heart sank, but I wasn’t ready to give up yet.

“Thank you for your time,” I said simply. “I’ll be back tomorrow with more food.”

I rode hard to the next village, purchasing whatever little surplus of food they had, then set out to locate the next band of Unclanned.

And promptly got the same answer.

Frustrated, I headed to the blacksmith’s, needing to at least accomplish something. These men had agreed to fight for food and coin. I told myself that was better than nothing, even if it didn’t feel that way.

A woman looked up when I entered.

“Is the smith in?” I asked in Socairan.

“My husband has gone to the war efforts, milady.”

I took in her stature, her strong build and the burn scars on her arms. It was becoming apparent that Socairan women did plenty, they just didn’t do it out in the open.

Or get credit for it.

I walked to the counter, putting a high stack of gold coins in front of her. As usual, myaalioof a husband had thought of everything, but at least this time, it worked in my favor.

At least if he had planned every aspect of ditching me in the middle of the night, I could use the substantial amount of coins he had left in my trunk toward my own ends.

“I need swords. As many asanyone--” I stressed the word. “--can make in the next week.”

I held her pale-blue gaze with my own until she gave me a definitive dip of her chin.

“I’ll return in one week,” I said, leaving as quickly as I had come.

* * *

I revisited the same bands the next day, and again, the next.

Every day, their answer was the same. But they were wavering. By the third day, they let me stay longer, or at least, they didn’t appear to be uncomfortable about my presence.

I approached a group of children standing in a circle throwing sticks at a pile of sticks, but it took me a moment to register the game.Gorodki.Instead of the weighted pins and bats that Theo had used, these children were making use of what they had around them.

“Do you know how to play?” one of the girls watching the game asked me in Socairan, and I nodded.

“A little,” I told her in the same language.

A shy grin tempted the corners of her mouth, and I couldn’t help but return it. She looked younger than the twins, with pale blond hair that was braided back and knotted at her nape. Her rich brown eyes held all of the excitement that my sisters had at her age, and it tugged at something inside of me.