Unbound.
And free.
I didn’t stay for breakfast, the excitement too overwhelming to allow me to even breathe properly and, after waiting the appropriate time to ensure that Dahr, and specifically Markos, had departed, I gave myself a dose of courage and pushed the tent flaps to allow my body to squeeze through and exit the tent.
A shiver rolled down my spine and parts of me were expecting to be tricked. For someone to jump at me and contain me, tie me up again and pull me back into the tent.
But no one paid any attention to me.
The camp had started its daily murmur and activities, with dozens of people carrying meals, preparing for the day or barely waking up. Sylam was the only one who even looked my way, and that was only to nod slowly, indirectly telling me that we’d be spending the day together.
Well… as ‘together’ as trailing my every step allowed us to.
Not needing directions to Karisha’s tent and hoping that her mate was already far away, I started walking towards it, getting slightly more confident in my steps. When she offered me a new change of clothes the day before, she made the decision to add comfortable shoes to my new attire, so walking around the camp for the rest of the day was on the very top of my to do list.
I could only hope she had plans to do the same.
“Good morning,” I said as I made myself appear into her tent with a smile to find her braiding her long sunrise-coloured hair to the side.
She looked stunning and as always, I observed that the colours of her dress were a different shade of blue.
“Is blue your favourite colour?” I asked, curious. True, we were in a coastal province and shades of blue lingered everywhere, the ocean itself bringing different tonalities on the daily. And her sapphire-blue eyes matched her gown to absolute perfection, helping to highlight not only her beauty, but also her elegant features.
What surprised me was that her mate wore blue as well, and even though he also had blue eyes, I doubted his choice was purely made as a fashion statement.
“Fortunately, yes,” she giggled and walked over to me to offer me a quick hug, which I relished. “Imagine if I had to wear this colour all my life and I absolutely despised it.”
“Why do you have to wear it?”
“Oh,” she paused, probably understanding that I still had very little knowledge concerning their customs. “We report directly to Captain Xadom,” she replied, then reconsidered and added. “Well, Markos does. Officially, he is the captain of the camp, but everybody calls him tribe lord as per the drake tradition. Anyways, Captain Xadom’s colours are blue and we’re reflecting his dominion over us,” Karisha explained, then moved back to the small table where hair accessories waited for her.
His dominion over them… That sounded atrocious, as though they didn’t have any rights at all… as though this captain could give them whatever orders he chose, and they would have to follow without protest.
“I see,”I chose my words carefully, not wanting to bring up any sort of discussion that would put her in a bad mood or raise any other issues that had the potential to taint that ravishing smile off her face. “Do you have any plans for the day?” I made sure to ask carefully and with a smile, indirectly telling her that I fully planned to tag along if she would have me.
I hoped she would, because there wasn’t anyone else I could spend my day with and I seriously doubted Sylam would let me just wander the camp by myself.
“Sure,” she replied with excitement, “and I need help, so you are just in time.”
I waited for Karisha to finish preparing and took the opportunity to grab some breakfast from her table, since she had plenty of leftovers. I did notice that her meals looked plentiful and weren’t based solely on dried meats or fish, like I had seen the other women in the camp prepare.
I had a million questions about how the camp worked, about the drake traditions and their history, about their intentions and chain of command. There wasn’t any information I didn’t plan on absorbing, but I also knew that if I were to show too much interest at once, I would receive even less information than what they were letting drop.
“Ready?” Karisha moved closer to me and poured herself a glass of orange juice to let me finish what was left on my plate before we departed for the day.
I expected Sylam to be waiting for me by the tent, but when we got out, I spotted him farther away, chatting to two other men I had not seen before. Not that I saw a lot of the camp really, though I was determined to change that little by little.
I still didn’t understand my situation fully, or why I was needed, and neither Markos, nor Karisha, nor Dahr seemed to be willing to shed light on my questions. Still, I was determined to uncover the truth and, if they weren’t willing to give me the pieces of the puzzle, I would carve it myself and create the design.
For today, however, I would be an obedient student and listen to the tribe lady’s teachings. Which she shared plenty of.
In our long walk, I found out that the camp was separated into several territories, each of them serving specific purposes. I discovered that hunters resided in the Northern side to gain easier access to the forest and the mountain area, from where they brought food every day, which was then distributed throughout the camp. The Southern region was mainly occupied by merchants and workers, who received instruction on importing and exporting goods, with all inventory and stock levels being controlled by Karisha. It made perfect sense now why she was always walking around the camp with a notebook, since she was constantly working to update her inventory and make notes on all camp requirements. The Western side was where the training area was situated by the sea and where most of the experienced warriors lived, preferring to be alone and unbothered by the general noise.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Karisha must have read my thoughts. “There are trained guards placed all around camp.”
I nodded and signalled her to continue to present the territories to me.
“The Eastern side is where new recruits and trainees live. They are yet to be assigned to a specific task, so they swap around and try many different things until they find their use and talents,” the tribe lady explained.
