“A marauder?” Now she understood her innate antipathy to the man. It must have been the criminal in Hoban that had scared her so. His sharp predatory eyes, his sneaky ways, the covert thirst for power by any means. No wonder he had always elicited such a visceral flight response in her. “How did he end up in the city?”
Zoark shrugged. “Probably lost a power struggle. He wasn’t a part of the city when I first came to live there. His roaming band attacked us. It was early on.”
“What happened?”
“A fight happened. What do you think?” His lips twitched.
Addie looked away. He was making light of it now, but she could only imagine the real deal: the clash of weapons, the smell of blood, the snarls of anger, and anguished cries of pain…
Zoark had won. Even then, badly broken and likely severely depressed, he had gotten up and fought. He probably hadn’t wanted to, hadn’t felt any affinity to the women, had cared little about Samantha, Sathe, and the motley For lot of the city, and yet he had picked up a heavy battle axe and mounted a line of defense. Because he hadn’t been able not to.
“Do you think this marauding tribe will attack us?” It was a chilling thought. So far, Addie’s only real enemies were the Wrennlins, and they were more of a natural disaster than an armed conflict.
Zoark was silent for a spell. “The marauding tribe needs to be eradicated. It is us who should attack.”
“Because they won’t leave us alone?”
“Yes. Marauders are always men, outcasts of their tribes. They need women, badly. They will pick out our women one by one when they forage. They will prey on our scouts.”
Subdued, Addie shook her head. “And we thought moving to theother sidewould make our life easier. What will the High Counselor do?”
Zoark roused himself and slowly got to his feet. “I don’t know what he’ll do.” He palmed his spear. “I only know what I’d do, and I’m not the High Counselor. And it’s time to go to the assembly.”
Addie scrambled to her feet, suddenly aware that she’d lost track of time, sitting here with Zoark, having what turned out to be a surprisingly frank discussion. “Let’s find out then. I can hardly stand the suspense.”
He was still looking at her with that strange intense expression. Something was different in his attention, something that hadn’t been there before. He was assessing her now, but more than that, he dropped the mask from his own face and let Addie see his inner self, the feral part, the untamed animal, the man he used to be or perhaps the man he should have been.
Chapter 26
Addie located Oh’na near the central plaza, dirty, disheveled, and hungry.
“Where have you been, Addie?” Oh’na screeched accusingly. “I looked for you, but then we started playing catch.”
“I see. Playing catch was more important.”
“No, but it was more interesting,” Oh’na retorted, and Addie wondered if she was simply being young and tactless or if it was a glimpse of the very grown-up dry wit that the girl displayed at unexpected times.
Addie cast a quick glance at the people who had begun to gather.
“Quick, let’s make a run to Jat sands to wash off some of that catch dust.”
“I don’t want to go wash! I want to eat.”
Oh’na’s lips puffed up in a pout, but Addie ignored it as she ignored the mulish jut of her chin. “No wash - no food.”
Oh’na sputtered, outraged. “You can’t punish me!”
“I don’t want to punish you. That’s why you need to listen to me and go wash.”
“No! I won’t listen to you.”
“Try me.”
They stared at each other hard, at an impasse. Oh’na, at her young age, was a large girl, and Addie suspected she could overpower her in a physical scuffle. But she was just a girl, now shocked at finding the malleable Addie taking a stern tone with her for the first time.
Also, Oh’na was sadly lacking in discipline.
“Tell you what,” Addie said mildly, “I’ll race you to Jat sands. Do you know where they are? Around the bend?”
