"Don't kill anybody else either," I sniffed.
He huffed joylessly. "Unfortunately, that is not how battles work, my sweet."
The ache his words caused was physical, piercing my skin like little daggers. I closed my eyes, and for the first time, I realized with all clarity that it would break me if he didn't return.
I inhaled a couple of times before I looked up at him again, grasped the straps of his leather armor, and pulled him towards me. "You have to stay safe, Vo'ren. Promise, you'll come back to me!"
The pain in my wrist hit me so hard, I gasped.
He bared his pointy teeth, but his eyes, deep and golden, had a sad look in them. "I have gone to war so often, I lost the ability to count, and every time I went to battle, I was prepared for it to be my last." He shook his head almost incredulously. "I am a soldier; it is my fate to die in combat, but tonight, for the first time, I depart hoping that the goddess will grant me one more return so that I may look upon your face again."
"That's not very encouraging," I whispered, and he chuckled.
"Do not despair, my sweet. I command one of the mightiest armies in the realms. I have fought and won against much more formidable enemies--it is unlikely that a few human terrorists are the ones who will finally do me in."
I wiped my cheeks and nodded, then I remembered something and began digging around the many pockets of my uniform until my fingers touched a choppy surface.
"I never gave you a present for our binding," I said, my voice trembling as I handed him the carved figurine I had made sitting in the sun two nights ago--a small wooden bear with chubby paws, round ears, and a button nose.
It was far from perfect, but I thought it had turned out pretty good.
He looked at me in complete surprise, swallowed, and inclined his head deeply before he took the little animal delicately with both of his hands, as if it were alive, and gently put it in his front pocket. I thought that maybe this was the first time I had seen Vo'ren truly at a loss for words.
"May the strength and courage of the great creature enter your body and bring you back to us unharmed." I gave him a shy smile and placed his hand on my belly.
Vo'ren let out a surprised laugh, and it made me feel as if a thousand suns were warming my heart from within. In one fluid movement, he slung his arm around my waist and closed my mouth with a bittersweet kiss of goodbye. As I pressed my lips against his, I felt the rough cut where I had bitten him, and I realized that for some reason, unlike the bite wound on my neck, he had never made the medic heal it.
He pulled away; his eyes were running over my face, as if he wanted to memorize every detail of it. "Anna, I..."
"Sheniktz'in." Vik Ichel, a rifle strapped to his back, had stepped in front of us, saluted, and the thunk of his fist hitting the leather armor on his chest burst the little bubble around us.
Vo'ren instantly straightened up and gave a short nod to his second in command, then he bared his teeth, grabbed my hair on the back of my head, and pulled me into one more rough and quick kiss.
"Stay in the tent," he ordered, before he turned and left towards his vehicle.
I watched him go to war against my people. For a second, I had to lean down. I pressed my eyes shut and held my belly in a bout of nausea and despair. There was a sudden pressure in the atmosphere, like a shiver that went through the very roots of the universe, and when I looked up again, they were gone.
I took a tentative step back towards the glowing dome around our tent, but then I changed my mind. Before retreating into the lonely confinement of our empty bed, I had to warn my family. Maybe there was still time to get out of state or at least take safety precautions. I set off and walked with long strides towards the opposite end of the clearing, heading for the tech tent, from which I had called them last night after we had gotten back from our appointment at Doctor Günaydin's practice.
So far, I had spoken with them twice. The first time had been in the car two nights ago, right after we had gotten out of the tunnels. My heart broke for the repeated time as I remembered the tone in my mother's voice when she had finally understood what I told her. I had tried to soften the truth, of course, saying that I had been employed as a translator, but my parents were no fools.
Anna-Mäuschen
, it was the endearment she used for me when I was a child, and there had been so much pain in those words that I'd had to bite down on my knuckles to keep myself from crying. Had I stayed on the phone for a second longer, I would not have been able to keep my sobs at bay. At that moment, I had hated him with all my heart.
The second time I called them had been last night from the very tent I was heading to right now. It had been my dad who answered. Without a word, he had passed the phone to my mother, and she had been brief as well, just a few reminders about staying safe and trying not to anger the General.
"Don't read the news," she had added before we hung up.
My stomach clenched. He would see to their safety, Vo'ren had told me, but now I regretted never asking him what exactly he had meant by that. What measures was he taking? And were those measures still in place now that his primary mission was to eradicate the rebels for once and for all?
The grass on the clearing had been flattened from the steps of thousands of boots, and on many parts I could feel the raw earth that lay bare and uneven under my soles as I picked up pace. Despite the fresh wind, I was sweating. I had never seen the camp so empty. Except for the sentinels watching over the base, there were only a few scattered soldiers carrying boxes to the center of the clearing. In the distance, I already saw new vehicles approaching us on the road coming from the main entrance.
Suddenly there was a distortion in the darkness as two unknown Shadow Guards manifested in front of me. They were carrying swords and rifles, and both of them wore their hair in shiny braids, only half the length of Ichel's one. I stumbled a little as I stopped abruptly to keep from bumping into them. They were here to bring me to the tent, and a few weeks ago they would have simply grabbed me and yanked me back with them, but, somehow, in a process that I didn't really understand either, my position in the Kirtim Shenk and their respect for me had grown over the last nights. So instead, they just saluted and blocked my way--maybe that meant they could be persuaded to let me make a quick phone call before I would be a good little wife and retreat to my room, warming my warrior's bed for his return.
I straightened my back and tried to channel as much of Vo'ren's commanding demeanor as I could muster, making sure my left sleeve was pulled up just enough to reveal my mark, their General's name--my name.
"Ruk'iltz'invun rimin."--
I speak with my family.
I gestured towards the tech tent; it was an order, not a question. I directed my gaze slightly over their heads as I spoke to them and kept my tone low but firm.
And, to my surprise, it worked. They gave a quick nod and stepped to my sides, flanking me. Fearing they could change their minds, I walked us off with long, self-asserted strides, having to hold myself back from straight-up running.
The tech tent was smaller than the ones used for housing. Its interior was stuffy, dark, and filled with the low whirring that I had come to associate with magic-powered appliances. Just like their cars, the Veril technical equipment was strangely familiar and alien at the same time. A large black console with many buttons and speakers stood on a low table in the center of the room. The intricately carved wood of the furniture made an absurd contrast to the hard-edged, unadorned metal, as if they belonged to two different worlds--none of them from this dimension.
There were human gadgets as well--of course they needed to be familiar with the tech their enemy was working with. My eyes scanned the room until I finally found the phone I had used last night, plugged into a strange glowing device that I assumed was some kind of generator. I quickly picked it up and dialed my parents' number.
Beep--beep--beep.
My heart was hammering in my ears as I tried to put together what I wanted to say while I listened to the drawn-out sound repeating over and over again. They were not picking up. I could feel the dread starting to push down on my skin, tightening up my chest. It was after sundown--they should be at home. I tried again.
