Inari moved to her side in one stride, Kaja rising to her other.
Maili levelled her blade at Aloisia’s throat. “Give me one good reason not to kill you all where you stand.”
Inari wrapped his fingers around Maili’s wrist. “Seara bhei,Dalaibh.”
Maili raised a brow, drawing back. “You speak our tongue?”
He pulled his sleeve higher, baring the mark on his forearm.
“Shaman?”
Murmurings rippled amongst the Shadow Sisters.
“There are no shamans left in Teneria. The empire ensured as much.”
“I am not of Teneria,” Inari said.
“Hmm.” Maili glanced between the shaman and his companions. “That is reason enough for you to live. But not them.”
“If they do not live, I will not talk.”
The chieftain breathed a laugh. “Do not mistake my curiosity for anything more than what it is. Talk. Do not talk. It is no difference to me.”
“I do not believe you.” Inari gave a fiendish grin. “There is magic within this land. Integral, is it not?Dying, is it not?”
Maili’s jaw twitched.
“If we can come to some arrangement, perhaps I could help?”
The chieftain narrowed her eyes.
“If not, perhaps I could pick it apart further, thread by thread, until it collapses completely.”
A ripple of fear shuddered through the Shadow Sisters gathered.
“You won’t be able to do that if you are dead, shaman.”
“I do not intend to die this day, chieftain.”
Maili turned to her clan. “Chain them and throw them in the cage.”
Aloisia cast another look at Ludin, still cradled in Oda’s arms. His green eyes were glassy as they stared, unseeing, to the sky. She sucked in a sharp breath, the image of Brighde lying much the same, bleeding out on the floor, surging in her mind. Oda pushed the Shadow Sisters away as they tried to shackle her, dragging Ludin from her grasp. Kaja gently pulled her away from him, her gaze wary as the Shadow Sisters approached.
Inari remained still as his hands were bound, far too calm for the situation around him. Aloisia presented her wrists as the Sisters reached for her, seeing no sense in resisting. Her jaw clenched as they clanked into place. The day was waning, night drawing closer. And with the night, the following day drew nearer too, the trial with it. She had to be there when Fynn was brought out. She had to be there with evidence to prove his innocence. And she certainly could not be locked in a damned cage while her brother was being tried.
The shaman leant closer to her. “Trust me,” he murmured.
She wanted to. She had this entire time. Defending him alongside her brother. But, with everything she didn’t know, and the glimpse she had seen only moments before when he had spoken the tongue of the clans, tested that thread of trust.
Aloisia gave a single nod.
She would trust him. For now.
As long as he could figure a way out of this.
Aloisia paced back and forth in the small confines of the cage. She felt bare without her weapons, now in the possession of the Shadow Sisters. The bars were wood, thick as tree trunks. Whilst the gaps between them were large, it was not enough to fit through. A camp, not dissimilar to Clan Tolmach’s, lay nestled within the cover of trees. Their cage was positioned at the edge of this camp.
Oda huddled in one corner, her knees clutched to her chest as she rocked back and forth. Kaja and Inari leant against the back of the cage, each of them examining it for any weaknesses.
