“Ah. They’re technically not officers. The black belt means they’re a specialist.”
“What do they do?”
“Depends on how they’ve been trained, but most of them are the major’s eyes and ears across the territory. They go on missions alone, without a team. Usually to deliver messages or meet with contacts on behalf of the regiment. Sometimes to provide support to one of the settlements we protect. And they meet with the liaisons of the larger groups. They are usually the less social soldiers, the ones that usually keep to themselves.”
“So they aren’t in command of anyone.” That was a relief when it came to Pyetar. She had no interest in him bossing her around.
“Well,” Vaneshta hesitated. “Technically. But they are some of the most dangerous soldiers in the brigade. Not only because they can take down a beast on their own, but because they have the trust of the major and higher-ranked captains. It’s a well-respected role, and if a specialist tells you to do something, I would listen. Even if they’re not your commanding officer.”
Iryana sighed. Frustrating as it was, the role fit what she’d seen of Pyetar. Dangerous and a loner.
“You’re not much of a talker, are you?”
“No, guess not.” Iryana hiked a shoulder up.
Vaneshta was quiet for a while after that, just trudging along beside her. They had been walking for a day and a half already, and Iryana was exhausted. She was used to walking, but she could get anywhere she needed within a half day back home. The straps of her pack were digging into her aching shoulders.
Iryana felt her eyes drifting away from the woods and toward the supplies packed onto the cart. She wasn’t told what was on it, and when she’d asked Shahn,he just ignored her. She worried there were poppies in some of the baskets. She forced herself to look away, or she’d be undone by the thought of being so close to the drug.
When a conversation started up in the group in front of them, Vaneshta moved back up to join in.
Iryana sighed. Was this really the way to prove herself? It had seemed like it at the time, but maybe being away from the fort and out of sight was a bad move. Absolutely nothing had happened so far beyond eating rations, sneaking into the bushes, sleeping with just a bedroll between them and the hard ground, and lots of walking.
At least she would be back at the fort before she was supposed to meet up with her sister, and she had down-time after each mission too. It would make secretly slipping away for meetings easier.
Besides, she reminded herself, the captain didn’t always join the team on their missions. He was in charge of multiple teams within the squad, and seemed to have other duties for the major as well. Darish was the most insufferable of the lot, and it was almost peaceful when he wasn’t present.
It was after midday when Darish called back, “We’re here.”
Iryana frowned, looking around. It was clearly a well-traveled area, large walkways and clearings covered in springy moss. There were even patches of dirt that looked like something had been planted in neat and orderly rows.
But where was the village?
“You’re early!” a bird-like voice called down from the trees.
Stumbling and craning her neck back, Iryana’s jaw dropped. High in the trees, nestled among the canopy, was the village. Wooden platforms wrapped around the trees, rope bridges creating a network between them. Some of the trees had small buildings wrapped around them, blue and green curtains flapping in the open windows.
They lived in the trees. Her mind spun. She had studied hard growing up, read book after book from the Klees library, but that was all information frombefore. It seemed there was a lot in this new world they didn’t have books on.
While the houses up in the trees were out of easy sight for dakii traveling along the forest floor, if they did catch any dakya’s attention, it wouldn’t takemuch for them to knock the trees over to get at their prey. They lived on the edge of total destruction, all it would take is a pack noticing them. Iryana looked around the trees again, trying to determine the defensibility of the setup. One tree falling would undoubtedly crash into another, perhaps setting off an entire chain reaction. And visibility wouldn’t be great for archers with how dense the canopy of needles was, making it harder to subdue the dakii before the whole village was ripped out of the sky.
Iryana was wondering if they would not be safer spread further apart, only one structure visible from the ground at any one time, when movement from above caught her eye.
The one who had spoken—a spindly, dark-haired woman with odd clothing—lowered a ladder and began climbing down to them. The closer she got, Iryana realized that she wore a regular jacket and trousers, but there was twine wrapped around legs to control the loose-fitting material. Perhaps the tight clothes were to keep from catching on anything as they climbed, Iryana decided.
“Eh, we come when we come,” Darish snapped, positioning himself in front of the ladder.
“And so do the dakii.” The woman shot him a glare.
Iryana tensed, expecting her captain to assert himself, but Darish just grumbled and slumped back against one of the trees. She wondered if he was just feeling lazy. She had rarely been around for any of the brigade’s official visits to the Dovaki post, but they never sounded friendly.
The woman jumped down the last few feet, the newly sprouted grasses absorbing her drop. She walked right past Darish with her chin held high and proud.
“I’m Katashta, the head seer of this outpost,” the woman introduced as her eyes landed on Iryana, then she turned to greet the others more warmly.
Vaneshta stepped up beside Iryana to add, “Katashta will make sure this visit will be uneventful.”
Curiosity made Iryana step closer. Hadima was the only water-forged she knew, but forging magic into something that could scry was supposed to be very difficult and take a lot of magic. Hadima was above average, but had nowhere enough magic for something like scrying. Her healing abilities were much more valuable, regardless.
