He and Warrek led us away from the aguir circle and through a short valley between dazzling peaks. As we walked, Warrek let himself drift back a little until he was beside Tilly. He told her that he would be competing in the vaklok – that all the unmated males of the tribe would.
“And those not of this tribe,” Dalk muttered. Dalk was born in the Sea Sands, and was here as a representative of his own Gahn Fallo.
All the unmated males…
Did that mean Gahn Thaleo would compete, too?
I was certain he didn’t have a mate. His tribe was so much smaller than Gahn Errok’s. I’d counted fewer than ten adult women in Gahn Thaleo’s tribe, and a few of them were elderly. The last young woman, Zaria, had recently been paired off by the Vrika and had a mate of her own.
There was no one left.
Except for us. Fiona, Tilly, and me.
With that sobering thought in my head, I took in the scene in the new clearing we’d come to. The competing males of Gahn Thaleo’s tribe were gathered together, standing on the ground. The rest of the tribe – the women and the children (the mated males were off hunting or running patrols) – were seated on an ascending set of benches carved into the surface of a sloping peak. Like a glittering set of bleachers.
I wished Oxriel, Zoren, and Dalk good luck. Tilly gave them some words of encouragement, too. Fiona said nothing, staringat Dalk’s back, apparently stunned into silence by the impressive spread of his lats. Grabbing Fiona by the elbow lest she remain permanently immobilized by Dalk’s bombastic body, I wheeled her towards the rocky blue bleachers with Tilly. The three of us found seats in the second row with Zaria. I was on the end, the bench beside me empty.
I settled into my place, feeling the icy sear of Gahn Thaleo’s gaze on me the entire time.
2
THALEO
“Welcome to the vaklok,” I said.
My tribe, the red Bitter Sea male Grim, and the new women stared back from their places on the benches. The green of Nazreen’s sight stars, deeper than their usual piercing shade in the dawn-dim glow, was all I could focus on. She was seated near the front, towards the end of the second bench.
“The vaklok,” I continued, “is a Deep Sky tradition wherein the unmated males of our tribe may participate in feats of strength and skill. We are honoured to not only have our mated tribe members and their children here to watch, but also the new women.”
Perhaps it was disingenuous of me to welcome the new women when I only looked at Nazreen. I did welcome all of them. I truly did.
But I only cared to look at her.
She met my gaze steadily with those sight stars of shadow and green. Elegant brows were composed above her eyes, her lips drawn into something that was not quite a frown. Her hair,thick and dark and curling in a way that made me want to reach out and stroke it, to rub the strands between my fingers and my thumb, tumbled luxuriously about her shoulders, not yet hidden by the hood of her cloak.
It was bewildering, how features so foreign, so entirely strange in every shape and stroke, could come together in such a way as to make a man’s claws curl into fists.
Otherworldly. That was what she was. Beauty like the unknown darkness between stars.
She was watching. Waiting.
They all were.
Gahn of this place and leader of the vaklok, I went on.
“The first round of the vaklok will be an archery competition. The second round will be a braxilk-riding race. The third round, after we break for a ceremonial morning meal, will be hand-to-hand combat.”
The Sea Sand men shifted behind me as I spoke. It was unlikely any of them would fare well against my men in either archery or braxilk riding. But perhaps, in combat, they believed they had a chance.
“Warrek,” I called to my closest warrior, “you may set up the targets for the first round of events.”
Warrek jumped to heed my commands immediately, stringing up the targets for the archery competition. I watched him for a moment before turning back towards the benches. There were many empty places among my people.Too many.
There were not enough of us.
There was little I could do about that right now. I’d already done what I could to ensure that the new women spent more time here. The rest would be up to the Vrika. For now, all I needed to do was sit and observe the vaklok.
Sit in an empty space.
