I crouched behind the well, forcing myself to stay hidden. I didn’t have much time, not with Maz unarmed and two raiders advancing on him. But if I wanted us both to live, I needed a plan.
Maz looked small next to the raiders standing above him and I was reminded of his youth next to the two men.
One of the raiders raised his sword up, ready to bring it down against his neck.
It was too late. I’d run out of time.
I picked up a large stone from the dirt and chucked it at the raider about to kill Mazin.
I could hear Maz’s voice in my head as I did it:That’s your big plan? A rock?
It struck the raider’s cheek and he whirled, his eyes narrowing. He put his sword down and began walking to the well where I hid. He stopped before rounding the corner, his attention focused wholly on the women. I was close enough that I was sure he could hear the hammering of my heart.
“Which one of you did it?” The raider’s voice was soft, and the women cowered. He swung his bloodied sword in their direction, then pointed at Afra, an aunty who was an elder in our village, who always made the lightest parathas, who folded me into her arms with warm embraces whenever I came back to our village from the city. I bared my teeth, even though no one could see me.
“I’m going to kill every one of you until you tell me who threw that rock. And I will start with her.”
Afra raised her chin, her deep voice echoing through the square.
“You’ll kill us all anyway. Good job one of us managed to hurt you back.”
The raider roared and swung his sword. Afra wrapped her arms around her head preparing for the blow.
But my dagger dug into the flesh of his thigh before he could strike. When he collapsed to his knees, I stood above him, grabbing a fistful of his hair, yanking his head back to expose his throat. Then I slid the sharp edge of my blade across it and threw him down as he choked before turning to face the other raider.
This time there were six standing there, and all had witnessed me kill their fellow marauder. The tallest among them had his beefy hands wrapped around Maz’s throat.
“You won’t be able to take us all on. Didn’t think this through, did you?” The tall raider grinned, showing a mouth full of blackened teeth.
“I did think about it. But I assumed you were all equally inept with a blade.”
“We’re not the inept ones, girl.”
“No? What would you call leaving all your captives next to a pile of swords and clubs?” I gestured to the women behind me. At my words, they all looked over at the weapons.
“We can all fight them,” I said to the women of my village, the ones who’d watched me train with my father since I was a child. “They can’t stop us all.”
Without hesitation the women rushed to the weapons and armed themselves. I smiled as even the youngest girl picked up a katar and snapped it into place over her knuckles.
We were women from a village where one of the greatest swordsmiths lived. We knew weapons.
The raiders looked uneasy, but still advanced on us.
My hands shook, my palms so slick I nearly dropped the hilt of my sword. But the women were braver than I—they rushed at the raiders, beating them with clubs and swords, and giving me the opportunity I needed.
I raced around them, stabbing the arm of the raider who still held Maz and then slashing his neck. He gurgled, pressing his hands to the wound, and released Maz. Maz rolled to his feet, and I threw him a sword.
“We have to help the women.”
He grinned, blood leaking from his lip, his dark eyes focused wholly on me.
“You know I’d follow you anywhere, Dani.”
Something twisted in my heart, and I was suddenly robbed of breath in a way that had nothing to do with the battle.
He’d said it so simply, almost nonchalantly, but it pierced the center of me like a hot knife through ghee. I didn’t have time to turn the words over in my mind, not when the fight had truly begun.
I rushed into battle and Maz followed. We fought side by sideuntil our hands bled and our shoulders ached. And only then, in the quiet after the fight, in the grieving for those lost and triumph that we managed to win the day, did I dwell on that coil of feeling that had struck me when Maz had looked at me like I was a goddess and he a zealot.
