The Dark-Eyes' War: Book Three of Blood of the Southlands by Coe David B

Author:Coe, David B. [Coe, David B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2010-02-16T08:00:00+00:00

Jynna was sick again, the pain in her stomach so sharp that she could do nothing more than lie on her side, her knees drawn up to her chest. She could hear her brothers and parents calling for her, and she wanted to answer them, to tell them that she was here, that she needed their help. But she had her teeth clenched against the illness in her gut; she couldn’t bring herself even to open her mouth.

And then she saw the old woman. She was walking in Jynna’s direction, her eyes fixed on the girl, a broad grin on her wizened face. She carried a basket in each hand, and within the baskets were smaller baskets, which in turn held even tinier baskets. The back of her left hand was bloody, and Jynna saw that the knife on her belt dripped blood as well.

“You aren’t supposed to be alive,” the woman said. “It was supposed to kill all of you.”

She wanted to shout back at the woman to leave her alone. She wanted to tell the woman that this plague she had brought to her people wouldn’t kill her.

But the woman began to cackle, as if she could read Jynna’s thoughts.

“You’re right,” she said.

And though the woman was still a few strides away, her voice seemed to come from just beside her. It seemed to Jynna that she could feel the woman’s foul breath on her neck.

“You’re right, child,” she said again. “It won’t kill you. But I will.”

She pulled the knife free, and then pulled a second from behind her. This time Jynna did open her mouth to scream. If only her father or mother could hear her. If only her brothers could.

“They’re dead,” the woman said, laughing again.

But Jynna screamed anyway.

“Jynna!”

She felt a hand on her arm and struggled to get away.

“Jynna, wake up, love.”

She opened her eyes, saw S’Doryn sitting on the edge of her bed looking down at her, his brow furrowed with concern.

Closing her eyes again, she took a long breath.

“It was the same dream.”

“It sounded like it.”

Jynna looked at him. “Why? What did I say?”

He looked away.

“Was I calling for Mama and Papa again?” she asked, her eyes stinging.

S’Doryn nodded. “And your brothers, too.”

She wiped a tear from her cheek and made herself smile. “Well, it was just a dream.”

He tried to return her smile, but his forehead was still creased and there was concern in his golden yellow eyes. She sat up and looked around the small chamber.

“Where’s Vettala?” she asked.

“She woke up some time ago. She and N’Tevva went to the marketplace. Not that they’ll find much there, but Vettala wanted to go.”

Vettala, like Jynna, had come to Lowna from Tivston, the Y’Qatt village where they had been raised. A few turns before, Tivston had been destroyed by the plague loosed upon the land by the old Mettai woman she’d seen in her nightmare. Nearly everyone in the village had died, including Jynna’s parents and her older brothers, Delon and Blayne.

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