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there, but I
can t live this way.
Sekhaya Kawin. The woman stood close to the hedge where it opened on a
narrow lane, shadow falling across her face. Turn in here. Quickly.
Belitha?
Yes. Hurry, will you? If anyone sees us ....
Swearing, Sekhaya backed Joma a few steps, then turned him into the
path. There was barely enough room for the caravan between the overgrown
hedges. She pulled him up, waited until Belitha climbed up beside her, then
started him moving at a slow walk. Just keep go-ing?
My house is by those trees up there. We ll go there.
They ve taken over here, too?
Not completely. In town, yes. If Brabby hadn t seen you and told me, ahwu
....
It s hardly been a month.
I don t know how they do it, it s like kujuna fever when it s on a roll.
First there s one, maybe two, then the whole place goes. Stop a minute. Let me
down and I ll get the gate. Keep on going round the back of the house.
Brabby s waiting, he ll get feed and water for your horse. You come on into
the house, there s something I have to show you.
The room was dark and prickly with the smell of salves and infusions. Belitha
led her in, eased back a curtain to let leaf-dappled light play on the face of
the sleeping woman. I gave her futhong so she could get rest and for-get what
happened a little while. She spoke in a low murmur. Even so, Chaya stirred;
she didn t wake, but the hand outside the blanket tightened, then loosened
again. She was raped and beaten, left in a ditch. No serious hurts, not on
her body. Her mind, ahwu, we ll have to see.
Sekhaya took the wrist, checked Chaya s pulse, probed her body as
gently as she could. She straightened and fol-lowed Belitha from the room.
Belitha filled a cup with hot strong cha and pushed it across the table. It
was thieves. They took her horse and anything else that might bring some coin.
The man who found her laid her at my door and took off. She said it wasn t
him, they threw her in a ditch and ran when he came.
When?
She said it happened just before it got dark yesterday. I washed
her, put her in one of my nightgowns and got some soup down her. She was
half starved, been riding for days, too afraid to go near fams or farm houses,
so she was out of food and worn to a nub. Something else, she was fussing
herself about getting pregnant, wouldn t rest, so I gave her kawiss, sat with
her till I was sure she d handle it, gave her the second dose this
morning. I d meant to put her to sleep, but with the kawiss I
couldn t. So I held her, sang to her like she was a baby. A bad night, but we
got through it. Ahwu ahwu, what the world is coming to.
Why was she running? Did she tell you?
Clan head was forcing a marriage on her. Some Mucky in Glory. Cousins in the
house acting like jailors, Uncle over to make sure she stayed put. So she ran,
soon s she could. Packed some food, stole a horse, and took off; she was going
to find Lavan and appeal to the Arbiters. Ahwu ahwu, Sekha, I m glad to see
you. She stays here much longer, I ll have the Peacers on my back.
Sekhaya nodded. She sipped at the cha, pushed the cup across for a refill.
Bela, I thought Cekers were content with the way things were, it always
seemed that way when I went my rounds. Of course, I
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never spend much time in one place, not enough to get to know that many
people. What did I miss?
I really don t know, Sekha. Folk round here, they re getting
something out of those Glory meetings. They re bored, I think. Restless.
There s something missing and they don t know what it is.
They go, they get churned up and it feels good, and they go back to get that
feeling again and by then they re Taken. I m afraid of it, Sekha. I m afraid
if I went, it d Take me, too. I ve got my share of that restlessness.
What are you going to do?
The Forest, if it gets too bad round here. Some Halathi came here
when Manzi died. You remember, the girl whose baby died. She sighed, drank
some cha, wrin-kled her nose because it had gone cold. That was a week after
you left. They took her body away, left me a passthrough token, said if I
needed sanctuary, I d be wel-come. Said the trees don t like Glory and won t
let it in. She got to her feet, emptied the cup into the sink, and set more
water to boil. She stopped by the sink on her way back to the table, looked
out the window above it, and went stiff. Sekhaya, get your name-child, take
her to your van. Hurry. Brabby s just signed me the Peacers are coming.
A thin, nervous boy was waiting by the back door, dressed in dark clothes with
heavy leather gloves on his hands. He glided into the grove at the back of the
house, leaving her to follow as she chose.
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