Warrior's Soul (Book 3 of The Warrior Chronicles)

Chapter 15

The smoke reached them a moment before the sticky putrid scent. She recognised the smell and pushed down the nausea it invoked; someone was burning flesh.

"Protector," Liam's voice was low, his expression grim.

Athiri's nose twitched, a guttural growl sounding from his chest.

"Shh," she calmed the beast with a hand to his head then looked back at the Hayvanis who were now lined up behind her.

"I fought seven of them before," she said quickly. "If they were the back up and the main raid party found the bodies..."

"We'll be up against at least a dozen of them," Liam finished her thought as he stretched his sword arm. "Two each, we'll get it done
quickly."

"No," Leyla shook her head. She could see the Hayvanis were good hunters and fast, but there was no telling if they had ever faced Bone Eaters. Getting out of the way of their battle axes was neigh on impossible for an inexperienced fighter and their strength was superior to most.

Leyla wouldn't allow the tribes hunters to get hurt; they had mouths to feed. She just had to use the element of surprise to dwindle the enemy numbers, then she would handle the rest with Liam. "Tell them I need a bow and all their arrows."

After hesitated for a split second, Liam turned to the Hayvanis. Within moments she had a quiver hooked to her waist with ten arrows and was pulling her scarf tighter over her nose and mouth against the growing smell of death.

"Alright, tell them they need to -"

"Stay here." Liam interrupted her. "I've told them. And no, you don't need to worry, they won't run into the fight and get themselves hurt. Your word is law for them."

Leyla nodded, pleased that Liam understood her well; it could mean the difference between life and death when fighting together in battle.

Crouching down, she put her hand on Athiri's head and scratched behind his green ears. "Sit."

Athiri did as he was told, his bright eyes watching her every move as he waited.

"You have to stay here, alright?" Leyla spoke beneath her breath, feeling for the animals response. It was impossible to say how, but she knew the moment he understood.

Coming back up to her feet, Leyla took a step back. Athiri gave a low whine, but did not move.

"Good boy."

She gave a final glance in the direction of the Hayvanis who were all watching her with reverence.

Blood Diya, they really had to stop looking at her that way. Turning away from all of them, she nodded at Liam. "Stay behind me and don't get hurt."

Liam's brows rose over his twinkling green eyes, "Yes, sir."

Fool. Shaking her head at his never ending amusement, Leyla moved slowing into the thick trail of sticky smoke.

By the time they reached the clearing where she had fought the Bone Eaters before, the rancid scent of melting flesh had filled all of her pours. Blinking through the smog, she looked past the three bonfires where the corpses burned, to the Bone Eaters beyond.

There were a dozen of them, laughing and drinking upwind from their fallen brethren. Leyla's fingers clenched when she spotted the captive girls that were being pushed around between them.

The green ribbons and dresses they wore marked them as Ki; a peaceful tribe that was famed for their cooking and weaving skills. The Bone Eaters had obviously destroyed one of their settlements and enslaved six of their women. Their eyes wide with fear, the women tried to evade their captors by huddling together. The  youngest among them who could be no more that twelve, began screaming when four vicious hands pulled her from the rest of the group and  ripped at her clothes.

"No, please! Please! Mama!"

The girls mother rushed after her, but one of the Bone Eaters backhanded the woman to the ground, laughing.

Leyla saw red.

"Bastards!" Liam hissed, his right hand going to the hilt of his sword. He didn't have time to unsheathe the weapon before Leyla stepped in front of him and aimed for the back of the Bone Eater who had the little girl in a bear hold.  

Her arrows zipped through the air as she walked forward. One. Two. Three. Four.

Liam, the burning bodies, the screaming girls...everything disappeared from her sight and she saw only her targets.

The Bone Eaters went down with grunts of pain. Drunk off the red liquid they had been consuming, their movements were sluggish and that was their undoing. Leyla had seven of them down, before the bastards managed to fight back.

Ducking under a swinging hatchet, she shot her last three arrows in quick succession then turned to pull out her sword.

There was no need. Liam had thrown blades straight into the hearts of two Bone Eaters and ran his sword through the last one standing.

Taking slow breaths, Leyla continued to block out the sobbing of the women as she checked for any enemy survivors. Liam was moving between the men, kicking their weapons away in case there was an oversight, but there was none.

The Bone Eaters were all dead.

The bonfires crackled behind them as the women huddled together. All except for the youngest, who was bent beside her fallen mother. Trying desperately to keep the tattered pieces of her blood stained dress together with one hand, the girl called out over and over: "Mama. Mama! Please wake up!"

Dread filled Leyla as she walked forward. Crouching, she felt for the fallen woman's pulse and found none. Her head was resting at an unnatural angle; the Bone Eaters hit had broken her neck.

Leyla's heart ached for the girl whose bruise streaked breasts showed between her ripped clothes no matter how she tried to cover herself.

Pulling her long scarf from her head, Leyla wrapped the material around the orphaned girl, hoping it would give her some warmth. The girl looked at her, eyes wide as if she were seeing her surroundings for the first time. Then, without warning, she threw herself into Leyla's arms and clung with frozen fingers.

Unsure what to do, Leyla patted the girls back awkwardly.

As if on cue, the other women rushed over and laid their bodies over the girls, lending their warmth even as they cried.

Leyla stiffened, her jaw clenching against the surge of feelings. She was a Warrior. She did not cry. But there was a lump in her throat that felt as though it were chocking her.

"Protector." Liam's voice came from over the women's heads. Leyla looked up to where he stood and saw his eyes watching her with a look she couldn't place.

Taking a deep breath, she dislodged herself from the women who seemed a little calmer as they continued to hold each other.

"Let's call the Hayvanis," Leyla said, tucking her tear drenched top back into her belt. "We need to get these bodies on the bonfires."

Liam looked at her for a long moment, then removed his loose outer shirt and handed it to her.

"The girl can use that to cover up," he said, now standing in a short sleeved top that moulded to the hard muscles of his chest. When Leyla only looked at him in confusion, he sighed in frustration, "You need to get your scarf back. Unless you want everyone to know you're a woman?"

"What?" The word came out as a mere whisper. Leyla reached up with her hands, realising for the first time that she had removed her disguise without a thought to what it would mean.

Her dark hair had come out of its tie and lay in soft waves over her shoulders and down her back.

Bloody Diya.