Cursed: Traitor's Trail

Chapter 19 part 2

She broke from the fields, sprinting for the healing tent. She didn't bother running around it to the entrance flap, but dove to the ground as soon as she neared and crawled beneath the skins. It was a tight fit, and she got stuck for a heart pounding moment, her legs dangling out in perfect view of anyone who passed. But then she slipped in, and tried to adjust her eyes to the dim interior.

She didn't waste her time. As soon as she could see reasonably, she began searching the skins and clay bottles thoroughly. The problem was, she didn't know what anything was.

Liquid looking concoctions shimmered in clay bowls, and clumpy ones filled others, dried herbs and a few insect carcasses lined the lattice, dangling helplessly, but nothing that would be useful to her in her situation.

She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. She hadn't donned a head-cloth, she realized, and her fingers came away caked with a mixture of sweat and dust. Great, now she could die in a condition that would have really embarrassed Grandmother. The thought tore a deep longing into her and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. She missed Grandmother, missed her clan. How she wished none of this ever happened.

She turned from the useless containers at the back of the tent. Something new caught her eye; a woven grass mat, a sort of workplace for Kierra. She vaguely recalled the woman sitting there, grinding with a bowl and pestle when she first arrived at New Hope and was only semi-conscious. But something else occupied the mat now. Aya edged closer because it looked like...yes, that was a scorpion stinger. What in Sheathra had Kierra been doing with that? It was sliced neatly down the middle, so that the inner workings of the beast were visible, though it was messy and she couldn't tell one piece from another. Kierra must have extracted the demon's poison, she reasoned. What else would one do with the stinger? The question was, why?

Next to the stinger lay two inconspicuous tubes, placed so precisely beside one another Aya began to wonder if Kierra hoped they would be found. What other reason would they be laying out in such a way? It wasn't like she had her work interrupted; they had been evacuating since dawn. Cautiously, Aya approached.

They appeared to be made of hollow plants. The first, placed nearest the stinger, was wider and had a clay stopper at the top. The other was longer, and filed until one end narrowed dramatically.

Had Kierra left her a weapon? Did she hope Aya would dip the stake like tube into the poison and take care of some of the warriors? But no, it didn't look very sharp. The more she looked at the arrangement, the more certain she became that Kierra left it for her on purpose.

Gingerly, she lifted the first tube and carefully pried out the stopper. Inside, she found a tightly packed bundle of sharp thorns, all fletched with a patch of mouse fur at the top, like tiny arrows. An odd smell emanated from the container. The poison? She eyed the second tube.

Alright, Kierra left her poisoned thorns, but she couldn't mean for Aya to walk up to the warriors and poke the men with them, she would never get close enough. She replaced the stopper and picked up the second tube. It did look like a stake, but closer inspection revealed it was hollow throughout. The opening was much wider at one end, and narrowed to a fine width at the other. Narrow enough that it reminded her of the thorns from the other tube. Obviously, the two were meant to work together. If she put a thorn into the tube, she might be able to launch it from a distance using her breath, like a whistle with something stuck in the end. That is clever.

While she had been occupied studying the weapon, the noise outside the tent had grown. Shouts of "stand together" and "mind your backs" perked her curiosity.

Lifting the tubes, she moved to the entrance flap. It hung a little off so that a space remained; she peered out into the village.

What she found when she looked out was New Hope embroiled in chaos. Warriors raced from the grasses toward the mounts, while others dashed back. She spotted more than one bow being strung.