Chapter 15
Nina woke with a gasp. She was lying on a bed, curled into a ball, her temples throbbing. She was alive and, as far as she
could tell through her pulsing vision, alone.
The walls of her enclosure were green and cloth-like, but they were pulled taut all the way to the ground. The space was large
enough to hold the bed she was in, a table across the way, and a humble firepit in the middle. Above it, the room had a small
opening to let out the smoke.
There was nothing to indicate where she was or who her captors were.
But it mattered little. Her only objective was to escape and find Kasik. Hopefully alive. She slipped off the bed and began
crawling around the edges of the room. She saw nothing she could use as a weapon and no way to leave the tent without ripping
through it. If only Kasik had given her the small blade, then she could have easily cut her way to freedom.
“Good, you’re awake.”
Nina shot to her feet and spun toward the voice, heart in her throat. The same man she had come face-to-face with in the forest
stood before her, with his shaggy hair and shrewd eyes and fake smile.
“Don’t come any closer,” Nina warned, voice shaky but firm.
The man raised his hands in surrender but took a step closer all the same. “I’m not going to harm you.”
“It’s too late,” Nina argued. The bruises forming on her arms could attest to that. “Where is Kasik?”
At his name, the man’s face hardened. “He can’t hurt you anymore,” he said, taking another small step forward.
“Hurt me? The only people who have hurt me are you. Kasik, he—” But she didn’t know how to finish that sentence. He technically hadn’t hurt her, but he was holding her against her will. “What have you done with him?”
“Don’t worry,” the man said, which made Nina worry more, “your walla is perfectly contained.”
The words were vague and ominous, but she ignored them. “What do you want?”
The man smiled. “That’s a question that will take a long time to answer, but for the purposes of this conversation, I want
to know why you were so deep in the Tuta Kulla, and what you were looking for.”
“We weren’t looking for anything. We were attacked and—”
“Attacked by what?”
The question was sharp, and the way he said what instead of who made her wonder if he knew the answer before he asked. “An achiyanga. The god bird. It was hunting us, and in trying to escape,
it set us off course.”
The man’s brows furrowed, his eyes darting between hers as if searching for the truth beneath her words. “You weren’t searching
for something specific?”
“Specific?” She looked at him curiously. “No,” Nina said, exasperated, “we were just—”
“That’s enough, Hatun.” A woman pushed through the tent entrance, her white hair pulled back loosely, tawny-brown eyes startling
against the deep brown skin of her face. Her tunic matched the man who questioned her, but that was as far as the similarities
went. This woman was small, and ancient, and her attention didn’t feel dangerous.
Hatun turned sharply toward the woman. They shared a tense, whispered conversation, and then the woman said out loud, “She
won’t hurt an old woman, will she?”
Nina wasn’t above it, but she wasn’t going to say that. “Of course not.”
A weathered hand patted Hatun’s arm. From where Nina stood, it looked more like a shove than a reassurance. “See. Now go.
You’re scaring her.”
Hatun glanced at Nina, and she schooled her face into one of fear. It wasn’t difficult; she was terrified and worried, and the sooner the man left the tent, the sooner Nina could figure out a way to sneak out and find
Kasik. With a sigh, he walked out of the room, but not before throwing her a look full of warning over his shoulder.
“There,” the woman said once he was gone. “That’s better. Care to sit?”
“I’ll stand here, thank you,” Nina insisted.
“Well, I’m old and tired, so I’m going to sit.” She walked over to the bed and sank onto it, smoothing her tunic over her
legs with wrinkled hands. The material looked lightweight and soft, with short sleeves and a rounded neckline. It looked both
comfortable and functional. Much better than the heavy, dull gray robe she still wore.
“My name is Shayim,” the woman said. The smile on her face brought out more lines around her eyes and mouth. They reminded
Nina of her mamay’s. Laugh lines, she had called them. Because I am so happy all the time. “You have a very interesting story.”
Nina froze, eyes pinned to the old woman. If she knew anything about Nina, it was because Kasik spoke, and if Kasik spoke,
it was most likely with a knife to his throat. Even then, she wasn’t sure he would give them anything true.
“I want to see Kasik.”
“You will.” She tilted her head and peered curiously at Nina. “Soon enough. But first, you must be hungry.”
It wasn’t until that moment that Nina realized she was famished. As if signaled by Shayim’s words alone, Hatun walked back into the tent, a steaming bowl in either hand that he placed on the table. Then he left without so much as a second glance.
The food smelled incredible, and it made her mouth water. Some scents were familiar, like the earthy smell of oregano and
the tang of ají. She could see potatoes and grains and small chunks of meat floating in a brown sauce. But Nina didn’t make
a move to touch it.
“It’s not poisoned.” Nina hadn’t even considered that. She was only hesitant to let them think they had won her over with
a bowl of stew. “Eat, and then I will answer all your questions.”
With a sigh, Nina acquiesced. Perhaps, with food in her belly, she would have the strength to demand to see Kasik and keep
her wits about her. Gods knew she wouldn’t be able to think of anything else with the scent of the stew in the air.
The meat was tender and the vegetables soft and flavorful. It reminded her of home, of the meals she and her family would
share together at their small table, laughing and telling stories, and it made her want to cry. Instead, she shoveled more
food into her mouth and kept her eyes on Shayim. The woman may have been old, but Nina knew she wasn’t stupid. Her scrutiny
was heavy and her smile was knowing. Nina got the sense that she had failed some sort of test.
After several bites, she placed the bowl back on the table. “Where’s Kasik?”
Shayim carefully folded her hands in her lap. “He’s being detained for now.”
“ ‘For now’? What does that mean?”
“It means we cannot ascertain his intentions and are unsure if he is a threat to our people.”
“What is this place?” Nina glanced at the walls of the tent and strained to listen to the sounds beyond.
“It is a home,” Shayim said wistfully. “A community of people seeking safety and peace.”
“Well, we aren’t a threat to your community. This is all a misunderstanding. If you let us go, we can leave and—”
“The kamayuq is the largest threat to our community,” she said, the smile lines around her eyes and mouth gone. “Outside of
the emperor, of course,” she added sharply. “I’m afraid the only misunderstanding here is yours.”
Nina’s mouth snapped shut, the words on the tip of her tongue swallowed whole. “Why am I here?” she asked instead.
“Your attay led you here.”
Nina took a step back, almost tripping over the table in her haste to put more distance between them as Shayim stood. “I—”
“Yes, I know about your attay. What surprises me is that you do not. Now that you’re here, I can See you much clearer.” She
hummed and then sighed deeply. “And I See you have much to learn.”
Cold fear washed over Nina, and she snatched the utensil out of her bowl and wielded it in front of her. “I don’t know what
you’re talking about,” she declared. “But I demand to see Kasik now. Let us go, and nobody gets hurt.”
Shayim gave her a pitying look. “The only thing dangerous about you is your ignorance. Put the spoon down and listen.”
“Let me see Kasik and I’ll think about it.” She wasn’t sure why the woman was entertaining her demands, but Nina was going
to continue pushing it for as long as she did. It was clear they wanted her alive and unharmed, though she didn’t know why. Nor did she care to find out. All she knew was that she had more of a chance at freedom under Kasik’s thumb than with these
unknown people.
“You can see him,” Shayim agreed, “but I’m not sure you’ll like it.”
With those ominous words, Shayim walked out of the tent.
Nina’s heart was pounding as she replayed the woman’s words and inspected them for clues.
But everything she had said was vague and lightly disturbing.
Nothing to suggest Nina was going to suffer an immediate death, so she steadied herself with a quick breath before hurrying to follow.
Hatun was trailing behind Shayim, his hands waving in the air and then gesturing back toward Nina as she rushed to catch up.
“She’s not restrained,” Nina heard him whisper fiercely. “At the very least, she should be blindfolded.”
Shayim waved him off. “She’s no threat, Hatun. She has no idea what she can do. And she agreed to comply if I let her see
the boy.”
“I agreed to listen,” Nina corrected sharply at the same time as Hatun said, “He’s not a boy. He almost killed Hawka.”
“A well-trained boy, but a boy, nonetheless. Come, if you’d like. But no hitting anyone.”
Nina had never seen such a large man roll his eyes. It would have been comical if it wasn’t for the dangerous circumstances.
But these people didn’t seem dangerous, and yet therein was the danger. It was clear they wanted something from her. That they had kept her and Kasik
alive for a purpose, and she was afraid to find out what would happen when they realized she had nothing to offer. Hopefully
she and Kasik would be far away by then.
Night had fallen, and the cool air sent a chill over Nina. The camp was quiet as Shayim led them down a road between several
large tents. They passed a massive fire in what looked like the center of camp where there were a few people sitting, all
of whom turned to stare at Nina. She couldn’t see their eyes with the fire glowing brightly behind them, but she could feel
them. It was like being in the acllahuasi all over again. A stranger, an outsider.
They passed a fenced-in area with achipumas dozing underneath a wooden frame, and Nina thought of Capac. He hadn’t had the chance to find them, as Kasik had promised. She wondered if something had eaten him, or if he had just taken advantage of his freedom and run.
“This is a mistake,” Hatun mumbled, watching her, his strides tempered so that he was next to her with a hand on the hilt
of a blade at his hip. Nina rolled her eyes this time.
Finally, Shayim turned toward a tent set apart from the rest of the camp. Two men stood outside and nodded their heads as
she walked by. Hatun clapped one on the back and then went to step inside, but Shayim stopped him.
“Just the girl for now.”
Hatun fumed. Nina was immediately suspicious, but grateful.
They could have the chance to talk, her and Kasik. Figure out a way to escape together, because despite the fleeting thought
she had entertained in the forest to leave him behind, she knew it was not an option any longer. He had saved her, and she
owed him a favor. That was the only reason she cared.
She pushed aside the tent flap and paused in the entrance. It was dimmer than outside without a fire, and she had to wait
a few heart-pounding moments for her eyes to adjust.
Finally, she was able to see him.
Prone, eyes closed, hands tied to a wooden column anchored into the ground, Kasik looked dead already. She let the flap close
behind her and approached him cautiously, unsure whether it was dread or relief that pooled in her belly and made her hands
shake. Her eyes burned with unshed tears as she whispered his name. When he didn’t respond, she hesitantly dropped to her
knees beside him.
Up close, Nina saw Kasik’s chest rising and falling the slightest amount.
Alive, her mind screamed with relief. She placed her hands against his bare chest and lowered her ear to his heart.
It was faint, but it was beating. She sat back and moved her hands to his neck, then his cheeks.
“Kasik,” she whispered again. “Please wake up.”
His skin was a furnace against her palms, and his hair was damp with sweat. She pressed her lips to his forehead, as her mamay
had done to her so many times, and hissed with worry. Fever had settled in his blood. “I need you,” she murmured into his
ear, hoping her words would shake him awake, just as they had done for her in the forest.
Still, he didn’t move. Nina sat back, vision blurred with tears, and gasped. There, in the center of his chest, right next
to the achilla resting around his neck, was a dim, golden light.