"Here, miss," the girl said, squatting down on the earth next to Amber and passing her the bundle. "He's yours, in't he?"
Amber clutched him to her breast and felt a feeling of such intense joy to be reunited with her son that for a long time she couldn't speak. She marvelled at how much he'd grown in the time she'd been separated from him, and couldn't stop herself from playing with his tiny fingers in awe and cooing at his constantly changing expressions. Amber lost track of time, holding and rocking him, never saying a word, simply smiling and kissing him gently on the forehead time and time again.
"I'd best go," the girl said, as the babe suddenly made an urgent, distressed sound. "He's hungry and wantin' a feed. Anyone catches me here I'll be whipped."
Amber realised she hadn't spoken at all to the woman who was taking care of her son. This must be the wet nurse, she realised, a girl who had probably lost her own child shortly after giving birth. It must have taken a lot of courage for her to come here.
"Can you come again?" Amber said. "Please… I just want to see him."
"I'll try, miss" she promised.
"I'm Amber."
"Casey," the girl said.
"Thank you, Casey," Amber said. "I know coming here is a big risk."
"I know I'd want to see my boy, weren't he dead," Casey said plainly. "Better go. I'll try come back."
~
ANOTHER week passed and Amber counted herself lucky that in that time Moragon was still away or too busy to deal with her. Then she overheard some soldiers talking outside her tent, and discovered what it was Moragon was busy with.
A battle was about to be fought against the allied army of Alturans and Halrana. It was time for Moragon to bring out his 'secret weapon', something called the Akari. Or perhaps someone? The name was familiar.
Amber heard the sound of marching footsteps all throughout the day and night as the Black Army's soldiers departed for the coming battle. It was going to be a pitched effort, an all-out struggle between the two great armies. Amber worried endlessly about her child, and she feared for Miro. Between the two, she was so worried she couldn't eat the thin stew the soldiers gave her.
With the encampment near-deserted, Amber began to think about escape. Casey was a simple girl, but she seemed to be free to wander about the camp. When Casey came a second time, Amber asked the girl to visit one of the blacksmiths and try to procure an iron file.
Casey promised to do what she could, and Amber spent yet another day worrying and fruitlessly running one escape plan after another through her mind. If she could get out before the Black Army's soldiers returned, she could flee with both Casey and her son. There was a chance, a small one, but a chance nonetheless, that Amber could escape, this time with her child.
Amber desperately hoped that Casey would bring her the file soon. She would use it to escape the manacles, and while the soldiers were distracted by the battle she and Casey would get away. Amber didn't know how much interest Moragon was taking in the babe he thought was his son, but with other things on his mind he might just let her go.
~
IT WAS raining on the day the soldiers returned. The Black Army had won a great victory against a larger number of Alturans and Halrana, holding against the allied army and eventually pushing them back to the Ring Forts in Halaran.
For some reason though the soldiers Amber overheard were far from jubilant. It appeared they owed their success to the Akari. With a jolt Amber suddenly remembered the stories from when she was a child, and as the accounts of the soldiers sent shivers down her spine she realised what the Akari were.
Revenants were fighting with the Black Army.
Amber jumped when she heard gruff voices outside and fingers fumbled at the knots in the tent flap. Realising it must be Casey she calmed herself, feeling the familiar warmth of excitement to see her child and wondering if the girl had been successful in her quest to get the iron file.
But instead of the girl, a man thrust his head through the opening. Amber put her hand to her mouth with shock, and a horrible sinking feeling settled through her stomach as he pushed into the tent and settled down, crouching on the floor, grinning at Amber wickedly.
"We won today, Alturan woman," Moragon said. "I couldn't tell you how many of your countrymen we killed."
"Who are the Akari?" Amber asked. "Would you have still won without them?"
Moragon frowned. "The Akari are our allies. Their lore allows them to animate the dead. I'm sure you can imagine a dead warrior is hard to kill."
"So they are your superiors, then?"
"No, woman, not even our equals." He pointed to his metal arm and the runes covering it. "I would like to see the Akari replace a limb with one twice as powerful. They have weaknesses, many of them, but for now they are proving useful."