RAYNA was just as Lina had described. The woman was rocking back and forth, mumbling words that no one could understand, repeating them over and over. Samora was speaking to her friend with low, soothing tones, but how long Rayna would stay so quiet was a mystery.
Amber and Lina sat down next to the two women, looking at Rayna with consternation. Amber looked around. The sight of four women huddled together was a common one. Amber met Lina's gaze and the tall Halrana woman shook her head.
"What does she know?" Amber asked Samora under her breath.
"Everything," Samora whispered back.
"Can't do it. Can't do it," Rayna's words suddenly became clear, and her volume increased.
"Shhhh," Samora soothed, but to no effect.
"Dead outside. Dead inside. We're all dead anyway. Should I die tomorrow? Why not wait? Why not die right now? Get it over with. That's right. End it in an instant. Dead already. Dead-dead-dead-dead-dead-dead…"
"We have to do something about this," Amber said.
"I know," Samora said. "She was fine, but then she just… snapped."
"I'm sorry," Lina said. "But you know what has to be done."
"Wait," Amber said. "Do we have rope, and something we can make a gag out of?"
Lina looked at Amber scornfully. "You know that won't work. We tie her and gag her, and then what? And no, we don't have rope."
Samora was looking from one woman to the other. "No," she said. Tears began to slide down her face.
"I'm so sorry," Amber said. "I know she was your friend."
"Was? What do you mean? She's right here!" Samora cried.
"And in a few minutes she's going to start screaming," Lina said.
Amber exchanged glances with Lina, and then shuffled along the ground until she was close by Samora. She put her arms around the Halrana woman while Lina went over to Rayna.
Samora began to sob in Amber's arms.
"Shhhh," Lina said to Rayna, whose mumbling rose in intensity, and then quieted, before rising again.
As Amber looked on, holding Samora to her breast, Lina reached her arm around Rayna's neck, until the woman's chin was in the crook of her elbow. With both arms, Lina began to squeeze, and Rayna's ranting was suddenly cut off.
Lina must have been stronger than she looked, or Rayna must have been ready to go. With barely a gasp, a red-faced Rayna kicked once, and suddenly went limp. Samora's sobbing intensified. Finally Lina laid Rayna gently down, closing her eyes and placing the woman's hands together on her breast.
"It's over now," Amber said to Samora. "I'm so sorry."
Amber stood and walked away. There was little light left in the day, and she would need to finish the nightlamp before nightfall.
Amber struggled to maintain her composure.
She wondered what had happened to the little girl from Sarostar.
38
ON THE third Gathering of autumn, a day usually reserved for the harvest, when child, parent and grandparent would head out into the fields to reap the rewards of their sunny land, plans were put into action in Ralanast.
The officers of the Black Army were the first to play a part, although for them it was nothing far from the ordinary. An hour after dawn the guards stationed at Ralanast's eastern gate were relieved; those finishing their tour would return to Tingara, while the new soldiers settled in for a long spell and wondered if the rumours they'd heard about Halrana women were true.
As the sun climbed in the sky, farmers brought drudge-pulled wagons carrying loads of grains, fruits, and vegetables into the city. The new guards examined several carts for weapons, but couldn't see much reason to be meticulous, and eventually waved the rest through.
To the south of Ralanast, an army of grim-faced men in green and brown looked down from a sloped hill, maintaining a rigid formation as they gazed at the indomitable southern gate. They had been here for days, and with little in the way of siege weapons, the Black Army's officers were starting to believe they wouldn't attack after all — they hadn't even encircled the city in an attempt at siege! If this was out of sentiment to the Halrana who would be the first to starve, well then perhaps the Alturan commander didn't have the stomach for what it took to win in a war like this. Reinforcements would arrive from Tingara soon. The allied army would be crushed, the same way they had been crushed at the last Battle for Ralanast.
The heat started to leave the day as the sun crossed the centre of the sky and began to fall towards the horizon. In the cool autumn evening the farmers and workers left the city to return home to their quarries, mills and fields. The soldiers at the gates and outposts remarked that they seemed a reticent, sober-faced bunch, but then their speculation dried up as they, too, felt the import of the day, without quite realising why.