His brow furrowed. He went silent for a brief moment.
“Half a day’s ride from here,” I finished, spreading my hands over the hip-height table before us in my council’s voliki. The elders were not present, nor were the masters. It was just Errok and me and we spoke in low tones. I pointed down at the map of Dakkar splayed out on the table, the tip of my claw grazing over the south lands. “Around here.”
“You think our gates will not be enough?” Errok asked next. “Already, I have heard rumblings from the males. Asking why they need to use so many materials since we are in the south lands. They believe we are safe here.”
At any other time, that would very well be the case. The south lands were often seen as peaceful. Unlike the east, where larger beasts like the ungira roamed because they liked the heat, the south lands didn’t have such predators.
The stitching on my back pulled, making my teeth grit. Maeva had put fresh bandages on it that morning, before we’d left to journey to my horde, but the pain was a constant discomfort.
“I think the gates will need to be reinforced with the last of our steel stores,” I admitted.
“The weapons master will not be happy about that,” Errok pointed out. “Some of the warriors need new swords.”
“I know,” I growled, blowing out a sharp breath. “I need to send messages to Rath Kitala and Rath Drokka. Have the thespers come back?”
“Only one,” Errok said.
So I’d only be able to send one message. Vok.
“We need to meet in Dothik,” I knew, frustrated.
“Rath Drokka will be loath to leave his Morakkari at this time,” Errok countered. “His white-haired sorceress just gave birth to their child. He will not journey all the way to Dothik, especially when the frost draws nearer.”
“Whatever is happening in the east lands,” I began softly, my eyes straying to the Dead Mountain on the map, “it is beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. I fear if we wait too long to understand what this is, it will be too late.”
“And the Dothikkar?”
“Vok,” I hissed. “Like he would do anything about this?”
Errok pressed his lips together.
“Nik, he will let his hordes take care of his problems, as he’s always done,” I finished. “He will keep his army behind his walls.”
“But Rath Kitala told him of the red mist?” Errok asked softly.
“Lysi. He sent a messenger to Dothik, not a thesper.”
“Then perhaps he will call on all of you to journey to Dothik and Rath Drokka will not have a choice in the matter.”
That was likely what would happen, which was frustrating in itself. I needed to be here, in my horde, not journeying around Dakkar at the whims of the Dothikkar.
I went silent, my eyes flickering over the map. My gaze drifted to the saruk, perched at the edge of Drukkar’s Sea. I could almost feel the breeze across my face and taste the salt in the air.
“The weapons master will need to make do with what he has for the new swords,” I decided. “The gates will be important for the frost. If I am called to Dothik, I will bring steel back with me but we will use what we have here for reinforcements.”
“I will inform the builders,” Errok said.
I nodded. “Is there anything that needs my attention after my absence?”
“Nik, everything has been running smoothly.”
“Good.”
Errok asked, “The new mokkira is settled then?”
I felt Errok’s heavy gaze on me. I met his eyes. “Lysi. She is.”
“Are you going to tell me about her?” Errok asked next. “Or is that a secret you keep for yourself, one you’ve kept for so long?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Errok barked out a short laugh. “I have known you since our training days in Dothik, Kiran. Almost fifteen years now. Don’t play that game with me.”
My chest felt tight when I looked back down to the map.
“Is it her?” he asked next.
My jaw clenched. My swallow was hard and loud in the voliki.
I had never explicitly told Errok about Maeva. We’d met when I left the saruk, when I went to live with my uncle in Dothik to train among the Dothikkar’s warriors for the upcoming Trials. I returned home, back to the saruk, every year for a short time. Then I would return to Dothik.
That went on for some time until I completed the Trials, until I was made Vorakkar with my blood and pain, until I took to the wild lands and