Hope Sundered

“Where are you taking us?” Keila demanded of her Nokri captors, and like each attempt over the past two days, her question was answered with silence.

She wondered if they could understand her or were just ignoring her. Their silence and pace suggested they had no desire to make conversation, with or without a language barrier. The light crunch of their fleet footfalls upon the baked earth was the only noise they made.

Not like it mattered, she thought. She had no idea where they were and knew they couldn’t outrun arrows anyway. The Nokri had taken their weapons and horses but hadn’t harmed her or Ekard in any way and left them unbound as they led the pair westward across the empty plain on foot.

The Nokri wanted them alive for now, that much was certain. They’d been quite generous with their water and rations during the trek. They could be heading to a settlement, but what happened once they arrived remained a mystery.

Despite the potential danger, Keila couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement. Finding the elusive nomads had been the first step of her plan, and she’d done it! Convincing them to march north and fight the Azrahterans would be another matter, but that was tomorrow’s problem, assuming she survived to see it.

The few stories she could remember painted a picture in her mind of brutal barbarians bent on mindless pillaging. She’d asked her father once if such tales were true. He was quick to deny the ‘baseless lies of ignorance,’ as he’d put it.

“We’re going to be part of some ritual sacrifice,” Ekard lamented as they trudged along, trying to keep pace with the sleeker, swifter Nokri huntsmen. None of them were breathing hard or showing any signs of fatigue.

“Not everything we’ve heard about them is true,” Keila replied, her voice sharp with reproach.

“At least you’re speaking to me again.” He grinned weakly. His eyes were full of apology.

She looked away. “I’m just saying we can’t win without them, so we need to earn their trust.” Her fiery indignation had cooled some since his brazen advance, but she remained unnerved by the experience.

“What if you can’t? It’s obvious they don’t understand us.”

“I’ll make them understand.”

“What if they still refuse?”

She glowered at him. “Whose side are you on?”

“Yours, of course! I’m just saying we know nothing about these people! You can’t deny history. They invaded Wyndham—”

“That was two hundred years ago.”

“That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen! And a few hundred years isn’t very long to hold a grudge. No one loses a war gracefully Keila. I’m sure they still hate us.”

“You can’t know that, and I won’t assume it.”

“Then why did they attack us in the first place? What makes them any different from the Azrahterans?”

She didn’t agree, but neither could she refute his argument. Pride coaxed a scoff from her lips but failed to articulate anything else.

“Look, all I’m saying is we shouldn’t expect a warm welcome,” he continued.

“I’m here to make allies, not friends.”

“No, you’re here to convince a bunch of nomads to fight with their former enemies against a new enemy they know nothing about! Do you understand how crazy all of this sounds? What incentive do they have to march all the way to Wyndham? The Azrahterans probably don’t even know they exist!”

She cast him a sidelong glance. “Do you honestly believe the Azrahterans will stop once they’ve conquered Aveliria? The Nokri will help us because they have to, for their own sake. We have to hope they’ll see that.”

“This isn’t hope. It’s insanity!”

She whirled on him, causing everyone to stop short. “Ekard, enough! I’m trying to forgive your…indiscretion as bad judgment in the moment, but I’m tired of your constant complaining. There’s no place for prejudice here. You’re either by my side or in my way.”

His flushed face matched the vermillion sunset. “I’ve always been by your side,” he said through clenched teeth. “Why can’t you see that?”

She chuckled and shook her head. “I thought I could. You were the only friend I had left. You were the strength I needed to reach Ob’riant. Why would you throw that away over misplaced passion?”

“But it’s not misplaced! I’ve always loved you. Why would you dismiss my feelings so quickly? Why do you insist on shaming me?”

“Don’t put this on me. Love doesn’t take advantage of vulnerability. You had no right!”

It was embarrassing to have this dialogue in front of others, even if the Nokri didn’t understand them. She’d been able to ignore his infatuation until he spoke his feelings aloud, never to be taken back. His confession of love was now a tangible, irreversible thing, like molten ore cast and cooled, hardened into a permanent shape.

“Why is it so wrong for me to love you?” he pleaded. Tears cut paths through the dust on his cheeks. “You and I were given a second chance. Why squander it on a hopeless vendetta?”

“The Azrahterans killed your parents too,” she said, her voice as cold as the wind racing past them. “Have you forgotten already? Don’t you want justice for them?”

“I want to live! We could’ve been happy together in Ob’Riant, but now we’re going to die at the hands of these savages because of revenge!”

She slapped him, harder than before, and with no echo of regret. The Nokri made no attempt to mask their amusement by the sudden spectacle. Without another word Keila turned her back. Looking at the Nokri hunter whom she believed to be the leader, she pointed in the direction they’d been running. “Lead on.”

The man understood her intent if not her words, and with a shrug of indifference, continued trotting to the west with the others in tow. Keila fo

Ekard stood still for several heartbeats until he realized he was being left behind, and the Nokri didn’t seem to care. Worse still, neither did Keila.

He broke into a run to catch up.