Page 9 of Warrior of the Wild
“You’re safe,” Mother says. “Bless the goddess!” She tries to throw herself at my father, but he stays her with an upraised hand.
“Did you know Rasmira had left the house?” Father demands.
Mother finally takes notice of me standing behind Father. She debates for a moment. I can tell she wants to lie, to say she did know. But to be caught in a lie is a grave sin.
“I hadn’t! I thought her in her room.” That’s probably not entirely true. I doubt she thought of me at all.
Father looks pointedly at the three girls standing beside her. “Tormosa, Alara, and Ashari are not in their rooms.”
They are second, third, and fourth oldest, respectively. Salvanya is the oldest and already married and living in her own home. Irrenia is number five, but it would appear she isn’t home yet.
“You know how Rasmira is. She keeps to herself! How was I to know?”
“Rasmira is important,” Father begins. I close my eyes, dreading this turn. I know that when I look at my mother, she’ll be livid. “She will be a warrior and will protect this village. She will lead our people after I am gone. Already she is the best of the apprentice warriors. Who else will carry my legacy but her?”
The last line was too far. Mother shrinks back. She never wanted to have children. I know because she’s said so more than once. She’d hoped to give Father a male heir and be done with it. But then girl after girl after girl was born. Six of us. My birth was the most difficult, and now she can’t have any more children. A blessing for her, but something my father is always throwing at her, as though it’s somehow her fault.
“I left of my own will, Father,” I say. “I’m to blame. Not Mother.”
He ignores me. “Do you have any idea how important tomorrow is for her? She will participate in the most difficult test we’ve ever devised, and afterward, she will finally become a ma—woman. A woman.”
“Father—” I try again.
“Go to your room, Rasmira. Get rested.”
“But you’re making the others stay up to guard the boundaries! What is my punishment?”
“Your eye is swollen shut. That’s punishment enough. The boys were fighting you in the woods. Their punishment is more severe.”
“Torrin wasn’t, though. He was on my side.”
“And is he the one who convinced you to sneak out of your bed tonight?”
My silence is answer enough.
“Go to bed. Now. The rest of you girls go to your rooms as well. Where is Irrenia? She should see to Rasmira.”
“Still out,” Mother rushes to say, glad to have an answer to something.
“All right. You can wait up for her and direct her to Rasmira’s room when she gets in. I’m to bed.”
Father pats me once on the shoulder before shuffling off. A sign of affection that Mother watches with a sharp eye.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to her.
“Torlhon said you’re to go to bed,” she bites out. “So be off. Tomorrow we can finally be done with you.”
She sits herself in one of the cushioned chairs, staring fixedly at the door. My sisters go to their rooms, and I do the same, unwilling to be left alone with Mother.
My room is the last at the end of a long, empty hallway. Embers from the fire set the room aglow. Elda, the housekeeper, lit it before I climbed into bed—shortly before I climbed out of it and snuck out the window.
I don’t go to the bed now. If the boys are punished with a night without sleep, then I will be, too. I sit on the floor, reach under the bed, and pull out a small box.
Good thing Elda doesn’t bother with cleaning under the bed.
I open the lid and stare at the shiny contents.
My mother and sisters (save Irrenia) all chose jeweling as their professions. All the miners bring the best finds to Mother with the hopes of earning her favor. She’s also the most beautiful woman in the village—a fact she never lets me forget—and sometimes miners will seek her out when they don’t have jewels to sell. They shower her with compliments. No one has a larger section in the high goddess’s Book of Merits than my mother, I’m sure.
