33
(Silnady, cont.)
Freebooter Apartments
.
“I need you to treat our injured,” Xanthine said as she found Qinta, sitting on her balcony in meditation.
She nodded curtly and stood. Without a word, the slight woman, much shorter than the average Zley woman, went to the corner with her medicines and picked up a bag. “It would be much easier to tend them if you would bring my patients to me, rather than expect me to bring everything to them,” she said with a slight scolding voice.
“Just do as you are told,” Xanthine retorted.
Qinta glared at her slightly as she turned, the bag in hand.
Xanthine escorted the young stella to the meeting room as Sipper helped arrange couches to make treatment beds.
“Real treatment beds would be nice,” Qinta scolded sharply.
“We will make do!”
Just then, the battered warriors returned, ashen-faced and semi-traumatized. She watched Cerástes and Elið come in looking annoyed. Uana was barely a shadow as she came in, but released her cloaking a moment later. She looked irritated. A dozen recruits came in, some with injuries. Egan and Joneel came in, carrying Ninn between them with a leg injury. Xanthine waited, hardly daring to breathe. Then she saw Tasp, limping in.
“Those needing stella attention, come and see Qinta. Guys, put Ninn on one of the couches. Tasp, are you okay?” Xanthine asked as he reached her. He met her concerned lips with a passionate kiss.
A moment later, her fear and relief were replaced with rage.
“The abári isn’t even there and they have no trouble defeating our recruits and several seasoned shaze fighters!” Xanthine shouted at all the members in the room. “What’s your excuse for losing half our recruits?!”
“His daughter is very skilled,” Tasp said pointing at Sipper. “She was fighting back to back with the young man who seemed to be acting as abári.” He returned to cutting the ruined leg off his pants with his shazeknife so he could be treated.
“That would be Laisen Toban, the man she is interested in,” Sheena informed, as she joined them.
“Hardly ‘avoiding’ each other then,” Sipper retorted.
“Apparently, Rami censured him pretty good for his end of it.”
“Yet, he’s still seen good enough to be ‘acting abári’ for the moment?” Sipper asked, seemingly amused.
Xanthine glared him back to silence. “I don’t care about this Laisen Toban!” she shouted. “I don’t even care about Jessten Sipper or anyone else at that Complex! This was an unprecedented chance to do some damage to the A’mara and you failed – all of you failed!” She turned her glare to the ranked members at that.
“Viper could have taken them on,” Uana boasted.
“So, where is Viper?!” Xanthine demanded.
“He seems somewhat taken with a certain woman in Ilim City,” Sipper said with a chuckle. “Between her and getting the Privateer Casino built, we couldn’t get him to come away.”
“Okay, you guys called us in,” Uana challenged back. “Yet your group wasn’t prepared for this attack.”
“I wondered why no one seemed to be able to throw a simple leya blast to keep them off balance,” Cerástes joined in. “It was a disaster. What’s wrong with our Joton cell, anyway?!”
“It’s my observation,” Elið added. “Some of your recruits are rather full of themselves. They need knocking down a few notches before they can be of any use.”
“I think they may have had that now,” Tasp said, letting Qinta put a salve on his gash. Xanthine watched him wince.
“But at the cost of a dozen lives!” Xanthine retorted. She also looked at Joneel, who avoided her gaze. Then she caught Egan’s eyes as he received treatment for a wound in his side. The man was lucky to be alive. Ninn was unconscious, but recovering, she could see in his imprint. She noticed that the woman she’d seen Joneel with the other morning wasn’t there.
“Joneel. The woman? Tollana, I think her name was?”
“Dead,” he replied, looking down at the ground.
“Vessels cannot provide children when they die!” she seethed. “Marline?” she asked, looking at Egan.
“She’s here somewhere. She didn’t fight.”
“Better recruit more, Xanthine,” Sheena said snidely. “If vessels are exempt from battle, they can’t help much.”
“Short term gains vs long term gains,” Sipper added. “Even I know that!”
“There’s got to be a balance,” Uana said. “That’s the point of recruiting both genders. But you guys are just pointing fingers. Why was the Joton cell completely unprepared? Why did you bother calling us in if you were so ill-prepared?”
“Perhaps if the Curator sent me better back-up? Or gave us the resources needed to attract and keep the gifted recruits? Money talks!” Xanthine retorted.
“I think that’s the point of the casino. But if you can’t defend it against a simple leya-gifted mob, what good is it?” Sipper added.
“Go back to Varkevand! You’re not wanted here,” Xanthine seethed.
“Then prove we’re not needed!” Uana demanded. “Besides, you look like you’re going to burst any day, then who is going to run this show?”
“Be careful what you say, Uana. Or I might return the favor in two seasons.”
“You should hope I don’t say anything to Païsan about your obvious distraction!” Uana added. “He isn’t well known for sharing nicely.”
“I hear you aren’t above distraction,” Xanthine returned.
“MY plan was approved by the Curator directly!”
“Something I am very happy about now,” Sipper replied, putting his arm around his wife. “I would suggest, Xanthine, that you stop threatening someone who has the direct approval of the Curator.”
Xanthine glowered.
Tasp limped over to him and held her. His lips met hers again. “It’s okay, darling. Let’s go and arrange for some internal recruits. Our veterans and new residents deserve a little mixer of a party.”
Xanthine nodded. “Egan, you put Qinta back when she’s done here?”
He nodded.
“Another reason why you should bring my patients to me. Do you think I’m going to poison them or something?” Qinta asked.
“The thought had occurred to me,” Xanthine admitted.
“How much stella training have you had, Xanthine?” Qinta asked. “You think I couldn’t poison them right in front of your nose if I wanted to?”
“Come on,” Tasp encouraged. “She knows she can irritate you. You and I both need some relaxing.”
♥♥♥
If you have enjoyed this book, I would be grateful if you could put your thoughts as a review on [Goodreads](coming soon) for me.
Buy at: (coming soon to Books2Read, Scribl, LBRY and Lulu - paperback.)
Other Chapters of this set
Birth of the Neví - Chapter 1 on Whaleshares
Name of the Neví - Chapter 1
Mind of the Neví - Chapter 1
Game of the Neví - Chapter 1
Maps and Guides
- Kri'enden & Joton - 830 TCE (New/imprived map coming soon)
- Character Guide and Image Credits
- Calendar and Glossary - for Name of the Neví but these two parts are true throughout.
Writing and artwork copyright myself 2005-2019 – all rights reserved.
If you are interested in helping me publish these works, please contact me on Facebook or Discord, viking-ventures#2883.
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Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
verified author on Goodreads
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