Sukhadaya tea was a miracle. Jenny clutched the wooden mug in painful fingers and sipped at the earthy brew until the stinging sensations all over her body dulled and dimmed. She released a long, tired sigh and snuggled deeper into the thick woolen blanket on the upholstered chair in Judtha’s hut.
By the time they’d returned to the yodha village hidden in the forest, night had fallen, though this close to the mountain of fire, the southern sky always looked orange. Barb’s condition had worsened in the time Jenny had been gone. Thankfully, Judtha and the yodha knew how to manage it. A liberal dose of winter cherry root would put Barb to rights soon enough.
Jenny sipped her tea and swallowed gratefully, the pain in her feet fading for the first time in days.
She smiled at the fire burning in the central pit of the hut and glanced out the window toward the glowing orange sky. If Judtha and the rest of the yodha hadn’t come along, they wouldn’t have survived.
The door to the hut creaked, and Jenny greeted Judtha with a smile. The black Josharon entered and bowed his head.
“I have brought you food.” He stepped inside with a wooden tray of rice and curry, the scent of the cumin and coriander curling around the room in rich waves.
Jenny’s mouth began to water. “Thank you.”
He handed her the tray, and she forced herself to eat slowly.
Food. Glorious food.
Her stomach rumbled happily. The curry tasted of spices and cream, jammed full of chunks of lamb and potatoes. The rice smelled of saffron and ginger. Judtha had even brought her two segments of naan flatbread, drenched in butter and herbs.
Even the Josharon’s warrior class made heavenly curry.
Judtha knelt and poked at the fire in the central pit. “Your friend recovers quickly,” he said.
Jenny smiled. “Amazing what can happen when you have the supplies you need.”
Judtha grinned, showing his teeth. “I feel I owe you an explanation, Jennifer Mitchell.”
Jenny shook her head. “You helped us. You saved us. That’s all the explanation I need.” She dunked a strip of naan into the curry and devoured it.
Judtha stood and pulled a set of curtains away from the far window, staring outside, his tails swaying with the motion. “We are hidden here,” he said. “And Neetha Three-Tails has served well in battle.”
“Neetha. She’s the High Chief?”
“She was.” Judtha turned back to her with a dark look. “Her instincts have been failing for many seasons, but it was the revelation of her hatred that made the decision.” He crouched before her. “She would not hear you. Many of us knew you spoke truth.” He reached behind his armor and pulled out the leather cord with Yaasha’s arrowhead on it. “This belongs to you.”
Jenny gasped and reached for it. Tears sprang to her eyes. “Judtha. Thank you!”
He nodded. “Neetha had no right to take this from you.”
Jenny shook her head, even as she fastened the arrowhead back around her neck. “I don’t know why she took it to start with.”
Judtha smirked. “Neetha took it because she has always longed for a legend like the one of Yaasha Four-Tails.”
Jenny scowled. “Yaasha has a legend?”
Judtha laughed and settled back next to the fire. “She does. Yaasha Four-Tails was the greatest of the Yodha High Chiefs.”
Jenny’s heart plunged into her stomach. “Yaasha was a High Chief of the Yodha?”
Well, that was something the cranky old Josharon had never mentioned. No wonder her chickens were so evil. She probably used them for target practice.
Judtha nodded. “Yaasha Four-Tails united our people as no chief ever had. She led us in many great victories. And in the years of peace, she led us in harmony. And she is the only chief to this day who has left service at the time of her choosing.”
“What do you mean?”
“High Chiefs are not elected. They ascend by challenge.” Judtha smirked. “Any yodha may challenge a High Chief, but they must defeat the Chief in battle if they wish to rule. In all the years of her rule, no one ever defeated Yaasha Four-Tails. When Yaasha decided she was done with war, she stepped down and gave rule to Neetha—her younger sister.”
“Neetha is Yaasha’s sister?”
Judtha nodded.
“Wow.” Jenny chuckled to herself. “Well, I guess that makes a little bit of sense. I have a big sister, and sometimes she makes me cranky.” She set the wooden tray aside. “So you challenged Neetha just because I had Yaasha’s necklace?”
That seemed a bit extreme.
“What if I was lying? What if I was just making stuff up?”
Judtha tilted his head and looked out the window, whistling softly under his breath. Moments later, the door creaked again, and a young yodha stepped inside the hut.
Jenny stared in shock.
The yodha wore a simple tunic that did nothing to hide the bandages wrapped around her arms, chest, and legs. She was missing an ear, and the nubs of two antlers sprouted from the crown of her head.
“You—you’re the warrior from Chandan Village,” Jenny said.
The young Harna bowed as deeply as she could manage. “I am Yosabah.” She straightened. “I bore witness that you and the other human risked your safety to save my life during the attack on Chandan Village.”
Jenny beamed. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
The young Harna bowed again and then glanced at Judtha, who sat watching with a proud expression in his sky blue eyes.
“Yosabah is my vaarasa,” he said with a nod of his head. “She is my student, the one I am teaching the ways of our clan. In saving her life, Jennifer Mitchell, you saved mine and the integrity of my legacy. Whether you are our blood or not, that act made you worthy of my help.”
Jenny’s eyes burned again. “Thank you, Judtha. Thank you so much.”
He nodded.
“Yosabah, how fares the other human?”
The Harna smirked and leaned against the hut wall with a comfortable shrug. “Mouthy.”
Jenny laughed. “She must be feeling better.” She sighed. “Judtha, you’ve done so much for us already, but I have one more thing to ask.”
“Ask.”
“A falcon,” Jenny said. “We need to send a message to Prism Castle. The Centaurs have a weapon—a horrible weapon–and they’re going to attack.”
Judtha and Yosabah exchanged a glance.
“They have already attacked,” Judtha said softly.
Jenny sank deeper under the woolen blanket. “No.”
“I fear it is so,” he said. “The falcon you followed here the first time brought a mandate from the high council. That Prism Castle had been attacked. That many were dead. And that they had chosen not to reciprocate.”
“But why?” Jenny wailed. “How could that be their decision?”
Judtha raised his hand. “Word also came that a small contingent had departed from Prism Castle with the intention to rescue you and your friend.”
Jenny groaned. “Don’t tell me. The humans.”
“And the Celticans as well.”
Jenny scowled. “Both of them?”
“Yes,” Judtha said.
“But—they don’t need to attack now.” Jenny sat forward, sliding her feet out from under the blanket to press into the wooden floor boards. “We’re not at the mountain, so they don’t need to rescue us.”
Judtha said nothing.
“Can we send a falcon? Can we tell them—”
“We do not send falcons.” Yosabah interrupted her. “Falcons are sent to us.”
Judtha nodded sagely. “It is not within our authority to act independently. We are servants of the tribe, and the tribe obeys the wishes of the high council.”
Jenny stood. “But what if they’re wrong?”
Judtha smiled. “It is not within our authority to contradict them.”
Jenny set her teacup down and turned, walking to the window and staring at the orange-tinted clouds. If the yodha wouldn’t send a falcon, and if they couldn’t intercept Meg and the others before they attacked the mountain, what were their options? What could they do?
If Meg attacked the mountain, she’d get in. If Meg thought Jenny was a prisoner, she’d move heaven and earth to free her. And what would happen then? Tiron would break the terrible news to her. He’d thrown his human captives into the volcano, and they were dead. He wouldn’t tell her that they’d escaped. He wouldn’t tell her that they were with the yodha and that Jenny herself had shot T’pau right in the eyeball.
No.
He would tell Meg that her sister was dead.
And Meg would lose her mind. She’d lose her focus. And she’d lose her life.
“No,” Jenny said under her breath. “No, that can’t happen.”
“Jennifer Mitchell?” Judtha frowned at her as she turned around.
Jenny walked to the fire pit and knelt across from him. “Judtha, hear me and know my heart.”
He sat forward.
“I can’t sit here and let my family die,” she said. “Neetha said I had no clan, no tribe, but that’s not true. I have a family, and they are on their way to the mountain of fire to save me. They are walking into a trap, and I can’t let them.”
Judtha’s expression didn’t change.
“I have to stop them.”
“You can do little, Jennifer Mitchell.” Judtha frowned. “If they have taken the wisest paths—since Kadima the ancient one leads them, I assume this is true—they will have already arrived long before you can reach them.”
“I have to try.”
“You will perish.”
Jenny stood. “Then I perish. I can’t abandon them.”
The door banged again, this time amid a chorus of irritated cries, and Barb appeared in the doorway of Judtha’s hut. Her color was back. Her hair was tied up. Her green eyes sparkled with life.
“You okay, kid?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Jenny said. “We have to go back.”
Yosabah shifted to the side, surprised at Barb’s sudden entrance. “You cannot go back,” Yosabah said to Jenny. “Only death waits for you there.”
“Back?” Barb snapped. “Back where?”
“Centaur Mount.” Jenny moved to stare into her face. “Meg and the others are headed there right now to rescue us. We have to stop them.”
Barb’s jaw clenched, a muscle ticking under her ear.
“Are you up to it?” Jenny searched her face.
“I’m up to anything you’re up to, you little blonde hippie.”
“I don’t know what that means.” Jenny bent to look at her wrapped side. “And you’re still grumpy, even if your spleen isn’t hanging out anymore.”
“Wait, wait.” Judtha got to his feet in a graceful motion. “Jennifer Mitchell, you cannot be serious. You cannot return to the Centaurs’ mountain.”
Jenny faced him. “Thank you for your help, Judtha.” She bowed her head. “You came to our rescue even though we couldn’t do anything for you. Yaasha told me there’s a story of a great warrior called Azama Saifa, who helped the helpless. She said he was a benevolent warrior.” She bowed again. “You’re very much like him.”
Judtha blinked at her, his blue eyes startled.
“But we have to go,” Jenny said.
Barb backed out of the doorway, and Jenny followed her. At the step, she strapped on the sandals the yodha had given her when they arrived.
“What do you need?” Barb asked her.
“We can get what we need along the way,” Jenny said. “We just need to go. They’ll beat us anyway, so we’ll have to sneak back in the way we got out.”
Barb groaned. “The lava tube?”
“The lava tube.”
“You hate me, don’t you.”
“Utterly.” Jenny tucked her arm in Barb’s and squeezed.
They started for the edge of the village when a sharp whistle broke the air around them. Seven yodha in full armor emerged from the shadows, swords drawn and arrows nocked in bows.
“Jenny,” Barb growled.
“Jennifer Mitchell.”
Jenny turned around to see Judtha approaching, Yosabah smirking behind him, her brown eyes cheerful.
Great. How did they find a compromise here? The yodha probably wouldn’t want them to leave in the case that they would reveal the location of their secret village. The yodha couldn’t leave because the high council had ordered them not to get involved. But Jenny and Barb couldn’t stay.
“I have a question for you, Jennifer Mitchell.” Judtha stood before her with his hands on his hips.
“Yes?”
“Kadima has taken as you as her own, yes?”
Jenny frowned. That was the Josharons’ name for Velanna. “Velanna Ittai raised me as her daughter, yes. I am part of her family.”
“Did you save the life of my vaarasa during the attack on Chandan Village?”
Jenny glanced at Barb, who continued to scowl. “Yes,” Jenny said. “I did.”
Judtha’s smile grew broader. “Have you cared for and befriended the great Yaasha Four-Tails, who gifted you her own signet in demonstration of her regard for you?”
Quiet muttering from the other yodha filled the silent forest air.
Jenny took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“One final question.” Judtha’s eyes twinkled. “In the forest, in the dark, to defend your friend, did you fashion a weapon from the earth and slay a black wolf?”
Sharp gasps echoed around the village, breathy and shocked. Jenny felt dozens of eyes staring at her. She drew her shoulders back and lifted her chin against their stares.
She met Judtha’s gaze. “Yes.”
The rest of the yodha weren’t muttering now. They were talking. The noise was a jumble of sound and emotion carried on the wind.
Judtha nodded and turned in a circle in order to look each of his yodha brothers and sisters in the eyes. “This is Jennifer Mitchell. By her actions, by her courage, Yaasha Four-Tails has called her one of us. She has slain a syahavik with the work do her hands. I see it and declare it to be true.”
A rumble of agreement passed around the circle. Jenny blinked in shock. What was happening?
“Will anyone speak against Yaasha Four-Tails?”
Silence fell in the circle. Barb gripped Jenny’s arm like a vice.
“Very well.” Judtha smiled and bowed his head. “Jennifer Mitchell, this day I name you Shara-Yodha.”
Jenny’s blood ran cold. The Josharons called her Shara-kuri, arrow girl.
“Judtha, I don’t understand.” Jenny shook her head. “Shara is a name the Tribe calls me, but why Shara-Yodha?”
Judtha’s eyebrows lifted. “Because now, you are Yodha.”
A quiet collective hiss passed around the circle of the yodha.
Jenny and Barb glanced at each other again.
“Okay,” Jenny said slowly. “Thank—you?”
But what did that mean? What was Judtha saying?
Judtha moved to stand beside her and nodded toward the forest. “Then, sister, lead the way.”
Jenny gawked at him. “I thought you couldn’t attack the mountain.”
“We are not attacking the mountain.” Judtha blinked at her while the other yodha snickered. “We are following our sister-in-arms as she seeks what she lost in the mountain of fire.”
Jenny’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”
Judtha bowed his head.
Jenny glanced around at the seven yodha in the circle around them, and she grinned at each of them. “Well,” she said. “That was unexpected!”
“Jenny.” Barb rested her forehead on Jenny’s shoulder. “Can we please go now?”
“Right.” Jenny turned back to her. “We know a secret way into the mountain.” She turned to the yodha. “I don’t want to get you in trouble, but there’s probably going to be fighting.”
Judtha shrugged. “We will be by your side. If the Centaurs attack us, we will attack them back.” He winked at her. “And we are much better shots.”
Jenny stepped into the forest with a laugh. “Judtha, I think we’re going to be good friends.”