Chapter 18. The strangely disturbing presence
****
"You work here? By yourself?"
Ihedia nodded slightly at Doa's question.
"You’d have to work yourself to the bone all day to clean this big place."
"It's okay."
Doa hesitated for a moment, then scratched his head and stepped closer.
"Come here. Let me help you."
"No. It's my job now."
Ihedia would be in a lot of trouble if she accepted Doa's help as soon as she got here.
The favor was appreciated, but she couldn’t accept it.
Doa took a step back, uncertain if he understood.
"I'm sorry, but this is Lady Netira's business, and I can't do anything about it, and Master Kayan has given me strict orders to stay out of Lady Netira's affairs......."
"It's really okay, it's not like I came here not expecting this."
Ihedia changed the topic of conversation to break the awkwardness.
"But what brings you out here at this hour?"
"Oh, well, it's......I’ve been worried about him.”
Doa pointed to a horse in the corner and smirked.
The horse he pointed to was a bit smaller than the others and seemed unusually lethargic, so it didn't seem like a horse used for hunting.
"He's a horse I've had since I was a kid, but now he's old enough to be the old man in the back room, and I come to check on him like this whenever I have time, just in case something goes wrong while I'm away."
Doa stared at his horse, now nearing the end of his life.
It wasn't hard for Ihedia to recognize the gentle affection for the horse in his gaze.
A fierce Anut warrior who cared and loved animals.
It was a mismatched combination of words.
Looking at him, Ihedia felt ambivalent about the meaning once again.
"Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, let me know."
He added good-naturedly, as if he was too concerned to leave.
Then Ihedia suddenly remembered the woman writhing in agony in the cold.
This person is an Anut, but he is the only one who has been kind to me, so maybe.......
“Lord Doa, may I ask you a favor?"
"Of course."
"A friend I work with is very sick, and I was wondering if you could get her some medicine. It's pretty serious, and I think she's going to be in real trouble if she's left alone."
Ihedia outlined the circumstances of 30, and Doa readily agreed.
"That shouldn't be too hard."
At Doa's words, Ihedia patted her chest and smiled faintly.
And so it was that the first night in Anut passed in a blur, and everyone in the outbuilding returned home exhausted.
When 5 and Monica were sound asleep, Ihedia quietly crept over to 30.
In her hand she held a precious drug that would save 30's life.
Ihedia gently shook 30 to wake her up and whispered in her ear.
"Can you wake up for a second?"
"Oh, who......."
It was hard to tell who was who in the room, with no moonlight filtering in.
30 asked in a frightened voice, and Ihedia hastened to add a quick, cautionary note.
"It's me, 77, I've brought you some medicine, I know it's hard, but try to swallow it somehow."
"Why......."
30 opened her mouth again with difficulty.
"If you leave it like this, even if you’re lucky enough to recover, you’ll be left with after-effects so severe that you’ll have a hard time functioning."
The words were true.
As far as Ihedia, who was trained in herbalism and medicine, was concerned, 30's symptoms were more than just a physical ailment.
It was a combination of a severely compromised immune system, a cold climate, and a deadly endemic disease.
If she didn't get treatment soon, she could end up paralyzed or delirious, if not dead.
"Well, then......."
Just then, a rustling sound came from the other bed.
Startled, they held their breath simultaneously, as if by promise, and strained their ears in the pitch blackness.
When the surroundings were quiet again, Ihedia took the pill from a small glass vial and quickly popped it into 30's mouth.
30 gulped down the last of her strength and slid the pill down the back of her throat.
***
Doa sidled up to Kayan as he watched his men train in the training hall.
"Why don't you take a day off, I can handle overseeing the training."
"If I left it up to you, they’d all be sleeping around."
The corners of Doa's mouth twitched downward at that.
"Don't be so flippant. People get all worked up about black wolves, and I don't think it's fair to tar a decent guy like me with that brush just because we're part of the same family."
"There's no other human being more deserving of a black wolf than you."
"What a horrible thing to say......."
"You're next on my list."
Kayan smirked at Doa, who threw up his hands as if he'd heard a curse he shouldn't have.
It was a threatening joke, but it wasn't entirely untrue.
Skill was the most important quality in leading a pack, and of all the Black Wolf warriors, Doa was the second best after Kayan.
There was a reason he'd become Kayan's aide at such a young age, and it was never mentioned.
"In any case, you should stop taking care of the underlings and pay attention to something else."
When Kayan didn't respond, as if he thought his whiny subordinate was saying something unseemly again, Doa spoke up a little more clearly.
"The outbuilding people, I'm afraid lady Netira has been particularly harsh on them."
"Why there all of a sudden?"
Kayan questioned at the mention of Netira's name, his gaze still forward.
"Because I happened to see the Princess today."
The abandoned Princess of Elmir, who desperately clung to them to become Anut's slave.
Kayan's gaze, which had always been directed straight ahead at the reminder of the being who had so strangely irritated him, finally landed on Doa.
"I told you to stay out of Netira’s business."
Doa paused as Kayan spoke coldly.
Though they were not biological siblings, Netira was the only family he had, and she was like a sister to him.
Moreover, while Kayan was technically the leader of the Black Wolf, Netira was the head of the Bayate family.
"Still......."
"Bayate's master is Netira."
When people hear the name "Bayate," they naturally think of Kayan, because Netira's father and Kayan's teacher, Odant, loved her so much that he gave her the surname "Bayate," and because he died leaving behind an unmarried only child.
But Kayan swore he never coveted Netira's position.
Odant had taken her in when she had nowhere else to go, and he had helped her get to where she was today.
That was why he’d always felt it was out of line to meddle in the affairs of the Bayate family.
He also knew that if Netira were to marry someone one day, she would have to leave the manor.
She had even told him to leave the family affairs to her.
[Kayan, leave the Bayate family affairs to me. Most of it was my job when my father was alive, and even if it wasn't, you have other things to do].
He didn't know much about what went on at home, nor did he want to know, since he was always on the battlefield anyway.
The exile slaves that flowed in like spoils of war were hand-picked by the Anut imperial court to a handful of honored families.
Those in the outbuildings were officially part of the Bayate family, too, so it didn't matter how the head of the household, Netira, treated them.
"I went to the stables for a while, and found her cleaning up the horse manure by herself, and it was kind of salty to see her like that, not like she was a complete stranger."
Kayan's eyes slowly closed and opened at Doa's mention of Ihedia.
"Not that it's any of my business, either."
It was a terse reply, without a trace of pity or compassion.
Kayan had done Ihedia a great favor by bringing the abandoned Princess from her own country to this place safely and without judgment.
Doa stopped telling him about the outbuildings and turned his attention to the training grounds.
The sounds of countless soldiers cheering filled the air, accompanied by the clashing of sharp blades.
***
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Write a comment
Emmanuel801 (Wednesday, 13 December 2023 23:38)
Thank you for the translation!❤️