Page 29 of The Merciless Ones
I nod, apologetic. “I see your point.” I turn to the others. “We’ll adhere to the plan as it already is, and move on Elder Kadiri tomorrow. Tonight, we familiarize ourselves with our surroundings.” And the positions of all the guards, who, if Belcalis’s little lesson has taught me anything, will all be jatu. “Let’s go over the details,” I say.
“Or” – Asha peers around the wagon – “we could relax for a moment. Calm ourselves. Truth be told, it’s felt strained in here the past few minutes.” She glances pointedly at me and Belcalis, a silent accusation. “Besides, we’re supposed to be newly-weds. We should act more like it, to my mind. Stroll around with the boys, pretend we’re normal Oteran women…”
Adwapa and Belcalis both groan at this, annoyed, but Britta abruptly flushes to such a deep red, she’s as bright as a berry. My eyes narrow. There’s something she’s not telling us.
I move over to the bed, waiting until Britta snuggles closer to stroke her blonde, shoulder-length hair, which she has braided into multiple hearts. It’s a striking change from her usual warrior knots or the closely cropped fuzz she had back at the Warthu Bera, and I can’t say I don’t like it. Besides, it’s a nice distraction from my churning thoughts.
I look down at her. “Anything you want to tell me?” I ask. “You’re acting strange.”
Britta bolts upright, that blush returning with a vengeance, and my eyes narrow again. Something’s definitely happening. “What is it?” I ask.
For a moment, Britta scrambles to think, her emotions flashing past one after another. She’s never been good at hiding her feelings. I can even see when she decides on a lie to distract me, because her face lights up. “Oh, I’ve been meanin’ to show ye.” She rummages in her pack and pulls out that pebble. “It started a few weeks ago, but I’ve never found a good time to speak of it, since yer always so busy.”
She flips the pebble once across her palm, and I frown when that familiar tingle rushes through me. I thought that what she was about to say was a cover for the true answer to my question, but something else is at play. I can feel the power rising from her hands in waves, all of it concentrating on that tiny stone.
Just what is going on?
Britta smiles shyly at it. “Keep in mind this is the smaller, more impractical version of it, since we’re inside a wagon.”
She inhales and my blood tingles again as I feel the power emerging in small, determined waves from Britta. Within moments, the pebble vibrates, slowly at first but faster and faster, until soon, Britta’s no longer holding a lumpy grey rock, but a sliver of mirror-like stone so thin, it covers her entire palm.
My jaw drops. “Britta, you have a divine gift!”
Belcalis snorts. “We all have one,” she says, pulling a knife from her side and cutting her palm with it. Blood wells up, just as I expected, but then it continues spreading, sliding sinuously over her fingers and up her hand until it finally stops just at her wrist. I blink, shocked. Her hand now looks exactly like it did after it was gilded at Jor Hall, the gilding the goddesses immediately removed once we joined their cause.
Belcalis’s face is pale and sweaty now, but she grins victoriously as she taps the gold covering her arm and it responds with a hollow sound. “I’m my own divine armour now,” she declares.
“Oh, Belcalis,” I exclaim, my hands flying to my mouth. “That’s amazing!”
“Not more amazing than mine, I promise ye that,” Britta says.
Asha humphs. “You made a rock turn into a mirror. Or did I miss something?”
“I said this was the small version of it,” Britta sputters. “I can do better, much better!”
“All right, no need to get your unmentionables in a twist.” Adwapa holds up her hands in surrender.
I just watch them, my mind spinning. Divine gifts. When did this happen? Surely this is a sign – the mothers must be growing in power. Maybe the angoro hasn’t siphoned quite as much of it as I feared.
I glance at the twins expectantly, but they just shrug. “Don’t look at us,” Adwapa says. “We’ve got nothing—”
“Yet,” Asha finishes mischievously.
They share a look.
“It’s already growing inside you, isn’t it?” I guess.
They shrug. “Could be,” Asha says mysteriously.
I think of all the tingles I’ve felt recently in her and Adwapa’s presence and nod. I already know the answer.
“What about you?” Asha asks, turning the question back on me. “You started developing any gifts yet?”
A furrow digs itself into my brow at the question. I am the Nuru – I already have my voice and the combat state. Do I truly need more abilities than I already have?
Britta seems to be thinking the exact same thing, because she asks, “Why would Deka need more gifts? Isn’t she divine herself?”
“Yes,” Asha agrees, “but she’s not a god.”