Page 70 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

The Daughter’sDuty

by Claire Leggett

Chapter 1

Screams echoed around Shuree as she fought for her life. A thick arm swung a sword at her head and she ducked, slicing her attacker across the stomach. He bellowed and stumbled back, one hand over the bloody wound. Shuree flinched, but he’d given her no choice. His tribe had attacked hers. She checked no other raider was near as the Erseg warrior regained his balance. Shuree crouched, ready for his attack.

“Leave,” she ordered. She had no desire to kill him, only to stop the fighting, to protect her family and her people. “Take your warriors and go while you still have men alive.”

The man stared at her, clutching his stomach, trying to stop the blood flow. All around, men fought from horses and on the ground. Mothers herded their children away from the battle, heading towards the dusky sunrise while other women used bedsheets to smother the yurt fires the raiders had started.

Shuree panted, waiting for the man’s decision and scanning for the next threat to her life. She wouldn’t die today, despite her compassion. If he attacked her again, she would kill him. A couple of women screamed as they were lifted onto raiders’ horses and then someone blew a horn and sounded the retreat.

Her heart lurched and she reached for her bow and an arrow, hoping to save Yesugen and Tegusken, but her quiver was empty. She’d run out long ago. She watched helpless as they kicked and screamed and were ridden out of the camp. Her attacker stumbled back and another raider galloped up to him. The second man was in his mid-twenties and held his sabre aloft, ready, a fresh scar across his cheek. He eyed her warily, his deep brown eyes penetrating, as he hefted his tribe member onto his horse, but she made no move to attack.

How could she stop this endless cycle of violence? “This killing must end,” she called. “Surely we can come to some kind of agreement.”

His eyes widened and he gave a small nod before he kicked his horse into a gallop and rode away, joining the horde of men escaping north.

Shuree lowered her sabre and sighed. They were gone. For now. But they had crossed a line this time by kidnapping the women. Her skin prickled at the thought of what would happen to gentle Tegusken and her mother, Yesugen.

Amar ran to her side. “Why didn’t you kill him?” he demanded.

She looked at her youngest brother. “Because death isn’t the answer.” She wiped the blood off her blade and sheathed it. “What did they take?”

“I don’t know.”

Yesugen’s youngest daughter sobbed, crumpled on the ground. Shuree hurried over and pulled her into her arms. “It’s all right,” she soothed. “We’ll get them both back.”

“They’ll kill my mother!” she wailed.

Shuree couldn’t disagree, it was a possibility. She glanced for Amar, but he was already in deep discussion with his best friend Gan, who had drawn two lines of blood over his bald skull. He thought they showed his prowess as a warrior, but all she saw was someone who was proud to be a killer.

“Come now.” She helped the girl to her feet. “I need you to be brave and gather the rest of your siblings together. The quicker we put the camp back to rights, the faster we can go after your family.”

The girl wiped away her tears and tucked the hair that had fallen out of her braid behind her ears. “You will get them back, won’t you Shuree?”

“I’ll do everything in my power,” she promised.

As the girl left, Shuree’s best friend, Badma ran up, looking as beautiful as always, her long-sleeved dress unstained by dirt or blood and her black hair shiny. “Are you all right?” She flung her arms around Shuree, with no care for how filthy she might get.

Shuree nodded, hugging her, though her arms ached from the fighting. “How are you?”

“Frightened. Did you see they took Tegusken?”

“Yes.” Their friend was such a gentle soul and she would be terrified. She exhaled. “When you’ve confirmed your family is safe, I need you to help gather the wounded and ask if the healers require assistance.” She would figure out how to get the women back.

“Of course.”

Shuree passed yurts covered in blood spatter, stopped to help children find their parents, and accompanied the injured to the healers. One woman sobbed over the dead body of her husband and Shuree’s heart broke. She knelt beside her. “I’m so sorry.”

The woman turned with a fierce expression on her face. “This has to stop. The khan needs to make this fighting stop.”

Shuree agreed, but she wasn’t sure anything she said could convince her father retaliation wasn’t the best course of action. “I will do what I can.”

The spiritual advisor, Erhi, approached with two warriors to carry the body away. Shuree left, but everywhere she went women looked at her with pleading eyes or accusation. She was the khan’s daughter, the only female warrior and the Tribal Mother. It was her duty to protect and nurture them. The responsibility weighed heavily on her shoulders.

Eventually she arrived at the tent she shared with her father and Amar. Amar jogged up behind her. Shuree pushed aside the tent flap and found her father, Temujin Khan already seated at the head of the table, a deep scowl on his face and clenching his long black plait in front of him as Jambal demanded they go now to rescue his wife and daughter. Next to the khan sat her two eldest brothers, almost identical to their father though their plaits weren’t as long, and then around the table sat Temujin’s ten advisors, all battle-hardened warriors still wearing the dirt and blood from this morning’s battle.

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