Page 17 of Ensii
Chapter Five
Talitha loomed over the body of her last enemy. Sweat slicked her back and stuck hair to her neck and forehead.
The last of the soldiers of Krispos’s battalion were dealt mercy blows from the Hudspethites and the survivors. Talitha adjusted her grip on her sword, watching with objective ambivalence.
“That’s the last of them,” Gilsazi panted. “I never thought I’d be glad to say that of Ilians.”
“Me neither.” It was sorry and shameful work and she doubted she would ever be proud of it. Time for mourning would come later, but for now she had a city to take back. “What are our losses?”
“None, my lady.”
Talitha frowned. “None?”
“There were a few minor wounds and young Allarsa took the rim of a shield to her ribs, but she can still fight.”
Talitha surveyed the carnage of Ilian bodies. She had never been in a fight that brutal without losing fighters. “Ashek! Shaza!” The two men turned in her direction from where her husband had been speaking to Kurzik and Shaza had been counting the dead. “How many losses?”
“None,” Ashek replied.
“None for me, either.” Shaza’s cheeky grin was hard to miss even in the moonlight.
“I can’t believe it.” Talitha shook her head. Had they really just slaughtered hundreds of Ilians without taking a loss? “We were outnumbered and they had the better training, armor, and weapons. How did this happen?”
Gilsazi’s dark brows furrowed. “It is as the prophetess said.”
Ashek had a great deal of faith in Debrei, as did most the Hudspethites. Talitha wasn’t yet sure what her own opinion was. It had been Debrei who told Ashek to marry her, but Talitha wasn’t yet sure of the woman’s intentions.
Kneeling, Talitha cleaned her sword on the tunic of a dead man before sliding it back into the sheath at her hip. Slinging her shield over her back, she took in the carnage around her, not sure how she felt about it. “Take stock of the soldiers and prepare them to move out,” Talitha ordered. “But first, see what armor or weapons we can salvage.”
Gilsazi nodded. “As you command, my lady.”
“No,” Ashek interrupted, approaching from the left. “No armor, not from these.”
“No?” Talitha struggled to keep her voice down. These dead Ilians hadn’t been dropped over a ravine or caught in a magian’s blast or a fiend’s claws. Their armor was mostly salvageable.
“Many Ilian soldiers have spells and prayers to Anakti engraved on the inside of their armor plates. Their swords, too.”
“And how’s that working out for them?” Talitha wrestled with frustration, quickly evolving into anger. “We are not worshipping Anakti this way. We’re making use of the spoils.”
Gilsazi glanced between them, the only witness close enough to hear their words. Zula, Shaza, and the others hung back, pretending not to stare and pretending not to be trying to listen.
Ashek leveled a long stare toward Talitha, not speaking.
“Our people are underfed and under equipped already. We can help this.”
“Talitha, we agreed that the goddess’s time in this city is over.”
“So we use the cult’s own weapons against them, literally.” Talitha stepped closer. “You can’t deny my people what protection they might get.”
“We listened to Debrei and purged the idols,” Ashek said. “And we emerged victorious—without losing a single soul. Why do you think disobeying her will bring better results?”
Talitha shook her head. “This is folly.”
“Anakti’s symbols of worship give Her a foothold. I don’t have time to explain it. But this is the will of the Lonely God.”
“What if we stripped the charms? Scraped them off?”
“Some of these charms are gold, Ashek,” Kurzik whispered. “These people are more rich than anything we’ve seen for years.”
