Mina pays the consequences of Yuila’s escape.
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♫♪Suggested Music: from Uncertain Times on AudioNetwork
Mina settled closer to the post as one of the men neared her row. They all wore the same nomadic style headdress with scarf-cowls and the thick, stench-filled robes of assorted browns and tans. She estimated their ages at twice hers, and several days of dark beard hung at each chin. Each was armed with long curved swords and double-edged knives at their belts. Mina had seen an assortment of nationalities as they passed through town earlier, and Edvard had pointed out to her and Yuila some of the more elaborately costumed foreigners, but the men now guarding the rows of women had not been among ones Mina had seen. She couldn't even determine which had abducted her and Yuila in town.
She lowered her head as the man came closer, his leisure gait quickening suddenly. He paused where Yuila had been, then jerked Mina's head up by her hair.
"Where is other?" he demanded.
She grimaced at his hold. "I don't know."
He crouched and brought her face closer, making her recoil as much from body odor as fear. "Where is she?"
"I don't know. She ran away." As he stood and looked around the rows of girls, Mina glanced to either side to make sure the Crone was indeed gone.
With a flash of the knife at his belt, the man cut Mina's rope from the short post and jerked her to her feet. He said nothing as he towed her to the canopied table at one end of the strange camp, hand still tight on her hair. There he threw her to the ground before the men who were seated and said something in another language. The men at the table stood, and the taller one, the one who had given the order to tie her and Yuila in the third row, came around to look at her.
"Where is the Crone?" he demanded.
She shook her head. "I think she ran away."
He stooped to see her better, his eyes going from hers to the earrings she wore. He stood and addressed the guard who had cut her loose.
"Make sure she stays." He gestured to a campfire behind the canopied area.
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