Free Water Witch by Thea Atkinson Page A

knew," he said.
    Alaysha let go a breath she wasn't sure she
had been holding. Finally.
    "Those people?"
    "Those people are your enemies, make
no mistake." He tapped all his fingertips once, twice against the wood.
"And they are the enemies of this tribe. They would take my realm and
break it back into the tiny fragments I pieced together."
    "Is that so bad?"
    One bright brow lifted scornfully.
"You are young. You wouldn't remember what it was like, and you would
never know how it was before you were born."
    "So tell me."
    He shook his head and eased down onto the
bench, put his massive hands in his lap. "No sense to. The story would
take too long. No rules, no laws. No respect for life."
    He glanced up at her. "It was darker
than despair, those times."
    "And what of those people? Is this
their darkness?"
    He chuckled. "Those people were your
mother's people. And your mother's people were the worst of the lot. They
traveled from place to place, taking what they wanted. Your mother --" he
stopped, swallowed. "Your mother was a woman down the line of power, a
shaman's daughter not come to her own."
    It was painful to hear anything about the
woman she'd never known, and thrilling too. Alaysha wanted to prod him, but was
afraid he'd lose his train of thought. She waited impatiently for him to
continue, drew her toe across the dirt in front of her.
    She watched him lick his lips. Considering,
it seemed. "Still," he said after a time. "Once I realized that
to conquer them was to conquer all, I knew I had to go to war. Both to save the
outlying lands from their pillaging and to join the other tribes
together."
    Alaysha thought of the battles she'd been
on with him, the deaths she'd caused. "But they didn't come easily, did
they? None of them did."
    "I had to continue the campaign to
remind them," he said with a deft shrug.
    "Ruling by fear," she murmured.
    He looked at her, surprised. "Is there
a better way?"
    "And the shamans?"
    "Yes, the crones. They had the power
to destroy you, and so me."
    It was pale, as stories went. Such base
motivation for killing an entire tribe, but then would she have expected
anything grander from Yuri, Conqueror of Hordes? Sure the continuation of the
things he built, the ego and pride of simply having been powerful was enough to
keep him on the same dogged path for all his days.
    He didn't seem so big.
    "And number nineteen?"
    He shrugged. "The last of his line,
and so all hope of the power continuing is gone."
    "Except for me."
    He searched her eyes for something and
seeming not to find it, went on. "Except for you."
    "Why not tell me before?"
    "An Emir who must explain is a poor
leader at best. I rule from fear, remember?"
    "And if I refuse to find Number
nineteen?" She knew find meant kill, and she knew neither of them would
have to say it.
    "Drahl will find him."
    She didn't want to guess how he knew
nineteen was a man. Yuri had his ways. "And what will happen to me?"
    His face turned cold and he looked at her
without compassion. "You know only pieces, young witch, but I know it
all."
    She regarded him as coolly, refusing to
show emotion either. "You mean you know how to finish me."
    He tapped a finger to his temple.
"Make no mistake, I am not a mere father; I am Yuri--Conqueror of the
Hordes--and of the crones." He grinned, but there was no humor in it.
"Men fear me."
    She swallowed, and tried not to let her
knees shake. "Men might, Father, but Father, you taught this woman not to
fear."
    She spun on her heel and lifted the flap of
the tent. Several of his guards stood around the perimeter, near the fire,
close to the tent. Bodiccia stood at the center of the guard, right where her
spit waited empty without its roasting stick. They were all expressionless,
arms crossed, staring at Alaysha as she stepped into the light.
    She lifted her face to the sky, thinking
how good a breeze would feel against her flushed skin, and noticed with some
relief, it had begun to rain.
    Ferret was nearly stepping on