CHAPTER 14
Penrys woke to a pounding head, a roiling stomach, and panic, opening her eyes at the sound of tense voices that she didn’t recognize.
Brown-robes. Everywhere.
I’m alive.
In sudden memory she scanned widely—no Najud, no Munraz. She sat up and groaned at the movement. She was at the base of a wall, so she squirmed until it supported her back.
“Where are they?” she croaked.
A Rasesni face swam into her sight and she flinched for a moment, recalling Neshilik, but then she recognized the man bent over her as Chosmod. “Tell me,” she said.
“You kept us alive,” he said. “You, me, Mpeowake, and those two ex-prisoners.”
“The others?” She was afraid to hear the answer.
“Innurrys and Bildaer fought and died. The Ndanwe woman, Toawe, was killed, unarmed. We think the rest were take
