“Ecstatic. Now let’s go.”
Ivy patted a yawn while Jade grabbed her opposite hand and pulled her from the hut. For such a petite woman Jade had a strong grip. With her long, black, waist-length tresses and delicate features she portrayed a vision of beauty. A white rabbit foot was somehow attached in her hair near the top of her head and it dangled behind her ear.
Vulcan, Wisteria, two ladies close to Jade’s age, and Grunt, Rocko and another man sat around the fire, eating their morning meal. Birmon, the little monster with a rhino head, talons, pointy wings and blue spikes along his back, lay on Wisteria’s lap, sniffing berries in the palm of her hand.
Jade tugged Ivy toward the circle so swiftly Ivy stumbled over a large rock that was sticking up from the ground and stubbed her toe. “Ouch. Slow down,” she yelped, garnering everyone’s attention. Everyone’s but Bronto’s, who she wished was present. She should’ve just snuck into his hut this morning. At least she would’ve gotten some sleep. Jade wasn’t rude enough to have barged in there to wake her up. Or maybe she was.
A short distance away between the forest and the yard stood a tall, charred tree surrounded by ashes and tiny stones. Leather straps were tied around the trunk from the base to the top. Evidently it’d been used as a stake, and the ashes… She didn’t want to think about those. “Bronto is apparently still asleep,” she whispered.
“He worked hard all night,” Jade emphasized, pulling Ivy toward a pot burning over a smaller fire. “And if you’re going to stay, you need to earn your keep. Lucky you, you get to clean up the breakfast mess.”
“My sister isn’t earning her keep,” Ivy said, eyeing Wisteria.
“The beauty queen earns her keep by keeping our chieftain happy.”
“Why do you call her that…that queen thing?”
Jade chuckled and stopped near the pot. Ivy nearly plowed into her back but stopped short of colliding and embarrassing herself.
“A queen is a powerful woman. She rules her domain. Your sister is beautiful and one day she will rule the chieftain’s heart,” Jade said, turning around. “It suits her, don’t you think?” she asked, draping Ivy’s hair over her shoulder as Ivy’s mother used to do. “Just like baby doll suits you.”
Ivy rolled her eyes and held up her hands, palms facing Jade. “Don’t say it. I’d rather not know.” It was the first time she’d actually talked to Jade at length since Sledge, one of Ivy’s clansmen, forced Ivy into the Barbarian camp as bait days ago in an attempt to capture Wisteria. “I think heartless suits you.”
Jade grinned. “You have spunk. I think I’ll enjoy having you around.” She removed a bowl from the stone table and handed it to Ivy. “Grab yourself something to eat. We’ll clean up when everyone is finished.”
Ivy wiped her palms on her fur bottoms then grabbed the wooden bowl from Jade’s hand. The food bowl was larger than she’d been accustomed to. After the Flesh Eaters chased her clan from their original habitat in the lush meadows to the forest caves, the women rationed food. They survived on small portions while the men ate heartily to build and maintain strength in case another tribe attacked.
“Ivy, come sit with me,” Wisteria said, patting the ground.
Ivy nodded and lowered her eyes. As she walked toward her sister, multiple gazes eyed her up and down from her face to toes. One in particular disturbed her and caused the hair on the back of her neck to bristle.
“This spot is open,” Grunt said.
That was the one. “Thank you,” Ivy replied. “But I’ll sit by my sister.”
He grabbed her by the wrist as she walked by and yanked her slightly backward. “Sit down.”
If his soul was as cold and harsh as his hand, he had no heart. But she’d already known it if first impressions held true. “I said,” she uttered, tugging her arm free, “I’m sitting with my sister.”
Vulcan’s gaze rolled upward from a stick he was twisting between his fingers. Though his expression was calm and relaxed he appeared ready to jump and strike.
Ignoring the throb in her wrist from Grunt’s finger imprints, she quickly shuffled around the circle and sat down beside Wisteria, crossing her legs.
“Ack.” Birmon hopped off Wisteria’s lap, waddled to Ivy and sniffed the scuff on her toe.
“Hi, Birmon,” Ivy said. She lifted her arms, providing him room to snuggle in the space between her legs, but he lay down on the ground, stuck out his tongue and licked the blood off her foot. The wound disappeared right before her eyes. “Wisty, did you see that?” she exclaimed.
“Yes. I told you he’s magical. That’s how easily the slashes from my whipping disappeared.” Wisteria glanced at Vulcan, who was shaking his head, possibly in disbelief. “I guess he likes only women’s blood,” she concluded.
“I’d say so,” Vulcan mumbled.