***
Kali
“Take Dog with you,” her father called out after her. “The locals are getting twitchy. They’ll think twice with the mutt.” Drina’s husband had forbidden her from going into town for a while, which left Kali alone every day, apart from Dog. In a way, she was glad because Drina’s presence might scare off her protector. Besides, Dog was good company.
Dog was a large wolfhound, given to her father as payment when he provided a fertility potion that led to a healthy set of twins. The dog was good for hunting, which gave him value, but he had a large stomach which negated his value. Her father had decided Dog might be of use as a guard dog, if the need arose.
Kali knew Dog was harmless—loyal and protective—but ultimately harmless. Drina had relayed how her husband warned their father that Kali needed protection, and Dog was his solution. She wondered exactly how many days would pass before her father needed Dog more than he needed her to be safe.
The locals were abrupt with her that day, maybe because of the dog or because of the rumours that suddenly abounded. The negative effect on her business didn’t matter to her, but it mattered to her father, which was why she had some additional tricks up her sleeves. She enticed some young girls with promises of spells and potions, and by the end of the day, her basket was overflowing with trades.
On the way home, she saw Marusya’s husband again, this time waiting on the grassy edge of the track. He stared up at her as she approached, and again, she ignored the shivers that ran through her. She passed him, and he followed her, again. She realised how disappointed she would have been if he didn’t.
She ventured a glance behind her. Their eyes met, but since he said not a word, she kept walking.
Men were trouble, this one especially. The men back at camp wanted to use her to raise their station and to father the guardian wolves. They had no love for her, only a need for glory and riches. Her father especially used her more than anyone. If a father could do that, then who knew what a husband would do? Drina’s new clan didn’t really care what happened to Kali. She sometimes wished they would forget all about her, so she could slip away in the night, except her face was too well known, and her hands bore too much value.
If only she had been daughter number six. No more responsibilities aside from the ordinary ones. She could have left, and maybe even settled down with one of the gaje, if the right one had come along, the right unmarried one.
She couldn’t help glancing back at him one last time before she made it to camp. His blue eyes shone from his sunburned face, and his bulky arms were tanned almost as dark as herself. Her stomach seemed to whirl around inside her whenever he was close by. His expression was not unlike hers.
There lay the danger.
She couldn’t look at him through the same cynical eyes she observed everyone else. She couldn’t see him as one who would use her. He wasn’t anything like the men around her. She knew, somehow with certainty, that this was a man who didn’t need her for what she could earn. He needed something, though. That was painfully clear.
Her pouch was ripped from her waist by her father as soon as she stepped into camp. He ordered away the dog.
“More tomorrow,” was all her father growled.
Drina greeted her with a lot more love, gazing with interest in the basket, but her face looked pinched. The black bags under her eyes were more noticeable than before.
Kali rested a hand on Drina’s swollen belly. “Heavy?”
Drina nodded with a weary smile. “Today’s not been easy.”
“I can make something for you.”
“Thank you. My big, skulking man over there wants to know if you had any trouble today.”
“And yet our father doesn’t care either way.” Kali couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.
“Now, now. You know better than that,” Drina chided, but she cupped Kali’s cheek with her hand. “Try to be happy with your lot, my sister. I keep telling you it’s easier if you accept it.”
Kali’s smile was weak. If only it were that easy.
Something inside her was more than willing to fight tooth and nail against her destiny.