21
For the last two days, Adelaida had done as Lebía asked. She had traveled with Batuk and his brothers, in the middle of the host of Gumiren. The ten brothers had even surrounded her with their bodies, for good measure. But it was not as gloomy as it could have been. Etchigu and some of the younger brothers—Adelaida had long despaired of learning any of their strange, guttural names—constantly made a joke of it. Most of the time, they called her by a strange name: “the queen who walks the skies.” They thought it was a wonderful joke, but whenever they brought her up, Batuk would stop smiling and his face would turn dark.
Adelaida suspected he was thinking of Khaidu, the sister whom they all lost in the wilds. He seemed to be the only one to remember her. Adelaida added that thought to
