48 Taytra
“Neander is an ass,” Taytra grumbles under her breath. She stirs the coals under a cookfire till a pocket of air opens up and flames dance.
“I know,” Ward says for the third time. He passes her the pot of stew to put on the coals.
“How does he treat people like that and get away with it?”
“He’s an officer.”
“And? That doesn’t give him the right to threaten our people!” Taytra has been fuming for hours. Not long after Neander and his few men had left, a few women had come to her. Neander had threatened to leave them behind unless they sped up their pace. Conveniently, only whenever Taytra, Ward, or Andrew weren’t around.
“I knew that wasn’t true. You were really upset about those two boys. Why would you have suddenly changed?” one of the women had said.
“I hate that he pu
