“What do you need?” Dagan asked me.
“For now? A clean cloth.”
“Got it.” Dagan squeezed my elbow and sprinted away.
I reached up to examine the cartilage. Blood oozed from the wound. She’d need stitches and a pain tonic. Immediately. But I’d have to get to my healing chambers to get those. I hadn’t worn my healing satchel, which had obviously been a mistake. Within moments, Dagan was back and I pressed the clean dining linens he’d found against her head until I could sew her back up.
“What happened?” Dagan crossed his arms over his chest, eyes sharp. Pointed.
Arwia quivered from head to toe. “Everything was fine! I was dancing. Iltani was drunk, and I was trying to get her to dance with me to get away from that lecherous man who always grabs women in the marketplace.” She took a shaky breath. “And then a man who was wearing Manzazu clothes, but in the wrong way, a very wrong way, pulled me over here near the olive grove. And before I could even think about reaching for my dagger, he had his own out and tried to slit my throat!”
She gulped and tears filled her eyes. “But the Koru were there, and the next thing I knew, he was on the ground and my ear felt like it was on fire.”
Commander Ummi and Humusi and another young warrior, part of the queen’s main army, pushed through the crowds, revealing a man facedown on the ground. Black blood stained the sand around his body, likely from a gut wound.
Wiping his blood from her battle-ax onto her tunic, Ummi hung the weapon at her side. She nodded to the young warrior, who looked no older than Nanaea. “Tell the sarratum and your regiment leader about this, and go to the wall. Humusi and I will stay.”
“Yes, Commander.” She ran out of the courtyard, her sickleswords bouncing on her hips.
“What happened?” I asked Ummi.
“This man tried to assassinate your exiled sarratum, it seems. I caught him in the act, and as he fell, his blade slipped from her throat to her ear.”
She kicked the man over onto his back. He had a patchy beard and lean, rangy face that looked oddly familiar. Sucking in his breath, Nasu dropped to a knee next to the man. After a moment, he looked up gravely.
“I know him. He’s an Alu guardsman. I used to spar with him near the Pit.” He swallowed, throat bobbing. “He was quiet as a fox and lethal with his knives. Lugal Marus used to send him on missions like this, and now it appears Uruku is, too.” His lip curled in disgust. “To think he’d attempt to kill the rightful heir to the throne of Alu.”
Arwia’s hands shook. “This is why I left Alu. I don’t want anything to do with the throne ever again! I simply want to live in peace, which is what I keep telling Sarratum Tabni. She insists I must make plans to reclaim my throne.”
“Wait a moment. How did Uruku know you were still alive?” I asked her. “For all he knew, you’d died in the tomb. He thought we all did.”
She furrowed her brow. “I don’t know.”
I looked at Dagan. “What about the men you paid to dig us out of the tomb? They could have told someone that we escaped our death sentence. Maybe someone heard about an exiled queen living here in Manzazu, and Uruku made the connection.”
Dagan shook his head, his hands on his hips. “Those men are loyal to me. They would have never done something like this.”
“For enough coins? There are those who would slit their own ummum’s throat to be wealthy,” Arwia said, wincing when I pressed the cloth more tightly to her wound.
Dagan’s faced darkened in anger. “Then they will answer to me for it. But I can’t imagine that they would be so cold. I’ve known those men all my life.”
Nasu stood, brushing sand from his hands. “It’s not because there is talk of an exiled queen, Kammani. There is talk about you outside the city.”
“Me?” I pulled the cloth away from Arwia’s ear to check the bleeding, and as soon as I removed it, blood seeped again from the wound. I pressed it back firmly.
“On my last trading mission with Ilu’s father, we stopped at Laraak, a trading encampment outside Alu. The traders gossiped about Manzazu’s healer from the south who’d saved the warrior maidens. It was a big deal. Some of the traders there knew Mudi, your healer friend, and apparently she’d talked.”
Dagan’s face flushed and he pointed angrily at Nasu’s chest. “Why were you trading in the south so close to Alu? You were supposed to have died in that tomb as well to protect the maidens in the Netherworld! What if someone saw you in the trading camp and that is what led Uruku’s men here?”
Nasu’s face paled. “I was protecting Ilu and his men as I was paid to do. But I stayed hidden. No one would have recognized me with my hair shorn like this, anyway.” He rubbed his close-cropped head.
Arwia threw up her hands, which were covered in dried blood. “It doesn’t matter how it happened. We need to figure out what to do! If he’s tried to kill me once, he’ll try again once he knows he wasn’t successful. Alive, I’m a threat to the throne he stole from me, even though Selu knows I don’t want it.”
“All of us are in danger.” I swallowed roughly. “All of us.”
Dagan’s face twisted in worry. “You’re right. Nanaea, Simti, Arwia, Nasu, and you—all of you escaped the tomb even though he’d commanded your deaths.”
“Yes!” I held the cloth tightly to Arwia’s ear. “Think of his panic when he found out! If neighboring cities thought he had allowed this disobedience to happen, they would believe him to be weak.”
Nasu nodded, rubbing his lip. “And they could cast their lots with Arwia and take the throne out from underneath him.”
“And he knew where to find us because I healed the Koru—”
“—and because Nasu probably led them back here.” Dagan’s face darkened.
“If I’ve done anything to put Arwia in danger, you can be assured that I will end the problem myself.” Nasu raised his steely voice.
“Enough bickering.” Arwia’s mouth puckered in annoyance. Pain. “Uruku quietly wanted to take out the threat before we became a problem, so we cannot become a problem ourselves. We must stick together. Communicate. Figure out what to do next.”
Dagan’s bright eyes sought mine. “He has to kill all of you, especially now that word will spread of this assassination attempt. And quickly. More assassins could still be out here. He wouldn’t send one man for so many people.” He looked cagily around the courtyard and stepped closer to me. “We must get back to our home. Secure the doors until we’ve formed a plan to keep you safe.”