Ruhtina's Uprising

Ruhtina was not a very good warrior.

But she had never been anyone's definition of good at anything, so it was not surprising that she had bit parts in the plays of her village, selling cheese on the days when there was no market. Now, as her feet stumbled to keep up with the men around her, she realized how little skill she'd ever possessed. They were out of breath and panting hard enough that they were muttering curses, while Ruhtina felt like dancing.

She looked at them with a wry smile on her face. "I'm starving," she said cheerfully. "Do you think we can stop for lunch soon?"

They looked at her incredulously, then back at the horizon. They'd been tracking their prey since the dawn.

"Woman," one of them said between labored breaths, "We're almost ... to our destination."

Ruhtina glanced at him, looking past his shoulder at the cloudless sky. The sun was high overhead and it still wasn't noon yet. She wondered if this place had any decent food or if it would be another day without real meat between dry bread and watery beer. She sighed and tried to keep up with the rest of them.

"Don't p-p-panic," one of the younger warriors repeated under his breath. "Just don't panic." He took a deep breath and continued to recite a litany he'd learned only two weeks ago, when he first began his training in battle magic. It had seemed important then; now it seemed absurd. He didn't know any spells that could protect against arrows, and if they got close enough to see swords or axes flashing, he would be useless anyway. Yet he continued to repeat the words anyway: "I am calm and ready for battle." The words meant nothing to him but he thought that repeating them might give him strength somehow - although he did not know how strength from an utterance could be gained by speaking instead of thinking it through; perhaps that was why all magic users were mad? He snorted softly; thinking too much always made him feel nauseous and dizzy.

The others were too experienced to say anything in response to their new companion's question, but they all thought that Ruhtina must be quite insane or stupid or both - who would ask a question like that when they were being hunted? Yet none of them thought that this young woman would be able to hold her own in battle; she had only been trained by witches who kept chickens and made potions for illness which always tasted foul but never worked. Was this woman even sane? Yet they were glad of her company because she would slow down their prey: women were not allowed to fight alongside men in this land, but this law only protected those women who did not have the heart for battle - which no one knew about until it was too late to run away from danger! So when a witch's apprentice asked to learn how best to use magic during combat ... well, there really was no choice for them other than teaching her what they knew! And now here she was! Wasting time before battle asking about food! Ruhtina smiled idiotically again at them as though she'd meant nothing more than asking about lunchtime; each man gritted his teeth and looked forward again with blazing eyes until they saw their prey ahead. Then they broke into a run towards their quarry ...