"I think we found our signal."
Tytus nodded then took off to finish his part in the upcoming production. And the battle certainly was going to be a production, a carefully scripted play where Kagan's warriors led the Scelus Cadi army around by their tails.
The way his warriors were adapting to such drastic variations in battle tactics made Kagan smile. The males were actually excited about the prospect of doing something so different. Even the Toufik males seemed to be standing taller. Kagan couldn't help but look at Giselle like she was some sort of miracle.
"The things you have shown us." Kagan pulled Giselle close. "I am amazed."
"Stop. I really haven't done anything. It's just a handful of ideas that are different." Giselle insisted.
"Maybe, but it's that difference, it's you that has opened our eyes to things we did not see before. That is something extraordinary."
Kagan watched Giselle's eyes mist and the pulse in her throat flutter.
"Kagan I don't know what to say." Giselle rested her head against his chest.
"Well I need you to go get cleaned up." Kagan encouraged as he looked at Giselle. She had a smudge of dirt on her cheek and forehead, and her hair was in disarray. "Tonight there will be a special celebration, we will honor the dead and ask for strength come tomorrow."
"Oh the funeral. I almost forgot." Giselle said as she looked down at herself. "I'm filthy."
"I like you dirty." Kagan rubbed his hand across the dirt on her cheek.
"Yeah, you do." Giselle winked and then sauntered off. Her ass swayed in that seductive way that made Kagan want to growl and nip at it.
Kagan walked over to the funeral pyre to find the monk. Ismat was praying over the dead as the last of the bodies were placed upon the bier.
"Have you prayed over what we discussed?" Kagan asked.
"Yes and I think that the Goddess Kali will find your sacrifice acceptable." Ismat replied.
Kagan sighed in relief. Tonight he would go before Kali and the Cadi people and show them just what he was willing to sacrifice to officially bond with Giselle.
Giselle
Somewhere between Kagan prying golden bars apart to save her from a tyrant and him telling her she was his Giselle had fallen in love with the big warrior. Giselle sat in the bath smiling as she tried to decide when exactly it had happened. Was it when the man insisted Sabin not know his people rejected him, or was it when he bathed her injuries tenderly?
Giselle smiled as she shaved her legs, making sure everything was tidy downstairs. Kagan had found the little strip of hair intriguing. Apparently Cadi females went au natural. Giselle showed him the benefits of a tidier bush though she garnered more of those benefits as Kagan wedged his face between her thighs.
Giselle realized she was daydreaming as she looked down at her pruney fingers. This evening though called a celebration would be the formal funeral for the poor Cadi of Nazario. Come tomorrow this time they would meet Vigdis and his Scelus Cadi army.
Giselle got out of the tub before the water turned completely cold and put on a blue skirt and top that had been salvaged from one of the many abandoned row houses. The door flew open and Sabin came racing in giggling, followed by Rahela's little girl who was close to his age.
"I'm going to start locking that door." Giselle mumbled barely pulling her skirt on in time.
Giselle really didn't mind their bubbly interruption. It was good to see Sabin playing with children his own age instead of marching around like a little man. She worried the boy's life was filled with a few too many adult experiences lately. He had come with Kagan's army when they left the pass. Thankfully Jolana, Grainne's mate, had taken to the boy and was happy to watch him with the other children even though he was a child of the enemy. Sabin still gravitated towards Dagaa or Kagan if they were around, mimicking them. It was cute.
"I beat you." Sabin declared.
"I'm not a warrior!" Fera pouted since Sabin had run faster.
Giselle shook her head. "Fera I'm sure you have things you are better at than Sabin. That's what makes people neat. It would be no fun if everyone was good at running and no one was good at tumbling." Giselle did a somersault despite wearing a skirt, making the children giggle.
"I'm supposed to bring you to dinner." Sabin laughed.
"Alright lets go." Giselle smiled as she readjusted her skirt.
The trio walked outside the city walls. Giselle looked around at the entire army and Toufik gathered on the open field. It was overwhelming to see them all in one place. The children brought Giselle up front where Kagan sat on a blanket near a large bonfire. Kagan rose to greet her. Dagaa, Ismat, Cyprian and others Giselle was most familiar with sat close. Food was served and there was much chatter.