It distracted the man enough that the Tigu he was fighting found his footing again. Kadar notched another arrow, but he could see that the Tigu warriors needed to retreat. The Sepacu tribe was buying time for the Zanta tribe to gather their belongings and move deeper into the desert, but this cohort of Voras’s fighters was too strong to engage for long. Voras had taken the loss of his troops poorly. The information the Tigus had stolen was essential, but the retaliation had cost them dearly. They’d lost over a hundred warriors to a surprise attack on the closest tribe to the army encampment. Voras’s army had pushed the Tigus farther into the desert. Soldiers had arrived from Illian with their feli and they directed the great cats to scout out the surrounding hills for the nomads. Desert magic did not affect the feli, who could see through illusions. So the Tigus were forced to retreat and regroup. True to her words, Onyeka had abandoned her colorful tapestries and pillows without a second glance, moving to a single bedroll with Kadar, which they could pack quickly onto one horse.
