by John Dalmas
When his grief had spent itself, he began to seek ways out of his trouble. Perhaps, if he gave himself up to his father, begged forgiveness, offered to go to a monastery—perhaps he wouldn't be executed. But unusual for him, exercise of his imagination did not revive his spirits. The rock was too hard, the night too chill, and most of all, too many things had failed him. The surf began to break on his rock, wetting him with spray, and he wondered if the tide might reach him, the waves smash him against the cliff.
He was sure he wouldn't sleep, but after a while he did, fitfully.
Thirty-one
Eltrienn Cadriio rode into the fortress an hour after sunrise, not having slept. Turning his kaabor in, he trotted across the courtyard and up the stairs, and gave his sealed report to the captain of the guard with instructions to have it carried to the amirr. Then he lay down fully clothed on a guard bunk, asleep in seconds but readily available to the amirr, should he want to question him.
The amirr was finishing breakfast when the guardsman arrived with the report. Dismissing the man, he had a second cup of satta poured, then broke the seal, took out the thick sheaf of papers and began to read.
* * *
Greetings, Your Eminence.
Some of this you and I already knew of course, and much of it I got from old Torillo's nephew, Ressteto Istroovio, who was deputy factor at Agate Bay for years. Ressteto knows the history and personalities there better than anyone else in Hrumma. I'll review the whole situation for you.
The great chief known as "Killed Many" is the elected chief of the Agate River Tribe. By a year ago he'd extended his authority north to the Great Fen. As nearly as I can estimate it, this is an area three or four times the size of Hrumma, but much less populated.
His intention is to conquer the Djezes.
As an adolescent known as "He Means It," Killed Many led a small band of others to penetrate a Djezian border district, something apparently unprecedented among the eastern tribes. They planned to steal some things to show their skill and daring in the game of becoming warriors. To do this, they had to travel 500 miles west through the territory of other tribes, a major feat in itself.
Arriving in a Djezian border district and observing a Djezian mounted patrol, they decided to steal some kaabors. But they knew little about kaabors. The fifteen-year-old He Means It was bucked off and when he woke up, he was in chains. After a severe flogging, he was worked as a slave in a copper mine for nearly two years before escaping.
When he'd made his way home, a warrior teased him for having been caught. He'd always been exceptionally strong, and being none the weaker for having dug ore in the mine, he whipped the warrior, establishing himself as no one to trifle with.
He Means It was the eldest grandson of the clan chieftain. A few years later the old chief was killed in a hunt: A large sarrho was brought to bay, and he claimed the honor of killing it, but this time the honors went to the sarrho.
The clansmen then had to elect a new chieftain, from old chief's son or grandsons, if any were deemed suitable. At the time, the clan had been feuding with two other clans, off and on. He Means It, who'd earned a reputation for integrity and common sense, was also an outstanding raid leader, and he was the one they chose.
He Means It had a younger brother, "Always Fighting," who was generally disliked because he was surly. Always Fighting would one day murder Sallvis Venettsio. He Means It was the only one in the clan who Always Fighting could call a friend. Their father had been killed while He Means It was in captivity, and Always Fighting, with his bad disposition, had been a near outcast. Then He Means It came back, made his own lodge, and took his brother in. Always Fighting, only fourteen at the time, responded by becoming a loyal supporter and sometimes problem to He Means It.
One weakness the tribes have had, relative to the Djezians, is no capacity for a protracted military campaign. Clan raids never lasted more than a few days, the infrequent tribal wars a few weeks at most. If nothing else, there was the problem of carrying a food supply or living off the land during war, if a campaign was to last longer. He Means It, in his dreams of Djezian conquest, recognized this problem.
Another problem was the poor quality of barbarian swords. Bog iron is adequate for arrowheads and spearheads, but it is weaker and more brittle than steel, and swords of it have to be made somewhat heavier to reduce breakage.
Thus the bow, spear, and knife were their main weapons in interclan and intertribal fighting. When they raided the Djezians (which the Agate River clans never had, being so far from the border), most barbarians, besides their bow, carried a spear or a battle axe, neither of which was equal to a sword and shield for close fighting. Against the better armed, helmeted and mail-shirted Djezian soldiers, this had long been a serious disadvantage.
The recent trading activities of the Ettsio Torillo family, of course, began to change this.
Not long ago, a timbering expedition to the barbarian mainland was a hurried and somewhat risky affair. They'd anchor close offshore, land, and put out sentry parties with alarm horns. Then they'd furiously fell and cut up trees, float the logs through the surf, and load them. If discovered, they fled to sea.
On one occasion, He Means It had been leading a small scouting party in the territory of the neighboring Tchook tribe when he spotted such a timber-cutting expedition. Coveting their steel, he went alone to them. Using lots of gestures and the Djezian he'd learned, he offered to protect the logging party while it worked; in return, the loggers would leave their axes and swords on the beach when they sailed.
He also made it known that his clan was the Kinnli Innjakot, the Agate Bay people, and that their territory was east along the coast about four days on foot.
The logging crew loaded their boat as deeply as they dared, then left their tools and swords and went home. But the longer voyages to Agate Bay weren't attractive to the boat's skipper-owner. His boat was small and his usual mode of operation wasn't all that dangerous. Their other timber voyages that year were to the usual section of coast.
In Hrumma the story got told around on the east coast, and Ettsio Torillo saw a market for his steel goods. The next year he went to sea with a timbering crew and his second son, Sallvis. They found Agate Bay, and Torillo landed in a small boat. He "talked" with the clan chief, and they were allowed to cut and load a cargo of timber. Then he left young Sallvis with the barbarians to learn their language and customs. The ultimate purpose was a trade agreement.
After a year, an agreement was made. Torillo could build a water-powered sawmill and charcoal kilns on the Agate River, and cut timber along the river and bay, in trade for good steel swords, axes, and knives.
Young Sallvis had also scouted the ridge on the south side of Agate Inlet. He found surface evidence of a workable iron ore deposit but said nothing about it to the barbarians. Deducing that a chain of barren, uninhabited islands beginning some thirty miles offshore was a continuation of the same hills, he suspected there might be a workable deposit there too. Three years later, Torillo was covertly mining iron ore on one of the farther islands, smelting the iron on site and shipping it home as ingots.
The next year, He Means It became chief.
Sallvis was in charge of the lumbering and charcoaling operations. When He Means It became chief, he told Venettsio that he wanted to unite the southern tribes and make war on the Djez (Djez Gorrbul, actually). That he wanted swords much faster, that the Hrummeans could take more timber if they wanted to and he would add furs to the trade. He also wanted Hrummean jewelry to help win loyalty from chieftains of other clans.
The Agate Bay Clan, the Kinnli Innjakot, was already the most powerful clan in the Agate River Tribe, the Innjoka. Having steel swords had made them confident, acquisitive, and dominant.
He Means It was then elected chief of the entire Innjoka tribe, and gathering all its clans, conquered the Tchook in a war unprecedented among the tribes for its drive and relentlessness. You'll recall having heard about this through Torillo b
efore sending me to spend a winter with the Kinnli Innjakot.
He then gained the good opinion of the Tchook clans by honoring the bravery of their warriors. He also promised them that, before many years, they "would sweep together through the Djez like a forest fire." He left the Tchook clans their self-governance, requiring only that they swear allegiance to him as high chief. And that the chieftain of each clan send a young son or, lacking one, some other adolescent male relative, to the main village of the Kinnli Innjakot to be trained in new ways of war. In fact, of course, they were also honored hostages of a sort.
The two united tribes, Innjoka and Tchook, then moved northward, meeting strong resistance from the Aazhmili south of the Icy River. In the past, the Aazhmili had been the fiercest tribe in the south. However, led by warriors with steel swords, and using new strategies and tactics conceived by He Means It, the Innjoka and Tchook warriors beat the Aazhmili. It was in a battle of that war that He Means It earned the name "Killed Many."
He had a bard sing the praises of the Aazhmili then—how brave they'd been, how stalwart and clever. Another sang praises of the Innjoka and Tchook, for their victory. Gifts were also given, and the richest gifts—jewelry traded for from Torillo—went to war chiefs of the Innjoka and Tchook clans. The Aazhmili too swore allegiance to him, and sent sons to his main village.
Always Fighting had proven to be a savage fighter, brave even beyond barbarian standards of recklessness, and was renamed Bloody Sword. But as a field commander he'd been too reckless.
After being acknowledged by the Aazhmili as their great chief, Killed Many returned to his village and sent for Sallvis Venettsio. He wanted the Hrummeans to show him how to make his own steel. But old Ettsio wasn't willing to give up his monopoly; instead he offered to increase the shipments of swords. This, of course, involved increasing the amount of ore mined, the size of the smelting operation, and establishment of more sword-smithies, several of them on the island known as Iron Island. And all this required more charcoal and considerably bigger timbering operations.
This didn't satisfy Killed Many, but it helped. And he was soon occupied with politicking the tribes between the Icy and Great Fen Rivers for their acceptance of his suzerainty. They'd already heard about his great victories, and when their assembled clan chiefs had listened to his plans, they too acknowledged him as high chief, without fighting.
He purposely didn't politick the highland tribes. That would have risked the Djezians learning of his plans, and he wants surprise if possible. He believes that, having all the tribes south of the Great Fen under his command, the highland tribes will join him when he starts his move against Djez Gorrbul, or at least not contest his passage.
When Killed Many returned from the north, he began the serious training of cadres who would in turn train the clans of the several tribes for the invasion. This included bringing home with him three renegades from Djezian ducal armies who'd been living as barbarians with the Icy River Tribe. Men whose experience would help in developing tactics.
According to Ressteto Istroovio, when Venettsio was murdered, Killed Many had been involved with the new training regimen for several weeks. Istroovio had talked with Killed Many only days before the murder, and the high chief had not been hostile. It's Istroovio's theory that Bloody Sword went to Agate Bay on his own initiative, or that he was sent to do something less than deliver an ultimatum. The latter fits mindscans of our only eye witness, a ship's mate, mindscans obtained both by Lardunno and an adept at Gardozzi Bay, and described in the enclosed deposition.
It is my recommendation that I be sent to Agate Bay as Your Eminence's envoy, to straighten things out with Killed Many. Now more than ever, Killed Many needs weapons, because the energy and altitude of such a newly established authority as his depends on almost continuous victories or other evidence of progress. I believe I can negotiate an agreement for the government not too different from the one he had with Ettsio Torillo. We can then contract with Torillo and others to make and supply the swords and carry them to Agate Bay.
Considering the need, this should be done as soon as possible. I recommend that you approve the attached commission and authorizations without tendering the matter to the Two Estates, as that could cause prolonged debate and publicity.
Your obedient servant, Eltrienn Cadriio, Centurion unattached.
* * *
The amirr stared unseeingly now at the papers. For a few moments he considered adding some restrictive clauses to Eltrienn's proposed authorizations, but decided to have them made up as the centurion had written them.
Thirty-Two
When Juliassa had run from the house, Zeenia had gone to the girl's room, where she'd found a man's boots, and a belt on the floor with a pouch and her gold. It seemed to her that it had to be Tirros. By that time some of the staff, roused by the screaming, were coming in from the staff cottages. Jonkka, sword in hand, was already out searching the garden; she sent others to help him and to search the buildings. Tirros, or whoever, might be hiding in a shed or loft.
Then she'd questioned the gate guard and learned of Tirros's arrival; that settled any question of identity. After a quarter hour, the men who'd searched the grounds and buildings had all reported; they'd found nothing. Meanwhile she'd ordered Jonkka with three other men up the road on kaabor-back with torches. Tirros might not be terribly bright, but he should have enough animal cunning to head for the night-bound plateau to lose himself.
About a half hour after the alarm, one of the searchers came in to mention something he'd noticed that he hadn't thought to mention earlier: There'd been the tracks of two sets of bare feet crossing the beach into the water. Tracks of bare feet were hardly unusual on the beach, but it occurred to him afterward that these had continued out onto sand that had been washed clear by the last high tide. That's what had made them noticeable.
Sword in hand, he'd gone back to look again, and this time it struck him that both sets had been made by running feet; the strides had been long, and one set was definitely a man's while the other was probably a woman's. No, one hadn't seemed to be following the other; they'd been parallel about eighty feet apart. No, they hadn't seemed to be converging; only forty or fifty feet of them were apparent, but what there were were parallel.
Her own sword in hand, Zeenia went with him to the beach to see for herself, meanwhile reviewing the situation in her mind. She was short on manpower now. Four men were somewhere up the road on kaabors. She'd posted a man with a lantern on each wall to watch for anyone approaching, and sentries at their beach ends to prevent anyone from sneaking around them. That left her with three men uncommitted.
She looked at the tracks. It certainly didn't look as if one person had been chasing the other, And Juliassa swam like a sellsu; Zeenia doubted that Tirros could catch her in the water. Unless he caught her in the shallows.
As she stood looking, it occurred to her that the man had been limping! And apparently running more slowly than the woman. His strides were shorter: some were five feet long, the alternate strides less than four.
Which was encouraging. That and the fact they'd crossed the beach so far apart.
But then, where in the name of Hrum was Juliassa? If he hadn't caught her?
Zeenia ground her teeth, then went back to the villa and got another man with a sword, and they hunted the beach for a little distance in each direction. There were no tracks, but that wasn't surprising. The tide was coming in; it would have washed out any tracks unless they'd been made well back from the water.
Zeenia stood looking bleakly out to sea. Would the tide wash Juliassa's body up on the beach? Or was she simply hiding off the grounds somewhere, afraid Tirros would find her if she tried to come back?
And what in Hrum's name had possessed the child to run out into the ocean? Why hadn't she come to her?
She ended up sending two men south along the beach, looking. The third she kept on the grounds, armed and watchful, just in case. On an impulse, she lit a lantern then
and went to Juliassa's room to examine it. To see if there might be blood she hadn't noticed before; Juliassa might have been hurt. Instead of blood she found the vial, and somehow knew what it held, felt certain. The smell resembled lamb foil a bit, and she wasn't about to taste it.
It seemed certain to her now that if Tirros caught Juliassa, he'd kill her when he was done with her, to keep her quiet.
As big and unpleasant as Tirros was, Zeenia had never been afraid of him before. Now she was. To her, he'd ceased to be a nasty, rather vicious delinquent. He'd become a murderous psychotic. She had all the women gather in the big sitting room of the villa; she didn't want any of them found dead in the morning.
After a bit, the two men came back from the beach to report they'd been pinched out by the rising tide, first to the south and then to the north. And had seen nothing. The four men came back from the plateau to report that they hadn't seen anything either. Jonkka seemed more murderous now than Tirros could ever be. He went out and paced the beach, sword in hand.