“It is now my job to make sure that we keep you free of them. Once I had rid you of the bad spirits that were hanging on to you I then had to do the same to get free myself of any spirits that had come from you to me.”
Bianca was not good at dissembling. Her face showed that she did not believe in what he said, even while she was still considering his words. Eventually she just nodded as if accepting what he said, even though her face said otherwise.
Hulagu continued, “All of the clans raise horses, goats, sheep and usually cattle and, as well they will each raise their totem animal. We care for the giant dire wolves. They are adopted into our families as brothers and sisters and live among us freely. The Cow Lizard tribe raise those giant beasts. They sometimes eat them and use their leather, but they also ride them into battle and a charge of the giant beasts with their two long horns and the small third often plated in metal is slow and ponderous, but hard to resist. The Kha-Khan’s clan breed and revere and sometimes ride the thunder lizards. They are hard to control, but they can swallow a whole man, even their tail will sweep aside their enemies and their roar will terrify any horses that face them that are not raised near them.”
“That is about your tribes. What about you?” Asked Bianca.
“I was born a Wolf. My father, Togotak, is shaman to our tuman, our tribe within the clan. His father, Nokaj, is chief shaman of our whole clan and is very powerful in the spirit world. My mother, Sparetha, is a master horsewoman and horse trainer. You would like her. She is also a fletcher and a very skilled archer. Her mother was captured from the east and was a köle, a gulama—a thrall. I grew up just like all the other Kara-Khitan: riding, playing, hunting and looking after flocks. I had little interest in being a shaman and mostly hunted and chased away the animals that would eat our flocks and learned to heal sick animals. When I turned thirteen I passed my initiation into the Kara-Khitan, I cannot say to you what this involves, but if you do not pass, you do not survive. For the next four years I have worked on the skills that an adult of the tribes need to have. We still guard the herds at this age, but the young adults guard at night and the hunters we look for, instead of being animals, may be from another clan. A few nights ago it was the celebration of my natal night. It was the start of my wanderjahr and I received prophesy from my grandfather and now you see me here. It was not an exciting life that I lived until now.”
“What is a vonder jar?” asked Bianca.
Despite himself, Hulagu laughed at her accent. “Wanderjahr—it is one of our words not Hindi. It is the custom of the Kara-Khitan when they turn eighteen to spend a year travelling to find themselves before they settle down. Usually they just travel within the tents and no one will attack them if they bear the right signs,” he showed Bianca the ones he bore. “But, you can go wherever you want. One of my uncles went as far as to sail on the northern seas and he saw ice floating on the water and giant white bears. Surely though you have had a more exciting life. You have seen cities. Tell me about your family.”
“I don’t have one,” said Bianca sadly. “And cities are overrated. You can make money in them, but they stink and people look down on you if you are poor and they take advantage of you. I don’t know where or when I was born or even who my parents are or where they are from. I was found on the porch of a nunnery in Ashvaria, the capital of Freehold, when I was about a year old. I had my name written on a scrap of paper stuffed in my clothes and a little purse with a few coins. The nuns, who were mainly retired from active service in the Order of St Ursula, looked after me until I was thought to be five years old and then they decided that I should learn skills suitable for my station. They put me with a series of different tavern-keepers for a time. So I learnt to cook and look after animals and even to entertain by singing and playing the flute. Every now and then the nuns would look in on me and, if they didn’t like my arrangements, they would take me back to the nunnery until they found me a new place. I think they sort of thought of me as a daughter to them all and they did try and do the best for me. I would have been glad to stay with them, but you must have a dowry and be an adult of respectable family to enter the Order—and I didn’t have the first and certainly wasn’t the second.”
“What is a nun?” asked Hulagu.
“Religious woman,” answered Bianca. “They marry God and most of them live away from the world and work and pray, but the Ursulines are different. They are often out in the world as warrior-priestesses and only retire to the cloister when they are older.”
“Your God is a man with many wives?” asked Hulagu.
“No, He is a spirit. Well his son was a man, until he died, but to marry God means that they are chaste and give up men to concentrate on spiritual things. They are very holy.”
Hulagu felt very confused by this. It made no sense at all. “So you were the child they could not have?”
“No, some had children before they became nuns. Sometimes, when their husbands die, women become nuns.”
“So their families did not want them and would not care for them?”
“Their families were very proud of them as holy women and would come and visit them and bring presents for the nunnery. None of our priests or monks or nuns are married. The Pope says that this is not right and he speaks for God. It seems your shamen are married.”
“My grandfather speaks to the spirits as well, but so do many others. No one person has a monopoly on entering the spirit world and speaking to the spirits and sometimes there are many opinions on what the spirits want us to do.” Bianca looked a little upset at this line and Hulagu decided to change the subject. “How did you come to be out here then? I thought that you would continue to work in taverns until the…nuns found a husband for you.”
“I was in a tavern tending animals for them when a trader’s groom quit and he asked me if I wanted the job. I wanted to see more than Ashvaria so I asked the nuns if I could go. They thought about it and talked to the trader and finally said that I would be a good girl wherever I went and so I started working with traders working around Freehold. I visit the nuns whenever I can. This was my first job out into the wider world. I think Francesco was thinking of taking me on permanently as an apprentice trader. I have worked for him a few times before around Freehold. I am a bit old for an apprentice, but I work hard and have some skills. We were travelling to Evilhalt with a small caravan when we were attacked. We had valuable goods on board and were well guarded, but two of our guards were really bandits in disguise and they betrayed us. As I said, I think that they wanted one of Francesco’s books. It was larger than the ones that we just found but much thinner. I don’t know why a book would be so important that we all had to die.”
They continued talking for some time, until it was dark, during which time they decided to divide the watch up with Hulagu going first. He pointed at the stars and showed Bianca how he would tell the time to wake her up. After this Bianca called to her horses and said goodnight to them before saying her prayers, which took a long time. It seemed that she had a lot to talk to her God about, before curling up in her bedroll and quickly going to sleep.
Around the middle of the night Hulagu awoke her to the sound of scavengers arguing gently over the remains they had left over the ridge.
“As long as the noise keeps sounding like that, you need not worry too much. If it sounds like they are being chased away, or if it goes silent, then you must wake me immediately,” said Hulagu.
~~~
He was woken soon after dawn by Bianca. They ate and began to prepare for the day ahead. They refilled their water bags and Hulagu rode up an adjacent hill and circled the pile of rocks with blue things that was on top before they headed off moving more or less north and east. They had decided to follow Bianca’s strategy of early halts at night so that they had plenty of time to see anyone still moving around while they were concealed. They thought that the slower progress from this and checking at each ridgeline was justified seeing that someone seemed to want them dead.<
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“After all,” said Bianca, “Koyunlu said that there would be someone else for you if they didn’t meet you, and they already suspect that I escaped their slaughter.”
~~~
As they rode across the seemingly endless grass Hulagu tried to point out to Bianca all the things that he thought she should know about what was around them. What the grasses and birds were, the tracks of animals and the sign of where people had passed by in the past.
“You will not make me a bushman in one day,” she laughed.
Hulagu was bursting with questions but he thought it rude to ask. She seemed to be able to make her warhorses do almost anything she wanted, almost just by asking, yet she was only a bit better than average as a rider, and not as good as any Khitan except the very young. Why? She treated them, and they treated her, with easy familiarity. Given her history, how did she get them? She didn’t even use a lead-rope for her packhorse. It just seemed to follow the other two.
They camped for the night and Bianca prepared food for them. She took one look at his attempts in this regard and sent him to stand watch on the slight ridge above the camp to see if there was any movement around them while she proceeded to set up the camp and look after the horses. Eventually his watch was rewarded. He called out to where she was working below.
“Quick, Bianca, come up here,” and waved for her to come up as he stood from where he had been crouching. He could see her putting the food at the side where it would stay warm before she quickly ran up the short slope.
When she had arrived he pointed to where, some distance away to the south, a large number of horsemen were crossing their path. As well as many extra horses, running among them were the Dire Wolves of his Clan.
“See,” said Hulagu, “my clan rides to battle.”
“How do you know?” asked Bianca.
“That they are of the Kara-Khitan is clear, even at this distance, and see the wolves running with them?” he replied.
“How do you know they are off to combat? They cannot be wolves; they can only be small horses. They are too big!” Objected Bianca.
“They are dire wolves, the totem of my clan and yes, they are that large. Small children sometimes cling to their back and ride them, if the wolf is agreeable. We often regard this as a mark of a future shaman. As to how I know that they ride to combat, well they look to all be warriors, they ride fast, they have many spare horses and they show no sign of stopping for the night. Lastly we only take the wolves with us to war and the hunt. That is no hunt. As well, no one has turned aside to us and we are clearly visible in clan lands. There is more than a tuman there, but not quite two. My grandfather, as I was leaving was talking of rousing the clan to deal with an evil. So they may be chasing the bandits who attacked your caravan.”
“I hope not. I swore an oath to St Ursula that I would avenge the women. It is my geas to bring them to justice or to kill them,” said Bianca.
“But since the crimes were committed on our land, they are also a crime against our clan. We keep the peace,” he smiled wryly, “on this part of the plains, we are justice.”
Bianca nodded at that, as if reluctantly accepting the logic, and they watched the war band ride on for a while before Bianca demanded that they eat before the food she had left was completely spoiled. Food, practice, horses, talk and prayers; they had quickly settled into a pattern. It seemed to Hulagu that Bianca’s prayers were longer and more elaborate today. When he mentioned this she explained that Krondag, the sixth and last day of the week was her holy day. Now each talked in the other’s tongue as much as possible in the evening and only used Hindi when they needed to explain something complex. They set their watch on top of the small rise and, without a good supply of permanent water and cover nearby; this night was much quieter than the last had been.
~~~
The next day, after noon, Bianca began to look around as they rode. Hulagu noticed she was growing nervous. It was not until she peered over the next rise that he realised why.
“This is where we were attacked,” she said.
That would have been apparent, even if she had said nothing. Below lay the remains of the caravan, the bodies now torn by scavengers and everything else scattered around.
“We should do something,” she said.
After a long look around they rode down the slope together. Hulagu glanced sidewise when he heard her making those quiet muttered prayers again. Tears were gradually coming back to Bianca’s eyes. Their arrival disturbed several birds, which were still picking over the remains. They flew off to circle overhead, waiting to return.
Hulagu looked around at what was left of the caravan. The raiders had left items of low value and high bulk, or that they had no use for. He saw, to the side some pack frames and decided to change the two spare horses to being pack animals. As he was doing this he noticed Bianca go towards someone or something and then stop and stand as if confused before moving off towards something, or someone, else. Her horses seemed to follow a few paces behind.
“I know this is painful,” he said, “but if we take all that we can salvage, I will then pull the carts together and put the bodies on them and set the carts alight. That way, even if we cannot bury them all, we can protect them from the scavengers. See if you can find more food that is unspoilt and get together what you can of the feed grain.”
Hulagu stripped the carts of anything useful, cutting some apart with an axe to see if there were hidden panels and to help them burn better. He pulled them into a pile as well. At least there was something hidden on one cart—a concealed part above the wheel yielded a largish store of money of various sizes and metals and from different lands. He began moving the remains to the carts, checking if anything had been left on the bodies to no result. The attention of the scavengers and several days of exposure to the sun had left only grisly remnants, which should be consumed with the carts. Once the task was done they had two bags of grain, some veterinary gear, some cooking equipment and oil, some food and several sheaves of arrows. Unfortunately these were all fletched with three feathers and so useless to Hulagu. Still, they could be sold.
He also found a bow that may be light enough to start in teaching Bianca, although it was a short town bow. It was a pitiful remnant of what had been a prosperous caravan. The horses were loaded, with their saddles sitting on top of the load and Hulagu asked Bianca if she wished to say anything.
Bianca prayed again, tears rolling down her cheeks. “…Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in true and certain knowledge of the resurrection of the body. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
Hulagu had heard her pray often and they all ended the same way, so he guessed that he should also say ‘amen’, so he did. Bianca turned to him. “This is not the way it should be done. They should be buried with their heads to the east, where Jerusalem is, but it is better than leaving them as they were. Do what you should.”
Hulagu had already set some tinder alight in a fire pot and now he spilled it out onto some oil he had put on a cart. As the flames grew he tugged Bianca’s sleeve to move her away from the flames and to get her moving. Gently pushing and pulling he got her mounted and they rode away from the growing flame. Behind them a column of smoke rose skyward as frustrated scavengers rode it spirally upwards. The smoke revealed to the world that something had happened here. The birds said that it involved death. They moved on for another two hours, with less caution than usual and, while Bianca set up the camp, Hulagu kept a very close watch for anything that may have been attracted by the smoke. Nothing appeared that looked worrying and they soon settled into their developing routine for the night.
Chapter XIII
On the third day, as they were setting up camp at a permanent spring outside what Hulagu had called his clan’s lands (Bianca could see no difference between the rise and fall of the plains in one part and in another), Hulagu called down from where he was on watch and said that three people were approaching. He did not
seem concerned and Bianca just continued to set up camp. He came down from the ridge just before they arrived and just before dark. She looked them over. They all wore clothes much like hers, not leather lamellar like Hulagu and she could see that they all wore a stylised two-legged lizard motif somewhere on their clothes. They were armed like hunters and the very full packs on their horses had pelts hanging off them. They showed no surprise at Hulagu’s presence, but she could see them looking closely at her.
After giving the start of the greeting she had heard before Hulagu inserted, “And this is Bianca of the Horse. She is from among the Latins but she travels under my guarantee and that of my clan. I speak for her deeds and she may be spoken to.”
It was obvious to Bianca that this was something that they had heard, but not very often. Their curiosity was very obvious at Bianca’s acceptance, with Hulagu even designating a totem for her. Not one of theirs, but you could see from their nods that they regarded it as obviously a totem animal of power. They looked at the horses around them, two of which were looking back and equally weighing them.
“I am Malik of the Pack-hunters, and these are Tzachaz and Uzun, also of my clan. We accept your hospitality and thank you for it. May prosperity attend upon you and yours.” Looking at the men Bianca felt none of the strange sensation she had felt with Kitzez and Koyunlu. After introductions they showed that they were cheerful and happy, particularly once it became apparent that they were as useless as Hulagu in preparing food and Bianca had to expand her plans for the meal.
They contributed fresh meat and some herbs and explained that they were on the way back to their tribe and showed off the meat and pelts that they had collected. They showed a fondness for such small practical jokes that are often shared by those who live together for long times and, somewhat to her discomfort, were greatly amused by Bianca’s use of Khitan, and were not worried in showing it. She noticed that they steered clear of her horses however.
Intimations of Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 1) Page 17