by Emil Toth
The travelers had been walking the plains for six days when they spotted a lone lion tracking them. The lion decided to overtake them and made its way toward them. Everyone who could fire an arrow readied themselves for the inevitable encounter. The lion came close and they could see it was an old, mangy male on the verge of death. As it came within its attack range, it tried to sprint to them and could not. It ended up trotting toward them. Jacob, Sharika and Elgar were designated to release the first barrage of arrows. The second group consisted of Kacy and Marcel. Elgar’s arrow missed its mark. Jacob and Sharika’s arrows struck the lion in the shoulders and it tumbled forward in slow motion. As it struggled on the ground Kacy and Marcel fired the next arrows, which buried themselves in its flesh. They walked to the lion to recover their arrows and found the lion was already not breathing. Sharika and Jacob could not recover their arrows. They had broken as the lion tumbled forward.
On the seventh day they zigzagged the whole day looking for the village and finally saw their destination. They came upon the Wanderer village and saw the entire population was on the outskirt awaiting them. As they drew near, they saw there were three classes of humans living in the village. Ashlee had prepared them by telling them the majority of the people would be mutants with some Normals and some half breeds.
The mutants eyed the small band of foreigners. All of the males had their arrows set on their bows ready to fire on command. Everyone from Kahali had at least one hand up showing their palm signaling they came in peace. Carch was not about to be fooled in his old age and did not tell his men to put down their weapons.
The woman with blond hair caught his eye. It was not often he saw anyone with blond hair. His mind searched his memory to place when he last saw a blond haired woman. His eyebrows shot up.
Ezra’s slave!
She resembled Ezra’s slave. He motioned Gwen to his side.
“Is the blond woman the one who was slave to your father?”
Gwen was a woman when the slave fled their home and she fondly remembered the slave. The slave had given her more affection than either one of her parents. Back then, the slave was a dirty mess, now she was clean and her hair was combed. She easily detected the slave’s body language was much different than when she lived with them.
“It is her, chief.”
Though weary, Ashlee stood as erect as she could. She wanted her body language to tell all of the mutants she was in control of herself and her destiny. They approached with Ashlee in the lead. The others came to stand beside her. She spoke in the Wanderer language.
“Chief Carch, we come in peace. I see you remember me. My name is Ashlee. I am now a member of the Kahali village.”
Carch nodded and was surprised she was the spokesperson for her party.
“It has been a long time since you fled Ezra’s house. After being a slave for nearly two decades, I never thought you would be foolish and return.” He paused a long while as he assessed her. “I sense you are not a fool, so why have you returned?”
Carch voiced his thoughts aloud, “Could you be a scouting party? No, I do not think your council would send five women and three men to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. It must be something else. With all the strength remaining in this old body I cannot detect the reason you are here. I shall close my mouth and listen to you speak.”
“Your evaluation is correct. We are not a scouting party. We are a peace party. Let me introduce the rest of my party before talking in depth of why we have come.”
She went to Elgar and laid her hand on his shoulder. “This is Elgar, our Elder, and leader of the Kahali.”
She walked behind Marcel and held his arm. “Marcel is the apprentice Elder of Kahali. He is the son of Durga. He is a half breed Wanderer and lived with you. Durga was part of your scouting party and you left him to die. He recovered from his illness and is in Kahali.”
Carch saw Marcel’s resemblance to Durga. He had often thought the woman, Kaathi, had made more of Durga’s illness than it actually was. It was interesting Durga’s son returned and not him.
“This woman is Sharika. She is from the Hun Nation and is now an apprentice Warrior Hunter to Jacob.”
Ashlee moved to Kacy. “Kacy is Marcel’s wife. She was originally an Uchakwa, who followed Kaathi.
Carch wondered if all the Uchakwas were hairless. He found the lack of hair disturbing, yet he found it hard to take his eyes off the diminutive woman.
Ashlee stood behind Evette and introduced her. “This is Evette she is from the Ebiji tribe.”
Carch gasped. There was no mistaking the giant woman. He recalled catching up with Evette and a man. They were the Tall Ones they had raped and sodomized on the savannah years ago. I was sure they were going to die from the abuse they received from me and my men. How could this Ashlee and Evette come back and face me and my people without wanting to kill us all? Neither one of them seems the least bit angry. I remember another woman named… Kaathi. Yes, she was the witch, who held me spellbound and conjured up the face of my mother on her face. She talked me into letting them go.
Ashlee moved to the Warrior Hunter. “This is Jacob. He is a member of the Kahali council and is the Warrior Hunter of our village.”
Kaathi stepped out from behind Jacob. Ashlee put her hand on the mystic. “I believe you know Kaathi our healer and High Priest.”
Carch could not believe his eyes. It was indeed the healer, and she looked the same as when he had last seen her. She was the one he had to be cautious of for she had magical powers. He hoped his face did not give away his shock.
Carch nodded and informed her, “My wife has died.” He placed his arm around a stout, rugged and rather ugly mutant and announced, “This is my son, Alex; he will inherit my title upon my death. This woman beside me is Gwen. Her father, Ezra, went out to bring you back, unfortunately, he never returned. Gwen’s mother died four years ago.
Carch agitatedly waved his hand saying, “Everyone significant has been introduced. Let us sit by the fire and talk.”
Chief Carch and his son led everyone to the village center, where a large fire was going. He would have preferred to talk with these people with only his son present. The occasion was extraordinary and he had no choice and committed to the public meeting.
There were only ninety-three of his people alive along with thirteen slaves and concubines and less than thirty half breeds. The half breeds had only half the strength of one mutant. It did not make sense for non-mutant mothers to give birth to create warriors of insufficient strength. Some of his men still wanted to raid a village and bring home new women. It was never going to happen as long as he was alive.
Years ago Ezra wanted him to send a raiding party to recover the woman named Ashlee and he did not capitulate to the request. Ezra went alone to bring her back and lost his life. They had not made a raid in over seven years for fear of losing good men. Times have changed and he wanted his people to survive. He did the best he could to instill this bit of wisdom in his son. His son was not an easy person to teach or read. All he could do was hope his brain was recording things.
Every Wanderer was seated and still able to see Carch and the party from Kahali. The slaves were situated behind them and had to strain to see well.
Carch raised his voice. “What is so important you risked your lives on the river and the plains and now risk your lives here?”
“We have come to negotiate peace,” announced Ashlee. Kaathi had convinced Elgar, Ashlee needed to be the one talking for all of Kahali because of her knowledge of their language and society. Elgar was intelligent enough to see Kaathi’s point and relinquished his role as spokesperson.
Carch thought over what she proposed. There had not been any raids or skirmishes with the Kahali or Homarians for years. A year ago they had a skirmish, with a Nubilon scouting party. They had killed nine of them and lost four men he could ill afford to lose. He took his time thinking about her proposal. A treaty would assure him he would not suffer additiona
l loss of men. He liked the idea.
He nodded his head saying, “Before you continue I want to know how Ezra met his death?”
“He found me and wanted to take me back. Luckily, Kaathi was with me and offered to go in my place. She vowed to go if he could hold onto her hand. He was unable to and he was about to kill her. Jacob was nearby and drove two arrows into him.”
“Interesting. Go back to him taking her hand. Why could he not hold onto her hand? It seems a simple task for someone with strength.”
“He was shocked every time he grabbed her hand.”
“Shocked? How did she manage it?”
“She has an internal energy; it repels evil.”
Carch accepted her answer, recalling how the witch, Kaathi, magically manifested his mother’s image on her face.
“Did he not see Jacob?”
“No. Jacob was honing his skill with bow and arrow and saw him from a distance and circled him and Ezra did not see him.”
Carch nodded in acceptance of what took place.
“Kaathi has shared a great deal with me of her personal philosophy and I eventually forgave Ezra and all of you for having killed my parents and making me a sexual slave,”
“You did not have to come here.”
“No I did not. I chose to come in order to help you forgive all of the Normals for killing your people.”
“Are you crazy? Do you know how many of my people’s blood was shed because of you Normals?”
“No.”
“Of course not, it was thousands. THOUSANDS,” he yelled!
His people repeatedly shouted, “Thousands, thousands.”
The moment they quieted Ashley softly reminded him, “And our people’s blood soaked the ground as well. Our number was greater than yours. Your raids and ours were based on anger and vengeance. Neither one of us can afford to let emotions control us any longer. You cannot because your numbers are dwindling and we cannot because our philosophy has changed under Kaathi’s influence.”
Carch let her words settle in. She was speaking the truth. Neither one of them knew the complete truth how the animosity came to be. They simply knew it existed and would continue until one of them died out or something or someone came along to change their attitudes. Could this woman, Kaathi, be the change?
“I am listening.”
“If you do not mind, I shall step aside and Marcel can speak.”
Even though I have a slight admiration for this woman for escaping from us, I want to hear if Durga’s son has a brain. Carch turned his attention to the half breed.
Marcel honored Carch by bowing his head. His father had taught him the expression and he noticed Carch seemed pleased he knew the old Wanderer tradition of bowing to a superior. He spoke in the Wanderer language addressing the aged chief, which he learned from his father.
“My father related many stories about your strength and tactical skills. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I shall reiterate what Ashlee told you. We come in peace and want to negotiate a peace treaty so no kingdom, tribe, clan, village or nation needs to worry about warring tribes we do not know or raids or skirmishes or broaching of borders. The treaty will insure all people shall be able to live in peace.”
“You speak of other people. Who are they and do you speak for them?”
“The treaty has been approved by the Kahali, Homar and Sumati people, and we do speak for them. After talking with you, we will go to Nubilon, Ebiji and to the Hun Nation and talk to their rulers and seek agreement to the terms of the treaty.”
“I do not care if you speak for the others. I want assurance you speak for the Nubilons as well. They attacked one of our scouting parties last year and killed four of our men. We cannot think about agreeing to a treaty without their compliance. We are done here. Go back to Kahali.”
The mutants grew vocal in backing their chief.
Marcel raised his hand. “Please, hear me out, Carch. We are certain we can get their approval, especially, if you agree to the terms of the treaty. Nubilon is the original home of Ashlee.”
“And what of the Uchakwa clan? I did not hear you speak of them being part of this treaty.”
“We are not going to visit the Uchakwa clan. Kacy told us her people never leave the forest, and their numbers are less than yours.”
“What she says must be true. We have never encountered the Uchakwas and it is true for the Ebiji. We came across Evette and her man from Ebiji because they had entered our territory. Above all else I need to be assured the Nubilons have agreed to this treaty you are talking about.”
Many of the mutants assembled shouted their support of Carch.
“It is our next stop. We are contending with the rainy season and want to be back in Kahali before the torrential downpours. If the Nubilons do not agree to the terms, we will return and let you know. If they agree to it we will not come back. Are you comfortable with us not coming back?”
Carch scratched his hairy chest and thought about what Marcel said and spoke, “Yes. I need to know the terms of this treaty.”
“The first term concerns territory. Each village, tribe, clan or nation shall claim as their territory the area within seven days travel from their village.”
The term drew immediate shouts of anger from the mutants. They found it too restrictive.
“I cannot agree. We hunt and patrol ten days journey from our village.”
Marcel realized the mutants did not travel the river and the restriction applied to travel by water. “Since you do not travel by water we will stipulate twelve days journey by land for your people. Are you in agreement?”
The mutants clapped and shouted their approval. Carch nodded his approval.
“May we offer the next term?” asked Marcel.
Carch waved his hand as if shooing a fly away.
“The second term concerns raids. It states there shall be no raids on any other kingdom, village, tribe, clan or nation. There shall be no abductions or stealing of people. This is punishable by death. No goods are to be taken from any village. The act will be considered a heinous infraction of the treaty. Each village will supply half of its available fighting men and wage war on the guilty village.”
Carch saw the retaliation would be devastating and nodded his approval. “What if the infraction is made by an individual?”
“It is the next tenent. If the individual is caught braking this treaty, he shall be contained and face judgment by a three man tribunal from his own village provided by the ruler of the village. His village shall not be held responsible for his actions.”
“Hmm. Very well,” responded Carch.
“The next term is significant. If a village experiences a natural disaster or an epidemic it can call upon any or all of the other villages to assist them. The other villages are charged to help if they have the resources.”
The mutants spoke excitedly about the term. Everyone including Carch saw the advantages of the term.
Marcel, seeing the reaction among the mutants, was thankful Kaathi had the good sense to insist this term be part of the treaty.
“And who shall deem if the resources are available?”
“A good question, which I will answer. If you need help and you come to Kahali for assistance the assembly shall make the decision with your delegate present. In Homar, it shall be King Edmund and Prince Zach. In Sumati, it shall be Chief Victor and his sister. There is a three man council in Nubilon and a nine man council in Ebiji. In the Hun Nation, a chief will preside.”
“Are there other articles of the treaty?”
“Yes.” Marcel went on to describe how each tribe would send men to contend with an outside waring force.
Carch turned to his son, Alex, and whispered in his ear, “What are your thoughts on this treaty?”
“If we were what we were a few generations ago, I would tell them to stand in quicksand. We are not what we were. I say agree to the treaty.”
Carch nodded his head. His son had voiced his own thoug
hts. Times change and he would be a fool to ignore what has taken place.
He looked at Marcel saying, “I agree to the terms of the treaty.”
The Kahali party broke into smiles. Most of the Wanderers did as well. The mutants, like their leader, were cognizant of their stagnant numbers and the growth of the other tribes.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Joanne’s heart raced as she saw her grandson. He looked every bit like his father, Durga. The tears in her eyes could not hide the fact the years had been good to Marcel. The years were not kind to Joanne. Her owner had died eight years ago and his brother and his wife inherited her and the widow. She now had to be servient to two females and a male mutant. It was not an easy life, it was an ugly one in every respect.
Since the arrival of the travelers, she spent every free moment she had hunting down her grandson and wait for the chance to rush to him and cling to him. Her eyes were moist during the moments she trailed after him. When the opportunity came, she moved quickly up behind him and called out in a trembling voice, “Marcel.”
Marcel turned to see an old, haggard Normal. He looked at her a long time wondering who she was.
“I am, Joanne, your grandmother!” she cried out.
The news startled him. They moved to each other and hugged and openly wept. It took many moments before he stepped back and looked at her again. His heart ached at the sight of her. Her dirty, wrinkled face was evidence of the maltreatment she had suffered. Joanne had been abducted at the age of thirteen and lost all remnants of her childhood, being terribly abused physically and sexually before they reached the mutants’ village.
“Father told me about you. I never thought you would be alive. I remember father telling me how cruelly you were treated and how difficult your life was. I am sorry for all the suffering you had to endure. I cannot tell you how good it is to see you, Grandmother.”