Two Rivers
Page 23
She felt her heart missing a beat. To leap into their canoe and sail away? Was it not the best of solutions? And why not? Why couldn’t she come along, into the wonderful, most exciting of the adventures—
Two Rivers’ snort cut her daydream short.
“You want to drag your girl across the Great Lake and into the lands of the savages, to an unknown destination, in this small canoe and almost no supplies? Oh Mighty Spirits, why don’t you think sensibly for once?”
He was right, of course, he was right. She bit her lips, knowing that had Tekeni been in a better condition he would had argued, quite forcefully at that. He would have done exactly as he felt fit, refusing to sail again, maybe. But as it was, he just muttered angrily, hugging her shoulders with force, promising even with this hug to return for her, no matter what.
She had stood upon the shore for a long time after they disappeared from her view, reluctant to go back to the town and its people. And when she came, she didn’t go home, but went to sit under Iraquas’ tree, to wait for the sunrise, and to think.
She was not in any particular danger, she knew. No one would think to question her about the death of Yeentso and his friends, when the bodies would be found. They would scream murder and try to reach the fleeing culprits, launching an expedition that would fail, of course. Two Rivers was a resourceful man, with plenty of experience and more clear thinking than any man she had ever met. And with Tekeni for a partner his chances were even better. They wouldn’t be caught, and they would manage not to get killed on the other side of the Great Sparkling Water, too. This town would yet hear about this pair, she suddenly knew, and only good, outstanding things.
Smiling back at the friendly, shining deity, she felt her tears drying, going away, for good this time. Oh, those two were destined to make great things, to stop the war, maybe, yes. And she would be a part of this happening. She would not let them leave her behind, to come and fetch her when it all was done and ready. She’d find the way to reach him if he didn’t appear to kidnap her soon enough.
The end
Afterword
Around the 12th century the lands of the people known to us today as Iroquois were torn by ferocious warfare, with every nation fighting each other, raiding one another’s towns, seeking revenge against offenses, imaginary or real. Five sister-nations caught in the web of violence and retaliation, unable to escape the hopeless loop. To settle their differences and make them talk, someone with courage and unusually broad thinking was needed. Maybe a prophet. Maybe just an outstanding man. But an outsider, on that all the versions of the legend agree.
The Great Peacemaker, indeed, according to all sources, came from across Lake Ontario and the lands of the Huron (Wyandot) people, present day southeastern Canada, near the Bay of Quinte. For unknown reasons, his own country folk did not want to listen to his message. However, the people of the current day's upstate New York turned out to be more open to new ideas.
Most recent studies place the formation of the Great League at around 1142, basing their conclusion on the oral tradition, archeological evidence, and specific events such a full solar eclipse that was most clearly mentioned to occur above a certain area.
The Five Nations’ wise, complicated, incredibly detailed set of laws survived for centuries, and more than a few scholars agreed that the later day USA constitution was influenced to this or that degree by the Great Law of Peace that, needless to say, was very prominent in the area at the times when the dozen or so English colonies were struggling for their independence.
Benjamin Franklin was the most interested person, closely acquainted with the ways of the Great League of the Iroquois. Deeply impressed, he printed many pamphlets, wrote many letters, citing the League’s incredibly elaborate set of laws. In 1754, on the famous Albany conference, he spoke openly about creating a union that resembled that of the Iroquois. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington, while being less ardent supporters of the Five Nations’ model of democracy, were recorded to speak with admiration about Iroquois’ concepts of liberty and political organization.
In fact, in October 1988, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary to the signing of the United States Constitution, the US Congress "… acknowledged the historical debt which this Republic of the United States of America owes to the Iroquois Confederacy… for their demonstration of enlightened, democratic principles of government and their example of a free association of independent Indian Nations…"
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However, at the times that this novel is dealing with, the main bulk of the work was yet awaiting the Great Peacemaker. To cross the Lake Ontario was a brave decision. But to convince the five warring nations living across it to listen to his message and accept the Great Tidings of Peace was an infinitely more difficult task to accomplish.
The continuation of his story is presented in the second book of The Peacemaker Series, “Across the Great Sparkling Water.”
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“Two Rivers” is the first book in “The Peacemaker Series”
Two Rivers
Across the Great Sparkling Water
The Great Law of Peace
The Peacekeeper
More on the later history of the region, and on certain characters appearing in these books, can be read in the “People of the Longhouse” Series:
Beyond the Great River
The Foreigners
The Failed Alliance (coming soon)
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More books by this author include “The Rise of the Aztecs” series, “The Triple Alliance” and “Pre-Aztec” trilogies and more.