Shadow of the Horsemen (Kalie's Journey)

by Sandra Saidak

  Danica’s wrinkled face split in a grin of surprisingly strong, yellowed teeth, worn low into blackened gums. “You could no more lay about your tent all day than I could, Kalie. I have been thinking a great deal on the things you said at the Summer Festival.” She snorted. “Strange, how for the women of this land, there wasn’t such a thing until you gave it to us. And I have been listening to what others have said of you since then as well.”

  “Surely the wild stories of a mad foreigner are of no concern to so lofty a person as yourself.”

  “Ah, but I am greatly fond of stories,” said Danica. “I especially love tales of greedy men whose own actions bring about their downfall. One in particular, but I can’t recall the ending. I thought perhaps, with all the stories you know, you could help me. It’s about a man who prizes women above even his horses. But he is faithless to them, always acquiring more, then cruelly tossing them aside when he tires of them.”

  “That sounds more like everyday life in your tribe than a story,” said Kalie.

  “True. But what’s strange about this story is how he met his end. You see, while many men wished him dead, and plotted how they would accomplish it, this man was slain in his bed by one of his own women! But I can’t seem to remember what happened after that.”

  “Surely she was put to death in a most gruesome fashion,” said Kalie.

  “Perhaps,” said Danica, her brow even more wrinkled than usual as she sought to remember. “Yet, strange as it sounds, I think she escaped. One would assume she was merely a tool, doing the bidding of one of this man’s many enemies, but what made this story so different is that she acted on her own. Why would she do such a thing? Was she jealous of his many other loves, perhaps? Or did she love another man, whom she fled with in the night…?”

  “Perhaps she loved a woman, and they fled together to place where they could love openly, with no men at all.”

  “Yes! That was it!” Danica was enjoying herself.

  Kalie was not. Fearful that someone would come to the tent and ruin her chance to learn what the crafty old woman’s game was, she spoke in a rush. “What have you truly come for, Danica?”

  “I want to know if your people—my grandmother’s people—are as wise as I have begun to dream they are. For I think it was no accident that you came to be among the tribute that Haraak brought home from the west. I think perhaps that you wanted to save your people from mine—just as Basha wanted to save her daughter. Our customs—our peculiar blindness—gave her the means, just as Haraak’s greed gave you the means. And the greatest joke of all is that, even now, he cannot see it.”

  “But are there others who can?” Kalie asked.

  “None that I know of. And my thoughts are just the ramblings of an old woman. But it seems to me that if a people who had neither horses nor warriors wanted to save themselves from an invasion, the surest way to do it would be to insert weapons directly inside their enemy’s camp. Weapons no would recognize as such.”

  “That is an interesting idea. For a story, I mean. It is certainly wild enough.”

  “Yes. It could, of course, be nothing more than that. But you are so gifted, Kalie. Perhaps you could craft it into something worth listening to on a long winter’s night.”

  “I have actually been hoping to create a new story, but could find no inspiration. I think you have just provided me with much. What can I offer you in return?”

  “Oh…simply the chance to see for myself how the story ends. My time on this earth grows short, but if I could see the land of my grandmother just once before I die—just to see for myself what is true and what is not—I would count it a life well lived.”

  “And if I could live to bring you there,” said Kalie, “I, too, would have lived a worthy life.”

  Danica stayed a while longer, speaking of Chief Kahlar’s wife, the dreaded Leja, and how a wasting illness kept her within her tent, while Kahlar fretted desperately, and sent for all the best healers, but Kalie heard little of it. Then Danica rose gracefully to her feet and ducked out of the tent.

  And while Kalie had planned to get up and go out herself, she found herself seated in the tent for the rest of the day, with much to think about.

  The next morning, Kalie woke late, which surprised her, for by now she was quite sick of sleeping, and desperately afraid she had missed something important. Just as she had finished dressing herself to leave the tent—now in soft linen, rather than scratchy felt—yet another visitor came to the door flap.

  Varena hurried to open it, while Kalie planned to invite whomever it was to walk with her through the camp, for she was not staying inside another day.

  But the voice she heard offering deferential greetings to the daughter of the tent drove all such thoughts away, for she spoke in the lilting accents of the west.

  “Alessa?” she barely whispered, as Varena barely got out of the way as the other woman leapt into the tent and caught Kalie in a fierce embrace.

  Chapter 24

  “Where have been? What are you doing here?” Kalie held Alessa by both arms, afraid to let go lest this vision of her past vanish into smoke.

  “I’m with the Wolf tribe now,” Alessa said, as calm and dignified as ever. As if the Wolf tribe was just another stop on her journey, and she would move on as soon as she was ready.

  “Yes, I’d heard that,” said Kalie, remembering. “But how did you find me? How do you have the freedom to move about on your own?”

  “I can move about on my own, in part, because of you, Kalie. That bag of healing herbs you took from Maris’s gear and gave to me helped me establish myself as a healer from the beginning.”

  “Surely your own skills would have done that…” Kalie began.

  “Eventually, perhaps. But this place is so primitive! Those medicines gave me stature that would have taken me years to achieve while I learned the local herbs—and waited for permission to go out and look for them.” Alessa grimaced. “I learned you were here the day your tribe arrived. I’m always seeking news on the women from the west—though I think I’d have heard of you anyway. You seem to have made quite an impression on the people out here.”

  The open admiration on the young priestess’s face caused Kalie to turn to see who Alessa was looking at.

  There was no one else in the tent.

  Kalie shrugged, uncomfortable. “I do what I can. Probably nothing compared to what you’ve done here.” She settled back ready to listen.

  “I’ve made some progress,” said Alessa. “But I move slowly. I guess it’s Maris’s teaching, still at work. My first ‘owner’ gave me to Nelek, the king of the Wolf Tribe, as a gift to help forge this alliance that Haraak’s working on.”

  Kalie smiled. “I see we’ve both kept track of the same enemy. Oh, Alessa, it’s so good not to be alone in knowing what’s going on! Or in trying to stop it.”

  Alessa looked surprised. “Alone? But what of the others? I heard about poor Maylene of course, and Traea. But surely Larren…”

  “Larren has all she can manage with a baby she hates growing inside her. Kestra lives as a horsewoman—if you can call it living—seeming without memory of who she once was. You heard that Dara took her own life last winter?”

  Alessa looked stricken. “I had heard she escaped.”

  “Well, in a manner of speaking, she did.”

  “But not the way you did, all those years ago.” The admiration was back in Alessa’s eyes. If others could have seen Kalie that way when she first returned home, all those years ago, how different things might have been…

  Kalie shook her head. They had much to discuss and little time.

  “I must not stay long,” Alessa said, as if sharing Kalie’s thoughts. “I have been looking for an excuse to come find you since I discovered where you were in this vast camp. I got it today when Nelek sent me to examine Leja, and see if I could help her.”

  Kalie remembered Danica’s news from the previous day about Leja’s illness, and how frantic Kahlar wa
s to have his beloved wife back to her old ferocious self. “Yes, that would be good for Nelek, if his concubine saved the wife of one of Kariik’s chiefs. Kahlar would owe him.”

  “I’m not sure I can do much for her beyond easing the pain. She has a growth in her breast which is poisoning the rest of her body.”

  Kalie nodded. She knew of such things from her time at Hot Springs. “Forgive me if I can’t sympathize. Leja has been a cruel and vicious enemy to many people here—myself included.”

  “I know,” Alessa said sadly. “I’ve heard stories about her. Even today, in her pain and weakness, her strength shows through. I’ve met many like her in my travels through this land. Can you imagine what assets such people could be back in our world, once they learned to use their strength for good, rather than evil?”

  “I would first have to believe it was possible,” Kalie replied tartly.

  “Of course, I may be seeing what I want to see,” said Alessa. “That strength will keep Leja alive—and in pain—longer than most others in her condition. And her death, inevitable as it is, will be blamed on me.”

  Kalie sighed. “More accurately, your inability to defy simple reality will anger Kahlar and reflect badly on Nelek, who will take it out on you.”

  “I try not to take such things personally, or let them taint my calling and my oath. But it is difficult.”

  Knowing what such a perversion of the sacred art of healing must be doing to Alessa, Kalie shuddered. Then, inspiration struck. “If you could, I’d like you to examine my step-son Yarik. He was born with a clubfoot. I’ve done what I can for him, but his problem is just your specialty.”

  Alessa nodded eagerly. “Step-son? I had heard you were married to one of the warriors who brought us here, but had feared the worst. Does your adoption of his child mean that the marriage was not forced?

  Kalie sagged into the cushions. “I don’t know how to answer that.” She had never formally adopted Yarik as she had Varena, but she had grown fond of him. She was about to try to explain her complicated situation with Riyik, and perhaps seek Alessa’s advice, when her friend shook her head.

  “Later, when there’s time. For now, we must exchange what knowledge we have gained, and decide what is to be done.”

  Strength and resolve flooded Kalie. “Already three tribes have joined for an assault on the west,” she said. “I fear there will be more.”

  “They mean to occupy our home, not just raid it,” Alessa added.

  “I have been seeking a weapon. But the closest I’ve come so far has been being thrown from a horse.” Kalie described her dream of snakes and horses to Alessa.

  “Interesting,” said Alessa. “Dreams of snakes are always considered important, because of their close association with the Goddess; they are often Her messengers.”

  “I have heard of certain priestesses who work with snakes,” said Kalie. “Don’t they use snake venom to journey from their bodies?”

  Alessa nodded. “They tend to be secretive groups—not even groups, usually. More often hermits who teach their arcane knowledge to a single apprentice. Their temples are in barren places; so remote I doubt they even know of the horsemen. Maris took me to one once.”

  “Could they be our weapon against the beastmen? Would there be enough of them to assemble along the eastern frontier? Could they teach snakes to attack the horses?”

  “I doubt it,” said Alessa. “And even if they could, I don’t think they would be willing to use their snakes for such a purpose. I think we must look for a more symbolic meaning in your dream.”

  It was not the answer Kalie had hoped for, but it did not surprise her. “Then I guess we’re back to finding a way to make them turn on each other. Or some other way to keep them from moving west.”

  “Preventing the tribes from moving west might already be impossible,” Alessa said.

  Kalie’s head jerked up. “What do you mean?”

  “Things are getting desperate in the east. The water is drying up and the grass is dying. The tribes have to move west.”

  “Which brings them in conflict with the tribes already here. So they fight for what little water or grazing land there is.”

  “Exactly. And the sad thing is there simply isn’t enough for everyone.” Alessa sighed. “When we first made plans to come here, back in Riverford, I was so certain that all we had to do was teach them to grow crops and make more efficient use of scarce resources, so they wouldn’t have to fight each other.”

  Kalie, who had never had any faith in those plans, nevertheless felt sad for Alessa, and what had to have been a rude a wakening. “It turned out to be more complicated than that, didn’t it?”

  Alessa sighed again. “Very little of this land could be used for farming, even with the most advanced techniques our people have devised. And while these people could certainly improve things if they’d let us teach them about cooperation and sharing, the fact is that there simply isn’t enough water and grazing for all their animals. And the animals are their life! Either they have to kill each other to keep their numbers down, or some of them will have to leave.”

  “Then we need to work on ways to get them to kill each other more efficiently!” Kalie was growing impatient.

  But Alessa looked shocked. “Kalie, you can’t really want that!”

  “You said yourself there isn’t enough land to support them all! And they’ve developed their own way of solving the problem: they kill each other. All I’m suggesting is that we encourage them to do it on a large enough scale so that they’re not a threat to us! It was why we came here.”

  “I don’t think any two of us had exactly the same plan when we left Riverford,” said Alessa. “As I recall, your original plan involved killing King Ahnaak. Instead, it was our foe Haraak who did that—and got very different results from what we were hoping for.”

  Kalie blushed. “That may be true, but we still have to find some way to keep these ‘people’ as you call them, from murdering and enslaving ours!”

  Alessa set a gentle hand on Kalie’s shoulder. “I know. And we will. Already you have made a huge difference among the women. And I have been seeing some encouraging results in the Wolf Tribe with both men and women.”

  Kalie stared. “What do you mean?”

  “There are many here who are open to new ideas. It is slow work, and most of them laugh at what I say about the Goddess, but little by little, they are starting to listen. They won’t accept a female deity—but some of the men are fascinated by what people can do in the west. Things they can only dream about here.”

  “I’m sure they find the gold and silver we have appealing. And jars of wine and food in plenty…”

  “It’s more than that! All right, some of the men can only hear about riches and spoils when I speak, but some are actually interested in what a world without slavery would look like. And there are plenty of men with talents and interests that would know no bounds in the west, but they’re stuck being warriors for as long as they stay here! They’d embrace a better way if they had the chance!”

  Kalie wanted it believe it. Had not Riyik said nearly the same thing? “If we could find a way to kill the men like Haraak, and spare the ones you speak of,” she began slowly. “Or put men like that in charge, then it might work. Alessa, you know more about herbs than I do. Poison slipped into the right kumis…”

  Alessa’s face grew hard “I’m not going to kill anyone, Kalie. And I can’t believe you would either.”

  “It’s what I came here to do! I made that clear from the beginning.”

  “And Maris was equally clear that if we use the methods of beasts, we will become beasts ourselves. I still believe that.”

  “Traea believed it once herself. She soon changed her mind.”

  “And where is she now?” Alessa’s voice was soft, but her gaze thrust into Kalie like a knife. Then she looked away. “But I fear you may be right. Last winter, I saved Zolah, Nelek’s first wife from death in childbirth, and delivere
d her of a healthy son. My status soared. I came to believe that I could make them ready to merge with our people in as little as three years.”

  “We don’t have that long,” Kalie said quietly.

  “I know. I thought perhaps I could do it sooner, but now…” Alessa’s voice trailed away. For the first time, she looked uncertain.

  “What? What have you heard?”

  The tent flap flew open, and Varena came in with the day’s supply of water and gossip. Sula followed with a squirming Yarik in her arms.

  Silently, Kalie cursed their timing, but there was nothing to be done. She feared she already knew what Alessa would have said.

  They used what time remained to them to examine Yarik, and plan a course of treatment better than any Kalie could have done herself.

  Chapter 25

  Alessa’s unspoken fears were confirmed the next day.

  Haraak had decided the news worthy of a feast that even the women and children would attend. Kalie worked alongside all the other wives, with little opportunity to do more than catch a glimpse of Alessa all day.

  When at last the sun had set and the bonfires were lit, and all of the men had been served, Kariik rose to address the assembly. Nelek of the Wolf Tribe stood with him, as did the leader of The Spears of Malquor, a scarred, pockmarked young man whose name—or title—was also Malquor.

  “My people!” Kariik began. Beside him, Haraak winced. Was Kariik straying from his assigned speech already? The full moon was as bright as the torches that filled the camp. Faces stood out as clearly as if it were day, but with a strange, sinister glow.

  “I stand this night, beside by my brother kings…” Here Kariik flung an arm each around Nelek and Malquor. “Evil times have come to the lands of our ancestors. To the east, the grass has withered; the water has begun to disappear.

  “The Men of Aahk could struggle for what is left with the tribes who push west—and we would win!” Kariik paused for the cheering and striking of spears on the ground. “But the gods have called us toward another destiny…a greater destiny! Far to the west lies a land of grass and grain; of water flowing from every rock! Best of all, it is a land empty of men. A land ripe for the taking!” The cheering grew in volume, and Kariik had to struggle to be heard.