Two Dogs closed his eyes and smiled. Soon, he sat upright after a handful of river weed plopped onto his face. Two Dogs hacked as he frantically ripped the plants off his body. The two women laughed hysterically. In fact, the canoe drifted backward because Swift Shot stopped paddling.
“Very funny,” Two Dogs said as he shared in the end of the laugh.
“We’re almost there,” Ancestors’ Hand said. “I’m beginning to recognize the trees.”
“Good. I don’t enjoy being on the water this long. Lacreechee are meant for the plains and the forest,” Two Dogs said.
“I’m afraid we’re heading in the wrong direction for your plains, but you’ll get plenty of forest. Perhaps even some mountains,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
“Unless it’s a mountain of igsidian, I have no use for it. Whew!” Swift Shot said.
“Well spoken,” Two Dogs agreed.
“The mountains are where brigands go to hide. They’re the type of people we need to ally ourselves with if we desire a willing army to defeat the Corlains,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
“Why? Shouldn’t the Intakee be able to summon their fallen warriors and build our army that way?” Two Dogs mocked.
“Don’t assume your power rivals that of my tribe,” Ancestors’ Hand said. “We’ll get my people to help, but we’ll need cannon fodder too.”
“Cannon fodder?” Two Dogs asked.
“You must have noticed the Corlains brought their cannons. They’re too loud to miss,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
“That’s the name of those long tubes? The ones with wheels?” Two Dogs asked.
“You Lacreechee are far too isolated. If you want to defeat your enemy, you must know him. Their black powder is their advantage. Muskets are the common tool they use, but their cannons can level villages, as you saw. Their enchanted armor protects, even from some of the gifts Mother Turklyo gave us.”
“Can you teach us?” Swift Shot asked as she grimaced.
Two Dogs would soon have to take over again.
“Of course, I will. So will the rest of the Intakee. You’ll need to bring a gift of igsidian,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
“We have two stones remaining,” Two Dogs said. “They’ll make fine spears for your warriors.”
Ancestors’ Hand nodded. “That’ll be a fine gift.”
“What can you tell us about the Corlains that we don’t already know?” Two Dogs asked.
“For starters, don’t fear their muskets. They’re loud. They’re deadly, but they’re far from accurate. Unless a dozen of them line up shoulder to shoulder, you’re of minor risk of any ball hitting you,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
“Muskets don’t concern me,” Two Dogs boasted.
“How much do you know of their armor then?” Ancestors’ Hand asked.
“It’s black as night, yet they can still see us,” Swift Shot answered.
“It’s only black when the stars shine. I told you, it’s enchanted. As you probably saw the morning after the attack, it transitions into a reflective silver when Mother Turklyo’s sun rises.”
“I know this already, old woman. The red in their helmets allows them to see,” Two Dogs said.
He pulled out the fragment of glass he took from the helmet and held it up for the women to see.
“Too bad it easily shatters when you try to remove it, huh?” Ancestors’ Hand asked.
She cackled again as Two Dogs grabbed his oar.
“I need to paddle again. Listening to this hag babble is more tiresome than fighting the Fraz River.”
Swift Shot sighed with relief as Two Dogs dipped his oar back into the river. He increased his strength and made two pulls before the serenity surrounding the boat vanished. The crack of muskets forced all three to search the eastern bank.
“There!” Swift Shot screamed.
She pointed at a plume of gunsmoke. Standing directly behind it were seven Corlains. They reloaded quickly and aimed a second time. Thankfully, their numbers were too few to blind them with a never-ending armor glare.
“Look out!” Ancestors’ Hand screamed moments before they fired.
The glow beneath the water vanished. Two Dogs watched as Ancestors’ Hand directed the spirits of small mammals and lizards killed along the river bank. Two Dogs thought he heard the Corlains laughing while they stomped on the apparitions or smashed them with the stocks of their muskets.
“I said help!” Swift Shot screamed.
The worry in her voice redirected Two Dogs’ attention. Apparently, the two volleys were more accurate than he’d suspected. The canoe was taking on water. Ancestors’ Hand and Swift Shot frantically bailed it.
“We’ll be fine,” Two Dogs said. “I’ll get us out of here. Those holes won’t sink us.”
There was an old saying among the Lacreechee, “Never give Mother Turklyo a challenge.” Two Dogs remembered this wisdom as the first beak of three dakydiles poked through the skin of their canoe. Thankfully, none of the passengers were wounded, but as the animals screamed, their mouths widened and tore large gashes into the canoe. The musket balls may have been manageable, but the dakydiles were about to turn inconvenience into a nightmare.
“Shit,” Two Dogs muttered as he summoned a barrier around himself.
Swift Shot charged an arrow with ice magic. She shot at the water on the east side of the canoe. A small ice raft formed. The Lacreechee warrior quickly jumped onto it. It shifted under her weight and drifted to the east bank. Swift Shot briefly held her right hip. Ancestors’ Hand halted her own jump as a dakydile passed between the ice raft and the canoe.
“I hope you can heal your own broken bones,” Two Dogs said.
Before Ancestors’ Hand could respond, he wrapped his strength-enhanced arms around her and chucked her to the waiting hands of Swift Shot. Ancestors’ Hand landed harder than she probably wanted, but her grunt brought a quick smile to Two Dogs.
“Catch!” Two Dogs shouted.
He tossed the packs to Swift Shot. She caught them while Ancestors’ Hand mended a sore ankle. A dakydile stabbed at Two Dogs’ foot. His magic protected him. The dakydile swam away, but two more continued to thrash at the last remnants of the canoe. Two Dogs fell into the river.
He instinctively grabbed his tomahawk and knife. Both were still tucked inside his belt. His necklace was also present. Losing igsidian wasn’t a problem he wanted to add to his list of issues.
The current swept Two Dogs past the ice raft. They were floating back toward the waiting Corlains. Ancestors’ Hand must have been too distracted by her injury to summon more spirit animals. Swift Shot was distracted by the dakydiles smashing holes into the ice. She had to concentrate to fill them with new ice the moment they appeared. She left her back exposed to the real enemy. The Corlains had ample time to aim at both women on the ice raft.
Two Dogs increased his strength. He felt a dakydile clawing at his magical barrier. The animal’s persistence gave him an idea. Two Dogs grabbed the scaly tail of the dakydile and flung it out of the water toward the waiting Corlains.
The soldiers were caught unaware. There was no reason for them to anticipate an attack like this. The men screamed like young children as the dakydile proved it was an efficient hunter on land as well as in the water. Six of the Corlains fired their muskets into the back of the dakydile. The seventh was too busy screaming as the animal tore chunks of his leg free.
Two Dogs increased his strength and speed as he swam to the bank behind the distracted Corlains. Two were dead by the time Two Dogs reached them. The other five were using their muskets as clubs to beat the frenzied dakydile. Two Dogs’ tomahawk and knife glowed orange as he attacked the nearest two Corlains. One took a knife deep into his spine. The other convulsed as Two Dogs put a foot onto his back to help remove the tomahawk from his skull.
The remaining Corlains turned toward Two Dogs. One struggled with an attack from behind by the still angry dakydile. The other two fell when an arrow briefly poked through each’s neck
before vanishing. The return arrows appeared in Swift Shot’s quiver as she and Ancestors’ Hand set foot on the bank.
The Corlains were dead, but Two Dogs still had an enraged and wounded dakydile to deal with. The animal appeared to sense the massive threat that three of Mother Turklyo’s children represented. It hissed at Two Dogs and his companions.
“This is your chance to leave,” Two Dogs said to the dakydile. “Consider it a professional courtesy among Corlain killers.”
The dakydile hissed again. Its muscles tensed as it gave the sign it intended to spring at someone. Swift Shot fired an arrow that sparked when it hit the dirt in front of the dakydile. She continued to do this until the dakydile was corralled back toward the river. It entered the water and allowed the current to take it away. All three combatants let out a sigh of relief as the serenity of the forest overtook them once more.
“Is everyone alright?” Two Dogs asked.
“Yes,” Swift Shot answered.
“Now that I have a moment to heal my ankle, I should be fine,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
Two Dogs kicked the body of a dead Corlain over. The left shoulder of the plate armor had a black cloud painted on it with yellow bolts of lightning sticking out.
“The Black Cloud Division,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
She spat on the ground to show her distaste for the infamous unit.
“None are as evil or barbaric as these bastards,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
“Why are they here?” Swift Shot asked.
“Chasing after us?” Two Dogs suggested.
“No.” Ancestors’ Hand shook her head. “If they were tracking us, they would have engaged before now. They’d have come with more too. This is something else.”
Two Dogs unfastened the leather belt around one of the bodies. He rifled through the pouches and dumped their contents. Musket balls, black powder, bandages, then some igsidian fell out. All three looked at the small stones and their implication. These weren’t the rough stones found on the head of a turklyo. These stones were expertly cut and polished.
“No!” Ancestors’ Hand screamed.
She sprinted, as much as a woman in her sixties could, northeast of their position. Two Dogs and Swift Shot shared a look of concern before following the Intakee woman. She had already said she recognized the trees. Two Dogs realized the only possible conclusion. Minutes after leaving the bank, Ancestors’ Hand wailed and confirmed what the Lacreechee already knew.
Two Dogs and Swift Shot emerged from the forest into a clearing. What should have been a vibrant sign of Intakee village life was instead misery for Ancestors’ Hand. Smoke still spiraled off the remains of tipis, canoes, and people. Charred skeletons smoldered in the center of the clearing. Piles of igsidian-free clothing accumulated everywhere.
Ancestors’ Hand fell to her knees and bawled. The Lacreechee gave her the space to mourn. Two Dogs’ heart was too raw to allow her sorrow to affect him. He realized he left the bodies of his community where they fell a week earlier. There was no doubt in his mind that his own village now looked exactly like this one. Swift Shot pulled him in for a hug as she sniffed.
“Ancestors’ Hand?” a weak voice asked.
Two Dogs searched for the source of the question. Tied to a tree was a young woman. Her tattereed clothes hung from her body. Frantic hands must have yanked her igsidian free. Tear tracks stained the woman’s face. Her eyes were puffy, her voice hoarse.
“Scarlet Turtle!” Ancestors’ Hand shouted.
She rushed to the woman. Two Dogs and Swift Shot followed. Two Dogs drew his knife and cut the Intakee woman free. She collapsed into Ancestors’ Hand’s waiting arms. She gripped the elderly Intakee woman firmly and cried into her chest. Ancestors’ Hand stroked her back.
“Scarlet Turtle, I’m going to make you better,” Ancestors’ Hand said.
Scarlet Turtle shook her head. “They made me drink something. I don’t know what it was, but I hear Mother Turklyo calling for me. I miss my husband. I miss my children. I don’t want you to reverse what those bastards did.”
Ancestors’ Hand swallowed. She blinked repeatedly and stared at the sky.
“If that’s what you wish,” Ancestors’ Hand quietly said.
“It is,” Scarlet Turtle confirmed.
“Before Mother Turklyo greets you, can you tell us if there are any more Corlains?” Two Dogs asked.
Ancestors’ Hand shot a nasty look at him. It may have been a callous question, but the information may save their lives.
“No,” Scarlet Turtle barely whispered. “They left earlier today. Only a few remained.”
“How did they defeat an entire tribe of Mother Turklyo’s children?” Two Dogs asked.
He already knew the answer. His tribe experienced the same gruesome fate. He’d convinced himself that he’d destroyed the only cannons the Corlains had. Ancestors’ Hand’s words and a second burning village contradicted his belief.
Scarlet Turtle ignored the question. Her fragile body shook as her voice became weaker. “They have spies every . . .”
Scarlet Turtle couldn’t finish her sentence. Her body went limp as her voice trailed off. Ancestors’ Hand held the young woman to her bosom and wailed again. Swift Shot grabbed Two Dogs’ shoulder and led him away.
“Give her a moment,” Swift Shot said.
Two Dogs nodded. “So much for our army.”
Swift Shot dug into the backpack that Two Dogs wore. She pulled out the igsidian stones shaped for a pair of spears.
“What do you plan to do with those?” Two Dogs asked.
“You’ll see,” Swift Shot coyly said. “I was given an expensive gift. You deserve one as well.”
Two Dogs raised an eyebrow as he canted his head toward her. He watched as Swift Shot placed both hands on the grassy soil beneath her. She scooped a handful of dirt in each hand and slapped her palms together. Dirt spilled back to the ground. Swift Shot pressed her hands firmly together and pulled them apart as wide as she could stretch. As her palms separated, a long shaft of wood formed. It looked like Glostaimian Fir, a wood as light as it was strong. Swift Shot fell to her ass and gasped.
“Impressive,” Two Dogs admitted.
Swift Shot gasped again. “I’m . . . not done . . . yet.”
Swift Shot held one of the igsidian stones to an end of the smooth shaft she created. Her igsidian burned so brightly that Two Dogs had to look away. She must have repeated this step with the second stone, because when Two Dogs looked back at her, she offered him a weapon.
The two igsidian stones stretched several inches from each end of the four-foot long shaft. Two Dogs admired how smooth the gift was. He spun it around his body as he practiced a few simple slashes and thrusts. Two Dogs stabbed his doubled-tipped spear into the ground as Swift Shot fell again in complete exhaustion.
“Are you okay?” Two Dogs asked.
Swift Shot nodded. “Now I know why they say not to craft materials from magic. I feel like you must have when you had to swim against the current of the Fraz. Maybe even after you earned your second eagle feather?”
Two Dogs smiled briefly. “This makes us even. Don’t overexert yourself, especially when we’re sitting on the remains of a recent battle with the Corlains.”
Swift Shot nodded again. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep. Two Dogs watched his friend as she snored louder than any man he’d ever known.
Ancestors’ Hand approached him. She no longer looked sorrowful. Instead, pure hatred flared in her eyes. She stared at the spear next to Two Dogs.
“That’s a warrior’s weapon,” she said with a nod. “Only the ultimate man should have something like that. Do you still believe Mother Turklyo hasn’t chosen you? Why else would she spare your friend to gift this weapon?”
Two Dogs ignored the talk of the alleged augury. “What do we do now?”
“We get answers,” Ancestors’ Hand responded. “Samburg is northeast of here, just below the mountains that border Vikisot
eland. Loyalties to Corla are strong among the city’s elite, but the commoners have much to complain about. We’ll go there and find allies.”
Two Dogs tugged at his igsidian-encrusted shirt. “Dressed like this? You know the Corlains will strip us of our igsidian the moment they see us. They’ll steal the gifts that belong to Mother Turklyo’s chosen people.”
“That’s why we’ll cover ourselves. Once your friend is rested, we’ll go hunting. There are some of Mother Turklyo’s other blessings that will sacrifice their coats to us. We’ll make cloaks out of these gifts. Inside Samburg, we’ll stick to the shadows and listen. Anyone who can help us won’t want to inform the Corlains of our igsidian. We’ll find the right friends there, then we’ll kill our enemies.”
“I like the part about killing Corlains.”
“I figured you would. We’ll kill the mayor and his cronies. Corla is an arrogant country. They’ll send soldiers to determine why communication is lost. With each new unit that arrives, your legend will grow. Many will want to bask in the glory that Mother Turklyo provides you.”
Two Dogs waved her off. She talked too much about things he didn’t believe in, but he hadn’t lied. He liked the part about killing Corlains.
chapter 7
ACorlain skirmisher plunged his spear into the dead body of a fallen rebel. As the smoke cleared from the burnt gunpowder, Githinji could watch as the melee soldiers who defended the flanks of his riflemen moved forward and sent the wounded either to a prisoner collection point or onto a personal meeting with the deity of their choosing.
Githinji sat upon his horse. His armor shone brightly, but this nuisance didn’t bother the other Corlains. Githinji smiled as more than one rebel prisoner closed his eyes to avert himself from the annoyance of the shine. Those brave enough to face the glare showed their distaste as they passed Githinji. The blue hackle on his helmet identified him as the general who crushed their pitiful attack. These people would be forced to recognize the will of Corla. Githinji would see to it personally.
“Sir, we have the leaders assembled,” a colonel said.
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