Traf Dek smiled. “We don’t dislike you plains people. Though we don’t really like you either. The truth is, we are jealous of you. The plains people don’t like us traders because they think that we are of the city, that we steal their children away from them for six years at least, and many of their children choose to stay in Aa Ellet and never see their families again. There are many of the Sek Farn who are born in Aa Ellet, but they never leave. We traders were all once plains people, villagers, like you. When we finished our six years at the University, we found that we couldn’t go back to our villages, either because our family had all died, or the village had been abandoned or sometimes because we were not welcome, our village thought we were tainted. Those villages never lasted long anyway, all the young people left at fourteen so those remaining got older and eventually all died or moved away. We couldn’t live by ourselves on the plains, so we came back to Aa Ellet and became traders so that we could at least get to see the plains again, even if we couldn’t live there.”
“That must be awful for you!” Sah Lee blurted out. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean be rude.”
“You weren’t being rude.” Traf Dek smiled at her. “I’m beginning to warm to you. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us before we reach Aa Ellet. Between us, we’ll tell you about the University and life in the city. If there’s no one to meet you when we get to the city, I’ll take you to the University.”
Chapter Five
Aa Ellett
By the time they reached the city, Sah Lee had made good friends with the traders, particularly with Traf Dek, and had learnt many strange things about it from them. She learned that males sometimes mixed with the females and were treated as equals. There was no hunting, but fights among the city dwellers often broke out, leading to injury and sometimes death. That there were people whose job it was to maintain peace and stop the fighting. That people outside the University had to work and were paid in ‘money,’ which they had to have to get food, water and accommodation. They even had to work when they didn’t want to! Living in Aa Ellet was very complicated. Sah Lee couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to live there.
When they arrived at the station in Aa Ellett, Sah Lee was overwhelmed by the number of people bustling about; many of them were looking around, bewildered. Five other lost looking young people got off from the other two carriages on the train. Sah Lee walked over and asked if they were students and knew where to go. One of the students stepped forward and said: “We talked about this on the train. I am Sor Tan, and I am the best hunter, so you will follow me. I will be able to track the University.”
“Why do you think that you are you the best hunter? And you can’t track the University, it isn’t an animal, it is a place.” Sah Lee replied.
“I don’t ‘think’ I am the best hunter, I am the best hunter. Ask these two.” she said, gesturing towards two of the other young Aarnth with her. “They come from my village.”
“It’s true.” one of the youngsters volunteered. “She is the best of the young hunters in our village.”
“But that just means you are the best in your village. I am just as good a hunter as you!” Sah Lee retorted.
“Oh yes? Have you ever been on a successful massoon hunt?” Sor Tan asked. “Because I have. We brought down a half grown massoon that provided so much meat that there was too much for the five villages that took part in the hunt and we took the spare meat to four other villages and gave it to them!”
“No, I haven’t.” confessed Sah Lee. There had been no massoon near her village for three years, and she was too young then to go on a hunt. “But that doesn’t mean that you are a better hunter than me!”
“I think it does,” Sor Tan said with a smirk. “so I’ll lead the way. Come on.”
“I’ll find my own way, thank you.” Sah Lee replied.
The two students from Sor Tan’s village moved behind her, ready to follow. The two other students looked at Sor Tan, then at Sah Lee, then at each other. Without a word they both walked over to Sah Lee.
“We’ll follow you.” the taller one said. “My name is Tir Mal, this is Kel Mai. We are from different villages, but we hunt together sometimes, and we know each other. How will you find the University?”
“I am Sah Lee. If you were on a hunt and needed water, how would you find the nearest water hole?”
“I would ask one of the older hunters who knew the area to take me there, but how does that help us find our way to the University?” Tir Mal asked.
Sah Lee turned to Traf Dek, who had been standing watching the exchange with a smile on her face. “Would you show us the way to the University please?” she asked.
“You show great wisdom for one so young.” Traf Dek answered. “Come, follow me.”
◆◆◆
The University covered over a quarter of the city with a spread-out campus. Traf Dek took the trio to the reception building and wished them good luck; the building was heaving with bewildered looking young people and harassed older people.
Tir Mal grasped Sah Lee’s wrist and turned to Kel Mai, saying, “Stay close.” Sah Lee led them close to one of the doors the busy staff were rushing in and out of and soon managed to intercept one of them.
“Excuse me,” Sah Lee asked, “what should we be doing?”
“Fill in these forms.” the staff member said, pulling three forms from a sheaf and handing them to Sah Lee. “Take them to the registration building and they’ll tell you where to go.”
“Thank you, where is the registration building?” Sah Lee asked.
“Out that door,” she said, pointing to the far side of the room. “Straight across to the gray stone building.”
“Would it help if we took some of those forms and handed them out?” asked Sah Lee.
“Oh, thank you, that would be so helpful.” the harassed staff member said, thrusting the sheaf of forms into Sah Lee’s hands. “And you might need this.” she added, handing Sah Lee a pencil.
“Come on,” Sah Lee said to Tir Mal and Kel Mai, handing each of them some forms, “we’ll find the door and then hand them out to the people closest to it. That will reduce the amount of pushing through the crowd to get out.”
She led the way through the mass of students to the door that led to the registration building and the three of them handed out the forms. The forms were all numbered. The information required was simple; their name, the name of their village and their birth date. None of the students had anything to write with, so they loaned the pencil to them to fill in their forms.
A small group entered the reception building and pushed their way through the crowd towards Sah Lee and her companions. Sor Tan confronted Sah Lee.
“So, you managed to find your way here, eventually?” Sor Tan spat at Sah Lee.
“We’ve been here a while. I’m surprised that you managed to track it so quickly.” Sah Lee answered, trying to suppress a smirk.
“I’ll take those.” growled Sor Tan as she snatched the forms from Sah Lee’s hands.
Dropping into a half crouch, Sah Lee snarled and bared her teeth, but then slowly stood up and smiled. “Fine.” she said, as she turned around and walked to a group busy writing on their forms. Tir Mal and Kel Mai came over to join her.
“I thought that you were going to fight her.” Kel Mai said. “I saw what happened. Why didn’t you?”
“There’s more than one way to skin a ranual. Anyway, it’s probably frowned upon if you kill a fellow student. Especially on your first day.” Sah Lee smiled. She waited until the last of the group had finished writing on her form and held out her hand for the pencil. “Let’s see how well Sor Tan gets on when the people she’s giving forms out to realize they have nothing to write with.”
Sah Lee looked around and realized that most of the students they had given forms to were still there.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked.
The one nearest her said: “For you to take us over to the registration bui
lding.”
Sah Lee shrugged. “OK, follow me.” and with Tir Mal holding her wrist again and Kel Mai on her other side, led the way through the door and across to the gray stone building.
Sah Lee pushed through the wide wooden double doors into a large, almost empty room with four desks on the back wall. An adult sat behind each desk with short queues of students in front of her. Sah Lee and Tir Mal moved to join the nearest queue and Kel Mai fell in behind them.
The queue moved forward quickly and Sah Lee handed her form to the woman at the desk. She glanced at the form, wrote Sah Lee’s name and number in a ledger then put it face down in a tray full of forms on the desk.
She looked up at Sah Lee. “Accommodation block seven, floor three, room nine. That will be your home for the next six years. You’ll find a book in there that will tell you all you need to know for now. Next!”
“Where is accommodation block seven?” Sah Lee asked.
“There’s a map on the wall by the exit.” she said, pointing to the left. “Next!”
Sah Lee stood back, waiting for Tir Mal and Kel Mai. She heard them being told the same as she was, including the room number. As soon as all three were registered, they walked to the exit, checked the location of accommodation block seven and went in search of their new home - room nine, floor three.
She and her companions followed the map directions to block seven and climbed the stairs, which Sah Lee was relieved to see were not just broken slabs of stone loosely piled on top of each other. They reached floor three and found room nine near the end of a wide corridor.
Sah Lee bounded over to the window and flung the shutters wide open. the other two leaned out either side of her. All three turned as the door swung. Three students stood there.
“Is this room nine, floor three, accommodation block seven?” the one at the front asked.
“Yes,” Sah Lee replied, “is this your room too?”
“That’s what they told us, but if you’re already here…” her voice trailed off.
“There’s room for six, you three will fill it up.
Sah Lee introduced herself, Tir Mal and Kel Mai to the three newcomers.
“I’m Mah Dak, this is Ran Bor and Lat Raan.”
Mah Dak and Lat Raan looked like typical young Aarnth hunters, slim, athletic, with honey gold skin and auburn hair. Ran Bor was not quite as tall as the others, nor as slim and athletic as they were.
“Did you know each other before you got here?” asked Sah Lee.
“No,” Mah Dak smiled, “we met in the queue at the registration building. We were just behind you but took a bit longer than you to find the room.”
“We can all stick together now, I am sure we can find our way round between us.”
The three newcomers nodded eagerly, Mah Dak and Lat Raan with a smile, Ran Bor looking very serious.
“There should be a book in here which tells us all we need know about the University.” Mah Dak said.
“We haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, it’s over there.” Sah Lee said, gesturing towards it.
Ran Bor picked the book up, sat on a bunk and started reading it.
“It says here we have to be in Teaching Building Three, room two at first light. I don’t know how that’s going to work,” she said, “my mother always has to wake me up or I sleep until mid-morning.”
“That’s not a problem, I always wake before dawn. Before we do anything, my bladder is full, and I need to relieve myself. I didn’t notice a patch of trees when I came in, did any of you?”
“It says here,” Ran Bor continued, reading the book, “there is a room at the end of every corridor with toilets and water. There’s a map of the University campus here too, so we should be able to find everything easily.”
“Toilets? Anybody know what they are?” Sah Lee asked and looked around at the others.
Ran Bor answered, “My mother told me before we left. There are too many people in the city to use trees and bushes, so they have these things called toilets where you go to relieve yourself.”
“That makes sense. Let’s go and have a look at the room, then we’ll find the refectory.” Sah Lee said.
Having found the room, they experimented with the toilets, which were just holes in the floor, “I wonder where it goes?” Sah Lee said. Then they played with the water for a while.
When they were thoroughly wet, the six of them explored the university campus. Tir Mal never leaving Sah Lee’s side. There were many buildings made of stone with pathways and alleys between them. All the buildings had names and numbers above the entrances, so although many of the words had no meaning yet to the students, they could easily remember the numbers. The route around the campus was labyrinthine, but with their experience of finding their way on the mainly featureless plain, none of them had a problem with quickly building an accurate mental map.
Chapter Six
Field Trip
After two years of being confined to the University with only an occasional foray into the city, all Sah Lee’s class were looking forward to the trip to the Great Northern Forest. Although a train line ran from the city to the logging camp, Rin Tor, their group tutor, told them they would travel by foot. They would hunt for their own food, find water to refill their drinking bottles and sleep under the sky.
The logging camp was nine days travel away, so the journey would be like a massoon hunt. These often lasted for days before an opportunity came to take down one of the great beasts. Sah Lee had never been on a massoon hunt, but she had been on several hunting expeditions when she had to stay overnight with the pack on the plains, and she had spent a night by herself on the way to the station, so she knew what to expect.
Sah Lee was desperate to get back to the plains. She was by far the best hunter amongst the younger people of the village and as good as any of the adults - except for Tef Dor, the hunt leader. The elders had told her that when the time came, she would take over from Tef Dor as the hunt leader for the village. She ached to return home to continue her training, but this foray into the plains again would have to do for now. It would be a long time before she could return home.
Rin Tor had led many of these class field trips over the years. She made sure that all the students had sturdy breeches and tunics and issued each of them with a University backpack and water bottle on the previous day. The students were instructed to collect a day’s ration of dried meat from the refectory the night before and bring the water bottle with them. They would have that to fall back on, but the plan was that they would rely on what they could hunt and what water they could find. Rin Tor knew where all the water holes were as she had done this journey many times before, but she would let the students find them. She carried eight days of dried meat rations; she was no hunter and didn’t know if this group of students would be any good at hunting. She had also taken the precaution of sending a message on the train to the student reception office at the logging camp to tell them when they were due to arrive, so they could send out a rescue party if the class didn’t arrive on time.
Rin Tor assembled the class on the open area in front of Teaching Building Three just before first light. She had a leather bag and a pile of what looked like leather straps at her feet. Sah Lee and Tir Mal had become inseparable during their two years at university and they stood together, patiently waiting for the last of the group to arrive.
When the last of the students had arrived, some yawning and rubbing their eyes, Rin Tor addressed them: “Now class, I know some of you have your own hunting knives and some of you prefer not to use knives at all. As we are all going to depend on each other during the journey out and back, I am issuing you all with a University hunting knife. This will be the only one you will be given while you are here. If you lose or break it and need a replacement, you will have to earn it first by doing work for the University in your free time. These are valuable knives, so you will have to do a lot of work. What I am saying is, don’t lose or break it. If you prefer to use you
r own knife, that’s OK but you will still take one of these. They have metal reinforced sheaths and you may also take a shoulder, back or leg harness for it, or a belt if you prefer.
Sah Lee had practiced with a back harness at the fighting club and liked the way the knife stayed out of the way until you needed it. She took a knife and a back harness and examined the knife. The blade, nearly two hand spans long, swept up to a point at the end, the last fifth of the top of the blade came down in a sharpened concave curve to meet the point. The handle was made of bone, dyed black and riveted to the full width tang. Where the blade met the handle two guards stuck out from the top and bottom of the blade to stop the hand, which may be wet with blood, slipping down from the handle to the blade. The knife was similar, but superior, to the hunting knife that Tef Dor carried with her.
She pulled off her tunic and slipped the back harness on. One strap went around her at the bottom of her chest, another ran up from it, over her shoulder and back down to connect to the back of the chest strap. Tir Mal stepped behind her and reached round for Sah Lee’s knife. She attached the sheath to the strap with the loops provided and as Sah Lee held her hand over her back, adjusted the position so that she could easily reach and draw the knife. Sah Lee slipped her tunic back on and repaid Tir Mal by attaching and adjusting her knife to her back harness.
When the students had all finished attaching their new knives, Rin Tor called them to order. The first glimmer of daylight was beginning to show on the eastern horizon. “I’ll lead the way out of the city. We head due north from there. You can elect a leader or split into groups with leaders and navigate to the north. If we stay on the right bearing, we should be near a water hole by midday. We’ll stop there, and you can organize a hunt. We’ll have a light meal, refill our water bottles and continue until dusk. When we stop, you can all hunt and we’ll have as much to eat as we can, or as much as you can kill. Tomorrow morning, we will leave our overnight camp well before first light. Follow me.”
Hunter, Warrior, Commander Page 3
