Malan’s “No!” stopped him before he ran me through.
Vani would not say another word.
Malan walked up to me, still supported by the Rods, and as I was held down, he started kicking me. Once, twice, three times. And then his leg, a stiff and hard leg like a piece of wood, separated from his body up to the knee. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Khun was a cripple. The Rod lifted the leg up while Malan continued to rage. After a few breaths, the Rods tied the leg back to his knee, and he spoke, sounding calmer.
“We all lose something, you see. We sacrifice for that Goddess of ours. I lose a leg. You lose…everything,” he said, looking at Zeria. “I traveled the ends of the world, Da-Ren. One thing I never forget is faces. That priest here is easy to remember. He begged me for a truce and then a duel back in Varazam. That woman though, I guess there’s no one else alive who would remember her. I do though. It’s the eyes, you see. We were Uncarved kids, in the Forest. That day we lost Lebo, on that first ambush there. The older Blades brought her to your knees, and I told you to guard her. But you didn’t, did you? When we came back, she was gone! Those eyes so blue. That man,” he pointed to the bleeding body of Vani, “said she is your woman. A fool you are!”
“I don’t know her.”
“This is…is. Stop the lies. The fuck with you, Da-Ren.” He turned to the Ssons. “We leave,” he said. They gathered closer around him, Blue and Skullface holding him by the arms. He pushed them away and walked on his own slowly. “You all, wait here,” he said looking at the Rods’ Chief. “Keep them here. Don’t hurt anyone, you hear me?”
Malan walked away slowly, pushing away the Rods who tried to support him. We stood there facing each other silently. I tried to steal a few more stares at Zeria who was looking away, ignoring all faces, her gaze fixed at the sky’s darkness. When my eyes turned to Baagh, he murmured the same words to me:
“Don’t do it!”
The night fell chilly over the field and froze everyone in place. They kept us apart but allowed us to sit on the ground. The Ssons kept guard over us as the rest of the men gathered around the torches. Zeria was the only woman there, the Ssons breathing over her.
A while later I saw Sani and his Guardians taking two steps back and then bowing. Out of the darkness, two figures in robes appeared among all the men who surrounded us. I could tell right away it was Sah-Ouna; it was as if the air around me had become darker and harder to breathe. The Witch approached Sani, and they exchanged a few words. It was clear from the gestures that they knew each other well.
She then took Zeria’s hand and held it inside her palms, looking her straight in the eyes, sending gooseflesh across my arms, before she went up the platform and stood next to the empty chair of the Khun.
The second longskull had a familiar face, but it would be a while before the memory of her came back to me. Half her face was painted in silver. The silver ran down like a river on her robe, and a finely threaded silver hairnet dropped all the way to her shoulders capturing Selene’s light. Both women stood still, their eyes focusing on me.
They were all there, gathered from all the corners of the earth on the same field, on the same night, all the ghosts under the Poppy Moon for a final time.
The silver-haired Ouna-Ma murmured a song to break the silence; it was the same melody that Leke and his comrades had chosen. For all I knew, those Witches knew everything about us from Sani. The humming was interrupted as she was about to start for the third time.
At the command of a Reghen, the Rods moved aside, and ten men carried a table and put it down in front of us. I was close enough to observe it in detail. It was two by three paces wide and long, painted and sculpted to look like a miniature of the world we knew. Gray dirt on its upper right corner for the steppe, the mountains of Kapoukia and the deserts of Varazam and Antia lower down, the wood painted dark blue for the Great Sea and Sapul in the middle. The Blackvein painted shiny, slithering, and black, then the iron marks of Sirol, and farther up the camp where we were now. The north path opened out west through a forest made of foot-tall twigs and wood pieces, mountains rising high to the west and then where Lenos stood, a multitude of fist-size cubes that resembled a fortified city.
The red cubes in front of the city were marked with tiny cross banners, and I guessed they were to account for the legions of the Western Empire. Malan’s armies were black miniature horses and white obelisks. None of the pieces were stuck fast in place, and a couple had dropped to the side as the men put the table down. There were three Drakon statues, each half a foot tall, standing where our enemies should be. One far north, the other in Lenos and the last one in Sapul.
Malan and his Rods followed the Reghen. The Khun stopped and looked at Sah-Ouna; he made the slightest bow but didn’t go up to his throne. He looked better now, his rage had passed, and he was able to walk slowly without support.
“We’re all here, then,” he said. “Let’s finish this. Da-Ren, you’re still alive because of that man you killed. If he spoke the truth, you might be useful. He claimed that you’ve been to Lenos. Speak! What did you see?”
Sah-Ouna had come down the steps and stood next to Malan.
“Don’t trust that man,” she said to the Khun, but with a raised voice so everyone could hear.
Malan bit his lip trying to remain quiet. But he couldn’t. He turned visibly angered and spoke to her.
“Oh, I trust him. He is to be trusted. If he doesn’t speak, everyone here will take her like a bitch tonight,” he said pointing toward Zeria. “And if he lies, then the dogs will take her too.” Malan turned to me: “Speak,” he said.
With Vani dead, my plan could work. There was not much to lose; all had been lost already. If I could fake the confidence needed. If sense could overtake my anger.
“Your plan of the world on this table is wrong,” I said. “And I am no traitor. They don’t have ten legions as you put here. We counted only four in Lenos. That northern path you marked—”
“Drakontail?” said the Reghen.
“Aha, it has a fitting name too! Because it swerves like a snake, many times in the middle. It will take longer to cross. There are vast swamps up there. I’d stay to the south of those ravines, here.” I touched a spot with my finger.
Warlords and Reghen pulled closer to the table to see and listen. The Rods and the Ssons stayed farther back.
“You’ll guide us through there,” said Malan.
If I could fake the confidence instead of revealing my despair. If I could be a Firstblade for a few more days instead of Aneria’s father. Then I would still have a chance.
“No, I won’t,” I said. “Because I’ll guide the other half of our Archers. Through White Doe.”
LXXXVIII.
Kill the Rest
Thirty-Second Spring. The night of the Poppy Flower Moon
A secret path through the caves; three thousand Archers could cross that in a day, and flank the legions of the West. Lenos’s mud walls were not even five paces tall. Victory! It was a good plan. Baagh had lowered his head in despair, but I had to do something to save them.
If it was not for the First Witch.
“The auguries are ominous, the Legends even darker. The Tribe never enters the caves,” she said.
Malan nodded, but his face was full of mockery.
Sah-Ouna continued:
“We got word that Sapul’s army is gathering. They might march north and attack Sirol when we’re away. We need to gather our men there and defend. We must avoid venturing west under this moon. It is too early in spring, and the horses are weak.”
“It is not wise to split our force in three,” said the Reghen. “I don’t trust him,” he pointed at me once again.
“Sapul’s army is already marching,” I said. I had to risk it.
“How do you know?” asked Malan. I got an overwhelming sense that out of all those around him, he trusted me more.
“My informant,” I said, nodding toward Baagh. “I told you, I am n
ot a traitor, and neither is he.”
“Khun, no! Stop listening to him,” Sah-Ouna screamed, in outrage.
Malan called for Irhan to step forward.
“Despite what you all seem to think, I am not that stupid,” said Malan. “We’ve sent Trackers everywhere. We know about the walls of Lenos. And yes, Sapul’s army is marching, but it will be more than a whole moon until they reach the Blackvein, and even then, I don’t think they’ll move now that the Crossers from the west retreated. Only of that White Doe I didn’t know. And neither did any of you it seems. Except for Da-Ren here, who you claim I shouldn’t trust. All I am doing here is trying to find out who is loyal. You, him, you?” he pointed to some of us. “White Doe?” he asked again. “You can lead us through there?”
“Not alone. You are too many. I need all my men, the women, the Dasal, everyone,” I can’t lead three thousand men alone unless I can be in ten places at the same time,” I said.
“My Khun, the Legend of the—”
“The Ancients. I know,” I interrupted the Reghen once more before he completed his words. “The Legends of the Reekaal, the Drakons and many more, Khun. All those myths have kept us away from the West for so long. If you don’t trust me, we can go through the caves with the Reghen or the Rods. I can show them, and when we are back, they can tell you if I am true or not. Yes, the White Doe is a desolate place. A man’s heart freezes in there. But if you know the path, you can enter at dusk and be out of there long before dawn.”
“Stop listening to that man, for he is marked from birth to destroy us all,” said Sah-Ouna.
Malan turned toward her:
“You seem to know everything, Witch. Everything about wars, battles, and forests, and yet you couldn’t tell me of the White Doe. You know about the bloodeaters, the Reekaal, and the Nychterides but you never talked of a northern path where legions gather against us. As far as I can tell if Da-Ren hadn’t scorched those supply carts they would not have turned back. As far as I can tell he saved the Tribe. Not you. And you seem to know about healing! How to band a broken leg so it won’t fester. Another one of your skills! Not another word out of you, or I’ll send you first into the White Doe with all your sisters.”
Silence fell again for a few moments. Sah-Ouna took two steps back, away from the Khun, choosing the darkest corner.
“I am not convinced, my King,” said Karat, the Leader of the Archers. “Are we to send eighty Packs of Archers in the caves?”
“If I sit here, I lose the advantage,” said Malan. “The East and the West will come closer, and they can decide when to attack us. We are defenseless. If we crush Lenos, Sapul will turn back frightened.”
“Listen to me. We must retreat all the way back to the steppe where they won’t follow,” said Sah-Ouna.
“The Tribe doesn’t fight in springtime, King,” added the Reghen. “The horses need to regain their strength. We’ve lost many men to the plague.”
“You want me to run like a rabbit back to the fucking steppe? Concede defeat? I am King of the Northern Empire! Abandon Sirol and the Blackvein? The palace? Are you all mad? I have never been defeated, and never will I be. Do you all hear this? Lenos will share the fate of Varazam and all the other fallen cities. Did they dare campaign against me?”
Most of the men cheered and shouted, drowning the complaints of the few doubters.
Baagh was looking at me, dejected and with a darkness covering his eyes. Worse, Zeria was looking at me the same way.
“How long is the path through the caves?” asked the Reghen.
“Three thousand paces,” I answered.
“And how fast can we move in it?”
“With horses? Very slowly. We’ll need Craftsmen to bridge gaps immediately if something collapses. It would be faster to walk.”
“But we need the horses, once we’re out.”
“We do,” I said, looking at Malan.
“For three thousand men to cross…” the Reghen was counting, thinking.
“Make it five thousand,” said Malan. Everyone was silent. “Five thousand,” he repeated.
“But that doesn’t leave enough Archers for the Drakontail force,” said the Reghen.
“File of two, with guides,” I said. “It can be done.”
“War machines?”
“Are you mad? Not even oxen carts with arrows. None of them can cross the path. Archers with as many quivers as they can carry,” I said.
“They must be out of the caves exactly after the first wave attacks the Crossers through the Drakontail,” said Malan.
“Would take half a day for all those riders to cross the caves,” said the Reghen.
“Longer.”
“I count better than you, Da-Ren.”
“You do, but war is not about counting from your tent. Out there, strange things happen.”
“Like what?”
“Like…strange,” I said.
“But we’ll have you to lead us there, so we won’t have surprises,” said Malan.
“I need my men and the—”
“You’ll get your Blades,” he said.
“The Dasal too, they know the caves better than anyone,” I said.
“The Dasal too. But the woman and your child, you won’t. They go with Sani.”
The child? How did he know that? Vani. Vani had been with me for so long; they knew everything. Aneria was still alive.
“No, that’s my one demand,” I said. “I take the women.”
“You have no choice. Sani will take a thousand men and those Ouna-Mas who stink of bad luck from a valley away, and return to Sirol.”
Sani cried “No,” and then stepped forward, approaching Malan. “My Khun, I served you well. I want to lead our men to the Drakontail,” said Sani. “All my life, I’ve been waiting for the Final Battle. By Enaka, don’t deny me this. I am the reason we are here.”
Malan passed his gaze from one face to another, thinking.
“Have your way. You lead your men, the rest of the Archers and our othertriber allies to Drakontail. You take those prisoners with you,” said Malan, pointing to Zeria and Baagh. “If you sense defeat or betrayal, chop them to pieces and retreat all the way to Sirol.”
Sani, you fool, the Drakontail army is the bait. You will all be slaughtered like we were at Apelo. Along with Zeria and Aneria. What have I done?
Sani bowed, but he was swelling with pride.
You, fool. You killed yourself and everyone I love.
“Anyone else?” asked Malan.
Zeria faced the Khun and spoke in the tongue of the Tribe.
“That man is lying,” she said looking at me. “You cannot get through the caves with horses.”
Don’t do this Zeria. Don’t sacrifice yourself. Why are you sacrificing yourself for Lenos?
“I’d believe you, woman,” said Malan with a grin on his face. “If I hadn’t seen you almost twenty springs ago. But he saved you back then. And he is still here trying to save you. Twenty winters he’s been trying. So, I know he doesn’t lie; he’ll do anything for you.”
“And that’s why I won’t lead your Archers to the White Doe unless you give me her and the…others back,” I said.
“If you trust that man, it will be your final mistake,” said Sah-Ouna.
I had pushed him too far. We all had. And he was the one with the power and the rage.
“Do you dare threaten me, Witch? You leave for Sirol right away. And you, dog,” he said turning to me. “This is the last time you defy me.” Malan turned and faced the Ssons. “Take him out of my sight. Put him in chains. Kill the rest.”
LXXXIX.
Sacrifice the Best
Thirty-Second Spring. The days after the Poppy Flower Moon
“Do you know what the worst of it was, Da-Ren?” asked Sani. “When you abandoned me here for five winters and left for that campaign to the east? Not knowing. We’d never get any news. Did everyone die? Would you ever come back? How long? Are we to live alone for the rest of
our days without a Witch? What was the wish of the Goddess? You know why I am telling you this?”
I just shook my head. The Ssons had taken me to a dark corner of the camp not far from where I had met Malan. It was a place of prisoners and torture. I could hear men screaming some far away tied to poles, and more sounds of pain coming from within a large tent. Rods were guarding every corner, and some of them were holding chained maulers. I hadn’t seen so many of the gray dogs together for a long time.
Sani caught up with us, as Skullface was about to push me into a smaller tent that wouldn’t fit more than three men.
“Do you know?” he repeated.
“What? Where are the others? Sani, don’t go to Drakontail, it will be death for you and everyone.”
“Death? You think death scares me? Being abandoned here alone scared me once. I died a hundred times back then. You’ll understand this now. That’s why I am telling you. You’ll be all alone in here chained like a dog. Not knowing. Without any news. You’d almost convinced the Khun back there. But you’re a ninestar, Sah-Ouna was right. You’d find a way to bring your own doom.”
Skullface was talking to the guards, giving them instructions. I couldn’t hear what he said, as his voice was coming out otherworldly, a slow and horrid gurgle from the bottom of his throat. It was the first time I had heard a Sson utter words. The Rods were staring at him in fear, nodding vigorously.
“You don’t let anyone talk to him. You don’t take him out, just some water and bread. You hear me?” Sani said to the Rods.
They nodded again, and they pushed me in. They untied me and left me there in the darkness of the tent. There was some dim light coming from the smokehole, but no hearth and nothing but the bare earth I was sitting on.
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