by Sam Taw
When Vina and Kewri had bundled my things together, I checked on the patient one last time and made my excuses to leave. It was uncommonly warm and oppressive in the Long Hut, and I was of a mind to be alone. Vina went for a walk in the early evening sun while Kewri guarded the goats in their pen. I ate a couple of strips of the venison to tide me over but my appetite was lost. Everything tasted of ash.
By nightfall, most of the elders had returned to their homes, leaving those closest to the warrior to watch over him. I dragged a stool to the doorway of my house and watched the smoke thicken in the sky until it blotted out the twinkling light from the gods. It was marginally cooler for one, but I could also keep an eye out in case Ren returned with the Hunters.
A short time after the darkness was fully on us, Tallack’s men lit the torches along the boardwalk and in other strategic places about camp. He was not taking any chances with the new people and their thieving ways to use the night against us. Predictably, Endelyn’s hut was lit up like a midsummer festival. Her recent performance had attracted new believers into her clutches. Even the night time did not halt her blessings and offerings to the wooden gods outside her door.
It may have just been concern about Ren, or that Tallack appeared to be reluctant to deal with Kenver, but my unease and restlessness would not abate. I stayed up until long after dark, grinding and mixing pastes and potions with a sense that they would be needed in the coming moons. When most people had turned in for the night, and the priestess had exhausted the line of offerings and tributes, I saw Tallack strolling over to her hut. He carried with him a circle of twisted willow withies. After just a few moments, Senara and the pup exited. She did not look at all pleased to be put out of her latest home.
I didn’t need to guess what my nephew and the priestess were discussing. He’d already made up his mind and he was never one to wait patiently for the right moment to act. He would make his offer to bind with the priestess, presenting her with the eternal circle of life, woven in green stick wood and decorated with flowers. Neither did I need to know her answer, for the elated shrieking coming from within her hut said it all. She had accepted him and within a few moons, would govern by his side over us all. It was a dark night indeed. With hope fading in my heart, I went to my bunk and tried to sleep.
The news of Tallack’s proposal spread quicker than the heath fires. Women all across camp were buzzing with excitement. Endelyn set herself up outside her hut, receiving visitors and well-wishers, traders and kind hearted Sea Warriors paying their dues to the next Ruvane.
In the absence of my morning milky grains, I walked to the Long Hut to see the warrior and his family. As I anticipated, he did not live long. His father took my hands in his and fixed me with his watery stare to thank me for the short while they had with the patient during the night. There was no need to exchange words, for nothing I said could comfort him, nor his wife and daughter.
I knew they’d already given everything of value to the priestess in offering, but still he tried to pay me with his only blade. It was a tempting offer, given my need for such a fine knife, but they could ill afford the loss after all they had endured. Instead, I told him that the gods had guided me to help his family, and he needed to take care of them in the days ahead. That seemed to appease him, as many about camp believed I had the ear of Cernonnus through the rare white hart I’d befriended, just before my nephews had him sacrificed.
With hunger and grief so commonplace within our tribe, I thought Endelyn might have the decency to wait before making her preparations for the ceremony, but I was wrong. She spun about in a dream of opulence that made me nauseous. I was on my way back home when she saw me and glided across the cracked earth to my side.
“Isn’t it fabulous news, Meliora? I’m to be Ruvane. Did you hear? I thought I’d see you at first light this morning. Why didn’t you visit?”
So many questions, such an absence of decorum and sensitivity, I hardly knew which of them to address first. More irksome than those, was her use of my given name. Through respect for my position in the tribe, Endelyn had always called me as others do, Fur Benyn, or wise woman in our tongue. The very moment Tallack elevated her status so that she would become the next Ruvane, she declared herself my superior. I knew it would be so, but I thought she’d take longer to adjust to the change.
When I failed to answer her many questions, she thinned her eyes. Was that scorn I detected or something worse?
“Come and speak to the woman who will dye the cloth for the gown I’m having made. I want that luscious deep colour between purple and red that Tallack has on his ship. The dyers say it can’t be done, but they must be wrong. You’ll know what to use, surely?”
I did know and the dyers were right. The only reason such a colour existed on Tallack’s ship was because it had sailed all the way from the shores of Tyre on the other side of the world. “It isn’t possible to achieve that colour with any plant or rock from our lands.” I said, trying to pull away from her tight grip on my arm.
“Then we’ll trade for some. What do we need?”
I closed my eyes. Whether it was exhaustion or exasperation I could not say, but she irritated me beyond reckoning. All around us, children infested with lice were starving and homeless, mothers grieved for their sons and all she could think about was the colour of cloth for her binding ceremony. I lifted my face to the skies and sent a silent message to the Summerlands to bring me deliverance. Perhaps I was once again in the gods favour, for the guards in the northern watchtower sounded the horn and opened the gates.
In they came, whooping and hollering in their usual way, but not with our enemy’s heads strung from their horses. They came with meat; deer, boar, beaver, and many other animals besides. The noise brought out a long line of tribe’s folk to greet them. Kitto led the Head Hunter Clan into the heart of the compound, waving and grinning at the cheering crowds. I knew what they were all thinking. It was written all over their faces. Kitto was their saviour, a strong warrior who not only kept them safe, but provided for them in their time of need.
Tallack’s hold over the tribe was weakening.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Renowden was at the rear of the procession of returning Head Hunters. He was in terrible shape, barely hanging onto the reins of his pony. While the Hunters took their victory laps around the central paths of the island, revelling in the praise, Ren stopped his horse outside my hut and almost fell from its back. I hurried to help him inside away from prying eyes.
“Are you hurt?” I panted, fearing the worst.
He shook his head and coughed for a long time. “Just need to catch my breath. I’ll be fine in a bit.”
We both knew that to be a lie. It was a foolish errand. Tallack never should have sent him. He took some water with a little honey that I’d been saving for a special occasion. These days, special occasions were a rarity. I also knew that the sweetness would perk him up until I could get some good food into his belly. He needed bread, something easy to digest, but there was no flour nor grains to be had anywhere in camp. With Vina out searching for roots and Kewri slicing up some venison, I sat and listened to his story of how he found the Hunters.
After I’d spotted them at the far end of our northern wood, Ren tracked them to the edges of the moors. The heath fire had already passed that area, blackening everything in its path and forcing all the creatures east. It took another half day for him to catch up with them on the borders with the Durotriges land, where they’d set up camp and looked as though they were prepared to stay there for some time.
“I spoke at great length to each of the men, trying to convince them to return. They are loyal to Kitto now that Blydh has gone.” He said, before gulping down the honey water.
I nodded agreement. It was worse than I’d feared.
“Kitto has them all believing that Tallack wanted his brother dead so that he could take full control over the tribe without him. They blame him for the strange behaviour, the attack on Endelyn,
the failed trip to the sacred springs, everything.”
The news was difficult to swallow. I knew how close the twins were, but few of the men had the same privileges that I’d enjoyed. In public, my nephews often disagreed, more so towards the end, when Blydh was overcome by the dark spirit from the Underworld. His head injury preyed heavily on my mind every night. I laid awake wondering if there was anything else I could have done to save his life that day but all my ruminations came to nought.
Without my procedures to remove the shattered bone from his brain, he would have certainly died. If only I could return to that moment and warn myself against using the golden sun disc to protect his head from further damage. That was a mistake I had to live with for the rest of my days and one my family would always have to hold against me.
“So, how did you get them to come back?”
“I didn’t really. In the end, it was Kitto’s decision. He suddenly roused everyone from their slumber and ordered them to hunt like their lives depended upon it; said that the tribe’s folk were relying on them. As soon as they had enough butchered and wrapped, we rode like the Morrighan was on our tail all the way home.”
I stared down at the rushes. Kitto was a shrewd man. He had the Hunters obeying his every word. They’d stayed away just long enough for our people to get desperate, then returned in the nick of time to be hailed as heroes. “And they all follow him without question?”
Ren nodded slowly. This was disturbing news indeed. Tallack’s number of loyal Sea Warriors was dwindling fast. With the Alchemists slaughtering the two men alongside Massen at the northern mines, and the losses we’d incurred during the Duro attack and the fated trip into Belgae territory, the Head Hunter Clan was almost double the size of the Sea Warrior Clan. If Tallack couldn’t bring them back under the control of his Chieftaincy, there was a strong possibility that our family would cease to rule over Dumnonii lands. If that should happen, Kitto would have all our heads skewered on posts at the gates before the sun set.
Ren didn’t need to explain what this meant. We both knew the risks involved. When I told him about Tallack’s proposal to Endelyn, he blew out his cheeks and shook his head. “They will not respect a Ruvane from the Priest Sect, not after the incident with the poisoned water last winter.”
“But she was never part of the Sect. She practiced at the Nine Maiden Stones on the moors.”
“Doesn’t matter. As far as the Hunters are concerned, all priests are the same.”
I sat on the bunk beside him and rested my weary head in my hands. We stayed like that for some time, lost in deep thought with no need to speak. For what could we say? We both knew that our family faced tough challenges ahead, and neither of us wanted to admit that Tallack was too inexperienced to meet them. He was not a cruel leader like his grandfather, nor a disciplined one like his brother. Instead, he’d embraced clemency before earning his reputation as a fierce warrior in battle like his father, Aebba. Without the respect of all the clans, he would have a short reign and a short life to match. What then would become of Cryda, little Delen and me? A shiver passed down my spine.
Ren saw me close my eyes and shudder. He lifted his arm around my shoulder and tipped his head against mine. “We’ll think of something, Mel. Don’t give in just yet.”
I wish I could say that I shared his optimism. With all the mismanagement over the last quarter moon, I didn’t think things could get any worse. He stayed until the meat and roots were cooked and for once, all four of us sat around a table to eat together. This was my own little family of misfits. How many moons had I left to enjoy them?
For most of the day, I had queues of incomers lined up at my door for healing remedies. The one benefit of having such warm weather was that many of the plants surviving the drought had seeded early, including angelica. I couldn’t trust Vina to pick the right plants, since they look so similar to some that are potent poisons. Instead, Kewri walked out to the edges of the marshlands to pick the seed heads ready to crush.
Many of those at my door were the mothers of lice ridden children. With a quick dunk in the stream and some soapwort rubbed into their hair, Ren set about shaving their heads before passing them along to me. I sprinkled the crushed angelica seeds on their skin and moved them along to Vina, who grumbled while she smeared any cuts and scrapes with plantain paste. By the time we’d finished, there was a whole collection of shiny pink scalped youngsters sitting on the grass squabbling over food scraps.
One or two of the mothers asked us to treat them too, until eventually, we’d shaved entire families. Whether or not the lice had spread, the whole procedure made us all itch. It was hot and tiring work. When all the seed was gone, and we’d sent the visitors on their way, Ren and I went down to the stream and dangled our feet in the cool water. It tingled and revived me, but I still felt grubby. Ren must have felt the same because he slipped off the bank and sat half-submerged in the tributary fully clothed.
I had to laugh. He cared not what other people thought. While I was distracted, he yanked me by my ankle until I too was laying on the stream bed. Spluttering, giggling and soaking wet. The moment of silliness cheered my old heart no end. Ren flicked and splashed water at me until others from the camp saw us. I thought they might jeer at us old folk having a bit of fun, but they saw it as permission to do the same. Before we knew it, Kewri, Vina, the elders, mothers, children and the camp dogs had all jumped in with us.
We frolicked about as though we were all half-addled by the heat until the stream was a giant muddy mess. That did not please those who needed fresh water for washing clothes or making their stews, but it did us all the power of good.
When the fiercest heat of the day had passed, Ren helped me out of the stream and together we walked up to my hut to let our clothes dry on our bodies. Kewri had built a fire outside the shelter rather than indoors. It kept the leftover food from our last meal bubbling gently. I find it odd that when you have no grain, you hanker for bread and porridge, and when meat is scarce, that’s all you want to eat. We had food in our bellies and that was more than some. There was a lot for which to be thankful, despite the bleak uncertainty ahead.
As the sun lowered behind the palisade walls to the west, Kewri went in search of his friends from the recruits’ tent, and Vina left us alone to talk. I found that Ren and I had kept pace in terms of thinking about our worries and fears. The issue of Kitto and the Head Hunter’s couldn’t be put off any longer. When the warriors left their building work outside the compound and returned to their families, Ren decided that it was time to speak with Tallack.
The plan was simple. Ren had some ale stashed away. His intention was to invite Tallack back to his hut for a drink, where he would list the most pressing issues for our Chief to consider. Just before he left to find him, Ren asked if I would join in the discussion. My initial reaction was that my presence might make matters worse. The relationship between my nephew and I was less than amicable and any interference on my part might well be met with prejudice.
“Don’t say that, Mel. He loves you more than anyone in the tribe. He probably snapped at you because he knows you’ll forgive him. It must be a terrible strain to be a Chieftain at such a young age. He doesn’t realise it but he needs you.”
It was all I needed to hear. We walked to the centre of the compound and parted ways at the Long Hut. Ren turned towards the warrior shelters at the eastern fringes of the island while I continued south to Ren’s house. Dipping beneath the thatch, I took in the neat surroundings, the tidy bedding and his few possessions lined up on a shelf next to his bunk, and smiled. Always the sailor, even on land. Everything was shipshape and in its place.
My clothes were still damp from the early evening romp in the stream. I didn’t want to soak his bedding furs so I sat on a small bench next to the unlit fire. It wasn’t long before I heard them approach. Tallack was expressing his concern about his old friend’s fitness, as well he should. He was leaner than ever and hadn’t yet regained his old stre
ngth. When my nephew ducked beneath the door skins, he saw me.
His face dropped from a smile into a deep frown. “What’s this, Ren? An ambush?” His snarl turned towards his trusted ship mate.
“It’s not like that at all. Your aunt and I are worried and we thought we would have a word with you in private to see if there was anything either of us could do to lend a hand. You have so much to deal with right now, we figured you could use our help.” His diplomacy never ceased to amaze me, but then Ren had endured more summers on our ships with tricky leaders than he could count. I dare say steering the clan leaders was as important a skill to learn as navigating the oceans.
“I can manage.” Tallack said, his snippy tone unrelenting.
Ren gestured to the bunk for him to sit down and poured the ale from his secret stash into three cups. He chose to sit next to Tallack, despite his leggings being as damp as my own. “Great blessings for your binding with Endelyn, Chief. She’s a fine woman.” He raised his cup to meet Tallack’s and then to mine.
“Blessings indeed.” I said as heartily as I could muster.
That seemed to break his glum mood. “Thank you. I do believe it will be well favoured. The priestess does seem to have the ear of the gods, and the tribe’s folk love her. It’s a good match.” We drank in celebration, sipping at the precious beer. He was starting to relax, lowering his defensive posture. “So, what’s on your mind?” He directed the question at Ren and I was happy for him to do so, for every time I made mention of tribal affairs, I was bluntly told not to interfere.
