Home Lost

by Franz McLaren

  "Around me, men crept closer to the sentry post. We halted within feet and waited for the Lieutenant’s signal. A shrill whistle and we rose and charged forward, swords drawn, to surround the group. Six of our troops surrounded the two on the cliff. Not one had drawn a sword.

  "The Lieutenant turned to me.

  "'Okay, Darius, we got you this far. The rest is up to you.'

  "I was thunderstruck. It had not occurred to me I would have to talk to these men. I was the youngest of our group. I had assumed someone else would take over. I had no idea what to say.

  "For a moment I wished we were back on the beach planning or back home or anywhere but where I was.

  "I looked at the sentries. Several stood with mouths open in shock. Some had their hands nearly to their swords. Slowly, the group raised their arms in front of them as if they were warming their hands over a fire. I supposed this was the sign of surrender in their culture.

  "I looked from one to another. They were a poor lot. What armor they had was ancient pitted leather. They were dirty and skinny. I looked at a sword sagging from a piece of twine around one of their middles. It was bronze. They did not have steel. In battle, one of us could slaughter the lot. Their faces were covered with fear and resignation. I felt sorry for them.

  "A moan caused me to look at the man with the injured ankle. He was sinking to the ground in pain. A bone thrust through his shin and blood seeped across the top of a dirty, bare foot.

  "I asked Lileah, our hedge witch, to mend him.

  "Several captives moved to protect him as she approached. Light jabs from several swords dissuaded them. The man scooted backward on butt and hands, dragging the injured leg with its foot flopping sickeningly. His eyes were round with terror.

  "It’s alright, she is a healer," I told him.

  "His head jumped in my direction at the sound of my voice, but his expression was uncomprehending. I realized he could not understand my words.

  "'Lackdal, a translation spell please,' I called to the wizard.

  "The wizard chanted some words and made several signs in the air. He reached into a belt pouch and threw something in the fire. For a moment, we were flooded with intense light. He nodded at me. It was done.

  "Again, I told the man Lileah was a healer. He looked from me to her and slowly nodded. Lileah laid a hand on his forehead and the man slumped to the ground asleep. Nervous mumbling rose from the captives. I looked at them.

  "She’s just put him to sleep so she can heal his leg." I assured them.

  "There was fear, but also hope in their eyes.

  "When I looked back, the leg was straight and Lileah was gently running her hand across the torn skin. Where her hand passed, the skin was whole again. She touched his forehead and his eyes slowly opened.

  "The man looked at his leg then at Lileah as though he could not believe what his eyes told him. It dawned on me these men had never seen a healer. What gods we must have seemed to them.

  "I looked to the hourglass sitting by the fire. Less than half its sand had fallen, but time was running short. I turned to the group and asked for their leader. Without moving his arms, a short skinny man raised one of the hands still held out in front and identified himself as Sergeant Wolffang. I had no time for diplomacy and I feared it would be wasted anyway.

  "Can you tell me Sergeant why we were attacked when we arrived at Ler Dan?

  "'Because, if we do not defeat you, you will destroy us. I have failed and now that time has come.'

  "I watched in surprise as tears rose in his eyes."

  CHAPTER 22

  Darius faded to silence. Riding beside him, Leena occasionally glanced his way as he talked. She could tell from his voice and manner the story had been intended to pass the time, to give her a sense of who he was and to build a communication bridge. As the tale continued, however, Darius became lost in the telling. He faded from the present and was reliving the past. Now, lost in memories of that time, sadness settled over him like a dark cloak. She sensed he had not told this story before.

  This was a different side of Darius, a sensitive, caring side. Since she met him, he had been strong and self-assured. This tale told her of a Darius coming into contact with his limitations and learning to master them. Despite warning herself to be careful, she found empathy and comfort with his sensitivity rising within.

  Something in the way he said the last sentence, a quietness and wonder, pulled her eyes to him. She could see the sparkle of moisture in his eyes and knew he felt genuine compassion for the wretched soldiers he described. He shook himself as though waking from a dream. He looked at her and, for a moment, she saw surprise she was there. It was just a flicker, quickly gone. He looked rapidly away, up to gauge the sun.

  Her eyes followed his. She was surprised to see it was well past noon. His tale had so consumed her attention she was unaware of passing time.

  "We can take a break if you’d like," he said, "or we can press on until evening camp."

  They still had a few hours before they would have to scout for a place to bed for the night. She was not at all tired.

  "I think I’d rather press on," she said. She wanted to hear more of the tale, to learn more about the man riding beside her.

  They rode in silence as Darius submerged in thoughts of the past. As though speaking to himself, Darius continued.

  "Sergeant Wolffang’s story was one of culture clash and struggle. His was a tale of a poor but proud people meeting the challenge of unknown ideas and his people’s failure to understand or adapt. However, his view of the conflict was limited by his lowly position. I learned much of the story as I spent more time in Sauwerdah. That is what they call their land.

  "His belief we would destroy them took me by surprise. The only contact between Allivan and the Far Eastern Shores had been a merchant ship. Our merchants had been harassed, our ship was lost. We had been attacked, seemingly without provocation. Yet, these people feared us as conquering hordes bent on their destruction.

  "I asked why he felt we wanted to destroy his land. He was so nervous his hands and knees shook. Despite his fear, he faced his captors bravely and spoke the truth as he knew it.

  "More than a year had passed since the first trading ship reached Ler Dan. The sails of that ship were higher than any building in town. Can you imagine the impact on a people who had not seen anything larger than a coastal fishing boat? It dwarfed the town’s largest pier, a pier that served eight of their boats. They had nothing in their history or lore to compare. To them, we were a power beyond imagining."

  Again Darius slid into silence, contemplating the effect the sight must have had on the people of Ler Dan.

  "A few years later, I had the opportunity to view the Captain’s Log from that ship. He saw Ler Dan as 'a poor and wretched place, hardly worth the stop'. But the Great Wizard had sent the vessel to establish friendly relations with the natives. So they had to make port and communicate with the people.

  "Trade is the method Allivan has used to open communication and extend its borders for nearly a thousand years. It has worked so well that, in the history of the Great Wizard, there had never been a war.

  "Trade is developed in any new area. Eventually, each is absorbed into the vast realm of Allivan. Invariably, communications from areas already absorbed prepared new lands for the coming of our traders. Each was eager to share the peace and plenty commerce represented.

  "However, Sauwerdah never had contact with other peoples. Until we arrived, they believed the world ended at the horizon. Much later, after peace came, our cartographers discovered Sauwerdah is a large island. Their shores encompass an area larger than Allivan. Their legends, lost in the fog of history, spoke only of man rising from the earth. The thought that something existed beyond the sea never occurred to them. Their land was the world.

  "Our first trade ship landed to the openmouthed wonderment of a crowd that included every citizen of Ler Dan. In this city of more than three-thousand people, our traders qui
ckly discovered civilization had only progressed to a rudimentary level. They discovered bronze, but not steel. They traded using barter, money had not been invented. They had no magic. Broken bones healed in distorted shapes and the sick lay in bed to heal naturally or die. Their livestock were thin and their crops meager. They had gold. However, because it was too soft for tools or weapons, they used it only to make jewelry or sand cast primitive statues. They were a primitive society, just emerging into civilization. In our ignorance, we sent sophisticated traders into this environment.

  "Although the traders did not speak the language, they noticed the gold and noted these people placed no value on it. The merchants displayed their wares, steel weapons, armor and cloth. The goods were rough by our standards, but finer than anything in Ler Dan. Before the merchants arrived, spices were unknown to them.

  "The people of Ler Dan were eager to have these goods. So, using sign language developed on the spot, our traders sold them goods for ten, even twenty times their worth in gold.

  "Quickly, the trade ship was empty and the gold of Ler Dan severely depleted. Content with the way they out-traded the citizens of Ler Dan, our traders returned to restock. Before leaving, they used signs to assure the people they would return in four months with more goods.

  "These worthy merchants, fearing others might discover their newfound treasure trove, sent word to the Great Wizard they had not found inhabitants willing to trade in the Far Eastern Shores. They lied to the Great Wizard who had provided the funds to stock their ship and pay for the voyage. The agreement was that any profit gained on a voyage of discovery was to be split equally between the Great Wizard, to be added to the state treasury, and the merchants. Fearing the Great Wizard would not be pleased by their unconscionable profits, they secretly restocked and returned to the Far Eastern Shores.

  "Although our merchants thought the situation a blessing, the contact had devastating effects on Ler Dan. Suddenly gold, a useless metal, was valuable. The balance of trade, a balance that sustained the land and allowed it to progress, was lost. People left their farms to prospect for more gold. Crops and livestock withered and died of neglect. Shopkeepers no longer accepted barter. Transactions had to be in gold. Everyone looked for a way to gather more of the metal before the trade ship returned.

  "The purchase of goods and services now required gold. Yet, after the departure of our ship, few had any. When men returned from the countryside with gold they were besieged by offers from the townspeople. However, they wished to retain their gold for the ship's return. Prices, which had been established artificially high by our merchants, soared as staples became scarce due to neglect of the farms.

  "Starvation, while not unknown in Sauwerdah, became rampant. A community that once valued every member turned deaf ears to the cries of hunger around them. They had little pity for anyone that could not earn more gold. In a few months, nearly an entire generation of elderly was lost, but few noticed or cared. The population was swept by the desire to accumulate gold at whatever cost. Gold could buy goods that a few months earlier were undreamed of, but were now necessities."

  Leena heard grinding anger in his voice. Unnoticed by Darius, icy tears of rage and frustration marked paths along his cheeks. Her heart swelled and a painful lump formed in her throat.

  "No one cared that the fine cloth did not wear as well as their homespun variety. They would buy more when the ship returned. It did not matter that steel weapons are of little use in a land of peace nor that spices have little function when there is no food. They told themselves all would be well when the ship returned.

  "As promised, the ship returned in four months. Although it was impossible not to notice the starvation and poverty, the merchants signed that, due to unspecified problems in Allivan, prices had to be doubled. The peoples of Sauwerdah had no concept of lying and therefore did not recognize it. Although they cursed the misfortune in other lands that caused their plight, they paid.

  "Four months was not sufficient to gather enough gold to deplete the ship of its goods. At the newly inflated prices, the gold of Ler Dan was quickly gone. In desperation, people brought locally produced goods hoping to barter. The merchants laughed at the inferior quality and signed they were not interested.

  "However, the merchants and sailors had been at sea for two months. On their first visit, not knowing the populace, they were content to remain on the ship. Now they longed for human contact. They offered to pay well for boarding in houses ashore. It shames me to say, the people of Ler Dan fought for the opportunity.

  "The merchants stayed a week. To their credit, they took time to learn some of the language and to establish rudimentary diplomatic relations with town leaders. Eventually, they asked whether there were other cities along the coast and were directed to Oliman. Promising to return in four to five months, the ship sailed away more than half laden with goods."

  CHAPTER 23

  "After their departure, depression settled over the town. Without gold, there would be little trade when the ship returned. Although people continued to neglect their farms to search, it was becoming harder to find. The town would have less gold for the next ship.

  "In this atmosphere of despair, people looked at what they had become, and did not like it. Items that cost lives to obtain were now seen as the worthless goods they were. City leaders decided it was time to return to the business of developing the community. Farmers and merchants returned to the jobs of rebuilding farms and reestablishing the trade that had been the lifeblood of the town before the ship came. A sense of community and hope returned.

  "They realized they would need supplies. The townspeople agreed all the fine weapons would be gathered and traded to other towns for goods needed for survival until farms and businesses thrived again. Sergeant Wolffang and a troop of soldiers were detailed, along with several shopkeepers, to take the weapons to Oliman to trade for necessities. They selected soldiers because they were taught to live off the land. Since there were no horses in Sauwerdah, they would be on the road more than a month and there was no food to spare.

  "They also agreed the Town Leader, what we call a mayor or a magistrate, would accompany them to explain to the leaders of Oliman the effects the outlanders had on Ler Dan. Hopefully, he could help Oliman avert a similar fate.

  "The tale would have been grim enough had it ended there. However, the town was in for another barrage of ill fortune. Within a month of the ship’s sailing, many of their young women were afflicted with morning sickness. Only then was it noticed that the houses selected to board the ship's personnel were those with young, unmarried women. Midwives were summoned and it was confirmed. One more legacy of the merchants' visit had been left behind. Under questioning, the girls admitted the men from the ship offered gold in trade for their favors. These lasses were too young to know their actions could lead to children. When they were asked where the gold was, each girl produced two coppers. In the dark, the men gave them worthless coins. The girls were too ashamed to tell anyone what happened until it could no longer be hidden.

  "The people knew they had been used and cast aside when there was nothing more to be gained from them. Initial shame was followed by intense anger. When they returned, the men from the ship must be made to assume the responsibilities they had fathered. Under Sauwerdan customs, none of the girls could be married to any except the father of her child.

  "Although it was a dismal thing, they also saw some benefit to the community. Many men from the ship were strong and some were rich. All would add to the community to help it recover and prosper. The thought the men might refuse to marry did not enter their minds. It had always been so in Sauwerdah.

  "Sergeant Wolffang’s trip was successful in several ways. Because the ship had come and gone when they arrived in Oliman, they were able to trade the weapons for much more than they expected. When the Town Leader explained their plight to the Town Leader of Oliman, both agreed the outlanders were a threat to their way of life. Each agreed to cease tra
de with the outlanders and to send envoys to other coastal towns and villages to warn them. They also agreed that, should the decision cause conflict, each would support the other.

  "By the time the ship arrived for a third time, the town of Ler Dan had recovered both its prosperity and its senses. This time there was no furious rush to buy. People stood and watched as goods were laid out. No one approached within ten feet. When their tables were arranged, merchants beckoned indicating that again, due to circumstances beyond their control, prices would have to be raised.

  "The people stood unmoving.

  "The merchants were so blinded by thirst for profit they did not see there was no gleam of desire in the eyes of the crowd. They assumed high prices were causing people to hesitate. Again they beckoned saying that, although they could not lower prices, the townsfolk could still afford to make some purchases.

  "While they summoned the crowd, Sergeant Wolffang and several of his men moved between the merchants and their ship. The ship’s company, feeling it had nothing to fear from uneducated townspeople, had come ashore unarmed except the weapons displayed for sale. Sailors were too busy searching the crowd for likely-looking young women to notice the soldiers.

  "When Sergeant Wolffang was in place, another squad of soldiers stepped forward from the crowd to the weapons table. The merchants beamed, anticipating sales. The soldiers lined the table and turned to face the outlanders who might try reaching for the weapons.

  "The merchants finally realized something was not right. They looked to the sailors for support and protection, but the sailors were too wrapped up in studying young women to notice.

  "Now the Town Leader stepped forward shepherding several young women with swollen bellies. He instructed them to pick out the men that stayed in their houses. Sailors and merchants realized they erred in thinking the townspeople peaceful. Their immediate instinct was to try for the weapons table. For the first time, they noticed armed soldiers blocking access to it and to the ship. Slowly, they gathered into a group as the crowd pressed closer.