Hokino inKera could not have expected to face more than one talon. Even if allied tribes had gathered to take part in a raid, he would not have more than eight or ten twenties of warriors. One Ugaro warrior might defeat three or four Lau soldiers ... but one warrior would not be able to defeat fifteen soldiers, or twenty. I thought if things went well for Lord Aras and badly for Hokino, the numbers would be like that. But there was nothing I could do.
We rested for a long time, until dusk came and the Moon stepped into the sky. Tonight she showed the summer lands only a thin crescent. Her face is always round and full in the winter country, but when she comes to the sky of the summer lands, she often looks over her shoulder toward her own country, and then only part of her face can be seen and her light is much less. I felt starkly uneasy at the sight of her turned face. I felt she might not notice anything that happened to her children in this country that belonged to her husband.
“Here we go,” Geras said. He had been watching the talon commanders and now stood up and offered me a hand. I did not accept his gesture, though I knew that was childish of me.
We traveled through much of the night, not very fast, but steadily. At first I could hear soldiers grumble at the hour and the dark, and the bad road, but later they mostly fell silent. A little before dawn, I began to think I might hear the shouting of men, and soon I became certain of it. The sounds were not those of a pitched battle, nor a sharp skirmish. I was not certain what I heard, and tried different ideas in my mind to understand what we might find ahead. Finally I decided that enemies faced one another, but had not yet closed to fight.
Orders came, and the column of men divided, some going to the right and some to the left, moving to take their places in the lines of their formations. My guards stayed with me, and I stayed near Lord Aras. He gestured once, impatiently, when I let my mare fall behind his, so I urged her up again to close the distance. He looked distracted and impatient and tense. His mouth was tight with concentration, and finally he called out and urged his mare to a canter. The remaining mounted soldiers instantly swept into a fast pace as well, and the formations of foot soldiers began to run.
The gray-gold light of the dawn laid a strange metallic shade across the pastures through which we rode, and the wind of our going came against our faces and blew through my hair, which I had not clubbed back for battle because I had not expected to fight. Now I thought that had been a mistake. I longed for a sword in my hands—at least a bow. I would have given almost anything to be riding an Ugaro pony into battle with my brothers and all the inGara warriors. It seemed unspeakably strange to be riding instead at the forefront of a Lau army.
Then, almost as the Sun stepped fully out from beneath the earth and into the sky, we came upon the scene. This was a place where stone walls came together, dividing one pasture from another, and here many Ugaro, perhaps five twenties or three forties of men, had taken shelter against a greater number of Lau. I could see by the positions of fallen men of both peoples that a running battle had taken place to the south and east, across a distance of at least four or five bowshots. Then the Ugaro had come to the shelter of the walls and, having no better options, set themselves there. Theirs was a bad position, for they had no way to retreat. But if the Lau tried to come against them, they would have a hard fight because the walls protected the Ugaro on three sides. The Lau were so much more numerous that the outcome could not be in doubt, but they would take many losses. They had been holding back, perhaps for that reason, but probably because they had known Lord Aras was coming from the southwest with many-many more Lau soldiers.
The Ugaro had not known this. I almost thought I could feel their dismay in my own stomach. They had faced too many Lau, but not so very many they could not make a good accounting of themselves. Plainly they were nearly out of arrows—the shields of the Lau bristled with spent shafts—but perhaps the Ugaro warleader had thought he might tempt the Lau into an unwise assault and inflict such losses that the survivors lost their taste for battle. Now the Ugaro saw all the soldiers, and knew what they faced.
Lord Aras had reined his mare to one side, and now he raised his scepter into the air and brought it down again. I could see nothing in his face save intensity of purpose. Horn notes rose into the morning sky, and the formations came to a sharp halt. He did not look at his people, but at the Ugaro. The older warriors were moving so that they would face the newly arrived soldiers, leaving the younger men to defend the walls and keep their original opponents away from their backs. It was not a good plan, but in that place, I could not have thought of a better.
Lord Aras beckoned to me, and when I brought my mare beside his, commanded me, “Ryo, tell them to surrender. Don’t make promises, except you may tell them I’ll spare the youngest warriors if they surrender. The ten youngest. If they refuse, I’ll have no choice but to kill them all. I don’t want to do that, so persuade them.”
I was staring at him in surprise. He flung his hand out in a furious, impatient gesture, and I turned and shouted what he had said. I added, “He will not torture those who surrender! He is a generous man!” Any decent man would submit to torture to save a younger brother or a son, but anyone would rather die quickly than slowly.
The Ugaro warleader bellowed, and gradually his men began to lower their weapons. They did not drop them or throw them away, not yet. But they were listening.
I said to Lord Aras, “You told me not to promise anything, but you also commanded me to persuade them. I told them you would not torture anyone. I hope you will redeem my promise.”
He did not even glance at me. He was gazing intently across the trampled ground, toward the Ugaro warleader. “Yes, yes, I agree to that. You may promise that. Is there anything else I should promise? Tell me before you promise it, but I want them alive. Tell them I swear I will deal with them as generously as I may.”
I bowed my head to acknowledge this. “You should say you will return the heads of the dead warriors to their people.”
“If that will persuade them, you may certainly promise that.”
I nodded and raised my voice to give the assurance, adding, “So far as I have seen, he keeps his word!”
The Ugaro warleader pushed forward, giving his sword to another man to hold for him. There was dirt and blood on his face, but he did not seem to be wounded. It was strange to look upon Ugaro after being surrounded by Lau for so many days. This was a big man, a man in the prime years of his life, but he seemed short to me because I had grown accustomed to looking up at everyone. There was plenty of heft to him, and that too looked strange to me because I had grown used to the slender Lau. His hair, thick and raven-black, came almost to his waist even though he had clubbed it back to fight. I had not realized how I had stopped flinching from the cropped hair of the Lau until I saw that. His eyes seemed narrow and his face fleshy and his skin pale, though weathered to a shade darker than old ivory. It was strange to think that I must stand out among the Lau at least as much as this man.
The warleader came close enough so that he could speak and be heard. He looked up at Lord Aras. Then he looked at me. He said grimly, “I am Hokino inKera, brother of Soro inKera. Who are you, other than a dog of the Lau?”
Of course I should have expected that, but somehow I had not. The surge of anger I felt made it easy for me to answer him as such an insult deserved. Sliding down from my mare, I strode forward and hit him across the face with the back of my fist, hard enough to show that my arm was not weighed down by guilt or shame. The warleader stood unmoving and took the blow because he knew he had earned it—or he knew he had earned it if I were not what he had called me. If I had not hit him, he would have known his words were true and he could not trust anything I said.
“I am the brother of Garoyo inGara,” I told him. “The warleader of the Lau did to my brother what he has done to you. Unlike you, my brother got across the river. But the Lau followed. We could not keep ahead of them. Therefore my brother left me as tuyo. The Lau warleader
proved to have an unusual idea of what use he might make of a tuyo. Thus I am here. I have sworn to obey his orders, I do not deny that. But I do not answer any man’s whistle. If you call me a dog again, I will kill you myself.”
He blotted the blood from the corner of his mouth with his hand. Then he said, “So. Ryo inGara, is it? A son of Sinowa inGara?”
“So,” I agreed.
He looked at me for another moment. Then he said, “I have not heard that the sons of Sinowa inGara come to heel for any man. Very well! I beg your pardon, Ryo inGara. I was wrong, and I regret the insult.” He bowed his head to me, though he did not kneel. I was too young for a man like this to kneel to me—and he was not sure of me even yet.
“I forgive it,” I said. “It is forgotten. It was never said.”
He nodded. Then he looked at me again, a searching look. “You look very well, for a man who was tuyo. But, so. You say the Lau warleader is a generous man. You say we should cast down our weapons and yield to him.”
“If you refuse, you will probably all be killed. If you yield, I do not know what he will do, but he has said he will spare the ten youngest, and he has promised he will be generous. From everything I know, he will keep his word. Warleader of the inKera, our tribes are enemies, but we are not bitter enemies. If I knew of any reason you should not do as the Lau warleader demands, I swear before the gods that I would tell you.”
“So,” he said again. He turned his head, considering his own men and the surrounding Lau. Many of his warriors had been wounded, but many others would still be able to fight. But some of the Lau had already lifted their bows and now looked along their arrows, choosing their targets. It was clear to everyone how such a battle must end, however brave the inKera and however many Lau they managed to tear down as they died. Ten young men would be little enough to save from this disaster. But that would be better than losing all the warriors. Every man with a younger brother or a son or a sister’s son among that number would agree. I could not imagine any man would not agree.
Hokino inKera gazed up at Lord Aras, sitting on his tall mare like a dark shadow against the warm sky of the summer country. He glanced at me once more. Then at last he turned to face Lord Aras, knelt, and bowed to the ground.
-9-
Almost at once, Lord Aras demonstrated his generosity by instructing his physicians to see to the Ugaro warriors. “Don’t let the worst wounded of the Ugaro wait for our nicks and cuts,” he told the man who was senior of the physicians. “That sucking chest wound, have someone see to it immediately. Ryo, tell the inKera not to be afraid; explain these men will help them if they can.”
Of course I could not say anything of the kind. I said to Hokino inKera, “The Lau warleader has commanded his people to tend your wounded. He expects the inKera to show manners befitting civilized people and refrain from offending those who come to do so.”
“Yes,” Hokino acknowledged. His wrists had been bound with leather thongs, as had those of all his warriors except the worst wounded. Hokino’s feet had not been bound, but he did not stand, but knelt, to set the example for his warriors. Even so, he did not look helpless, only contained. He held himself still, but he watched everything.
Lord Aras had ordered his people to establish their camp near that place where the inKera had surrendered, but a little farther to the south, where a stream ran through a narrow belt of trees. The Lau dead would be burned and the ashes scattered, which is their way; the bones left from the pyre would be placed in the town’s ossuary, under the ground, in some hillside closed away from the air – not something I wished to contemplate. The heads of the dead Ugaro had been cut off and taken aside, to be given to the ten warriors who would be spared. The skulls would be set in the tombs of their people, high in the mountains, overlooking their lands. That would not make this day less of a disaster for their tribe, but it would be better than if they were lost entirely.
The prisoners had been brought into the middle of the Lau camp. There was little shelter from the Sun, who stood high by this time, but canopies had been raised to shelter the Ugaro from his strength, and some of the physicians’ assistants were already bringing water for the defeated warriors. Hokino’s glance went that way, then to the physician who had gone to examine the man with the chest wound. Some of the tension eased from his shoulders when he saw those things. “I see you were right to say he would be generous. No one will offend the Lau,” he promised me.
“The warriors will be polite,” I said to Lord Aras. “Your people need not be concerned.”
Lord Aras nodded. “The Ugaro won’t give you any trouble,” he told the senior physician. Indicating Hokino inKera, he added, “As soon as practicable, tend any injuries this man might have sustained. Don’t put him ahead of seriously injured men, but I’d like to see him in half an hour, if you can manage that.”
Then he gestured for me to come with him and led the way to his tent, which as usual had been set a little apart from the main camp. “Let Talon Commander Harana know we’ll stay here through the night, but most likely head for Erem Sen at dawn,” he told one man. And to another, “My compliments to Talon Commander Ianan, and will he kindly ride over to Kosa Sen and see if the Ugaro managed to damage the town before our people stopped them. If the headman of Kosa Sen insists on seeing me, I imagine I might have time this afternoon. If Lord Amantra is currently present in Kosa Sen, I want to see him. Fit that into my schedule if necessary.” Then to a third, “Let Lahara know I’ll need two couriers. Three. Not until midafternoon, probably.”
Every time he gave an order, another man saluted and hurried away, so that by the time we came to his tent, only a few men still followed; and I, and my guards. The others stopped when we came there, but Lord Aras beckoned me to come with him into his tent. It was more like a pavilion now; three sides of the tent had been rolled up to allow the breeze to come and go. Only one chair had been brought to the tent, and Lord Aras settled there, sighing and laying his scepter aside on the table. I thought he looked tired. The night had been long, and even for a Lau he was not a young man. But he said to me in a brisk tone, “I’ll need to question the warleader. I’d like you to assist me. Not only in translating our words, but in preventing us from misunderstanding each other.”
I bowed my head to show I agreed to this. I did not like to think I might help any Lau, even Lord Aras, against any Ugaro, even the warleader of an enemy tribe. But this kind of help did not seem dishonorable to me. I said, “I would wish to tell him that you believe a sorcerer may have caused the trouble here. Will you permit me to explain this, so that the young men whose lives you have sworn to return to them may carry that word into the winter country? It might be good for your people as well, if mine know this war may have happened that way.”
Lord Aras nodded, but he said, “I’m not certain whether I’ll find that possible or not, Ryo, and I must ask you to abide by my decision on the matter, but my intentions here haven’t changed. Everything I do is still aimed at stopping our enemy and settling the problems he’s caused. Can you believe that?”
I could see no way in which it would be wrong to send word of the sorcerer to my people, but I thought I did believe him. Also, he had the right to command me in this as in every matter, so I was not certain honor would permit me to speak to Hokino inKera if Lord Aras commanded otherwise. Perhaps it was unwise to think too much upon the question until we saw how everything happened. Setting all these doubts aside, I nodded.
“Good, then.” Lord Aras leaned back in his chair, sighing. “I think he’s coming now.”
In another moment, I too heard men approaching, and then Hokino inKera was brought in. A handful of Lau soldiers brought him. Five soldiers seemed more than adequate to guard a single disarmed and bound Ugaro warrior prisoner, even a powerful man such as Hokino. I could not help but think that in some ways the Lau deserved their cowardly reputation. Hokino ignored the soldiers completely. He strode forward, dropped to his knees before Lord Aras, and bowed to th
e floor.
Because I had learned that the Lau did not kneel or bow in that way, I said, “My lord, the warleader of the inKera is properly respectful, but he is a proud man. If you wish to show you understand this, you should address him by name and by his position, and you should tell him your name and position.”
Lord Aras nodded. “Should I tell him to stand?”
“You may do as you wish in the matter,” I answered. “But it is not expected. The warleader of the inKera might consider that this suggested weakness or lack of confidence.”
Though probably Hokino would know better than that, no matter how different the manners of our peoples. Even if Hokino did not know what the scepter meant, Lord Aras sat in the only chair. He wore a dark red shirt and black leggings. The brown of his skin looked warmer than ever surrounded by those colors. He wore gold rings on two fingers and a gold wristlet, and there was gold worked into the sleeves of his shirt and the tops of his boots. I thought Hokino inKera would have to be completely stupid to mistake him for anything but confident in his own power, and I had never heard that the warleader of the inKera was anything of the kind.
“Hokino inKera, brother of Soro inKera, warleader of the inKera,” Lord Aras said to him. “I am Lord Aras Eren Samaura, nephew of Soretes Aman Shavet, king of the summer lands; I hold my king’s authority in my hands.”
I repeated this in taksu, explaining that Lord Aras was a scepter-holder and therefore a very important lord, above any ordinary warleader. Hokino sat back on his heels, keeping his gaze lowered to show respect for the victor. “I await the will of the scepter-holder,” he told me.
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