by Alan Smale
Tahtay frowned in irritation. “Or you may not find them agreeable, and if so, we will fight. Today. Our young men have been restless since we declared peace with the Iroqua. How to prove themselves other than by taking scalps? And today we have an even bigger war party, because the Haudenosaunee have sent warriors to fight alongside us. Because we have a bigger enemy than each other, and that is you.”
Easy, Tahtay, Marcellinus wanted to say. The Imperator regarded the young war chief impassively. “Yes, yes. Go on.”
“Cahokia will not be a Roman province, defeated. Cahokia will be what it is now: a city, independent.
“Your legions will not come into Cahokia. You will not approach except at our invitation, and if we invite you, Caesar, or any of your men in ones and twos, you will leave our city before nightfall. Your legions will pass Cahokia on a trail we will provide, well to the south of the city. Also, we will help your legions cross the great Mizipi.
“Until recently we had another city on the other side of the Great River called Cahokia-across-the-water. Few live in it now, for the Iroqua did a great killing there, but we have mended the city. This is where you can make castra. We will provide wood for you if you wish for a walled castra like these.”
The Imperator regarded Tahtay thoughtfully. “You realize that the wood and the passage across the water are not the items of greatest concern to me.”
Tahtay nodded. “You want to feed your soldiers. I have two answers for you. First, the buffalo. Perhaps you have already seen them, for some herds live east of the Mizipi. But on the west side, near and far, there are many more. A thousand-thousand.”
The Imperator looked at Marcellinus. “How many?”
“Tahtay means massive herds, hundreds of thousands of animals. You could feed your legions from the buffalo indefinitely and still not dent their numbers.”
“Second, we will give you corn,” Tahtay said.
“How much corn?” Hadrianus asked.
“Half of all in our granaries. Half of what we harvest once we bring it in from the fields. It is a good offer.”
“We will decide if it is a good offer,” Agrippa said, but Hadrianus silenced him with a gesture.
“Half,” said Tahtay. “No more, for we have a city to feed, but it will be an honest half. We have a friend who counts everything and makes marks in a book. We keep good records in Cahokia now thanks to this man here, whom you were good enough to send us.”
Tahtay had allowed a note of sarcasm to enter his voice. Marcellinus was relieved to see the ghost of a smile on the Imperator’s face.
“Also, we will allow your…train?” Tahtay looked at Marcellinus and made the hand-talk for Speak.
“Supply train,” Marcellinus said.
“We will allow your supply train to pass through, along that same road to the south of Cahokia.”
Hadrianus nodded. “What else?”
“Else?” Tahtay shook his head. “There is no ‘else.’ Already we are more than generous. Take our offer and avoid the shedding of much blood.”
Taking his time, the Imperator surveyed the Hesperian war party. “Tahtay, Tahtay. Do you honestly think I fear your band of barbarians? That they would stand any chance against my wall of Roman steel?”
“Huh,” said Tahtay. “Do you believe I fear you up on your big horse? I do not. Listen, Imperator: a few years ago Cahokia fell to the Iroqua, and it nearly destroyed us. You understand? Cahokia will not fall again. If we fell to you, we would die as a people, but we will not die.
“Cahokia is united. We are one city, all agreed. Matoshka and Howahkan, Ogleesha and Kanuna, every elder of Cahokia. Every clan chief, including Sintikala, Ojinjintka, and Anapetu when she lived. Also Wahchintonka, who leads the great army you see in front of you, and Akecheta, a warrior chief who has fought by the Wanageeska’s side.”
“Yes, yes,” said Hadrianus, impatient with the litany of names.
“You do not know all these people, but the Wanageeska does. He can tell you that they are all the important people in Cahokia, every great chief and elder, and none would say a thing they did not mean.
“Cahokia is united, and more: it is allied with the Iroqua. And so Cahokia and the Iroqua will defeat you, and if it happens that we do not, we will give you a bloody fight you will never forget.
“Come now, Caesar. You do not want us. You do not care about one city on one river. You do not care about revenge. I see it in your face. You want food and to go on into the west. And we, too, want you to go on. Can we not agree on that?”
As if bored, Hadrianus surveyed the battlefield, taking in the Hesperian army, siege engines, and Sky Lanterns. Tahtay waited, standing perfectly still.
Eventually, the Imperator looked down. “Perhaps. If we were to go on with your help.”
Agrippa frowned. Marcellinus’s breath caught in his throat. Tahtay scrutinized the Imperator even more closely. “And what help is that?”
“Guides. Men who know the lands and rivers ahead of us, who know the conditions we will face. Men who can talk to the other tribes we will meet.”
Tahtay nodded slowly. “We may have such men and women who may be willing to come with you.”
“But in addition to food and guides, I will need gold.”
Tahtay shrugged. “We have none.”
“So you say, and I believe you. But I think you know where gold comes from, Tahtay of Cahokia.”
Their eyes met.
“Yes,” Tahtay said. “Gold comes from rivers and streams to the north and west and sometimes from mountains, in addition to coming from the People of the Sun.”
“Futete!” said Marcellinus. “Holy fucking Jove…Tahtay, what?”
The Imperator glanced at Marcellinus accusingly. “Rivers and streams, Gaius Marcellinus?”
Out of words, Marcellinus shook his head and gestured as best he could with his hands chained in front of him.
“The Wanageeska, your captive, does not know this,” Tahtay said. “My father thought it safer not to tell him, and all agreed. But in the north and west, along the Wemissori where my Blackfoot brothers live, there are riverbeds where gold can be gathered in chunks and as dust. There are mountains where it can be found in a band in the rock. And I know people who may show you where such riverbeds and mountains are.”
“You will do more than that, Tahtay,” Hadrianus said. “You will help us gather and mine it.”
“Perhaps we will. But not as slaves, never as slaves.”
The naked greed on Hadrianus’s face was easy to read. “Your blackfooted people will help us find the gold, and when they do, it is ours and not yours.”
“If we cared for gold, we would have pulled it from the water and the earth ourselves. Take it if that is your price for leaving us in peace.”
Hadrianus had fallen into a brief trance. Now the alert look returned to his eyes. “Good, good. But also, Tahtay? There may be other enemies ahead of us whom you can help us with.”
Tahtay frowned. “You wish us to fight other tribes for you? We will not do that.”
“Not Hesperian tribes,” the Imperator said.
Tahtay looked at Marcellinus. “You may speak to help me understand.”
Marcellinus had sworn an oath, and the Imperator’s eyes were upon him. “I cannot explain, Tahtay.”
“Then I cannot help you with things I do not understand,” Tahtay said. “But if you want food, and to be guided through the land, and if the gold is to be yours and not ours, it will cost you one more thing, Caesar, and that is Ocatan. Cahokia cannot help you while your soldiers live in our city and our brothers and sisters are forced away from their land and work for Roma as slaves. You must rebuild Ocatan and give it back to its people. Build a new castra somewhere up the Oyo if you must, but the city and the land of our people must be returned. All the slaves you have taken must be freed. All. All.”
The Imperator nodded slowly. “Perhaps. But if that is to be done, it will cost you one more thing, Tahtay of Cahokia.
” And he pointed above the heads of the Cahokian contingent. The Sky Lanterns.
For a moment, Tahtay appeared lost in contemplation. Then he nodded. “The Lanterns we will give you. The Hawks and Thunderbirds must be a question for another day, once trust has grown between our peoples. But for today? Yes, Caesar; we will instruct you in the use of our Sky Lanterns.”
Agrippa smiled. Marcellinus looked at Sabinus and Hadrianus and saw the same change in them, but more subtle.
Tahtay owned the same calmness, and he did not look at Marcellinus.
Marcellinus kept his face calm, but a vast sense of relief flooded him.
Tahtay had played his hand perfectly.
These were the deal makers: Cahokia’s assistance in helping the Romans spearhead their advance through the continent, Cahokia’s help in finding gold, and Cahokia’s flying craft. These were the things of most value to Hadrianus, much harder to obtain than provisions.
From Hadrianus’s viewpoint, he had gained huge advantages in exchange for almost nothing. Tahtay’s offer included most of what Roma had come for.
And Tahtay had extracted his price for it. The conquering of Ocatan had been a sharp blow to the Cahokians, Hadrianus’s object lesson; he had smashed Ocatan to put pressure on Cahokia. In reality, the Romans had no need to leave a legion there indefinitely. A free Ocatan was a concession the Imperator could make easily.
Tahtay—or perhaps Enopay—had guessed as much. Marcellinus was quite sure of that. But by presenting it as a high price in the negotiations, Tahtay could go back to Wahchintonka and the Wolf Warriors and ease the sting of depriving them of another battle by saying, “See, I have kept the Romans out of Cahokia, and see, I have forced them to rebuild Ocatan and return it to our people.” Matoshka, once his deadliest opponent, had witnessed the negotiation and was nodding as Kimimela translated quietly for him and Kanuna.
To Roman eyes, Hadrianus had gotten everything he had asked for. To Cahokian eyes, Tahtay had forced the Romans to back down and had gotten everything he had asked for.
Each man could present this as a victory. It had been a virtuoso performance.
“One last thing, so there is no mistake,” Tahtay said. “If this treaty were to fail or be breached, and if one day you march into Cahokia after all, you will find no corn. We will burn our granaries. We will burn our fields. If the treaty falls, we will destroy every ear and every grain before we feed a Roman. I have given the order already. Men and women stand ready in Cahokia even now to make it so. I have spoken.”
“One moment, please, Tahtay of Cahokia,” Hadrianus said. “We will discuss your proposal.”
The Roman party backed up, Marcellinus among them.
“Comments, gentlemen?” the Imperator murmured.
“We should take the offer, sir,” Sabinus said. “We had planned to face Cahokia with three legions, an overwhelming force. Here we have only two. Best to accept the alliance and not suffer the casualties.”
Agrippa shook his head. “Two legions is enough. You understand that this is largely a bluff? That we can destroy them handily?”
“But it is a competent, well-thought-out bluff,” Sabinus pointed out. “Can you imagine any other Hesperians we’ve yet encountered being this well organized? Which may make them good allies.”
Hadrianus looked thoughtfully at Marcellinus. “It is you who raised them to this. Before you, they would not be so bold.”
“Perhaps,” Marcellinus said.
Agrippa shook his head. “They are fools. They have given away their hand. We now know where the gold is and which tribe can lead us to it. We don’t need the Cahokians at all.”
“Much easier with the Cahokians than without them,” Marcellinus said. “Tahtay himself knows the key Blackfoot people you should talk with.”
“We cannot trust them,” Agrippa insisted. “And we can’t trust him, either. Listen: once the Cahokians have us on the western side of the Mizipi, they can close the door and cut us off. That is not a tenable situation.
“Instead, we can make this simple. Let us fight. Or if not, by all means let us smile at them now and avoid battle today, while they are prepared. Once they are quiet and calm back in their city, we can march in quickly and mow them down before they have time to torch the granaries. Take what we need and be done with it.”
“Treachery?” Marcellinus said, appalled. “Make a treaty only to break it? You would have Caesar swear to the nations of Nova Hesperia in bad faith?”
Agrippa looked at him with some satisfaction. “And so Marcellinus reveals his true colors. D’you see, Sabinus? We keep this man in chains because it is obvious which side he is on.”
“Agrippa raises a point,” Hadrianus said almost lazily. “What if the Cahokians merely bluff now and wait till they have us at their mercy?”
“The Cahokians can be trusted to the ends of the earth and beyond. Can you?” Marcellinus nodded toward Agrippa. “Can he?”
Agrippa gritted his teeth, and his hand went to his pugio.
“Not on my watch,” Sabinus said, laying a muscled hand on Agrippa’s arm. “Great gods, gold and corn and our legions intact and whole to fight the Mongol Khan? What more do you want, Agrippa, gems raining from the skies?”
“Look at this.” Marcellinus swept his bound hands in front of him. “The forces of Nova Hesperia. Massive and proud and all allied as…as a single Hesperian League. You want this with you, Caesar, when you go up against Chinggis Khan.”
“But can you control them, Gaius Marcellinus? Perhaps even lead them for me?”
Marcellinus met his eye. “If they agree to fight the Khan, I will do my very best.”
“Enough.” Hadrianus studied each of the three men in turn. “Very well. We will make this treaty.”
“And?” Marcellinus demanded.
The Imperator looked irritated. “And if the Cahokians stay in line, I will honor it. We will have plenty of time to measure their helpfulness. Obviously, they must keep every part of their pledge. If they do not, then we are bound by none of it.”
Marcellinus opened his mouth again, but Sabinus shot him a look and he desisted.
“Any other words of wisdom, gentlemen?” Hadrianus said drily.
The three Praetors looked at one another. One by one they shook their heads.
At last, the Imperator dismounted from his Nisaean and walked forward. “Tahtay, I accept the terms we have discussed here and pledge peace with you and Cahokia.”
Tahtay nodded and drew his dagger. Hadrianus jumped back, and Agrippa sprang forward to protect his Imperator. Sintikala, too, stepped forward with her hand on her own dagger.
Tahtay looked surprised. He glanced at Marcellinus. “What?”
Marcellinus’s heart still pounded. “Caesar, Tahtay expects you to join with him in swearing an oath. In blood.”
“You must be joking.”
“I’m afraid that’s what this is going to take, sir.”
Tahtay was looking back and forth between them. “Are you an honorable man, Caesar?”
“I am.” Hadrianus smiled faintly.
“Then perhaps we do not need to spill blood.”
The Imperator surveyed the Cahokian army still patiently lined up before him. “But to gain your trust?”
“And to prove your sincerity,” Marcellinus said quietly.
Hadrianus grinned. “It won’t be the first time I’ve bled for the Imperium. And it probably won’t be the last. But Tahtay, I can hardly be seen performing a barbarian ritual in front of my men. Can we do this privately at another time?”
Tahtay returned the dagger to his belt and bowed. “I understand. Can we bury the ax instead? And later smoke a pipe?”
“Yes, yes, let it be done.”
“Then bring forward a Roman ax, and we will bring one, too. Matoshka?”
The elder turned and made broad gestures in hand-talk. Mahkah stepped forward from the battle line, placed his bow and quiver of arrows on the ground, and unslung his ax from the s
trap over his shoulder. Dangling it loosely at arm’s length, he jogged across the meadow.
Marcellinus cleared his throat. “Perhaps a sword from Roma? In the legions hatchets are tools, not weapons.”
Sabinus turned and signaled to one of his centurions. Shortly afterward, a soldier trotted out from the fortress of the Third Parthica bearing a sword and a mattock for the digging.
Tahtay looked at the manacles around Marcellinus’s wrists. “We would suggest one thing more. Not as part of the treaty. This Roman is yours, and you will do with him as you wish. But if possible, we ask that he continue to help us in our talking. He knows both Cahokia and Roma and may help us avoid misunderstanding each other.” Tahtay half grinned. “If we have learned anything, it is that good translators are hard to find.”
“I will consider it,” the Imperator said.
With great solemnity the unnamed soldier of the Third and Mahkah of Cahokia dug a shallow hole, placed the gladius and the ax in it, and covered them. Tahtay and Hadrianus stamped the dirt into place over the weapons.
Tahtay nodded in satisfaction. “And now we must persuade our warriors to walk away and not fight you. May we go and do so? And you will do the same with your soldiers?”
“Let it be done,” the Imperator said gravely.
The two sides in the parley withdrew from each other, with Hadrianus leading his horse by its leather bridle.
“The kid is growing on me.” Hadrianus grinned at Marcellinus. “I like him more than I like you, truth be told.”
Marcellinus bowed. “It is more important for you to like him, Caesar. But when will you tell them about the Mongols?”
“I wouldn’t wish to complicate things.” The Imperator eyed him. “You counsel that we should tell them now, after all? Before we even know for sure where the Mongols are? You see an advantage to that?”
All Marcellinus’s instincts rebelled at keeping so great a secret from Tahtay, but now he was forced to consider the question strategically.
“No,” he said.
“And why?”
“Because we will need to negotiate with Cahokia for auxiliary troops and assistance. And the use of their liquid flame in battle. And before that negotiation we’ll need to know more about what we’re dealing with. The Mongol numbers and location. How much help we need and of what kind.”
