Sitting just beyond the edge of the ring of sachems, Gunnar bowed his head somberly at Deganawida’s acknowledgement. He slowly pushed himself up to his feet and walked forward, moving carefully through the sachems to where Deganawida was standing.
Deganawida laid a hand upon Gunnar’s shoulder for a moment and nodded, before quietly moving back among the sachems and sitting down. Gunnar looked around at the Grand Council, as he readied himself to address the assembled Great Sachems.
Deganawida noticed that Gunnar had adhered to the fastidious attention to appearance that all the Midragardans tended to embrace. His hair was no longer matted and disheveled. The long locks were neatly combed out, as was his beard. His face held none of the caked blood and grime that had looked almost like tribal war paint at the end of the previous day’s fighting.
He had even managed to get a change of tunic since the battle, perhaps borrowing the cleanest one that he could find among his warriors.
There was no question that the Midragardan chieftain had fought valiantly the previous day. The enemy advance had been halted for the first time since they had entered the woods. From all accounts, all of the Midragardans had fought with the skill and fury that had long ago fashioned their reputation for martial prowess.
Gunnar’s hands descended as he produced a wampum medallion from a metal-framed leather pouch at his belt. It was a purple medallion, with a white image of the sun displayed upon it. Deganawida remembered when it had first been given to Gunnar, so very long ago, when the Midragardian chieftain had begun his long and amiable trading relationship with the Five Realms.
The medallion symbolized good and truthful relations, and the particular wampum medallion that Gunnar now held was imbued with years of faithful and honest interactions with the tribes. His mere presence at the Council testified powerfully enough to the kind of relation that he had attained with the five tribes.
Gunnar held the medallion high. “I know some things of your ways, Great Sachems of the Grand Council. I know that it is a custom of a speaker to hang his wampum belt from the pole when addressing the Council, and then to take it from the pole when finished. As I wish to honor your ways, with what I can, and however I can, I bring this, my only wampum, which I have received myself from the Five Realms. I will use this as my belt, as what I come to say to you now is spoken with truth in my heart. If I err in your customs, please regard only my intent, and not my practice.”
The gesture caught Deganawida a little by surprise, but he was very impressed with the Midgardan’s keen insight. While wholly unexpected, the meaning of Gunnar’s gesture would be understood, and it would be respected, and received well, by the Great Sachems.
It showed that Gunnar had not come to the Council with casual regard for the tribes, but was trying as much as possible to speak to them in a way that let them know that he truly cared for their plight.
His manner of speech itself would also reinforce his words, as many of the sachems were likely very surprised at hearing Gunnar’s fluid mastery of the Quoian language.
Deganawida could remember the stumbling, crude period when Gunnar was first learning the tribal language. He often had to stifle a laugh, whenever Gunnar inadvertently had made a ludicrous statement, as he tried to gain a command of the Quoian tongue.
Other tribal members showed less discipline, falling into hilarity at some of the Midragardan’s awkward, mistake-riddled comments. Thankfully Gunnar was always good humored, and laughed heartily with them when it was pointed out what he had actually said.
Yet Deganawida had always kept his own expressions of humor to a minimum, as he had a profound respect for the fact that Gunnar was working so hard to speak to the tribal people using their words. It had always showed that the Midragardan sincerely respected the people of the Five Realms.
Gunnar’s diligence in learning had certainly produced a prodigious harvest, as he rarely made a mistake anymore when speaking the tribal tongue. His hard-earned fluency now bolstered the integrity of the message he was delivering before the Grand Council.
Gunnar waited a few moments more after showing the wampum medallion, and moved to place it upon the empty pole before resuming his address. Once it was displayed upon the pole, his voice then carried the grave sincerity that loomed behind his portentous words.
“Brothers in the One that created all of us, the Unifier will surely come back, as Deganawida has said. They will be better prepared the next time, and will come back much stronger than before.
“They will seek to turn your own lands into a place to trap you, and destroy you to the last. They seek to drive you into the seas. I can offer help out of this, but it is a very difficult thing that I ask of you. If I thought that there was any another way, I would say so. But it is my advice that your people leave these lands for a time, and come with us upon our ships. We can reach the islands where my people have homesteads. They can be a haven for your people, for now.
“In time, we can plan a way to return, and look to take back these lands. I promise you that I will seek to gather more strength to help you. But with the men that I have brought, and the warriors available to you here, we cannot overcome the force that has come against us. Our sky riders have learned much more about what is arrayed against you. The enemy is far too strong, and grows stronger each day, while we will grow weaker.”
Deganawida looked around at the sachems, quietly reading their faces. Gunnar had just asked them to do the seemingly unthinkable. Withdrawing from their villages and moving deeper into the woods was one matter. Fully abandoning the lands that they and their ancestors had occupied for thousands of years was quite another.
“We can be like a shield for your people, and fight as we move them towards the Shimmering River, where the longships are beached,” Gunnar continued. “We can use the ocean as our ally. They will then have to come over the seas to get at us, whether we stay upon islands, or go onward to Midragard itself.
“Your tribes are bordered on land by kingdoms that look to your destruction. There is nothing to stop the invaders from coming into your lands, or having more supplies and warriors brought to them. We can defend much better in forcing them to have to cross water and land on another shore. Perhaps we can even deliver a crippling blow to any vessels they may try to send after us.
“As a chieftain among my people, this is my counsel to all of you. Please let me know what you decide. I desire to help you and your people in this time of terrible danger.”
Gunnar then gave a low bow to the sachems of the Older Brothers on one side of the Sacred Fire, and then turned and bowed to the sachems of the Younger Brothers on the other. He quietly walked over, and took up his small wampum medallion from the pole, and continued back to where he had been sitting before Deganawida had summoned him. Without another word, he took a seat upon the ground and looked on with a solemn expression upon his face.
In the immediate aftermath of Gunnar’s speech, Deganawida could see the logic of the Midragardan’s words slowly seeping into the minds of the sachems. Gunnar had made a strong argument, and had taken care to present it in a way that showed his genuine respect for the tribes. It was the best advocacy that Deganawida could have hoped for, as he already agreed strongly with Gunnar’s position.
Even so, it was not up to Deganawida to decide. He merely presided over the Council. He did not command it.
Deganawida got back up to his feet, and walked forward.
“Gunnar has spoken. Now, we must hear from each and every sachem that wishes to speak,” Deganawida stated.
He took his place again at the edge of the circle among the other Onan sachems.
Wearing a buckskin cape, a Kanienke sachem named Sharenhowaneh, who was of the Wolf Clan, rose to be the first speaker upon Deganawida’s invitation. He placed his wampum belt on the pole where Gunnar’s medallion had been hung, retrieving it when he had finished speaking strongly in support of Gunnar’s advice, and offer of help.
Many more wampum belts
were added to the pole before the deliberations were finished. The sachems tended to be thorough and verbose, as the issue being discussed was unprecedented. As such, the Grand Council extended long into the day, and gradually approached the edge of evening.
Deganawida had begun to get worried, knowing that the Council would traditionally cease before evening took hold. The night was the dominion of the Dark Brother. The powerful evil Wizard, in league with witches and warlocks, was believed to wield his greatest powers during the dark, and could easily affect something like a Grand Council. Therefore, as a precaution, Grand Councils that went late were suspended until daylight returned again.
Fortunately, as the shadows lengthened, it finally reached a point where no other sachems rose up to speak. Deganawida quietly breathed a sigh of relief, as he rose to his feet once again.
“All who have spoken have had their say. Now, we must see what each sachem says in regards to this matter. Where do each of you stand, regarding moving the tribal people to the longships of our Midragardan allies, so that we can seek safer haven for a time?” Deganawida asked them.
A little anxiousness flitted within Deganawida. There could not be one objection if the tribes were to accept Gunnar’s argument, and act upon it as one body. All fifty would have to give their assent.
One by one, the Grand Council sachems began to give their audible testaments regarding their inclinations. Deganawida’s hopes rose by the time that half of the sachems had spoken their inclinations, seeing that the arguments from Gunnar were well on the way to being overwhelmingly supported.
Nevertheless, the procession of voiced agreements was not given with any semblance of enthusiasm. For many, there were a number of reservations and misgivings. Had a few of them not seen the first several sachems speak out in support, Deganawida had no doubt that they would have voiced opposition instead.
By the end, while admittedly on fragile ground, there was nonetheless a complete consensus. All fifty sachems of the Grand Council had committed to pursuing Gunnar’s stated aims.
They were willing to depart their ancestral tribal lands in order to salvage the people from almost certain destruction. In his heart, Deganawida knew that they really had no other choice.
“None have voiced objection. The Five Tribes are in full agreement on this matter. We must all begin preparations to take our people to the Shimmering River,” Deganawida stated after the last Grand Council sachem had spoken out.
While he was relieved that they had taken the wisest course of action in his view, it still gave him a heavy heart to actually speak the words aloud.
“But before we dismiss the members of the Grand Council, until night falls, let us use what time remains to discuss these preparations further,” Deganawida added.
There were no objections, and the Council met until the last rays of the setting sun had emptied out across Ave. Only when night was about to claim full dominion did they finally cease.
During the rest of the extended Grand Council, a great heaviness lingered in the air, casting a somber pall over all the proceedings. Several of the sachems discussed in turn the necessary preparations to enact, so that the retreat could be maneuvered effectively towards the Shimmering River.
Deganawida did not have to read their thoughts to know that there was not one among them who was not hoping that they would soon wake up from it all, and find everything to be just a very bad dream.
A tremendous exodus lay ahead, something that no other generation among the Five Tribes had ever experienced before. It was wholly unprecedented, and there was nothing to draw from, or relate to, in all of the tribes’ history.
A great and terrible burden lay upon all the sachems, as they would be leading their people into a future that was thickly laden with an impenetrable mist. The first step had been taken into that gray and shrouding uncertainty, and Deganawida knew that there would be many more to come.
SECTION VI
*
WULFSTAN
*
Wulfstan gripped the leather hilt of his sword tightly, fingering the solid iron ring attached to the lobed pommel. He slowly traced the outline of the ring with his last finger, over and over again. The repetitive gesture reflected the nervous tension coursing throughout him, as he hungered for any shred of reassurance that things would somehow take a turn for the better.
Right next to Wulfstan, Cenwald stood with a taut grip of his own, applied midway along the shaft of his spear. His flesh seemed to bind with the scuffed, nicked wood. Cenwald’s eyes were closed, as his mouth uttered silent prayers of supplication, beads of anxiety-ridden perspiration standing out upon the weathered skin of his broad forehead.
Wulfstan had been so relieved to see Cenwald after the swiftly alternating bouts of near victory and near destruction, finally culminating favorably when the formidable Andamooran flank had been decisively driven back. Cenwald was covered with scratches, bruises, and a modest gash, but nothing that left him with permanent injury, or likely threatened to fester with disease.
The battered Andamooran ranks had pulled back almost fully in the aftermath of the fierce fighting. A contingent of horse archers, and a few substantial formations of other cavalry, roamed the areas out in front of the Saxan right flank, if only to retain some residual honor while keeping an honest presence arrayed before their Saxan enemy.
The grassland before Wulfstan was now filled with the bodies of men and horses. A good number of them, man and beast alike, twisted and rolled in the agony of grievous injuries and open wounds. Far too many lay rigidly still. The ground beneath continued to slake its impassive, prodigious thirst on the innumerable small wellsprings of blood.
The mood of nearly all of the men gathered around Wulfstan was somber and drained. Far removed from the quiet fields and abundant forests of Sussachia, now perched on the western edge of their kingdom, an inevitable darkness was looming before them all.
As Wulfstan saw it, tasting the realization as a nauseous bile, the great armies of the Unifier were now settling into a war of attrition, one that they would eventually win. Until that happened, though, Wulfstan wanted only to be standing on his two feet, back at the very front edge of the fighting. At the very least, even his lone sword could help to slow that attrition and delay the inevitable; if only for a single moment longer.
Until further commands arrived, his desires would be restrained, as he was now forced into a bitter and chafing idleness.
A good number of men had been assembled and regrouped into a sizeable force behind the main shield wall. Many, like him, were from the heart of Sussachia, where Ealdorman Byrtnoth served as King Alcuin’s highest authority. Others were from Ealdorman Oslac’s lands in the Mittevald.
Ealdorman Aelfric was mustering all of them for some unspoken purpose, which Wulfstan believed would have to be revealed very soon, as the day was steadily growing older. It would not be much longer before night fell across the battlefield, and the fighting would most likely cease completely until the next dawn; unless a sudden breakthrough occurred.
Though it was a calm in the storm, the idleness was in itself a torment to Wulfstan’s mind and constitution. He tried to occupy himself by looking over to where a force of light cavalry from Annenheim was in the process of mustering. The horse riders were gathering just a short distance beyond Wulfstan’s contingent of northern Saxans under Ealdorman Aelfric’s authority. Wulfstan wondered as to what the lightly armored, lance and shield bearing horse riders’ purpose would be, in such late stages of the day’s fighting.
An uproar of excited voices erupted suddenly around him, forcibly gripping his attention. Most of the men immediately around Wulfstan were looking and gesturing skyward, with eyes and expressions widened with a combination of sheer amazement and gaping fear. Following their riveted gazes, he watched the ominous approach of two enormous creatures, incredibly long of body, each supported by a pair of unbelievably vast wings.
“Darroks! Darroks!” a thane exclaimed loudly, a
s the two flying monstrosities drifted closer to the Saxan lines.
“May the All-Father be with us,” Cenwald mumbled aloud at Wulfstan’s side, his face a caricature of alarm and fear.
The two flying juggernauts cast massive shadows, which flowed smoothly across the ground under the creatures as they passed over the assemblage around Wulfstan. As he was engulfed in the darkness of their immense shadow, he looked up and marveled at the beasts passing right above him. It was hard to even imagine that something so huge could fly through the air.
His brow then furrowed as he watched them closely. He could tell that the creatures were lowering in altitude, noticeably heading from the upper sky towards the ground. They were soon well beyond the reserve muster of northern Saxans and light cavalry. A few moments later, Wulfstan judged that the Darroks had passed over the main Saxan encampment, and were now far behind the Saxan lines.
The giant flying beasts disappeared from his line of sight, and he could only wonder as to where they had made their final descent. Wulfstan knew that it could not have been very far beyond the encampment, and also recognized that the two creatures were now far removed from the Unifier’s forces.
Yet they had not landed under duress, either. Their descent was done with pure intent. Whatever their purpose was, he knew that it did not bode well for the Saxans.
“I do not like this,” Cenwald remarked after a long passage of uneasy silence, echoing the thoughts bandying about in Wulfstan’s own mind.
“Nor I,” Wulfstan replied in a low tone, his jaw clenching in the tension enveloping him.
He could hear the rising murmurs among the northern Saxans, as the others wrestled with the strange, unexpected sight. It was not much longer before the first signs of an answer to the strange mystery became manifest.
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