by David Bell
Anavar nodded and frowned and grunted as he made a show of looking intently at one piece or another, as if he were searching the finer points, or testing for skill or flaw.
“Hm,” he said. “Hm, yes, some are good, fine, hm, I have some knowledge of finery.”
“As fine as you would find in any noble’s house in Keftiu, or the Black Land itself. I see you recognise work of quality when you see it,” said Kanesh, knowingly.
“Yes; the Black Land, you say?”
“The Black Land, of which you doubtless know, where the great kings lie with such things arrayed about them in their stone mountain tombs.”
“The great kings, you say?”
“The very same; with riches such as these at their side, providing for the sacred journey to their place among the gods.”
“The bull’s head thing, with the horns –”
“Fit for the table of a noble, even a king. It might almost have been made for a man of authority, such as you.”
“I can see that, but costly I suspect.”
“Ah, forgive me, of course it is yours, a gift from Keftiu I hope you will accept.”
“Not the Black Land, then?”
“Fashioned to order on the wheel of a master potter in the Black Land, and shipped to Keftiu for our voyage to Pherethan as a gift for the tin master of Crakluz, if we should have the good fortune to reach his land.”
“Hm,” grunted Anavar, still suspicious. “That’s all very well…”
“All this talk, and breathing in the scents from those phials must have given you a thirst as harsh as that they have given me. This wine is from a place as far away as the Black Land, where they prize it above all other. It would slake a throat that had swallowed burning coals and bring to the blood the warmth of summer in the fiercest winter storms. It is best drunk from this alabaster goblet. This is the wine of Halaba. Sip it and then taste these honeyed figs. You have never tasted a fig before? Try another. While you drink, I must show you how this gold pendant with the blue jewel flashes white fire as it turns. An intriguing toy, you must agree. Please look carefully. Perhaps you can explain how the fire forms, for no matter how closely I watch, it still baffles me.”
Anavar’s eyes followed the blue jewel swaying on its gold chain. Suspicion struggled with avarice within him, and avarice gradually gained control as it always will. He tried one last time to re-assert himself.
“Price; there has been no talk of price. You will demand too much.”
“That is not our way. All that we seek is a fair agreement on the trade in tin. Do see how the stone sends out its spark? Listen to me. There is a way in which you may win more of the tinstone from your mines than you have ever done. It is a mystery that I will share with you in return for the trade that will make you rich and respected in Pherethan and distant Keftiu. Watch the jewel. You know now what you should do if all of these goods are to be yours.”
In the cool air of the early morning, Kanesh was standing amidships watching Leptos and Leptos casting their lines to catch the greedy blue-striped fish that swarmed in the bay. He heard a light footfall like Luzar’s on the deck behind him and turned to find a slim young woman who, in eyes and hair and skin, was her mother twenty years past and almost her brother now.
“Ariadana,” he said. “Welcome aboard. From the look in your eyes, I see you have a message for me.”
“My brother says you and the captain and your men are to join in the hunt.”
“Say to him that it is a great honour he does to us. Say also that Captain Potyr will stay with his ship. He sees it as his duty. But you shall have a captain: our master archer.”
She looked at him levelly for a few moments without saying another word, then turned and climbed over the side. He was put in mind of the grace and casual menace of a young leopard.
It was early in the year for hunting the wild boar, but too much damage had been caused by their ravaging the small fields of corn that the people relied on to see them through the winter. The rooting up and trampling of the crops had to be stopped and, besides, who could resist the thought of such rich fresh meat for once, in place of the fish and porridge with berries that was the usual fare at this time?
The sun had yet to rise when the hunt set out for the woods above the cliffs. Potyr stayed on board the Davina with the carpenter and his mate who were fashioning a new thwart for one which had begun to show rot, and the ship’s grandfather, as the others called him, who had seen the leaping whale in the Strait before they passed through. It was decided that he might still be able to manage his oar but not that he was spry enough for a wild boar hunt. Anavar’s men carried heavy lances with flint tips, nets for trapping and rope slings to carry the carcasses home on poles. Anavar himself carried the only sword, a heavy hacking blade that to Kanesh looked more ceremonial than useful. All wore only a loincloth to avoid the danger of looser clothes being snagged by tusks. Of the Davina’s men, those more skilled at throwing carried bronze-tipped lances, while the others had the longer-bladed Keftiu sword. The Captain of Archers had ordered his men to arm themselves with broadheads. Kanesh carried the dark metal brand in its scabbard at his waist. The column was led by boys who held back the dogs on leashes. Some had the job of setting the baying hounds free to run and start the boars and to make plenty of noise themselves, while the others loosed the catchers to chase a running boar and hang on to its ears or tail to slow it down.
“One of them told me that they’re after a real king of the boars this time,” said Namun to Sharesh. “Have you ever been on a boar hunt before?”
Sharesh shook his head.
“Mind you watch out and stay well back,” said Kerma. “They’re worse than a charging bull: turn quicker, see? I’ve seen one knock a tree down to get at a man,” he added cheerfully.
“It’s the sows with young that scare me,” said a Kydona oarsman. “They go for you as soon as they see you.”
“Orders are to stick to the boars,” said the Captain of Archers. “They have done their job of serving the sows so now, if all they are doing is ruining the crops, they are fair game. But remember, leave the females alone.”
“Hear that, Kerma?” said the rigger, laughing. “Stick to the males.”
“Don’t label me with your own tasty habits, shipmate,” said Kerma, playfully twirling his axe round the rigger’s head.
“Quiet back there,” snapped the Captain of Archers. “And spread out once you’re in the woods. Find a place, keep still and wait for the boys and the dogs to do their work.”
Sharesh found himself standing next to the archers near the edge of a small clearing. He could see Anavar and two of his men crouching on the other side and hear the shouts of the boys on all sides as they entered the wood and the sounds of their sticks whacking the tree trunks as they walked. The hounds started to bellow and whimper as they forced their way through the undergrowth, searching for the boars’ scent.
There was a sudden crashing sound behind him and a huge black hairy shape rushed past so close that he could hear its hoarse panting breath and smell its foetid earthy scent. The boar charged across the clearing towards the place where Anavar stood, wildly shaking its head as it tried to fling away the dog with its jaws locked into the root of its ear. A man drew back his lance but before he could throw, two broadhead arrows struck the boar, one in a back leg, shattering the bone and fetching its rear down, and the other in the ribs, finding the heart and fetching blood spouting from the mouth. The great black beast slid and sprawled on the stony ground, blood frothing from its snout for a few moments, twitched and choked, gave a final convulsive shudder, and died.
No one moved at first and then the two village men came forward cautiously and prodded the carcass with their lances to reassure themselves it was dead. Anavar then came up and gave the dead beast a heavy blow with his sword. The archers remained where they were, with second arrows already nocked. Anavar gestured to Sharesh to join him.
“With my sword I gave th
e beast the stroke of mercy,” he said (once he was sure it was safely dead, Sharesh told Namun later). But the beast we seek is far greater than this. The hunt goes on until we find the king of boars. You hear those cries and the baying of the hounds? They have started him! Go on ahead with your two men and follow the hunt. We will be close behind when we have cut out these tusks.”
“He is in there, among the rocks,” said Kanesh, pointing. “The dogs have run him to ground but now they are afraid to get up close enough to tempt him out. He has already savaged two.”
“What do we do now?” asked Sharesh.
“We wait until the spearmen have ringed his fastness and the captain has placed his men where they can get a clear shot when he breaks out.”
“When will he make the break?”
“When someone finds a place on top of that rock from where he can cast a lance. The dogs may go in if they smell blood.”
“Give me a lance. I will go.”
Kanesh looked hard at him and gave a slight smile. “I believe you will,” he said. “You will have to use all the speed you showed in the mountain run, and more, if he comes after you. Give me your lance,” he said to Myrtias. He handed the lance to Sharesh. “The balance is good. Take it and go through the undergrowth round to the other side. The rock slopes enough for your feet to get a grip.”
The rock surface was rough and grazed his hands and knees. He held his breath to bursting as he crawled up so as not to alert the boar. His hand at last found the top of the rock and he hauled himself up, slowly, until his head was at the level where he could look down the other side. His heart almost stopped when he saw what stood below. More dangerous than a bull, Kerma had said: this beast looked almost as big as one. Crafty, too, to hide among the rocks: no one but Kanesh had thought of that. Sharesh edged sideways a little to put his foot on a narrow ledge that would allow him to stand up for the throw. Go for the flank Kanesh had said: the huge muscles at the neck were too thick and hard. He stood, balanced himself, raised the lance and drew back his arm.
With a sharp hissing sound a lance flew past his shoulder and struck the boar in the side just behind its front leg. It gave a furious squeal and jerked forward. His own lance harmlessly struck the place where the boar had been the instant before. The great shaggy black beast leaped from its hiding place, scattered the yelping dogs, and with the broken end of the lance dangling from its flesh, charged across the clearing and disappeared into the undergrowth beyond. Sharesh looked round to see the lance thrower drop to the ground and set off in pursuit, copper-coloured hair streaming behind as it ran. Everyone, men, boys and dogs took up the chase, following the trail of blood, shouting, yelling and baying as they went.
“Did you see that?” gasped the rigger to Kerma as they forced their way through the mass of shrubs and saplings.
“You mean Luzar? Got in the first lance?”
“No. It was a woman!”
“ Go on! Couldn’t be; not allowed on the hunt. Anyway, he had a loincloth on, like us.”
“Woman all right,” said Myrtias. “I was looking further up: lovely, bouncing up and down, they were.”
Sharesh had seen them too. He was further ahead, running with Namun. Somehow, he didn’t mind that Ariadana had made the first hit. She was bound to want to find a time to mock him about a woman doing man’s work and doing it better than a man. And that would give him his chance of persuading her that there were things that only a man could do.
Kanesh and the archers did not follow the others. Kanesh had noticed another mass of rocks on higher ground near the edge of the heath and, from what he had seen a few moments earlier, reasoned that this animal would seek refuge among rocks again.
“We must get a couple more shafts into him before he reaches that place if we’re going to slow him down,” said the Captain of Archers.
“Then don’t stand here; take that path and head him off.”
When Kanesh reached the open ground near the rocks he saw that the archers had managed to hit the boar twice more, but the arrows were in the muscular neck and even with three shafts now sapping his blood, the boar was still running almost as fast as ever.
Ariadana stood with her mouth open and her face tight with excitement, watching the boar make for the heath. Sharesh was at her side, another lance that he had picked up in the forest in his hand. Other men were emerging from the woods. Kanesh called to Ariadana.
“You know what to do. Do it!”
She bridled for an instant at the order, then turned and shouted to the men.
“All of you! That way! Whip the dogs that way! Drive him into the soft ground. You, sailor, bring the net. Go!”
Driven into the soft marshy ground, try as he might, he could run no more. He struggled and floundered and at last dropped exhausted in the mud. Kanesh came up to find the men looking wonderingly at the great beast now brought low and at their mercy.
“Get the net on him and tie those ropes, you fools! He will sink if you leave him any longer.” They were too afraid to approach him even now. They would not face those immense curved tusks, sharp as daggers. Sharesh and Ariadana grabbed the net and the ropes and jumped into the mud. Sharesh paid for it with a slashed forearm that he did not notice in the effort and excitement of struggling in the slime so close to Ariadana, until the work had been done, the net pulled tight around the king of boars, and the heavy body dragged from the marsh, a task that needed the strength of almost all of them.
“Where is Anavar? Should he not be here, to give the stroke of mercy?” said Sharesh to Ariadana as they looked down at their prize, alive but motionless in the net.
“He will have gone ahead to the village to give news that the king of boars is taken and the people need fear no longer. This hunt is not yet over.”
“We may have taken him but how shall we get him to the village? Even with everyone at the ropes we can never drag him that far.”
“Wait. Luzar will bring the horses.”
Sharesh tried not to let the admiration he felt show in his face. “You knew, the two of you, how this hunt would go! And Kanesh knew, too. You knew everything the boar would do. How did you…”
He stopped talking, realising it was no use. The look on her face said if you do not know, I cannot tell you. That is the way it is with us, Luzar and me.
“Horses!” exclaimed Kerma. “Who would have thought it in a land like this.”
“Call them horses?” sneered the rigger. “They’re not much bigger than dogs.”
Luzar said a quiet word and the four small sturdy-looking brown horses dragging a large flat wooden sled came to a halt in front of Kanesh and the Captain of Archers who began to size them up, walking round them, stroking a flank, feeling shoulder and haunch muscle, lifting a hoof.
“Good bone; certainly not high, but look at that chest.”
“Plenty of muscle in the leg and a neat foot; not likely to slip pulling a load.”
“Double coat; must be good in winter rain.”
“Good strong horse,” said Luzar. “Carry a man all day, even you.”
Sharesh remembered Luzar telling of how his father had given him a horse when he was a boy.
“Made for scouting, rider sitting low, not easy to see.”
“But not a chariot horse; far too small and won’t have anything like enough pace and turn,” said the Captain of Archers.
“Indeed, but what we need now is a draft horse and here we have four,” said Kanesh. “Kerma, get our load onto the sled and let us see what these fine little beasts can do.”
Anavar had ordered the whole community to assemble for the arrival of the captive king of boars. He had put on a long grey woollen robe and thick leather belt with the bronze sword hanging from it and for the occasion had had a chaplet of oak leaves placed on his head. As the horse train and sled followed by the hunters drew up to the palisade gate, he made great ceremony of having it opened to welcome the triumphant party and admit them into the village. While the crowd elbo
wed and pushed their way to get a closer look, Anavar approached Kanesh and asked in a low voice whose lance had been the first to strike the boar.
“Your sister’s; there is no doubt of that.”
“My sister! You permitted my sister to join the hunt!”
“She came from nowhere and struck swifter than a lightning bolt. Even when she led the pursuit of the stricken beast, the men thought they were seeing Luzar lead the chase. May I ask the reason for your concern? You need not fear that she was in any danger. She was speedier and more deadly with the lance than any man there.”
