Chapter 14: Back to Talai

"Shantar! Wake up, see what's happened!"

He threw back the blanket, drawing in a deep breath of clean, cold air. While they slept, the land around them had been transformed by a fast moving winter storm. It had swept silently in past them during the night, leaving behind a thin blanket of snow.

"Build up the fire," he commanded gleefully. "Here's where we fill up our water skins."

Mei Mei threw a handful of snow at him before starting to gather dry twigs, laughing as he caught it and pretended to throw it back at her. They soon had a brisk fire blazing, and the tea pot was pressed into service as a snow melter. They packed as much snow as they could into each water skin, pouring hot water in on top of it and repeating the process until the skins were tightly rounded. A hollow in the top of a nearby rock was treated the same way, and soon the ponies were able to drink their fill.

The clouds were already fleeing, and soon the sun's rays were making short work of the mantle of snow. A little of the moisture ran off downhill, but not far, most of it sinking into the rocky ground where it lay. It would take a heavier runoff than this to fill the bottoms of the canyons that ran toward the sea.

"Hold it right there, you two!" Shantar's pony reared and whinnied as an arrow thudded into the path under its nose. Who are you, and what're you doing here?"

"What do you think we're doing here, you old gronch pusher?" Shantar's gleeful shout echoed from the canyon walls. "Come on down here, and show us how to get to your camp."

"Shantar! By all the Little Blue Gods of Sian!" Gortai scrambled down the side of the boulder he'd used as an ambush. "She did find you! We didn't know whether to believe her or not when she said she was going to rescue you. She wouldn't let any of the rest of us go with her, either."

Shantar swung down from his pony, and the two men pounded each other on the back and traded friendly insults as only long time fellow campaigners would dare to do. "It looked like your ugly face, but I wasn't taking any chances," Gortai admitted. "We figured you was a goner for sure. Well, let's get going. There'll be some others who'll be mighty glad to see the two of you."

They were able to make it back to Gortai's camp well before dark, since they didn't have to spare their ponies for another day's travel. Gortai's shouts brought everyone running, and they were immediately surrounded by a laughing, shouting crowd.

"What's going on here?" The booming voice brought instant silence, and the crowd parted to let Orzad through. "So, you made it back with your warrior. And cured him of the slave drug. Well, girl? Are you happy now?"

"Yes, father." She smiled smugly, snuggling closer to Shantar's side and squeezing his arm possessively. "We are both happy."

"Orzad's your father?" Shantar gasped in amazement, and Orzad roared with laughter at the expression on his face.

"She's my daughter, all right," he guffawed. "If I hadn't been sure of it already, I would be now. Maybe you'll beat her when she needs it. I've never been able to."

"I'll do what I can," he answered, feebly. "How come you're camped away down here?"

"We wouldn't want to miss the big battle when Sholim's army attacks Talai," Orzad answered lightly, then continued in more serious tones. "I'm also here to meet with King Khamul's ambassadors. If He can meet my terms and conditions, I just might jump in on His side of the fight. So far, He's been pretty stubborn. He demands that we help Him because He's King of Kath. I've told Him that the Hill men won't follow me into battle without a better reason than that. Come on into my tent. You two must be hungry, and we can talk while we eat."

Inside the tent, Orzad roared good naturedly at several of his wives to bring out more food and drink. "Sit down and eat with the men," he told Mei Mei. "The Gods know that you've earned the right. She's the one who organized the younger women into fighting units to protect their villages while the men were away," he boasted. "That freed a lot more men for the fighting. She picked up a lot of good ideas while she was working for Nurm."

They were too busy eating to do much talking for quite a while. At last the food was cleared away, and they settled down to serious conversation over steaming pots of tea.

"So, King Khamul has actually stooped to negotiating with the hated Hill men." Shantar grinned a bit sourly, remembering his encounter with Khamul's wrath. "That must have griped him no end. What has he had to say, so far?"

"I'll let you listen while I talk with his ambassadors. I'd like your opinion on what they're telling me, since you're one of the few Hill men who've talked to him in person." He got up and poked his head out through the flap of the tent, shouting the name of a passing Hill man. "Have the two city men come to my tent."

"Shantar, these are Hillen, the King's advisor, and Chinzel, a merchant of Talai. Chinzel helped to guide Hillen here, and has considerable influence in Talai."

"I've met them both." Shantar's amiable smile hid his surprise. "Hillen at King Khamul's court, and Chinzel... other places. Tell me, what does His Serene Majesty think of us lowly Hill men these days?"

"I'll be blunt with you." Hillen reddened behind his gray whiskers. "He has little love for the people of the High Hills, but some of His advisors have been trying to get him to change his mind."

"That sounds like it could prove to be a dangerous pastime," Shantar observed. "The Royal dungeons are not easy to escape from. That is, unless you are lucky enough to be sharing a cell with a sorcerer."

"There was a great deal of commotion around the castle when you were discovered missing," Hillen confided. "Tell me, just how did you manage to escape?"

"I'm afraid that you would never believe me. Anyway, it's a method that will only work for sorcerers. King Khamul needn't worry about the soundness of His prisons. Enough of that. What are conditions like in Talai by now?"

"They're not good," Chinzel answered glumly. "The streets are full of refugees, and food is scarce. It's lucky for us that the city's water comes from deep wells, so there's no shortage of something to drink. I don't know how well Talai could stand up to a determined and prolonged siege. Most business in the city is at a standstill."

"Sholim's army will have trouble mounting any kind of a prolonged siege," Orzad answered. "So, it's a toss up right now just who would win. The addition of our forces at the right moment could well swing the balance in your favor."

"Just what would it take to bring you and your forces in on our side?" Hillen studied Orzad shrewdly. "A share of the loot from Weilin and Sian when they are taken?"

"If Sholim is beaten badly enough at Talai, I don't think that it will be necessary to storm the other cities. There will still be some loot from the temples, of course," Orzad mused, as though thinking out loud. "My people would want a fair share of that. Say, one half. No, the most important condition to my people would be a change in the way that Kath is ruled. The way things have always been done, with a ruler whose every whim is law, has been bad for free Hill men. Whenever a Hill man runs into trouble, he is assumed to be in the wrong just because he is a Hill man." Orzad took a sip of his tea, found that it was cold, and set it aside with a grimace. "We don't expect everybody to want or to be able to live the way we do, since freedom is something a man has to be raised under. All that we ask is that Kath be ruled fairly, under a code of written laws that apply equally to all men. The King's decisions must be subject to the approval of a council drawn from all parts of Kath, freely chosen by its people."

There was a dead silence for long moments in Orzad's tent, broken only by the sounds of the camp settling down for the evening. Shantar turned Orzad's words over and over in his mind, trying to see how such a thing could be made to work.

Hillen's mouth dropped open in pure shock. He didn't seem to be able at first to find words to express his outrage. "But... but, you can't do that!" He finally stuttered out his protest while Chinzel, a faint smile on his thin face, watched silently.