Chapter 53

“So was it a good night?” Dunbar enquired as we rode across the floor of a small valley towards the distant forest where we knew that Maket’s village stood. It was early in the morning.

I just grunted in reply. I was still feeling my age.

Terry had brought the ‘Heather’ in just after dawn. He and Bayla had slept the night away on deck while Ohba and the three lovelies spent the night wearing me out. It had been late when we’d finally fallen asleep, and I hadn’t wanted to wake so early. Regrettably, there was no chance of ‘sleeping in’ that day.

Dunbar and Burton had met me on the shore when I finally got there, having been rowed back in by one of the local fishermen. They had all my gear with them, plus a horse. They also had two squads of troops lined up and ready to go. All they were doing was waiting for me.

Our force consisted of eight mounted troops and three individuals on foot. The mounted forces included Dunbar, Burton, Sygor, Bogdi, Ruba, Olla, Rizah, and me. The foot troops were Sakkor, Brogart, and Dolat. Sakkor wanted to come along to collect his few possessions from the village while I spoke to Maket, and Brogart and Dolat wanted to see the faces of Maket and the other Forest People when we delivered the heads of their hunters. To them it was a bit of a game. To me it was a very serious business, but I allowed them to come along on the mission given the fact that they had removed all the heads.

We went slowly, taking our time and keeping our eyes open looking for any trouble. There wasn’t any. Even though we’d warned Maket to expect us today we quickly found out that he hadn’t put out any sentries. That was fine with me. It meant I didn’t have to kill any more of his men, just to get the chance to speak to him.

We did move cautiously. The trek from the village to the forest took about an hour. We simply followed the trail that Makor and his men had made the day before. It wasn’t that hard to see. Then once we hit the forest, all of us dismounted. While Dunbar and Burton slipped ahead of us, sweeping the approaches to Maket’s village, the rest of us walked in silence, leading the horses and keeping an eye out for trouble. When we did finally crest the track we’d been walking to spot the village in the distance, another two hours had passed.

I’d decided the day before how things would play out, depending on how much resistance we faced getting to the village and what kind of reception that we would get. Since we hadn’t had to fight our way in, I decided to be polite and knock. Naturally before doing that, I put my people in position.

My plan called for Burton to come down into the village with me. He was going to be my main man in this region and the locals needed to get to know him from the start. I also decided that Sakkor would accompany me as my translator. While I had been picking up enough of the male dialect of the Forest People language so that I could curse with the best of them and stomp my feet, I felt that it would go better if I didn’t use the language. It would allow Maket to think he still had an advantage over me, at least linguistically, and he might say something that would prove detrimental to his health thinking that I didn’t know what he’d said. I also intended to bring Brogart and Dolat with me. They were carrying the heads.

I put Bogdi and Ruba on one flank and Dunbar and Sygor on another. I left Olla with Rizah. Rizah had come along for the ride to collect her sister and to reassure any other River people we might end up liberating that they were now completely free, and that they had nothing to fear from us. She wasn’t to come into the village. I left the horses with them.

Once everyone was in position and I’d completed a radio check, I readied my carbine and then led the way down the slope of the hill and into the hollow where the village stood. As I approached the place, I called out.

My call, just a simple ‘hello the camp’ wasn’t well received. Men shouted out in surprise and they started running about in search of weapons. Women openly panicked, screaming their alarm initially, and then shouting for their children to come to them. The children, disoriented by the suddenness of the upheaval, started to cry. I just shook my head and marched on.

I was ordered to stop. By the time I was but a dozen paces from the gate of the village, a dozen men had arrayed themselves across the opening and they were all armed with spears. They met my smile with stern expressions and angry glares. One of them ordered me to halt. He was an older hunter and instead of holding a spear, the man held a fire-hardened wooden club.

“Get out of the way,” I ordered the man sharply, speaking to him in the River People dialect, “or I will kill you as I have killed Makor and all the men who came with him to my camp.”

Sakkor started to translate right away, but he didn’t get all the words out. The man told him to shut up. Then he glared at me and ordered me to go away. I just shook my head.

“I have come to speak to Maket this morning,” I told the man, meeting his stern gaze with my own, “and I will not leave here without speaking to him and then claiming all that is now mine; having defeated the men of this village all they own belongs to me. Besides, I’ve brought a present for Maket! I’ve brought Makor’s head.”

This time the man let Sakkor finish translating what I had said to him. His face instantly turned white the moment Sakkor got to the part where I’d brought Maket, Makor’s head. The faces of the hunters with him turned white as well.

At this point I decided to be dramatic. I had Makor’s head in a day pack that was slung over my shoulder. Before the man I had been speaking to could even come up with a reply or to think of what to do next, I reached into the pack and pulled out the severed head. Then with a flick of my wrist I tossed it at the man.

The man instinctively jumped back, gasping with surprise when the head fell to the ground near his feet. The result was instant. A wail of horror rose from his lips and the man started to scream for his chief. I just smiled and waited for him to arrive.

Maket wasn’t a happy man. From his initial reaction I got the impression that he hadn’t wanted to speak to me. It made sense considering the circumstances. Given that these people were big on ‘face’ and being macho in their dealings with their subordinates, both in their village and without, I could understand Maket not wanting to be shown up by a man who’d just killed over two dozen of his hunters. When Maket did get to the gate in response to his spokesman’s screams, his attitude changed. One look at the severed head told Maket that he was in trouble. When I told Brogart and Dolat to dump the rest of the heads at the man’s feet, Maket pissed himself ... literally.

That was fine. The other men standing between me and the village did the same.

It turned out that Maket was willing to talk. With great pomp and ceremony he welcomed me in. I accepted politely on behalf of myself and my companions. Then I followed him in, leading the way around the pile of heads.

We went to the communal hearth to speak. Maket had to be helped there. He was in shock. He was so thrown by what I’d done, that he couldn’t even speak. His men helped him to his seat at the fire and then left him there. They didn’t go far. The band that had blocked our entrance to the village stood only a pace or two back from their leader, standing guard and waiting to act if necessary. Even so, the men weren’t much of a threat. They were as dazed by what I’d done, as was their leader. Not one of them could think straight.

For a moment I thought I’d gone too far. I’d expected shock and even outrage over the fact that I’d desecrated the bodies of their hunters, but I hadn’t expected not to speak to the man. I waited patiently and then looked about, wondering what to do next. Fortunately for us, there was one person in the village who could think. While I stood waiting upon Maket to recover, that person made his presence known.

That individual was the village shaman. The man was ancient. He actually looked to be older than Wodon. He was tall and thin looking; but wiry, with muscles still in his limbs. His face was a mass of weathered wrinkles and he had long white straggly hair. He also had very few teeth. Still, he could walk and stand, though he did so with the support of two sticks that functioned similarly to canes.

“I am Kith, elder of this tribe and shaman,” the old man declared formally once he’d taken a spot standing next to where Maket sat. “I will treat with you. Please speak and demand what you will. We will give it to you, but please ... we must have the bodies of our hunters back. Please give them to us.”

Kith surprised me. I could hear the desperation in his voice, as he pleaded with me for the bodies of the hunters that we’d killed and then beheaded; but at the same time, I could hear sincerity there as well. Whatever else, this man meant what he said. He would give anything I asked for to get the bodies back.

“Your hunters came to our lands and pursued one of my hunting parties,” I told the old man, choosing to speak about what had brought the slaughter about before moving on to speak about what I had actually come for. I let Sakkor do the translation for me. “Their leader followed my people back to our encampment and told us to leave for the land we were on was theirs. We knew this was not true, for it was the land of the River People and not the Forest People. I told the leader; Makor ‘no, ‘ but the man didn’t listen and now he is dead. Many of your hunters died with him. I did not wish this, but they would not turn away, and now they are dead. Why did the hunters come that way? It isn’t their land.”

“Men of the fishing village were found in our forest,” Kith explained solemnly. “We took some captive as slaves and killed the rest. Those who survived said that the bad men had been slain and that all their slaves had been set free. Makor wanted the slaves for himself and his hunters. He was a fool to challenge you. Will you return their bodies?”

“I might,” I declared in a thoughtful manner, “if I felt that my people would no longer have to worry about this tribe.”

“We will promise never to come into your lands again,” Kith promised frantically. “You need not fear us.”

“I don’t fear you,” I told the man bluntly. “We are the Bear Tribe. My people are strong and without fear. If any man hurts one of our people, then my tribe will rise up and strike down that person, and all who stood by him. It is our way.”

“Understood,” Kith assured me quickly. “We will never hurt your people again.”

“Good,” I muttered in reply, “however, it is not good enough. Many of the villages that once covered this land have been destroyed by the bad men whom I defeated. That leaves great areas unclaimed by others and ownership of the land could be contested. I do not want this. My people will soon be building new settlements. Our numbers are great and we will need room to hunt and fish and to forage. I know of four small valleys hereabout, that are within a few days walk for a strong hunter. We will need to decide where the Forest People will hunt, and where the Bear Tribe will live. If we cannot, then I cannot return the bodies of your dead.”

“No, please do not say that,” Kith begged in a frantic manner. “We will agree. If you wish the land, you may have it. This tribe will hunt somewhere else.”

I mused for a moment on that. I didn’t want all the land that had once been occupied by River People, but I did want enough so that Burton could set up a community much like the once I was currently living in, and I definitely didn’t want to have to worry about the Forest People interfering with them. As I mused, I glanced about.

Maket was listening into the discussion. His face was still pale, but it did seem that he’d recovered from his initial shock. The men standing behind him had as well.

“What do you think, Maket?” I asked the man pointedly, startling him by drawing him into the discussion.

“We wish only peace with the Bear Tribe,” Maket stated in an adamant manner. “We will hunt elsewhere. Just please return our hunters’ bodies.”

I paused and thought about it for a few moments, the whole while speaking in a half whisper into my throat mic to let everyone know what was going on, relating the discussion using the common tongue. When I was done I looked over at Burton and then I glance back and glared sternly at Maket.

“This man here is my hunt leader,” I told Maket bluntly, “and it will be him who you must treat with from this day forth. My people are not greedy, and they will not take all the land. My hunt leader and I will be travelling about seeing what lands are best for our people. When we are done, he will come to you to speak. He will tell you which lands are ours, and how they will be marked, so your hunters do not cross onto them except to trade. Can you agree to this?”

Maket nodded his head yes with as much force as he could muster.

“Very well,” I declared in a tone that declared that our discussion was over. “I will allow your people to journey to our lands tomorrow, bringing only travois and no weapons. We will return the bodies of the dead to you, and you may send them to the Earth Mother whole. However if any hunter enters our lands again carrying a spear, we will kill him and then we will come to this village and kill everyone still living in it. Do you understand this?”

Maket nodded his head yes, as did Kith.

“Good, then remember it,” I declared forcefully. “Now it is time to take what is mine.”

It took some time and a lot of effort to organize everyone who was coming with me, and to actually accomplish it without ending up with more people. Of the twenty-six men that my people and I had killed yesterday, twenty of them had left behind a mate and all of them had at least one slave, if not two. Hell, a few of them also had children. It took time to find travois - and/or to make travois - to load up and carry everything that the women wanted to take, and everything that I didn’t want to leave behind.

Most of the women didn’t want to come with us, and I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t want them, and neither did Burton ... who, in truth, was about to inherit most of them. But the reality was that if we didn’t take them, the majority of the women would either be turned out of the village as unlucky, or taken as slaves by the surviving hunters. Sakkor had warned me that this would happen, and Brogart and Dolat had confirmed it, as had Doha. It was just the way it was in the Forest People’s world. My worldview, which called for helping these women and providing for them, was something totally new.

All told we were taking back sixty-two women and children. Most of the women were young, as were the children. Half the women were slaves. They worked the hardest to get ready to go.

We took everything that wasn’t tied down. The women packed sleeping furs, spare clothing, eating dishes, the skins that covered their huts, and even the huts’ frameworks. I didn’t want Maket or any of the other hunters still in the village profiting by the women’s misfortune.

I almost regretted bringing Rizah with me. Once everyone was ready, and the last of the women had pulled their travois out through the gate of the village heading off along the track with Burton leading them; Rizah came forward to locate her sister. It didn’t take long. Their reunion was heartfelt. Sister hugged and kissed sister and then they wept with joy. That part was okay, but once the initial greeting was over, Rizah started telling her sister about life in our community, and what it was like, particularly what it was like living with me. Then she told her sister and through her every other woman in the group who spoke the River language that they were no longer slaves. That my people did not keep slaves, and that I had freed all the slaves that I had captured from the bad people. That stunned the other women, and for a moment I almost had a rebellion on my hands.

Rizah’s sister, Risha was pulling the travois loaded with Makor’s possessions while Makor’s mate strolled along behind the travois, cradling an infant on her hip as she did. Risha simply dropped the travois once she realized that she was no longer forced to pull it for the woman. At that Makor’s mate started to complain.

I stepped in at that moment and silenced her. I explained to her what had just been revealed. It took her by surprise, as did the fact that I was speaking to her in her own language. Then the wheels in her mind turned, and she suddenly looked at me with fear in her eyes.

“If your people do not keep slaves,” Makor’s mate asked in a voice fill with trepidation, “then what will become of me and my child? Will you kill us like you killed my mate? Will you simply turn us out?”

“Would I have come and fetched you, if that was my intentions?” I responded without hesitation, pressing her with a question instead of simply telling her the answer she wanted to hear. “No, we will not. You will live in my tribe and become part of my people. In my tribe, everyone works and everyone eats.”

The woman nodded thoughtfully in response to what I had told her and then she looked at Risha.

“Will Risha work and eat in your tribe?” the woman enquired in a low, submissive voice.

“Yes, she will, if that is her wish,” I replied firmly and loudly, as best as I could in her language.

“I will work,” Makor’s widow promised hesitantly, “but I cannot carry my child and haul the travois as well. Will Risha carry Mokat?”

The woman’s question was answered a moment later when Risha walked over and took the child from the woman. That left the woman with only one option and she was forced to take it. With resignation etched on her face, Makor’s mate went and picked up the leading poles of the travois. A second later she started to pull.

That act signalled the change to the rest of our company. The former slaves stepped away from the travois leaving them to be pulled by their former mistress. Those mistresses didn’t have much of a choice in the matter by then. They’d all heard what I had said. Within minutes they’d picked up their travois as well, and headed off leaving the ex-slaves to trail behind.

It wasn’t all fun and games for the ex-slaves on the march back. Some of them ended up minding their ex-mistress’s child while the woman pulled the travois and some actually had to volunteer to help pull, since the trek back wasn’t an easy job and as time dragged on, it became clear that if they didn’t help out, the trek would take forever.

It still took us well into the afternoon to get everyone home, and even when we got there our work wasn’t done for the day. On top of seeing to it that everyone got fed, we needed to find places for everyone to sleep at least until the next day when others could help sort matters out. By then we were all very tired.

Of course, being tired hadn’t cut it the night before, nor did it now. Rizah introduced me to her sister. Doha introduced me to Leda, Makor’s former mate. Both women did their best to prove to me that they were good additions to my tribe. I did my best to make them feel welcome. Then Rizah and Doha teamed up to resurrect the dead.

Oh, I was tired in the morning!

There wasn’t any coffee. I hadn’t asked for any, so it meant drinking tea. Everyone just left me alone. That is, until Ruba joined us for breakfast.

“I’ve been thinking about all the women that you’ve acquired, Jake,” Ruba told me as she sat down to a breakfast of oatmeal, dried fruit, and herbal tea, “and I think I might have a solution for you, other than taking everyone back to our settlement.”

Not wanting to bite, I just smiled at her and then I pointed my spoon towards where Burton was seated, listening in to our conversation, while he ate his own breakfast.

“They’re his women, not mine,” I told her bluntly. “Speak to him.”

Burton started to open his mouth to protest, as did Helen, when Ruba stopped them both by raising a finger and shaking her head.

“They’re your women, Jake, whether you like it or not,” Ruba declared. “Now do you want to hear my idea or not?”

I sighed heavily with resignation and then I nodded my head ‘yes.’ Ruba was right. Whether the women stayed here with Burton, or they came north, they were still my responsibility. The fact was that I was on the verge of building something bigger than a single tribe of people. I was on the verge of creating a society that included many people. I had to take responsibility for what I had started.

“I’ve listened to you and Kim talk, and I’ve heard what Gogra has told you about absorbing more people into our tribe, and I agree with them to a degree,” Ruba stated in an authoritative manner. “I think our current tribe could absorb a few more people, but not as many as you now have to concern yourself with. My solution is that you form more settlements. You’ve already decided that Burton will head one up here in the south. This is good, but it’s only a start. I mean even if you leave Burton and Sygor here, with Helen and Tisa and Sapha to help run the place, and you add the ten fishermen, plus the twelve men from your people, and their mates, that will only account for forty-plus people. That’s only a drop in the bucket to the number of people you’ve got living here.”

“I know that,” I acknowledged with some annoyance in my voice, part of it due to my lack of sleep and part because I didn’t want to be lectured to by Ruba. “I’d intended to leave more people with him.”

“I know you were intending to do that,” Ruba returned quickly, ignoring my irritation, “but even if you leave behind double that number, it would leave you with a hundred more that you need to shelter and care for and teach them to be members of our tribe.”

“So what do you suggest I do,” I asked sharply trying to press Ruba to come to her point. “I’m all ears.”