Chapter 11

Mak and Lyssa quickly made up light packs with enough rations to keep themselves going for a few days. Making sure that their weapons were in good order, they walked, trotted, walked through the forest, leaving the slowermoving caravan far behind. They slept that night curled up together in the branches of an ancient oak tree, waking to move on at the first light of dawn, and it was still early when they reached the fields of the Chakcha.

In the near distance rose a steepsided hill crowned by a halfruined castle, the 'big stone house' described by Kinna. Inside a crumbling wall that ringed the base of the hill clustered a jumbled mass of small houses built of stone blocks, threaded through by narrow, winding cobblestone streets. Even though the city was decaying and partially empty, Mak was impressed. He thought that it must be one of the largest cities anywhere. Many of the houses had two stories, and some even had three or four, something he'd never even heard of before.

Scattered about the fields were groups of True Folk women, busily weeding, harvesting, and doing various menial tasks. They were supervised by a scattering of Chakcha men, most of them mounted on the shaggy ponies that Kinna called shelka. Mak and Lyssa watched until work in the fields was well under way, then faded back into the forest.

"Over this way, I think," Lyssa pointed. "Yes, there's a trail."

The weedgrown path ended at a clearing a short distance inside the forest where a wellbuilt wooden structure perched on spindly stilts. At this time of day, all of the workers were away in the fields. According to whqt Kinna had told them, the house should be unoccupied other than by a few old women and young girlchildren.

"Wait here. Be ready to run if anyone comes," Mak cautioned. "Just be sure to whistle a warning first. I'll call if I need you."

He scanned the area one last time, then crossed to the ladder and climbed it silently. The first thing he saw was an old woman peeling vegetables with a tiny flint knife, letting the peelings fall to the floor as she gathered the peeled vegetables into a cloth laid across her lap. She heard his movements and grumbled peevishly at him without looking up.

"What are you doing back from the fields? It isn't time for the noon meal. If the overseer finds out that you've come back here without permission he'll punish all" Her jaw dropped as she looked up to see Mak looming over her, hairy, muscular, and obviously male. Her eyes grew round as she saw that he was clothed as she had never seen one of her people.

"You, you are one of us, but you are not," she stammered. "By the spirits of Moon, and Wind, and Tree, tell me who you are, what you are. Where do you come from?"

"My name is Mak. I come from far across the high mountains to the west." Mak's voice was low and solemn. "Many of my people live there in peace and freedom where the forests are free to all, and the land is rich and untilled."

He came a step closer to where the old woman sat, her halfpeeled vegetables lying forgotten in her lap. "When I learned of your people from a girlchild I found wandering in the forest, my friends and I vowed to help you."

"Can you take us to this land? Will there be men like you there?" She leaned forward eagerly, spilling the forgotten vegetables across the floor. "I, Lalla, am old but my daughters are yet young and strong, eager to bear children. Are you real? Not just a dream sent to me by the spirits?"

"Yes, I am real, and it can be done. It must be done. We will do it," answered Mak. "Yes, there are men in my land. I must be on my way now, for there are many lodges to visit and all must be told. Tomorrow night after the time of the evening meal I shall return through the darkness to this house. At that time I will speak to a gathering of the oldest and wisest of you. I will tell you what you must hear, and ask your advice on how best to do this thing. Take care, and think well before you decide who to tell of this. The Chakcha must not learn of it until it is too late for them to interfere."

He stepped back and climbed down the ladder. Lalla sat in the midst of her scattered vegetables with tears spilling down her lined face, as though only now awakening from a strange and wondrous dream.

All of that day and most of the next Mak and Lyssa circled the fields of the Chakcha, careful to stay far enough back in the woods so that none of the mounted men could catch sight of them. By late afternoon of the second day they had completed their circle, and were back where they had started. Waiting for darkness to settle over the valley, they hid at the edge of the forest where they could keep an eye on the first lodgehouse that Mak had visited.

They watched the city, alert for any sign that the Chakcha had found them out, but saw no sign of soldiers on the move. All that they saw were a few stealthy figures creeping through the trees toward the house, but by the appointed time at least fifty women had arrived.

"Wait here and watch," Mak cautioned. "If the Chakcha have set a trap for me, they'll spring it as soon as I'm inside. If I'm captured, get the word to Nurm as fast as you can."

"I'll watch. Good luck in there."

Mak kissed her before she could object, even if she had wanted to, and strode boldly to the base of the ladder. Inside the house, he stood for a moment looking at the assembled women. They ranged from robust middle age to silvery and wrinkled ancients. A rustle of movement, a hiss of indrawn breath greeted his appearance as they realized afresh that here was a male of their own kind. One who was young. One who was strong. One who was free!

"I am here to answer your questions and help you with your plans," Mak spoke into the sudden silence. "Freedom awaits you on the other side of the mountains, but it cannot simply be given. You must seize it for yourselves. Some of you have had more time to think of questions than others, but I imagine that all of you will want to know more or less the same things."

"Are you truly sent by the Spirits?" The question came from one of the older women. "Which of Them has brought you here?"

"Whether by Spirits or not, I do not know," he answered frankly. "My friends and I have brought a caravan, with trade goods, but what we have found here is more important to us than the profits from trade. We have vowed to set you free, if this can be done."

"Will there be room for all of us on the other side of the mountains?" The next question came somewhat hesitantly from one of the younger women.

"More room than you can ever imagine. Beyond the mountains are vast stretches of forest where no one lives. In the midst of the forest, many villages stand empty, deserted, and the others have drawn in on themselves as their people have dwindled. New people are needed, strong women to bear many sons and daughters. There will be enough shelter for all, though it may be crowded at first, but there will be enough huts to keep off the weather until next spring when you can build villages of your own and plant your own fields. There are men there, but most of them already have women of their own and most of you will have to share until your own boychildren are grown. At that time there will be husbands for your daughters, wives for your sons. Beyond those villages lie vast stretches of forest that belong to whoever will make the effort to claim them."

"Are there no Chakcha in these lands?" The question came from Lalla, leader of the house they were in. "Are there none who will seek to own us, as do the T'Chak?"

"There are indeed villages of Tall Ones, like the ones you call Chakcha, but they live in peace with the True Folk. They may marry our women, and we may marry theirs with none to tell us no."

"Ugh, this cannot be!" cried out the silverfurred crone who had posed the question about the Spirits, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "No Chakcha would mate with one of us, nor we with one of them. They are foul beasts, yet they are the ones who call us animals and fear the taint of our blood!"

"In my land this is not so," Mak countered, "but I know that words alone will not convince you of the truth."

He turned and called down the ladder. "Lyssa, come up here for a moment."

There was a gasp of fear as Lyssa climbed to stand by Mak. It turned to a sigh of wonderment as she stood close to his side, flaming redgold hair glowing in the torchlight.

"I have asked this one to be my chosen mate, and she is free to do so though she has not yet accepted. She and the others in our group are of the Tall Ones, but many have the blond hair or at least the blue eyes of their True Folk ancestors. By Lyssa's hair and eyes you may know that I speak true."

The women crowded around, half fearful of Lyssa's slender height, wholly entranced by her flaming hair and bluegreen eyes.

"We have other things to discuss tonight," Mak finally interrupted. "Lyssa must return to the ground to stand guard over our meeting."

As she descended the ladder, she could hear Mak telling of the distances that must be traveled between this place and his home village. His chosen mate, indeed! He had never so much as asked directly whether she would agree, and when he did, she would... She would tell him... When he did, well, that would be time enough for her to decide what to answer.

He spoke to the women next of the supplies that would have to be carried with them to see them through their journey, and to help feed them over the coming winter months. There was no way that they could carry all that they would need, and hunting and gathering would have to make up much of the difference. There would be hunger, but none would starve. He and Lyssa had counted fortynine houses in their rounds, and knew that each house held some twenty to twentyfive grown women with their girlchildren.

"And are the Chakcha going to stand and do nothing as we walk away?" Again this was one of the younger women. "Or do we chop them out of our way with wooden hoes?"

"We want no fighting that can be avoided, but there is sure to be some. You will need weapons if you are to win your freedom." He reached down and unstrapped a crossbow from his pack. "This is the weapon that can make any one of you the equal of one of the Chakcha if you know how to use it. The important thing for you to remember is that you cannot stand against equal numbers of them in an open fight. Even though they have never fought an enemy, they are trained warriors and you are not. Yet in the forest, clubs and spears in the hands of men can be defeated if you know what you are doing."

"What is this toy that you bring us, and how may it be used?" Lalla's expression was half skeptical, half hopeful.

"I will show you." Mak cocked and loaded the weapon in one easy motion. The women gasped when it drove an arrow deep into the smoked haunch of a pig that hung from a rafter. "This is called a crossbow. The darts that it throws are called arrows. It will shoot an arrow farther than a strong man can throw a club or spear. It can be used as many times as you have arrows for it. I will leave several of these with you, so that you can make copies for yourselves."

The rest of the evening was spent laying plans. The women had always made their own tools. They knew the things that could be done with different kinds of wood, and the weapons posed no great problems for them.

"My friends and I will visit every few days to see how things are going," Mak promised. "Be sure that the Chakcha don't find out what is happening. Secrecy is the only weapon that we can use right now."

After the meeting ended, Mak and Lyssa slipped away through the forest. At a safe distance from the Chakcha fields they made camp in a sheltered hollow at the base of an overhanging cliff.

"Do you think that our plan will work?" Lyssa asked as Mak built up the fire for their evening meal.