Barry Longyear: Enemy Papers

The peoples of the Sindie were divided by the Akkujah Mountains and the Great Cut into the four Great Tribes: the Mavedah, the Diruvedah, the Kuvedah, and the Irrvedah. And the four tribes obeyed the ancient Laws of Aakva.

Bantumeh ruled the Mavedah, for Bantumeh ruled its clan, and the people of Bantumeh’s clan were the best and wisest of the Mavedah.

The Mavedah ruled the Madah west of the Akkujah Mountains, north to the Ocean of Ice, south to the boiling waters of the Yellow Sea, and west to where Aakva slept in the muds and waters of the Land of Death. The tribe of Bantumeh lived not in any fixed place, but roamed the Madah following the game.

The one called Mijii ruled the Diruvedah, and its tribe hunted for game in the lands of the Dirudah, east of the mountains, past the blue lakes, to the poison air of the Melting Mountains where Aakva began its day in fire. And the Dirudah extended from where the Great Cut split the land, south to the Yellow Sea.

North of the Great Cut and the Dirudah was the Kudah, and the tribe of the Kuvedah was ruled by the twins, Hesheh and Vintah. Their rule extended north to the cold waters where the ice and darkness met. And there the Kuvedah fished and hunted for game.

Tocchah ruled the Irrvedah and the Irrvedah ruled from the heights of the Akkujah Mountains and the depths of the Great Cut and all in between, south to the Yellow Sea. The Irrvedah ate little flesh, save that of the swimming creatures from the waters of the Great Cut. At the bottom of the Cut, and in the mountains, the Irrvedah made plants to grow at will, for it was these plants that fed the Irrvedah.

All of the tribes of the Sindie lived according to the sacred tabus spoken generations before by the Doubter Daultha.

For the Irrvedah, the flesh of creatures that stalked the dry land was tabu. For any tribe to cross the Great Cut or the mountains of Akkujah was tabu. For the Irrvedah to leave the cut or the mountains and enter either the Madah, Kudah, or Dirudah was tabu. For any tribe to place an obligation on another tribe either of service, sacrifice, or obligation was tabu.

Because the lands of the flesh hunters were divided by the land of the plant growers, the land creatures flourished there and there was no cause for mistrust or jealousy.

There was peace and plenty among the four great tribes.

All praised the wisdom of Aakva’s servants.

The year of the black rains came and left the Madah barren. Those lands west of the Akkujah saw no water, and the ground cracked and turned to fine powder. The noon sky burned with a blinding blue, while the morning and evening skies were the reds and yellows of cooling iron. The lakes and rivers became mud and dust, and the creatures that swam within them died. The Ocean of Ice became a black sea of putrid oil. The wild creatures of the land fled from the Madah to the mountains, and from there to the lands of the Diruvedah and the Kuvedah.

The proud hunters of the Mavedah could not blood their spears, and so they watched their children cry and grow thin. Soon the Mavedah became as barren as their land. There was an end to love and conception. The hunters clawed at the land, gathering roots, insects, and the skins of the few trees that still lived. But in time even these were gone. The hunters watched their children scream and stare.

The hunters clawed at the bottoms of streams and wellbeds, chasing the precious water as it left the ground below. But the water ran more swiftly than the hunters could dig. The hunters watched their children die.

The low, slow beat of the death drums started and their rumble filled the Madah both day and night.

The constant prayer wails of the Mavedah were sent upward to the God of the Day Light, but the only answer was the oven-breath of the windstorm. The trees and grasses of the Madah withered and burned. Even the wingmite refused to cross the sky.

And the lips and tongues of the Mavedah became too dry to wail.

The Mavedah became too tired to pray.

The beating of the death drums fed upon itself. Instead of burning the dead, the Mavedah closed its eyes and ate the dead.

It was Bantumeh, the ruler of the masters of the Mavedah, who sent forth the call. The masters of the other clans of the Mavedah trudged to Bantumeh’s fire to discuss plans. But after they ate again of the dead, the masters had not the voice to discuss plans.

Near another fire was a lower servant of Aakva named Uhe. It was not very tall, nor handsome, nor strong. In its eyes, though, could be found the water the wells had lost, for the lowly servant cried. That night Uhe sat and watched its child Leuno die of starvation. The child knew its parent to the end. The dull eyes saw little, but the cracked lips set in that drawn face whispered Uhe’s name before Leuno died. Uhe released its child’s hand and watched as the food preparers carried Leuno’s small body toward the masters' fire.