Гарри Тертлдав - The First Heroes

The seal nodded, and then nosed at the sand just in front of their feet, partially uncovering something. It jerked its head at the object, so dream-Dett pulled it out: a beautiful metal knife, like those the southern trader had. The moment he touched it, the Seaman vanished.

"A treasure of the south, my son, and a gift of the Seafolk," dream-Dett said. "I present it to you, in gratitude for your youthful wisdom." With that, he gave the valuable thing to his dream-son, who beamed with pleasure.

That morning, he went to relate his dream to the elders, not wanting to wait until the next council meeting. They rather hurriedly brushed him off, being occupied in casting charms over the fishing fleet, which would set out with the tide.

"This dream clearly does not portend any grave disaster," said his father. "Rather, it is a good omen, for Dett saw Klevey return to the sea and the Seaman confirmed he is gone. As for the knife, I interpret it as meaning if Dett stumbles across something rare from the south, it is his. Do you all concur?"

The elders, including his brother the Mastersinger, readily agreed, and returned to their chanting.

Several days later, Dett was weeding in the fields when his little stepson ran up, urgently calling his name. "Father Dett! Come quickly! There has been a disaster."

"What has happened?"

"Klevey reached up through the waves and smashed Great-Uncle Talloc's ship! Talloc, Klebaw, and Nerrul have perished!"

Thoughts raced through Dett's mind. "Does anyone else know?"

"No, I just found out because I was gathering shellfish at the harbor.

I saw Grandfather's boat come in. Everyone is busy helping Clett, for he was near to drowning. I came to get you right away." "Good lad. Go tell your mother. I will come shortly." After the youth pelted off, he ran also—to the sheep meadows, not the village.

Fummirrul was there, as always, tending the sheep. The remaining dozen old sheep grazed on grass; the new sheep chomped contentedly on their seaweed. Dett quickly told his son the news, and the pair hurried to the village, where they burst into Talloc's house. They startled Gefalal, but Fummirrul managed to make her understand Talloc was dead. She showed no remorse, which did not surprise Dett.

They swept her belongings into a heap; Fummirrul proudly carried the bundle himself, muscles straining under the shirt he had clearly outgrown. Dett's new bride Aip looked on with interest as they piled everything in a corner. "She is to stay here? I do not mind, but perhaps your father will want to claim her. She is a comely girl."

"He has two other daughters-in-law still living. Besides, I have the backing of the elders on this," Dett said with a grin. "For they agreed I should keep a southern treasure if I could find one." "Ah!" Understanding swept over his wife's face. She glanced at Fummirrul, who was a trifle slower to comprehend. "A southern treasure?" he asked, then blushed as he remembered the rest of Dett's dream, in which dream-Dett gave the treasure to dream-Fummirrul. "Oh, Father, how grand!"

"Interpretations aside," Dett said, "I thought it best to settle her here before anybody else got any ideas. As you say, she is comely, though too thin." Dett privately thought Talloc—blessings upon his spirit—did not treat the girl as well as he might have. He was more eager to share his extra grain with the village than feed the stranger girl. Small wonder her courses had been delayed. No matter. Fummirrul still had a few years till manhood himself.

Gefalal clearly wasn't understanding what was said around her. Her fingers nervously played with her skirts.

Dett was wondering what to say, how to put the girl's new circumstances into simple words, but his son spoke first. He took Gefalal's hands, then said something that sounded like gibberish. Gefalal smiled broadly and nodded. She squeezed Fummirrul's hands.

"What did you say, my son?" Dett asked.

Fummirrul grinned. "I do not know her word for 'welcome,' so I said, 'This is home to you.' I think she understands."

Perhaps no event of the Bronze Age is better known than the Trojan War, and this is also one of its most famous puzzles. Homer's Iliad speaks of the sack of Ilios—of Troy. Hein-rich Schlieman found the remains of a destroyed city in western Anatolia, a city contemporary with the Hittite empire farther to the east. The Hittite palace archives speak of "Wilusa" and the "Ahhiyans." Could they mean "Ilios" and the "Acheans"? Historians and archaeologists can only speculate if the Hittite kings might have come to know the Trojan War centuries before Homer sang his first verse. Lois Tilton, wise to the true nature of war, speculates how.

So now I am to be a spy.

Well, I have been many things 1 besides a scribe in the service of the Great King Tudhaliya, ruler of the Land of Hatti, and his father before him. I have traveled to many foreign lands to set down the terms of the treaties made by his ambassadors. I have gone with him to his wars, writing accounts of his battles and victories for the palace archives.

Now the king of Wilusa has written to plead for aid against the sea-raiders from Ahhiya.

Priamos King of Wilusa to the Tabarna, the Great King Tudhaliya, the Sun, Lord of the Land of Hatti:

You know for how many years I have been your loyal servant and obeyed your commands, for how many years I have sent tribute to you, of gold and silver, and of high-necked horses, how I have sent soldiers to serve in your distant campaigns. Now my domain is threatened with destruction. The king of theAhhiyans has come in his ships to lay waste the whole land of Wilusa. He has burnt my cities and carried off my people into slavery. My palace at Taroisa is now under siege.

Now if I have ever been the Great King's loyal servant, I beg you to come at once with your chariots and your footsoldiers to drive these invaders back into the sea, or else the land of Wilusa may be lost.

When I finished reading this letter, the Great King cursed the Ah-hiyans. "Always, they cause trouble! Even in my father's day and his father's day they were always raiding our lands and inciting insurrection among our subjects, even when my father wrote to the Ahhiyan king as an equal and a brother, offering a treaty. They pledge their good faith, and at the same time they are conspiring with our enemies. Whenever our armies meet them on the battlefield, they retreat in their ships and we cannot touch them. We can drive them into the sea, but always they come back to make more trouble in our lands!"

Indeed, I knew the truth of this, for I had been on campaign with his father when he fought the Ahhiyans over the matter of Wilusa, years ago. Yet as I reminded Tudhaliya, we were now supposed to be at peace with Ahhiya. Perhaps this was the moment for diplomacy, not armies.

So I set down the words of the Great King, using the language of the Ahhiyans:

I, the Great King Tabarna, the Great King Tudhaliya, the Sun, Lord of the Land of Hatti, to

Agamemnon King of Achaia:

King Priamos of Ilios writes to me saying: The king of the Achaians has attacked my lands. But the king of Ilios is my servant, and his lands are my lands. Why therefore have you attacked my lands? Are we not at peace? Is there not a treaty between us? Are we not as brothers?

Now if Priamos has given you just cause to make him your enemy, then tell me of it, and I will send my army to punish him. But if you have attacked Priamos without just cause, then know that I, the Sun, will come with my whole army, my chariots and my infantry, to drive you back into the sea.

This was the letter the Great King sent to the King of Ahhiya. But to me privately he admitted, "Hantili, you understand the problem I face in this matter. I dare not risk sending my army so far west as Wilusa, not now."