Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

Samuel squatted down and cupped the water into his hands. It was freezing, but he lapped it up and gulped it down until his stomach was tingling with the cold. Standing, he rubbed his stubbled face with his sleeve. ‘I hope I never see a mountain again,’ he said.

‘I’ll wager you will regret those words once we have been in the desert for a week or two,’ Balten said.

Horse came and stood beside Samuel, putting his hand on his shoulder. ‘By the way,’ he said and a little pebble dropped from his palm to land with a plonk beside Samuel’s foot. ‘That’s three.’

‘When did you get that?’ Samuel asked, quickly patting at his pockets, which all proved empty of any stones. ‘I had forgotten we were even still playing.’

‘The game continues until it is finished. I must say that was easy,’ Horse replied smugly. ‘I am a little disappointed.’

Samuel picked up the stone and examined it closely, scraping off the flecks of earth. It seemed to be the same little rock they had begun with, so he had to concede that the Koian warrior was the victor. ‘Very well. You win. But what was it I was supposed to learn?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Horse replied, ‘but it did give me some amusement and it shut you up for a while. That is reason enough.’

Samuel felt somewhat annoyed. ‘How about you have a turn?’

Horse nodded solemnly and took the pebble from Samuel’s upturned palm. ‘A good idea. But I know this game well. To win, you will only have to retrieve it once.’

Samuel had already begun thinking of ways to trick the slippery Koian. ‘I agree. Shall we begin?’

‘Yes,’ Horse said and immediately threw the stone as far as he could to land with a plop in the middle of the stream. ‘Good luck,’ he said to Samuel and began at once away.

Samuel was speechless, while the others were sniggering to themselves as they continued walking past him.

‘Cheer up!’ the Emperor said, and gave him a heavy slap on the back.

The lot of them looked as rough and dishevelled as city beggars. Horse stood straight and strong and still had some semblance of nobility, despite his bearded face,and the Koian woman was too well hidden in her hood and scarves to be seen, but they could all have done with a hot wash and some soap. Even the Emperor had lost much of his regal manner and appeared more of a woodsman that a monarch.

‘When can we expect to find a settlement?’ Balten then asked of their guide.

‘Down beside the lake. We will need to push hard, but we will make it after dark. The locals should be accommodating and I doubt the Paatin would have bothered to find their way here just yet. We are still deep within the mountains, although the way will be simpler from here. As long as we have some coin to spare, we should be able to get a roof over our heads tonight.’

The thought had them all powering on, striding ever downwards. Often they lost sight of the valley amongst the trees, oritdropped behind some rise while they rounded a forested bend, but finally they found themselves on flat ground that Samuel almost thought he would kiss.

The small village of Callerdum sat on the edge of Green Lake (which was actually quite clear, despite its name). There was a small Imperial presence in the town and they were quite nervous of any impending Paatin foray, especially since hearing the news that the towns in the lowlands had been overcome in the weeks before. They probably had little to worry about, for the time being at least, as the Paatin seemed only intent on taking settlements that fell between them and the heart of the Empire.

Still, the people were worried. Even here, they had heard the fate of some towns that had failed to surrender: they had been utterly destroyed. Vast numbers of villages and settlements had surrendered upon sight of any Paatin coming their way. Rumourhad itthat one small village had even surrendered themselves to what they thought was a Paatin emissary,butwho turned out to be only a travelling vagrant, filthy from his days on the road.

Once a settlement came under Paatin control, the desert people only had to leave a small group behind to oversee the local folk and,even then,they interfered little. As long as the inhabitants remained calm, there was nothing to fear and they knew the Paatin army would not be calledinto deal with them. Any Turian soldiers were allowed to remain to protect the townsfolk from brigands and so forth, on the condition that they lowered their Imperial colours. Being Turian, many had the notion to refuse, but here, so far from inner Turia and hope of reinforcement,thosewith the tiniest amount of sense knew they had little choice but to submit.

There was no pillaging or mistreatment of the common folk, and it did not seem at all like any kind of warfare that the people expected. The only other command from their Paatin occupiers was that sufficient food and resources be diverted into the supply trains that maintained their passing armies. Again, they did not take anything by force, but they simplydescribedwhat would happen if they suspected their commands were not being met. It seemed to be a successful tactic, for entire cities had fallen in this way, with barely a score of Paatin left behind to run the places.

Again, it was only rumour, but it was said that the Paatin were utterly intolerant to bribery. Several local lords near Kalid had attempted to bribe the Paatin into granting them favours in return for engineering a quick surrender of the towns, and these men had quickly found their heads on the tops of poles. It signalled that the Paatin were a people of honour and perhaps not quite so savage as they seemed; or perhaps it was merely a sign that they were intent on reaching Cintar as quickly as possible, and had little time for other distractions.

The party took time to bathe andscrapethe dirt from their bodies, eating their fill in the house of the local leader. They stayed a second night, under command of Daneel,for he was adamant their bodies would need further rest if they were to press on. No one was sure if he was sincere about this, or if it was only the rather high number of pretty girls that caused him to stay longer. Either way, they were tired and the rest did feel wellneeded.

Samuel found Horse on the second storey balcony of their lodging, which overlooked the lake. The sun was about to dip into the mountains they had just crossed and the daylight warmth was plummeting by the moment.

‘It’s a beautiful place,’ Samuel said, observing the tiny fishing boats dotted across the lake.

‘It reminds me of my home,’ Horse said serenely.

‘What kind of place is it?’

‘A small village-simple and carefree.’

‘Do you have a wife or family?’

‘Warriors have no interest in such things. It would be pointless. We cannot have children.’

‘Ah,’ Samuel said. ‘It is similar with magicians. Even though your fighting style imbues only small amounts of magic, it must be enough to bring about the change.’

‘We thought it was from the rigour of training. As you know, we have no knowledge of magic. If what you say is true, it has come about not from our own intention.’

‘Does everyone in your village train to be a warrior?’

‘Of course not. Then there would be none to bear children. Only the first-born of each family is offered to the weapon-masters. We know our family, but we are raised from childhoodin the Temple of Discipline. Genders are separated in the middle years, to avoid distraction.’

‘You teach your women to fight?’ Samuel asked with some surprise, and with more than a little interest.

‘Yes. We do not keep them banished into the homes and relegated to nursing children as you seem to here. They are a crucial part of our armies in Koia.’