Sharon Green - To Battle The Gods

“Should he have half the vigor of the Sigurri, I will indeed be well pleased,” said Ennat, turning to the chamber which had been given her. “May Mida guard you both till we stand together again.”

“And you, sister,” said Rilas, the warmth of her words unfeigned as she closed the door through which Ennat had passed. With that done her eyes came to me with a questioning frown, yet I avoided her gaze and strode off toward my own chamber, unwilling to answer the questions she would have attempted. The cloth beneath my feet was soft and warm, but little comfort did it provide for one in the midst of such turmoil as I.

No guard males in leather and metal stood before the doubled doors of my chamber as they had when the former High Seat had dwelled there, nor were there Midanna warriors in their place. I opened the doors and went in, fully expecting the windowless outer chamber to be dark and silent with disuse, instead finding many candles lit about the walls, illuminating the large chamber and the board piled high with provender and drink. My stride slowed as I looked about at the blue-silk-hung chamber, wondering at what use it had been put to in my absence, and the answer came without my having to voice the question.

“I ordered your chamber lit and provisioned as soon as word was brought me that you had been sighted without the city’s walls, Jalav,” said Rilas, the sound of the doors swinging shut accompanying her words. “Perhaps you would now care to sit and share daru, and speak to me of what occurs all about us.”

“The will of the gods occurs all about us,” said I, moving toward the board and the daru it held. “How has the time passed for you behind the walls of this city, Rilas?”

“The time has passed with surprising ease, war leader,” said she, coming to stand behind me. “The males called Council of the High Seat at first tried to prescribe what must be done by our warriors and what must not, yet were they quickly taught that warriors do as they are bidden by their war leaders. The fey after your departure saw three males give challenge to three of your war leaders, they apparently believing that to claim war leadership of a clan was a mere matter of donning a blade and declaring one’s intentions. When the three lay unmoving in their own blood, those of the city who had come to see their victory turned away silent and frightened, no longer of the belief that Midanna war leaders are to be bested by any with no more than a will to do so.”

I turned from the board after removing and placing my swordbelt upon it, in my hands the two cups of daru I had poured. I then gave one to Rilas, kept the other, and gestured her to join me upon the floor cloth. The daru had cooled from the time it had first been heated, yet was most welcome as it slid down my throat.

“For a number of feyd thereafter, there was naught to be heard from those of the city, save the unending requests and suggestions from those termed the Council,” said Rilas, sipping from her own cup as she looked upon me with lidded eyes. “I spent considerable time upon the question of which males the clans were to free and which they were to retain, having naught else which required consideration, and then came a male asking to speak with you, one of those who had been released from the place beneath this dwelling.”

I nodded my understanding, recalling those unfortunates who had been enclosed in cells beneath the dwelling of the High Seat, that place called dungeons by males. None were able to discover what grievous acts had been committed by those so imprisoned, save that they had in one manner or another displeased the male called High Seat. I had decided to release the lot of them, and those males called Council had assisted me.

“When the male learned that he would be unable to speak with you,” said Rilas, “he agreed to speak instead with she who was left to consider matters in your place. He seemed not yet past the ordeal he had been made to suffer, his body thin, his eyes filled still with the memory of pain and terror, although he spoke warmly of the kindness he had been shown by those warriors who had seen to his well-being when first he had been removed from his confinement. He had thereafter returned to his home in the city, yet had he found much amiss. With the absence of the males called guardsmen, those who had found defeat at our hands during the attack, none were about to halt those few who preyed upon the many. Indeed had the most of these who took from others banded together, and although one or two might have the courage to resist them individually, none were able to stand against the entire band. Urgent pleas had been put before those males called the Council, yet had this male who spoke and the others like him been told that naught might be done till the Midanna had departed and the Council ruled the city. What would be done at that time was not spoken of, yet would all be seen to once the invaders were gone from the city.”

I leaned down to my left elbow upon the soft blue floor cloth, smiling faintly at the way those unskilled with weapons nevertheless attempted attack against those who had defeated them. The males of the city had little or no ability with the swords they often wore, yet were their numbers far greater than the numbers of the victorious Midanna. Had the males of the Council succeeded in arousing deep anger within the breasts of those greater numbers, they might well have seen the Midanna overwhelmed. The perpetually craven are well used to stabbing the back of one they had not the stomach to face, no matter the harm brought to others by such an action.

“My course of action then seemed clear,” said Rilas, looking toward me as she spoke of her decision. “As it had been our doing that these males and their slave-women no longer had the protection of those in leather and metal, it was demanded by honor that we, ourselves, stand their protection. Tilim agreed at once to lead her Happa into the city to where the male would direct them, and once they had departed I saw Katil and her Harra gone silently after them. I knew not whether the male had spoken the truth, you see, and could not allow a single clan to enter an area where they might be taken by greater numbers lying in hiding.”

I nodded in understanding and allowed my smile to warm in approval, showing Rilas that she had done as I would have. Had I been there I, myself, would have accompanied the Happa, yet were Rilas’s warrior days a far distance behind her. Her own presence would have been more hindrance than help, and she had been wise indeed to acknowledge that fact.

“The Happa found that the male had spoken the truth,” said Rilas, strengthened, now, by my approval. “Those who had formerly taken no more than unliving possessions were in the process of taking a small number of slave-females for their own use when Katil and her clan arrived, a doing which was quickly ended by Happa swords. One of those who had come to steal was no more than knocked senseless, and when the others were seen to he was revived. The daggers of two of the Happa convinced the male to reveal where his brothers waited, and then did the Happa go there and see to the balance of them. No single thief-male escaped their swords, and those who had been prey to the set sent up a joyous yelling and shouting that nearly tore down the dwellings all about. A feast was then declared, and the Happa were stuffed nearly to bursting by those who cavorted and sang.”

Rilas drank deep of the daru she held, looking down upon it, then sighed wearily.

“It was then necessary to seek further for what mischief those Council males might well have been brewing,” said she, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand. “With the aid of Drilinar, the male who had come seeking our assistance, I was able to learn of the doings of those of this city. I shall not weary you with each point brought forth for me, Jalav, yet must I ask you to believe me without doing as I did, demanding to see with my own eyes that which I found incredible.