Patience and Virtue · Part 2 (2/6)
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Frin looked long at Pat's face. "And look at her eyes! So pale and blue. She has eyes like the sky seen through a skull." All of the Pa'jak women had dark eyes, ranging in color from black to brown, with flecks of gold.
"I heard some of the People south of Ve'jk have eyes like that," one of the archers said.
"There are no People south of Ve'jk," the other archer objected.
"Enough!" Lea barked. Her eyes focused on Pat. "What is your city?"
Pat didn't know how to answer. She didn't know any city names. "I have no city."
"No city? Then where do you come from?"
She had no idea where she came from. A response was expected, so Pat pointed with her chin towards the direction away from the mountain.
Flas said, "I heard some of the People of Fa'jk escaped when it was destroyed by the savages. They supposedly built a village east of Ei'jk. She might be from there."
This was as good a story as any Pat could make up, so she nodded.
Lea muttered, "Double-brown hair, blue eyes, wandering around without so much as a single bead… she may have been touched by The Mother, but I'll let the chiefs decide that." Lea shook her head, "No matter where you're from, 'Pat', you're now a slave of Pa'jk."
Pat was confused and frightened. A few hours ago she had found herself in a strange world, but at least she had been free and armed. Now she was a helpless captive. It could be worse, I could be dead now. But what if torture or human sacrifice is part of the culture of this mysterious Pa'jk? She struggled against the ropes on her wrists, to absolutely no effect.
"Time to get moving," Lea commanded. "Pyla and Reni, take the point. Tewa, you're the drag. Iona, you guard the prisoner. Move out."
Two of the women jogged downstream. After a moment Frin followed them. Another woman moved to the upstream end of the woods.
"Your name is really Pat? I never heard that name before. I'm Iona." Iona was younger than the other women, just barely an adult, and her necklace had only one copper bead next to her medallion. Her eyes were brown, and her hair was black with a light brown streak. "Is it true you don't have a home city?"
Pat nodded. As far as I know, I don't even have a home.
"That's awful." Iona rubbed her medallion. "Pa'jk is the center of my life." Iona took Pat's knife from its sheath and put it in her pouch. She got a piece of rope from her pouch, tied a slip knot in it, and tightened the loop around Pat's neck. Iona slung her shield on her back. She picked up Pat's bow, unstrung it, and slid the bow into its case. She secured the flap and slung it with her shield.
Iona tugged Pat's leash. "Move, and no talking, or Lea will make me gag you." She shrugged, adjusting her load, then winked. "We can talk later, during rest breaks."
Pat supposed she ought to resent her captor, but she found it impossible to dislike the perky young warrior. She walked in Iona's footsteps, noting how alert Iona and her companions were as they moved along the river. This isn't just a casual hike. There must be something dangerous out here. If it wasn't for the ropes I'd be happy to be traveling with these warriors.
A couple of hours later Pat and Iona reached a patch of trees where Lea and Flas had stopped for a conference. Pat was tired and sweaty. She was finding it awkward to walk with her hands tied behind her back. Iona lifted the gourd on Pat's hip up to her lips. Pat drank deeply. "Thank you, I was really thirsty."
"Are you hungry, too? I've got some dried meat." Iona dredged some jerky out of her pouch and cut it into bite-sized chunks, which she fed to Pat one at a time. Pat mumbled her thanks as she chewed.
Pat complained, "These ropes are really cutting into my wrists. Can you loosen them?"
Iona laughed, "Untie you? You're trying to trick the innocent one-bead, aren't you? I'm insulted that you'd think I'd fall for it." She fed Pat the last of the meat, then smiled broadly. "This is so exciting! It's my first real patrol."
"Patrol? What are you looking for? People like me you can capture?" Pat was still worried about her ultimate fate.
"Oh, no. We just happened to find you. We're watching out for savages or raiders from another city, especially Ce'jk. It's downstream from here, where this Plains River meets the Big River. They're always pushing up the river, threatening our villages."
"How long do these patrols last?"
"It depends. We've been out two days so far. I don't know how much longer we'll stay." She raised her voice, "How long will we stay out, Patrol Leader?"
"Not long, if you keep yelling like that. We'll be attacked by every savage between here and Fa'jk ruins."
Iona muttered, "I'm sorry, Lea. I'll be quiet."
"You'd better be, if you don't want to lose your bead." Iona gasped and clutched her necklace.
Pat smiled. She suspected loss of her bead would be a loss of status for Iona, and the youngster didn't seem to have much status to lose.
Break over, the patrol continued down the river. Pat trudged along, head down and thinking of nothing but her next weary step.
"Stop," Iona commanded in a low voice.
Pat was glad to obey. At this point there weren't any trees, just some high, thick brush growing next to the water. The river formed a bend here, so visibility both upstream and downstream was restricted. Lea and Flas were looking upstream, where a running woman had just come into view. It was Tewa, the warrior who was the rear guard for the patrol.
Tewa ran up to Lea. "Savages. Moving this way," she said between pants.
"How many?"
"At least twenty."
Lea exclaimed, "Mother! Downstream, quick! We've got to join up with the others." She looked back upstream.
Flas said, "They're joining us." She pointed downstream. Frin was about a hundred paces away and running towards them, and Pyla and Reni were just coming into view around the bend.
Frin ran to Lea and reported, "Savages, more than thirty, and coming this way."
Lea calmly said, "We're trapped then." She scanned the terrain. The cliffs were steep and about ten paces high, with no breaks. She spotted a small notch in the cliff face. "Over there. We can make a stand with the cliff at our backs."
Lea grabbed Pat's left arm and Iona took the right one. "Run!" The three women ran towards the cliff.
The notch in the cliff face was roughly semicircular and about five paces across. There was a conical pile of dirt and fallen rocks inside it, up against the cliff. The women ran up onto it. Lea commanded, "Untie her, Iona."
Iona dropped her shield and Pat's bow case and quiver. She pulled her knife and cut the ropes binding Pat's wrists. She picked up her shield and hurried to the face of the notch, where the other women were forming a line. All of them had their shields on their left arms and their axes in their right hands. Iona joined the line next to Lea. Pat rubbed her wrists and tried to massage some life back into her fingers.
Lea ordered, "Get behind us, Iona. You don't have enough experience to stand in a shield wall and take the first shock of an attack by so many. Stand ready to replace the first to fall."
Iona obediently turned and went back up the slope. While she was gone Pat had strung her bow and was now lacing the arm guard onto her left forearm.
Iona exclaimed, "You shouldn't have a weapon! You're a captive."
Pat pointed towards the river, where the savages had formed a line about a hundred paces distant. From here they looked like men, except their bodies were completely covered with short gray fur. All of them carried a spear and a stone war club. "Will that matter to them?" She knotted the arm guard thong and put the ring on her thumb.
"No, they want to kill all of us."
The savages had moved closer while Pat and Iona were talking. Pat shot an arrow at the advancing line.
Lea shouted over her shoulder, "Don't waste arrows! Wait until they're closer." She turned back and watched the arrow bury itself in the chest of a savage. The hairy attacker dropped like a stone, tripping one of his fellows. "Oh… Never mind then."
Pat shot again and another savage fell. With a roar, the rest surged forward. Pat shot as fast as she could, and almost all of the arrows found a target. She shouted, "Iona! Get more arrows!" Iona moved along the line of women, collecting arrows from the quivers and sticking them into the ground where Pat could easily reach them. Then she put her shield on her arm and her ax in her hand, once again prepared to fill any gap in the shield wall.
The savages hurled a volley of spears and closed with the shield wall. With a crash of clubs on shields the first of the savages struck. They were brave and skilled warriors, but they acted as individuals, each attempting to gain personal glory, even to the point of shoving others aside. In contrast, the shield wall was a machine, all of the parts moving in synchronism, all of the Pa'jaks supporting and protecting their fellow warriors. After the initial clash the savages withdrew briefly to regroup. Pat kept shooting arrows over the women's heads, and at this range she couldn't miss.
A savage hurled a stone-tipped spear directly at Pat. Iona stepped forward and blocked it with her shield. Pat kept shooting. The shield wall still held, but it wouldn't last long once the savages closed in.
Suddenly, there was a high-pitched, human war cry, and from the bushes behind the savages a line of warriors charged forward. The surprised and now outnumbered savages fled, running upstream to escape the charging women. Some of the warriors started to pursue, but the leader called them back.
At first Pat thought they were Pa'jak warriors, but now she noticed the differences. Their tunics were dyed dark green, and the symbol on their shields was six equally spaced radial lines around a dot.
Some of the green-clad women examined the fallen savages, dispatching with an ax blow those who were only wounded. Others retrieved the arrows and destroyed the clubs and spears. A squad fanned out to form a picket line.
The leader stepped forward. She was tall, with black eyes and dark brown hair with a gold streak, braided to form a crest. Her necklace had the usual medallion, plus six gold beads and ten copper beads. "Hail, Lea. We meet again. I was a reluctant guest in your city what, four years ago? Now you can visit Ce'jk."
"Hail, Alena. Could I not postpone my visit? Until after the solstice, perhaps?"
"I'm afraid not. No Peace is active now and there are not three moons in the sky. We outnumber you by three to one, and by the look of your brave warriors you are not ready for another fight. I acknowledge your honor and the honor of your warriors, and command you to surrender."
Lea sighed and dropped her shield. "We are compelled to do so." She commanded, "Down weapons!" All of the Pa'jak women dropped their axes and shields.
Pat was astounded by all this. She just stood there until Iona knocked the bow out of her hand. "Are you dazed, Pat? It would dishonorable to continue to resist."
"Yeah, and we wouldn't have a chance anyway. But giving up without a fight bothers me."
"You must indeed come from some distant place to be so unfamiliar with the laws of the People."
Alena stepped forward, accepted Lea's ax, sheathed it, and tucked it in her belt. Then her troops moved quickly to secure their prisoners. All the Pa'jak women of the shield wall were stripped of their equipment and bound.
Iona was next. She cooperated without protest as her belt with its bow and quiver was removed and her arms were tightly bound behind her back.
Then it was Pat's turn. Once her belt had been removed her arms were folded behind her back with her forearms parallel to the ground, and the center of a long rope was tied around her wrists. The ends of this rope were wrapped around her arms and body below her breasts and the ends tied together. Short pieces of rope cinched the loops together just above her bent elbows. Another rope was doubled and the center tied around her bound wrists. The ends were passed under her armpits and tied together at the back of her neck.
Her Ce'jak captor had worked with practiced skill, and the whole process took just a few minutes. Pat was helpless. All she could do was move her hands up and down slightly. Any movement of her arms was prevented by the tight strands. The ropes around her wrists and arms weren't tight enough to constrict her circulation, and she had a premonition that she would stay tied up for a long time. The premonition became a certainty when a warrior pulled her loincloth loose in front and tucked it up in back, out of the way.
One of their captors tied one end of a short rope around Iona's neck and the other around Pat's, with about an arm's length linking them. They were hustled down the slope and to the back of a line of paired captives. They were connected to a rope already linking the other neck tethers, and now they were part of the coffle.
Alena and the bound Lea inspected the captives. None of the Pa'jaks were seriously wounded, although most were bruised and a few had cuts that had been cleaned and bound with cloth bandages by their captors.
When Alena came to the end of the line of prisoners she noticed the woman in the undyed tunic. Then she took a closer look and realized how really different she was, with her strange hair and blue eyes. Alena resolved to investigate this matter much more closely when she had some time.
Lea said, "Thank you for your kindness to my warriors."
Alena smiled, leaned forward and kissed Lea's cheek. "Kindness is like the tumble-bush," she said, quoting a Pa'jak proverb.
Lea laughed and kissed Alena's cheek in return. "It rolls away, the wind turns, and it rolls back." She walked to the front of the coffle and waited patiently as she was leashed to one of her subordinates.
Alena ordered, "Clera, take charge of the prisoners. Pick four others to help you, and get them moving. We want to reach our camp before dark."
Clera saluted with a wave of her ax and picked up the lead rope of the coffle. She gave it a jerk and the coffle was set in motion, downstream towards Ce'jk.
A Ce'jak warrior reported, "The savages are still running, Alena. They won't be back soon."
"That's good news, Beka, but let's not get complacent. We're still a long way from home." Alena shouted, "Clera! Go faster!"
Clera waved her ax in response and broke into a jogging run. The captives were forced to comply.
After a while Clera slowed the pace back to a walk. Once she got her breath back Pat said, "I haven't thanked you for blocking that spear, Iona. You're very brave."
Iona shook her head. "I'm not brave. I was terribly afraid, but when I saw you calmly putting on your arm guard I decided that I had to pretend I was brave."
Pat laughed. "That was my body acting on its own. My mind was scared senseless. You shamed me into pretending I was brave. But once I started shooting I forgot everything else."
Iona's nose wrinkled as she grinned. "That is funny. We both acted brave because of the other. Our spirits had a really strange conversation back there, didn't they?"
"Yes, I suppose they did." Pat felt a deep affection for Iona. Her cheerful attitude, even in these circumstances, acted to relieve some of the anxiety Pat felt about her uncertain future and unknown past. Yet Iona now faced a life of servitude. "I'm sorry your first patrol turned out to be your last."
"What do you mean, Pat?"
Pat tried to flex her bound arms. "Well, we're going to be slaves in Ce'jk, aren't we?"
"Oh sure, but the Summer Peace will start soon. It's not that long until the solstice. Pa'jk has some captives from Ce'jk, and there'll be an exchange. The lowest-ranked warriors are always exchanged first, so I'm sure to be included. There aren't any warriors lower than a one-bead."
"You mean your slavery isn't permanent?"
"Of course not! Everyone knows that warriors are always exchanged. One of the reasons for going on patrol is to take captives to trade for our warriors held by other cities."
"What do you think will happen to me?"
Iona bit her lower lip. "I don't know. If you haven't got a city, there can't be anybody to exchange for you. You may be a slave for a long time."
While Pat thought about that cheery prospect Clera signaled for more speed and the coffle started to run again. Pat had some more questions for Iona, but she had to save her breath for running.
The pattern of run and walk continued for the rest of the afternoon. The captives and their guards reached a large grove of trees just before sundown. Except for the pickets, all of the other Ce'jak warriors were in their camp. Small cooking fires were burning, and Pat could smell roasting meat.
The captives were separated from the coffle rope and each was individually tied to a tree. A guard pushed Pat up against a small tree and tied a loop of rope around her neck. She circled the trunk with the end of the rope and tied it around Pat's neck again. The rope was long enough to let Pat move about a pace away from the tree, but no knots were within reach.
Iona was tied to a small tree about four paces away from Pat. Each woman sat on the ground and leaned against her tree trunk. Iona sighed, "I'm really tired. It's a lot harder to run when you're tied up."
"Yeah, I noticed. You said something about a Summer Peace. What does that mean?"
"You don't know?" Iona asked.
"No, I'm from far away, and I don't know much about what happens in the cities." I don't know anything about what happens in the cities.
"Well, there's the Summer Peace, which starts at the summer solstice and ends at the fall equinox, and the Winter Peace, which goes from the winter solstice to the spring equinox. While a Peace is active cities are prohibited from doing war, except against the savages, of course. This means the crops can be planted and harvested without worrying about a raid, and warriors can visit other cities to trade. We exchange captives at the start of each Peace."
Pat was puzzled. She asked, "If peace is good, why don't you have it all the time?"
Iona shrugged. "I don't know. It's just a rule we have to follow."
Pat asked, "What's to keep some city from making a surprise attack during a Peace?"
Iona was shocked. "That city would be cursed by The Mother. Some say the chiefs of Fa'jk debated making a raid during a Peace, and this alone was enough to cause the city to be destroyed."
"I thought the savages did that."
"The Mother uses many means to accomplish Her ends."
Pat decided to drop the religious discussion and go on to more practical matters. "If I can't be exchanged, I could be a slave for the rest of my life. How can I avoid that?"
"Well, you could escape. A warrior doesn't lose any honor by escaping, because she hasn't any obligation to the city that's holding her. The only restriction is you can't hurt anybody if a Peace is active. Of course, you don't have a home city, so you would be enslaved again in any city you went to."
"That is a problem." Pat sighed. "Isn't there any other way for me to avoid slavery?"
"There might be. If you have some valuable skill or perform some great service to the city the chiefs could give you a medallion. Or you could be adopted. Either way, you'd have a home city, and you could travel to other cities without being enslaved, as long as it was during a Peace."
"Who'd adopt me?"
"Your lover could do it, if her status was high enough."
"Her? Couldn't I have a male lover?"
Iona laughed, "You and your jokes! Men can't have lovers. They have to impregnate as many different women as they can. Pa'jk is lucky, because we have almost thirty men. Most cities have fewer."
Pat had a lot to think about and a lot more questions to ask. But before she could voice them a guard arrived with a water gourd and some meat chunks on a skewer. By the time Pat was fed Iona was asleep, and Pat didn't stay awake much longer.
Pat woke up in the predawn darkness. She had gone to sleep leaning against the tree, but she had fallen over. Pat struggled against the ropes, again, and didn't get close to freeing herself, again. She thought, What's the point? Even if I got loose where would I go? I'd just run into a pack of savages.
Pat froze in terror as a shadowy figure approached, but it was just a guard, checking on the prisoners. She propped Pat back up against the tree and inspected Pat's bondage using her fingers and the faint light from the moons that filtered through the leaves. The fingers reached inside Pat's tunic and groped her breasts. The guard gave Pat a final caress on her bare pubes before vanishing into the gloom. Wow! I guess no men means you have to use women if you want sex. That idea doesn't seem to appeal to me, though.
Pat tried to ease the pain in her arms. Except for the ropes these people haven't been brutal, and Iona doesn't seem to be worried. But she expects to go home soon. Pat concentrated, willing her mind to reveal the secrets of her past. I've got to have a home someplace! But she remembere
