12

Once a King

Part 11 and 12

Part 11

Jadzia, Nik and Pawel, the Naked Council of the Eagle Clan.

(Many thanks to my editor Kenji Sato)

Skryba, the voices from the Pia Fidelis got into our heads. Jadzia, Nik and I, Pawel, had been changed deeply. Changed so basically, we threw out many of the clan's traditions as though they had never existed, and in our cleansed minds, they never had.

The council returned to the enhanced squad by a different route. We retraced our steps down the swift flowing stream. When we reached the flatter land, we left the stream and walked through the tall grasses...Good grazing, we mused. Most of our thoughts when together were now collective. No one decided this path, we knew this was the best way back to meet our people.

The wind and the sun soon dried our bodies from the waters of the stream. We did not need to keep it a secret by being naked, but we remained naked, nonetheless. Jadzia hoisted her shift to the top of her walking staff/spear, penetrating it; making a banner for us.

Nik just carried his tunic casually in his right hand. I, Pawel, had been handed the Pia Fidelis artifact. I understood without being told, I was the one to present it to Alla. My tunic was tied to my waist. I wanted my hands free; therefore, I bore no weapon.

Thus, it was decided without deciding, that the council would from this moment, be--naked and weaponless. Our power would strictly be US, our collective wisdom. Such a poor thing this wisdom was, but the Best of the Eagle Clan.

Jadzia's spear would just be the banner holder for the council. Her shift would serve as our banner for the moment.

The council rounded the contour of the hill, so that they were now on the land that Hirek could observe. Jadzia waved her makeshift council banner. We sensed that Hirek saw and acknowledged but did not reveal himself.

Silently, we climbed to meet our people. The knowledge of our beginnings burdened me and yet freed me at the same time.

As we approached our people, there was but the lowest of murmurs, the people were not of a collective mind as the council was, but still a sense of what had happened dawned on them all, as the council closed with them.

The closer the council came to the people, the better they understood this thought was shared within the council instantly, wordlessly.

To the people we had to speak.

Jadzia began, ''You recognize us as your council, we are not leaders, we are the council. As always, the people lead in the ways they know best. I do not have to explain this to you, it has always been the way. The people are the foundation of the council. We have come from you because as a council, as a collective, we are the memory and the future of the people. You, the people, are today; we are yesterday and tomorrow."

Taking up her thought, Nik continued, "We are a collective, the council is; when you hear Nik, you are not hearing Nik, you are hearing the council. When you hear Jadzia, you are not hearing the individual, Jadzia; you are hearing the council. And Pawel speaks as Pawel only in his sleep--at that, the people laughed. But awake, Pawel speaks as the council."

I, Pawel, spoke. "This, the council has learned from the ancestors. The council will be naked to be distinct from the people; not better, just separate. We neither hunt nor carry weapons--we are totally dependent on the people. If you do not feed us, then the memories die, the future of the people is lost."

Jadzia continued, but the people heard only one voice, the council voice, "This ragged, old woman's shift on my walking stick has only been the banner of the council until we rejoined the People." She pointed at a nearby cooking fire, "The council burns its clothing as the nowe burned their breechcloth, as a symbol of transformation. What will lead us now, is this sign." At this, Jadzia ripped from her shift, an object sewn into a pocket within--a small yellow bird made of metal.

With strips from her shift, she bound the bird to the top of her walking staff. Magically, it caught the sun and gleamed brightly, painfully. It was the EAGLE! The eagle to lead the People. No longer the Eagle clan; simply, the people led by the Eagle.

The people stared at the shining bird. The council spoke as one, "This is not a god, or a sign of God; this is a sign of the People. The People live and die with this sign, no enemies must ever take our sign."

I, Pawel, spoke...in my voice, but for the council, "Alla has shown talents that help the people. The ancestors gave her this gift. It is a thing to be learned, a skill to be perfected."

Alla came forward, perplexed. But when I handed the artifact from the ancestors to her, her face lit up.

"This is a powerful sling! I will have to find stones large and heavy to make use of its power."

At this, I handed her the pouch of the projectiles that the Pia Fidelis had made for this weapon.

Her eyes grew ever wider, and she blurted out, "These are perfect! Large and heavy; indeed, they are shaped much like Godek's jajas."

The people laughed. Alla used a word not used often by the people because it is a far ruder term used to refer to the kulki. Godek was not embarrassed but bore a look of silent pride on his face.

The voice of the council, "It is a warrior's weapon. As a warrior, Alla, you must train to use it well. The projectiles you call 'jajas' bear the sign of the eagle. Their weight will kill men at a distance. The people have only a few of these from the Pia Fidelis--learn to throw them well and true."

With Alla, we had three warriors of the Pia Fidelis; she, Ludek, who always carried the sword, and Jurek, whose war bow was back in the squad's camp.

The people, led by the scout, Hirek, fanned out to make the short trek from the hillside across the lush grassland to Gustek's place. The people did not follow Hirek in a line, but because of the easy walking in the tall grass, spread out to flush whatever game was bedded there.

The council was gathered in the center, as we marched; the council was no more than beaters for the hunters. The best shots were posted at the far edge of the people. Alla on the left with her hunting slings, the war sling and its pouch of jajas secured around her waist, in place of her cincture of braided grasses.

Jurek with his hunting bow on the right. Jacus and Godek were to the left and right of the council, respectively.

Ludek, with his sword, just in front of the council to protect us from an animal that stayed hidden too long for the others to get a shot.

Filip followed the council just within hailing distance, Adria's sanki still empty.

Hirek stopped and signaled to Jurek pointing to his right...the line stopped and Jurek made his way forward. Although Jurek was the best shot, Hirek's eyes spotted hidden game before anyone and Jurek had to advance past Hirek to see the fat buck bedded in the tall grass in a small depression. The buck was alert but not panicked...

Jurek watched as the buck slowly scanned the tall grasses, only moving forward when the buck looked away. The buck's eyes were tuned to catch the movement of predators, but a motionless Jurek, squatting in the tall grass in his antelope skin tunic and sun-bronzed arms merited no second look. Since the animal was calm, and Jurek patient, he was able to close the distance to half of what he considered a sure shot. This was a big animal and he wanted it down quickly.

Since it was bedded in the deep grass, his best shot was the spine of the animal, not the best for a quick kill, but it would shock the animal long enough for Jurek to drive a second arrow into the heart to finish it.

All went as he planned, the buck flinched at the first arrow and appeared finished. A spine shot could kill but even a blow to the backbone would knock the animal out only to revive and run away. Rather than use an arrow, Jurek used his flint knife to cut the bucks throat bleeding it out to die quickly.

As Jacus came forward to the kill, to clean it and to begin the butchering...on the other side of our line, Alla spotted a doe...smaller than the buck, but still very large by the standards of the deer we hunted on the stypia. Alla caught Ludek's eye, and he nodded...She would stun the animal with her sling, and he would move in to finish it with his sword. The sling was fine for small game, even the tiny antelope of the stypia, but was unlikely to outright kill a larger beast.

Ah, skryba, you remember your stories from THE BOOK. Even the Shepherd needed to behead the giant, after his little rock stunned it.

Again, this worked perfectly. Jacus stayed back with Filip and the horse, Adira...he packed the cavities of the gutted animals with dried grasses to keep out the insects. He and Filip loaded the animals, now meat for the people on the sanki, again covering them with grasses to keep them cool, protecting some from the hot midday sun.

While they were busy with the meat of the people, the rest of us moved on to Gustek's place.

_______________

Once a King

Part 12: The Well-Watered Place

Yes, skryba, I AM drinking: samahon...do you know it? You must down it with one gulp...then it burns only once. HA, ha!

Gustek made samahon much better than this, I remember. Gustek was an exceptional man. Skryba, you remember my story of the burning of the breech cloths? YES! That Gustek. The first great shock, revelation for me as a young man--the BUC transformed!I never knew, until then. Just a thing to make water with, small, soft no bigger than my thumb. But transformed! That could happen. What a thing it was!

Yes, skryba, I am not myself, or I am a better self, another self, a happier self, an angrier self. All of these, for this is all of me--after drinking samahon! I must drink samahon to remember Gustek, to remember the People. As they were, as they were changed, as they died...all of them. They must be remembered.

Why...I know I slur my words, you must listen carefully, skryba. It is a funny tale, a lewd tale, a sad tale, and a horrible tale. I can only tell it with the help of samahon. And yet, samahon may cloud its meaning, cloud my memory, but it must be--it is too sad, too pain-filled, otherwise.

And if people do not believe what you write, you can say it was all I could understand from a man drinking samahon. If these people know the stypia, or know of the lands around the stypia, they will know samahon and they will understand.

The naked council; Nik, Jadzia and I, Pawel--our idea, our thought for the clan--and we killed the clan, now the PEOPLE. We killed the people. Our plan killed the people.

The Bull killed the people, but we convinced the people to go to the Bull's pasture. We did not know it was the Bull's pasture...but we were the council, the past and the future were ours, the People did what was necessary today...but they were trapped between yesterday and tomorrow.

The Bull was from our yesterday, and too soon, it would end the People's future. Skryba thinks I talk in riddles. But it is all a riddle. We are born into a riddle and the only solution is death. In the meantime, there is samahon! Ha, HA!

I have told you, skryba, that Gustek made some very fine samahon? Yes? Oh, I said that already?

Gustek was on the land where we placed him. It was Nik who placed him, but the council is all one now, so WE placed him. It was good land, the man, Dmytro, was blessed with good land. His land was family land, improved by industrious people of his family, none impaired by the samahon, but clever, hard workers.

The men were blessed with good women; it is said that the stypia

blessed them with good women. They were not raiders, they were not ones that stole women from their families shamefully. The women knew of the good men and presented themselves when it was suitable.

Magical women it was said. Scythians, others have said. Women warriors of the stypia. Your ancients, skryba, had another name for them.

They gave up war for these clever good men. Together, they raised fine children; never many, but healthy and strong.

To these people, the exceptional Gustek was delivered.

Their farmstead was bountiful. Small springs everywhere watering the fields. Wheat and barley in abundance. Vegetables suitable for the climate and vast pastures with a herd of horses. For meat, pigs; for eggs, chickens and ducks. Hives buzzing with colonies of

Bees.

Ahh...Damn it all...and all this...the PEOPLE destroyed. If we had not come, we would not have provoked the Bull. But the Bull was at war...always at war, always raiding, always destroying. The Bull had no women. The Bull did the shameful thing with the women of the farms it raided.

Then, the Bull had a memory...It came back for any sons that resulted...the raids never stopped, but they could be decades apart. The Bull let its prey fatten. And the prey was lulled into thinking that the Bull had forgotten them.

The Bull was only a soldier, but the worst soldier, not a protector--but a raider and a thief. Needing women, but never respecting them, only breeding them. Breeding women for more rough soldiers.

Dmytro knew nothing of the Bull, at least not when we placed Gustek with him. He had daughters from his woman, Api; all were strong and tall. Each worked according to her talent: Lada ruled the hearth, keeping the house, doing the cooking; Tabiti was the healer, the keeper and had to take care of all the animals. Tabiti ruled the horse herd.

Artimpasa was paired with Gustek as his helpmate. Their passions ran hot, and they had several little ones.

These few energetic people had an oasis in this place and the poor People of the stypia were astounded by their comparative wealth. Hirek scouted the farmstead unseen, "They are farmers and herders, they do not have the eyes of a hunter, never mind the eyes of a scout."

"We raid these rich people?"

The council to all the People: "Nay we cannot raid these people, they have done well with one of our own, we would claim him for our own again, if he would have us." We will offer to be allies with them, give them what game we have, and scout ahead to see what lies beyond these blessed lands."

Hirek scouted beyond the farmstead. He spotted the woman, Tabiti, with the horse herd. He was the scout, she the herder, the farmer. He could watch her without being seen.

And yet her magic captured him, magic she used without knowing, casually, almost recklessly. She felt something leave her body. Looking around she saw nothing, but Hirek saw--a woman his age, but a head taller. Lean and yet well fed; brown skin covered with fine embroidered clothing. A long-sleeved garment fitted her torso open at the front revealing small but mature breasts. Her legs encased in leggings, dyed a deep brown. Her generative organs and tylek protected by a long breechcloth woven in a pattern of red, yellow and green stripes held up by a belt of braided horsehair. All this, Hirek could see...he had crept closer than caution would normally permit. Her magic drew him.

Tabiti's long dark hair was arranged in a tight braid. She pulled herself up on the nearest animal, there was no saddle, no reins. Her hands encircled the horse's well-groomed tan mane...and she spun the horse urging it into a run...right at Hirek.

He laughed. He rolled in the long grass out of danger. He was humble enough to realize when he had overreached even his great skills.

Tabiti asked, "Why do you lurk here, hunter? I know you do not intend to harm me; you could have killed me many times from further away...yet you closed with me."

Hirek stood, bowing with open arms to Tabiti. "Your magic drew me...my people search for your farmstead, we are, we were Gustek's people."

"Gustek, my sister's mate and devoted, never-tiring lover. He has other talents as well, the beekeeper, the maker of samahon. We are close knit, we live under one roof, we have no privacy, we know what everyone does. Gustek is more than ten men, at least in one way, in other ways he is worth two."

"Are all men of the stypia like him?"

Hirek looked at his feet. "May I ask your name before I answer such a question. I am Hirek of the People. We who are led by the eagle."

"I am Tabiti, my mother is of the Scythians, my father is Dmytro. He is from this place, we, my parents, sisters and Gustek are from this place. The well-watered place."

Tabiti dismounted her horse and whispered in its ear, "Nogai" and with a benevolent pat on the rump, left it to graze.

Tabiti towered above Hirek. "My days are spent caring for and attending to the breeding of our animals." With that, she reached under Hirek's tunic and gently but thoroughly inspected his kulki... Then she patted his tylek.

"Strong tylek for the thrusting, well-developed jajas for the seed."

"You are not aroused by my touch?"

"Our people believe the buc can only be transformed by the women....of our people."

"Ah, but Gustek?"

"Yes, it is a sorrow to us that he was banished from our people because he did not conform to that belief. Things are changing with our people, our women in particular are changing, traditions long-held sacred are as of nothing now. Women hunt with us, the transformation of the buc takes place outside of the summoning by the coicie."

"I would like to see more of you, Hirek." Tabiti then removed Hirek's tunic. She stepped back appraising him in detail. From foot to head. Scarred dirty calloused feet. Hairy calves over darkly-tanned skin...thick, knotty calf muscles. Knees scarred from crawling on the rough ground spotting game and scouting for the People. Short, thick thighs; generative organs of what she considered normal size. A belly, lean from periods of enforced fasting. Lean arms not heavily muscled. A long, what townspeople would call 'graceful' neck; a bearded chin, with a long thin nose, and heavy, bushy brows...and the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, deep and dark, far-seeing, for penetrating her, as her magic had penetrated him.

She threw back his tunic. "Dress, we must inform my parents before we mate...it is the rule of this farmstead. The women do as they will, but never in secret."

Skryba, do you wonder about this? Your women do not have this freedom, this strength. Of course, Tabiti was exceptional in her family, strong and forceful. Hirek felt he had no choice, he was enthralled; he did not even consider that he had a choice. Tabiti had chosen him, very much as one of the coicie of the People might have. This was not the summoning he knew, but it was not very unlike it.

Since the demise of the people, and my...ha, ha...ah. 'Kingship among the Bagnisko' I have experienced the variety of interactions that people arrange or accept for breeding.

Some even keep the act from being one of breeding and engage in it for the pleasure of both the male and female. Or other combinations...oh, skryba, I love seeing you go red when I overstep what you consider proper...ha, ha...I need more samahon...

I have engaged you in the lewd, the funny thing is that I was ever a KING...of course, it was only 'over' the Bagnisko. Lovers of strong drink they were, too--but sad in many ways. So desperate to survive, so lacking in fertility because of poor seed and damaged seed beds.

Their wise women, past the age of childbearing, engaged me when their men could not perform...I have told you their men were potent only in season, and not so perfectly even then? No? Not yet? Hmmmmm...I ramble...are you sure, skryba? Bah...of course, you are sure--it is not a thing to forget.

Where was I now? Ah Tabiti and Hirek. Now Hirek, like all the people could ride, he was no Filip, but he handled horses well, the horses that chose him, that is. We were with our mounts as with our women, the men were chosen by the women and by their mounts.