“Silence!” the Usspika shouted. “Were you not warned to speak only when spoken to!”
“But he lies!” shouted Benoni. “Why do you think I tracked him so far? Why do you think he fled so far? This is the first time any Eyzonuh have ever gone so far on the warpath!”
“One more word, and I will have you cut down!” said the Usspika. “One more word!”
Benoni strangled on the hot words that tried to escape, but he knew death when he saw it. The old man was ready to raise his arm, to signal to the archers behind the windows high up on the walls.
“That is much better,” said the Usspika. “I can see you need more discipline. However, we do not expect as much from a non-citizen as we do from those born of Kaywo. You are forgiven, provided you do not repeat the offense.”
The Usspika told Joel to continue his story from the point at which it had been interrupted. Joel told of having waylain some Navahos, taking their scalps, and continuing eastwards. Apparently, he had had the same misgivings as Benoni. Though he went to the edge of the desert east of the Navaho land, he was not sure that he would continue. Then, he said, he had decided that he wanted to see the world and, at the same time, do a great service for his people.
So, he had crossed the great desert, and the great plains. Finally, after many adventures, he had come to Kaywo. On the border, he had fallen in with several merchants. He discovered that he could not enter Kaywo unless he was a merchant with documentary proof of his origin and trade or else would join the Foreign Legion. So, he had become a mercenary. On a weekend pass, he had entered the tavern and been attacked without warning by the man who had tried to kill him.
There was silence for a moment after the story. The Pwez and the Usspika stared at Benoni so long and so hard that he wondered if he were already judged.
Finally, Jiwi Mohso, the Usspika, said “What have you to say for yourself, Rider?” He pronounced Rider as Wadah.
Benoni said, “My countryman’s story is true . . . up to a point. But it was I who freed him from the Navaho war party, and it was he who left me to die. I did not die, as you can see, but regained my strength and went on into Navaho country. Not so much to get a Navaho scalp as to get his. And . . .”
“Tell me, Fiiniks boy,” said the Pwez, Lezpet. “Is it not true what Vahndert said? That a youth on the warpath may do whatever he wishes, even to killing another Fiiniks youth? That he will not be held responsible? That, if he had slain you or you him, it would not be murder but lawful?”
“That is true, Excellency,” said Benoni. “And we have been enemies for a long time. But I could not stand by and see a Fiiniks killed by a Navaho. I saved him, yet he repaid me by leaving me to die. I could not forgive that. That was not the deed of a warrior; that was the deed of a mad coyote.”
“And so you crossed the desert and the plains to kill him?” said the Pwez. “Barefoot and alone. Your hate must have been great. Was it not so?”
“It was so. But I had also been asked to find the Great River. I do not think I would have come looking for it if I had not wanted so much to kill Joel Vahndert. On the other hand, if I had not thought of the need of our people to find a new land, and, I must admit, the glory that would come to me if I did find the Great River, I would not have tried to track down the treacherous coyote.”
Lezpet laughed, and she said, “You are, at least, frank. Well, we do not have all day. We have many other affairs of business to conduct, running the greatest nation in the world is not easy. You have found the Great River. Now, what will you do? When you go back to the Eyzonuh desert—if you go back—you cannot tell your people to leave the Valley of the Sun and come here can you? Your people are not strong enough nor foolish enough to try to dispossess us? They would be swept away as a strong wind sweeps away the chaff of the harvest.”
“No, your Excellency,” said Benoni. “I could not tell them to come here. But the Great River is a long one, and Kaywo rules only a very small part of it. We could go to the south and settle there. Or we could go to the north.”
The woman smiled, and she said, “You could not settle to the north, for the Skego control a good part of that. And the savage tribes of the Wiyzana, and the Mngumwa, and many others live along the Siy south of our borders.”
“We would take it away from them,” said Benoni.
“Perhaps. But the day would come when you would have to face the might of the armies of Kaywo. When we have settled with Skego, we shall turn southward. Not soon, but not too much in the future, either. And what then?”
“Though I have been confined,” said Benoni, “I have kept my ears open. And I know that Kaywo took Senglwi at great cost and that she conquered the Juju only after losing half the Fifth Army. And that she now faces a much more formidable foe than Senglwi. Skego with her Skanava allies. Who knows if Kaywo will even exist in the near future?”
Lezpet sucked in her breath, and her skin turned pale. The old man, however, smiled.
“You are a brave man, Fiiniks. Or a stupid man. Or both. Or else intelligent enough to know the truth and speak it, trusting to the greatness of the Pwez not to be offended.
“Yes, what you say is true. Kaywo can use help at this time. Not that we would be defeated if we did not get help, for the First has blessed us and promised us that we will rule the world. But we are practical, and we will use all the help we can get. After all, the First may have sent you here to us. That is why we called you wild-men in. To find out if you can be of any use to us, And, of course, if we can be of use to you.”
There was silence again. Benoni, Zhem, and Joel did not speak, for neither of the Kaywo had given permission. But Benoni burned with impatience and curiosity. What could they want from the likes of him?
“If the Eyzonuh left the desert and came here,” said the Usspika, “how many fighting men would they bring?”
“Eyzonuh?” said Benoni. “The entire confederation? I would say about eight thousand from Fiiniks, three thousand from Meysuh, half a hundred from Flegstef. But I do not know if the entire confederation plans to leave Eyzonuh. Or that they would come here.”
“I think we could induce them,’’ said the Usspika. “I will be brief. If the Eyzonuh leave their desert, and come here, man, woman, child, horse, dog, and whatever possessions they can carry, and they swear loyalty to us, we will give them land. Land of their own to hold forever. They may have their own rulers, their own laws.”
“May I speak?” said Benoni.
The Pwez nodded, and Benoni said, “Where would we live—if we accepted your offer?”
“In a land free of earthquakes and volcanoes. Far from the dry dust and burning sun. In a land by a broad river, a land with rich black earth, not the sand and rock you know so well. A land cool and shady with many trees, alive with deer, pig, turkey.”
“To the north of Kaywo?” said Benoni. “Along the L’wan River? Between you and the menace of Skego?”
The Usspika smiled again, and he said, “You are not unintelligent, wild-man. Yes, in the L’wan forest. Between us and Skego. You would constitute a march, a borderguard. In return for this rich and lovely land, you would repel any who might wish to march upon Kaywo. Not alone, for the might of Kaywo would be at your side.”
“May I speak?” said Zhem.
The Pwez nodded again, and Zhem said, “What have I to do with these two of the desert? Why am I here?”
“If you can talk your tribe into leaving Mngumwa and living on the southern limits of our border, as the Eyzonuh would on our north, you could help us against the Juju. It is true that we decimated the army they sent against us. But we know that the Juju are many and that they have formed an alliance with the white nation to their north, the Jinya. It’s not much of an alliance; the two may be fighting each other before they ever reach us. They are planning to send several armies against us, even if we live a thousand miles from them. We suspect the Skego are behind this, that the Skego have falsely warned the two that we plan to march on them as soo
n as we conquer Skego.”
“They are wrong, of course. It will be some years before we will be in a position to make war against them.”
Benoni could not help thinking that Jinya and the Juju were just being foresighted in waging war now against the Kaywo, in trying to crush them before they became too strong and while they were fighting for their survival against Skego. But he said nothing.
“If you think that there is a chance your people will accept our generous offer, we will send you with our ambassadors to your countries, you will speak on our behalf. You will tell them of the might of Kaywo, of how we shattered the Juju savages and the civilized Senglwi. You will tell them that they have much to gain and little to lose.”
Except our lives, thought Benoni.
“Before you go,” continued the Usspika, “you must spend some time learning our language better. Not too much time, for we do not have much. But enough so that you can speak of us to your people with authority. And our ambassadors must begin learning your language. They will continue the lessons while riding towards your lands.”
“Now, what do you say?”
“I say yes!” said Joel loudly. “I am sure that my people will accept your offer!”
There was nothing after that for Benoni to say but that he, too, thought the offer might be acceptable to his people. In any event, nothing could be lost by making the offer.
He did not say he really thought that, even though the Kaywo might be sincere, they might also be presenting a very dangerous temptation to the Eyzonuh.
“Good!” said Mohso. “Now, Zhem Smed, what do you think?”
“I think that my people would consider the idea. But that I cannot take it to them.”
The Usspika’s white eyebrows rose, and the Pwez’s dark eyebrows bent in a frown.
“Why not?” she said sharply.
“I allowed myself to be taken prisoner,” said Zhem. “I am in eternal disgrace. I would be slain on sight if I set foot inside the borders of my tribe’s territory.”
“Even if you were accompanied by many of bur soldiers?”
“Even then.”
“We will make you a citizen of Kaywo,” said Usspika. “Surely, your people would not dare slay one of us.”
“Perhaps,” replied Zhem. “But you would have to explain very carefully just what my being a citizen meant before they saw me.”
“We will do that. Although, it is not as necessary in your case that we have you as a guide because we would not have much difficulty in locating your people. But these two,” he added, indicating Joel and Benoni, “come from a land so far away we have never heard of it. We need them to show us the way and also to act as intermediaries.”
“May I speak?” said Benoni. Seeing the Pwez nod, he said, “On our way to Fiiniks, I would like to investigate a very strange thing I saw on the great plains. That is a great house, or fort, or some kind of building, made of a silvery seamless metal. It is shaped like a needle, and it is inhabited by a strange people. It . . .”
“The Hairy Men from the Stars!”
It was the Usspika who gasped out those words and who rose and clutched the edge of the table with his gnarled hands.
“The ship of the Hairy Men from the Stars!”
“Wha . . . what?” said Benoni.
The Usspika sat down again, and, after ceasing to breathe so hard, regained some of his composure and said, “You do not know what I am talking about?”
“No,” said Benoni.
The old man looked thoughtful but did not offer to explain. The Pwez, whose face had lit up at Benoni’s description of the metal building but who had maintained more self-control, said, “We will discuss that later. Not that we are not interested but that we must take one thing at a time.
“Now, my honored uncle may have given you the impression that both of you Fiiniks would be sent as bearers of our offer. But he did not mean to give that impression, I am sure.”
Benoni saw the Usspika’s eyes flick in her direction, and he was sure that the old man had meant to give that impression. But the Pwez did not want them to think this nor to know that she was over-ruling her uncle. That the Usspika did not object showed Benoni that she was the ruler, although a woman and young. It also showed him that she probably depended upon his wisdom and counsel and did not wish to offend him by blatantly acting in an autocratic manner. Nevertheless, when she made a decision, she would follow it through.
“One of you is lying,” she said. “One of you is vicious, untrustworthy. We would not want to send such a man to act for us, for we could only expect him to betray us the first chance he got to better himself by so doing. Therefore, we must determine who is telling the truth and who is lying. The liar will be killed, for he has dared to lie to the Pwez, which is the same thing as lying to the people of Kaywo and the god of Kaywo.”
She paused, and Benoni felt the sudden sweat trickling from under his armpits and down his ribs. He had seen enough of the customs of this nation to know that even proving one’s innocence might be very painful. Besides, how could either he or Joel prove or disprove anything? There were no witnesses to Joel’s treachery.
The Usspika spoke. “If my beloved niece and revered superior will hear an old man, in private, she may learn within a short time how to determine which is guilty. And it will not be necessary to go through a long and perhaps fruitless attempt to wrest the truth from these two. They both look tough and as hard as the skin on the soles of their feet. They might die, and we would be left without a guide. Even if one survived, he might so hate us, because of the ordeal, that we could never trust him. No, if I may be forgiven for interceding, I can clear this up within a short time.”
“Since I was a little girl, I have listened to my uncle,” said Lezpet. “I am not offended.”
She spoke to the three standing before her. “You may go to apartments that have been prepared for you, for we expected that you would accept.”
We would be fools if we had not, thought Benoni. Probably dead fools.
“You will be taken care of there. I imagine,” she said, smiling briefly, “that you are hungry after your prison fare. Tomorrow, we begin an intensive training. Within two weeks you should know enough to speak for us. That is,” she added, “two of you will be our guests. One of you will not be concerned with our affairs. Or, indeed, your own.”
Benoni began to sweat even more. He knew that she, like most of her people, was cruel. Far better to have gotten the suspense over with inside a few minutes, as the Usspika had said it could be, than be tortured with uncertainty all night. And she could speak so calmly of the possibility of taking his life. He could not imagine Debra, soft and oh, so kind Debra, speaking in such a manner.
A few minutes later, Benoni and Zhem were inside the suite of rooms that would be—for one of them, at least—permanent quarters for the next two weeks. Joel was taken to another suite, the one next door to theirs. Apparently, the Pwez or whoever had ordered their domiciling had decided that the wisest thing to do would be to keep them separated. Otherwise, one might be dead before night fell or dawn broke.
Benoni and Zhem were not alone for some time. Two slave girls washed their hands and faces for them, as was required by Kaywo religious custom, before they sat down at the table. Then, two other girls served them their meals. And Zhem, famished from little and bad food during his stay in prison, ate as if he would never eat again. He also drank heavily of the wine offered him, so that it was not long after eating before he went to sleep sitting up in a chair and talking to Benoni.
Benoni did not eat nearly as much as his companion, for he had been taught from childhood that it was an offense against himself and his God to stuff his belly. A man could not be quick and also be fat. Moreover, food had never been overplentiful in the Valley of the Sun; necessity had made a virtue of moderation. He wandered about the suite, inspecting each room and the furnishings. These consisted of three large chambers: the anteroom and two bedrooms. The stone walls were
concealed by scarlet and gold draperies, the floors were covered with thick rugs into which were woven scenes from Kaywo’s early history, and the furniture was of a dark brown dense-grained wood that must have been imported from some land to the south.
The most interesting item, to Benoni, were the windows. These were tall and narrow, just wide enough for a man to slip through side-wise, if they had not had two iron rods barring his passage.
Benoni finished his inspection just before the slaves returned with a portable wooden bath tub and many buckets of water. Much to Benoni’s relief, the slaves were not girls, but men. He did not like the idea of being bathed by men but it was better than being scrubbed by women. Later, he found that some of the kefl’wiy males were bathed by women but that this was a new custom, not widely spread. In the palace, which was governed by the rigid morality of the old-style aristocrats, such a thing would not have been permitted.
Zhem was awakened and bathed; Benoni took his bath and the clean clothes given him. His long hair, which fell to his shoulders, was oiled and combed. Then, their new tutors arrived, men to teach them more of the Kaywo language, of the origin and rise of the nation, the religion, and the destiny of Kaywo, which was to be glorious.
An hour before supper, their teachers left. The two, wanting exercise, asked the guards before their door if they could go down into the courtyard. They took them to the ground floor and into the huge inner court of the palace. Here, the two practiced with dull-edged swords and shields until they could hardly lift their arms. Then, they tried wrestling, two falls out of three. Benoni won two but lost the third. Panting, sweating, but feeling fine, they returned to their rooms, bathed again, and ate. Zhem duplicated the feat of eating and drinking himself to sleep; this time, Benoni took his hand and led him, stumbling, to his bed. Zhem sank into it and was snoring before Benoni went to his own room.
Benoni took a book left by a tutor and sat down under the oil lamp to read a history. Or try, for the Kaywo alphabet differed somewhat from the Fiiniks, and the vocabulary used by the author was based on the literary dialect, the form of Kaywo that had ceased to be spoken a hundred years before except in the Uss a Spika (House of Speakers) and during public religious ceremonies.