Chapter 11

Just before dawn, the goddess NíKilí taught me yet another lesson about the unpredictability of her animals. One of my original female wolves woke me. When I looked, I saw nothing for a moment. Finally, I saw the back of a mountain lion moving through the long grass across the stream. Checking the scene carefully I saw it was at least a hundred feet away from the corpses of the wolves. That I didn’t see any of my wolves was a surprise. I wondered where they went.

The big cat continued to stalk and check things until the top of the sun broke the horizon behind him. Only then did he move downhill towards the dead wolves. As cautious as he was being, I used a crossbow rather than my regular bow. I would have to expose too much of myself to use that bow and the cat would probably see the movement in the morning light.

With the loaded crossbow resting on the rock, I followed the big cat as it made its way downhill. When he leaned forward to sniff the first wolf carcass, I pulled the trigger, releasing the bolt. It flew true and caught him in the side. The force behind the bolt buried most of it in the animal. He staggered and crumpled where he stood.

Mere heartbeats later Karako was standing over the mountain lion, making sure it was dead. It seemed to be dead but once I got there, I still ran my spear beneath the jaw and into the brain to make sure. Climbing back up the hill, I roused my women, letting them know about the mountain lion as well as the four new females and six wolf pups.

“More wolves?” Saraki asked.

I explained about the territorial fight last night. Then I explained that Karako went back to the other pack’s den and claimed the females. I assumed that one of the two bred females had been taken away from another pack since most females in a pack were pups from the previous year and the lead male generally only bred the lead female. Female pups left the pack when they were old enough, as did their brothers.

Anzekko heard me talking and came out of his tent. I explained about what happened when Karako returned after the fight, as well as about the mountain lion. He woke his family, cautioning them to move slowly in camp and not to approach the new wolves. In the morning light, it was pretty easy to tell which wolves were mine, as they were well-fed.

Kazani and Saraki helped me skin the six animals and collect the head and paws. Mereesia and Senna were working with Gemmalina and her two daughters to set out bread, cheese, and fruit for us to eat.

“Tirnea,” Gemmalina said with a bit of warning in her voice. I looked up to see Anzekko’s elder daughter approaching me with a plate of food. “Perhaps you should check with Harazar’s wives before you take him his meal,” she counseled, her voice still conveying a warning.

“I did, Mother,” she replied confidently, yet not smugly. Gemmalina’s, Anzekko’s, and my eyebrows all rose. I looked at Kazani and Saraki and they were nodding. Giving Tirnea permission to bring my meal to me was tantamount to giving their approval of her as a potential wife.

“Tirnea,” Gemmalina said again, this time without an edge in her voice. “You have more than a year to wait before you can marry,” she warned.

“I know, Mother,” Tirnea replied. “I can still make my interest known,” she replied.

“There are much more subtle ways of doing that,” Gemmalina counseled.

“When have I ever been subtle about anything, Mother?” Tirnea replied. Gemmalina rolled her eyes while Anzekko and I broke into laughter.

“You’ve been warned,” Anzekko laughed at me.

Rather than reply to her father, Tirnea turned to me. “Yes, you have,” she said as she handed me my plate. As she leaned forward to hand me my plate, I caught a glimpse of her budding breasts. She grinned smugly when I looked up at her face and saw her watching where I’d been looking. When she turned and walked away towards her mother, my eyes were drawn to her slender hips. I could see the beginnings of the womanly curve there. I also noticed that her nascent hips were moving as much as a pair of wolf pups rolling around wrestling.

My wives frequently did the same thing to make sure I knew they wanted my attention that night. When did Tirnea learn to do that? Had she been walking like that the entire time to get my attention and I hadn’t noticed because she was so young that I didn’t look at her that way? Was that why she made such a bold statement? I realized that she looked like a much younger version of her mother, complete with full lips, beautiful expressive eyes, and a long, elegant neck.

Tirnea turned back and looked at me right before she reached her mother. The look in her eyes nearly made my heart stop.

Then she sat demurely next to her mother, and everything returned to normal--almost. I still had the picture of the look on her face burned into my memory. I made a mental note to speak with Zuela and Bergoa about her. They’d been at home more than the others had and might know her better. While I liked her feisty attitude, I needed to make sure that Tirnea could behave and not embarrass herself, me, or Father.

Anzekko joined me as I made the rounds of my snares, along with his two sons and Tirnea. Aside from three wild turkeys, the snares each held a rabbit. I realized that I’d need to set more snares to feed so many new wolves. I was also a bit disappointed that there were no stoats.

Once I dropped the rabbits and turkeys off with my women, I headed down to the creek to bury the carcasses of the wolves and the mountain lion. I didn’t want them to attract predators after we left. Anzekko had to go with me because Tirnea insisted on accompanying me. I wouldn’t do anything with her, but a single female just doesn’t go anywhere unaccompanied with an un-related male and Tirnea made it perfectly clear that she intended to hang around me today. Fortunately, the sultry looks and glimpses at things I shouldn’t see stopped.

The ladies thought that Tirnea’s attention was funny. They assured me that, as long as Zuela and Bergoa agreed, they had no problem with having her as another wife. After a dinner of wild turkey stew, my four women helped to relieve the pressure caused by the young vixen’s actions.

There were no interruptions during the night, and I woke in the morning without any help. I’m sure the smell of wolves and mountain lion kept the game away. “Speaking of wolves,” I thought to myself as I looked around and wondered where they were. I finally found them down by the goat. The poor goat was surrounded by resting or sleeping adult wolves and was nearly buried beneath a pile of young wolf pups that were sleeping soundly.

My laughter as I walked back up the hill woke everyone else and they laughed at the poor goat’s predicament, too. After a quick breakfast, again brought to me by Tirnea, I went out to clear the snares. As soon as I returned, the women set to work helping me skin the rabbits. The wolves were eager to be fed and I was glad that I put out ten more snares yesterday evening. Yeah, I know the wolves frequently catch their own rabbits. The remains of their successful hunts were in evidence each morning. Still, they seemed to enjoy us supplementing what they caught.

Today, I planned to locate our next campsite. Kazani and Saraki said that they’d take the pelts back and tell father about the salt deposit. “Make sure you tell him that the stupid goat discovered it, not me,” I instructed them, getting laughs from everyone. I was surprised, pleased, but still surprised, that Tirnea didn’t want to ride with me today. I waded through wolves to greet my original ones and to let the new ones get used to me some more before I left. The new wolf pups were used to me already, chewing on my feet and pant legs. I’d have to get out the long boar hide gloves this evening and play with them.

Three of my original wolves followed me as I rode and they enjoyed the romp, at times bouncing through the tall grass like puppies. When the lead wolf stopped and crouched, the others did likewise. I climbed off my horse carrying the crossbow and my spear and climbed to where I could look over the rise of the hill. I was confused when I saw a small village of Nordlingers, along with a few people who looked as if they were from Jatolia.

The village consisted of homes dug into the hillsides. The hillsides were planted in crops that seemed to be growing well. They also had livestock, mainly pigs and chickens, although I saw a few dairy cows and a couple of bulls. Their clothing was made from animal skins except for some that looked like it might be woven from plant fibers like thistle and flax. Two hills to the south was a lookout watching to the southwest. He had a place to rest among rocks that seemed to be a natural part of the hill.

The one thing I saw that seemed most out of place was the thick bramble of berry bushes along the stream running from south to north between the rows of hills. None of the other streams in the area that I saw had berries growing along them and I’d never seen a continuous growth like here. The berry bramble continued north and south more than a mile in each direction. There were no roads leading to the town. The closest thing to a road could, at best, be called a well-traveled path.

The people looked peaceful, so I decided to approach them. I’d seen eleven men, counting the sentry, and forty-one women. Children were too numerous and moved too quickly to count accurately, but there were at least a hundred of them.

“Guard,” I told my three wolves, also giving them the same hand signal as I climbed back onto my horse. I barely cleared the top of the hill before the sentry sounded a ram’s horn, warning everyone in the town of my approach. Women and children stopped what they were doing and ran towards the closest underground home. The men grabbed spears and crude bows and headed for a grass-covered breastwork between the town and me.

I maintained my pace, not touching my weapons, even though I was heavily armed. Stopping beyond what I estimated to be the range of their bows I held my hands out to my sides. “I greet you in peace,” I said, using a Nordlinger phrase that I picked up while working with them.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” one of the men shouted.

“I am Harazar, from Mokoko, fourth son of Kennaar, who is Patriarch of the Dhormek Clan. I am scouting the area, looking for a campsite. My father asked my wives and me to scout the area and eliminate as many predators as we could. He wants to graze our sheep, goats, and cattle on the hills nearer the coast and the Zingha River. When they have grazed a hillside, it will be easier for our men to dig through the soil to mine the copper we found,” I replied.

“You can’t be Harazar,” he laughed.

“My mothers would disagree with you,” I replied.

“We have heard talk of Harazar the warrior in the Mokoko marketplace. You are barely old enough to carry a sword,” he taunted.

“Perhaps that is why I was able to defeat a hundred men and kill the Baron from Port Zamfara with three of my wives and two Nordlingers fighting by my side. Maybe they didn’t think I was a warrior either,” I replied. “The wild dogs and wolf pups helped, too,” I added.

“I have never heard of Harazar having wild dogs,” he challenged.

“I have seven wild dogs and eighteen new puppies in addition to fourteen wolves and six wolf pups,” I replied.

“Where are they?” he taunted.

I whistled a series of three whistles, pointed to the hillside behind the men and made a motion to rise with my right hand. The men saw the wolf behind them and scrambled to get away while I motioned him back down. “They mean you no harm so long as you mean me no harm,” I warned.

“Would you have an easier time believing another Nordlinger?” I asked. Without waiting for an answer, I gave the same three-whistle command and pointed to the wolf hiding on the slope just below the men. While they scrambled again, not sure now where “safe” was, I motioned for the wolf to return to camp, hoping that one of my wives returned so I could send her to bring back a Nordlinger.

Everyone from our camp returned heavily armed. “Would you please tell these men who I am?” I asked Lt. Anzekko.

“His name is Harazar,” he hollered at the men.

“Is he the same Harazar who defeated the Baron of Port Zamfara?” one of the Nordlinger men asked.

“He is. I was sent by our king to help guard his clan’s estate,” Anzekko replied.

They finally let us into the village, apologizing. They were escaped slaves from Port Zamfara, and worried about being caught and returned.

“You need not worry,” Lieutenant Anzekko assured them. “Even though we are at peace with Bajasan, we are under no obligation to return any runaway slaves. Neither are the Bajasanians permitted to cross into Morilia to chase runaway slaves.”

“They even travelled here from Port Zamfara and sold us several slaves a while ago because they can’t afford to keep them any longer,” I explained. “I wonder if I could go there and buy more and bring them home to safety,” I mused aloud. I knew that several merchants from Port Zamfara had asked permission to relocate to Mokoko because their business was now dead.

After hearing how they treated slaves there, the town refused, although they allowed several families from other places in Morilia to join our now growing town.

In Mokoko, it was traditional that the men would get together and vote on each potential new family. Since I was gone so often, I told the Magistrate that Father could vote for me if I wasn’t there.

Lieutenant Anzekko asked if they wanted to move to Mokoko, or if they wanted to remain here.

“We would prefer to remain here since it reminds us of our homeland in many ways. We live in the side of hills instead of mountains, there are few trees on the nearby hills, and the weather is never cold enough to freeze. Other things are also different, but the warmer weather and the ability to grow crops year-round is much appreciated,” they explained.

Lieutenant Anzekko promised to relay word of their town to the capital so it would be officially recognized as a town.

I asked how they could cook without wood smoke. With this many homes, and when the wind blew from the east, I should have smelled smoke for the last few days. “We burn hard coal that we mine,” they replied, stunning me. “We also sell it in Mokoko, although the price has dropped recently. Our Jatolian villagers used to have to make the trip to town. Now, with so many Nordlingers going to town for things, any of us can go without raising suspicion. We learned from the other Nordlingers in town about Harazar.”

“If you mine coal, I can buy it and pay more than you get in town. I sell the coal that I buy from trade ships to people in town for almost what I pay for it, which is why the price dropped. I can sell your coal to the caravans,” I explained. They liked that idea. I explained where the estate was and told them to ask for my brother Iltapar when they took coal to our estate to sell.

They were glad to hear how many predators we’d killed. They called the big brown bear “Grandfather” due to the white hair on the tips of his ears. It looked like gray hair to them, hence the nickname “Grandfather.” The bear had killed two of their valuable mules in the last two years.

One last thing we did was to give them most of the tassimin supply we carried with us. I assured them that, despite the foul taste, the herb was excellent for healing all sorts of illnesses and infections. I promised to bring more soon. One of the men recognized the herb and knew where to find more. I warned them not to use it until the plants were at least waist high. Then they had to hang the plant upside down to dry and grind up only the dried leaves.

We made it back to the campsite by early afternoon. Kazani, Saraki, and Tirnea were waiting for us, wondering where everyone had gone. We ate a quick lunch and packed up our camp. Lieutenant Anzekko packed his family up to return home since he had to send word to King Kugiar about the Nordlinger village. My women and I headed for the campsite that I had located two hills to the south of us.

I even had time to set snares before supper and to play with the wolf pups. The mother wolf was the largest of the new females and kept a close eye on me as her offspring used me for a chew toy. There were times that I had two pups chewing on each arm and they seemed to delight in me lifting them up off the ground as they chewed and growled until their jaws were tired enough that they had to let go. As soon as they hit the ground, they jumped up to catch my arm again.

As with the original batch of wolf pups, my arms tired long before the pups did. Also like before, I had to scold the pups, smacking the front of their nose with my palm when they tried to bite once I took the gloves off. If they were like my first wolf pups, it would take several days for them to learn. Mama wolf seemed happy that the pups were tormenting someone besides her and quickly settled down when she saw that I wasn’t hurting the pups.

At supper, Kazani and Saraki laughed as they told us about Tirnea speaking with Zuela and Bergoa about becoming one of my wives when she was old enough. Both gave their tentative approval.

After supper, we retired to the tent, surrounded by wolves and wolf pups. The pups whined and scratched at the tent the entire time we were inside. They quit as soon as I exited the tent to watch over the goat for the night. I had to reprimand a couple of them when they tried to use me as a chew toy without my gloves on.

A low throaty growl in my ear had me instantly awake and alert. Looking towards where the wolf directed his gaze, I barely saw a shadowy, stealthy figure slinking down the hillside towards the stream. Once again, I chose the crossbow, deciding that I liked the way I could track a predator by resting it atop a rock. I also only had to expose my head, and not my upper body. In the bright moonlight, the jaguar would have seen me.

The cat sniffed the air in every direction, probably concerned about the wolf scents from earlier in the day. When it paused to turn its head and look back over its shoulder, I let the bolt fly. I was impressed with the acrobatic backflip the jaguar did as it screeched in pain. Mere heartbeats later, I had four worried women checking on me.

“Shhhhh,” I whispered quietly, motioning for them to get down. Two more jaguars were now creeping down the hill. They were smaller than the adult I just shot, but large enough to be a danger to people or livestock. I assumed they were juveniles old enough that they would soon be on their own. Technically, I guess, they were on their own now. Momma wasn’t going to be any further help to them.

The girls saw them too and had their crossbows ready. “Now,” Kazani whispered, and the near simultaneous sound of their bowstrings releasing reached me just as the four bolts found their targets. Not sure how many young jaguars gave birth to at one time I moved cautiously down the slope towards momma jaguar, my crossbow slung over my shoulder and my trusty spear leading the way.

After making sure momma jaguar was dead, I moved uphill to check on the two young ones. Halfway there Karako growled and looked to my left. I pivoted to look just in time to catch a very large adult jaguar with the spear tip. The jaguar’s momentum carried it forward, impaling it even further on the spear. I felt a searing pain as the cat’s claws raked my left shoulder, but the cat died before it could do further damage.

Stunned, and looking at the impaled cat, I decided that I needed to use a boar spear from now on. A boar spear has flanges sticking out to either side at the base of the spearhead to prevent your prey (generally a wild boar) from impaling itself while trying to reach and hurt the hunter.

I checked my shoulder and shuddered, not because of what I saw, but knowing that I would have to swallow tassimin tea twice a day for several days until the three claw marks fully scabbed over. Fortunately, they were not deep gouges.

Several of the wolves hurried over to me, seemingly to make sure I was okay. After that, they bounded out into the near darkness around me, providing extra eyes, ears, and noses to scout the area. The women finally arrived and were upset about my wound. They hadn’t realized what happened or that I’d been hurt. I knew that I’d be okay when they started bemoaning the fact that my new shirt was torn and bloody. It’s nice to know how much I mean to them.

While Kazani washed out my wound and applied some of the tassimin she carried in her saddlebags in a salve, I gagged down the tea Saraki brewed for me. Mereesia and Senna began skinning the four cats, saving the trophies, and cutting off chunks of meat for the wolves.

I managed to sleep for a short time until the sun came up. My shoulder hurt a lot, so I drank willow bark tea in addition to the tassimin tea. Once the women checked my wound, they let me check my snares. After clearing the snares, I packed them up, figuring that we needed to return home today to get more tassimin. Given how much we gave to the Nordlinger village, we were probably about out of what we had brought with us.

After eating a quick breakfast, we finished loading the wagon and headed for home. I had a chance to think on my way home and realized yet another advantage of the crossbows. I could still use one now. I’d have difficulty drawing my regular bow right now. Aiming the crossbow might be painful, but it was quite feasible, especially if I had a surface like a rock to rest the crossbow on. Since it was my left shoulder that was injured, I could still use a spear or sword if necessary.

As we passed through the hills near the copper mine, we saw sheep and the steers grazing on the hillsides closest to the copper mine. We stopped long enough to leave two of my wolves with each group to help guard against predators. When we got closer to home, the dairy cows and dairy goats were grazing in the newly fenced pastures on the new land.

As soon as we got home, the women dragged me before Mother Sofala so that she could check my wound. “You know that the tooth and claw necklaces display your hunting prowess much better than scars,” she chided as she poked and prodded my tender shoulder.

When she finally decided that I would live and that the girls had done a good job, I was hungry. I found the girls with Mother Nykeea, checking out the wolves. She was laughing, wearing my long, heavy gloves, playing with the wolf pups.

“I hear that your goat found a salt deposit,” Father commented nonchalantly partway through lunch.

“I couldn’t understand why the dumb goat kept licking the quartz,” I replied. This time, Mother Sofala threw a piece of bread at me and then glared at everyone, challenging them to say anything. They didn’t.

“And you found a village of slaves escaped from Port Zamfara,” Father continued.

“And they mine hard coal, too,” I replied excitedly. “They even lined the nearby stream with berry bushes for a couple of miles. The brambles provide berries and form a protective wall of sorts,” I continued.

“We plan to redirect the streams to flow outside of the earthen berms we’re using the dirt to build. We should probably plant berries along the entire route once we do,” Father said thoughtfully. “We intend to use rock from mining to build rock walls on top of the earthen berms to provide protection if we ever need to defend the area. The brambles will make it more difficult and more painful for an enemy to reach the walls.

“After talking to the Nordlingers in the new village, I want to take a trip to Port Zamfara to see if we can buy more slaves from them,” I suggested.

“Take a contingent of armed men with you. There might be some people in Port Zamfara upset about losing the caravan business. You should probably let your shoulder heal for a few days, first,” he suggested.

I sensed from the odd glances that Father, my mothers, and Father’s concubines kept giving each other that something was going on that they knew about that my wives and I didn’t. I also knew better than to ask. If I needed or was supposed to know, Father would tell me.

I also told Father about deciding to use boar spears when I was hunting. “A good idea,” he replied. “Our cavalry used them to good effect, being able to snag an opponent’s shield with them. We should probably arm all of our shepherds and goatherds with them, especially the ones taking the animals to the hills south of the Zingha River and into your three valleys.”

After lunch, I rode into town and talked to Zuela’s father, Tlemcar. I already talked to Father, and he agreed to my plan. After asking to have twenty steel spearheads made for boar spears, I bought two of the new plows he made and now sold to ships that stopped in port. After securing the plows to travois pulled by two of the four mules I brought from home, I headed back to the Nordlinger village.

They were surprised to see me back so soon, and even more surprised by my cargo. “We took these bows from the Baron’s men that we defeated. We don’t use them because we have better bows. These are better than the ones you have so I brought these to you as a gift. I also have several flint spearheads that we were using. I just ordered steel spearheads for boar spears that we’re going to use instead to replace any broken ones.

“I brought four mules because you said the bear killed two of yours. I also brought two plows that you should recognize. If you want these, you can pay us for them with coal when you mine more than what you need to sell so you can buy necessities,” I offered.

“Why would you do this?” one of the men asked warily.

“The Baron of Port Zamfara was a wealthy man. To help ease tensions between our two countries caused by the Baron invading, King Kemmou of Bajasan awarded me his belongings, making me very wealthy. Considering what you had to endure as slaves, I’m just trying to help you become more prosperous so that you can provide a better life for your families,” I explained.

“The Nordlingers in Mokoko told us that you were a good man,” he said as he clasped my arm in friendship.

“Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help,” I replied.

“Letting us know that we’re safe now was the best thing you could ever do for us,” he said.

With that, I rode home, deciding on the way that I needed to make the trip to Port Zamfara sooner, rather than later. Yes, my shoulder hurt, and riding didn’t help any. Riding wasn’t a threat to my health, though. What the slaves in Port Zamfara faced each day was frequently a matter of worse physical pain than I would have to endure while riding there and could even cost them their lives.

Arriving home early enough to be a chew toy for the wolf pups, I was careful not to overuse my left arm. I was a bit surprised when my wives came to get my tooth and claw necklace so they could add my newest trophies. I saw that they had already updated theirs, and my two consorts had one for the bear they helped kill. Mine was so full that I wondered how they would add tooth and claw from the bear, the mountain lion, the wolves, and the jaguars on it. I told them that I intended to ride to Port Zamfara in a day or two, once I cleared it with Father.

When we sat down to dinner, a Nordlinger man I didn’t recognize came in with Father and sat down to eat with us. That I didn’t recognize him was no surprise. I was home so little that I only recognized a quarter of the Nordlingers, and only knew the names of thirty or forty of them. Father and my brothers handled the purchase of new slaves and assigning them work, so I had little contact with them.

I was surprised that one of them was having dinner with us, but only because dinner was usually reserved for family and special guests. He seemed to know Father, my mothers, and Father’s concubines. Once again, I figured that Father would tell me if I needed to know about it. Many things here didn’t involve me.

“I’d like to ride to Port Zamfara as soon as possible,” I said to Father at the table. “I know that it will be painful, but it shouldn’t affect my health. I’ll take a good supply of tassimin salve and tassimin for tea,” I promised, mostly to Mother Sofala.

I saw Father give Mother Sofala a smug grin. “You’ll need to take armed men with you. Knowing you, I spoke with Captain Tjorius. He said that he’d be proud to lead some of his former troops to Port Zamfara with you. They’ll be ready to ride right after breakfast,” he advised.

“You knew I’d want to go?” I asked.

“I was surprised that you didn’t insist on leaving this afternoon,” he chuckled, making me blush.

“Why would you endanger your health like that?” the Nordlinger asked.

I was surprised that he entered a family conversation, but I answered him anyway. “I don’t feel that I’m endangering my health. If I keep the scratches covered, use the salve, and drink the tea, it shouldn’t endanger me any more than staying home for another week.

“I know that riding will be painful, but not as painful as what some of the slaves in Port Zamfara endure every day,” I replied. “Any of them that I can buy from their current owners and bring here to safety will make the pain worth it.”