Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (24 page)

I started to walk away but my hand was
grabbed and I looked down to the mother who still had tight hold on
her child but she was kissing my hand.

“Shahsha, shahsha, shahsha kah rahna
Dahksahna hahla. Shahsha,” she whispered against my hand and I did
a knees closed squat next to her, gently twisted my hand from her
grasp and touched my fingers to her lips.

“It was nothing, everybody knows how to do
that where I come from,” I said and heard Diandra close,
translating. “And it was my pleasure,” I added, Diandra interpreted
then I smiled and finished on a whisper, “Nahrahka.”

She nodded to me, eyes big and grateful. I
nodded back, got up, nodded to my, uh…
people
, then Diandra, Narinda and I went back to
Narinda’s cham.

The Breaking Point

It was night and I’d talked Diandra into
wandering the chams because it felt nice to be out in the cool air,
the torches stuck into the earth every six or seven feet that lit
the pathways between the chams cast a cozy glow and I wanted to
stretch my legs.

It had been a nice day. Another day with the
Korwahk, another day waking up in this world, another hint that
this may be my life, my old life might be lost to me forever and
unless I could do the impossible, figure out what had happened and
reverse it, I was going to have to get used to it.

And in it I now had Narinda and Nahka. We’d
spent some more time in Narinda’s cham where she asked Diandra more
questions, Diandra answered and then Diandra gave us both some
Korwahk language lessons. Then we heard a “poyah” from outside the
cham and Nahka, the mother of the child who had been choking came
in and offered us dinner.

We accepted because Diandra knew Nahka and
informed us she was lovely; because it was seriously doubtful
Narinda was going to get swept from this world in her dreams and it
would be good for her to get to know her neighbors; and because it
was beginning to dawn on me that this might be my life and these my
people so I’d need to get to know them.

Even with the language barrier and Diandra
having to translate, dinner with Nahka was what dinner always was
amongst girls. Lots of food, lots of wine, lots of talk about the
men in our lives (Nahka was a warrior wife too, her husband’s name
was Bohtan), Nahka spoke of her son (the child who was choking) and
newborn daughter, Narinda and I spoke of our lands and last, there
was lots of laughter.

We left with promises to do it again soon,
Narinda hugged me and Diandra after we returned her to her cham and
I talked Diandra into taking a walk. She agreed so we were
strolling through the torchlight in our normal way, bodies close,
my hand wrapped around her elbow, her other hand covering mine.

“Uh… Diandra?” I called.

“Yes, my dear,” she replied.

“Do all the Korwahk think they have a spirit
or is it only the warriors?”

“All Korwahk believe they have a spirit,”
she answered.

“So… uh, they’re spiritual?”

Her hand squeezed mine and she cut to the
chase. “What are you truly asking, Circe?”

I smiled at a woman at a firepit outside a
tent and replied, “Do they believe in God?”

“God?”

“Yes, God. A higher being, an omnipotent
power, a divine creator, that kind of thing,” I explained.

“Just one?” she asked and I looked at
her.

“Sorry?”

She looked at me too and her face was
confused. “In your land, do you have just one god?”

I looked back at our path and shook my head.
“Yes and no. Different people believe different things and some of
them have more than one God they pray to but me… I believe in only
one.”

“Unusual,” she muttered.

I lifted my other hand, placed it over hers
on mine and squeezed. “So? Do the Korwahk believe in a god or
gods?”

“They do, my dear. They have many and for
each person they choose which god will be their erm… higher being.
There is the Lion God, the Snake God, the Horse God, the Jackal
God, the Tiger God and the True Mother. Most women pray to the True
Mother. I would suspect,” her hand gave mine a pat, “your king
prays to the Tiger God.”

I would suspect that too.

She kept talking. “They do not have shrines,
they do not have alters, they do not have churches. They have no
holy men or women and they don’t carry talismans. They do not
invest any spiritual significance in a person, place or object. The
spirit is inside, prayers are silent, worship is individual and
personal. Adults do not discuss it with adults. It is parents who
pass down the teachings of the Gods and inner spirits and they
allow their children to adopt their own form of devotion.”

Interesting. And kind of cool.

“So, if they’re spiritual, um…” I trailed
off.

“Yes?” Diandra prompted.

Shit.

Here we go.

“Well, you said something earlier I haven’t
been able to get out of my head. Something that doesn’t um… sit
right if the Korwahk are spiritual. You mentioned something about
Lahn taking a woman in plunder –”

I stopped talking when she halted us and
turned to me but didn’t let go of my hand.

Oh man. I knew this meant something not
good.

I looked in her eyes and she spoke.

“
The Horde is revered,” she said softly,
“even more than any god. This is because they protect the Korwahk
nation
and
because they
rain riches on it. And they do this through marauding.”

Yep, this was not good.

“Marauding?” I whispered.

She nodded. “Korwahk is a warring nation,
as is Maroo, Keenhak and other neighboring nations close and far.
But Korwahk has riches that the others do not have. Veins of gold
and silver. A vast wealth of diamonds in the earth. Mines of
emeralds and rubies. These other nations covet these things and
often wage war in order to take it for their own. The Horde rides
against these armies that invade our land, murder the Korwahk
people, rape our women. And The Horde never fails, Circe,
ever
in driving these armies back
and bringing peace to the land. The Korwahk owe great debts to the
blood of warriors.”

“I can see that,” I said softly.

She took in a breath then continued,
“There is no government, no law, but right and wrong is known by
all and wrong is punished severely, either by the Dax amongst The
Horde and those who travel with and serve it and by high counselors
in settlements. Therefore, with no government, no treasury set up
to do things like build roads and the like, the Dax does not tax
his people and the Korwahk Horde rides into neighboring nations in
order to acquire further riches for their own.”

Okay, I was guessing this was the bad
part.

“Go on,” I urged tentatively, needing to
know but at the same time not wanting to know.

She turned us and started us walking
again. “It is savage, this I will agree,” she said softly. “But if
The Horde rides and a village knows they are coming, if they are
smart, they make offerings so The Horde will not plunder their
village. The Horde will take the offering and move on. If the
village is
not
smart and
makes no offering or the offering is considered by the Dax as too
little, they will ride against the village and take from it what
they feel is their due.”

I cleared my throat and walked but said not
a word.

Diandra squeezed my hand and kept talking
quietly. “And they do plunder, my dear, and plunder as you would
expect a brutal, warring tribe to plunder. I know you do not like
it when I say this but this is their way, it always has been.” She
was silent for a moment and then her voice got even quieter when
she went on, “In getting to know you, I can imagine your mind is
turning.”

It must be said, she was not wrong about
that.

“
But I will share with you that your king’s
agreement to give up the Xacto surprised me greatly. This, too, is
their way and has been since anyone can remember. This is a
remarkable concession, my dear, and you should treasure it, hold it
precious and tend it so the Dax never feels regret that he made it.
But, I will say, if you speak against the ways of his people who
you must take to heart are now
your
people, I fear it would not have such a positive
outcome.”

I made no response mainly because I feared
the same.

Diandra sighed then kept explaining. “They
bring these riches back, coin, slaves, all of it. Slaves are sold
and they build tents, work in mines, serve households, provide a
better life for the Korwahk. Coin and other booty is used and
traded, given to wives who in turn provide custom to merchants who
in turn order goods from farmers and artisans. These activities are
the foundation of Korwahk life. The more The Horde showers down on
their people, the better the Korwahks live, the more they revere
The Horde. It is their cycle, their tradition, their
way.
”

“Okay,” I said and my voice trembled, “but
raping women and girls and killing people to steal their
property?”

“It is their way of life,” she said
simply.

“Raping women and girls?” I asked quietly,
shook my head and admitted, “Lahn doing that, Diandra, I have to
say, it turns my stomach.”

“Then stop him from doing it.”

I stopped walking so Diandra did too and
turned to me.

“Sorry?” I asked.

She smiled a small smile before saying,
“You will not be able to talk to him and convince him to change the
way of The Horde. Even
if
you
were to be able to convince him, if he tried to rule his warriors
and tell them they could not do as they see fit while warring and
marauding, they would see this as a weakness. Although right and
wrong is known, these are basics and mostly the Korwahk do as they
wish. I do not know how it works and those across the Green and
Marhac Seas see this as savage and, perhaps, it is, but for the
Korwahk, it works. The nation knows peace, wealth and safety. If an
army invades, The Horde moves and puts a stop to it in short order.
This is what it is. It is akin to Dortak and his bride. The other
warriors know he is abusing her and many, I can assure you, find
that contemptuous but he is a warrior, he has endured training, he
has leaked blood to rain riches on his nation. What he does in his
cham and what he does to aid The Horde in procuring, they will make
no judgment. It is not their business and they will never move
against him as long as he provides service to The
Horde.”

“Okay, so how do I stop Lahn –?”

She smiled and lifted a hand to my cheek,
leaning her face close to mine. “I, too, found great difficulty in
understanding this way of life. This, especially this, did not sit
well with me and it is the only thing that took me a great deal of
time to come to terms with. I did not like The Horde doing it but
especially I did not like knowing my husband did it and he did, my
dear Circe, he did, even after we were married.”

I closed my eyes.

Diandra kept talking. “So I found a way to
stop him from doing it.”

I opened my eyes.

“How?” I whispered.

She dropped her hand. “Seerim always told
me when there was a campaign. In most cases, wives stay with
warriors. Wives are usually kept close. So, the night before
and the morning
of
I made certain he had
what he needed,
all
that he
needed,
as
many times
as he needed
what he needed from me so he wouldn’t feel the need to take it from
someone else.”

I got what she was saying.

“In other words, you fucked his brains out,”
I replied on a smile.

“Erm…” she muttered then grinned, “if I take
your meaning then yes, my dear friend, I fucked his brains
out.”

I couldn’t help it, the subject matter
sucked but Diandra saying that made me giggle.

Then I stopped giggling and whispered, “Well
done.”

Her grin grew into a smile and she
replied, “Indeed. And my tactic worked. He did not speak of it but
he would come back from a campaign smelling of dirt, of sweat, of
blood but never again of woman.” She nodded smartly. “There are
ways to get what
you
need out of
your warrior. You just must be clever in finding them.”

What will be was what
I
make of it.

“Right,” I whispered, she peered into my
eyes a moment before she nodded smartly again and then turned us
back to walking.

I could tell from the familiar surroundings
we were heading back to my cham and I wondered, when we rode, how I
would learn another layout or if The Eunuch always set up the
Daxshee the same.

Then I wondered about Seerim and his
age.

“
Does Seerim ride with The Horde now?” I
asked Diandra.

“Sometimes, during raids, if he so chooses
but he has charge of training young warriors and that takes most of
his concentration. During the selection, he received ten new boys
he needs to break as well as keeping charge of the twenty other
boys he was working with. He is quite busy with this and it is an
important role. Only honored warriors as they get older are
required to take on the training of the young. This is because
their skills are considered desirable by the Dax and he wants these
warriors to pass down their expertise. It is a high
compliment.”

She spoke proudly and I squeezed her hand as
my cham came in sight. “Well done, Seerim,” I said softly.