Eskkar had scarcely noticed the passing of time, as days turned into weeks. At first the village occupied most of his time, however much responsibility he delegated to Sisuthros. The people of Bisitun, recovering from Ninazu’s terror, soon protested their rule by Akkad, no matter how reasonable or peaceful the intent. It took Eskkar more than a week to figure out why.
When the Alur Meriki threatened Akkad, the nobles ruling the city had selected Eskkar to save them. During the crisis, the inhabitants came to know both him and Trella as people they could trust with their lives.
More than that, they understood that neither he nor Trella valued gold, slaves, or the other trappings of noble life. In short, the villagers accepted them as people long before they accepted their rule.
In Bisitun, such trust did not come easily. Even though Eskkar and his men rescued the village from bandits, no one in Bisitun had invited them to do so, and more than a few of the villagers longed for the days when they ruled themselves. Instead, they found themselves ruled by distant Akkad, their daily lives governed by Sisuthros and his soldiers even more effectively than Ninazu and his bandits.
The villagers also knew they’d be tithing a portion of their earnings to support Akkad, and that Akkad, as the more important of the two villages, would always come first. That made for plenty of tension between villagers and soldiers. Incidents soon arose on both sides of the fine line that Eskkar trod each day.
He needed to rule them fairly and justly. There could be no accusations that Ninazu and his bandits had simply been replaced by another tyrant. So the soldiers had to be kept under control. Eskkar and Sisuthros warned each of them, time and again, not to take advantage of the inhabitants, especially their women. Eskkar reminded them that they had plenty of silver in their pouches. They could buy whatever they wished, but take only what the villagers offered freely.
But soldiers, he knew, acted much like children. They nodded in understanding at Eskkar’s words and swore to behave, then filled themselves with wine, started fights, and chased after the women.
Eskkar kept his word. He punished offending soldiers in the village square, with the elders present. He softened the punishments as much as he could. He didn’t want to alienate his men, but he could not afford to offend the villagers. So he made the punishment fit the crime as much as possible, and Eskkar soon found laughter to be as effective as manual labor or the lash.
One soldier who fondled a girl in the square had to carry water for the village’s women for a day. Another knocked down a farmer, and received a day’s work in the irrigation ditches. Only one soldier had to be lashed, and that for a fight that led to a villager’s death, although the villager had provoked the conflict and attacked the soldier first.
Eskkar’s biggest source of friction came from the innkeepers and other sellers of wine. They had a penchant for overcharging his soldiers, especially those who’d drunk too much. Both innkeepers and shopkeepers often substituted inferior quality goods on the unsuspecting soldiers.
Those merchants found guilty received fines, and Eskkar turned the gold and silver over to the council of elders, to help pay for the rebuilding.
The elders banished one trader found to be a little too sharp in his dealings. Watching the unhappy man pack his family and goods, then take to the road, sent a clear message to all the other merchants to be more honest in their bargaining with both soldiers and villagers.
By the end of the second week, a grudging appreciation of each others’ roles developed between the two factions. During that time, Eskkar and Sisuthros spoke at length to all the merchants in the village, listened to their complaints, and did what they could to resolve them. Progress remained slow, but steady. As the villagers came to accept the fact that Sisuthros and his men would remain, they settled down and got back to the business of farming, trading, and shopkeeping.
Every sundown, Eskkar ceased his role as ruler, refusing all requests for his time. He spent his evenings with Lani. During the day she took care of the household, smoothing the process for Eskkar and Sisuthros. She arranged food for the men, supervised the women hired to cook, looked after the cleaning, and worked with the two clerks keeping track of all the expenditures.
After dinner she took her rest, bathing and preparing for her nights with Eskkar. They enjoyed sitting in the square, talking about everything that happened during the day. Other times they went up onto the roof above Eskkar’s house, where they could talk with even more privacy. They sat holding each other, or with Lani leaning back against him, so that his hands could touch her hair, her breasts, or other more intimate parts.
When they retired for the night, safe behind the barred door, they had little to say, speaking only with their bodies before falling into a deep and restful sleep. For Lani, weeks passed before her nightmares ended. Until then, she would wake up in a panic, unable to breathe, too frightened to scream, often unaware of where she was. Over time those terrors faded away, if not gone, at least banished from her dreams for longer and longer periods.
At first those dreams unsettled Eskkar. He’d never helped a woman with her private terrors before. Trella, too, had been frightened, but Trella had never known the horrors of a man like Ninazu, and Trella’s fears of the future centered about the unknown. For Lani, the unknown had proven all too terrible in reality, a reality that had gone on far too long. As he discovered more about her, he helped calm her fears.
It took time for Eskkar to comprehend all this, but as the weeks drifted by, he realized he understood more not only about Lani, but about Trella as well. Often he found himself comparing the two women, their emotions, their lovemaking, even their hopes. And so when Lani fell asleep in his arms, Eskkar often remained awake, wondering about himself.
Again and again he cursed his own weakness. He loved Trella no less, and he knew it was only because of her that he could understand Lani. But as the nights went by, he saw his feelings for Lani grow, not lessen.
Two weeks after its liberation, Bisitun settled into a routine. That let Eskkar ride out each morning to inspect the countryside. Taking along Grond and a handful of men, they started with the surrounding farms, widening the circle around the village. For the first few excursions, they returned each night. But as the circle widened, they camped overnight under the stars, then continued on their journey the next day. After a few such camps, Eskkar realized how much he missed Lani’s lovemaking, and after that, he made sure nearly every day’s journey ended back at Bisitun.
The next day, they would change horses and ride out again. One by one, Eskkar visited every farm and every herdsman within a day’s journey from Bisitun. He talked to farmers and their wives, asked about the land and the crops, and explained Akkad’s role to humble peasants who’d never traveled more than a day’s walk from their place of birth. To his surprise, Eskkar found this more satisfying than capturing a dozen villages.
Everywhere they went, Eskkar found the farmers and herders much the same. At first frightened, then curious, then eager to talk with the warrior who had beaten the barbarians and driven Ninazu away. Eskkar spoke with all of them, and he learned more about the problems of the small farmers and herders than he ever thought he could comprehend. Thus he gathered ideas from many sources, ideas that would make life safer and easier both on the farm and in the village. He went over these with Sisuthros each night during the evening meal.
One impressed farmer questioned Eskkar, asking how a soldier came to know so much about farms and crops. Eskkar smiled, remembering the days when he’d known nothing about the mysteries of earth, water, and seed. Trella and Noble Rebba had spent a whole day showing and explaining the secrets needed to bring forth wealth from the earth.
Twice Eskkar and his men encountered small parties of men on horseback, who took one look at them and fl ed. They caught up with one of these, three men whose only business looked to be thieving or raiding.
Grond and the soldiers made short work of them, and the local people again gave thanks to their deliverer.
Six weeks after Ninazu’s execution, peace covered the land around Bisitun. By then Eskkar had met with almost all of the farmers, not only met them, but he’d spoken with them, discussed what they needed, what they feared, what they hoped for. No one had ever heard of such encounters before. The people were amazed someone from as far away as Akkad would not only want to protect them, but that he actually listened and showed concern for their lives and their problems.
Of course many complained about the new tax to be charged when they brought their goods to Bisitun for sale, but most declared themselves willing to pay if Eskkar could keep the bandits and raiders away from their farms and families.
Trella had set the amount of the tax, set it low enough so as not to cause hardship. She had explained to Eskkar before he left for the north that the real taxes would be paid by the merchants and traders in Bisitun and Akkad. They would still grow wealthy, but they, too, had to pay for the walls and soldiers who protected them and their dealings.
In Akkad, Trella had begun changing the customs. Each week Eskkar listened to her messenger describe her plans for establishing new laws, creating a new House for the clerks, and inventing new symbols to aid the farmers and craftsmen. Once all this would have overwhelmed Eskkar, but now he not only saw the need for such changes, but understood what impact they would have on Akkad’s inhabitants.
In the clans of his youth, life seldom changed. The people knew their role, their place in life, and the duties they owed to clan and family. Men hunted, and followed their clan leaders into battle. Women raised children, gathered and prepared food, and managed the herds and wagons.
Each day resembled the one before, and the one to come tomorrow.
Villages, Eskkar now realized, couldn’t be ruled like a steppes clan.
Every village changed constantly, with new people arriving or departing.
More people required more food and more craftsmen to serve the surrounding farmers and herders. Even the crops varied from year to year, with abundance often replaced by scarcity. Akkad, with so many more people living within its walls, had become ungovernable by the old ways.
No, Eskkar knew, the old practices must yield to new ways of thinking. And what better place to begin than in Bisitun. And so laws replaced the old and vague customs of the past, and the ruling council of Bisitun settled disputes fairly, without favoring the leading merchant and nobles.
By now Sisuthros governed the village effi ciently, and complaints became fewer in number and minor in nature. The villagers created a new, more permanent council of elders, and they worked with Sisuthros and his clerks each day to insure farmers sold their produce peacefully, craftsmen worked in safety in their shops, and merchants resumed trade not only with one another but up and down the great river.
Eskkar had accomplished what he’d set out to achieve. For the first time in almost a year, there were no barbarians to drive off, no bandits or marauders to chase and destroy, and the people of Bisitun had started putting their lives back together. With nothing of import to do, he took his ease, something he’d never done before, letting himself relax and enjoying the peaceful days.
Eskkar knew he should return to Akkad, to help Trella manage the city’s burgeoning growth. Instead he remained in Bisitun, watching the days slip by. Of course, he told himself Sisuthros still needed him, that he stayed in Bisitun to help organize the village. In truth, the thought of returning to Akkad with all its scheming and petty problems weighed on him, and he wanted to postpone his return as long as possible.
Instead, on the days he didn’t travel the countryside, he spent more and more of his time with Lani. They started their day after the common breakfast, when Sisuthros went off to deal with the problems of the day.
Lani and Eskkar usually found time to return to their bedroom for a few more hours of ease. After the noon meal, Eskkar would stroll around the village, talking to the shopkeepers and craftsmen, and, more often than not, Lani would accompany him, though she would leave him early enough to prepare for the day’s supper. Before the evening meal, Eskkar and Grond would wash up at the well in the square, along with their bodyguards, all of them getting the dust of the village off their bodies.
After supper Eskkar spent time with his soldiers, talking and joking, as they, too, relaxed from their labors. But after an hour or two, Eskkar would leave the men with their ale and their women, and he and Grond would return to their house and their women.
Lani and Tippu would be waiting, and the four of them would sit out under the stars facing the square, talking, laughing, or sitting quietly, with an occasional sip of well-watered wine to keep them refreshed. The nights had grown cooler, but it remained pleasant to sit beneath the starry sky and enjoy the night air. Eskkar held Lani close to him, his arm either around her shoulders or slipped inside her dress to enjoy the feel of her skin, and just as often her hand would rest between his legs, stroking him gently until he grew aroused, then whispering promises in his ear for later in the evening.
Sometimes Sisuthros or one of the other senior men joined them, but mostly Eskkar and Grond had the nights to themselves, as the others sought their own companions at day’s end. As the darkness increased, if no one was around or watching too closely, Lani would kiss him. Once she even leaned over and took him into her mouth for a few moments, a more certain reminder of what would come later.
During most of those nights, another visitor would join them. The dark gray cat that had appeared in Eskkar’s room that first night would cautiously prowl its way to their table. Where it spent its days, no one knew. Lani had befriended the animal weeks before Eskkar’s arrival, and now it stayed nearby, or came into the bedroom searching for her. Always alert and constantly looking around, the scruffy male cat would search out Lani’s hand for a brief stroking, then poke her with his paw until she gave him something to eat.
In time the cat permitted Eskkar to pet it, though the hint of a growl would be heard if Eskkar rubbed too hard or too long. After the cat had eaten whatever scraps they had to offer, it often sat on the table and dozed, its legs tucked underneath its body, but ready to dart away at any moment.
If the food had been good and plentiful, it might even purr for them, the low sound only lasting a few moments before the animal remembered it was supposed to be a fierce hunter.
Eskkar never spent much time with cats. As a young boy in his camp, dogs had kept his family company, but cats were almost unknown in the lives of barbarians. Cats couldn’t follow a wagon a dozen miles each day, and Eskkar had rarely seen them until he came to the villages.
Nevertheless everyone knew that a cat came blessed from the gods, and brought good luck. Cats were plentiful on the nearby farms and in the villages, appreciated for their ability to hunt the rodents that ate and soiled the stored grain. Lani’s cat, as Eskkar called it, seemed sure of its place, and in the last few weeks, Eskkar had come to enjoy its company.
Tonight the stars shone gleaming white overhead. Eskkar and Lani sat side by side, facing the square, their backs to the wall of the house, at a small table. Grond and Tippu had their own table, a discreet distance away, where they, too, whispered to each other. A single guard watched at the entrance to the house, twenty paces away. The rest of the square stood empty at this time of night, and the incessant creaking sound from the well as people drew up the water had finally stopped.
Lani’s cat reclined on the table between them. It had dined on chicken scraps, then washed its face and paws, and now dozed lightly. Eskkar glanced up at the heavens, and knew it would soon be time to go into the warm house and warmer bed, to spend another hour making love, before falling asleep in each other’s arms.
“Tell me more about Akkad,” Lani urged, her arm around Eskkar’s neck and one hand stroking his manhood.
“I’ve already told you everything there is, Lani,” he answered. She asked the same question every night.
“Tell me something new, then,” she insisted, her hand tightening around him. Eskkar sighed, then found some new detail to talk about. She listened carefully as he spoke about the city, its people, the farms, the traders, even the wall surrounding it. Whatever he told her, sooner or later involved Trella, and then more questions would arise.
“Do you miss your wife so much, Eskkar? Are you not happy here?”
“I have to go back to Akkad, Lani, you know that. My son will be born soon, and I must be there. I’ve already stayed away longer than I planned.
In another two or three days, we’ll start for Akkad.”
“You will take us with you?”
She asked that question often. “Yes, Lani, you will come with me.
Though I’m not sure what I will do with you there. Trella will not be pleased with you.”
“As long as you do not forget me, Eskkar. I could not bear that.”
Trella’s reception of Lani had bothered him more than he admitted.
He needed to keep seeing Lani, but wanted Trella as well. As the time to return to Akkad grew closer, the problem had become more confusing.
Now even talking about Trella made him uncomfortable.
“I will take care of you and your sister.” He kissed her cheek and her ear. “And I will come to visit you as often as I can.”
“Do you promise, Eskkar? I don’t want to be apart from you.”
He reassured her again, and finally she seemed satisfied. The questions stopped and she relaxed, snuggling against him, her head on his shoulder.
His right arm reached around her, his hand inside her dress as he held onto her breast. He rolled her nipple between his fingers, and felt her shiver from his touch. She had very sensitive breasts, and he had discovered that he could sometimes bring her to arousal merely by playing with them. It was a new and erotic experience that never failed to excite him.
Now he leaned back, enjoying her presence and her touch, his head resting against the rough mud-brick of the house. He reached out slowly with his left hand, and gently stroked the cat’s neck, just behind its ear. Eskkar had learned not to make any sudden movements around the animal.
Not much tamer than a wild creature, even after all this time, it remained skittish and always ready to show its claws.
Tonight it let him stroke its rough fur, though the cat lifted its head toward him, as if to reassure itself, before lowering its head once again before settling down, its feet folded under its chest.
Eskkar’s hand was knocked aside as the cat’s head snapped up and to its left. Before Eskkar could follow the movement, the cat launched itself off the table with a blur of motion too quick to be seen. Eskkar turned toward whatever had alarmed the cat. Though used to the darkness, he saw nothing at first, then a faint reflection of something silvery moving toward him.
For a big man, Eskkar could move rapidly when he needed to. He shoved Lani away with his right hand, using his left to reach under the table and fling it up and between him and his attacker. “Grond!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, and then dropped to a crouch as the sword slashed the air where his head had been an instant ago. Chunks of dried mud sprayed from the wall where the blade struck. The table had hindered the stroke, not by much, but just enough to buy one extra moment of precious time.
Eskkar threw himself to the left, away from Lani, and found himself at the feet of another assailant. That man’s sword missed as well, an overhand swing that sliced into the air where Eskkar had just been, the attacker expecting Eskkar to move away, not at him. Before the man could thrust down with the weapon, Eskkar gathered his feet under him and drove his shoulder into the man’s stomach, and this time they both went down.
The attacker attempted to use his sword, but Eskkar rolled away with two quick turns, regained his footing, and made sure the wall protected his back. On his left, he heard Grond shouting for the guards. Not that Eskkar had time to worry about Grond. Eskkar saw two shadows advancing toward him, but at least he had time to draw his sword. He used the motion to move back to his right, closing in with the closest of his attackers, the blade slashing at the man nearest the wall. Bronze clashed on bronze, and Eskkar felt something burn against his left arm. Again he used his body, moving forward, lowering his shoulder and thrusting himself into the man before he could recover and swing again.
As Eskkar rebounded from his assailant, he flung himself back into the first attacker, again ducking under another cut, and pinning the man to the wall for an instant with his body.
The second man proved quick in his reactions. A hand struck Eskkar in the face, a thumb nearly in his eye, and Eskkar was pushed back before he could thrust with his own blade. He dropped to his knees, swinging his sword as he did so. The attacker grunted as Eskkar’s blade struck the man across the leg, but the tip of the sword struck the wall, weakening the blow.
Still, it did enough damage to allow Eskkar to dart away, this time back toward Grond.
The shouting and clash of swords in the square had raised the alarm, and even in the confusion, Eskkar heard men stumbling about inside the house behind him. He half expected the assailants to flee, but these two men were determined, and they again pressed the attack. From the darkness, Lani threw herself in front of one of them, tripping him up. That one cursed as he stumbled and fell, though Lani’s cry mixed with the assassin’s oaths.
The other man kept coming, and Eskkar swung his sword at the assailant’s head. The man parried the blade, but Eskkar took control now, his feet firmly planted as he disengaged his blade, rolling it around his opponent’s weapon with a motion trained in hundreds of hours of practice, and thrust hard, brushing aside the parry and sinking the blade deep into the man’s chest.
He didn’t dare risk a moment to withdraw it, just ducked immediately to his right, half expecting another blow from the other man, but Grond arrived now. He had no weapon in his hand, but he caught the second man from behind, his arm around the man’s neck. Grond twisted him against his hip and flipped the man over. The sound of the man’s neck breaking carried over the rising din in the square.
Eskkar wrenched his sword free and looked up, as a tiny bit more light filtered into the square from the main house as the door flung open.
Another assailant stood there, backing away from the opening as men stumbled out, swords in their hands. The man looked toward his fallen companions, then turned and raced away, but Sisuthros and two men burst from the house and pursued him.
The assassin ran for his life, dropping his sword and taking to his heels.
With a burst of speed, he darted down one of the lanes. But a doorway opened ahead of him and a woman stepped out to see about all the commotion. They collided, both crashing to the ground. The man got up in a moment, but Sisuthros had closed the gap and flung his sword at the running man’s back. The blade landed nearly true, and the blow, while not deep enough to be mortal, made the runner cry out and stumble. Drakis and another man dashed past Sisuthros and even across the square, Eskkar heard the sound of the blade as it crunched into the man’s shoulder. A scream rent the air, cut short by another blow, and then it was over.
Eskkar stood in the same spot, breathing heavily, his back to the wall, the great sword held out in front of him. He heard Lani crying on the ground, and remembered that she had managed to trip one of his attackers. Grond moved toward him, gathering up Lani as he came to Eskkar’s side, then pushed her roughly behind them. He’d picked up the fallen man’s sword, and the two of them stood in front of Lani, swords glinting in the starlight as the blades weaved back and forth in the empty space before them.
Another soldier came out of the house, a newly lit torch in his hand, its flame reaching full illumination as he raised it above his head. In the flickering light Eskkar could see the bodies of three men. He saw Tippu huddled against the next house, her hands up over her head. More of Eskkar’s soldiers rushed into the square, those who had not gone to the local taverns and alehouses rushing out of the nearby houses where they were quartered, swords or knives in their hands.
In a moment a line of men stood in front of Eskkar, and he allowed himself to relax a little. He turned and found Lani slumped to the ground, her back against the wall. He reached down and picked her up with one hand, then pulled her along the wall until they reached the house’s entrance.
She stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn’t clasped her around the waist. Inside, he saw blood oozing from her forehead and cheek. Someone lit another lamp inside the house, and it gave him enough light to see. He pushed her hair aside to examine her injury. Eskkar found a welt and a bloody scratch, but no wound, so he carried her into the bedroom. Someone brought Tippu inside, and she rushed to join her sister.
“Take care of her, Tippu. Close the door!”
When Eskkar went back outside, Sisuthros rushed up to him. His subcommander had recovered his sword, and Eskkar saw blood still on it. Drakis, a few steps behind him, dragged the body of the assassin who had nearly escaped. Eskkar remembered that Drakis had been the first one out of the house at the sound of the attack; he hadn’t bothered with any clothes.
More torches flamed up, and Hamati arrived at a run from the local alehouse with another dozen men. Sisuthros shouted an order, and the trumpet rang out, its notes summoning every soldier to the house. Lamps and candles started to burn in all the houses around the square, adding their light to that of the flickering torches.
Soldiers dragged the four bodies from where they had fallen and lined them up next to the table Eskkar had fl ipped over. Another body lay near the doorway, that of the guard stationed at the door to the house; he’d attempted to reach Eskkar, but had been struck down from behind by the fourth assassin.
Eskkar grabbed the arm of a soldier bearing a torch, and ordered him to hold the light over the bodies. Eskkar studied each face closely, as did Grond and Sisuthros, but they recognized none of them. The torchlight showed that all the dead men looked hard and fit. They certainly had not backed off in their attempt to kill him, even after their initial attempt had failed.
“Sisuthros, get men out on horseback. They must have had horses hidden somewhere. Find them. Use torches to check for fresh tracks around the village. And secure every horse in Bisitun. I don’t want anyone getting away. If any have left the village, ride them down at first light, if you have to kill every horse.”
“I’ll do it,” Hamati said. He issued orders to his men, and they all raced off toward the stable.
Eskkar nodded and turned back to Sisuthros. “Have the rest of the men take a look at the bodies, see if anyone recognizes them. First thing in the morning, get every innkeeper… shopkeeper… no, get everyone in the village to look at these bodies. Somebody must know who they are, or where they stayed.”
“Yes, Captain.” He hurried off, giving orders to waken every member of the village council. The sound of hoofbeats rang out, and a single rider came back into the square, shouting for torches. He took two in his hand, struggling to keep control of the nervous horse spooked by the crackling and flickering torches. But the man retained his seat, and in a moment the horse steadied, and they galloped off down the lane.
“Grond, have a guard stationed behind the house tonight. And search inside, to make sure no one’s hiding with the women.”
Drakis came from the house, now dressed, with his sword belted at his waist. “Captain, why don’t you go back inside and let the women look at that arm. There’s nothing more you can do out here. I’ll send a healer to you.”
Eskkar stared down at his left arm, and found it dripping blood. He’d moved aside, but not quite fast enough, and the thrusting sword had lanced the outside of his arm. Looking at the wound, Eskkar realized it stung painfully. “I’ll go inside.” He looked at the other guards, their eyes wide with excitement. “You men sweep the square and the nearby houses. Make sure there are no others hiding inside.”
Grond followed him into the house, and once there, Eskkar saw that the palm of Grond’s left hand was bleeding as well. He must have grasped a blade during the struggle. Lani came out of the bedroom, still shaking a little but insisting she was all right, and sat down at the table. Tippu followed her, trying to wash the cut on her sister’s head. Another woman came up and ordered all of them to sit. In a moment she’d brought wine and cups for the four of them.
Eskkar took two mouthfuls of wine, then set the cup back down. He needed to think clearly, and he’d already had one cup of wine during his dinner.
The healer arrived, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, a big wooden box of implements slung from his shoulder. An old man, he’d no doubt gone to bed early and heard nothing of the disturbance. He attended to Eskkar fi rst.
“I need more light, Lord Eskkar,” he announced. Another woman fetched a lamp from Sisuthros’s room, and placed it on the table. “And a cup of wine, if I may. And a bucket of fresh water from the well. Now, Lord Eskkar, put your arm on the table.” While the healer spoke, he pulled the two lamps close to Eskkar’s left side.
Eskkar leaned forward, his arm outstretched and flat on the table.
Pushing up the tunic’s sleeve, the healer looked closely at the wound, moving the separated skin around and causing Eskkar to flinch, though he made no sound.
“It’s nothing serious, Lord Eskkar. Let me look at the others.” He spent more time with Grond, and a few moments with Lani. As he finished with them, a soldier came in carrying a bucket of water. The healer took an empty wine cup from the table, filled it with water, then poured the contents over Eskkar’s arm, dribbling the water into the wound, his face inches above the gash as he examined it. The blade had sliced along the outer forearm, carving a furrow nearly a hand’s width long.
“Nothing inside the flesh, lord. That’s good. I don’t think it will even need to be stitched. Binding will do. A clean wound, bound up in its own blood, should heal quickly enough.”
Eskkar felt relieved, though the gash stung even more after the healer’s examination. The old man dipped another cup of water from the bucket and again washed the blood away. Another woman arrived with clean binding strips, and the healer looked at them carefully before selecting one. Then he took the cup of wine that had been poured for him and clasped his other hand firmly on Eskkar’s wrist. “Don’t move now. This will sting.”
A lance of pain went through Eskkar as the wine trickled into the wound, and he had to bite down hard to keep his arm immobile. The pain faded after a moment, but the healer continued until he emptied the cup.
He wiped the excess from Eskkar’s arm, and with considerable dexterity for an old man, tightly bound the long cloth around the lower arm, pulling firmly as he did so.
“I’ll need to change that in the morning, Lord Eskkar,” he said. “Try to move the arm as little as possible until the flesh has time to heal.”
Eskkar grunted at the man’s advice. Lani came over and sat next to Eskkar, holding on to his hand while the healer examined her head. When he finished, he merely washed it out with water from the bucket. “Nothing to do here,” he said. “Just a bad bruise.”
Grond’s hand didn’t take long. The healer rinsed it clean with a cup of water, inspected it carefully, then made Grond open and close his fingers several times. The healer treated the cut with water and wine, then bound it up, using enough wrapping to make sure Grond wouldn’t move it for a few hours. “Keep it bandaged until it heals,” the healer ordered. “And change the bandage every day.”
The healer finished up and slung his unneeded box of instruments back over his shoulder. While he was doing this, Lani went into Eskkar’s room. She returned in a moment, with two silver coins in her hand. The healer took up the wine cup and refilled it. This time it didn’t go to waste, as he drank it down in four loud gulps.
“That was good wine, Lord Eskkar. Perhaps I should have spilled less on the floor.” He took the silver coins from Lani and bowed thankfully. “I’ll return first thing in the morning, to see to the wound and change the bindings. You should be more careful in the future, lord. It would be a shame for you to be killed so soon after having rescued us.”
Eskkar thanked the man, but didn’t say anything else until the healer had left. When the door closed, Eskkar turned to Grond.
“Well, what do you think?”
“Those men… they were good. Very quick. If you hadn’t shouted … I’d have been butchered, and probably Tippu, too.”
“Don’t thank me, Grond. I never heard a thing. Those men knew how to move quietly. The damned cat heard them creeping up.” Eskkar shook his head in disgust. Angry now, he cursed himself for a fool, taking his ease, his hands on a woman, while two men with naked swords in their hands walked within six paces without him noticing. He turned to Lani, put his good arm around her, and pulled her to him for a moment.
“Tomorrow, I want you to feed that cat a whole chicken, Lani.”
“You’d better sacrifice something to Ishtar, then, for sending the creature to guard you,” Grond answered. Everyone knew he didn’t care much for animals. “Now I’ll have to bow politely the next time it hisses at me.”
“No, I’ll thank Lani instead. She threw herself in front of one and tripped him up.” He kissed the top of her head.
“We were lucky, Captain. We’ve been idling and careless. I should have been more alert.”
Shouts from the square made both men look up, and in a moment Sisuthros came striding into the room. “Hamati found the horses. There were four of them, tied up about two hundred paces from the palisade, near the river, near the southern road. And one of the guards found a rope fastened to the fence, just opposite where the horses were.”
“Could there have been more men? There might have been one with the horses.”
“Hamati didn’t think so. The horses were well tied. He’s still out there looking. We’ll know for sure in the morning. It’s too dark to see tracks now.” He noticed the bandages for the first time. “Are you well?”
“Well enough,” Eskkar answered. “Now we have to find out who to kill for this.”
That reminded Sisuthros of something. “I found gold on the men, Captain. On all of them. One man had ten gold coins, the other three had five each. Someone with wealth wanted you dead, it seems.”
More than enough gold to buy anyone’s death, Eskkar knew. And that meant… What did it mean? He didn’t know. “That’s a lot of gold for anyone in Bisitun to pay for a murder.”
Sisuthros picked up Eskkar’s empty wine cup, poured himself some wine, and sat down facing his captain. “Twenty-five gold coins… nobody in Bisitun has that kind of gold, Captain, not after the Alur Meriki and Ninazu. Believe me, I’ve worked with every merchant and trader in the village. Even if someone wanted you dead… Besides, you’ve treated everyone here fairly, more than fairly.” He shrugged. “They’d be more likely to try and kill me.”
“And Ninazu didn’t have any other kin,” Grond offered, “and even if he did, they wouldn’t be the kind to spend gold to get their revenge.
They’d do it themselves.”
“Akkad. That much gold had to come from Akkad,” Eskkar said with understanding, his lips tightening. “What about the marks on the gold?”
Sisuthros shook his head. “At least ten different merchants, and I only recognized about half of them. No way to tell from that.”
“Something must be going on there,” Eskkar said.
“There’s nothing happening in Akkad, Captain,” Sisuthros said. “Yesterday’s messenger said the city was quiet. And Bantor is due back any day.
He might even be back by now.”
Eskkar had talked to the messenger himself. It had been one of the regular couriers, carrying routine messages, even a personal message from Trella. “Sisuthros, make a head count. See if anyone is missing. Check the scribes and traders, too.”
The sons of Akkad’s merchants that accompanied them to keep the records might be involved in some scheme or another. Damn the gods that they hadn’t taken one of the attackers alive. Even one would have been enough.
Sisuthros got up. “I’ll take the count. Is there anything else we can do before daylight?”
Grond looked at Eskkar and shook his head.
“No, I can’t think of anything else,” Eskkar said. “We’ll know more in the morning.” He stood up as well. “I need to think about this. Wake me an hour before dawn.”
When he and Lani were alone in the bedroom, the door barred, Lani sat on the bed, trembling, and he saw the tears glistening in her eyes. “Don’t be afraid, Lani,” he said. “We’re safe enough. There are two men standing guard right outside the door.”
“I am not afraid, Eskkar. But now the fighting will start again. You will go off to kill your enemies.”
“That’s what I have to do.” He sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll take care of whatever has happened in Akkad, then I’ll send for you. You saved my life tonight, Lani. I won’t forget that. Now, put out the lamp and lie beside me. I need to think, and I’ll do it better in the dark.”
Eskkar had already finished dressing when the guard knocked on the door. Lani had cried herself to sleep while Eskkar lay beside her, questions churning in his head. He hadn’t slept much, dozing and waking throughout the night. In the end, he couldn’t wait for the summons to arise.
In the outer room one lamp burned. Sisuthros sat at the table, talking to Grond and Hamati. Sisuthros looked weary, and Eskkar knew he’d stayed awake all night as well. One of Lani’s women had built a fire and heated water, so the men would have something warm with their day-old bread. Glancing out through the open door, Eskkar saw half a dozen soldiers gathered beneath a flickering torch, all of them alert and ready.
Taking a seat, Eskkar faced Sisuthros across the table. “Anything new?”
“Not much,” Sisuthros answered with a yawn. “We didn’t find any more horses, and there was no sign of a trail heading south. I had men walking patrols throughout the village. We’ll do another sweep at dawn, when we round up the villagers.”
“That should turn up something,” Eskkar said. “Whoever else wanted me dead might still be in Bisitun.”
“And if there are more outside the village, they might not know the attack failed.”
That news helped Eskkar breathe a little easier, and he forced himself to eat some bread. By the time he’d finished, the sun had risen. Taking a piece of bread with him, Eskkar walked out into the square. Grond and two soldiers stayed beside him as the first villagers arrived to view the bodies. Eskkar insisted they wait until the sun had cleared the horizon and the torches could be put out.
In the daylight, Eskkar stared at the dead men again, but neither he nor any of his soldiers recognized anyone. The village elders came next, and Eskkar and Sisuthros watched their faces carefully, looking for any indication of nervousness or recognition, but no one claimed to know the men. The first sign came from one of the innkeepers who identified the men as having stayed at his inn for the last two nights. The tavern owner had provided food and quarters for them, but he insisted he knew nothing else about either them or their business.
“That’s all I know,” the innkeeper repeated in a high-pitched voice,
“except for that one’s name.” He gave a kick to one of the bodies, the man who’d come straight at Eskkar. “He called himself Ziusudra. The four of them sat in my inn yesterday afternoon, and he was the one doing all the talking and complaining about having to sleep on the floor. They had plenty of silver for wine and food, but they said nothing about themselves or their business.” He shook his head. “They weren’t even interested in any of my girls.”
Sisuthros questioned the man further as Eskkar watched, looking for any hint the man might be lying. But the innkeeper had nothing else for them. The line of villagers passing the bodies moved forward again, trickling by the bodies until an old man, his grandson at his side for support, stopped and announced that these men had quartered their horses in his corral. But he, too, could divulge nothing, except that they’d possessed four good mounts. After a few more questions, Sisuthros sent him on his way.
By the time the last of the villagers left the square, Eskkar knew only that the men had arrived three days ago, spent two nights at an inn, then rode out of Bisitun just before sundown. They’d slipped back into the village somehow, but no one admitted either seeing or helping them.
The stable owner’s words gave Eskkar an idea, but he kept silent until all of the villagers disappeared. “Bring their horses around, Sisuthros, and let’s see if any of the soldiers recognize them.”
Good horseflesh required plenty of care, and such animals would be noticed. Two of Eskkar’s men thought one of the horses, marked with a stripe of white across its shoulders, came from Akkad, but didn’t know the owner. He grunted at the news, and went back into the house. Sisuthros, Grond, Hamati, and Drakis went with him, and they took seats at the table in the common room.
“There must be trouble in Akkad,” Eskkar began quietly. “I’ll take half the men and horses, and start back. I should have returned there ten days ago.”
“If those men came up from Akkad,” Sisuthros pointed out, “and they’ve been here three days, they must have left eight or nine days ago. If you’d been in the city, they might have had better luck.”
“Those men were determined,” Grond added. “They didn’t run after the first rush failed, not even after the alarm was raised.”
“Well, they had bad luck,” Eskkar said. “But it doesn’t matter. I’ll take the men and start back to Akkad today. If I push the pace, I can be there in four or five days.” He turned to Hamati. “Can we get half the men ready by noon?”
“Half the men?” Sisuthros looked surprised. “Why only half? If there’s fighting in Akkad, you’ll need all of us.”
“We just fought a major battle to capture this place and pacify the countryside,” Eskkar answered, a hint of anger in his voice. “I’m not going to walk away from this place and let some other bandit take it over again.” He shook his head. “Besides, the people here need to feel safe and to accept the authority of Akkad. If we abandon them at the fi rst sign of trouble, they’ll never trust us again.”
Sisuthros opened his mouth, then closed it again. He looked around the table, but no one said anything. “Well, why don’t we leave just enough men here to keep order, say a dozen or so, and take the rest back with us?”
“You’re not going back, Sisuthros,” Eskkar said fi rmly. “You’re needed here. You’ve worked long and hard to get the villagers’ trust, and we’re not going to undo that. Besides, if there is an armed enemy in Akkad, we may need a secure base back here.”
“Captain,” Sisuthros began, his voice rising, “let me come back with you. Hamati can…”
A shout from the square interrupted him. On their feet in a moment, they pushed through the doorway just as one of the soldiers from the main gate reached them, wheeling his horse to stop its movements.
“Captain,” he called out, as soon as he caught his breath, “there’s a rider coming from the south, riding hard.”
“Bring him here as soon as he arrives,” Eskkar said. No sense in rushing down to the gate. They’d be surrounded by a crowd of excited villagers, and couldn’t talk privately there. Besides, the man would probably need food and water. The guard nodded, then rode off to meet the oncoming rider.
No one moved or left the square, and the time seemed to drag before three men arrived. Two soldiers from the gate, half-carrying a dirty and ragged man between them, reached the doorway before Eskkar recognized the one in the middle. He hadn’t seen Alexar in almost two months.
They brought him into the house, and Lani put a cup of watered wine into his hand. Alexar emptied it in one draught, then slumped back on the bench, resting his head and shoulders against the wall. His eyes drooped and he seemed to have trouble focusing. Lani took the cup, and refilled it for him. Alexar looked up at the fi ve men standing around him, but didn’t say anything until he had drained a second cup.
Eskkar sat down next to him on the bench and put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Can you talk, Alexar?”
“Yes, Captain,” he answered, his voice hoarse. “I haven’t stopped for anything since noon yesterday. I’ve ridden five horses into the ground in three days to get here.”
“Three days!” Sisuthros exclaimed. “From Akkad?”
“From just south of Akkad. I was with Bantor. We were ambushed just a few hours from the city.”
“The Alur Meriki attacked you so close to Akkad?” Eskkar’s fear welled up at the thought of the barbarians’ return. “By the gods.. ”
“It wasn’t the Alur Meriki, Captain,” Alexar interrupted. “Bantor said it was someone named Ariamus. He said you’d know the name. We were surprised by sixty or seventy riders, and they killed half of us before we drove them away.”
No one said anything for a moment, thinking about friends who might be dead. Grond broke the silence. “Who’s Ariamus?”
Eskkar ignored the question. “And Bantor?”
“Bantor survived. He sent me and another rider, with extra horses, to find you here. I left the other man behind me on the road when I needed his horse. I was to tell you that Bantor would be at Rebba’s farmhouse, waiting for you.”
“How many men are with Bantor?”
“Sixteen. We sent a few wounded men south to hide, but that’s all that survived the ambush. We lost most of our horses, and gave the rest to the wounded, so Bantor, Klexor… everyone’s on foot.”
“What’s going on in Akkad?” Eskkar asked.
Alexar shook his head. “Don’t know, Captain. We thought everything was fine until the ambush. Bantor thinks Ariamus must have already seized control of the city. They headed that way after we drove them off. There must be more men in Akkad helping him.”
Akkad! Trella waited there, with a baby due any day. Eskkar’s fist clenched and he tapped it slowly on his leg. He’d wasted time here, and left Trella in danger. Not only Trella, but others as well; his men had kin and friends in the city, too. No one said anything, but the unsaid thought remained.
Lani returned with a plate of bread and cheese that she handed to Alexar. The man held it in his hand, but didn’t eat anything.
“Bantor was sure it was Ariamus?” Eskkar’s voice was grim. When Alexar nodded, he went on. “And he thought he could reach Rebba’s place in safety?”
“Yes. Bantor said he would march north, then cross the river and double back to Rebba’s farm. He expected to find a boat somewhere along the Tigris to take him there.”
“Bantor has done well,” Sisuthros said. “He’s kept his men together and brought them somewhere safe, at least for a time.”
“Yes, he has, unless they track him down,” Eskkar agreed. “Someone has tried to seize control of Akkad in our absence. That means there’s been fighting in the city as well. Trella must have… If anyone has injured Trella, they’ll pay for it.” He tightened his lips. “Well, we’ll just have to move faster when we march. Let’s start picking the men. We’ll leave at noon. We can still cover plenty of ground before it gets too dark.”
Sisuthros glanced up at the sun. “Captain, you don’t know what you’re facing down there. You may need every man. Let me go with you.”
“I need you here, Sisuthros. Besides, I’ll have Bantor and his men.
That should be enough to take care of Ariamus. If not, then what I said before is even more important now. We may need Bisitun as a secure place behind us, if we need a refuge.”
“No one will want to stay behind,” Grond said. “Most of the men have wives and families in Akkad.”
That started another argument. No one wanted to remain in Bisitun, but Eskkar wouldn’t change his mind. “Now let’s get the horses and men ready to go.”
They rose from the table, then stopped when Lani spoke up, her voice firm. “Lord Eskkar, may I say something?”
“Yes, Lani, what is it?” She’d sat quietly, away from the table, and Eskkar had forgotten her presence, all his thoughts turning to Trella.
“Have you thought about the river?”
“The river?” Eskkar answered, a touch of annoyance in his voice.
“What about the river?”
Sisuthros picked up her idea right away. “Of course! She’s right. You can be there in less than three days if you take the boats. And we have plenty of vessels here, more than enough to hold forty men.”
A horseman first and last, the thought of using the Tigris to transport soldiers had never occurred to Eskkar. “Rebba’s farm has its own jetty,” he mused as he thought about the idea. “Can we put the men and arms on the boats?”
“Yes, but you won’t be able to bring the horses. Still, if you reach Akkad, you won’t need them. What you’ll need is a way to get into the city.
Maybe Rebba and Bantor will have figured out something
“We don’t know how to sail the boats,” Eskkar said, still not sure about this new mode of travel. He had journeyed on a boat for a day once before, and hadn’t liked the experience. He knew the small craft, built mostly of reeds, capsized easily. Cargoes got lost, and men drowned often enough.
“For gold, the boat captains will take you anywhere,” Sisuthros said, his voice rising in excitement. “With extra boatmen along, the boats could go day and night. You’d travel much faster than by horseback.”
The thought of being on the river at night made Eskkar nervous. But if it would get him and his men there in two or three days, instead of five
… He made up his mind. “You know the rivermen, Sisuthros. Get them here, and arrange for use of their boats.” He thought of something else.
“And make sure no boat has left since last night. I don’t want word of the attack, or our coming downriver, to get ahead of us.”
“You’ll need to pack the weapons, the bows, the arrows, and food,”
Sisuthros went on, expanding on the idea. “You’ll probably want men who can swim, just in case. And you’ll need a way to keep the bowstrings dry.
Mitrac will know about that.”
Eskkar looked around the table. Grond nodded, but Hamati said, “I can’t swim.”
“I can,” said Alexar, “but even if I couldn’t, I’m going back to help Bantor, even if I have to walk the whole distance.”
Eskkar put both hands down on the table. “Then we’ll leave as soon as possible. Sisuthros, start with the boats, and get some men on the docks to guard them. Hamati, line up the men and find out who can swim. Grond, figure out what we’ll have to carry. Ask Mitrac what else the archers will need. Make sure we have everything. We won’t be stopping along the way.”