Read Online The Last Banquet (Bell Mountain) by Lee Duigon - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lee Duigon
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never talked back. He usually knew what they were thinking.
“What do you say, boy? Should we follow this crowd?”
Cavall wagged his tail. Helki nodded to him, and they trotted after the hundred men. What he would do when he caught up to them, he’d decide later. It was an old trail, rained on once or twice, but to Helki it was as plain as a highway. He and Cavall would have to push themselves hard to gain ground. But at least it looked like only one of the men was on horseback, the rest on foot. A hundred men can’t go as fast as one, he thought.
Crows cawed at him from a nearby tree. “We see you, we see you!” was the meaning of their call. “We know you’re a stranger here.” Helki grinned at them and saluted them with his staff. He answered with a crow-call that no one could have told from the real thing.
It was good to get away from cities!
Back in Obann, King Ryons would have agreed with that sentiment.
He was busy this morning receiving an oath of allegiance from several dozen Wallekki who’d surrendered to his cavalry. Chief Shaffur spoke up for them.
“These men are of the Serpent Clan of the Wal Hazoof, my king,” he said. “Their obedience to the Thunder King was forced: he was drying up their wells. But the Wal Hazoof have never been known as oath-breakers. I believe they’ll be true to us.”
There was no royal palace in Obann. The surviving oligarchs had given up their administration building, and the king now held his audiences in its assembly hall. Ryons had never dreamed so much space could be enclosed by four walls and a ceiling. There were paintings on the walls—gigantic men and horses—and even on the ceiling: gilded suns and many-colored clouds. Sitting on an ivory throne that was much too big for him, looking up at the warlike pictures, Ryons wondered if he were dreaming. This great hall, he thought, made people look unnaturally small. It gave him a very funny feeling.
Obst asked Shaffur, “Do these men understand that they will be fighting in the service of the living God, as do we all?”
“They’ve been told we serve the Great God,” Shaffur said. “Of course, they know nothing of Him yet. At home they worshipped the sun god and the moon. The sun and the moon are still in the sky, but the gods who inhabited them have been taken away. Except for the Thunder King himself, who is no god, these are men who have no gods. This distresses them, and they are eager to know the True God who cannot be taken away—who sent a beast to route the strongest army in the world. That they saw, and they remember.”
Obst turned to Ryons. “It then remains for Your Majesty to accept their oaths and grant them amnesty for all they’ve done against Obann, on condition that they serve God loyally.”
“I do,” said Ryons, as he’d been coached to say, “in God’s name.”
Lord, he prayed silently, am I to be doing things like this for the rest of my life?
He was sure he didn’t want to.
Hlah, the son of Spider, had a long, long way to go before he reached his home. The Abnaks lived among the foothills and forests on the east side of the mountains, so he would have to traverse nearly the whole breadth of Obann.
Young and strong, he could trot all day, eating up the miles. He traveled south of the Imperial River, parallel to its course but not in sight of it. He ate and drank what he could find each day. The land would be full of stragglers from the Thunder King’s army, many of whom had turned bandit. To a city man, it would have seemed a hopeless journey; but the Abnaks have no cities. His only shelter, most nights, was a leather bag lined inside with wool, in which he wrapped himself: it had been treated with deer fat to shed water. For weapons he had his stone tomahawk and a long, curved knife.
He didn’t fret about the dangers he could expect to encounter on the way. “If it’s God’s will that I get there, I’ll get there,” he said to himself. Time
“What do you say, boy? Should we follow this crowd?”
Cavall wagged his tail. Helki nodded to him, and they trotted after the hundred men. What he would do when he caught up to them, he’d decide later. It was an old trail, rained on once or twice, but to Helki it was as plain as a highway. He and Cavall would have to push themselves hard to gain ground. But at least it looked like only one of the men was on horseback, the rest on foot. A hundred men can’t go as fast as one, he thought.
Crows cawed at him from a nearby tree. “We see you, we see you!” was the meaning of their call. “We know you’re a stranger here.” Helki grinned at them and saluted them with his staff. He answered with a crow-call that no one could have told from the real thing.
It was good to get away from cities!
Back in Obann, King Ryons would have agreed with that sentiment.
He was busy this morning receiving an oath of allegiance from several dozen Wallekki who’d surrendered to his cavalry. Chief Shaffur spoke up for them.
“These men are of the Serpent Clan of the Wal Hazoof, my king,” he said. “Their obedience to the Thunder King was forced: he was drying up their wells. But the Wal Hazoof have never been known as oath-breakers. I believe they’ll be true to us.”
There was no royal palace in Obann. The surviving oligarchs had given up their administration building, and the king now held his audiences in its assembly hall. Ryons had never dreamed so much space could be enclosed by four walls and a ceiling. There were paintings on the walls—gigantic men and horses—and even on the ceiling: gilded suns and many-colored clouds. Sitting on an ivory throne that was much too big for him, looking up at the warlike pictures, Ryons wondered if he were dreaming. This great hall, he thought, made people look unnaturally small. It gave him a very funny feeling.
Obst asked Shaffur, “Do these men understand that they will be fighting in the service of the living God, as do we all?”
“They’ve been told we serve the Great God,” Shaffur said. “Of course, they know nothing of Him yet. At home they worshipped the sun god and the moon. The sun and the moon are still in the sky, but the gods who inhabited them have been taken away. Except for the Thunder King himself, who is no god, these are men who have no gods. This distresses them, and they are eager to know the True God who cannot be taken away—who sent a beast to route the strongest army in the world. That they saw, and they remember.”
Obst turned to Ryons. “It then remains for Your Majesty to accept their oaths and grant them amnesty for all they’ve done against Obann, on condition that they serve God loyally.”
“I do,” said Ryons, as he’d been coached to say, “in God’s name.”
Lord, he prayed silently, am I to be doing things like this for the rest of my life?
He was sure he didn’t want to.
Hlah, the son of Spider, had a long, long way to go before he reached his home. The Abnaks lived among the foothills and forests on the east side of the mountains, so he would have to traverse nearly the whole breadth of Obann.
Young and strong, he could trot all day, eating up the miles. He traveled south of the Imperial River, parallel to its course but not in sight of it. He ate and drank what he could find each day. The land would be full of stragglers from the Thunder King’s army, many of whom had turned bandit. To a city man, it would have seemed a hopeless journey; but the Abnaks have no cities. His only shelter, most nights, was a leather bag lined inside with wool, in which he wrapped himself: it had been treated with deer fat to shed water. For weapons he had his stone tomahawk and a long, curved knife.
He didn’t fret about the dangers he could expect to encounter on the way. “If it’s God’s will that I get there, I’ll get there,” he said to himself. Time
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