Tribal Bonds Ch. 06

That was the first time I had called out for help. The first time I had screamed out my name and the name of the village. I yelled out the names of women and Cadilar that I knew, hoping that someone would hear me. I knew that my voice would not carry far. The Ulus troops were still some distance behind me. I could yell out now without being caught. But I really wasn't even thinking of that. I was yelling to my...to my friends in frustration and embarrassment. As moments turned into minutes, and then minutes into hours, I grew more and more frustrated by my inability to warn the Hayalet. And more frightened about the consequences. All the muscles in my body felt tense, my fingers grasps the reins of the horse so tightly that my knuckles grew white. Eventually, I was no longer strategically yelling, I just never stopped screaming. Just hoping that constant noise would drive the Hayalet out of their hiding places to listen to me. My heart hammered and bitter tears of frustration ran down my cheeks as I scream for Orospu. For Diger and Damat and even Cilek. Every name I could think of, I yelled out in agony and shame. I yelled until my throat ached and tasted of blood. And still I kept yelling.

"I am so sorry!," I yelled, "Orospu! It is Kedi! I am..."

"Shut up!" a voice hissed and I instantly became silent. I opened my eyes, and my head swam. I was on my horse and it was nearly dawn. I didn't even know how long I had been screaming. I barely registered that I had heard a voice. I took several deep breaths and turned my head towards the woods.

Suddenly, two dozen ethereal, white forms seems to materialize from out of the forest. I had been looking in that direction just a moment before, and seen nothing. And then, a second later, I was surrounded by the ghosts.

"My friends!" I croaked, so relieved I nearly fell from my horse.

"Friends?" a familiar voice asked wryly. I turned in the direction of the voice, and saw Omuzlar pull her hood from her head. She was looking at me, her eyes shining with hatred. Soon, other hoods were removed and I found that I was surrounded by people I knew. These were Orospu's wives. And Cilek's new wives. I saw Otusbes and Gul. I saw Geri. The women that I had grown to know the best.

"Yes..." I started.

"Is this a way that you treat a friend?" Otuzbes shot back, "To run away from us, to evade us, and then to come back here and scream at us so loudly that every person within a hundred miles would hear you?"

"We have heard you yelling for half an hour at least!" Omuzlar said, "We have tried to ignore you, but we are frightened of the consequences of your actions, even if you are not."

"God's wounds Kedi," Gul said, shaking her head, "Are you trying to ruin us? We are already out on patrol for a second time in a month as punishment for letting you escape. And now you're making it worse."

"I am trying to tell you something" I blurted out.

"We would be within our rights to kill you!" Otuzbes responded. I didn't even feel fear at that moment. I would have deserved it. I hear other women mumbling that they couldn't believe that I would show myself in that area again.

"But first I need to help you..." I stated.

"We don't need your help," Geri said, "If you have grown hungry or thirsty in your travels, we will give you food. But you have broken your trust with us. You are no longer welcome..." Every word that Geri said stung. Her implication that I could not take care of myself. Her coldness. Her rejection. I could feel it emanating off the other women as well. But, as much as I knew I deserved her scorn, all of their scorn, there was no time to revel in it.

"You will soon be under attack!" I interrupted. And then, brooking no dissent or argumentation, I bowled over everyone to tell my story. About running from the village. Stepping out into the light. Making my way to the inn. The conversation with the colonel. The 100 mounted troopers who were on their way. As I spoke, the women around me grew calmer. Less agitated and upset with me. Not because they had forgiven me. But because they recognized the peril they faced.

"Gods damn you Kedi and your foolish pride!" Geri said, when I finished speaking. And I bowed my head. I knew they were all furious with me, but they were warriors. Too focused on the matter at hand to worry much about me.

"Alright," Otuzbes said, and everyone snapped to attention. It was clear that she was in charge, and everyone instantly deferred. "Kedi has wronged us," she said, looking at me. I could not meet her gaze, knowing it was true, "But we don't know when the Ulus will get here. And we don't have time to punish her or hear her apologies or whatever now. We must act quickly. This is not the first time some enterprising officer from the Ulus has questioned whether he could come into the Hayalet Valley and test our story. Not everyone believes our ghost stories. It has been a long time and this will be a large force, but this is not unprecedented. We know what we must do. We have to regain the initiative and we need to fight." I felt the eyes moving away from me as the women of Hayalet turned their attention away from me and over to the Ulus. Their discipline and control was impressive.

"Give us orders, and we will obey!" Some of the voices called out.

"Where did they see you, Kedi?" she asked. No malice now, she just wanted information. I sputtered, "There is no time!" Otuzbes prompted. I quickly got myself under control (realizing as I took a deep breath how very tired I was), and described the location where I had stepped out into the sun.

"I know that spot," Gul said.

"Good," Otuzbes said, "That will be where they go first. What is around there?" Gul quickly described the tactical layout of the situation. The location of trees, hills, the bends of the river, the width of the valley.

"And," she concluded, "if you walk about a mile up into the foothills from there, you will find Yakin's longhouse." I saw Otuzbes wince.

"If soldiers go walking into the woods there, in an hour they will be at Yakin's front door. We need to go, now." Otuzbes said. She turned and looked at me, "Kedi, you will go to Daire, sound the alarm, and tell them where to go."

"I can't..." I started.

"I need every warrior with me, we are outnumbered more than 4 to 1. I can't spare a messenger."

"I don't think I could find my way back," I said after a long pause, "I just ran down into the valley. I don't know the way." There was silence.

"I will go back," Gul said and I looked up at her, "I am the fastest here. I can run and tell the others."

"But you are a skilled warrior, we need..." Otuzbes said.

"I will fight in her place," I said quickly, "If Gul will lend me her sword." This was no mere bravado, or pride, now. This was real danger. A battle was coming. I was volunteering for something real. But my honor would allow nothing less. Still, I heard some murmuring in the group around me.

"Cadilar do not fight," Otuzbes said dryly. I shook my head, "I am not a Cadilar. I am just a woman of Buz. And I have made a grievous mistake. There is nothing I can do now, to go back and undo what I have done. Though, I wish I could. All I can do is make amends the best way that I can. All I have is this one life. And I will give it to all of you, to make this right." Otuzbes looked me over, I could feel the eyes of the other women moving over me. The corners of Otuzbes mouth ticked up and she nodded.

"Good," she said and she took Gul's sword, and handed it to me.

* * * * *

"Is this the spot?" It was well after noon and the colonel had called Arayici and Ortagi up to the front of the column. Arayici looked at Ortagi and shrugged. Ortagi craned his head and nodded.

"Yes," Ortagi said, "We saw her come out, right over there." He pointed to the copse of trees from which I had emerged. The colonel nodded. All 100 troopers were massed a few hundred yards away, near the river where their horses were getting a drink. The colonel peered into the forest and nodded his head.

I had thought the anticipation of their arrival would be the most unbearable hours of my life. We had rushed down through the Valley until we had found the spot where I had been seen. Then, Otuzbes had arrayed us to her satisfaction. She sent a messenger to Yakin's longhouse (they were an isolated family living on a farmstead on the edge of the wood), and that messenger had returned with seven of Yakin's wives who were present and willing to fight. That brought our total up to 28, plus me. And then we had simply waited. And waited. And waited. No one spoke. No one moved. It was just a constantly building tension that made my stomach turn and my knees shake.

But now, our enemies had arrived. War was not exactly what I expected. It was no longer just a story I was telling, but a threat in the flesh. The nervousness that I had been feeling kicked itself up into a new level, far more powerful than I would have thought possible. My bowels felt tight and I could barely breath. I did not dare move a muscle, terrified that I would give away our position and, once and for all, be the downfall of the Hayalet. I just watched and waited for Otuzbes plan to fall into place.

"Sergeant," the colonel said, and the now-sober sergeant saluted.

"Yes sir," he said.

"Leave, five men to tend the horses. We are heading into the forest and it looks too dense to ride. Tell the others to spread out and bring their swords," the colonel ordered. The Sergeant went off to give the orders. Slowly, the men readied themselves, tying up horses and grabbing shields. Eventually, the men had formed themselves into a long skirmish line about thirty feet from the edge of the forest. Each man, shoulder to shoulder, but spread apart. The idea would be, as Otuzbes had predicted, that they would want to cover as much area as possible when they entered the forest. And they would need room to maneuver in the dense underbrush. So they moved in a long, single-file line, all facing the trees.

"Scouts, forward," the colonel ordered. And I saw four men step forward, one on each end of the line and two near the middle. They looked at the colonel, who nodded his head. The four men began to walk forward, towards the treeline. These were the first line of scouts, send to make sure that they were not walking into some sort of ambush. Wise, given the situation.

But, also exactly what Otuzbes had predicted. No order was given. When the first man's foot crossed the treeline, there was a gentle "pfft" sound. At the exact same instant, all four men dropped to the ground, dead. Three or four arrows pierced each of them. There was half a second of eerie silence.

"Men, we are under attack. Form up!" the sergeant said. In an instant, the men were about contract their lines into a more defensible formation. But Otuzbes was prepared. Two things happened at once. First, the 12 Hayalet women who were standing directly in the front of the Ulus army, shielded by the trees, took a few steps forward. They were spread widely across the front of the trees, almost as long as the enemy skirmish line (though much less dense). These women had shot at the advanced scouts with arrows, and now, stepping closer, they had notched new arrows, and were firing again at the skirmish line. And again, and again. We had given them all of the arrows. They pinned the enemy line down, keeping them from advancing and maintaining a mystery as to how many soldiers were within the trees.

At the same time, 13 other Hayalet women emerged from the forest as a compact unit on far left-hand side of the Hayalet line. That is, on the Ulus' right flank. They emerged totally silently, no war whoop. But they sprinted forward in their light armor and and wheeled around towards the Ulus' right flank. And just like that, half of the Hayalet warriors were rapidly closing in on the far end of the Ulus' thin line. They were outnumbered 4 to 1. But on that small spot of the battlefield, it was 12 to 1 in favor of the Hayalet. They crashed into the last man in the line, killing him instantly. The line began to roll up on top of itself.

I was not in either group. Instead, with three other warriors, I was sneaking out around the left flank, but several hundred yards down the river, where we would not be seen. It was me, one of Yakin's wives, Geri, and Omuzlar. We sprinted out of the trees and down to the river. And then we turned and ran back towards the sound of battle, towards the 100 horses that were now alert, and nervous, by the water.

As I moved towards the horses along the river, I looked up towards the battle. I saw that the enemy line was crumbling, and men were moving around without any sort of discipline or understanding as to what was happening. That was good. It meant that Otuzbes plan was working. I had caused the Hayalet to lose the element of surprise. But by arranging her soldiers expertly when the enemy had not expected us, Otuzbes had reclaimed it. Further, she had managed to mitigate the impact of our lesser numbers, by using her archers to pin the enemy in a skirmish line while a flying squadron hit the flack with tactical superiority. It was a masterful battle plan, thought up on the spur of the moment.

But it wasn't finished. The four of us rushing along the river still had a job to do. We were to get in among the horses, face them as best we could towards the battle, and send them running with smacks on their flanks. The idea was to send the horses running pell mell into the Ulus' rear. This would maximize the confusion and prevent our enemies from reforming their lines in a more defensible manner.

I ran in the back of the pack, the sword feeling unfamiliar and heavy in my hands. But it felt good now, to be running. To be heading towards the battle. I had been afraid, while I waited in the woods, that when the time came I would be unable to move. The fear had just grown deeper and deeper with each passing moment. My legs and arms felt weak, my head cloudy.

But when Geri and Omuzlar took off out of the woods, silent and fast, I had followed them. My arms and legs acting on their own according, growing stronger with each passing moment. I was still afraid, but somehow the anticipation had been worse. Now, in the midst of danger, I felt my blood coursing through my veins and knew that whatever was going to happen was going to happen. What's more, the fatigue (and the panic), I'd felt before was fading. I had felt so helpless, out in the Valley by myself. But with the Hayalet around me, I no longer felt lost. The self-discipline I prided myself on was returned to me and I knew I would do whatever I had to do to atone for my mistakes.

The Hayalet had tied their horses to small bushes near the river, or set their reins with stakes in the ground. We moved in silently among the horses and began to loosen them. The Hayalet women moved much faster than me, their years of training obvious. Still, I helped as best that I could. I mostly pulled up stakes from the ground, afraid that snapping branches would be too loud. We moved along the river, hearing the sounds of battle but unable to see over the horses.

We had loosened maybe twenty horses when it happened. I was bending over pulling a small stake out of the ground. Geri and Omuzlar were maybe ten feet in front of me, and Yakin's wife was by my side, working quietly. I heard a strange gasping sound and a sickening crunch. I turned to the side in time to a sword passing through the side of Yakin's wife's head, the point protruding disgustingly out of her temple, before being pulled back quickly. Standing on the far end of the sword was one of the five soldiers who had been left to guard the horses. The other four were standing next to him, swords drawn.

In the next moment, I did four things in rapid succession, without a thought. Without even enough time to feel disgust at what I'd witnessed, or fear about what would happen next. First, I jumped up and backwards, away from the four men and onto my feet. While I was moving, I screamed as loudly as I could, "Geri! Omuzlar! On me! The enemy is here!" I then drew my sword and slashed hard to my right side. There was a horse there, still tied to a branch. I brought down the sword swiftly, the blade cutting the animals stomach open, its guts pouring out. The creature made a hideous noise and began to run, the smell of offal and blood filling my nose. And the noses of the other horses. The dying animal bumped into the other horses his blood flowed freely. As the animals began to jostle and the smell of blood grew thicker, the horses began to panic.

I took my sword, laid it flat, and smacked the flank of another horse nearby. Primed to panic, it instantly took off in a sprint. And the other animals around me, smelling the blood and sensing the confusion, began to bolt as well. Soon, the air was filled with the sounds whinnying horses and the sound of hoofs. It moved in a sort of wave, first horses nearest me, and then rippling out and away. The 20 or so horses that we'd loosened ran easily. But even the other horses, in their panic, pulled up stakes or broke branches. In a matter of seconds, they were all sprinting, away from the smell of blood, and in ever conceivable direction. They were not all running, as we hoped, towards the battle. But many of them did.

Whether we were successful in our mission, I couldn't say. In fact, I was no longer particularly concerned about it. I had been trying to buy myself time, more than anything else. And hoping that the five soldiers would run after the horses, try to get them under control. In the midst of the melee, I couldn't tell what was happening. It was everything I could do to avoid being trampled by horses.

But eventually, the last of the horses in the herd around me (save for the disemboweled one that was lying on the ground a few yards away) were gone. I was unhappy to see that the five soldiers had not budged. They were still standing over the body of Yakin's wife, one with a sword covered in blood and brain and they were looking at me.

The only thing that gave me strength was the fact that, in the interval, Geri and Omuzlar had retreated from where they were located and were now standing on either side of me, their swords drawn. We were outnumbered, five to three, and the men advanced on us. The fear returned now. Not the crippling, frozen sensation I'd had in the forest while I waited. But real, nonetheless. Battle was on hand.

"Good job with the horses," Omuzlar said, "If we die now, we have at least done our duty." I felt the word 'die' land in the pit of my stomach.

"I would rather not die," I said, trying to sound flippant, but sounding (as I was) serious. Geri snorted.

"Me neither," she said, "Omuzlar and I are better trained with the sword. Stand with your backs to us and make sure that none of the men can take us from behind." Geri instructed. I instantly complied, taking a half step back and turning around.

"Alright girls, fun's over," one of the soldiers said, and I could hear them closing on us. And suddenly there was a clang. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw that one of the soldiers and brought his sword down rapidly, but that his chop had been parried neatly by Geri. Omuzlar turned to stab underneath of the man's armpit, where he was not protected, but another soldier blocked the the move.

I wanted to continue watching, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the other soldiers worked around to the side, trying to get behind Geri and Omuzlar. I was not a skilled sword-fighter, I had little experience in it. I had begged to be allowed to practice, but was only able to use a sword by myself, when my father was sleeping and did not notice his weapon was missing. I had tried to train myself. Now, I was tasked with fighting trained soldiers.