Hundred, and weren't there Four Mothers, and eight 'children' — thinking creatures — shaped by the Mothers? Weren't there five feasts, six reeve halls, and seven gods?
That's what made this marauding army all the worse. They all wore a medallion they called the Star of Life. They didn't respect the gods. They burned altars and ransacked temples, and worst of all, they flouted the law on which the Hundred was built. It was
like digging out your foundation from under your house without concern for what would happen afterward.
They emerged onto a clear area of docks emplaced along a channel of murky gray water. The slimy stench made Nallo flinch. The water heaved with sludge and garbage. On the far side of the channel, buildings crammed the far bank. Boats and barges and slender canoes clogged the waterway.
A barge lodged at the dock had disgorged a pair of men wearing the distinctive wrapped turbans that marked them as Silvers. The elder was arguing with a furious Kesta.
'-bare-faced and parading around half naked-' The Silver was very old but vigorous despite the wrinkle of years on his face. He spoke in the loud voice Nallo associated with people who, having lost their own hearing, assume no one else can hear well.
'You might as well throw swill in my face,' said Kesta, a flush darkening her cheeks. 'How dare you speak to a reeve-?'
'Throw swill I would, for it's the only fitting punishment for a woman who flaunts herself-'
'Here, now, Grandfather,' said the weedy grandson with a fluttering gesture.
The old man whacked him across the back with his cane. 'Shut your mouth, pup!' He looked up, seeing Pil. 'Here, now, ver. You're one of those Qin outlanders I've heard story of, aren't you?' The women might as well not have existed. T brought rice and nai to feed one hundred adults for one month, a generous allotment, if I must say so myself. Five cheyt for the lot. To be delivered in an even split of unhusked rice and whole nai. Nai flour will spoil, so you'll have to pound your own.'
Pil looked at Kesta, but she was too choked with anger to speak. He looked at Nallo and lifted a hand, palm up: What do I do?
Nallo was no clerk of Sapanasu, to add up such staggeringly large numbers in her head; she had never even seen a gold cheyt coin, not once in her twenty years of living. But she'd fed a household. In the village, a tey of rice sold for ten vey and was enough to feed one adult for one day. Nai was more filling, and cost less. Sixty vey equaled one leya, and sixty leya one cheyt… 'It seems like a fair price.'
'I–It's — cursed — generous,' huffed Ju'urda in a low voice. 'Just — cursed — clasp — agreement — so — his — hirelings — can — unload.'
Pil looked uncomfortable as he addressed the old man. 'It is agreed to be a fair price, ver.'
'It's not a fair price! It's a bargain, a steal, a quarter of what I could get on the open market, and no doubt in these dire times I could raise my prices to gouge the desperate if it weren't forbidden to make a profit from the suffering of others.'
'Yes, Grandfather, you're as generous as the sun. Everyone knows it. Especially since you're expecting a favor from the reeves in return.' Silver bracelets ringed the grandson's forearm halfway to the elbow as he extended the arm.
As senior reeve, Kesta took a step forward in response.
The old man's forearms were entirely bound in silver rings, jangling and flashing every time he shifted, as he did now, thwap-ping the lad on the rump. 'Touch her, and you'll never be allowed to marry, stupid pup. I'll toss you out the door and you'll have to live on the street.'
Nallo nudged Pil from behind, the movement unseen by the older man but in clear sight of the younger, who had the grace to look embarrassed. Pil knew how to obey orders. He and the other young man exchanged the traditional clasp of agreement.
'It's no wonder this unholy army is stampeding across the Hundred,' shouted the old man, stabbing at the air with his cane. 'Where are all the men, if they are not in their proper place?'
He stomped to the barge and shouted across the gangplank. Laborers swarmed up, hauling sacks off the boat and dumping them on the dock.
The young Silver released Pil's hand and blushed, easy to see on his paler skin. 'The old goat is in a particularly foul mood. My apologies.'
'What gives him leave to think he can talk to a reeve that way?' Kesta said.
'He calls it an affront for women to stand in authority in public,' said the youth.
'An affront to women, you mean! Him talking like that!'
'He's gotten worse as the gout has ailed him, and his hearing has gotten very bad, so he tightens his hold on his memories of the past, although I admit to you I'm sure the old days weren't as he pretends to recall them.'
Ju'urda pressed a hand on Kesta's arm. 'No use digging into this wound, eh? Say nothing more of it, Yeshen. It's a cursed generous offer, well under market value.'
Kesta whistled. 'It'll take us some time to haul it all north, one sack per eagle.'
'What will happen now the commander of Clan Hall is dead?' asked Ju'urda. 'There's no one in charge.'
'We've sent messengers to the other halls.' Kesta's gaze drifted to the sacks piling up in rows. The hirelings worked efficiently despite the old man throwing comments like knives.
'Don't drop that, you clumsy nit! Aren't you strong enough? Move faster!'
Kesta shook her head. 'Is that scrap of coin all he really wants? Hard to see him as generous.'
Yeshen frowned. 'He's got an affianced bride in Olossi he wants flown up here.'
'Reeves aren't carters whose services can be purchased with coin!' objected Kesta.
He shrugged. 'I'm just telling you what he expects. Anyhow, verea, three houses of Ri Amarah in High Haldia were killed, every man, woman, and child they got their hands on, and their holdings looted and compounds burned. A few escaped to Nessumara to tell of it. Whatever else, he knows what will happen to us if Nessumara falls.' He rubbed a sweaty forehead with the back of a hand as if that could wipe away the fear. 'Even so, I don't see how the enemy can hold High Haldia, Toskala, and the countryside, and attack Nessumara as well. No one can have that big an army. Can they?'
Nallo snorted. What a gods-rotted pampered youth he was!
He flushed.
Ju'urda flashed an annoyed glance at Nallo. 'It does seem impossible, doesn't it? But we've got every reeve out on patrol and our hirelings detailed to build barriers and strengthen the gates on the causeway. Better to be prepared than taken by surprise, eh?' She nodded at Kesta. 'So it falls to me and you to deal with old goat-shanks besides.'
'His ill temper is worth enduring to get these provisions. I've dealt with worse-tempered mules.' Kesta considered the sacks. 'We'll need to store these in your warehouses until we can haul them north.'
The young Silver gestured. 'My hirelings will move them wherever you'd like, verea.'
'My thanks.' Ju'urda left with a hireling to show him the warehouse, while the young Silver retreated to the boat and the shadow of his glowering grandfather.
Kesta stalked over to Nallo and Pil. 'Grab a sack and let's get moving.'
'There's more than five hundred people trapped on Law Rock,' said Nallo. 'Is there any chance we'll lift some of them off to get them out of the way?'
'It's not my decision to make,' said Kesta. 'There's a hundred children, and another two hundred adults useless for defense and hard to feed. We need a commander, but Peddo and the other messengers aren't back yet.' She loosed a, glare at the back of the old man, for all the good it did. Then she grinned. 'You kept your mouth shut tight, Nallo. That's a wonder!'
'I was too shocked to say anything. I just kept wondering if he has horns under that turban! Seems like he would, doesn't it?'
Kesta snorted.
'Anyway, Pil and I, we saw a delving. It was working in the smithy.'
The news did not cause Kesta to gasp or goggle. 'Copper Hall has a dispensation from the delving assizes, as repayment for an ancient favor done to aid the delvings. I think it's in one of the tales. They get seasonal work from a chain of delvings out of Arro- Here now, why am I babbling on? Grab a sack, you loafers. You've got the hauling harness with your eagles. Make sure it's bundled tightly. Let's move.'
