Carnelian followed Osidian and Ravan into the Ancestor House. In the gloom, he could only just make out the Elders there waiting for them. It felt very different from the first time he had appeared before them: many were known to him now.
'We've brought you here so we might consider the freedoms which you currently enjoy within the Tribe,' said Kyte, in Vulgate.
Osidian smiled. ‘I had imagined you were going to beg me to save you from famine.'
Ravan hesitated, then translated Osidian's words for the Assembly.
Harth rose to her feet, eyes flaming. The famine you've brought upon us.'
As some of the Elders berated her, Osidian bent to hear Ravan's translation of her words. He gave an elegant shrug. 'Can you deny the benefits the Bluedancing have brought you?'
Ravan translated. Harth ignored him and addressed the Assembly. 'We must sort this out amongst ourselves.'
'What would you have us do, Harth?' someone said.
'Let's be rid of the Bluedancing.'
Her words produced a murmur of protest. Akaisha rose. 'Would you have us send our own children to the Mountain?' She glanced round at the faces of those whom she knew had grandchildren marked for the tithe, then she looked back at Harth. 'Do you want your own son to have died for nothing?'
Harth scowled to hold back tears. Her husband, Crowrane, spoke up. 'We could keep the marked Bluedancing children, they wouldn't be too much to feed.'
'Shouldn't we also keep some of the unmarked ones so we might use them to replace any that might die?' said Mossie.
Harth turned on her. 'Why not keep some of their women? I'm sure some of our men could get them with child. That way we could breed children to present to the next Gatherer in place of our own.'
'It would be heartless to separate them from their mothers,' said Ginkga. 'Do we really want to keep them here as orphans for as long as seven years?'
'Besides, the labour of the Bluedancing frees us,' said several people at once.
Harth looked suddenly frail. 'Our ferngardens won't yield any more than they've always done; our men already hunt as much as they can and yet every earther they bring us is immediately consumed. We've been home for more than a moon and haven't managed to make a single rope of djada. Mothers and fathers of the Ochre, if you're determined we must keep all the Bluedancing, can one of you tell me where we'll get food for our migration?'
Carnelian considered her words. It was a choice between starving or else sending the Bluedancing out to die on the plain, with the consequence that Poppy and the other tithe children would, after all, have to be sent into the clutches of the Masters.
Carnelian became aware Akaisha was looking at him hoping for some other way. He shook his head and she looked disappointed. Frowning, she turned her gaze on Osidian. 'Ravan told me the Master knows a way out of this dilemma.'
She looked at her son. 'Ask him what it is he'd have us do.'
Ravan relayed the question to Osidian who whispered a reply.
The Master says that he has in mind a great hunt; a new kind of hunt that will bring the Tribe an abundance of meat,' said Ravan.
'What's the bastard talking about?' demanded Crowrane.
Osidian muttered and Ravan spoke. 'It isn't something that can be described but only something he can do for you. If you -'
Whin cut in. 'Your price?'
Once he had her words, Osidian gave Whin an angelic smile. 'There's no price, merely a question of means.'
Carnelian watched resignation and defeat come over the faces of the Elders as Ravan began relaying conditions.
The Master says that he must be given authority over the Bluedancing women. Additionally, for a period of up to two moons, he must be allowed to lead the men of the Tribe as he did in the battle against the Bluedancing.'
'But not into battle,' Akaisha said quickly, fear stiffening her face.
Osidian promised they would merely hunt.
'And how shall we be fed during these two moons?' asked Whin, clearly outraged.
The Master will make sure the Koppie is kept supplied with meat,' said Ravan, failing to conceal his triumph.
Galewing rose and surveyed the Assembly. 'I for one say we should let him try.'
Many grumbled but none opposed him. Galewing offered to go with the Master to keep an eye on everything he did. With a heavy heart, Carnelian witnessed the Elders bowing their heads as a sign they were giving Osidian their mandate.
As they walked under the cedars, Ravan grinned as if he had helped the Master win a famous victory. Sick with foreboding, Carnelian saw Osidian was walking blind, his inner sight occupied with some vision.
‘I will not go with you,' Carnelian said.
Osidian took a while coming back from wherever he was. That is fortuitous, since I had intended to leave you behind.'
Carnelian had not expected that and felt cheated.
'I need you here,' said Osidian.
'Why?'
'I shall show you.'
Unhappy, Carnelian followed Osidian round the Crag, down the Blooding rootstair and out into the ferngardens. They reached the Bloodwood Tree, which seemed strange without its ochre-faced women, and walked on into the fernmeadow beyond. Osidian fixed Carnelian with his green eyes.
'All I ask of you is that you should supervise the work of the Bluedancing here.'
'It depends what kind of work you want them to do.'
'Digging, my Lord. Nothing more offensive to your sensibilities than that.'
'Show me where you want them to dig.'
Osidian traced a wide circuit through the air. The ditch all around this meadow must be cleared and cut to its full original depth. Its walls must be beaten hard and strong. All the earth you dig out should be piled up in a rampart on the outer edge.'
Carnelian surveyed the meadow. He saw that, apart from the earthbridge they had used to cross to it, the Horngate was the only other entrance. He looked at Osidian.
'You wish for me to make a bottle into which you are going to drive a herd?'
Osidian smiled. 'It was the way my forefathers provisioned their hosts when they campaigned down on this plain more than seven hundred years ago.'
Carnelian gave a nod, appreciating how it might work. He walked over to the ditch with Osidian and Ravan following him. Standing on the edge, he peered down. Where tree roots did not buttress the walls, they had crumbled. Mud and weeds clogged the ditch along its whole length.
This is no trivial labour.'
'You shall have the use of all the Bluedancing. I will send messengers back to bring me news of your progress. If it be not fast enough we shall see if we cannot bend the Ochre to the task.'
Carnelian looked at him. 'And where will you be?'
Osidian looked away to where the plain could be seen shimmering green. 'Out there,' he said with a jutting of his chin, 'training the hunters.'
'If he chooses to help me, I'd like to use Fern as my assistant,' Carnelian said.
'Oh no, Carnelian,' said Osidian with a shake of his head and a feral grin. That one will come with me.'
Fear gripped Carnelian. 'Do you intend to hurt him?'
Osidian shrugged. 'Hunting involves an element of risk.'
'Do you forget that you owe him your life?'
