The Tattooed Tribes (11 page)

They were not
a tall people, but they were sturdy. Broad shouldered, narrow
hipped and deeply bronzed by sun and weather. All of them were
broad across the nose and full lipped, but their hair, worn in a
long single braid down their backs, ran from a couple of shades of
dark brown on the two young men to a much lighter colour for the
older man and boy who had kicked him.

And they all
had grey eyes. Lucien had never seen anyone with true grey eyes
before. There was no suggestion of blue; they all looked as if they
were seeing the world through ice cubes or the sky before rain.

“
Lucien,” Jon commanded. “Come and meet my
ex father-in-law.”

Rubbing his
leg and glaring daggers at the boy, Lucien limped over.

“
Lucien Devlin, this is Iesgood
cheed
Eedei.”

The man
crossed his arms and put his hands on his shoulders palms down.

“
I greet you,” he said with great dignity,
inclining his head.

Lucien could
see the backs of his hands were covered with tattoos, with hardly a
hint of unmarked skin remaining. He looked to Jon for instruction
on replying.

“
Do as he’s done,” Jon advised.

Lucien obeyed,
conscious of his unadorned hands.

“
I greet you, sir,” he said and felt a glow
of pride at Jon’s nod of approval; the ‘sir’ has obviously been the
right and proper thing to say.

“
These are my sister’s sons, Eifred
cheed
Dhyrei and Eilviin
cheed
Dhyrei.”

Both young men
crossed their arms to him, nodding their heads. Their hands still
had plenty of room on them.

“
And this is my son, Vlic
cheed
Feilda.”

Vlic crossed
his arms, wriggling his fingers slightly so Lucien could see the
fish and the two pearls and the hare, duck and squirrel still fresh
and bright on his hands.

“
Vlic!” his father said sternly.

“
Sorry, Dad,” the boy replied. “I greet
you.”

His grey eyes
sparkled with amused scorn and Lucien might have thumped him if
Jon’s eye had not been on him. Then he saw a chance to get his own
back.

He walked up
to the boy, towering over him by a good four inches and thrust out
his hand. “Good to meet you,” he said.

Vlic glared up
at him and at the outstretched hand; reluctantly he touched it with
his fingers.

“
I thank you,” he grated, but the words
nearly choked him.

Jon and
Iesgood watched the exchange with some amusement, but no sympathy.
Both boys gravitated to the side of their mentor and glared at the
other.

“
I came as soon as I got your word,
bietriwer
,”
Iesgood said. “We must get you upriver as soon as possible. The
girl has been missing for well over a month and the accusations are
getting stronger.”

The two men
sank to their haunches beside the fire. Vlic followed suite, but
Lucien still had not mastered the art and dropped to one knee. Vlic
smirked again and Lucien’s fist clenched at his side.

“
Tell me what happened,” Jon
said.

“
Do you remember Clieviis
cheed
Dhyra?”

“
I do indeed. A pompous fool!”

“
Pompous maybe, but his wife’s wealth gave
him reason for pride,” Iesgood replied. “And each of his daughters
has acquired even greater status, so great everyone hoped their
sons could have even the briefest of marriages with one of them.
His wife became concerned for her daughters’ true marriages and
decided to move away from the tribe and live secluded for a
time.”

“
Such is custom when a girl becomes too
high for a normal marriage price,” Jon remarked.

“
As you say,” Iesgood replied. “It was
necessary for them to remain unwed for a period. However, word came
to Clieviis of a great match for his youngest daughter and as she
hadn’t acquired the status of her sisters, they left to travel to a
betrothal meeting. He, his wife and the daughter.”

“
Do we know with whom?”

“
No,” Iesgood replied. “The other girls
were left behind and when we questioned them they thought it was
with us, but we have no boy whose family has the wealth for such a
marriage, so it may have been with The Bear People to the
west.”

“
Have you proof of this?”

“
Neen,
” Iesgood replied. “We knew nothing until the
other girls came looking for their parents and sister.”

“
What then?”

“
We went searching for them.” Osgood’s face
hardened.

“
Did you find them?”

“
We found Clieviis and his wife,” Osgood
replied, and looked sick for a second. “It had taken them many
hours to die, but there was no sign of the
cheed
.”

“
No one of The People would kill a woman,”
Jon stated.

“
Once that might have been true,” Iesgood
replied. “But there are some who will do anything for the dust and
weed and recently there have been rumours of those things being
found above The First Cataract.”

“
This I have also heard,” Jon said. “That
is why I’m here, old friend.”

He stood and
Iesgood followed him.

“
Iesgood
cheed
Eedei.” Jon said. “Have your people traded for
drugs?”

There was a
hiss of anger from both the younger men and Vlic leapt to his feet,
his hand going to his knife.

Iesgood never
moved a muscle. “Harabin Liaison Officer,” he replied. “We have
not.”

Their eyes met
and held for a second or two; then Jon sighed ruefully.

“
I’m sorry,
bietriwer,
” he said. “I had to ask.”

“
I know.”

“
And now I must ask the Bears,” Jon sighed.
“A happy prospect.”

“
We brought canoes,” Iesgood said. “We must
get back upstream quickly. My people are impatient to find the girl
and the killers of her parents. If she isn’t with the Bears many
will assume she’s been taken downstream and you know what that
might mean.”

Jon nodded and
went to pack his bedroll. Lucien followed full of questions.

“
What would it mean?” he asked.

“
It could mean the one thing that would
unite all The People into a single force,” Jon replied. “To take a
woman, no matter how young she might be is a heinous crime amongst
them.”

“
Taking a kid is pretty much the same for
us,” Lucien pointed out.

“
They feel the same, and it gives them a
double cause for anger,” replied Jon. “If she has been taken by
someone from the Settlements it could cause a war.”

Lucien’s jaw
dropped. “A war!”

Jon looked
grim and nodded.

“
Oh, shit. They’re beginning to think it
was settlers who took her,” Lucien guessed.

“
It’s crossed their minds,” Jon replied.
“And the Settlements have no idea how many people are out here.
They believe there are a couple of dozen tribes, each no more than
a few hundred strong. Ten thousand people at most.”

“
Are there more?” Lucien asked in
wonder.

“
Many, many more,” Jon replied. “If they
joined together, they could wipe the Settlements off the face of
this planet.”

Lucien frowned
heavily. “If they tried the local authorities would scream for
help.”

“
Yes, they would and they’d get it. There
would be a massive ground and sky offensive. Thousands would
die.”

“
But that might mean …”

“
An end to tribal life and culture?
Exactly. Can you think of a better way to get your hands on all
this?”

Jon waved his
hand at the forest and the river.

“
The People may have been abandoned, but
they didn’t forget the mistakes made in other places; they won’t
stand by and allow this world to be despoiled or lose the culture
they have built. But, if you can provoke a war, there’s a good
chance you’ll be able to exterminate the people standing between
you and all this potential wealth.”

It was the
first time Lucien had experienced travel by canoe and it took him a
while to relax into the rhythm and balance of the boat. He would
have liked to help paddle as Jon and Vlic did, but knew he needed a
lot of practice before he could achieve the smooth, even
strokes.

In the days
following he began to grasp the enormity of this wondrous land. The
swift passage upriver by powered skiff had deceived him. Covering a
hundred miles in a day at speed had robbed him of a true
understanding of the distances involved.

The men
paddled fast with consummate skill, but each day seemed to bring
them no closer to their destination. Lucien was eager to arrive,
but also relished this first trip deep into tribal lands.

Vlic curled
his lip at his excitement when they saw a mother bear with two well
grown cubs and sneered at his delight in seeing wood bison at the
water’s edge, but Lucien did not care, or not much.

They stopped
twice to hunt for fresh meat; once Jon and Iesgood brought back a
plump hind and the second time Eifred and Eilviin plunged into the
dark woods to return many hours later with a yearling bison. Lucien
had never tasted bison before and even days later he found his
mouth watered at the thought of it.

As they went
east they often came to other cataracts, some they could paddle up,
an exhilarating fight against the power of the river. Here even
Lucien was given a paddle, but more often they landed, unloaded and
carried the canoes around the obstacle.

Again Lucien
was of no assistance, he was tall and it was difficult for anyone
other than Jon to share a load with him, but he could and did carry
packs and weapons.

During all
this his education was not neglected. Every time they stopped for
the day or had a rest period Jon showed him the edible plants and
explained tracks animals had made in the ground. Fascinated though
he was and sucking in knowledge every step of the way, Lucien was
ever aware of Vlic’s amusement at his ignorance.

Things might
have got nasty if he had not realised a lot of Vlic’s problem was
jealousy. He could not keep the envy from his eyes when he saw the
rifle and he was really pissed off when Lucien displayed an
impressive level of skill, bringing down a couple of geese as they
flew overhead.

He also did
not like Lucien’s ability to read and write. Every evening Iesgood
made his son practise this craft, one Vlic considered a complete
waste of his time.

The two boys
took to glaring at each other and making faintly insulting comments
when adults were present and totally offensive ones if they thought
they were not overheard.

“
What does
niiffliin
mean?” Lucien enquired one evening of Jon as he
showed him where and how to dig for clams.

“
Where did you hear that? No … don’t tell
me, I can guess. It means nothing or perhaps something utterly
worthless might be better.”

Lucien’s fists
balled.

“
It’s also not a word to use in polite
company,” Jon warned him. “If Iesgood hears Vlic using it, he’ll
feel the weight of his father’s hand. And if I hear you using it,
you’ll feel the weight of mine.”

Lucien said
nothing, but the gauntlet had been thrown down.

Opportunities
for revenge were slow in presenting themselves, but a rib in one of
the canoes broke and it was necessary to repair it before they
could travel on. Both Vlic and Lucien were keen on learning exactly
how this was done and their quest for knowledge was enough of a
hindrance to have them sent off to collect clams for the
workers.

Both were
simmering with righteous indignation as each was convinced they
would be splendid boat builders if given the chance.

Taking digging
sticks and a couple of baskets they went downriver to a sloping
beach where they could expect clams to be lying under the mud in
the shallows.

They dug in
silence for a while, keeping a close eye on the other to see who
found the most.

Feeling he was
falling behind, Lucien went further out into the water, taking
advantage of his longer leg length. He dug up six large ones in the
space of the same number of minutes and smirked happily at
Vlic.

Moving even
further out, he found another half dozen and ostentatiously opened
one, pouring the sweet flesh into his mouth raw. He preferred them
cooked, but it was a chance to annoy Vlic.

He opened another and was chewing it when
his teeth encountered something; he spat it out to investigate, but
a voice behind him hissed, “
Niiffliin!
”

Whatever had
been in his mouth Lucien shoved into his pocket and turned to face
Vlic.

“
Dickhead,” he replied.

They did not
bother with preliminary skirmishing, Vlic flung himself at Lucien
and they went down in the water fists and feet struggling to make
contact with any part of their opponent.

The need to
breathe brought both of them to the surface and they circled each
other looking for the chance to land a blow. Lucien’s longer reach
paid dividends and he got a punch to the side of Vlic’s face that
knocked his head backwards.