The Cache (10 page)

The officer leading the three halted six paces before the desk and saluted by bringing a clenched fist to his chest.

“Captain Liy, Pwez! Reporting with three wild-men as ordered!”

“You may go, captain,” said the Usspika in a voice surprisingly deep for the thin neck and narrow chest.

The captain saluted again and spun smartly and marched out. Benoni wondered why the old man and the young woman would allow themselves the danger of being closeted with three wild-men and only two soldiers. It was true that the soldiers were heavily armed and the three wild-men were weaponless. But the three, if they wanted to sacrifice one of their number, could get to the Pwez.

Benoni looked around him and saw that, high up along the walls, were many narrow openings. He did not doubt that behind each one stood an archer with arrow fitted to the string.

He transferred his inspection back to the Pwez, Lezpet. Now, there was a woman! Beautiful, regal. She showed in every motion, in every aspect of her bearing, that she came from a long line of men and women accustomed to wealth, power, and schooling in how to conduct one’s self. She wore her long hair piled in a Psyche knot and bound with a silver band. A golden chain set with diamonds hung around her long slim neck; her curving body was tightly clothed from the neck down in some light blue and shiny cloth. The chair she leaned against was covered with jaguar fur. Benoni, seeing this, knew that Kaywo’s trade extended far to the south or else some wandering merchant had brought the specimen to Kaywo. From conversations he had had with his barrack’s mates, he knew that the jaguar was not native to this area.

Lezpet, unsmiling, returned his frank stare steadily.

The Usspika, Jiwi Mohso, took some papers from the top of his desk. He glanced through them and said, “I have been aware for some time that you three were in Kaywo. I had intended to bring you in to get some information. But to be frank, I had forgotten you. Until these papers, asking me to authorize your punishment, came to my attention yesterday.”

The old man leaned back, looked long and hard at them, and then said, “We are interested in your story because it may have some bearing on the welfare of Kaywo. If that is true, we may want to place you under an obligation. A strange—to you—obligation.”

There was a silence, for all three wild-men remembered the captain’s warning not to say anything unless definitely requested to do so.

The Pwez smiled slightly, lifted her hand, and pointed a finger at Joel Vahndert.

“You,” she said in a husky voice, “the largest. You speak first. Tell your story. But don’t be long winded. Where do you come from? Why did you come here? What are your people like? What kind of land were you born in? What do you plan to do in the future?”

Joel, speaking Kaywo fluently but with a wretched accent, told his story. He told of being born at the foot of Kemlbek Mountain in the midst of the Eyzonuh desert, of growing to young manhood with the sawaro, the jack-rabbit, the coyote, the rattler, the sharp rocks, and burning sun molding him and his playmates. He told of raids made on outlying farms of Fiiniks by the Mek from the south and the Navaho from the north and of the raids his elders made against the Mek and the Navaho. He told of the earthquakes, the lava bursting loose from the bowels of the earth through the throats of volcanoes long thought dead and of the birth of volcanoes from flat plains. He told of the custom of sending each Fiiniks youth out to prove his manhood by bringing back a scalp.

And he told of finding Benoni captured by a group of Navahos, of killing the Navahos, freeing Benoni. Only to have Benoni treacherously stab him and leave him for dead.

Benoni’s eyes grew round, and his face flamed.

“That is a lie!” he roared. “He is telling just the opposite of what happened! It was I was freed him, and it was he who left me to die, and . . .”

“Silence!” the Usspika shouted. “Were you not warned to speak only when spoken to!”

“But he lies!” shouted Benoni. “Why do you think I tracked him so far? Why do you think he fled so far? This is the first time any Eyzonuh have ever gone so far on the warpath!”

“One more word, and I will have you cut down!” said the Usspika. “One more word!”

Benoni strangled on the hot words that tried to escape, but he knew death when he saw it. The old man was ready to raise his arm, to signal to the archers behind the windows high up on the walls.

“That is much better,” said the Usspika. “I can see you need more discipline. However, we do not expect as much from a non-citizen as we do from those born of Kaywo. You are forgiven, provided you do not repeat the offense.”

The Usspika told Joel to continue his story from the point at which it had been interrupted. Joel told of having waylain some Navahos, taking their scalps, and continuing eastwards. Apparently, he had had the same misgivings as Benoni. Though he went to the edge of the desert east of the Navaho land, he was not sure that he would continue. Then, he said, he had decided that he wanted to see the world and, at the same time, do a great service for his people.

So, he had crossed the great desert, and the great plains. Finally, after many adventures, he had come to Kaywo. On the border, he had fallen in with several merchants. He discovered that he could not enter Kaywo unless he was a merchant with documentary proof of his origin and trade or else would join the Foreign Legion. So, he had become a mercenary. On a weekend pass, he had entered the tavern and been attacked without warning by the man who had tried to kill him.

There was silence for a moment after the story. The Pwez and the Usspika stared at Benoni so long and so hard that he wondered if he were already judged.

Finally, Jiwi Mohso, the Usspika, said “What have you to say for yourself, Rider?” He pronounced Rider as Wadah.

Benoni said, “My countryman’s story is true . . . up to a point. But it was I who freed him from the Navaho war party, and it was he who left me to die. I did not die, as you can see, but regained my strength and went on into Navaho country. Not so much to get a Navaho scalp as to get his. And . . .”

“Tell me, Fiiniks boy,” said the Pwez, Lezpet. “Is it not true what Vahndert said? That a youth on the warpath may do whatever he wishes, even to killing another Fiiniks youth? That he will not be held responsible? That, if he had slain you or you him, it would not be murder but lawful?”

“That is true, Excellency,” said Benoni. “And we have been enemies for a long time. But I could not stand by and see a Fiiniks killed by a Navaho. I saved him, yet he repaid me by leaving me to die. I could not forgive that. That was not the deed of a warrior; that was the deed of a mad coyote.”

“And so you crossed the desert and the plains to kill him?” said the Pwez. “Barefoot and alone. Your hate must have been great. Was it not so?”

“It was so. But I had also been asked to find the Great River. I do not think I would have come looking for it if I had not wanted so much to kill Joel Vahndert. On the other hand, if I had not thought of the need of our people to find a new land, and, I must admit, the glory that would come to me if I did find the Great River, I would not have tried to track down the treacherous coyote.”

Lezpet laughed, and she said, “You are, at least, frank. Well, we do not have all day. We have many other affairs of business to conduct, running the greatest nation in the world is not easy. You have found the Great River. Now, what will you do? When you go back to the Eyzonuh desert—if you go back—you cannot tell your people to leave the Valley of the Sun and come here can you? Your people are not strong enough nor foolish enough to try to dispossess us? They would be swept away as a strong wind sweeps away the chaff of the harvest.”

“No, your Excellency,” said Benoni. “I could not tell them to come here. But the Great River is a long one, and Kaywo rules only a very small part of it. We could go to the south and settle there. Or we could go to the north.”

The woman smiled, and she said, “You could not settle to the north, for the Skego control a good part of that. And the savage tribes of the Wiyzana, and the Mngumwa, and many others live along the Siy south of our borders.”

“We would take it away from them,” said Benoni.

“Perhaps. But the day would come when you would have to face the might of the armies of Kaywo. When we have settled with Skego, we shall turn southward. Not soon, but not too much in the future, either. And what then?”

“Though I have been confined,” said Benoni, “I have kept my ears open. And I know that Kaywo took Senglwi at great cost and that she conquered the Juju only after losing half the Fifth Army. And that she now faces a much more formidable foe than Senglwi. Skego with her Skanava allies. Who knows if Kaywo will even exist in the near future?”

Lezpet sucked in her breath, and her skin turned pale. The old man, however, smiled.

“You are a brave man, Fiiniks. Or a stupid man. Or both. Or else intelligent enough to know the truth and speak it, trusting to the greatness of the Pwez not to be offended.

“Yes, what you say is true. Kaywo can use help at this time. Not that we would be defeated if we did not get help, for the First has blessed us and promised us that we will rule the world. But we are practical, and we will use all the help we can get. After all, the First may have sent you here to us. That is why we called you wild-men in. To find out if you can be of any use to us, And, of course, if we can be of use to you.”

There was silence again. Benoni, Zhem, and Joel did not speak, for neither of the Kaywo had given permission. But Benoni burned with impatience and curiosity. What could they want from the likes of him?

“If the Eyzonuh left the desert and came here,” said the Usspika, “how many fighting men would they bring?”

“Eyzonuh?” said Benoni. “The entire confederation? I would say about eight thousand from Fiiniks, three thousand from Meysuh, half a hundred from Flegstef. But I do not know if the entire confederation plans to leave Eyzonuh. Or that they would come here.”

“I think we could induce them,’’ said the Usspika. “I will be brief. If the Eyzonuh leave their desert, and come here, man, woman, child, horse, dog, and whatever possessions they can carry, and they swear loyalty to us, we will give them land. Land of their own to hold forever. They may have their own rulers, their own laws.”

“May I speak?” said Benoni.

The Pwez nodded, and Benoni said, “Where would we live—if we accepted your offer?”

“In a land free of earthquakes and volcanoes. Far from the dry dust and burning sun. In a land by a broad river, a land with rich black earth, not the sand and rock you know so well. A land cool and shady with many trees, alive with deer, pig, turkey.”

“To the north of Kaywo?” said Benoni. “Along the L’wan River? Between you and the menace of Skego?”

The Usspika smiled again, and he said, “You are not unintelligent, wild-man. Yes, in the L’wan forest. Between us and Skego. You would constitute a march, a borderguard. In return for this rich and lovely land, you would repel any who might wish to march upon Kaywo. Not alone, for the might of Kaywo would be at your side.”

“May I speak?” said Zhem.

The Pwez nodded again, and Zhem said, “What have I to do with these two of the desert? Why am I here?”

“If you can talk your tribe into leaving Mngumwa and living on the southern limits of our border, as the Eyzonuh would on our north, you could help us against the Juju. It is true that we decimated the army they sent against us. But we know that the Juju are many and that they have formed an alliance with the white nation to their north, the Jinya. It’s not much of an alliance; the two may be fighting each other before they ever reach us. They are planning to send several armies against us, even if we live a thousand miles from them. We suspect the Skego are behind this, that the Skego have falsely warned the two that we plan to march on them as soon as we conquer Skego.”

“They are wrong, of course. It will be some years before we will be in a position to make war against them.”

Benoni could not help thinking that Jinya and the Juju were just being foresighted in waging war now against the Kaywo, in trying to crush them before they became too strong and while they were fighting for their survival against Skego. But he said nothing.

“If you think that there is a chance your people will accept our generous offer, we will send you with our ambassadors to your countries, you will speak on our behalf. You will tell them of the might of Kaywo, of how we shattered the Juju savages and the civilized Senglwi. You will tell them that they have much to gain and little to lose.”

Except our lives, thought Benoni.

“Before you go,” continued the Usspika, “you must spend some time learning our language better. Not too much time, for we do not have much. But enough so that you can speak of us to your people with authority. And our ambassadors must begin learning your language. They will continue the lessons while riding towards your lands.”

“Now, what do you say?”

“I say yes!” said Joel loudly. “I am sure that my people will accept your offer!”

There was nothing after that for Benoni to say but that he, too, thought the offer might be acceptable to his people. In any event, nothing could be lost by making the offer.

He did not say he really thought that, even though the Kaywo might be sincere, they might also be presenting a very dangerous temptation to the Eyzonuh.

“Good!” said Mohso. “Now, Zhem Smed, what do you think?”

“I think that my people would consider the idea. But that I cannot take it to them.”

The Usspika’s white eyebrows rose, and the Pwez’s dark eyebrows bent in a frown.

“Why not?” she said sharply.

“I allowed myself to be taken prisoner,” said Zhem. “I am in eternal disgrace. I would be slain on sight if I set foot inside the borders of my tribe’s territory.”

“Even if you were accompanied by many of bur soldiers?”

“Even then.”

“We will make you a citizen of Kaywo,” said Usspika. “Surely, your people would not dare slay one of us.”

“Perhaps,” replied Zhem. “But you would have to explain very carefully just what my being a citizen meant before they saw me.”