Steep Wilusiya (Age of Bronze) (24 page)

"Never mind the man's death," Paqúr interrupted.  "Qáttushli has killed more than one messenger in his day.  That happens all the time.  It is of no consequence to us."

"All right, Érinu.  What did the tablet say?" the king asked, his manner that of a patient parent dealing with a small child.

The young priest sighed, looking down at the heavy robes shrouding his body from his neck to the upturned toes of his shoes.  "The king of Ashúr wrote that he had taken Qáttushli's eastern province by force of arms.  This victory over a great king made Ashúr just as great, so in the letter he called the emperor 'brother.'  Qáttushli was insane with rage.  He commanded that all the Ashúriyans in the capital be executed before nightfall.  He stormed up and down the throne room and all we ambassadors were afraid for our lives.  'That dog and I are not sons of the same mother,' the emperor said again and again.  'He cannot call me his brother!'  Of course, the real problem was the loss of the eastern territory.  They say that the mountains of that land are rich in black bronze, the hardest metal known."

Alakshándu dismissed that with a wave of his plump hand.  "Ai, son, you should know better than that.  The black metal is too difficult to work.  It will not melt properly, so it cannot be cast like bronze.  Even a skilled smith cannot be sure that a sword blade will turn out properly with such an unruly metal.  No, Érinu, Tróya is far more important than the eastern hills.  We control the best trade route for tin.  Through that, we indirectly dominate nearly the whole world's trade in bronze.  Qáttushli would never be so foolish as to put the black metal before tin."

Érinu sadly shook his head.  "Qáttushli is no fool, father.  It is precisely because of his good sense that he values the black metal more highly than the white.  Bronze is easier to work, but it is not easy to come by.  Copper is plentiful enough, but tin is scarce and expensive.  Bronze will never be plentiful enough to meet all of Qáttushli's needs.  The black metal may be harder to work, but there is an endless supply of it.  And when it is properly worked, it is harder than the best bronze.  Besides, there is another trade route for tin and Ashúr will have that too, if it advances any further.  No, Father, Qáttushli knows what he is doing.  He will concentrate on his eastern territories even if it means losing the west.  We can expect no help from him."

Alakshándu clapped his hands to his white head.  "But this is senseless!  The emperor must have gone dancing with the maináds."

The priest shook his head.  "I tell you, Qáttushli is perfectly sane.  What is worse, he is also at war in the north.  Those nomads came in especially large numbers this year.  Even his own peoples are restless.  The rains have been poor and the harvests meager throughout his realm for the last several years.  Not only will Qáttushli not help us, but he commands us to finish this war quickly and send our troops to aid him."

Antánor turned on the king, a fierce light suffusing his face.  "We must do as he says or it will be Qáttushli himself upon us with an army greater than any that Agamémnon could assemble.  And Náshiyan warriors have monstrous horses.   It is said that these animals can tear down the strongest walls."

Dapashánda had listened in silence from his seat by the wall.  But his brother-in-law's statement was more than he could take.  "I have never seen any such beast.  That is nothing but a story to frighten children.  We have the biggest horses in the world, here in Wilúsiya.  They are helpless against walls built of stone."

But Érinu confirmed his kinsman's story.  "Antánor is speaking the truth.  The Náshiyan siege horse is a wooden tower with great, solid wheels.  It is built beyond the walls of a besieged fortress.  Oxen pull it to the gates of the citadel and men take cover in it.  They shoot flaming arrows over the walls, to catch the roofs of the buildings on fire and drive the people out.  At the same time, other soldiers are at work under cover inside this so-called horse.  They chip away at the brick superstructure of the walls, with sharp stones or metal bars, until they make a breach.  Then the citadel can be entered and sacked.  That is Qáttushli's great weapon, the siege horse.  That is what he will turn against us."

The king groaned, looking from Érinu to Dapashánda, from priest to wounded soldier.  "Why did Qántili have to die?" he asked no one in particular.  "He was a better man than either of you will ever be.  I might as well have sired so many mongrel dogs!  You two together do not make a proper warrior!  Owái, I have only Lupákki and Paqúr to turn to."

"What are you talking about, Father?" Dapashánda demanded, his cheeks burning.  "Did I not fight until I was wounded?  What more could anyone ask of me?  I swear by Poseidáon's head that if it were my left arm that was wounded, instead of my sword arm, I would still be carrying a spear against the Ak'áyans.  Érinu may be worthless, but I am not.  As for my brother Lupákki, he is dead.  Can you not get that into your mind and heart?"

Érinu was no happier with his father's words than his brother.  "Do not forget, Father, it was you who decided on the priestly profession for me, not I.  It is not my fault the message I carry is not to your liking.  The emperor Qáttushli is the one who betrayed you.  I have done all I can."

Amusís had had enough.  "With all due respect, lord Alakshandu," he said, pushing aside the arguing princes.  "My men and I have had a long journey and we would like to rest."

            "Ai, yes, I have forgotten my manners," Alakshándu said, casting his bleary eyes about the room.  "Ainyáh, make yourself useful for a change.  See to our guests."

aaa

The Kanaqániyan commander did as his royal father-in-law bade him, without responding to the old man's insult.  But when he had found quarters for the Mízriyan officer and his Káushan archers, he did not take to his own bed, despite his fatigue.  Instead, he went to meet with the second band of reinforcements, the pale-eyed, northern barbarians who had come with Érinu to support the beleaguered fortress.

A short and stocky tribe who called themselves Mar-Yandún, these foreigners refused to come inside the city's stone walls.  They camped below the hill crowned by the citadel.  The strange, northern warriors brought with them a unique type of armor, cast in a single sheet of bronze to protect the chest, a matching piece to cover the man's back.  Beneath the metal, they wore thick clothing of woven wool.  The construction of their garments was as peculiar as their armor, with each limb encased in a tube of brightly dyed cloth.  Still stranger to Ainyáh's eyes were their lances, small and light compared to those of the Ak'áyans and Wilúsiyans, the points scarcely larger than arrowheads.  But each man carried half a dozen with him.  Strangest of all was their leader, a heavy woman with hard, gray eyes and hair of the same color, whom they called Bendisiléya.

"Rest well, tonight," the Kanaqániyan told the barbarian queen.  "We will cross the Sqámandro River at first light.  Prepare to do battle at dawn."

"We are always prepared," Bendisiléya told him, her unfamiliar accent so thick that he could not be sure he understood.  "I do not know whether you could see, in the dark, but we brought our own horses with us.  We ride at first light."

As he went, at last, to his bed chamber, Ainyáh repeated the woman's words to himself, 'We ride at first light.'  She had said nothing about chariots and he had seen none in the Mar-Yandún camp.  'I must have heard wrong,' he told himself.

aaa

Qálki roused the Ak'áyan encampment before the sky had begun to brighten in the east.  Once more he climbed up on the rampart wall and danced, shouting about strangers visiting the Wilúsiyan king.  "Dáwan listened to the cries of her children.  She has cursed the men of Ak'áiwiya.  The great queen of untamed nature now sends against you children born of her own body without benefit of the seed of man or god!  They are half man, half beast, these sons of Mother Dáwan.  Fighting is food and drink for them.  Their brutality in war is unparalleled.  Even the Náshiyan emperor cowers in fear before them!  Ak'áiwiya is doomed!  Go home, set sail.  Do not wait or you will all be destroyed!"

Agamémnon came from his tent cursing the little man.  Idómeneyu and Aíwaks were hard pressed to keep the overlord from cutting the seer down on the spot.  "Not here, not now," the Kep'túriyan king urged.

"Not ever!" Aíwaks bellowed, aghast at the implications.  "There can be no act more offensive to the gods than to murder a prophet!"

Odushéyu soon joined Qálki on the wall and, by the light of fires quickly stoked, announced that he could see the newcomers as well.  "I have met these beings before, too.  They are called the Kentáuros.  Their feet are those of wild horses," he announced with practiced confidence, "and their upper bodies are women's.  If it were not for my knowledge of magic, we would indeed be doomed.  Recite the charm, men.  Remember the formula I taught you!"

"Be still," the prophet spluttered, waving his scrawny arms at the It'ákan.  "They only appear to be women until it is time to fight.  Then they take on all the malevolent energy of avenging spirits.  They are the followers of Artémito, the ever-virgin wánasha of the maináds!"  Most of his protest was drowned out by the rising commotion in the encampment.  But those closest to the wall heard the prophet's pronouncements.  Several T'eshalíyans gathered fearfully by the rampart to hear more.

"Quickly, there is no time to lose!" Odushéyu responded, pushing Qálki down from the rampart so that the small man was outside the encampment.  "You must begin drawing a magic circle around the camp to protect us."  As the seer fumed beneath him, the It'ákan rose to his full height on the earthen wall and shouted further orders to the frightened foot-soldiers.  "Dress yourselves and arm for battle, men!  Remember how I taught you, Zeugelátes.  Woman, you there, Wíp'iya!  Bring Qálki a duck.  He needs freshly spilled blood to complete the magic circle.  All men will march beside their brother Ak'áyans today, shield overlapping shield.  Never mind what nation you come from.  We are all sons of Diwiyána and we fight as one.  Drink wine and mix it with the poppy.  Three cups or four, take your choice, but each of you must swallow.  Recite the spell and feel the strength of 'Aidé itself soften before your blows!  My magic is more powerful than Mízriya and Náshiya combined!  I tell you, it can draw the moon down from the sky!  It can hide the all-seeing sun behind black clouds!  It can certainly handle these fighting women."

For added protection, the pirate wánaks handed out to a few picked men some lozenge-shaped amulets to ward off the Evil Eye.  "I bought them in Kanaqán three years ago and I have carried them with me ever since, into every campaign.  Look at me.  Have arrows struck me?  Has sword or spear opened my chest or belly?  No, never, not with these powerful objects with me.  Nothing can stand before you when you wear these, neither man, nor dáimon, nor even Díwo himself!"

By the time Qálki could get back through the rampart gate and find someone to listen to him, he found himself no longer welcome at the hearths of Zeyugelátes or P'ilístas, despite all his efforts.  "Those who set themselves in conflict with immortal beings will die early and painful deaths," the seer warned the men of south and north, frantic to stop them.  "In the underworld, Préswa, that grim lady, will find torments for your souls to endure throughout eternity.  Tróya is a holy city, protected by the gods.  The omens are with her and against us.  Her every enemy is doomed.  Run for your lives!"

However, filled with wine and poppies, following Odushéyu's confident leadership, the men considered the prospect of fighting dáimons and maináds no worse than facing ordinary men.  Their hearts beat strong and eager for the battle.  It seemed inevitable that they would sack Tróya that day.  Victory was within their grasp.  Death and Préswa seemed very far away.