The Tattooed Tribes (17 page)

“
I’m not like Dad!” Lucien protested. “I’m
not!”

“
Then prove it,” Jon said. “You can learn
here, with me, or you can learn the hard way. Back at the
Settlement washing dishes for your food or hoeing fields on a
correction farm.”

He took out
his half of Lucien’s indenture papers and Lucien’s half and held
them over the fire.

The warmth
from the embers began to melt the wax and red drips started to form
around the edge of seals ready to fall into the fire.

“
Choose which path you want to go down,”
Jon ordered.

Lucien gasped
at the smell of paper crisping in the heat.

“
No!” he shouted in horror as one corner
turned black and began to smoke.

“
Sure?” Jon demanded.

“
Yes!” Lucien yelled, nearly hoarse with
anxiety.

A tiny flame
appeared.

“
Please!” Lucien begged in
anguish.

Jon snuffed
the small blaze between calloused fingers, smiling grimly.

“
Very well,” he said. “But there are going
to be a few changes. My master had a very firm hand with
indiscipline or disrespect. I used to think it was too firm on
occasions, but lately I’ve come to understand his way of
thinking.”

He picked up
one of the switches he had made and Lucien felt slightly sick. He
had a good idea what was about to happen, but to his surprise Jon
consigned it to the fire.

“
This is your final warning,” he said as he
picked up another and flicked it in the air. “Out of line one more
time, either by directly defying me or by pretending it isn’t
disobedience ... and don’t come the innocent with me, Lucien, you
know you’ve pulled that stunt. This fiasco being the last in the
line. Do it again and I will take my belt to your
backside.”

He threw the
last switch on to the fire.

“
Be thankful,” he advised. “My master
would’ve warmed my behind with one of those if I’d been half the
bloody little pest you’ve been. Go and get some water before I
change my mind.”

Lucien grabbed
the canteen and ran.

Chapter
11

They stayed a
couple more days until Lucien had fully regained his lost
condition. Jon filled the time with instruction on poisonous plants
and making the boy begin to learn the TLG rules by heart.

They were
listed in a fat little book with very small print.

“
I was saving this until we were snowed in
come winter,” Jon told a sulky Lucien. “But I think you need to
know them right now.”

All rebellion
was crushed by laying a significant hand on his belt buckle and
while Lucien was not totally convinced he would do it, he was not
quite prepared to take the risk.

His reward for
obedience was when Jon took him in the gathering dusk to watch
forest cat cubs playing in the fading light of day. Three fat
fluffy babies stalked each other, tumbling and pouncing outside
their concealed den.

He and Jon
slipped silently away as their mother, alert for any hint of
danger, returned to give them their supper.

The journey
back down the river was swift, as the current was with them and
Lucien had learnt enough paddling skills to be a help, not a
hindrance. He was not enthusiastic about their quick progress, as
he was not sure what he was going to say to Vlic.

Floating down
the river, preoccupied by unpleasant thoughts of humility, it took
a while for what he was hearing to penetrate his head. Somewhere
behind the sounds of the paddles in the water, the wind in the
trees and the cries of birds overhead, was a deeper, alien
noise.

He strained
his ears to hear it and turned enquiringly to Jon, who seemed
oblivious.

Again he
caught the sound, an urgent demanding tone and this time he said,
“Listen!”

Jon stopped
paddling and waited. From far down the river the wind bore the
faintest timbre, a steady low throbbing.

“
Bloody hell!” Jon exclaimed. “War
drums!”

Lucien caught
a crab and nearly toppled them, but Jon held them steady and began
to dig his paddle into the water with deep even strokes, powering
them on towards the village.

As the urgent
summons became louder and louder, Lucien matched him stroke for
stroke as Jon raised the rate. Suddenly he stopped and the rapid
change of pace threw Lucien forward into the bottom of the boat.
When he stopped swearing and pulled himself up, Jon had turned the
canoe, pointing its nose straight to the bank.

“
What the hell …” Lucien exclaimed. “We’re
a mile off at least.”

“
I know!” Jon responded. “But if a war
party has come down by canoe, they’ll be drawn up under the bluffs
and it will certainly be guarded. We’ll leave this here and go on
foot.”

This made a
great deal of sense and Lucien gathered up his bow and arrows and
prepared to follow Jon through the trees.

He had trouble
matching the pace; only his long stride made it possible to keep
up.

Jon took them
from the bank and deep into the forest, skirting the edges of the
village to approach it from the landward side.

As the trees
became less thick, they dropped to their stomachs and crawled
through the undergrowth, drawn ever onwards by the demand of the
throbbing drums.

As they got
nearer, the sound seemed to fill every conceivable space, subduing
any rustle or snap of breaking twig that might have announced their
presence.

Finally they
came to a fallen log and were able to peer over it and see what
happened below them.

“
Bears!” Jon said softly.

Lucien looked
down on to the central clearing in the village and could see two
gatherings of men facing each other.

On one side
were the Forest Cat; he could make out the painted shields and saw
held aloft on two poles one of the deerskins from the men’s house,
the image of the hunting cat glaring balefully out and the eyes
flashed as the sun caught the shine of burnished gold.

Every man was
armed with a lance or a long handled axe. War clubs or short axes
hung from their belts and even from a distance Lucien could read
their body language. They were armed, spoiling for a fight and very
dangerous.

Facing Iesgood
was a force of near equal strength. They seemed to favour the spear
over the long axe and most of them carried a short sword rather
than a war club, but they appeared similar to Lucien. The main
difference was the golden brown bear on their shields and the lack
of any war banner.

“
Wait here,” Jon ordered, getting to his
feet.

“
No!” Lucien protested.

Jon took his
shoulder and held it firmly.

“
Listen to me,” he said, urgently. “You
don’t understand what’s going on down there and you could do a lot
of harm. Stay here until I call for you. No matter what you see or
think you see.”

“
But …”

“
Do as you are told!” Jon commanded. “Those
are my orders and you’re to obey them. Understood?”

Reluctantly
Lucien nodded and watched in trepidation as Jon marched down to
where the two hostile bands faced each other.

Without a
moment’s hesitation he strode between them and stood in the centre
all alone.

Fear and a
terrible anxiety hit Lucien like a hammer blow and he was suddenly
elated and embarrassed at the affection he found he had for Jon. It
had crept up on him when he had not being paying attention.

He thought he
probably loved his mother and he was equally certain he probably
did not love his unfathomable father; he certainly had no respect
for either of them. If he thought about it at all, affectionate
contempt was about the kindest emotion he felt, but frustrated fury
was the more common one. In Jon he had discovered someone he could
respect and whose approval was important to him.

There was no
desire to see him removed from this life. Certainly not now, when
he only just discovered what it was he really wanted to be and
found someone who could help him achieve his goal.

Orders be
damned, he edged forward, keeping as low to the ground as he
could.

He was still
out of ear shot, but he could see the angry gestures Iesgood and
his opposite number exchanged and Jon move to stand between them.
Dimly it crossed Lucien’s mind this all might have something to do
with Jon’s other role as policeman, but he was too anxious to give
it a great deal of thought.

Feeling sick
with worry, Lucien took the chance of a swift run to the protection
of the nearest cabin wall.

He watched in
horrid anticipation as the often impassioned conversation
continued. The Bear leader said something and Iesgood’s hand went
to his war club, but Jon stepped between them and after some angry
finger shaking and shouting the two moved apart again.

Iesgood said
something and this time the Bear leader went for his weapon and Jon
again came between them.

Lucien saw
another chance to move closer to the action and, bent double, he
made his way to the next cabin where he could make out some of what
was being said, or at least the shouted parts.

It seemed mostly to be insults; he heard
the word ‘
niiffliin
’
at least twice
and a couple of others he did not understand. The continuous
throbbing of the drums was getting on his nerves, making him jumpy.
Jon was obviously in danger and he felt he should be doing
something to help him.

Suddenly the situation in front of him
escalated. Lucien heard the word ‘
liar
’ clearly and the warriors who had been a silent but
watchful audience while their leaders ‘
conferred
’ reacted, shouting abuse and shaking their
weapons at each other.

It was far too
dangerous for Jon to be there unprotected and Lucien eased his bow
from his back and strung it faster than he ever thought he could.
Hands trembling he pulled an arrow from his quiver and fitted the
notch into the string.

The scene
before him seemed to deteriorate rapidly, there was a huge amount
of shouting from all the onlookers and some of them were beating
out the drum rhythm on their shields with war clubs.

There was a
sudden surge forward and Jon seemed to disappear amongst a sea of
angry warriors and Lucien leapt to his feet, bow ready. There was
more yelling and wild whooping cries and they parted to show Jon
still alive and still standing, but the Bear leader had raised his
sword and was taking a step towards Iesgood.

Jon instantly
blocked the aggressor’s way, hustling him, standing only inches
from his face.

The sword rose
and for a second it seemed as if it would fall and take Jon’s head
from his shoulders.

Without a
moment’s hesitation Lucien rose to his feet and loosed the arrow
from his bow.

It soared
across the space between them and struck the Bear leader’s shield
with a firm decisive thwack!

There was
instant and total silence and suddenly Lucien’s world was full of
eyes. Everyone, every single person gathered there, was looking at
him. It was only then he saw the women and children drawn up on the
edges and the Elders watching from the Meeting House.

The drums
ceased to throb and Lucien’s mouth went dry and his knees turned to
water.

The only
person to make a move was Jon. He carefully removed the still
quivering arrow from the Bear leader’s shield and then turned and
beckoned to Lucien. His expression was unreadable, but something
about the single finger calling for his presence made Lucien
quake.

Very slowly he
made his way to Jon’s side.

“
Would you care to explain?” Jon asked
softly.

“
I thought …” Lucien began.

“
I doubt if thought entered into any part
of it,” Jon interrupted. “And I asked for an
explanation.”

“
He was ... I thought ... you were in
danger … I … um ...”

Lucien dried
up at this point.

The Bear
leader was considering the arrow and the damage to his shield. For
a man who came close to death at worst and injury at best, he
seemed remarkably calm.

“
Your
cheed,
Harabin
dheillwer
?” he
asked, conversationally, giving Lucien a rather kindly
glance.

“
Regrettably, Dwerek
bietriwer,
” Jon replied.

Dwerek nodded
thoughtfully. “We were all young once,” he remarked. “And perhaps
it’s time to stop this discussion, satisfying as it has been.”

His face split
in a wide grin.

“
You’d have lost this war of words, old
friend,” he told Iesgood. “Had not the boy saved you from
humiliation.”

“
In your more fanciful dreams perhaps,”
Iesgood retorted with an equally wide grin. “I had hardly begun to
fight.”

Dwerek struck
his hand on his shield and said.

“
Iesgood,
bietriwer
… we are agreed then? Neither of us is responsible
for this crime and neither of us has the girl. We will join forces
and seek for who is guilty and then we will do war upon
them!”

There was a
huge cheer from the assembled warriors and as he and Iesgood shook
hands the drums began to beat out again.

Under the
cover of all this Jon took Lucien firmly by one ear and led him
away.

“
Have you any idea what you nearly did?”
Jon demanded once they reached the seclusion of the men’s
house.