Chapter Text
Ton DC 12th Moon – last quarter
Ton DC is at bursting point. The market place is one huge kitchen and the woodland surrounding the village is full of tents of all sizes and methods of construction. The longhouse is jammed full of gonas (warriors) and the Trikru scouts’ equipment; the scouts are away in the forest. Every home in the village has at least three gonas sleeping on the floor. Indra’s house has people sleeping in every room and its central courtyard.
The response to Heda’s call for volunteers brought hundreds to the village. Of those who fell to earth and have lived amongst the grounders all of them, who are currently in Polis or nearby Trikru lands, are here. Bellamy, Sinclair, Jake and Finn drove the two rovers to and from the city for three days non-stop to get them all to Ton DC in time. Mara kom Azgeda has brought her own gonakru from her home in the Great Glens. Manch has brought the Boudalan Royal Guard, forty of the biggest gonas Klark has ever seen, all carrying swords almost as tall as she is. Fifty Trikru scouts were already based in Ton DC and another hundred Trikru gonas from nearby villages have arrived ready to fight. Indra’s put the newcomers under Oktavia’s command. The skaigada (sky girl) is rightly proud to be entrusted with this role. As Indra said; “Oktavia you have proved yourself in battle as a gona, now it is time for you to lead gonas.”
Having Azgeda, Trikru and Boudalan gonas all in one place is not an easy thing to manage. There have been some fights, but Oktavia, Mara and Manch have crushed the spirits of any who want to brawl about old wars and grievances with punishments so disgusting that infilling latrine trenches is the least vile.
As the small army gathers Leksa and Klark start to put their plans into action. Kestra and her scouts left three days ago to get into position around the Ark Camp and to take Heda’s message to the Arkers’ Chancellor, together with a short note from Grace Byrne to Derrik Porter. They hope Derrik will speak up and that his experience will persuade the Council to be sensible and contact them. Sinclair and Jake have the radio permanently on and tuned ready to receive any message from Ark Camp.
The next day blizzards set in and no one can go anywhere. Hunting is impossible so everyone is eating meals made from preserved foods or trail rations eaten with bread from the big communal ovens. Walking through the village you can barely see your hand in front of your face and ropes are set up to guide people to and from the latrines, log piles, kitchens and Indra’s house. Despite these measures two people freeze to death trying to find their way back to their own tents and Abi, Klark and Charlotte treat several cases of frostbite.
The nights are long and much time is spent under the furs but in Indra’s big courtyard the fire burns bright day and night and people gather to talk. Klark wanders between groups of her friends chatting with them and blatantly eaves-dropping. She stops by Octavia’s group for a while where Bellamy’s trying to convince Finn to carry a gun, but Klark’s pleased to hear him refuse. Finn is now a good tracker and hunter, he, Harper and Monroe supply meat to a number of Polis’ market stalls, but ever since the battle of the Mountain he has never used a gun. Klark wanders on past a group talking about siege tactics and as she passes the ale barrel, there leaning against the courtyard’s back wall stand Mara and Indra. Klark walks on when she hears the two are chatting about different techniques for the grafting of apple trees.
As Klark walks away Callie wanders up to the pair carrying Candra in her arms and all three women grin and pass the giggling child, nearly two years old now, between them. Callie nudges Indra and gives her a speaking look. Indra nods in response. “Hmm Mara, Candra will be ‘taking the Keryon’ (Spirit) in a few moons, Callie and I would be honoured if you would be one of her sponsors.” Mara looks down at the smiling child in her arms, in part to conceal her surprise. This is a great personal honour and a huge political step. To sponsor a goufa (child) in ‘taking the Keryon’ means you become a permanent part of that goufa’s spiritual and secular life. You would be expected to be involved in the youngster’s upbringing, maybe become her fos (first) if she chose to be a gona. For the Trikru chief to offer this role to her, a prominent Azgedan gona related to the Haihefa (King), is a very clear message to everyone that Trikru and Azgeda stand together; now and in the future.
Mara smiles. “I would be honoured to accept such a role in this little one’s life. But I will have to talk of it with Roan.”
Callie nods. “Of course, we see the politics of such a step and have discussed it with Heda and Hedatu. But you are ‘our’ choice Mara.” They chat on for a while about the wonders of Candra’s birth and Mara cannot help but have some slight feelings of jealousy, the two are so happy together and their little goufa is a beautiful miracle. Inwardly she sighs, she and Caleb have always been fond and respectful of each other, but she was so young when they first met and she smiles at her younger self, who thought she knew it all.
As she walks on seeing the two seasoned gonas reminds Klark of something she really wants to know, but is wary of asking about; Nia’s ‘ai laik Wamplei’ (I am Death) campaign. What was so terrible that it led to Vance kom Azgeda gaining favour with Nia but being disowned by Mara and Caleb? Klark sees Gaia coming out of the room Leksa is using as an office, they must have been going through reports from Polis. Ah Klark thinks, Gaia will know of the campaign without being directly involved in it, perhaps she’s the best person to ask. Klark takes her aside and asks the question.
Gaia’s head snaps up and she glances around to see if anyone is listening. No-one is within earshot Klark had made sure of that before she asked. But that’s not good enough for Gaia, she glares at Klark for a moment, then seeming to reach a decision beckons her to follow as she walks from the courtyard into the house. Klark follows, as Gaia strides swiftly through the building to the front door and snatches up a big bearskin coat and a thick fur cloak. She shrugs into the coat, bundles Klark into the cloak, opens the door and almost drags Klark out into the storm. She holds firmly onto Klark’s hand as she turns an immediate left and feels her way along the outside wall of the house until she reaches a low trap door. She brushes the snow away before pulling it open and she and Klark enter a cellar. The trap door slams shut as the storm continues outside but inside all is quiet and dark. Gaia strikes a flint and lights the small oil lamp that is hung on the wall, she guides Klark to sit on a big box. Then she places the lamp on top of another and sits down. “Why do you want to know about that cursed time? And why ask me?”
Klark wraps the cloak around herself thankful for its’ warmth. “Mara mentioned it when talking about Vance and everyone looked so sad and ashamed that I know no one involved wants to talk about it. I thought you would know about it and not being a gona you wouldn’t have taken part and feel the ‘dishonour’ Mara spoke of.”
Gaia looks into the darkness and chews on her lip for a few seconds. “As Hedatu you need to know about this so that you can understand what Heda Leksa saved us from when she brought Azgeda into the Kongeda (Coalition). Have you thought of asking Heda?”
It’s Klark’s turn to look away. “She has nightmares sometimes and I think ‘ai laik Wamplei’ is part of them. I don’t want to make it worse for her.”
Gaia nods and mutters “Of course.” Then she stands up and walks to the back of the cellar, returning with a long straight sword and a battle axe. She places them on the box next to where she is sitting. “Do you remember that these used to be in nomon’s (mother’s) big meeting room? Displayed on the wall as proud memories of a great Trikru victory.”
Klark nods. “Yes I remember them and wondered where they’d gone.”
Gaia picks up the axe. “This was the weapon of a great Azgedan gona called Huron and this sword was borne by his twin Vic. My nontu (father) took these trophies after a big battle about sixteen summers ago.”
As Gaia speaks Klark tenses when she recognises the names. She almost whispers. “Mara’s twins. Your nontu killed Mara’s children!?”
“Yes he did. In battle. There’s no way Mara doesn’t know this, yet she now considers nomon a colleague, even a friend. Nontu killed them in honourable battle, he bested them. It was war. Many think that war is just lawless violence and death but gonas have honour as they defend their homes or attack enemies. The bodies of Vic and Huron were treated with respect and burnt on pyres shared with the Trikru who died that day. Their weapons are honourable spoils of war but when nomon knew Mara would enter her home she took them off the wall, she did not want to remind Mara of her loss.”
Klark nods again but is wondering why Gaia has brought this up. Gaia sees her questioning look. “My point is that war has rules that gonas with honour follow. War is brutal, bloody and inevitably involves killing but it does not need to involve dishonour. Yet sometimes it does and when Nia was losing a war about, about … fourteen summers ago she started to break these rules with a campaign so bloody and vicious that she thought Heda Conway and the clan chiefs would concede territory to get her to stop.”
Gaia licks her lips nervously. “War involves raids on disputed or enemy territory as well as big battles. When you raid an enemy’s village you kill the gonas that try to stop you, burn crops, stores and houses. You drive off the livestock and those who are too old or too young to fight. Some villages you will take over and put your own people in to defend the land. Others you will leave in smoking ruins. You will burn on pyres all those who die, to allow their spirits to join the great Keryon (Spirit).”
Gaia looks at the ceiling, visibly gathering herself to be able to continue. “Nia ordered her gonas to kill everyone they found in a village, including the old, the pregnant and the goufas (children) even babes. Before death these victims were to be tortured and dismembered. The village was to be left uninhabitable with its wells poisoned, fields sown with salt and the village’s dead were to be left for the scavengers to pick over and eat.” Gaia stops for a moment overcome with disgust just talking about it.
“And she kept doing it Klark, village after village. Refusing to enter into any peace negotiations that did not have as a starting point huge concessions of territory from Trikru, Boudalan and Podakru. She boasted Klark that only she had the strength to win this war and that she ‘was death’ ai laik wamplei. She knew that Heda Conway was ill and his Chiefs were desperate to stop her and she taunted them, calling them weak. Finally, Heda Conway and the Chiefs, including nomon, decided that the only thing to do was to fight ‘like with like’ and Trikru, Boudalan and Podakru gonas started to raid Azgeda villages as she raided theirs. It was horrible and without honour, no one who took part in those raids wants to speak of it ever; it is repulsive to any gona of honour to kill without cause; goufas, babies, the old and to leave dismembered bodies to be picked over by the vultures, dogs and other wild beasts.” Klark sees tears in Gaia’s eyes.
“Eventually this horrible tactic worked because Nia’s gonas started to become unwilling to leave their homes vulnerable to such attacks and like any gona they knew that their spirits would be reborn to this world only if their body was whole and complete when burnt upon a pyre. Nia came to the negotiation table and the war ended, but no one who was involved was ever the same.” Gaia’s hand touches the haft of the battle axe, her fingers trace the carved ‘H’. She continues.
“Vance kom Azgeda was known to be particularly vicious and cruel. The few who survived his raids told of him hunting down goufas like they were deer and other horrors I cannot even say. Our spies told Titus that Mara argued with Nia about this campaign but she was an Azgedan House Carl and even though unwilling she obeyed her Haiplana (Queen). Nia taunted her and Caleb that their son was more worthy of her favour than they were. We don’t know why Nia didn’t kill Mara then, perhaps because she was already a legend amongst the Azgeda or because she was the dead Haihefa Eric’s sister and Roan’s aunt? What we do know is that when Vance’s depravity was openly spoken of and lauded by Nia Mara and Caleb confronted him at the big festival in Toron. No one knows what passed between parents and child but they both disowned him, though that left them childless. A few years later Nia sent Mara on a mission to the territory of the Maunon and when she did not return no one was surprised. All knew Nia had sent her to die or be turned into a Reaper.”
Gaia watches as Klark takes in her words and begins to worry as she sees Hedatu pale and her face become closed and drawn. Behind her darkening eyes Klark is seeing the children of the Maunon burn with radiation. She is a killer of children and the helpless. In the Old Times she killed them all, in the New Times she and Leksa saved a few but still many died. Was the ‘ai laik Wamplei’ campaign why Leksa could say to her “I have done far worse Klark.” Her mind spins through horrors as she tries to grasp the brutality of the ground when Nia ruled Azgeda and Leksa was just a natblida seken (black blooded second) to a great Trikru gona.
“Klark, Klark?” Gaia tries to bring her back to the present.
When Gaia and Klark return to the courtyard they find Leksa and the others are preparing to move out. The storm has let up slightly and although they can only make headway slowly they need to get closer to Ark camp if they are to have a chance to be there when Vance and Petrus make their move. That will be soon, as word has come from a scout working undercover that they are ready and when this storm abates fully the attack will start. As they muster ready to march each gona ties on a red armband, the sign that they follow Heda Leksa, Commander of the Blood.
The Valley – 1st Moon New
They march for a day through snow and sleet, stopping only to eat and take a short break. The next night as they march on the storm passes over leaving behind a cloud free, moonless, starry sky. The milky whiteness gives some light that reflects off the snow but the shadows are long and dark. Mara’s gonakru are at the front, using their bulk and snowshoes to make their way as quietly as possible through the snow whilst leaving a broad track for those who follow. Klark and Abi are at the rear with Charlotte and Bellamy, driving the rovers both of which are packed with medical supplies. The steel wheels of the rovers have been fitted with metal lugs that cut into the icy ground, Klark smiles a little grimly, Jake will be pleased that his recent innovation seems to work well in the snow.
About a league away from Ark Camp they come to a well-used track that crosses the lane from Ton DC. Here their forces split into three. Mara and Oktavia take their gonas to the right, following the deeply rutted track westward. Leksa and Manch go left travelling east with the big Boudalan Guards treading carefully on the packed ice. Indra and Callie stay with the Trikru scouts as they continue straight on heading south, the skaikru (people from the sky) follow them.
Soon the need for moving quietly is lost as the sounds of battle ahead cover any noise they could make. Explosion after explosion tears through the night, the crack of gunfire and screams of pain add to the noisy fray. Jake can’t see much when the trees close in and the twinkling stars vanish, he just keeps walking forward following Finn, Harper and Monroe, who have their arrows nocked ready to shoot. Then the redness of fire and a white flash of explosives splinters the darkness. Ahead of him silhouetted against the burning tents and buildings of Ark Camp are three huge catapults. He gulps as one of the catapults fires with a raucous snap and flaming projectiles fly up and forward. Automatic rifles rattle ahead and he hears the twang of bow strings, lifting his head he struggles on, his rifle set to single shot. He’s got to stop those catapults firing again.
Oktavia’s at the front directing her Trikru gonas to fall on the rear of the bandits who are surging confidently towards Ark Camp. When the bandits realise they are under attack themselves it gets bloody, they are experienced fighters who know that defeat likely means death and each of them fights with a focused desperation. Oktavia runs forward her sword slashes into a man’s side and she spins to finish him with a short stabbing action before moving on to where she can take on another and another. In a brief moment of calm, she scans the field of battle looking for where she and her gonas can be of most use. She sees Mara’s gonakru fighting to her left and it’s difficult not be impressed by their coordinated ferocity. They move as one, marching forward in time with their war cry and swinging axes. The ground shakes beneath their stamping feet and if Indra hadn’t warned her of this Azgedan tactic her knees would be trembling, as it is she’s glad Linkon’s by her side and that they are making steady progress towards the fallen fence and the stricken Arkers. She directs her kru to move to the right as she ducks low to avoid a swinging blade. Then her sword is up and meeting that blade with a blow that causes sparks to sizzle into the bloody slush that once was snow.
Within the fallen fence Leksa and the Boudalans are cutting their way forward into the camp’s centre. She’s always had respect for the Boudalan Royal Guard, they are heavily armoured and fight as if they have not even heard of fear. Slowly and with a kind of steady grace they swing their massive blades in synchronised strikes, almost like scythes cutting corn they slice through their opponents and move on forward, ever forward. The problem with that tactic is that they are immense slow targets for arrows or quickly moving weapons of any kind. To be a Boudalan Royal Guard Leksa thinks must be a short-lived experience but when they are on your side they are effective at clearing the field of battle, while they still live. Taking advantage of the area that the Boudalans have cleared Leksa, dual katanas slashing, moves into what looks like the camp’s canteen area. She avoids a swinging blade, slams the hilt of her sword into the head of an Azgedan and slashes through his thigh. Blood arcs, she’s hit an artery – good! A high leap has her landing behind her next opponent who she hamstrings and as he falls her blade cuts across his throat. Hearing a blade hiss near her right ear she sways left and turns to meet the sword of a big blonde Azgedan, his face heavily scarred. As he lunges forward he slips on the slush and off balance he can’t avoid her counter attack and the sharp edge of her sword takes his arm off at the shoulder. He judders into shock and her second sword descends onto his neck and he falls blood bubbling from his slack mouth. She surges forward kicking the legs from beneath a Boudalan bandit before his axe strikes the helpless Arker fallen at his feet. Leksa pulls the terrified woman up. “All who wear this red arm band are your friends. Tell your people!” The Boudalan starts to get up. Leksa pushes her blade into his throat.
“Yes. Er Yes! Derrik told us not to shoot those with the red. Ugh!” the woman slumps forward an arrow protruding from her back.
Derrik swings his rifle up and around to find that one of the attackers has fallen into the bloody slush an arrow deeply embedded in her neck. It’s then that he realises that the arrows that once were focused only on the Arkers have in fact been striking the attacking grounders for some time. He shouts to the three remaining in his unit. “We’ve got help coming! Look out for the red armbands!” Boom! Another mine explodes.
Ark Camp – 1st Moon New – Mid morning
They fight until the dawning of a pallid wintery sun shows Leksa that her people have successfully defended the camp. At great cost. The disciplined gonas of Trikru, Boudalan and Azgeda systematically search through the fallen to recover their wounded and secure any surviving bandits. They respectfully place all the dead ready for their pyres. Indra and Oktavia have set watches on the perimeter, fires for cooking are being lit and tents erected. The Arkers just mill about until Klark, Callie and Grace take charge and order them to help. Even then some just huddle in mute misery watching, almost resentfully, as their rescuers clear their homes of dead, dying and wounded. Where is the Council for fuck’s sake, did none of them survive?
There are prisoners only about forty of them, some with wounds. The dead number in their hundreds. Leksa after a brief exchange with Klark and Indra (whose right arm is in a sling) walks towards the entrance of the canteen and there finds Mara, standing with her captain Duram, by the body of the Azgedan man Leksa killed only a glass or so ago. Leksa knows who he is, she did as soon as she saw him lunging towards her. Mara’s son Vance has the facial scars borne by an Azgedan noble of the Great Glens, he also has her colouring, blonde hair, freckled fair skin and her tall big-boned build. Leksa is familiar with the customary mourning cries of an Azgedan parent. It is one of the few occasions when the stoic people of the cold north allow themselves the heat of openly expressed emotions. Knowledge of the death of your child permits (even expects) you to keen, weep and tear your hair. Mara stands still, silent and dry eyed as she looks down at Vance’s body. Leksa cannot imagine her pain, she has lost him. Twice.
“Mara!” Leksa feels apprehensive as she holds out her arm in the gona’s salute. She is the killer of Mara’s only surviving child and has taken from her friend any faint hope she may have had of her son returning to her. Swallowing her own concerns, she speaks of his death. “I slew him Mara in the battle, he fought with strength and died well.”
Mara looks at her Heda and sees red blood dripping from her armour, black blood trickling down from a wound on her cheek. This woman killed her son. Mara’s arm comes forward and she grasps Leksa’s. This woman is Heda, is Leksa who has become to her as a daughter, when she had no child. The body at her feet is a dead bandit, who once was her son. It’s hard to supress the memories. The great joy his birth brought, a healthy strong child, born out of her affection for her houmon Caleb as well as the need to birth an heir. She was only sixteen and Vance was a beautiful baby. But the sorrows then pile into her mind. Nia taking him away, the glimpses she had, the few times she was permitted to see him in Toron, of an arrogant and spoilt youth. The disgust she felt when his cruelty was lauded by Nia and when he boasted of the Trikru goufas he had slain. Leksa watches the shadows of emotion cross Mara’s face and she grips her friend’s arm a little longer. Her voice is low when she says “You bore him Mara but Nia made him into what he became.”
Mara nods “He did not deserve the dignity of death at your hands in battle Heda Leksa but I thank you for it. What of Petrus kom Azgeda is he dead too?”
Leksa shakes her head. “Petrus has been captured and claims that as an Azgedan House Carl he is entitled to trial by solo gonplei. (single-combat) I am familiar with much of Azgedan law but your advice is welcome. Can we meet in my tent tomorrow to consider this.” Mara silently nods then returns her gaze to the body at her feet.
In the quickly erected medical tent Klark stitches lacerations, does some basic surgery, sets and splints bones, including Indra’s dislocated elbow and lightly supervises Charlotte who is very competent at cleaning and bandaging wounds. Eric Jackson slips into their team effortlessly, Klark can tell that he’s missed Abi, praise from her mom has him smiling like a goufa. They are a happy team working smoothly until Jake turns up as a casualty. He’s unconscious, covered in blood and his left arm hangs at an unnatural angle. Abi and Klark stutter to a shocked halt whilst Charlotte and Jackson triage him. The Griffin women jolt back to awareness in a few seconds and all but shoulder the others aside as they leap forward. Fortunately, Jackson keeps his cool and takes charge; reminding Abi and Klark that his objective assessment of Jake is what’s needed, not their fears. They stand back apologising but across the tent there passes between them a look. They will do anything to keep Jake alive and bring him back to good health.
With the initial examination complete the treatment plan is to set his shoulder and give him a blood transfusion; the transfusion is supplied by Jasper who is nearest to the medical tent when Klark goes looking for help. He’s willing, healthy and a universal donor. Klark gives him a meaty pasty to chew on as he bleeds. They get to chatting as his blood passes down the tube. Jasper’s happy, he’s found this wonderful girl in Polis, Maya’s her name. She’s a friend of Harper and Monroe and surely Klark’s met her because Maya works at Polis hospital with Abi. Klark smiles, she’s not going to expose Maya’s origins as one of the few Maunon (Mountain men) to survive. That is for Maya to reveal in her own time but Klark knows Jasper will still love her, even if Maya clearly isn’t that confident of his response yet.
Jake remains pale and unconscious despite the transfusion. His blood pressure is low though his neurological responses generally are fine, so a head wound is unlikely. Jackson fearing internal bleeding wants to do a full body scan and so Jake is moved onto a stretcher to be taken to the little that is left of the Ark’s medical section in Alpha station. Klark and Abi exchange another wordless glance and Jake is accompanied to medical by Klark, with Ryder and Penn walking alongside the stretcher bearers and Grace Byrne at Klark’s side. Jackson goes ahead to prepare the scanner and the intimidating group, unsurprisingly, pass without hindrance to their destination.
Inside Alpha station Klark finds the Arkers coalescing into chattering groups variously baffled, afraid and obnoxious. The remaining Council members are here; Bjorn Zedemski, Petra Ramirez and Zhang Wei and they have started to direct their able-bodied people to help with moving the wounded to the medical tent and their dead to a makeshift mortuary. Grounder dead are to be carried to their pyres. Others are ordered to prepare food and a small team of engineers is instructed to put up safety lines to try and keep people out of the minefields. No one knows how many mines remain live just beyond the wreckage of the fence. The Council are anxious to speak to Klark about what will happen next; Klark focusing on her dad brushes them off. “You need to speak to the Commander. She saved your asses here not me!”
The Council almost trip over each other in their eagerness to get to Heda Leksa, who they can see is speaking earnestly with a very tall scarred warrior. Gostos and Dax step into their path as they approach and instruct them to wait. The three look at each other and the two body guards and decide to wait. It’s not long before Leksa turns to them. “Councillors what do you plan for your people now?” She gestures to the snowy valley, the piles of dead, the wreckage of the camp.
Her question goes unanswered as the three mutter between themselves about an unprovoked attack and one of the men whines “why can’t people just leave us alone?”
Leksa’s had enough of this stupidity, it needs to end now. “You are not left alone because you are not alone. Up in space you had no neighbours, no enemies, no friends. It is different here on the ground and you need to change. Now! Come with me.” She takes them to her newly erected tent where together with Indra, Callie and Vera Kane (Klark is still with her father) they work out a rough plan to get the remaining Arkers to Polis. Polis has plenty of room for them, they can live close to each other and become a useful part of the city. They will have to join a clan eventually or leave Kongeda territory but they have some time to consider which clan to join.
Quietly Leksa nurses an ambition to create a new clan in the city, Poliskru. Membership of Poliskru to be open to all, even Frikdreina (those deformed by radiation) and those within other krus. Maybe the Arkers could be the start of this new clan, Leksa muses on this as she strides over to the medical tent to find Klark and see how Jake is doing. When she arrives, she finds Klark in reasonable spirits. The scan confirmed their suspicions that Jake had ruptured his spleen and now he’s in surgery with Abi assisting Jackson as he performs a splenectomy. It’s a fairly straightforward operation that should allow Jake to fully recover within a few moons. They sit side by side, Leksa holding Klark’s hand and wait until Abi appears looking as happy as anyone could be in these circumstances, the operation went well.
The following day sees the Arkers start to work on dismantling what’s left of their home, whilst gonas and surviving Guards secure the perimeter and start to burn the carefully built pyres. There are grumbles, especially from the older Arkers, but there’s a general acceptance that the move is inevitable and they just get on with it. Outside the camp the prisoners await their fate which is being decided by Heda Leksa in her tent.
The senior gonas crowd around Heda’s war table and Klark has an uneasy sensation of déjà vu. Here they are, near the Mountain, in Heda’s tent, looking at maps – again! First they consider the land itself. Its’ currently the territory of no kru. Nobody wanted the Maunon’s leavings and the memories that came with it of Reapers, Acid Fog and Bleedings. It was convenient to Heda to permit the Arkers to stay here and if they’d managed to establish themselves they could have put the valley to good use. The clans that border the Valley are Trikru and Azgeda and after some pushing and convincing Indra agrees to bring it under her rule as Trikru. Roan when contacted by radio is happy with this arrangement, he has enough on his hands in Azgeda.
The fate of the prisoners is that they are to be branded and exiled to the Dead Zone. Leksa sets out her reasoning in a brief punchy statement. “At the time of the attack neither the camp nor the Arkers were part of the Kongeda and so execution as natrona (traitor) is not the right punishment.”
Klark heaves a quiet sigh of relief, it’s not ‘jus nou drein jus daun’ (blood must not have blood), that is still a long way off, but it introduces the idea of some flexibility in punishments. Indra looks mutinous but stays silent, the others look grave but nod their agreement as Leksa looks at each of them steely eyed.
The prisoners will be taken to the edge of the Dead Zone by Oktavia, who has now been given the rank of Captain and permanent command of a gonakru of fifty Trikru based in Polis. Klark can see how delighted Oktavia is. In these New Times she’s achieved what she always wanted, recognition as an accomplished Trikru gona.
This leaves the fate of Petrus kom Azgeda. Roan never banished him from Azgeda he chose to flee and now he demands his right to trial by combat as an Azgedan House Carl (noble). Mara; to Leksa, Klark and clearly Indra’s dismay is ready to meet him in solo gonplei. She presses her case at the meeting.
“As the most senior Azgedan House Carl present at this battle I am the one who should fight him and I am willing to do so. He is a poisonous bis (beast) and should be put down. If allowed to live he will kill, maim and torture. That is what he does. My kru; my responsibility.” She won’t be dissuaded. Her Captain Duram volunteers to fight Petrus but is ordered by Mara to stand down. Leksa is worried that Mara seeks death, her spirit lowered by the actions and death of her child but Leksa’s counter argument that the humiliation of branding and exile will be an even worse punishment for Petrus falls on deaf ears. Mara wants to fight him and will fight him; tomorrow at midday.
The Valley 1st Moon – Waxing Crescent. Midday
When Leksa was young and teased for being the smallest of the natblidas she wanted more than anything to grow tall and strong and have big bones and muscles. That didn’t happen and after hard years of being trained by her fos (first) Onya she came to appreciate the effectiveness of her lighter build. Speed, agility, lightning reflexes; coupled with mental quickness and a muscle memory so good that she didn’t even need to see where her blades were to strike a death blow.
Looking across the cleared fighting ring Leksa sees Mara who is everything Leksa wanted to be as a child. Mara kom Azgeda! Who would have thought that Heda Leksa kom Trikru would consider this Azgedan House Carl as family, as a friend, as someone she trusts. Klark, who is by her side, squeezes Leksa’s arm in a discreet gesture of reassurance. She realises what Mara means to Leksa and after her talk with Gaia, Klark knows that much more about what holds these great gonas together. Indra, Onya, Mara, Leksa, Linkon, Kestra, Quint; like Klark in doing their duty and protecting their people, they have done the unspeakable and their actions will never leave them, but they will always do their duty!
Mara selects her weapons, a long-sword and a double-headed battle axe. She looks limber and fit, eager to enter the fray. It is hard to believe that she could die today.