Portals of Infinity: Book Four: The Sea of Grass Page 11

  "They attacked one of our hunting parties last week," Rain Walker supplied.

  "So we gave them a week to forget about us," Hunts Well said.

  We all nodded. I hadn't hunted boar that many times, only twice actually, but I'd paid attention to what I'd been taught each time. Boars were pretty nasty. So I made sure I stayed close to Rachel.

  "Just don't get in the way of my shot," She whispered to me as we rode.

  "What makes you think they'll let you get one?" I asked curious.

  "I'm their guest, and they want to see what this queen can do," she whispered back, "So let me do it, or I'm going to be very unhappy. Understand?"

  "Kill me in my sleep unhappy?" I asked.

  Rachel smiled, "That would be letting you off easy!"

  I nodded, I got the message. But I still stayed close.

  After we'd been riding probably an hour, Hunts Well raised his hand. "They are near, be wary."

  I nodded and readied my own bow, Rachel had a half dozen arrows in her hand and I grabbed several of my own. The grass was about two or three feet high here, a little bit past the undersides of the Wolats, who could see over it. For us, sitting on their backs, we had a much better field of view.

  Everyone spread out, and sure enough, Rachel and I were in the front with Hunts Well, Rain and Serene were behind us, and I had waved Carso and Sylace back to the rear of the group when I had readied my bow.

  "Left!" Rachel suddenly said and Jeri spun to the left and charged as Rachel stood in the stirrups and quickly launched three arrows. I followed and looked for a target as Jeri suddenly jumped and Rachel turned firing two more arrows at something in the grass as Hunts Well started to throw spears at a different target.

  I saw them suddenly as things slowed down for me, there was a large male tusker, and he was down on his knees with an arrow in the head and two more in the neck that were bleeding rather fiercely. There were five females running around, one of them was what Jeri had jumped over, and Rachel had put two arrows into it. I put another arrow in that one as it was still moving and was trying to track her mount. Hunts Well had put one down with two spears in the neck and was changing targets to throw a spear at another. I was impressed by how fast he could draw and throw.

  I just shot at any that appeared to be going after Rachel, or myself, following her as she turned Jeri around and started to pick off the piglets one after another as the other riders took out the rest of the passel. I looked back at the boar, and it was on its side, dead, I could see the arrow it had taken to the head had gone in one of the eyes.

  Rachel looked at the dead male and then up at me and smiled. "Lucky shot."

  "Sure it was," I said and shook my head. The adult boars were all dead at this point and the piglets didn't last much longer.

  "You are quite the huntress," Hunts Well said riding over to us as the rest fanned out to make sure there weren't any missed stragglers. My speed had returned to normal, so I was fairly sure we were safe at this point.

  "Well I caught him, didn't I?" She said with a smirk and motioned to me. I scowled back at her as those nearby laughed. I decided not to correct her memory of the events. Rachel had come out here to impress the Mowoks. Far be it from me to do anything to hurt that effort, and not just because she might “punish” me, but because I loved her and would do everything I could to help her.

  Once they were sure things were safe, we all dismounted and gathered up our arrows, and then field dressed the boars to bring them back to the village.

  "I had no idea you could shoot a bow so well, Your Highness," Second Carso said looking at the dead tusker.

  "Yes," Rain Walker agreed, "That is a very difficult shot to make on a charging boar."

  Rachel gave a small shrug, "They keep their heads down when they charge until the last moment when they bring their heads up to try and gore you with their tusks, you just have to watch for it."

  "You have hunted boar before?" Hunts Well asked.

  "Oh many times, though usually on foot. I have to admit it is much nicer doing it from the back of a Wolat," Rachel said looking thoughtful.

  I cold see that the others all looked rather impressed by that. To be honest I was too; boars are tough.

  They slung the dressed out carcasses on the back of the Wolats, and then we rode back to the village.

  "See, I told you I could hunt," Rachel whispered to me as we rode back.

  "I knew you could hunt, I just had no idea you were so good at it," I admitted.

  There was a party that night to celebrate the hunt, as well as Rachel's visit. Word of her hunting prowess spread fairly quickly, the hunt master telling all that it was Rachel's shot that had killed the boar.

  The party was about the same as the last party I'd been to here. I warned the others not to smoke any of the miasha. I also growled rather loudly at any of the males who even looked like they might try and flirt with Rachel.

  "What's that about, Will?" She asked grinning.

  "Tribal custom has it that a female has the right to pick the father of her child, and if the husband doesn't catch them in the act, he won't complain."

  "Oh really?" Rachel said and gave me a slow smile.

  I growled again, "I'm not a member of the tribe trust me, love, I will kill any male who even tries."

  "But there are so many handsome males here..." she purred.

  "Keep that up, and in about five minutes there will be a lot of very dead handsome males," I growled back, and I wasn't completely teasing either.

  Rachel laughed and took a step back, and I took a step closer, grabbing her, and pulled her up against me. "Where do you think you're going?" I asked softly.

  "I like it when you get all possessive," she whispered, purring. "How about we go find a nice secluded spot of our own out there in the dark?"

  I looked around the fire; a number of couples had already retreated into the night at this point.

  "I like the sound of that," I rumbled and we did our own disappearing act for the night.

  The next morning we bid our goodbyes and gathering up the troops, we headed off to the Aldar tribe's village. Originally I had considered sending Rachel back home at this point, but she wanted to meet Rhys, seeing as he was going to be in charge of a large number of her troops for a while. She also wanted to see more of the Mowoks. I relented solely because so far she'd shown that she was more than capable of dealing with it.

  Also I was afraid to die in my sleep.

  It took about two days to make the trip, the tribes kept their summer camps pretty well spread out, so as to not overlap their hunting grounds too much. Cooch and Aldar were the closest to the Glisan tribe, which I learned was the southernmost tribe. Aldar was east of Glisan, putting it closer to Barassa, Hawthorne was west, which would put it closer to the area that Rachel was looking to expand into once the dam and irrigation project was complete.

  As we neared Aldar, two riders came out to meet us, Rhys and Smoke.

  "Greetings, Will," Rhys said looking over the troops, "I see you were not lying about being able to bring troops to help."

  I noticed that Smoke was looking over Rachel rather closely, and Rachel was returning the inspection.

  "Rhys, Smoke, this is my wife, Queen Rachel of the Highlands. Hon, this is Rhys, who will be leading the raids, and his...?" I looked at Smoke.

  "Wife," Smoke said and leaned across the saddle to rub her shoulder against Rhys's shoulder.

  "His wife, Smoke Dancer."

  Rachel smiled and nodded, "It's nice to meet the both of you. I gather you probably have someplace you'd rather we led our troops?"

  Rhys nodded. "I'd like to take them to where we encamped the freed slaves. It is a better place to work from."

  Rachel nodded, "Lead on then."

  Rhys nodded and turning his wolat led us off to the camp. It was almost full dark when we got there, and he showed the troops where to set up. There were about forty of the Mowoks around, and at least that many of the former s
laves.

  "Why are there still slaves from the caravan around?" I asked Rhys as we dismounted.

  "They wish to help us. So they will stay here and help with those things the warriors will be too busy to do."

  "I notice quite a few females among them," Rachel noted as she undid Jeri's saddle.

  "Well, the warriors won't be too busy not to do everything," Smoke said with a grin.

  Rachel smiled and nodded, "Nothing keeps the men happier, right?"

  Rhys, I noticed, blushed at that comment and Smoke laughed.

  "Now, why don't you get your leaders, and we can all sit down and eat while you tell us how we're going to go this?" Rachel said looking at Rhys.

  Rhys blinked, "What do you mean?"

  "Rhys, I am about to put a lot of my soldiers under your command, they will be following your orders. I would like to hear your plans before I leave them with you, so I know I'm making the right decision."

  Both Rhys and Smoke looked at me.

  I sighed, "It's a reasonable request, and she is their queen."

  "Yours too," She said and whacked the back of my legs with her tail, "and don't you forget that, dear." She smiled and turned back to Rhys and Smoke, who was grinning at me now. "I am responsible for them, Rhys, so I must ask. William believes you are a good choice, and I trust him. But I would like to know exactly what I'm getting my people into."

  Rhys nodded, "I understand." He pointed to the nearest group of teepees, "The blue pennant flies from mine. Let me gather my leaders and I will meet you there."

  Rachel nodded, and turned to Second Carso who had been giving orders to his Thirds and Fourths.

  "She's strong," Smoke whispered to me still grinning. "I like her."

  "Well yeah, you'd think I'd marry a woman who wasn't?" I smiled back.

  Smoke winked at me and hurried off to catch up with Rhys.

  "One of your conquests?" Rachel asked as Second Carso saw to her commands.

  "From her point of view, I'm sure it's the other way around," I said.

  "And from your point of view?" Rachel purred.

  "About the same," I admitted.

  "Well, she is cute," Rachel admitted, "And," She turned to look at me and gave a growl of her own, "Married. So you had better behave."

  I raised my hands in innocence. "Hey, I set her after him. Don't look at me."

  "Yes, but I saw the way she looked at you, and remember you told me all about their little custom of females picking daddies."

  I stared at her surprised, "Surely she wouldn't..."

  "Oh, she would," Rachel said, "And if you do, there is going to be a lot of trouble. Am I clear on that?"

  I pulled her close and kissed her. "I will not sleep with her ever again," I whispered in her ear.

  "Better," Rachel purred her body softening as she leaned against me.

  "To be honest, hon, I didn't know you cared."

  "I don't mind Nara, because I know her. The other one, well Feliogustus told me he ordered you to cater to her wishes. But I do not want you fathering children on other women beyond that."

  Rachel paused a moment, "Oh, your other wife is okay as well. To be honest, I wish you would just bring her home and keep her in the Castle with me."

  I looked a little shocked at that. "Seriously?"

  Rachel nodded, and then smiled, "Then I could control your life all of the time, and just not when you're here."

  I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away a little as I held her. "Control me?" I laughed, "Oh really?"

  Rachel nodded and smiled, "Oh, of course. With her help I'm sure I'd have you completely under my control."

  I gave a soft laugh and shook my head, "Oh, I don't think that will ever happen."

  "Yes, that's what all you males think," she winked. "But seriously, why don't you bring her here to live, Will?"

  "Umm," I thought about that a moment, "things are very different where she lives, if I brought her and my other children here, I'm not sure how she would take it. Plus her family lives there. I don't know how she would handle not seeing them anymore."

  "Different? How?" Rachel asked.

  "I'm not sure I can explain that to you," I told her.

  Second Carso came up at that point with his Thirds in tow, "Your Highness, I have the men settled; we're ready to meet now.

  "We will finish this conversation later, dear," Rachel told me and turned to Second Carso, "Come, let's go meet with Rhys and his people," and led us off towards the teepees.

  Rhys's teepee was different than any of the chief's I had been in, it did not have any sort of table or seats, everyone sat on the rugs that were laid out on the ground. Whoever was speaking stood up to talk. The only thing he had which I hadn't seen here before was a large hide that was stretched on what I guess was a tanning rack. Only it had a map of the area painted on it, and he was using a piece of charcoal to make marks on it.

  "Here is the border of the People's lands," He said showing a line on the left side of the map. "This is Barassa, over here. This is where we are currently, and these lines represent the trade routes," Rhys continued pointing each of them out as he talked.

  Rhys continued by showing us Barassa's borders, where the cities were that traded with Barassa, though all but one was off the map due to the scale.

  "Now, these three area's," He said pointing to three spots on the map, one of which was just inside Barassa's northern border, the other two were both outside of it. "Are where I want to set up our camps. We've used these places before, they're easy to defend and easier to retreat from if necessary. Each offers close access to several of the trade routes and as far as we know, no one from Barassa's army knows of them."

  We all nodded.

  "Are you planning on setting up permanent camps in them?" Rachel asked.

  Rhys shook his head, "No, this will be the only permanent camp. Whenever an attack is launched from one of these places, we will go back to it to reorganize, then clean up any traces and move out of it to one of the others, or back here."

  "Why?" Second Carso asked.

  "Because eventually they are going to send out their army to search the area after one of our attacks. Fighting their army will not help us, it will hurt us. We attack, we fade away. We practice that from the beginning, and when it becomes necessary we will already be practiced at doing it."

  "How many camps do you plan to occupy at once?" Second Carso asked again.

  "All three until the next full moon. Any who have raids during that time will of course retreat back here to rest. After that, we will only staff one or two of the camps, with the rest of the warriors back here."

  Rhys turned to Rachel, "Queen Rachel, how many of your troops will you be leaving here?"

  "Three hundred," Rachel replied and several of the Mowoks in the tent looked at her in surprise.

  "So many?" One of them asked.

  "Your Majesty, if I may?" Second Carso asked.

  Rachel nodded.

  Second Carso stood up and turned to face the seated Mowoks.

  "Our soldiers are not as experienced as your people in fighting while riding the wolat. Because of that, we brought a larger number, so our inexperience would not hamper our effectiveness. As we learn from you, and get better, we will probably send some home, unless Rhys should decide we need to stay longer."

  "Another question," One in the back asked.

  "Yes?"

  "I notice that your men do not wear a uniform."

  Second Carso nodded, "Yes, we felt that if we identified ourselves as Hiland soldiers that not only would we soon be at war with Barassa, but that everyone would believe that you are allied with us. So we had those men that are staying here change out of them."

  "Well, won't they believe that anyway? They will see this as attacks by the People on their caravans."

  "Ah, but the People all use spears, is that not so?" Second Carso asked.

  The man nodded.

  "My men will be using bows and sword. Not s
pears. Many of us will not be dressed as you dress. We believe that it will take them some time to puzzle out who is behind the attacks."

  "But they will figure it out, sooner or later?"

  Second Carso shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. We will only attack caravans with slaves, and we will try not to do too much damage to the wagons that do not carry slaves. We want them to think this is purely an anti-slavery crusade, not an attack on Barassa."

  The man nodded and no one had any other questions, so Second Carso sat back down.

  "Now, let me detail the scouts," Rhys said and started on how the scouts would be staged, and where. A number of the Mowoks in the teepee were the leaders of the scouts or scouts themselves, and Rhys introduced them all.

  Once that was done Rhys introduced another eight Mowoks who were his lieutenants, who would be split up among the groups of Hilander soldiers.

  Second Carso wanted to split his troops into eight groups, Rhys wanted to split them into six groups, two for each of the three camps. After Rhys explained his reasons to Second Carso, Carso agreed and asked Rhys and his men to meet with him tomorrow in the morning so they work out the finer details.

  Rachel and I got up as the meeting broke up, getting ready to follow everyone out of the tent.

  "William, Queen Rachel," Rhys said motioning to the beds in the tent. "Please, accept Smoke's and my hospitality and stay with us tonight."

  I looked at Rachel who smiled, and then back at Rhys.

  "Are you sure?" I asked.

  "Oh yes," he smiled and glanced at Smoke, who suddenly looked embarrassed. "I have made it clear to my most loving wife that I will be most displeased if she should ever grace your bed again."

  Rachel suddenly laughed, and Smoke's tail lashed in further embarrassment, "I told Will the same thing!" She said turning to smile at me.

  "Ah, it is always a problem when old lovers meet, no? But still if we did not set them limits, they would not know we care," Rhys said smirking at first Smoke, then at me.

  "Umm, shall we go to bed, dear?" I asked Rachel.

  "Yes," Smoke said whacking Rhys with her tail, "you should go to bed. Maybe if you're nice I will join you in it later."