King Of Zunga

CHAPTER SIX

Nayung would have liked to run the rest of the way to Brona, but Chamba at least could not move faster than a brisk walk. And Nayung and Blade admitted privately to each other that they really couldn't either. So they moved toward the smoke on the horizon at what seemed to Blade a snail's pace after the day's swift run.

It was more than five miles across the plains to Brona, so it was completely dark long before they sighted the gates. But there were plenty of signs of human presence long before that.

Herds of cattle, for one thing-enormous herds of large plodding beasts that looked like a cross between cows and short-haired goats. Their enormous yellow horns hooked forward; their hides ranged from dusty yellow to black. All of the herds were ambling in the direction of Brona, each under the charge of half a dozen women and small boys armed with pointed sticks. They seemed quite fearless, darting in and out among beasts ten times their size, like sheepdogs among sheep.

There were also warriors out on the plain. Most of them were in groups of six, led by warriors with tufts of red feathers around their spears. There were two groups of thirty-six, led by warriors with green-feathered spears. And there was one group of two hundred or more-two hundred and sixteen, Blade suspected-led by a D'bor with a blue-feathered spear like Nayung's.

When he saw the D'bor, Nayung's face grew sober, and he hailed the man.

«Why so many warriors out to bring the herds home, Durungu?»

«Have you not heard, Nayung? No, you would not. You have been hunting the Ivory People since before Prince Makuluno was killed.»

Nayung stiffened. In the twilight Blade saw the man's hands tighten on his spear until the knuckles paled. His voice grated as he asked, «Killed? Who killed him?»

Durungu shook his head. «No, it was not murder. There is no need to worry about that. He was killed in a fight with slave raiders and Priests only a day's march north of Brona. They have brought his body and the bodies of the slave raiders back here for the death rites.»

For the first time Durungu appeared to notice Blade, and his spear jerked up almost by reflex as he prepared to lunge forward. «Is that a man of Kanda or Rulam that you bring, to add to the sacrifices at the rites? That will be welcome to King Afuno.»

Nayung shook his head and made Peace Hands. «Put that spear away, Durungu. This is a warrior and a wise man called Richard Blade, of the English people.»

«I never heard of such.»

«They live far away. He was exiled from his land and came upon us in the forest at a water place.» Nayung gave a brief account of his band's adventures since meeting Blade. When he told of Blade's using a strange new fighting style and defeating all six of the Zungan warriors without getting a scratch, Durangu looked from Nayung to Blade and then back to Nayung.

«I do not think you can lie, Nayung. But it is hard to believe that this is the truth.»

Nayung shrugged. «Ask Blade and he will show you. But tomorrow, please.» He went on to tell of the all-day run and the test that Blade had passed so well. When he told of what happened to Chamba, Durungu laughed out loud.

«I have been waiting for something like that to happen to Chamba. I wish I could have been there to see it. It is good to hear about that thick-headed fool meeting his match.» Then Durungu's face sobered. «Be sure that you tell everybody about this Blade. He looks so like a slave raider that there may be some who will feel like putting a spear through him on sight.» He turned and barked out an order to his company. They moved off into the gathering darkness at a steady trot.

Nayung started off again, with Blade walking beside him. «You have your warriors organized, I see. The sixes, the thirty-sixes, and the two hundred and sixteens. Why by sixes?»

«The Sky Father decreed that we should have only five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. To divide up our warriors by fives would be imitating the Sky Father's work. The Ulungas have forbidden it.»

Blade nodded. «The Ulungas forbid many things, it seems.» Blade left it at that, but Nayung's voice had an edge as he replied.

«You ask about many things of the Zungans, Richard Blade. Perhaps you want to make yourself more wise. But now it will not be a good thing for a man who looks like a slave raider to go around asking questions about the customs of the Zungans. We have lived as we live for a thousand years, in the sight of the Sky Father and with the advice of the Ulungas. Do not question our life, and ten times over do not question the wisdom of the Ulungas.» He lowered his voice so that only Blade could hear. «At least not except when you are alone with me. Do you wish to give Chamba a perfect reason to destroy you?»

Blade nodded in understanding and sympathy. Nayung seemed to be chafing more than a little under the rule of what seemed to be a well-established and rather stuffy class of priests. And he had to agree that the days after the death of a royal prince were not a good time to make oneself unpopular.

They walked on through the darkness, past more homeward-bound herds and more outward-bound soldiers, until finally Blade saw fires glowing in the darkness ahead. Their yellow light revealed a high wall hundreds of feet long, with a gate in its center. They headed toward this gate, picking their way through the cattle that were streaming in through it ahead of them. In a few minutes they were at the wall, and by the light of fires burning inside Blade could see the wall clearly for the first time.

It appeared to be made of slabs of turf, piled one on the other and packed down until they formed a solid mass ten feet high and ten feet thick. On top of the wall stood sentries, the firelight gleaming on the heads of their spears. The top of the wall was studded with dry, thorny branches to discourage climbers.

They passed through the gate. Both on the wall and on the ground sentries stiffened and raised spears- as they caught sight of Blade. But Nayung called out to each one, and Blade saw them nod and lower their spears. It seemed that Nayung was indeed a man to listen to.

Inside the gate, men and cattle went their separate ways. Small boys and women wearing only the same leather loincloths as the men drove the cattle into a series of enormous pens, amid clouds of dust and a tremendous chorus of bawling and shouting.

Nayung led Blade and the others over an enormous field of beaten earth, easily a quarter of a mile across. In fact, Blade could see the opposite wall of the town only a little beyond the end of the field. In the center of the field three fires were burning, sending up their greasy columns of smoke into the night sky. Blade saw tall poles standing in a circle around the fires. Something was hanging from each pole.

Nayung led his companions toward the fires at a trot. Something in the sight of them seemed to be giving strength to his legs. As they approached the fires and the poles, Blade saw what hung from them.

From each of the twenty-odd poles a human body hung head down, naked, bloody, and so thoroughly disemboweled that from throat to waist they were only a huge gaping cavity. Blade could not be sure of the color of their skins, but it seemed to be lighter than that of the Zungans, and each man wore a full beard. At the foot of each pole, metal reflected the firelight-a sword stuck point down in the earth, a conical hemlet with temple pieces, and a back and breast plate.

«It was a good kill for the prince before he died,» said Nayung, his white teeth bared in a savage grin. «I wonder if they died well.» He sniffed the wisps of smoke drifting across from the fire. «Yes, they died well. The pigs will go hungry tonight.» Blade sniffed also, and caught the unmistakable odor of burning flesh in the smoke.

«You burn their-«

«If they die well, we cut their insides out and burn them as an offering to the Sky Father, that he may eat of their courage. If they die badly, we feed their guts to the pigs!» He fixed Blade with a stare rather less than friendly. «Take a good look at those bodies, and remember what I said about keeping quiet. But do not worry,» Nayung added. «I will see to it that you are treated as one who died bravely, no matter what. It will be better for you, and more worthy of a warrior.»

«It will be best of all for me to stay alive and serve as a warrior of the Zungans,» said Blade with a thin smile. «I will do my best to make that happen.»

«Good.»

Nayung led Blade and the others the rest of the way across the field. Beyond the field stood row on row of mud and sod huts, roofed with interlaced branches. A good many warriors were standing about with sober faces, drinking from clay or wooden bowls, but there were no women or children visible.

Once again faces hardened and spears snapped up as Nayung led Blade past, and once again Nayung's explanations got the spears lowered. Blade did not entirely like some of the looks that followed him, however. He was becoming even more aware than he had been before that among the Zungans he would be very much on probation for the time being.

They plunged into the narrow, foul-smelling lanes that wriggled and wandered their way among the huts. Chamba and the other three warriors left them at the door of a compound within a compound, filled with long buildings that appeared to serve as barracks for the younger warriors. Nayung gave Chamba a final warning in parting. «Remember-no women or beer until you have seen the Ulungas.»

Chamba grunted. «With the prince dead, the Ulungas will be so busy with the death rites it will be a week before they have time for a hunter returning from the Ivory People. I am a man, Nayung. How long am I supposed to wait? Until my balls dry up and wither away like a stalk of grass?» He turned his back contemptuously and stamped away into the barracks compound.

Nayung shook his head, then shrugged. «He is usually much more reverent toward the Ulungas. Well, if he goes on like this, the Ulungas will hear of it, and then his past reverence for them will not save him. And we will be rid of him.

«I think that it would be wise for you also to take no women or beer until the Ulungas have seen you and I have explained to them what and who you are. You are not bound by a hunter's oath as we are, but for a man returning from the lands of the Ivory People it would look well to obey our customs.»

«Nayung,» said Blade with a weary grin, «right now I don't want either beer or women. I want food, water, and many hours of sleep.»

Nayung smiled. «I think I can provide that. If you will follow me to my house…»