King Of Zunga

CHAPTER SEVEN

In Nayung's house, Blade ate and drank, then slept peacefully for many hours. He was awakened by Nayung gently prodding him in the ribs with a toe.

«Wake up, Richard Blade,» said the Zungan. «We must go before the Ulungas as soon as possible, in case King Afuno arrives today. Without the blessing of the Ulungas, a warrior cannot go before the king.»

Blade nearly suggested that the Ulungas could go to the devil and take anybody who bowed to them along, but controlled himself in time. When in Rome, he thought, even if ignoring local customs hadn't been so dangerous. He recalled those gutted bodies swinging from poles. And this would be as good a chance as any to size up the Ulungas, who seemed to have this whole nation of warriors more or less under their thumbs. Always know your enemy-and he was almost certain the Ulungas were going to turn out to be an enemy. If the Ulungas were not, Chamba in any case certainly was, and it would be well to get the Ulungas' blessing before he locked horns with Chamba.

Custom required that one go before the Ulungas without either food or drink, so it was with dry throats and empty stomachs that Blade and Nayung left the house. Blade wore one of the leather loincloths, sandals, and an improvised turban to protect his head from the sun.

The House of the Ulungas was the most imposing building in all of Brona, with a second story built of wood rising above the usual first floor of mud and turf. The second floor was adorned with high gables and ornately carved balconies as well. It represented a fantastic amount of effort, considering that nearly all of the wood must have been hauled many miles across the plains from the nearest stand of large timber.

The entrance to the house was framed in particularly intricate carvings, some unmistakably gilded, others set with semi-precious stones, uncut but dazzling. Outside the entrance stood twelve warriors in two lines as rigid and perfect as the formation of the guards at Buckingham Palace. All of them had black feathers decorating their spears, and delicate figures of clouds and birds painted on the spearheads.

They raised their spears into the air and slammed the butts down on the hard earth as Nayung approached. He strode forward, made the Peace Hand, and said, «I bring the warrior Richard Blade of the English before the Ulungas.» The twelve nodded, raised their spears again, and formed an arch with them. Nayung motioned Blade forward.

They had just stepped into the smoky gloom inside the entrance when the inner door opened and Chamba came out, followed by a second warrior of the hunting party. Nayung and Blade could not keep from shooting sharp looks at Chamba. He made the Peace Hand to them, but there was an unmistakably triumphant grin on his face and on that of his companion. Without speaking, they passed on out into the sunlight.

As the outer door closed behind Chamba, Blade turned to Nayung, his face sober. Before he could speak, a dim yellow light broke the darkness of the chamber. A moment later a thundering voice also came down at them from the ceiling.

«Who are you?»

«I am Nayung of Brona, D'bor and sworn hunter. I come before the Ulungas.»

«Who is the man with you?»

Blade spoke up. «I am Richard Blade, a warrior of the English. I encountered the D'bor Nayung and his fellow hunters in the forest during their hunt for the Ivory People, and-«

«This is known,» broke in the voice. There was a long silence. Blade fancied his ears caught the sound of distant whispers and the stamping of feet, as the Speakers for the Ulungas frantically tried to remember their next lines.

«This is known,», the voice repeated. «Nayung, you come before the Ulungas to be relieved of your hunter's oath. And you bring this man Richard Blade of the English with you, that he may be seen by the Ulungas. You wish that he may be judged fit to go before the king.»

There was another silence, in which the voice appeared to be waiting for an answer. Finally Nayung gave it. «That is all true.»

Apparently that was a cue for the speakers. «You may not come before the Ulungas, Richard Blade. It is not good that one who does not understand the laws of the Zungans as the Sky Father has given them be made fit to come before the king. This shall not be.

«Nayung, you shall not come before the Ulungas for one half-moon of time. You are bidden not to leave Brona. You shall spend four hours of each day in meditating on your evil in bringing before the Ulungas such a man as Blade.»

Blade could see that Nayung's face was twisted with surprise and the beginnings of anger. But an outburst of anger now would do nothing except make matters worse. Blade clamped a hand down hard on Nayung's shoulder. He himself bowed his head submissively, in case anybody was looking at them through a peephole. Then he spoke.

«We submit to the decision of the Ulungas speaking as the voice of the Sky Father. But they have not said what I, Richard Blade, am to do if I cannot come before the king. Am I to go forth into the plains like once of the beasts of your herds, to live or die there as the Sky Father wills it?»

Blade's tone and words must have come as a surprise to the listening spokesmen, because there was another silence, even longer than the first one. Then the voice came again, more quietly than before. «Richard Blade, you shall live in Brona for the time of six full moons. You shall do only women's work during that time, as it seems to please you so much. You may not raise your hand to any warrior of Zunga, nor speak to him without being spoken to first. At the beginning of the seventh moon, if you show that you understand the laws of the Zungans as the Sky Father has given them, you shall then come before the Ulungas.»

«It shall be so. I submit to the judgment of the Ulungas,» said Blade. Quickly he turned and headed for the outer door, practically dragging Nayung after him. He did not breathe freely until they were out in the sun again, and he did not speak until they were well outside the Ulungas' compound and hopefully out of earshot of anyone connected with it. Then he turned to Nayung.

«What do we do now, my friend?»

Nayung's face was still working with astonishment, frustration, and rage. It was a minute or so before he managed to answer. Finally he clenched his fists and said quietly, «The Ulungas have become involved in a game Chamba is playing. I did not think that they could stoop so low.»

Blade refrained from putting in his own opinion. In his experience political priesthoods could indeed stoop that low, or even lower. Instead he only shrugged and said, «I think you are right. They-or Chamba-do not want us to go before King Afuno for a very long time. Why does Chamba want to do this? Surely he cannot wish that the Zungans remain ignorant of the fighting arts that I could teach them?» He did not add that he suspected the Ulungas themselves did not want that. The notion that the official priests of his people would endanger that people to preserve «the laws as given by the Sky Father» would be too much for Nayung to accept.

Nayung appeared to be having trouble deciding whether or not to speak. Finally he said, «Blade, I think you must be told some things even I would rather you did not know.»

Blade hastily raised a hand. «Do not endanger yourself by telling me these things, please. It would not be worth it for you.»

Nayung shook his head angrily. «Blade, if I do not tell you, the whole people of Zunga will be in danger! You are a wise man as well as a warrior. Perhaps you can help me if you know what the dangers are. But what I am going to tell you is about divisions among the Zungans, so you must swear that you will never use it to endanger our people: If you swear, and then break your oath, I will kill you myself, and I will feed your guts to the pigs.»

Blade nodded. «Nayung, by the Sky Father, lawgiver to the Zungans, and by the god of the English, I swear that what you tell me now will never pass my lips to the harm of the Zungans. If I break my oath, may the spirits of my body depart at once, and may my whole, entire body be fed to the pigs of the people I have betrayed.»

Nayung heaved a sigh. «That is good. Although still, I trust you in part because I have no choice. However…» He shook himself all over like a dog shaking itself after a bath: Some of the strain and anger left his face. Then he drew Blade aside into a niche in the wall of a dark, narrow alley between two huts, and told him in brief the situation of the Zungans.

There were two factions among them. The more conservative wished to keep everything-laws, rites, beliefs, even methods of slaughtering cattle or fighting-as it had always been. This side had the support of the Ulungas, which gave them a great advantage. Anybody who disagreed with them was likely to find that he could not go before the Ulungas and was thus an outcast for the time being. Those who balked and protested at this frequently wound up dead. Punished by the Sky Father, the Ulungas would say. But Nayung was certain that most of these deaths were the work of agents of the Ulungas-such as Chamba.

So much for the narrow-minded Zungans. The more open-minded ones believed that the customs of the Zungans should be changed if it were necessary to keep the people alive. They were particularly interested in new ways of fighting, to make it possible to defeat the slave raiders of Kanda and Rulam. They even thought that perhaps the Ulungas could not properly speak for the Sky Father any more. If he was the guardian of the Zungans, would he permit them or require them to continue along the old ways to their doom? But very few were bold enough to say this last out loud. Those who did usually died sooner or later from the «wrath of the Sky Father,» as the Ulungas put it.

What kept the two factions from coming to open civil warfare was the influence of the king. King Afuno had reigned forty years with the respect and often the love of all the Zungans. He had been a mighty warrior in his youth and was now a wise statesman and judge in his old age. Except for the Ulungas, there were few Zungans who would go against his wishes.

But even Afuno could not go against the Ulungas. Too many of the ordinary warriors and the women took every claim of the Ulungas seriously, and would fight to preserve the priests' authority. For King Afuno to go openly against the Ulungas would also mean civil war in Zunga.

But now that Prince Makuluno was dead, King Afuno had a new problem. Makuluno had been his last surviving son, and Afuno was perhaps too old to beget another. He was certainly too old to live until his son was of a warrior's age. In such a case it was in the Zungan custom to pick the best and wisest warrior among the Zungans and marry him to the eldest daughter of the king. They would rule jointly during their lifetimes, and afterward their eldest son would rule as sole king. Thus did the royal house keep its line alive and its hand upon the Zungans.

Over the course of time Chamba had come to be a candidate of the conservatives for the hand of Princess Aumara, Afuno's eldest daughter. Though he was only a M'nor, a leader of thirty-six, he was an immensely strong and fast fighter. Wisdom he obviously lacked, but ambition filled him. That made him a ready tool for the Ulungas and the others who would rather see the Zungans die as a people than see their customs change.

The more progressive faction had no single candidate, unfortunately. There were too many able and ambitious warriors among it. All of them saw not only the beauty of Princess Aumara and a chance to sit on the throne of Zunga, but also saw a chance to settle many years' accumulated scores with the Ulungas. So they fought each other almost as bitterly as they fought the Ulungas.

Nayung was one of the strongest of the candidates. He was a D'bor and likely to become a Great D'bor (a commander over a force of 1296 men) very soon. He was as skilled in single combat as he was wise as a commander against the slave raiders. He was young enough that he would probably live until at least one of his sons was grown. And he was known to hold the Ulungas in sufficient respect so that the conservatives might not make a great uproar if he became king and consort.

But now Nayung by order of the Ulungas could not approach Afuno. If he tried, he would be going against the will of the Sky Father. His whole reputation for moderation would go up in smoke in an instant. His life would follow shortly, if, past events were any clue. And if the Ulungas were sufficiently determined to have a king of their faction, they might find ways of keeping all the other progressive candidates from approaching Afuno. They might end up leaving the field open to Chamba or some other man they supported. The Ulungas saw their power threatened, and they would do anything to hold onto it.

Blade considered Nayung's words in silence for a minute, and then for another minute. Nayung leaned against the wall and seemed to be calm. Only the twitching of a nerve above his left eye betrayed the strain. Finally Blade sighed and said, «Well, we cannot let the Ulungas play with the succession this way. That would be a betrayal of Zunga. So we must go before King Afuno whether the Ulungas approve it or not.»