Redmask rode on through the day, his pace leisurely to ruse the burden on the horse, and when the sun was descending towards the horizon, igniting distant storm clouds, he came within sight of the Awl encampment, situated on an ancient oxbow island between two dry eroded riverbeds. The herds were massed on the flanks of the valleys to either side and the sprawl of dome-shaped, sewn-hide huts huddled amidst the smoke of cookfires blankering the valley.
No outriders. No pickets. And far too large a camp for the size of the herds.
Redmask reined in on the ridge line. He studied the Bene below. Here and there, voices rose in ritual mourn-ing. Few children were visible moving about between the huts,
Alter some time, as he sat motionless on the high Letherii saddle, someone saw him. Sudden cries, scurrying motion in the growing shadows, then a half-dozen warriors set out at a trot towards him.
Behind them, the camp had already begun a panicked breaking, sparks flying as hearths were kicked and stamped out. Hide walls rippled on the huts.
Herd and dray dogs appeared, racing to join the approaching warriors.
The Awl warriors were young, he saw as they drew closer. Only a year or two past their death nights. Not a single veteran among them. Where were the Elders? The shouldermen?
Halting fifteen paces downslope, the six warriors began conferring in hissed undertones, then one faced the encampment and loosed a piercing cry. All activity stopped below.
Faces stared up at Redmask. Not a single warrior among them seemed bold enough to venture closer.
The dogs were less cowed by the presence of a lone warrior. Growling, hackles raised, they crept in a half-circle towards him. Then, catching an unexpected scent, the beasts suddenly shrank back, tails dipping, thin whines coming from their throats.
Finally, one young warrior edged forward a step. ‘You cannot be him,’ he said.
Redmask sighed. ‘Where is your war leader?’ he demanded.
The youth filled his chest and straightened. ‘I am the clan’s war leader. Masarch, son of Nayrud.’
‘When was your death night?’
‘Those are the old ways,’ Masarch said, baring his teeth in a snarl. ‘We have abandoned such foolishness.’
Another spoke up behind the war leader. ‘The old ways have failed us! We have cast them out!’
Masarch said, ‘Remove that mask; it is not for you. You seek to deceive us. You ride a Letherii horse-you are one of the Factor’s spies.’
Redmask made no immediate reply. His gaze slid past the war leader and his followers, fixing once more on the camp below. A crowd was gathering at the near edge, watching. He was silent for another twenty heartbeats, then he said, ‘You have set out no pickets. A Letherii troop could line this ridge and plunge down into your midst, and you would not be prepared. Your women cry out their distress, a sound that can be heard for leagues on a still night like this. Your people are starving, war leader, yet they light an excess of fires, enough to make above you a cloud of smoke that will not move, and reflects the light from below. You have been culling the newborn rodara and myrid, instead of butchering the ageing males and females past bearing. You must have no shouldermen, for if you did, they would bury you in the earth and force upon you the death night, so that you might emerge, born anew and, hopefully, gifted with new wisdom-wisdom you clearly lack.’
Masarch said nothing to that. He had finally seen Redmask’s weapons. ‘You are him,’ he whispered. ‘You have returned to the Awl’dan.’
‘Which clan is this?’
‘Redmask,’ the war leader said, gesturing behind him. ‘This clan… it is yours…’
Receiving naught but silence from the mounted warrior, Masarch added, ‘We, we are all that remain. There are no shouldermen, Redmask. No witches.’ He waved out towards the flanking herds. ‘These beasts you see here, they are all that’s left.’ He hesitated, then straightened once more. ‘Redmask, you have returned… for nothing. You do not speak, and this tells me that you see the truth of things, Great Warrior, you are too late.’
liven to this, Redmask was silent. He slowly dismounted. The dogs, which had continued their trepid circling, tails ducked, either picked up a fresh scent or heard something from the gloom beyond, for they suddenly broke and pelted back down the slope, disappearing into the camp. That panic seemed to ripple through the warriors facing him, but none fled, despite the fear and confusion gripping their expressions.
Licking his lips, Masarch said, ‘Redmask, the Letherii are destroying us. Outrider camps have been ambushed, set upon and slaughtered, the herds stolen away. The Aendinar clan is no more. Sevond and Niritha remnants crawled to the Ganetok-only the Ganetok remains strong, for they are furthest east and, cowards that they are, they made pact with foreigners-’