Seang rode into the little nomadic village Orhan Ucar called home atop one of the stolen horses from the caravan, along with her cohorts.
The sun was rising as they arrived at the Ucar clan's 'village'. It was looking to be yet another clear, but cold day. She envied the fur-lined coats and armor the Khongirats had.
The settlement was a collection of about forty cylindrical tents bound by rope on improvised wooden foundations.
As much applause and congratulations as a village this small could muster was awaiting Orhan and his boyish warriors as they arrived. Seang imagined it was rather humiliating in Orhan's mind, but she found it sweet nonetheless.
The entire village looked to be in a frenzy. Packs and bundles were being tied to horses as carts with broken down tents were being hitched to oxen.
The young men who had accompanied Orhan were dismounting their horses to take off their armor and help their families pack up. And mostly, those families consisted only of the elderly and children yet to come of age. The occasional young woman could be found, but they were all invariably pregnant.
She caught Orhan looking at her, analyzing her face.
"All the men and women who could fight, who weren't killed in the first Nikan assault, went out to the east to help the Great Khan fight." Orhan said, "It has left us crippled."
"I take it you aren't very fond of the Great Khan, then." Seang muttered.
"Was it that obvious?" Orhan scoffed, his voice dripping with bitter sarcasm.
The people's congratulatory attitude soon turned to one of intrigue as they started noticing the foreigners that Orhan had brought back.
Seang tried to read their faces for their general attitude. Some clearly were suspicious. Others were curious. A mixed bag was better than being surrounded by people who actively refused to trust you.
Orhan slowed his horse to a stop at the foot of a young boy of fourteen, if Seang had to guess.
"What's all this, Orhan? Foreigners?" the boy spoke as though he were the Emperor of Nikan himself.
"They have offered us many of the supplies they pillaged from a caravan for a week's food and shelter." Orhan said, "Is that a problem?"
"Yes. We shouldn't be relying on the charity of others to survive. Especially not the charity of Nikan scum." the boy spat.
Kameko raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.
"This woman is a captain of the White Tiger rebellion, Ansar. You will show our guests respect." Orhan ordered, "And it wasn't charity. It was a fair trade. Now go help Grandmother pack up."
The boy, Ansar, scoffed but obeyed his khan.
"That was my cousin, Ansar. He is the only relative who can inherit the clan if I die. If it weren't for that, I would've already banished the little shit." Orhan muttered.
"I've heard many stories about the great hordes of Khongira that once took Nikan lands by storm." Seang said, "I'll admit, this wasn't how I was imagining it."
"You speak of the glory days of our people. When we were free to roam and what you now call tribes used to be called kingdoms." Orhan sighed, as though reminiscing on a time he wasn't alive for. "The Nikan invasion has brought us all low. Bharata included, I presume."
Bharata was the Nikan and Khongirat word for Seang's homeland..
"I suppose." Seang said, "But perhaps if you vassalized under the Khan, your people could rest easy. I hear his system works rather well."
YOU ARE READING
The Call of Crows
FantasíaBjorn Stormtamer's world has been turned upside down in more ways than one. His shipmates have left him for dead on an island for quarantining victims of a disease that he now has. His partner in battle despises him, his family thinks he's dead and...
