Iron Winter (Northland 3) (15 page)

All this Kassu saw in an instant, before he threw himself to the ground before the King’s chair. Not fast enough for Himuili, who, on the ground already, murmured, ‘A dozen
lashes.’

‘Yes, sir.’

When they were ordered to rise, Hastayar faced Himuili. ‘Welcome, General. You may sit with us.’ She was a formidable woman, Kassu saw immediately, with a square face, flaring
nostrils, and direct gaze – a soldier’s face, he would have said. She wore the grey clothes of mourning, with a cloak to match. So Himuili sat in the arc before the King, and accepted a
cup of wine. Palla touched Kassu’s sleeve, and the two of them retreated to the back of the pavilion. Nobody served them food or wine.

Hastayar began, ‘I apologise for summoning you with such little notice, Himuili. Call it an impulse. We face a grave decision – and I would rather make that decision in the presence
of the King, before Jesus embraces him. Are you comfortable, General? This custom of ours, of sitting out with the King, evolved in the days when the summers were warmer and the winters milder than
today. Yet custom must be respected, especially at such times as these. If you need a heavier cloak—’

‘I’m fine, madam, thank you,’ Himuili said. ‘For one thing I’m a lot warmer than those Rus were before they left home.’

‘Yes, the great winter that seems to threaten us all. My husband wasn’t terribly impressed by it, you know. The winter, I mean.’ She eyed the bones critically. ‘
“It will pass, my dear. Weather always does.” That’s what he said, even the day he died. But that’s not what the Rus think, is it? Otherwise they wouldn’t have worn
themselves out coming here – and more on the way, I hear.’

Angulli snorted and waved his cup for more of the King’s wine. ‘What do the Rus know?’

Himuili glanced back at Palla, who stepped forward and spoke. ‘Sir, with respect – they know rather a lot about winter. There is their direct experience of course. And as the weather
has changed they have consulted sages, from Northland and elsewhere.’

Hastayar asked him, ‘And would they have agreed with my husband?’

Palla could not contradict the King. Instead he cast down his eyes.

Hastayar turned now to the Hazannu, the city mayor. ‘What of our city, Tiwatapara?’

He shrugged. ‘Madam, you know it as well as I do. You’ve seen the figures on the bread ration – we’re only just at midwinter, and we’ll be lucky if we
don’t have starvation before the spring.
If
it ever comes. That’s even before we started doling out to the Rus horde.’

‘And the population reduction measures? Are they working?’

The man grimaced. ‘With difficulty. Of course we’re keeping refuge seekers out of the city; that’s not too hard, unless one of them has a relative inside. As for active
reduction, we’re finding the most effective way is to target groups. Specific peoples. The Kaskans, for instance, and the Arzawans, and you’d be surprised how many there are
here.’

‘Many of several generations’ descent,’ Arnuwanda put in now, anger in his voice. ‘I know some of them, or did. They think of themselves as Hatti, not Kaskans or
whatever. They think of themselves as belonging to the city, and many of their families have been here since the time of their grandfathers’ grandfathers.’

Kassu was shocked to hear this. He had witnessed the expulsion of Kaskans. He had even taken part in some of it. He had had no idea it had all been an officially sanctioned, officially
planned
exercise in population reduction.

Arnuwanda went on, ‘I’ve fought alongside them, for the King. And now we’ve kicked them out.’

The Tawananna eyed him. ‘Nephew, it is better to pick on a group the rest can identify and despise, rather than have us fight among ourselves.’

‘Though we’re doing that too,’ said the Hazannu reluctantly. ‘Well, people always do. There are religious tensions, followers of the older creeds and the banished
gods – I mean the divine ancestors of Teshub Yahweh who have been declared apocryphal by the Church – their adherents are coming out and denouncing the Jesus followers, who in turn are
calling for their opponents’ executions as heretics, and so on. And as soon as you get a rumour that somebody is hoarding so much as a crust of bread, a whole district collapses into a riot.
Well, we just have to contain it all.’

Angulli mused, ‘And what of liberty? What of rights under our law?’

‘Liberty is for the summer,’ Hastayar said bleakly. She turned to Himuili. ‘General, what of the grain supplies?’

He nodded. ‘I have checked. Our only reliable source of grain the last few years has been Egypt, ever since the Turks occupied so much of Anatolia. But the route is precarious. If I had a
map—’

‘Just tell us, man,’ Arnuwanda said.

‘Once the grain was brought across the sea to Ura, which is a port on the south coast of Anatolia, and then overland to New Hattusa and elsewhere. The pirates’ activities and the
Turks’ raids made that too hazardous. Even the Carthaginians have been roaming our waters. So now it is brought overland to Ugarit, which is to the north of Judea, and then by sea the short
crossing to Ura. It is a tenuous chain—’

‘And too easily broken,’ Hastayar said.

‘Yes, majesty. Also – the Carthaginians, again. They’re outbidding us for the Egyptian grain. Of course it’s safer for the Egyptian merchants to ship it overland through
Africa to Carthage, than over the sea to us.’

‘The Carthaginians!’ Arnuwanda snapped. ‘To think it’s not long since we fought alongside those scum and the Muslims to keep the Mongols out of Egypt. Curse them to the
Dark Earth!’

Himuili said frankly, ‘My feeling is that they seek to use the opportunity of these bleak winters to bring us down.’

‘Starving us out!’ Arnuwanda made an involuntary crossed-wrists sign, the sign of Jesus’ palm leaves. ‘What a foul way to wage war.’

The Tawananna said coldly, ‘The point is, gentlemen, we must look beyond these emergency measures and decide what to do next. By
we
I mean the Hatti as a people. And by
next
I mean in the coming year, or two years or five years. The Father of the Churches is begging Judas Telipinu to be more forgiving with the sun and the rain,’ and Angulli suppressed a belch in
response, ‘but with all due respect we cannot rely on that happening. Must we sit here and freeze and starve, while fending off the Rus and the Scand and the Pechenegs and whoever next comes
walking down from the north?’ She counted the points on her hand. ‘Rationing wasn’t enough. Kicking people out wasn’t enough. We can’t rely on the Egyptian grain, our
last staple. What then?’

Arnuwanda studied her warily. ‘I know you, Aunt. When I was a boy you played tougher games with me than my father did, and he was a seasoned soldier. I still have the scars . . . You have
a plan, don’t you? Something bold, something outrageous—’

‘Something you would never have thought of, that’s for sure. Or my much-lamented husband. But it’s actually a plan brought to me by another. General?’

Himuili looked embarrassed for once, as the eyes of the elevated company turned to him, and Kassu understood for the first time why he had been summoned back from the Simoeis. ‘It’s
my plan, of sorts. It’s this. New Hattusa is becoming increasingly unviable.’

‘Yes, yes,’ Arnuwanda said. ‘So?’

‘So we move.’

‘We?’

‘All of us. Like the Rus. The whole population.’

That made jaws drop, including Kassu’s.

‘I’m the city’s Hazannu,’ said Tiwatapara. ‘And I can tell you now that the population won’t stand for it. To wander around the countryside like booty people?
No, sir – not Hatti!’

But now Palla discreetly stepped forward. ‘If I may . . .’

‘Go on, priest,’ Himuili said, before anybody could shut him up.

‘There may be a way to persuade them.’ He glanced at Angulli, his superior. ‘Of course, there is the historical precedent; the Hatti capital has moved before, a thousand years
ago. And under the wise guidance of the Father of the Churches, I have been considering theological precursors also. Remember that Jesus Himself was once booty; He was transported across Anatolia
to Old Hattusa, after the Judean uprising.’

‘Ah,’ Hastayar said. ‘And it did Him no harm in the end, did it? Now He can lead us all on a new journey, into the sunlight. The people may not follow me, but they will
certainly follow Jesus.’ She nodded at Himuili. ‘You’ve found a smart young man in that one, General.’

Arnuwanda demanded, ‘And, if we move – where, in the name of Teshub?’

Hastayar regarded her nephew slyly ‘Where would
you
suggest, Prince?’

‘We have a whole empire, much of which is south of New Hattusa. I suppose anywhere to the south would be preferable.’

‘And if we went beyond the empire?’

Arnuwanda goggled, clearly out of his depth. ‘Beyond?’

‘Egypt,’ Angulli said. ‘What about Egypt? We could go to the grain, rather than have the grain come to us. We could live in the sun on the banks of their great river, whose
waters, as you know, never fail, even in the worst drought.’

Himuili nodded. ‘Egypt is the key, I agree with you there. But even if we succeeded in taking it from the Muslims we would be vulnerable to attack from the rest of their domains, which are
pretty extensive as you know, sir.
And
there would be the Carthaginians to deal with, who want the grain for themselves. We would step off the boat and immediately be under attack on two
fronts, east and west, which is a poor deal militarily. Sir.’

‘Then where, man? Don’t drag it out. Where?’

Himuili deferred to Hastayar.

And she said: ‘
Carthage
. We go to Carthage. All of us, every Hatti who can walk or ride or swim. We fight a monumental war, and we drive those pagan camel-traders out of their own
city, and we establish a new kingdom in the name of Jesus Sharruma. And then we take Egypt at our leisure.’

Arnuwanda said, ‘And the empire?’

‘The whole of the empire,’ Hastayar said coldly, ‘will serve as a buffer between the new capital and whatever savagery comes out of the freezing north, while we make our
escape.’

There was a stunned silence.

‘It’s insane,’ blurted Tiwatapara.

‘It’s magnificent!’ cried Angulli, and he half-stood and raised his cup. ‘More wine, boy. I say, more wine! For tomorrow we will be warming our feet in the smoking ruins
of Carthage itself.’ And, overcome, he fell back, tipping over his chair. Guards rushed to his aid, and the gathering broke up in confusion.

While the chaos inside the pavilion was sorted out, Kassu waited outside, in snow that was gathering despite the efforts of frantically sweeping slaves.

At last Himuili came striding out, blowing on his hands. ‘Shut up,’ he said, before Kassu could say a word. ‘Listen to me, soldier. You asked for my advice. Far be it for me to
lecture you on the state of your marriage. My two previous wives will assure you I’m no expert on
that
. I’ll tell you this, though. Our laws on marriage here in Hattusa, and our
customs too, are pretty civilised, at least compared to some shitholes I’ve fought in. The Germans, for instance – well, never mind.
Civilised
– you know what that means,
man? Liberal. Practical. Fair to all parties.

‘Having said that, and I consulted a lawyer friend, I can tell you this. You do have a right to prosecute your wife and her lover for their adultery. If you can gather the evidence, and
since they both seem to be admitting it that won’t be a problem, you’ll secure a conviction. And then you’ll be able to request the sentence.’ He said this last heavily,
emphasising every word. ‘For that is the way we Hatti do things. And you know what the maximum is, don’t you? Tell me, man.’

‘Death. For either of them—’

‘Shut up. No. Not for either.
For both
. Both or neither, and that’s the law. If you want to punish your wife for spreading her legs for this Jesus-chaser – well,
that’s up to you, but he goes with her. If you want to take revenge on him – fine, that’s your choice. But you can’t keep her, you lose her too. Understood? Good. Shut
up.

‘Now here’s the next thing.’ He moved subtly closer to Kassu; he smelled of leather, woodsmoke, the expensive wine he’d been drinking with the queen. ‘Here’s
why I’m bothering to speak to the likes of you on such a day as this. No matter what you may think of Palla, and I tend to agree with you that he’s a horny little bastard who needs his
arse kicking, I dragged your sorry weight along with us today because I wanted you to see what he can do. Do you understand?

‘First of all there was the Rus. I can tell you this, it’s Palla who’s been the leader among the priests in our dealings with them. He’s worth ten of that flabby drunken
fool Angulli. And then this business of the great walk. As soon as I floated the idea, he was immediately able to come up with the analogy with Jesus. He’s a sharp man, for all his mild looks
– a man who knows how to use his religion for the good. I think he could be priceless in the months, the years to come.
But
you have his life in your hands, and he knows it.

‘I understand how you feel. Well, I don’t, it’s never happened to me. You want him dead. And you know what –
I
want him dead, in a way. Cheating on a serving
soldier is despicable. But look, Kassu, you’ve done your duty in the past. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Not just in the lines, but taking on your farm too. If we had a thousand like
you maybe we wouldn’t have to move at all. Now I’m asking you to think about your duty again, before you decide what to do about the priest.’ He stepped back. ‘All right?
Good man.’ He clapped Kassu on the shoulder, and turned to walk back to the pavilion.

Kassu had to ask one question. ‘Sir – will the walk happen? Will we leave Hattusa? Has it been decided?’

Himuili looked back at him. ‘Ah. If we don’t have to walk you’ll be free to get the priest topped. Is that what you’re thinking? We resolved to wait until the
spring. If it looks like a good season, we’ll stay and make the best of it. If it’s bad . . .’ He grinned. ‘I suppose Palla will be praying to Jesus for the snow. Now get on
with it.’