Authors: Craig Gehring
“Yes, lord,” said Tomy. He bowed, then maintained his position, head downturned.
“You may go, now. Do not fail me.”
Tomy left the hut.
“An amazing young man,” said Manassa. It was a comment that Nockwe did not answer. He had not yet been recognized by the throne.
This amused Manassa. It had been quite easy to revive the old traditions. There was a time when the Onge were more than a mere speck on the map. Their economic model of hunting had given them some fine warriors, and at one time in the distant past their “empire” had actually stretched
through
Sri Lanka
to the southern
tip of the Indi
an mainland. At that time, the Onge
had advanced into a centralized feudalism, complete with roughshod court. Manassa drew on th
eir
history to
show his people their future
. Nockwe seemed to know his ancient role and played the part ably enough.
“Nockwe,” said Manassa. “Give me your brief.”
“Yes, lord,” said Nockwe. He turned his eyes up to face his people’s god. “All goes as you have foreseen. The gardens are full now with the nectar plants. We have two hundred fifty-six plants. We have twenty liters of the sap and are now producing five liters per day. The replanting experiment continues, with favorable results and four of five surviving thus far. Your personal lab will be complete tonight as an adjunct to the temple, accessible from your sleeping quarters.” The chieftain effortlessly rattled off the facts.
“Very well.” Manassa was impressed with Nockwe’s easy command of the numbers.
Manassa
knew it was Nockwe’s administrative talents, not his skill with the spear,
which
had made him so popular with the people. Unfortunately, the Onge method of choosing rulers elim
in
ated all but the warriors. For the first time in over a century, a warrior-administrator had the helm. “Continue,” prompted Manassa.
“We have fifty warriors trained in the lightness and battle-ready. We have
twenty-five more under training, and
four hundred more warriors ready to begin training at your command.
At this rate, it will take three months
.”
“For every ten warriors you have trained, you may train four more at once. You must be done in a month. Time is an enemy far worse than any potential dissent,” said Manassa.
“As you wish, my lord,” acknowledged Nockwe with a respectful nod.
Manassa did not want any more trainees armed with the lightness than he felt he could control.
“Continue,” said Manassa.
“The inner circle is also fully formed. I recommend that you assign Lock to lead it.”
“Lock?” asked Manassa.
“The late Tien’s brother. He would do an admirable job, and could report to you. Though he was trained under the medicine man, he is most loyal.”
Manassa didn’t hesitate. “You will do it,” said Manassa. “You will lead my inner circle of priests.” Manassa gauged Nockwe’s reaction. The chieftain’s face
remained
placid,
but even outside the trance Manassa sensed
with much conflict behind
Nockwe’s
near-black eyes. “Do you not wish to do so?”
“My lord…” Nockwe breathed deeply and gathered his thoughts. “It is not that I do not wish to. It is the ultimate in opportunity…I wish only to serve you and the tribe. It is only that I fear that I should fail you if I were to stretch myself too thin. To run the tribe in the coming months will become a formidable challenge in and of itself. Your security and your vision are of course the tribe’s most important assets. And the tribe is key to your vision coming true. I feel I cannot ably handle all of it.”
Manassa sat down in his throne. Nockwe knelt. “You will do it. You will have assistants, you will organize it, but you will do it. I have foreseen it,” said Manassa.
Nockwe must gain a religious significance to the people, or he will become worthless to me. His wise words will fall upon deaf ears; a single priest of my inner circle will hold more
sway than the great chieftain.
Nockwe acquiesced after consideration. He did a good job of burying his frustration. “Yes, lord,” said Nockwe. “As you wish.”
“Please see to it. And continue your brief.”
“The tribe is 1,163 -” said Nockwe.
“I thought it 1,162.”
“We had a birth,” said Nockwe.
“Very well. We need more of those. Encourage it whatever way you can.”
“Yes, lord. We have food stores for three months. As your messenger reported, we have guns right now for only twenty warriors. We have seven cars, with a total capacity of thirty-five soldiers. Two are larger vehicles, vans.”
“This must be remedied immediately,” said Manassa.
I need more resources.
“Tomy is working on it, but now you must remedy it as well. There is no use in training our warriors with weapons they don’t have, or educating them in the culture of the Wes
t without giving them the sword
point that won Westerners their culture. We must have at least five hundred guns, at minimum. Two thousand of different types would be best, but not necessary at this time. Small handguns all the way up to semi-automatic rifles. Armor if you can find it. These are things we’ll need to find in Sri Lanka. There are only so many of these on the island.”
Manassa paced a bit, then leaned against the arm of his throne. “Start a forward post in Sri Lanka,” Manassa ordered.
“Yes, lord.”
“Is there anything else you have to report?” asked Manassa.
“Not at this time, my lord.”
“Very well. I have a question for you, then,” said Manassa.
Nockwe’s body tensed.
Yes, he senses it.
“You helped Edward, you warned him.” It wasn’t really a question.
Nockwe’s tired eyes shot wide, but he did not otherwise move. He was speechless.
“In all things the chieftain serves the tribe,” said Manassa. “I do not think you served the tribe in this. Are you no longer chieftain?”
Nockwe’s mouth opened and closed. There was nothing he could say.
“Explain your motives, Nockwe.”
“In all things I do serve the tribe. But this was not out of service, but of honor. I am a loyal man
. I felt that since he saved my life, I should at least give him warning.”
“Warning of what?”
Nockwe locked eyes with Manassa. “Of his impending death.”
Manassa could not deny it, so he didn’t take it up anymore. “Tell me, Nockwe, do you owe favors to any more outsiders? Does your honor call you to help any more white men?”
Nockwe maintained his composure. “An important question, Manassa. My debt with Edward is discharged. I only serve the tribe and have always served the tribe.”
“You realize you may have created quite a setback,” said Manassa.
“I did not think that I did anything that you did not already foresee and plan for.”
Actually, Manassa hadn’t seen it. The idea that Nockwe would do such a thing was totally foreign to him. Manassa toyed again with the idea of getting rid of Nockwe. He’d been working it over in his mind for the past day.
I am spread too thin
, already
. The chieftain is smart, loyal. By his actions, he is unique in that he does not buy into my godhood, and yet does not neglect my power
. He does serve the tribe; in this he’s utterly predictable. I understand what he did with Edward
.
Manassa’s thoughts turned to the opposite end of the spectrum. Perhaps he could awaken Nockwe with the drug, as he had done with Edward.
I could trust him more than that white man. That white man has too many crazy ideas in his head, ideas I didn’t even know about until after I gave him the drug. I had not yet grown up
, that week ago
.
Manassa’s tired mind drifted briefly back to his decision with Edward. It had indeed been a stupid mistake, but one he would let ride. In ten
more
days, Edward might have the cure for the after-pain. If not, maybe Manassa could eventually come up with it himself.
Manassa
just didn’t have t
he time;
he’d have to study, he’d have to work on it, and there was so much more he needed to accomplish. It would just waste precious trances, and he had to make every single one of them count. Just with the
power of the
drug in its present form he had much too small an infrastructure and organization. There was hardly any reason he should spend
his own
time working on the drug’s
improvement.
At first, Manassa
had considered just giving Edward the lightness by administering the substance orally. He may have died, then, though, and not been able to work on the after-pain.
With the after-pain gone, I really would be more the god…right now, all my motions limited by just one trance a day…so long as Edward doesn’t turn on me, it’s worth the risk.
“
Are there not more Edwards? Do you want me to get you another
?” asked Nockwe.
Manassa remembered he was still in audience with Nockwe
, a very tense Nockwe who thought he might meet death in this confrontation. He felt so
disconnected
recently, his mind shifting into and out of the problems and threats at hand. The present held so little threat compared to the future. Manassa was in the present and he was not. He dismissed Nockwe’s query with a wave of his hand. He’d made his decision. “Edward still works for me. If he stops, I can put others in his place. It is your loyalty that I need much more than a white man’s research. I feel after talking to you tonight that I have it. I have a question for you, though.
Why do you wish to see my vision through?” asked Manassa.
“You are the living god, Manassa,” said Nockwe. Manassa looked around the hut, ensuring they were alone.
“Don’t give me this
kcleyp
,” said the living god, using a choice Onge expletive. “It is important that everyone else believe that, this is true. But you don’t. There is no need for you to. You may never say this to another being, nor even speak like this to me outside of this temple, even when alone, but you and I both know I am no living god.”
Nockwe’s face was
again
frozen.
He looked more threatened than before.
Manassa could tell the chief did not know how to react.
Good.
Manassa continued. “Except, of course, to the degree that I can exalt our tribe. And in that sense, you could be a living god, too. I would be not a god but a madman to believe otherwise.”
Nockwe knelt. “My god, I do not -”
“Nockwe! Stop it! Get up! Stop it! Say it. Say ‘Manassa is Mahanta, and neither are living gods, except by their deeds.’ And quit all this religious
kcleyp
when we meet in seclusion. Say it!”
“Manassa is Mahanta,” Nockwe began to say, carefully. Every muscle in his body appeared tense, as though he might flee the temple at any second.
He stopped.
“SAY IT!!!”
screamed Manassa.
“And neither are liv
ing gods, except by their deeds,
”
Nockwe finished quietly.
Manassa let a silence ride the air between them before he spoke again. “It is a cruel trick, our legends, to deny men their opportunity at godhood, their opportunity to become heroes, by painting anyone with real power as coming down from the heavens or being born of hell,” said Manassa.
Manassa stepped down
close and rested his hands on Nockwe’s shoulders
. “Nockwe, if I am ever recorded in our oral histories as a living god, so will you be. We
need religion on our side, to keep our men and women disciplined and their morale high. But we would be fools, as the generals of our army, to think of it as anything more than that. The only
divinities
we have on our sides are our wits
,
made in the Great Thinker’s image
,
and our able bodies
,
which were ultimately created by He who is Unmoved. Things will only go right when you make them to go right, not because you have me on your side.”
“Yes, my lord,” said Nockwe.
“Yes, my chieftain,” echoed Manassa, imitating the form with a familiar smile. “Now answer this question, without your
kcleyp
. Why do you wish to see my vision through?”
“For the good of the tribe, my lord. It is the natural order of things. Just as the most fit must rule the tribe, so it is with the world. With this nectar of yours,
the tribe
can soon be the most fit. Our tribe deserves prosperity.