The Last Sundancer (52 page)

Kaichen grunted in agreement, knowing that
the men that led the raiders would have to die and yet, there had already been too much death.

“Take his life and you will have the power that resides within him.” These were the first words that Tonaka had spoken and Kaichen realized that he taunted his brother.  Ni’zin raised his chin at the challenge. 

Kaichen did not expect Ni’zin to take action without waiting for his response. 

Before
Tamol and Farren could agree or disagree to Ni’zin’s challenge the man ran forward, moving like a dark shadow only to slam into Kaichen.  

Almost at
once, the man was upon him, slashing upward with the blade of his knife, seeking the vulnerable places that would accept the force of his knife thrust.

Kaichen instinctively blocked the thrust of Ni’zin’s knife by catching the man’s wrist between both of his hands even as they fell. 
He rolled to lessen the impact upon his body. 

Ni’zin stunned Kaichen by ramming his open palm against
his throat.  The blow could have been fatal if Ni’zin’s hand had remained clenched around his knife.  Kaichen forced his body to respond, even as he gasped for air.

Tonaka
and Ni’zin’s men began to cheer, despite their fallen companions and they watched in silent anticipation as Ni’zin regained his feet.  Tonaka threw a spear to Ni’zin, heeding the call of his outstretched hand. 

Kaichen’s spear had been knocked away during battle.  He boldly stared up into the face of death and with a roar of denial he leapt forward. 

He swept Ni’zin’s feet out from under him with a move taught to him by Azin.  As Ni’zin fell, Kaichen sprang to his feet with Ni’zin’s spear held firmly within his grasp.  Just as Kaichen threw himself forward to land a killing blow Tamol’s shouted words broke through the red haze clouding his vision.

“Do not kill him, he is your uncle!”

Tamol
hoped that his words would resonate with Kaichen.  He could see that the younger man was in a killing rage.  Any man that moved forward to stop Kaichen’s forward progress would likely find himself impaled upon his spear. 

Kaichen deflected his blow at the last minute, forcing
the spear into the hardened ground.  Ni’zin rose swiftly and spun to face Kaichen. Tonaka stepped forward to stand at the side of Ni’zin.

“You are the image of
our dead brother.” Ni’zin’s eyes were cold and his gaze held a chill that Kaichen understood with a glance.

Shared blood did not matter to
these men. He knew in an instant that both men had known that he was the son of their brother and yet neither had backed down from the fight. 

They were willing and eager to take his life. 
 

Kaichen had a hard time
reconciling the sight of Ni’zin and Tonaka standing before him.  The two men were the lost brothers of Shale, his father.  The depth of their depravity was fathomless and chilling.

“I am Kaichen,
the son of your brother.” Kaichen did not speak his father’s name as he spoke for himself, standing to his full height.   He did not need to turn and face Tamol and Farren to take notice of their reaction.  His bond with both men was visceral and intrinsic, it was as if he knew what Tamol and Farren were thinking before they gathered their thoughts to speak. Kaichen thought that his father must have felt the same kinship that lived within him now.

Kaichen
felt no such bond with Ni’zin and Tonaka, the brothers of his father.  Kaichen did not react to the announcement that the men standing before him were closely related by blood ties. 

His face remained impassive and carefully blank.  Yet
, his mind spun wildly about as he tried to remember the stories of his father as told to him by his mother.

Kaichen looked between both me
n.  Tonaka’s face showed the most recent signs of age, but Ni’zin was not a young man. 

Both men were solidly built
, just as he was, but that was where their similarities ended.  The desire for peace did not reside inside of either man.  The hope for a life lived upon the land was not in them.  They sought only to pillage, plunder and kill.  This was their decision and it was by this choice that they lived out their lives taking from others.

“
The Sundancer recreated. Ni’zin. Tonaka.  Brothers all. Standing together again, but forever apart.” Antuk’s voice rang out, causing all eyes to turn his way.

“What nonsense does this large one speak?” Ni’zin growled in a voice barely audible.

“The Sundancer will not stand for this slight.  The Sundancer will defeat you and send you running naked across the low plains.” Antuk spun his knife in his hand and replaced it as if it were no longer necessary.  The many weapons that he carried jostled with sound as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“Sundancer?” Ni’zin’s laughed cruelly.  “Does
the Sundancer still live in the stories of your people?”

“I honor my father’s memory.” Kaichen
voice was filled with carefully controlled anger, even as he spoke. 

Ni’zin was silent for a long moment as he held Kaichen’s unflagging stare. 
Tamol eyed both men even as he pressed his hand over his wounded thigh.  The injury had reopened during battle.  Farren simply stared at the raiders but his hand never left his weapon and his gaze did not waver. 

“I will order my men to fight to the death.” Ni’zin’s words were thrown down as a challenge. 
Tonaka stood with him, silent and unmoving but ready to fight no matter the outcome.

Kaichen took in the situation that they faced. 
Because of those that had fallen in battle, they outnumbered Ni’zin and Tonaka’s men and even though they offered them a way out, the offer was not readily taken.  He considered what he knew about the leaders of the raiders, despite their shared blood. 

Ni’zin and Tonaka were
like predators of the land, they fed upon weakness and fear.  What would they do if faced with a show of united strength? With calm certainty, Kaichen realized that Antuk had given him the answer.  

“
If you give that order, then know that you will fight and die upon land that was never yours to claim or to take for yourself. You will not be allowed to die with honor.  We will make certain that you die screaming in agony, begging for your last breath.” Kaichen was in complete control as he spoke for those that had fought at his side, united as one. “Leave this land behind forever and do not return. Do not show your face again.  You will not be given a chance to fight for your life and we will not show mercy.  Leave now or we will slay any man that stands against us and leave your bodies for the animals of the land to feast upon.”

Farren threw his
spear upon the ground where it landed at the feet of Ni’zin and Tonaka. 

“What are you doing?” Tamol wanted to see Ni’zin and Tonaka dead upon the ground.  They did not deserve to live when his son had been killed.

“Your son would have wanted an end to this battle.  Vengeance will not return life to his body, no matter how much you wish that it was so.” Farren spoke to Tamol in the way of men that had been friends throughout their lives.  He shared Tamol’s grief and anger, but the death of the men standing before them would only place more blood upon their hands.  Tamol warred within himself for a time, shouting in grief before he threw his own spear at Ni’zin and Tonaka’s feet. 

Farren and Tamol were
in agreement with Kaichen’s words, though both men wanted to avenge Pele’s death.  There would not be any further discussion on their part.  They stood with Kaichen, united.

Ni’zin and Tonaka
were silent long enough to cause tension to mount between the armed men that faced each other.  Their response would mean the difference between life and death for their men. 

Without a backward glance,
first Tonaka and then Ni’zin turned away, leading the few men that remained with them.

Soon they were outside of the reach of spear
s, knives and arrows.  Soon the men known as the old enemy were mere shadows upon the land and then they were no more.

“Kaichen.” Amara swayed for a moment and then she was in his arms
.  She had no memory of moving, but she must have run forward.  Kaichen held her firmly as he breathed in the scent of her hair and she pressed her lips along the line of his jaw. 

Amara made a sound of
joy and Kaichen held her tighter, despite the shallow wounds that bled freely upon his arms, chest and legs. 

“Hush, little one.” Kaichen kissed the top of Amara’s head as she shuddered in his arms. 

“You are bleeding.  Let me see to your wounds.” Amara’s clever hands were quick to wash and clean her husband’s injuries. 

Kaichen had thrown
himself into battle with a single-minded purpose and any man that stood against him soon fell under the slice of his knife or the thrust of his spear.  For a time, he lost himself in the fight against men that sought to cause harm.  It was a fight that they should have lost. 

At first,
Ni’zin and Tonaka’s men had the advantage, but Tamol and Farren had changed the course of the battle.  Ni’zin’s raiders did not expect men that were harvesters of the land to rise up and fight.  Tamol and Farren’s men were harvesters and hunters, but today they had become something more.  Warriors.

Amara wept openly as Kaichen tried his best to assure her that he was well.  It was only Antuk’s voice that caused the tears to cease and a smile to blossom.

“If you use up all of your tears, when will we have rain again?  Cloud Bringing Woman should not be so wasteful.” Antuk chided as he stared at Amara in consternation. 

Amara laughed, even as
her tears continued to fall.  She hastily wiped her face upon the garment that Antuk handed her as he watched her in expectation. 

“It is good.” Antuk proclaimed. 

Kaichen saw the smiling faces of his people and he heard the shouts of victory from the men that had fought with him.  He remembered those that had stood at his back to protect him from the blow of their enemy.  He remembered those that had fallen never to rise again. 

“Like the coils of a clay pot, time has circled back upon itself and set right the wrongs of long ago.” Antuk’s words were meant for Kaichen, but Denoa heard him as well and she grew still and silent. 

The people settled in where they were, building up a fire and carrying away those that had fallen in battle.  Kaichen spent a quiet moment with Tamol and his sons as they carefully tended to Pele’s body. 

“Your loss, is my loss.  In the death of your son, I have lost a man that I would have been glad to call brother.” Kaichen’s voice brimmed with intensity. 

“I have taken another son, to stand in the place of the one that died with honor.” Tamol claimed Kaichen, though his words were spoken from deep within his chest and grief had etched new lines upon his weathered face.

Kaichen
expected anger from Pele’s brothers and he expected shattering grief from Tamol.  The men circled him, placing their hands upon his head as they spoke in low tones.

“I am
Chaska, younger brother to the one that lies before us.” Chaska did not speak Pele’s name.  “You are now my brother.”

“
I am Ayolt, the eldest of Tamol’s sons and you are now my brother.” Ayolt clasped Kaichen’s wrist with strength born of grief, but there was respect and the offer of friendship in his strong grasp.

Kaichen could not speak.  He could not find his voice in the face of the unexpected acceptance given to him by
Tamol and his sons.  He could not find words to express his appreciation for Pele’s sacrifice.

“
The men that have fallen in battle will be honored by several days of mourning.  Even now, they have been prepared for the journey ahead.  The men that died will rest with their ancestors, soon their songs will be sung over the fire, never to be forgotten.  However, the time for grief is not now.” Antuk’s words brought all eyes toward him.  “We have defeated the old enemy by standing together.  Have you no victory dance to show honor to those that have fallen?”  

A feeling of overwhelming victory surged through
the throng of men.  Kaichen was swept up in the celebration that came from those that were reunited with their families. 

He took in the natural progression from joyful singing, to the thrilling beat of the drum
which stirred the blood and called to each person. Soon the men began to dance, the steps were known to all, given to them by their father’s and the men that had walked before them.   Kaichen’s spirit grew restless and he could no longer deny the fire that burned within him.

All eyes turned to Kaichen as he took up the steps of the dance alongside those that he called brother and friend. 
Tamol and his sons were the first to dance in thanksgiving and victory.  They swept Kaichen along with them.  Only Antuk’s words drew Kaichen away from the fire.