The smell made his mouth water and his belly clench. He looked up, and saw hungry looks on all the faces. Now the upper side was stiff and dull—dry, and browning. He hoped he'd put enough tallow on the rock, He slid a thin twig under it, and it lifted. He got his fingers on it—hot!—and flipped it to Ivis. Ivis broke it in pieces—each man had a small bite—and then it was gone. But if his fighting had gotten their respect, this had gotten their interest.
"I thought you were a farmer, not a cook," said Ivis.
"My wife was sick a lot, that last few years." Gird gestured at the bowl. "May I give my son that?"
Ivis nodded. "Of course. It's fair; he had none of the hearthcake itself." Pidi grinned and began cleaning the batter from the bowl with busy fingers and agile tongue. "But tell us—what do we need?"
Gird thought about it. "Millstones—we can use this, but we can't carry it along, not if the foresters come here. But we can put millstones in another place, if you have a particular place."
"Where I came from, we all had to use the lord's mill," said Ivis.
Gird shrugged. "That was the rule for us, too, but most of us had handmills at home. Always had. The lord's mill was a day's journey away—we had no time for that. And then if you did go, you'd have to wait while he ground someone else's, and might not get your own back. Anyway, we can have millstones for hand milling—it'll take time, is the main thing. We can't have bread every day. Tallow, we need, and a bit of honey if it's available. Salt—I brought some with me, but we'll need more—"
"There's a salt lick downstream a bit," said Cob. "I can show you."
"And if we want lightbread, we'll need a starter. Do you ever get milk?"
"D'you think we live in a great town market, where we can buy whatever we like?" asked Triga.
From the tone of the response, others were as tired of Triga's complaints as Gird was. Gird waited until the others had spoken, then said "No, but I think you're not so stupid as you act." Cob grinned. Triga, predictably, scowled. Gird turned back to Ivis. "How long have you lived out here?"
"Me? A hand of years—five long winters. Artha's been here longer, but most don't stay that long. They move on, or they die."
"You've done well, on beans and grain."
"There's more in the summer. We find herbs, do a little hunting, rob a hive once a year—no one wants to do it more, with all the stings we get. We do get milk sometimes, when we venture in close to a farmstead. Not all of us, o' course. Milk, cheese, trade honey or herbs for a bit of cloth . . ."
Cloth, in fact, was one of the hardest things to come by. Gird, remembering his mother's hours at the loom, and the value of each furl, did not wonder at this. To share food was one thing; to share the product of personal skill was another. The outlaws had learned to tan the hides of beasts they hunted—"Stick 'em in an oak stump that's rotted and got water in it"—but good leather took more than that; many of the hides rotted, or came out too brittle to use for clothing.
As he listened to Ivis and Cob, and thought about all that this group needed, he thought back to his sergeant's comments about the importance of supply. Soldiers did not grow their own food, or raise their own flocks, or build their own shelters—this, so they could have the time to practice soldiering. But these men would have to do it themselves. Could they do that, and learn to be soldiers as well?
The next morning, Gird realized that the others were all looking to him for leadership, and not only in military training.
"Do we work on drill before breakfast, or after?" asked Ivis.
"After," said Gird, to give himself time. His clothes were still damp; he turned them over and hoped the morning sun would dry them. Then he eyed the trees, and realized it would be a long time before the sun came into the clearing. Breakfast was another cold mess of soaked grain. Gird was already tired of it. He was spoiled, he supposed, by having had a wife and daughter with a parrion for herbs and cooking. Pidi leaned against him as he ate, and Gird put an arm around him. He wished he could have left the boy with Mali's brother—he was really too young for this. Fori sat on Gird's other side, carefully not leaning, but clearly nervous among so many strangers.
"Do you have a plan beyond training us?" asked Cob. Gird glanced at Ivis, who seemed interested but not antagonistic.
"When Diamod first came to our village," Gird said, "he wanted to learn soldiering. Wanted me to teach all of you. I thought he meant
you
had a plan—whoever your leader was."
"We've tried things," Ivis said. "And the other groups—I know they have. Captured a guards' store house, one did, and burned it out, but that brought more guards, and they took prisoners—finally killed them. Robbed a few traders, but that's—we don't like to be brigands; that's not what we're here for."
"And that is?"
Diamod leaped into the discussion. "We've got to be the peasant's friend—free the peasants, somehow, from the lords—"
"That won't happen!" Triga stamped his foot in emphasis. "There's always been lords and peasants. But if we can make them understand they have to be fair—"
"Now
that
is what will never happen." Cob stamped both feet. "Lords be fair indeed! They wouldn't know how, and why should they? Nay, 'slong as we've got the lords over us, they'll do their best to keep us down, and take every bit they can. Does the farmer leave the sheep half a fleece, or feed a cow and not milk her?"
"A
good
farmer leaves the beasts alive and healthy," muttered another man. Gird could tell this was an old argument, comfortable in their mouths as their tongues were. He knew its byways as well, having heard them all in his own village. He cleared his throat, and to his surprise they all quieted and looked at him.
"You have no plan," he said, as if musing. "One wants to teach the lords how to rule, and another wants to end their rule, and I suppose some of you would like to go and live peacefully far away, if you could."
"Aye—" More than one voice answered him.
"I used to think," Gird went on, "that it was best to work hard and live within the lords' laws. That if a man worked hard enough, honestly enough, everything would be right in the end. That's what my father taught me, and times I did other than he said, we all suffered for it. I determined to follow his advice, and trust he was right. But I was wrong." He paused, and looked around. Pidi was trembling a little in the arc of his arm; Fori's face was set. The others watched him closely, and did not move. "I told you a little—about my daughter and her husband—but not all that led me here. It began long before, and over the years I built a wall of the stones I swallowed—stones of anger and stones of sorrow. A wall to keep myself at peace, and safety within—and it did not work." He ran a hand through his thinning hair, and scrubbed his beard. "I don't know if any law is fair, but the law the lords put on us is not fair, and no man can live safe under it. I don't know if all the lords are alike, but some of 'em—Kelaive, for one—are not only greedy, but cruel. They like to hurt people; they like to see people suffer. Such men cannot rule wisely, or fairly. And when such men rule, no one can live an honest life." He drew a long breath, gave Pidi a squeeze, and then pushed him gently away. He could not say what he was going to say, with his arm around his youngest child.
"I have taken that wall down," Gird said. "Those stones—those stones I will throw at our enemies. Those stones, which I bring to this circle—because the Lady herself cannot give us peace unless we drive off the alien lords who rule us."
"But we can't," said Triga. "We are too few—"
"Now, in this place, yes: we are too few. But there are more farmers than lords, more servants than lords. Few have joined you, as I did not join you, because they too think we are too few. They do not wish more trouble than they have. But if we can show success, they will come. I'm sure of it."
"Yes!" Cob stamped his feet again. "Yes, you're right. Gird's right," he said to the others. Most were nodding, smiling, clearly pleased with what Gird had said. And Gird, putting his arm around Pidi again, wondered if he could possibly perform what they were sure he had promised.
Serious planning began after a short review of yesterday's drill. He had realized that the clearing was really too small and too cluttered for serious drill; he could not march his two lines of ten five steps without someone having to step over or around a log or stone. And in the noise they made while drilling, a squad of mounted guards could have ridden up on them without anyone noticing.
"Do you have anyone out looking for foresters?" he asked Ivis.
"Usually someone goes downstream, and someone goes upstream," Ivis scratched his jaw and looked thoughtful. "We use stone clicks for signals. But today everyone wanted to hear what you said." In other words, Gird thought, just when it was most dangerous, they had no guard set. That would have to change.
"What about at night?"
"No, no one goes out at night. The foresters don't travel at night."
"But—" He wondered how far to go. Would Ivis be angry? It had to be said. "At night, you could see the glow of their fire—smell smoke or cooking food—and be warned."
"I suppose." Ivis didn't look eager to wander the forest at night; Gird could understand that. But Diamod had seemed to like sneaking about the village—maybe he could. He glanced at Diamod, who smiled brightly. He still did not understand Diamod, and he wondered if he ever would. The other men seemed to feel the way he felt—would have felt, if he'd left home under any other circumstances, he reminded himself. They were here because they had to be. But Diamod seemed to be enjoying himself.
"Someone should go out now, and be sure no foresters are coming," he said to Ivis. Ivis nodded, but did nothing. "Who will you send?" Gird asked.
"Me? But you're—"
"Do you
want
me to take over as leader? Is that what you're saying?"
Ivis sat silent a long moment, his face somber. Then he looked Gird in the face. "I haven't done much," he said. "Just tried to keep them together—talk to farmers about food—but I don't
feel
like a leader. I never did. They started listening to me after Rual died, but I never wanted it. They're used to me, but you'll do better."
"It's not something you and I should decide," Gird said, almost before he thought it. "If this is about fairness, and ruling fairly, then they should have a say."
"Triga will quarrel," said Ivis. Gird shrugged.
"Let him quarrel. He won't do more; he didn't like landing on the ground." He looked around at the others, now lounging around the clearing in the attitudes of men trying to hear a private conversation without seeming to listen. "Ivis and I were talking," he began, not raising his voice. They edged closer. "He asked me if I wanted to be leader."
"You! We don't even know you," Triga said. Predictable, Gird thought. He's so predictable.
"Quiet now—you can argue later." He put a bite into his voice, and Triga subsided. The others were attentive; he could not tell if they approved or not. "Ivis—do you want to tell them what you said to me?"
Ivis swallowed, gulped, and finally repeated most of what he'd said. "I think he'd be a good leader," he finished. "He's strong, and he has a plan. And he knows more than just soldiering. I'd rather follow him."
"And I," said Cob quickly, giving Gird a wide grin. "I want to learn how to fight like that."
"Yes," said some of the others, and "Gird—let's have Gird." Triga was obstinately silent until everyone else had spoken. They all looked at him, and he turned red.
"Come on, Trig," said Cob. "You know you want to—it's just your stubbornness."
"What if he's a spy?" Triga said. "How do we know he isn't a guard in disguise?"
"I'm not that stupid!" Diamod glared at him. "I was in his village: I met his friends. They told me a lot—" He gave Gird a long look, steady and measuring. "A lot about his past. They couldn't all have been lying. He's a farmer and a farmer's son, and if you think he's not, you can argue it with me. Knife to knife."
"Enough," Gird said. "We can't be spilling each other's blood over little quarrels, if we want to fight a war. Triga, d'you think Diamod's lying?"
"No." It was a sulky no.
"Do you think
I
am? I'll have no one in my army that thinks I'm a liar." He felt ridiculous, speaking of an army when what he had was twenty ragged, hungry, untrained men and one boy, but he saw the others straighten a little. If coward was a word to make men flinch and bend, maybe army was a word to straighten their backs and make them proud. He saw Triga's face change, as he realized that he might actually be thrown out of the group. Fear and anger contended; fear won.
"No—I don't think you're lying." Slightly less sulky, and somewhat worried.
"These others agreed to have me as their leader—do you?" He kept his eyes locked on Triga's; he could feel the struggle in the man.
"I suppose. For awhile. We can see." Cob and Diamod looked angry, but Gird shook his head.
"That's fair. You don't completely trust me, but you're willing to give me a chance." Triga's jaw dropped in surprise; he had been braced for an argument. Gird looked around at the others. "I told Ivis I would not take the leadership on his word alone. You have all chosen, as you have a right to do—and I thank Triga for trusting as far as he can. None of us can do more than that."
The others sat back, their expressions ranging from puzzled to satisfied. Triga said nothing, but looked as if he were chewing on a new idea.
"Now, we need to send out watchers, to let us know if anyone comes. Ivis says you usually had two; I'd like to send four—two of you, and my son Pidi and my nephew Fori. They need to learn the forest."
"It's my turn," said Ivis. "And Kelin—" Kelin was a slight brownhaired man with one shoulder higher than the other. He did not quite limp when he walked, but his stride was uneven. Gird nodded.
"Pidi knows many useful herbs," he said. "My daughter taught him."
Kelin grinned. "Then let him come with me: all I know is flybane and firetouch. And sometimes I miss firetouch until I'm already itching."