They were almost ready to go out − after a three week honeymoon, if what he had just been through could be called a honeymoon, when she realized she had never learned − “My Husband, you have never told me, what is to be my new name?”
He looked down on her, rubbed the fur on her shoulders. “I have decided to call you ‘Constantina’ − my faithful one.” He took her hand and they walked out of the room together.
”Where is everyone?” Amandus asked, looking around. The courtyard was full, but it was of Farmers and Dwarves.
One of the Farmers hurried up to them. //My Lord,// he said, in Farmer, “we were told to tell you, when you emerged, that they have begun the great hunt. My Lord told me to tell you that you can either command here or join the hunt, at your pleasure.//
//Well,// said Amandus, struggling to speak Farmer, //I would rather hunt.//
//Very well, my Lord,// the Farmer said, //there is a Horseboy at the gate. He came in a while ago for supplies.//
Amandus and Constantina went out the gate. “Hail, my Father,” the Horseboy said, in passable Narro34.
“Hail, lad,” Amandus replied. “How goes the hunt?”
“We still prepare, my Father. I hope that I may return in time for the beginning.”
“Excellent. We will return with you.”
“As you will, my Father. I will have much to carry. We have killed two small Beasts, and the women complain of a lack of salt and spices. So I was dispatched.” The Horseboy looked disgusted.
And Amandus said, “I am sure you will enjoy the meat more when it is properly spiced.”
“Yes, my Father,” the boy said. The stood in silence until a bevy of Farmwives came around the doorway bearing loads of sacks. While they handed some to the Horseboy, Amandus and Constantina reached out and started grabbing loads as well.
“My Father! My Mother!” the Horseboy protested.
“We will travel quicker if we share the load,” Amandus said, helping Constantina attach her load, and then standing while she loaded him. “We are ready,” he said. The Horseboy still looked doubtful, and embarrassed, but started walking his horse off toward the plains. Amandus and Constantina started off with him.
Seeing which direction he was heading, they picked up the pace, causing the Horseboy to startle and move his horse to a trot.
“So,” he said, moving over next to Amandus, “how did you miss the beginning of the hunt?”
“I just changed,” Amandus answered.
“Changed?”
“From Svømte to Spearmen. Except I was in Troll guise.”
The Horseboy’s face was a study, so Amandus explained. “I was born a Svømte. But I was helping to move convoys back and forth from the first fort, and for that it was more convenient to be in Troll form.”
“You can just move back and forth?” the Horseboy asked, “Just when you need to?”
“Well, no. Not just like that. Not between Svømte and Troll. Troll is so big. Now Seth, the Prince, he can go back and forth from Farmer to Horsemen quickly. But Svømte to Troll takes a lot of energy, more time and more food and Troll to Spearman took even more!”
“You know the Prince?”
“Oh, yes, I am −”Amandus laughed, “− or was, the Prince’s personal cook and pharmacist.”
“Wow! How did you get that job?” The tale helped pass the next few hours. Both Spearmen and Horsemen loved tales and Amandus told it well.35 Spearmen being extremely graphic people, he continued right through his recent ‘honeymoon’; his wife chuckling at several scenes, and the Horseboy looking confused and curious.
“And you, my Mother?” he said, when Amandus had finished. “Did you too start as a Jenta?”
“No. No, I am − I was just a Farmerwife.”
“Ah,” said the Horseboy. Constantina, seeing that he was modestly not going to ask any more, continued. “I have a very odd story. You see, my father was not involved in the rebellion, on either side. At least, not intentionally. But some people used him, used our house, used me, in fact, to further the aims of the rebellion and my Father went to one of the Prince’s agents and insisted that I become a ‘Hostage Wife’.
“But, why?”
“As a way of counterbalancing what had happened. And, as he explained it to me, because he was afraid that everyone that would get involved in this thing would be all political types, and he felt that there should be someone with ‘some common sense’.”
Amandus laughed, but the Horseboy just looked confused, and they ran on.
-- 35 See Island Peoples for the full tale 36 Marshwiggle female 162 Vonsbooks.com “So, you didn’t wait long to begin the hunt,” Amandus said, an hour later.
“Oh, no, we were eager to get going. Once we had finished with the oaths, we were ready to go.”
“Oaths?” Constantina asked. “What oaths?”
“A great hunt requires special oaths, because of the Wives.”
“Oh, and why is that?”
“Usually in a hunt the leader is the Husband/Father of the herd. Thus if he is killed, the herd is broken up, with each woman seeking her own Husband. It is our way. Then these women are fought over, jealously, by the surrounding herds and any free males in the area. It is a tremendous event, and it is not uncommon for one death in a hunt to lead to several more deaths in combat. These dangers are why we always have more females amongst us than males.”
Amandus nodded his head, “So what is different about a great hunt?
What oaths do you take?”
“Each hunter must swear that they shall not fight over the females, no matter who is killed. After the hunt the Master of the hunt will divide up the females of the males killed, according to how they performed in the hunt.”
“And the Master of the hunt--can he chose any for himself?”
Constantina asked.
“No, he gets the glory of the hunt. The others get the Wives.”
It was three hours later that they came over a rise and saw the first Horseman, a Horseboy. //Where is the herd?// their host called.
//The men and boys are spread out,// the Horseboy called, //but the women// he said, looking at the packs they were carrying and waving his hand toward some nearby hills//are over there.//
Without a word, the three picked up their pace. They had only one hill to go over, however, before their host spotted a Horsegirl and whistled, //Come hither, girl.// The Horsegirl looked up, startled, and came racing over.
//Packages for the women,// the Horseboy said, and unloaded his packages. He then looked ready to take off, but stopped and waited for Amandus to unload his packages as well.
//Where are the men?// he asked, //the Spearmen?//
//Over that way, I think// the Horsegirl said and, along with Camilla, rode off.
//Let’s find us some Beasts!\ the Horseboy said, to Amandus.
//Well, I think first I had better report to the Prince,\ Amandus answered. //But then I am sure you can go find some Beasts.\
It only took them a few minutes to find Prince Seth − who, in Horseman guise, was standing with the Hunt Leader and Quirinus.
//Mgwan!// Seth said, in Farmer, “My Lord,” Mgwan replied, in Spearman, grinning.
//I don’t speak that language, yet// he replied in Marshman, //Now, what do I call you?//
//Amandus, my Lord,// Mgwan replied, in Kelii, //And, I wish to thank you…// But Seth waved him off, //Did you find changing painful?//
//Very, my Lord. How is the hunt going?//
//We have not yet truly begun// the Hunt Leader said. //Or, at least, we have just begun. Your friend the Elf lad has us hunting strangely.//
//You will form part of our line// Quirinus said. //When these find a Beast, they will drive it to us; at least, if it is big enough. We have killed three small Beasts so far. The Horsemen killed two, and we found the third. It was a pleasant hunt. But we have, as yet, found no large Beast, none of what we are truly hunting. You will enjoy it when we can really hunt.//
//But, before that, I would like to talk to him// Seth said. //Come, walk with me,// he said, and he led Amandus off.
//Have you decided?// Seth asked Amandus.
//Decided?// asked Amandus, whose last few days had been rather busy.
//About the job I offered you.//
//Oh, yes, my Lord. We are both pleased with this form, and with the role that you have asked us to do. It is − very different from anything that I had thought I would be doing when I grew up, but we are all making changes, no?
And I certainly hadn’t thought I would be getting a wife so soon.//
//She pleases you?//
//Oh, yes! My Lord. And I have hopes that I please her.//
//Well, good. Now, I need to tell you that we are just about ready to finish construction on the next fort, which we have called ‘Cuspis’,…// They had been talking for nearly an hour when they saw a Horseboy galloping over a nearby hill. He saw the hunt leader and raced off toward him, arriving at the same time as Seth and Amandus.
//My Father,// he said, //we have found one, a large Beast. Even now the men and lads are gathering.//
//Lead us// Seth said, and the troop raced off, with Amandus and Quirinus struggling to keep up with the Horsemen. They came over three hills and saw the Horsemen gathering. When these saw their leader, they began to spread out. Finally Amandus, as they crested another hill, saw the Beast.
It was indeed a large one. The far side of the Horsemen line trotted far, far out around the Beast. The hunters had come up from the west, and they needed to move the Beast to the south.
After the line of Horsemen had wrapped itself around the Beast they began moving southward toward it. The Beast had been watching them for some time, lifting its head nervously, but then returning to its grazing. As one of the largest animals on the plain, it probably wasn’t used to being hunted, but it still didn’t seem very happy.
Seth and Amandus were close to the middle of the line. They trotted slowly toward the Beast. The idea, as Seth had explained it to him, was to get the Beast to start walking away from them. Then they would increase the noise and disturbance, and the Beast would begin to run. At least, that was the plan.
The Beast didn’t seem to have read the plan. As the line got closer it lifted its head up. But instead of walking away, it turned to face the nearest Horseman. Then, as the line got even closer, it put its head down and charged him.
There was no chance of the Beast actually catching any of the Horsemen, or even the Spearmen. The Beast could outrun them in a straight line, if they ran long enough, but no Horseman was going to just run away in a straight line. The Horseman it was after shot off to one side, the others near him scattered to one side or the other, and the Beast gradually came to a stop.
//What are we going to do, my Lord?// the nearest Horseman asked Seth.
It is a good question, Amandus thought to himself. If they continued like this they would be driving the Beast away from their trap instead of into it.
The Beast having stopped, now turned. The Horseman it had chased had gone only a few yards off to each side. It chose one of the nearest, and charged again.
//Let him chase you!// the Leader of the hunt commanded. //Lead him toward the Spearmen!// The young Horseman grasped the idea. The rest of them scattering, the Beast’s target made a gradual turn and began moving south, the Beast lumbering behind him.
This was moving the Beast in the right direction, but there was another problem. The Horsemen rode alongside and behind the Beast, but the Horseman in front was gradually being closed in on. Luckily he was both brave and intelligent. Before his horse got truly tired, he swerved out of the way.
The Beast began its lumbering stop, but before it got completely stopped, another Horseman danced in front of it, and it began to charge after him, again to the south. The Horsemen followed after.
The Hunt Leader came and rode next to Seth. //Well, this is not what we expected. What are we going to do with our spears?//
Amandus understood the problem. The original plan had been for the younger Horsemen to ride up behind the Beast they were chasing and use their light spears to wound the Beast, lowering its ability to fight once eventually cornered. But if they were to spear it now, it might turn, and not continue on to where the Spearmen were waiting.
//My Lord, my Father,// said a young Horsemen on the other side of the Leader, //perhaps, when the Beast has begun to stop, we could send several young men in front, and others could spear from behind.//
This idea had the advantage of not only promising to work, but offered great glory to the young men concerned.
And it did work. It slowed the charge down (which was good for the horses) but kept the hunt moving in the right direction. And soon blood was seen streaming down the sides of the Beast. The constant starting and stopping was wearing the Beast down, as well. By the time they came to the last rise, his sides were heaving with each breath.
As they crested the final rise, several young men rode in front of the Beast, teasing him onward. The Beast’s pace was now such that they could stay in front without danger. When it saw the waiting line of Spearmen, the Beast started to slow down. Tired, injured, its sense of anger at its tormenters began to be replaced by fear.
The Huntmaster, seeing this, called the hunters back to the original plan. Suddenly the Spearmen riding behind began charging the rear of the Beast, launching their spears. The pain, combined with the fear, caused the Beast to seek escape. Other riders, coming at it from the sides, assured the Beast that there was no release in those directions. And the riders in front, seeing the change in strategy, rode away.
Together these actions caused the Beast to lower its head and flee.
The charge lacked the speed and power of its original one, but was still an awe inspiring sight. Seth, having launched several spears himself, rode along behind the Beast.
“Come, young one,” Quirinus said to Amandus, it is time for us to take our place in our line. Amandus, startled, took off after him, running. As they raced down into the valley, Amandus studied the long double line of Telumaten, standing in a V shape. His eyes suddenly took in a female at one end of the line − it was Constantina! He raced over, and she showed him a spear, laying in the grass in front of her, “Hunt well, my Husband,” she said, and raced off.
Amandus set himself, standing behind an older Telumata. Then he looked up and saw the Horseman still leading the beast down the valley, with more and more of them launching spears, and whipping him faster and faster.
Suddenly Quirinus began to sing. Amandus had never heard the song before. Indeed, he had never sung before as a Spearman. But somehow the song seemed to accord with something inside of him and in seconds he, and the rest of the line, were all singing: Hunt well, my Brothers, and we shall feast tonight Guard the line, come what may Hunt well, my Brothers, and we shall rest tonight Full and content The Horsemen were leading the Beast straight at Quirinus, where he stood, with his Spearsecond, at the point of the V. Everyone’s spear lay on the ground in front of them, their butts laid in carefully dug holes. Fifty yards, Twenty − and, at Quirinus’ command, the Spearmen swung their spears up into position, their heads pointed carefully to pierce the chest of the Beast.
The Beast almost paused, almost slowed. But the Horsemen were prepared for this event and a new volley of spears from behind kept it moving forward − forward until its chest ran full against Quirinus’ spear.
The spear, in spite of its huge size, snapped like a toothpick against the Beast’s breastbone. Quirinus leapt out of the way, and a second, not even a second, later the Beast ran up against the spearpoint of the Spearsecond.
Ironically, it was because his spearpoint was several feet off center, due to his position in the line, that his spear penetrated the chest, missing the sternum and glancing off a rib on the way deep into the vital organs.
But the Spearsecond, lucky with his spear, was not lucky with his movements. Quirinus’ breaking spear, had shot fragments at his head, wounding him, and blinding him for just that fraction of a second when he needed his sight most. He didn’t see his spear enter the Beast, and by the time he sensed it, it was too late; the Beast trampled him even as he tried to move.
The momentum of the Beast was far too great to be stopped by the blow of the two spears and the collision with the Telumato. It carried him past the first row and into the second, where it met the spear tips of four other Spearmen.
Mortally wounded already, these spears served to arrest much of his momentum. Within seconds, the other Spearmen had surrounded it, speartips inward. The Beast stopped, panting, and then charged the line. But without the momentum provided by the charge, it could not hope to break the circle.
Without that same momentum, the spears of the Spearmen did not truly penetrate its hide, not to the inner organs anyway.
But the damage was done. And the cuts they were inflicting, added to the cuts already inflicted, accelerated the Beast’s weakness. Soon it stood still, panting, and shaking. And then the light spears of the waiting Horsemen began their work again, slashing at the eyes, neck, and groin − anywhere the skin seemed to be more tender, less protected.
Finally the Beast, after a few convulsive shakes, dropped over onto its side, and the Hunt Leader rode up. Several times he and his horse danced back from the Beast, as it lashed out with head or horns. But finally, after one particularly violent motion, while it lay back gasping, he dashed in and struck, deep, with his spear at the neck.
His blow was rewarded with a fountain of blood. At this a cacophony of noise arose. The Horsemen began their victory cries, and the Spearmen a deep booming song. From the top of the hill, where they had waited at their tents, the Spearwomen began running down, knives in hand, singing together with their men.
Suddenly, and Amandus never did know or learn how it happened, the three sets of voices merged into one glorious harmony. It wasn’t the Spearmen’s song, neither was it the Horsemen’s cry, but a combination of both that was neither one.
Amandus sat a ways off from Seth, Quirinus, and the Hunt Leader where they sat together at a fire apart from the others. Even the Hunt Leader sat, a feast being one of the only times the Horsemen did so. The plates in front of them were empty, and their stomachs were full. But there was something to do.
“I hadn’t thought of this,” the Hunt Leader said.
“None of us did, but it happened,” Quirinus replied.
There was a pause, and then Seth said, “You are the Hunt Leader. It is your choice. But if I could make a suggestion…”
They both turned to him, “My Lord Prince…” the Hunt Leader began, but Seth waved him down. “There can be no ‘my Lord Prince’ about it. We all took the hunt oath, and you are the Leader, not me. I make a suggestion only.”
Quirinus broke the pause with, “So, what is your suggestion?”
“As you know, we are finding it very hard to bring over Horsemen, and impossible to bring individual Horsewives”
The other two stared at him in shock. Amandus’ heart was pounding in his chest, and he was sure that there was a very silly grin on his face.
“My Lord Prince,” the Hunt Leader said, and this time Seth did not gainsay him, “our time here has brought many changes. But, but is it even possible?”
Quirinus answered. “We all took the oath, all unthinking. And she has been an Aviovamen before.”
“I didn’t know that. Surely, my people will rejoice, but yours…?”
Quirinus thought about it, “My people have had to adjust to many things. This will not break them. And it will tie both of our people more surely together. And today we have seen that it is well for us to work together.”
“Very well, then.”
Another pause, and Seth asked, “Who then?”
“Oh, that is easy. You remember that young pup who was the second to be chased? He was lucky to be there, but he responded well.”
“When?” asked Seth again.
Both of the others looked at him in surprise, “Now, of course,” said Quirinus.
All of the others had been watching and waiting for them to end their conference. When they rose from their fire, and the Hunt Leader re-mounted his horse, all of the other Horsemen did the same. A group of Spearwomen came forward from one side, surrounded by Aviovamen, and surrounding one particular Spearwoman. From the other side the Spearmen came forward, 169 surrounded in their turn by the Horsemen. Hadassah rode over to her Husband’s side, but the other women remained with the group. Amandus had seen Constantina only when she brought him his food.
The Hunt Leader, flanked by Seth and Quirinus, came up to the tearstained Spearwoman. Her mourning, which had been profound, was now over, and she stood, ready for her new Husband at the hand of the Hunt Leader; however unexpected this particular event had been.
The Hunt Leader addressed the crowd first, “We have all sworn an oath, there is to be no fighting.”
“We have all sworn,” the crowd replied.
He now turned to the Wife, “You too have sworn an oath,” he said.
“I have sworn,” she answered, according to form.
The Hunt Leader continued, “I give you today to one who today stood first among us. All received glory, and all fought well. But this one was the first in battle. He led the Beast first toward our trap. And with wisdom, he gave the glory of the chase to others when he could not, in prudence, continue.”
It took a few seconds for this answer to sink in, and, from the back of the Horsemen ranks, the Horseman rode forward. His eyes were wide, and his gait uncertain. As he rode up, the Wife looked at him, saying, in Kelii, “Well, I always did enjoy it on horseback. But I might need a kind of big horse. And do you think you can catch me?”
With that she raced off, darting through the crowd of Spearwomen and then Aviovamen. Her erstwhile Husband stared at her and then rode off at a gallop; not toward her, but toward the camp. Some began to look embarrassed, until the Hunt Leader said, “He’s got to get himself an extra horse for after he catches her!” And everyone laughed.
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Links
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.