“Jalav has ever chosen her males,” said I. “A thing which those of the villages shall learn. I am not to be chosen as though I were slave, male, and I shall not remain prisoned here forever. With Mida’s aid, I shall once again ride with my warriors, and then must those of the villages beware.”
“Female warriors!” laughed he beside me, striking his thigh in high amusement. “Such a battle would indeed be enjoyable, nearly as enjoyable as the following victory celebration. I would pierce many of you wenches with my sword—but not the sword carried in my hand—and then would you be made to serve me on bended knee, a fitting punishment for wenches who dared to try their strength with men!”
Others of the males had joined us, and they, too, raised their voices in laughter and derision. I looked upon the males as they stood about, recalling a time when strangers—males—had entered the lands of the Midanna, from whence, none knew. Hunting parties of Helda and Hitta had been taken by them, the males using ropes of leather to snare the warriors from the backs of kand, allowing some warriors to escape as though their freedom were of no consequence. Quickly had the escaped warriors alerted their sister clans, and many Midanna had ridden forth, the Hosta, being closest, the first to arrive. Much had the males abused the warriors they had taken, and great was the rage of the Hosta upon seeing this. With deliberation were the males encircled, and then the Hosta, on foot, showed themselves. The males, large, armed, in numbers equal to the Hosta who had ridden forth, had grinned and risen to their feet, intent upon drawing the Hosta, too, within the forest clearing where they held those previously taken. The males had drawn swords negligently, laughing, thinking to take the Hosta as easily by sword as they had taken the Helda and Hitta with leather. Upon seeing their advance, I had signaled the attack, and Hosta warriors, joyfully shouting their battle cry, had fallen upon them. Quickly, then, had the males’ laughter ceased, and they fought desperately for their lives, for they were not as well versed in swords as they were with leather. He who had stood before me had had hair of red, his pale skin paling further as he attempted to keep my point from him. With kill-lust burning high within me, I struck at him with my sword, right thigh, left arm, head and chest. He had had attempted to meet the movements of mine, yet his sword had failed to do so, crying out when my edge had opened his arm and leg, losing precious moments to pain and fear as I moved in for the kill. When he lay in spreading blood at my feet, my sword adrip with his life essence, when all the males had been done so, the Hosta had raised their arms to Mida, dedicating the blood and males to her who watched over her daughters. Well did Midanna know the use of a sword, and perhaps, should it be the will of Mida, these males before me would, to their sorrow, learn this as had others before them.
I looked again upon the male who sat beside me, and smiled in fond remembrance. “May Mida hear your wish for battle and grant your plea,” said I to him, much pleased with such a thought. I then began to climb down from the wall, seeing glancingly that the humor had left a number of the males who had heard my words, yet he who sat upon the wall was not one of them.
“My sword would seek you first, wench,” he called after me, laughing yet in great good humor. “Now that I have seen you, I think the time is ripe to show Ceralt that there are other men in this village.”
The words he spoke had no meaning for me, yet they seemed to affect the others who stood about. The males, in their leathers and silver-chased belts, looked quietly upon one another with looks which seemed to hold meaning for them, while the females, some yet laughing delightedly over that which had been said to me, gazed solely at me with an insolence which brought a great deal of annoyance. Tarla stood apart from them, showing much distress upon her child’s face as she looked upon him astride the wall. The thought came that perhaps she knew the male’s meaning, yet it mattered not. He upon the wall was merely male, of no great consideration nor concern. I took myself toward Tarla and past her, wondering yet again how one walked any great distances in the fur leg wrappings. The weight of them dragged one’s feet to the ground, slowing the step and destroying the pace that is able to take one so far. In a scant moment, Tarla’s hurrying footsteps brought her in my wake, leaving the laughter and strangers behind us.
The fey remained gray about us as we walked further toward the heart of the village, and a small wind had begun which blew my unbound hair about my arms and thighs. With the wind, the cold had increased, and I quickly saw the value in drawing the leather ties of one’s garment as tightly as possible. Tarla, by my side, glanced with dismay at my flying hair, for she had not approved of my having unbound it. Women of the village ever wore their hair bound, she had said with pleading in her eyes. Men did not care to see them unkempt for it detracted from their beauty, she had said. I said naught and merely continued to unplait my hair, and Tarla had bitten her lips and had not broached the matter again. As I walked, I briefly became aware of my life sign, that of the hadat, which hung between my breasts beneath the covering. Tarla had often gazed upon the carved wood of it, and had once suggested that I ask Ceralt to make me another, one which would lack the flat brown stain of the one I wore. The stain marred one’s sight of the wood grain, and she had felt that a new carving would give a better appearance. I had smiled at her words, recalling my first battle as a warrior, how proudly I had worn the life sign which I had carved from the tree marked like mine from birth. Then my life sign had been unstained, yet at battle’s end, with an enemy Semma lying still at my feet, I had removed the life sign from about my neck, held it by its leather tie, and had dipped it thrice into Semma blood. Once in thanks to Mida, twice to give thanks that I was of the Hosta, thrice in thanks for the glory of battle, asking that I be granted such glory many times before being called to Mida’s side. Then the life sign had been replaced by my war leader, proclaiming to all that I had become a blooded warrior of the Hosta. The Semma blood had felt warm and sticky against my breasts; the life sign had spread the blood upon me; my pride and pleasure had been so great that I had barely felt the stab of pain from the silver ring of a warrior as it had been forced through my ear. Never does a warrior forget the time of the staining of her life sign, and I had laughed well at Tarla’s suggestion. Ask Ceralt for another indeed!
The folk of the village seemed not to notice the chill of the air, and some few of the males were bare-chested, wearing no more than the leather breech and leggings, silvered belt, and fur leg wrappings. One male seemed to have recently arrived, for he stood before a dwelling unburdening a lanthay, three small children jumping about beside him. A female appeared in the doorway of the dwelling, her leather garment unbelted so as not to bind her slightly swelling belly, her face wearing a look of radiant joy. The male turned to her and she hurried to him from the doorway, his arms bringing her close to his chest and lips. Much did the male drink from the lips of his female, she standing contentedly in the circle of his arms, and then he laughed and took a leather pack from the lanthay, left the beast standing tied by the dwelling, sent the children about their business of play, and drew the female into the dwelling with him. Much hunger had been in the eyes of the male, and long would be the use of the female. As she already carried a child within her, I wondered that the male did not seek the use of another female. All know that males care only for their own pleasure and the getting of their offspring, therefore it seemed odd that the male would take a female who had already been quickened and would not, in such a state, afford him the pleasure of one not so quickened. Indeed the matter seemed odd, yet, as I have said, understanding was not mine in the land of males.