“I have not yet spoken to young Sargon,” Namar said. “But I have watched him train more than once.”
Namar, one of the oldest warriors in the camp, commanded no warriors and had not ridden out on a raid in many years. Long white hair framed his seamed face, almost concealing a faded scar on his cheek. But his eyes remained sharp as they studied Sargon’s face. Namar’s wisdom guided many in the camp, and Sargon knew Subutai made few decisions of importance without consulting Namar.
“I give you greetings, Namar of the Ur Nammu.” Sargon bowed his head. “I have heard much about your wisdom.”
“We need to plan for the coming of these Carchemishi invaders,” Subutai said, wasting no more time. “And there may be a task for Sargon that could help us.”
Sargon’s mouth dropped in surprise. He’d expected nothing more than attending another meeting, not that he would be asked to perform an important duty.
“The invaders know we are in these lands, and will likely try to hunt us down,” Subutai said. “And they have learned how many warriors we have. After Chinua’s raid, they know about our courage and willingness to fight. When they come, they will bring the full force of their army against us.”
“They do not know where we are yet,” Chinua said. “We took time to cover our tracks, so it will take them some time to find us.”
“Chinua, you and Skala do not know about the strangers,” Subutai said. “Fashod’s men encountered them three days ago, and brought them here. Two men and two women, lost and nearly dead from exhaustion and starvation. But they knew all about the Carchemishi. They came from a small village on the southern side of the passage. The villagers there had traded with the newcomers for many days, until the invaders turned on their camp and killed everyone. Only these few escaped. They told us the Carchemishi, about sixteen hundred of them, are advancing toward us in two war parties, about twenty miles apart. Between them and their outriders, they have stripped a wide swath of the land bare as they passed, and killed everyone within their reach.”
Sargon watched as the pleasant expressions on the faces of Skala, Jennat, and Chinua vanished. Everyone in the tent knew the number of Ur Nammu warriors that could be ready to ride and fight — just over three hundred. No matter how brave or skilled, those were impossible odds.
Subutai nodded at their sudden comprehension. “Yes, the situation is not good. If the invaders keep at their present pace, their forces will reach this place in five or six days, no more than seven.”
Jennat spoke for the first time. “Are those numbers certain?”
“Fashod, Namar, and I spoke with the wanderers. The men claimed to have counted the Carchemishi force just before it split into two. They say they needed to know the numbers so they could decide how much to trade, and how much gold to ask for.” Subutai shrugged. “Even if they are wrong by five hundred, we will still be greatly outnumbered.”
“We may have delayed them,” Chinua said. “They lost many horses and men.”
“Or they may speed up their march to satisfy their revenge,” Subutai countered.
“We killed many of them,” Skala said, “close to a hundred. We shot more than two hundred shafts right into them at close range.”
“Perhaps the number is as you say, Skala.” Subutai’s voice showed that he did not want to dispute the warrior.
“But I have ridden on many such raids, and heard all the stories about how many were slain. A warrior shoots an arrow and sees a man go down. He thinks he killed him. But it may be that the man simply heard the arrow whistle by and dropped to the earth. Or three or four warriors shoot at the same man and kill him. Each believes that it was his arrow that dropped the enemy, and so each warrior adds one to his count of the dead.”
A polite way to tell Skala that he had no way of knowing how many Carchemishi had been killed or wounded.
Subutai shook his head. “This is the way of battles. Only by counting the dead bodies of your enemies can you be sure of the number killed. I learned that from Sargon’s father.”
At the mention of Sargon’s father, all eyes turned to him again.
Subutai gave Skala and Chinua only a moment to consider his words. “So we must decide what to do. We cannot remain here. And we cannot turn toward the northeast, or we will encounter the Alur Meriki. So I think we must fall back to the southeast, toward the lands of Akkad. It may be that these invaders will turn aside before they enter Akkad’s lands. They do not have enough fighters to challenge Eskkar’s forces.”
“We cannot be certain of that,” Jennat argued. “The Carchemishi leader Sargon and I spoke to seemed aware of Akkad and its soldiers.” He turned to Sargon, who nodded in agreement. “They showed no fear of Akkad’s name. Perhaps these invaders are but the advanced force of an even greater number.”
Whatever pleasant feelings Sargon had enjoyed before entering the tent vanished. Clearly, the daring night raid on the enemy and the long ride here had settled nothing. If anything, the attack had made a bad situation worse. The fight was coming south, straight at the Ur Nammu. They would be lucky to get away in time.
The same thought must have occurred to Chinua. “How can we get away? We would have to leave everything behind, our tents, herds, all our possessions. Even if we just take the horses and leave tomorrow, our women and children and those too old to fight will slow us down. We do not have enough horses for everyone. The invaders will catch up with us in a few days.”
The Ur Nammu women, children, and old men numbered just over a thousand. Even with the horses Chinua had captured, the total number of horses in the camp was less than six hundred.
“Did these wanderers say how many horse fighters the Carchemishi have?” Jennat touched the wound on his arm as he spoke.
“Between eight and nine hundred,” Subutai said.
The number silenced everyone as they thought about what it meant. Even Sargon knew that with so many riders, they could easily overtake and destroy the fleeing Ur Nammu, or at least pin them down until the enemy foot soldiers arrived.
“We were hoping that Akkad could send warriors to assist us.” Fashod broke the gloomy silence and addressed Sargon. “It would be in their interest to help us drive these invaders away.”
Subutai again turned to Sargon. “That is why I asked you here. I want you to ride with Fashod back to the lands of Akkad. You can tell your father what you have seen and heard. You can warn him of this new threat. The outlying villages in his northern lands will also be in danger.”
A few men on fast horses would have no trouble avoiding the Carchemishi. Sargon knew he would be safe, and he could deliver a warning of the approaching invasion. But that wouldn’t help the Ur Nammu.
“It’s at least a six or seven day ride, maybe longer, to reach the outlying forts of my father,” Sargon said, “and even if we reached them sooner, there are not enough fighters in those settlements to turn back so many enemies. We would have to continue on to Akkad to raise enough men.”
That, of course, was the problem. Akkad depended on the Ur Nammu to patrol these empty lands. The small garrison villages maintained only enough fighters to keep control of bandits or the occasional raider from the south.
“How long do you think it would take before your father could raise enough men to help us?”
Sargon had learned all about the pride of the Ur Nammu, or any barbarian tribe for that matter. To ask for help from another was a grave step. He glanced at the warriors. None met his eyes, only Subutai. The clan leader knew all too well what he was asking.
“It would take. . after we reach Akkad, I think it would take my father at least four or five days to raise a force strong enough to march north and deal with these invaders. Our soldiers are scattered among many villages. They would have to be assembled, and supplies collected. It would take another six or seven days of hard riding to get back to this land. I will go to my father and tell him. I am sure he will come to your assistance as fast as he can, but I don’t think he can assemble enough men and march here until that many days have passed.”