Uhe looked down at the ashes. "My hand was upon that spear, Iyjiia, as was yours."
Iyjiia’s face grew dark with anger. "My hand bears no such stain! Nor does yours. Has the hunger taken your mind?"
Uhe stood. "Go back to your people, Iyjiia. To enforce the Law of War I need better than the masters of the Mavedah. I will make my own masters, and they will be masters of war."
"And, Uhe, why may I not be one of your masters of war?"
The light of Aakva crossed the crest of the Akkujah and touched the eyes of Uhe.
"Iyjiia, my warmasters must have the strength of youth, the wisdom of the old hunter, courage beyond self, and eyes that can see only truth.
"You are old and weak, Iyjiia. You have never run the hunt. You have no courage beyond your own skin, and your eyes see only what they choose to see."
With that, Uhe walked from the ashes of Bantumeh’s fire toward the light of Aakva.
At the beginning of the ninth day, half of the clans of the Mavedah were gathered near the foothills of the southern Akkujah, near the Yellow Sea. Camps were made, and as they waited for the rest of the clans, the hunters went into the sea but could take no food from the poisonous waters. Those who entered the waters sickened and died.
The Mavedah continued to eat the dead and beat the drums of death.
And Uhe called to its tent the hunter Conseh, saying to it: "Conseh, you will be my first warmaster."
Conseh’s eyes were sunken and dark with thought, but they narrowed at Uhe’s words. "And why would you have me as your warmaster?"
"You are a respected hunter. You understand the difference between killing game and killing Sindie. You know something of the cost of our enterprise. I believe you will see that we get full value, Conseh."
"Uhe, you speak of our enterprise. Is not the Law of War the invention of Aakva?"
Uhe made no response to Conseh’s words, and the hunter continued. "You would use grief and guilt to serve your ends. Aakva’s new law is a strange one for a god of honor, peace, and justice."
"I serve the Mavedah. Conseh, I will use what is necessary to save the Mavedah. The old peace and tabus of Aakva stand in the way of that salvation. Now I shall make a bargain with you."
"What is your bargain, Uhe?"
"Keep your sarcasms regarding my service to Aakva to yourself. In exchange I will forget whose sign it was I saw on the spearshaft in Bantumeh’s chest."
Conseh’s skin paled as the hunter reached to its stone knife and whispered, "I could buy your silence at a lower price, Uhe."
"If you murder me, Conseh, your first murder would have been for nothing." Uhe turned from the hunter and faced the tent’s wall where a map of the southern Akkujah had been drawn.
"Conseh, we must enter these mountains, cross them, and strike the Irrvedah with more force than they can understand. They are not hunters, but they think of themselves as fighters protected by Aakva. There we will obtain food and make a place for our children for when we strike at the Diruvedah."
"The Diruvedah are skilled hunters," cautioned Conseh.
"Yes, but hunters are not warriors. So we must meet them with both form and intention that they cannot comprehend until it is too late for an effective response. We must meet them as warriors."
Uhe moved to another portion of the tent wall where was drawn blocks made of tiny circles. Uhe pointed at the drawing. "You will search among the hunters and bring for my approval five more. The six of you will become my masters of war. Each warmaster will then find six hunters who will be undermasters. They must choose only those that they know to be strong, obedient, and dependable. In each warmaster’s group, the undermasters will in turn search among the hunters and find six more hunters that they know to be trustworthy."
Uhe swept its hand down the length of the drawing. "And so the whole of the Mavedah will be organized."
Conseh studied the drawing. "Three of the best hunters I know are not from our clan," said Uhe’s first warmaster. "The hunters they most admire come from clans other than their own." Conseh looked at Uhe. "This will mix the clans of the Mavedah. It will take away the power of the masters. The Mavedah will be one people."
"Yes. It is necessary. And if it is also necessary, I will deal with the masters."
"Uhe, what of the children, and who will gather the food?"
Uhe pointed at the drawing. "The first two of each six will be the swiftest of the hunters. They will lead the fight. The first will attack, and then rest upon its victory while the second runs forward to continue the attack. While the second rests upon its victory, the first rushes forward and attacks, repeating as before.
"The next two will be less swift, but they must be strong and durable. It is they who will first hold the land taken by the first two. They will protect the backs of the attackers. And they will be there to move up to support the first two groups should the enemy resistance be unusually strong.
"The fifth and sixth will follow, and they will be composed of our poorest hunters, the tent-makers, the ones who craft our weapons, the gatherers and transporters of food, the healers, the wounded, our old, our servants of Aakva, and all of our children."
Conseh studied the drawing until it was fixed in its head. Then the hunter turned to the opening of Uhe’s tent to leave. Conseh paused, however, and turned back and looked at the drawing.
"Uhe, you have set out to conquer vast lands and mighty tribes. This fight will take years."
"Yes, Conseh."
"And the fighters will be gone from their children for long periods—those who survive. How will the child know its parent?"
"The servants of Aakva will tell the child of its parent, and of the parent’s parent. And the servants will have the child memorize and recite these things as Aakva’s new rite of adulthood. The child will know its parent’s and its ancestor’s deeds before it may pick up its weapon and strive to add to those deeds."
Conseh looked at its ruler as though Uhe was more than a Sindie. "You have thought long upon this. Does Aakva truly speak to you?"
Uhe looked to the ground and clasped its hands behind its back. "It is what you will say to those who ask."
Conseh again turned to the opening of the tent. "Uhe, when will this burden be lifted from us?"
Uhe’s gaze rose and its eyes studied the drawing of the southern Akkujah. "Only when the Mavedah can move at will across Sindie, following the game to where the game chooses to go; then our burden will end."
"We are to be the tribe that lives in the land of war," said Conseh. "We will be Denvedah. Uhe, you are saying that our task is done only when there is no more world to conquer."
"Yes, Conseh. Then we may rest. Go now and choose my warmasters. We attack in thirty days."
As the days passed, and the death drums continued, the hunters of the Madah took on the war order designed by Uhe. Since their place was no longer the Madah, the hunters called their place "of war," and they became the Denvedah.
In that time, Conseh made masters of war: Kessu, Birula, Yaga, and Daes. Kessu and Birula were both chiefs of their clan’s hunts, Yaga was both hunter and mountain guide from the northern Madah. Daes was both master of its clan, a servant of Aakva, and learned in healing.
Daes would master the Sixth Denve, for the Sixth would have the children, aged, and wounded.
The Fifth’s main task was to supply the other five Denve, and Yaga was made master of the Fifth.
Kessu and Birula were wise, sturdy, and respected. And Conseh made Kessu master of the Fourth, and made Birula master of the Third.