Satomen Again

"Satomen are coming."

Taylor felt like he had just laid down when Alice woke him. His followers' insistence that he sleep while he could was good advice. He rose from Iraj's guest pallet, a surprising, springy, comfortable affair made of tightly woven reeds suspended off the floor with a wooden frame. With Alice's help, he got himself into armor.

"They're at the gate. Iraj wants you to send them away."

"He won't do it himself?"

"You're stronger. They won't listen to him, but they might listen to you. Karoush is with them."

"Really?" Karoush, Maul of the rapey Satomen, had come to Pashtuk to pillage the empty garden again. Previously, he'd had to sneak around the deadly scorpions guarding the place. This time he had to deal with Nexus, a far more dangerous foe even if he didn't know it.

"I wouldn't want him in my home either," mused Taylor. "We know the kinds of people they are."

Taylor reached the gate to find a party of ten Satomen facing off against most of his cadre. He almost laughed: they were in lines facing each other, arms crossed and feet spread wide. There hadn't been any hostilities yet, but there was no chance a prepared Nexus cadre would lose against an equal number of mundane opponents.

"It's pointless Karoush," Taylor said instead of greeting him properly. Iraj stepped aside to give Taylor his place directly across from Satoma's maul. "You can't intimidate a cadre with so few people. You'd need a small army. What do you want?"

"We want to gather from the plants here," said the large man, carefully avoiding the word garden. "My people need to eat."

"You've had plenty of chances to take supplies from here. You're not getting any more. But you can water your animals at one of the mischus wells. Don't glare at me like that — You know I can kick a hole right through you. And everyone else here is nearly as strong. Go home to your garden. Eat there."

"You're an outsider, so maybe you don't know. This isn't a garden. It's desert. We can do what we want."

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Taylor saw a dark cave full of beaten women who refused to marry their captors. "We're the strong ones here, so we'll decide what you can do. Mess with us, and you'll die here. I'll drag your bodies out to the desert and leave them for scavengers." For once his transparent face came in useful, because Karoush believed him. He signaled his men to leave.

"And stay away from the pit in the north mischus," Taylor shouted at their backs. To ensure they understood, he pointed north.

"Why should we do that?"

Taylor sneered at him. "Because I fucking said so. Now get lost." He was surprised, a little, that Koroush left so willingly.

Half an hour later, while Taylor prepared for the night's meetings, Mila delivered some news.

"Several Satomen looked into the pit. They did something to mess with the scorpion and got sprayed with venom."

"Suckers." Taylor laughed. It shouldn't be a laughing matter. Men were blinded. They could die from poison. And, Taylor wasn't going to help them.

He imagined a gang of Satomen, standing at the edge of the scorpion's pit throwing rocks at it, thinking they were safe, and the scorpion shooting streams of venom at them from its stinger. He imagined their cries of pain and surprise. It was at least a little funny.

That wouldn't be the end of it, however. "They'll be back you know, maybe in force. We should … "

"With respect, Young Master," Inez interrupted, "you have your own work to do tonight. Focus on that, and let your disciples handle the Satomen."

"You think they can? They might bring a lot of people."

"Think of it as a teachable moment. They'll have a chance to learn from real conflict. I'll oversee them, and advise if they need it. It's an invaluable experience, considering what the future holds for them."

"This is not what I wanted for them." Humor was forgotten, replaced by bitter fears. When he started teaching disciples he assumed their work would mainly be healing and hunting. Somehow, half their work had turned into fighting people. Inez was right, though. There would be serious fighting in the months to come. Perfectly courageous people froze on their first encounter with a human determined to kill them. Others weren't meant to be fighters at all. It was better to work out such issues while the stakes were low. "But you're right. Keep me informed about major developments. I look forward to a full report."

"Thank you, Young Master." She left to spread the good news to Mahzad and Khali. They were so eager to prove themselves, that they would think he was doing them a favor.

Milo and Mila stood guard outside while Taylor organized his thoughts. He had taken up a nearly empty neighbor's house, which had a desk suitable for writing and a surprisingly good chair of woven reed to sit on. Looters must have visited the home because bits of furniture were all that was left. There wasn't much dust, so the house had only been vacant a short while. He hoped the owner wouldn't be mad at Iraj for letting Taylor use it.

That reminded him … "Inez!" The veteran's form reappeared in the doorway. "Make Iraj part of the operation. It's his home, he should fight for it."