Usruldes, Mattamesscontess, Harvest Season, 5th rot., 4th day

I found the Chem forces almost all the way down the Mattaheehee River Road to Toyatastagka. Many of the Chem waved when they recognized the royal courier cape I decided to wear instead of my wraith uniform. I found Twee and Tom in the supply train. Twee was driving one of the wagons the Chem had acquired. It was quite a site to see the Chem reining eight mules to a wagon like he had been born for it.

Watching the race of Chem build a fleet and form an army was both satisfying and sad. It was also frightening. The emancipation of the Chem’s blinded kin made me feel good about the direction the world was going. I was happy to live in one of the rare times that the gods directly touched our lives and made them better. I thanked Tiki, the patron of actors, pranksters, and spies, for I was grateful.

I understood Emily’s sorrow for the Chem. To watch them adopt war felt like the loss of innocence of a child. My time with the Chem had taught me just how deeply they cared for each other. The only fights they had were ritualized courting duels. In comparison, to see their vindictive and merciless violence against those who had oppressed them was a shock. Then, I had to remind myself that I was thinking with a human bias because the Chem had a non-human view of life.

Their morality did not have the range of nuance that ours did, nor did it have the rationalization and tolerance for dishonesty and betrayal. The peaceful Chem were also the mostly crimeless Chem. They didn’t even have a word for crime. Wrongdoing for the Chem was either sacrilege, desperation, or insanity. Chem guilty of sacrilege were netted and fed to sharks or kraken. Acts of sacrilege were acts of “desecrations” like polluting a stream or causing death or serious injury through negligence.

Insane Chem, like thieves and murderers, were sedated to death painlessly because of the danger they posed to society. Because the Chem lived two-thirds of their lives in water, they had no concept of incarceration. Those who could not conform to honesty and respect for others’ property and wellbeing were removed from the community as insane. That removal was considered by the Chem as an act of kindness.

The Chem also were protective of each other and if one was attacked by a predator, any nearby ksh'g'lsht and kl'drt would come running or swimming to attack the attacker and rescue the victim if possible. The Chem would continue to attack a predator until it or they were dead. They lost to Cosm raiders only because they had no defense against magic. Their Cosm enslavers blinded those they captured because the Chem could not be broken into slavery otherwise. A sighted Chem fought back and escaped. A blind Chem was helpless.

Given their instinctual behavior as a race, the way Chem waged war was consistent with how they lived in the brackish bayous of Sussbesschem. The Cosm slave traders were probably predators in their worldview. I was glad that the Chem were nuanced enough to know that not all Cosm were like the slave traders. A handful of Foskan silverhairs were privileged to visit Sussbeschem every year because of the legendary tale of the Chem shaman Swess'kl't and the shipwrecked High Priestess of Vassu Esmos, to deliver the yearly gift of ice-making charm gems, but otherwise Cosm were not permitted inside Chem territory. Even the Sea Coyn crews had to be vetted by the Inkalem Ruling Council before they could enter Sussbesschem waters, according to the ancient treaty between the Chem and the Inkalemi. The Chem did not trust easily. Sadly, the Cosm had given the Chem abundant cause for that mistrust.

Regardless of whether they acted according to their racial instincts, the way the Chem ruthlessly and efficiently gave no quarter was frightening to watch. They also understood that simple death was not always the correct path. I saw that firsthand when they blinded the slaver crew that Twee’s first war ketch captured, sending those unfortunates back to wherever they came from. It was intended as a warning that the Chem now had the tools to attack those who wronged them. After all, it was the will of Vassu, the Mother of the Waters that the Chem would never again tolerate slavery. I hoped that Foskos never got on the wrong side of the Chem for our sakes.

I leapt from Cadrees’ back, landed next to the driver’s box of the wagon, and immediately knelt. “May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great One, Revered One,” I said, making my obeisance.

“Sssssssss,” Twee took a moment to inflate the air bladder that allowed him to speak. “Sssand alsssssso with you, Friend Irhessa, courier of Foskos. Pleasssssse be at your ease.”

I stayed on my knees. I felt it was rude if two sacred persons needed to look up to speak to a lesser person like me, especially if I could arrange things otherwise. “Revered Tom, I come with news for you, and a ride home if you want.”

“Whoa, hold up, big guy,” Tom held up a hand. “What’s all this formal crap, Hessakos? I thought we were fishing buddies. What happened to using my perfectly good name?”

“Revered One, I’m on official duty to speak to you, by direct order of Imstay King,” I bowed my head briefly, hoping he’d get the hint that I was in work persona. He had the same blind spots to noble etiquette that Emily did. I briefly wondered if that was the consequence of being raised as Foskan Coyn far removed from noble Cosm society.

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Tom blinked, “Oh, right. My apologies, Lord Irhessa. Forgive me. I’ve become too casual after many days at war with my colleagues-at-arms. You make me suddenly apprehensive because you are here in an official capacity to speak to me and not to the Chem.”

I knew Tom well enough to know he would want to hear bad news factually delivered. “Emily and Spot had a mishap on their second day of travel. Spot was injured after a tree fell on him during a terrible storm. Emily was blown away in the wind. She is missing. The Queen of Foskos could not find her but saved Spot and sent Ud to rescue him. The gods told Ud that they are sending Emily on another task of some sort. Ud will not divulge what that is, but we do know she is alive.”

“Does Ud know where she is?” Tom insisted on knowing.

“Yes,” I admitted apologetically on behalf of my mentor. “I spoke to Ud myself about this.”

“Damn,” Tom growled, “but she’s not talking.” He looked like a little storm cloud, gathering up his lightning to smote whatever vexed him. Then he frowned at me, “Did the storm blow west to east? Where did the wind blow to?”

“The storm started in the middle of the continent and flattened the forest from easternmost Jutu, to the high hills the divide the Stem and Shimma’amdu rivers.”

“Then that’s where we need to look for her,” Tom declared.

“Tom, if the gods have taken her again, and Ud hinted they have, she won’t be there.”

“We can’t know that for sure,” he snapped at me, radiating concern that pushed against my empathy. “Emily gave no indication that she knew about this,” Tom was suddenly much calmer as he started reasoning instead of reacting. “That suggests she didn’t know. She’ll be angry at the gods again. She hates it when they surprise her. Given all they’ve done to her, I think I would be unhappy too. I can’t say I’m happy with this myself. I wish I could do something. I worry about her health. She’s always getting hurt. There are days I want to lock her up inside a house to protect her.”

“Every silverhair who knows her feels the same way, Revered One,” I sighed.

“Sssssshe is one who is too fond of swimming rapids,” Twee interjected, using the Chem idiom for reckless behavior. “But she is the prophet. Who can tell her not to take risks she deems necessary?”

“Only her friends,” I answered. “Sometimes she will even listen to us. So, Revered One, what do you wish to do? The King has asked me to make an assessment of the progress to free the Chem and to pay a visit to our people in Mattamukmuk. I can finish that up in under a rotation and then take you back to Foskos, if you want. It’s up to you.”

“Why don’t you do what you need for the King,” Tom frowned, “and then catch up with us. We’re heading to the harbor to meet our ships, and to get an update from our allies and the forces we left behind, which have been tasked with collecting and transporting the blinded Chem home. If you are flying around on a reconnaissance for the King, could you include the city of Kwabin on your list of places to visit? The heir to the throne of Mattamesscontess is governor of the north coast province, on the other side of the mountains. We don’t know what she might be planning nor what she intends to do with what’s left of the Imperial Legions which fled over the passes into her province.

We sent three hundred ships down the east side of the Gulf of Chipagawkpaw, to free the Chem in the coastal villages. We gave that fleet instructions to round Cape Gungywamp and sail up the Strait of Weekapakwonk, freeing their kin as they work their way toward the city of Kwabin. We have had no word from them for three rotations.”

“I can do that, but first, can I travel with you until morning?” I asked. “We’ve been flying for days and to be truthful, Cadress and I would love to spend an evening with some friendly faces instead of sleeping another night in the wild alone.”

Tom laughed, “We’re surrounded by farms, big guy. This is hardly the wild.”

“Last night in the mountains was in the wilderness, as was the night before that, and the night before that, and the night before that. The night before that, I stayed with a traveling tribe of sheep and horse herders, dining on mutton and sleeping in a wagon house. Regardless, Revered short stuff, spending the night with you and Twee will allow me to find out who to talk to in Mattamesscontess about the situation here. Getting a letter or two of introduction to your allies would help me a great deal.”

“Sssssss, good enough, Lord Irhessa,” Twee said. “We can do that for you. But I will warn you, dinner will be sssmoked trout and sssugar cane. Tom may be coerced to share hisss horde of ssssquash, nipsss and rice.”

“Hey!” Tom protested, “Do you have any idea how much this guy eats?”

“Yesss, I do,” Twee replied. “We can buy more food.”