The Blood-stained Belt Read Online Free Page B

about it until
they attacked our town five nights later. The raiders had an easy
passage because, although Osicedi was quite close to Dornite
territory as the crow flew, like most of Lower Keirine the
mountainous country around it protected it from attacks. Guards
were only posted in periods of general alarm and as this was a time
of relative peace there were no lookouts. Consequently the raiders
were able to make their way right into the centre of Osicedi before
they were discovered. Even then, the alarm was only raised after
they set fire to a house.
    There were only
ten or fifteen raiders and they operated in a cohesive group. They
knew the layout of Osicedi well – they must have studied it from
the hills around the town -- and they moved so quickly that there
was no time to rally a force to oppose them. In any case, most
people were so concerned about the danger of fire, which leaped
from one thatched roof to another, that there was no time to
organise any resistance.
    Although there
was a lot of damage to property, only three people were killed. An
elderly couple burned to death in their beds and the raiders killed
one of Sharma’s older brothers. This happened when the men of
Sharma’s family spilled out of their house just as the raiding
party was approaching. Fatally, as they discovered, people in night
attire carrying whatever weapons they were able to find as they
scrambled out of bed were no match for fully armed assailants. The
band swept through the street ruthlessly, leaving one of Sharma’s
brothers dead in the street and his father and two neighbours
wounded.
    For three days
after the attack, Sharma closeted himself in his room refusing
food. He only came out of seclusion to attend the funeral, looking
shaken and subdued. As the clods of earth were shoveled into his
brother’s grave, Sharma muttered to me in a voice that was thick
with anger and shame, ‘It’s like I said the other day.’ He jerked
his thumb eastwards and muttered tersely, ‘Like I said, one day
we’ll conquer the Dornites.’
    After such a
disaster, our escapade with the rustlers couldn’t be concealed any
longer. When our fathers had finished raging and slapping us about,
we were reprimanded publicly at a town meeting. Even worse, we also
had to submit to a cleansing ceremony in the temple where the
priest implored Zabrazal to forgive our lack of truthfulness. For
me, the ceremony was the worst aspect of the whole sorry affair. I
was certain that Zabrazal would have his eye on me from now on. How
else could it be when I had to kneel at the altar, the centre of
attention for nearly an hour, while the priest and the congregation
sang, prayed and chanted? I was weighed down by the ominous feeling
that I had leaped near to the top of Zabrazal’s list of those who
ought to be watched in future.
    However, it
wasn’t all doom and gloom. Underneath the public disapproval, we
sensed that a lot of people admired us. Although they didn’t like
the consequences of our actions, people told us that there would be
a lot less trouble if more people followed our example in dealing
with the Dornites. Even old Aggam gave us his grudging approval
when he stopped to speak to us in the street a few days later. That
was something that we had never had before – and never would again,
very likely.

CHAPTER TWO:
KEIRINE HAS A KING

    Sharma and I
were about twenty years of age when the struggle against the enemy
reached a crisis after the Dornite city-states formed an alliance
under a single military command and intensified their pressure on
Keirine. The Dornites were using new military tactics based on
cavalry and chariots and as success followed success they began to
widen the scope of their operations. With its lower hills and
east-facing plains, Upper Keirine felt it the most as the raiding
forces swept in against towns and villages, rounding up livestock
and capturing young men and women. Within a few years, they
occupied a sizeable piece of