Bronze Dagger

Story #1

Eibisolos was one of fifteen young men sworn to the koryos. For the spring and summer, they were to roam and raid. When you are in the koryos, you are no longer part of the tribe. You are part of the band, sworn only to the god of the koryos. What you steal is for the band as much as for you. It would be the markers of your place among the men of the tribe when you returned.

Eibisolos ran to the scrub along the ridge, passing his half-brother Eiuneos about half way. He did not wave or signal in any way as he passed Eiuneos on the western slope of the hill. Somewhere below, hidden by undulations in the hill, the other dozen young men of the koryos followed in a more leisurely course. Eibisolos and Eiuneos were following the band of traders Gerlos had spotted early in the morning, traveling northward along the river on the opposite side of the hill.

Tonight, the koryos would attack the traders. Gerlos had not seen many horses or other livestock, but he had seen wagons. Each of the men might not get much from this raid, but they had little luck in the spring. With summer half passed, the koryos was preparing to return with slim rewards to the tribe.

So far, fame for this koryos was going to be slim. They had raided poorly.

Eibisolos reached the brush he had been running towards. The course of the river and the line of the hill had been gradually converging, and he got his first look at the trading band close enough to count men and animals.

The traders below would bear bronze. They had come from the south and had no horses beyond those drawing the cart. There would be bronze dangers in those wagons or born by some men.

Eibisolos wanted to be the man who stole one. He wanted to be the man who stole one first because even if the koryos stole two, the fame would belong to the first. It might not be imperishable fame, but it would be fame none the less.

There were two horses not drawing carts. Gerlos had claimed a man had been on each of those horses, but who could believe such a thing. Horses gave milk and drew carts and appeased the gods as sacrifices and gave food during the longest winters.

Horses were not something men rode. Men rode in carts.

Whatever fanciful stores Gerlos had told, though, the core of his scouting had been true. There were eleven men. They had two carts, each drawn by two horses. While some of the cart space was food, there were several small bundles that were not pottery or skins used to carry food.

One of them would hold the bronze dagger Eibisolos coveted.

The koryos waited for the traders to stop for the night. They had alternated stalking the group to ease the frustration born of impatience. Right now it was Eibisolos and his half-brother Eiuneos, who scrambled from tree to tree along the ridge line looking down in the river valley the traders were following. The trees were often merely brush and separated. As one ran to the next line, he had to dip below the crest line on the far side to remain hidden so the other had to hide in the trees.

Eiuneos jumped down from his hiding place fifteen horse lengths behind Eibisolos’s hiding spot. He slipped on loose shale, sending it and him sliding down the slope of the hill. Eiuneos let out a shout as he fell.

The man leading a free horse looked up at the ridge.

Eibisolos cursed. He looked back at his half brother, who had regained his footing and was hurrying along the hillside. Eibisolos heard the pounding of a running horse and turned to look back at the traders.

The man who had looked up was on the back of the horse he had been leading and the pair was scrambling up the hill straight for the bushes Eibisolos was using for cover. The man leaned into the horse’s neck as though they were one. His head switched sides of the horse’s head and as it did, the horse turned towards the side the rider’s head rested on.

Frozen in place, all Eibisolos could think was Gerlos had not been lying. He remained frozen until the rider turned to ride what Eibisolos thought of as behind him. As quietly as possible he worked forwards around the bush to keep it between him the rider even if it risked exposing his back to the traders. If the horse came straight at him, Eibisolos would have to hope the brush would not only conceal him, but provide enough of a break in the horse’s speed to give him time to step aside and run the opposite course. He might gain enough ground to save his life if the horse turned after.

But first, he needed to provide the time to avoid having his skull crushed.

The rider put his head on the left of the horse’s head a good five horse lengths from Eibisolos. They rode to the crest close to where Eiuenos had slid. While Eibisolos had escaped being seen, thus being safe from a crushed skull, his half-brother might not be so fortunate.

The rider stopped at the crest of the hill. He slid off the horse and pulled a bronze axe from his belt. Looking down at the far slope, he saw nothing. Eibisolos did not see his half-brother, although at least part of his passage was clear as the morning dawn.

“Koryos, we know you are there,” the rider of horses shouted down the hill. “You need more stealthy scouts. Your scout warned us, now we warn you. We have no great store of horses, nor sheep or cattle. To raid us is to have your blood shed for reward.”

The man turned and looked right through the spot where Eibisolos crouched hidden. He returned to look at the valley, but Eibisolos’s companions, including Eiuneos, stayed hidden. The man took the simple rope lead on the horse and led it back down the hill. When Eibisolos followed his path down to the other traders, the men had reorganized, with three men with bronze headed spears screening the carts and other men from the point the rider had made his announcement.

Eibisolos let himself drop hard to the ground.

These men rode horses.

How is it such a thing was done, he wondered.

Sure, Eibisolos had seen men foolish enough to jump on a horse’s back and see how long they could stay on before the horse threw them off. He’d also seen such men get trampled for their pains. To this day, Dreuantos could not grasp things with his left hand where a horse he’d dared to mount had thrown him before crushing the hand. Dreuantos had been lucky. Paulos’s older brother, whose name Eibisolos had forgotten, was sad to have had his skull crushed by the horse he tried to ride. The story of his lingering death was still told to younger children to teach them a healthy respect for horses.

That man could ride a horse. He could ride to the wolf before it got to the sheep as soon as he saw it. He could ride through a camp and seized a bronze dagger or even spear from a man’s hand before he rode away.

Such a man must be a chief.

The traders who had stopped to watch “The Man Who Rode” ride the hill resumed their trip upriver. The three men with bronze headed spears remained where they positioned themselves when “The Man Who Rode” rode up the hill. He had led his horse across to the far side of the wagons and was talking to the other man leading a horse on a rope. The convergence of hill and river was leading to a narrow spot. Beyond it Eibisolos could lose sight of the traders.

He looked around, wondering where his half-brother had gotten to. Soon he would have to choose between dashing along the counter slope to a rocky outcrop past the bend in the hill. He would lose the traders in the dash.

From ahead, he heard the call of the falcon. He looked and saw an arm waving from the rocky outcrop. He did not know how Eiuneos had managed it, but he had not only avoided been seen by “The Man Who Rode”, but had reached the outcropping. Eibisolos knew he could continue ahead to the next sighting spot. With any luck, it would be the next to the last dash of the day. The Sun had completed three-quarters of his circuit when Eiuneos and Eibisolos had been sent up to relieve Gerlos and Paulos.

It had covered half its remaining course now.

Once it was clear the traders were making camp for the evening, the scout closest would signal to his companion. The companion would head down the slope to the parallel track the koryos was maintaining. They would assemble with the scout, who kept watch to prepare to raid the traders.

Eibisolos eased himself down the reverse slope. While there was no shale here to give way under him, Eiuneos’s slide left him cautious. Somehow he’d remained hidden from “The Man Who Rode”. He did not wish to be caught by the man in the open, at least not if he rode the horse again.

What a gift of the gods that ability was. Eibisolos had seen how much ground a running horse could cover. A man who could do that might ride past a man while another ran towards him. He could jump off the horse and attack the man from behind while his friend froze him in place.

Eibisolos shook his head as he run. He needed to focus on now, not a danger if he screwed up. That was the best way to screw up. He scanned ahead for his next hiding place. He was passing the rock outcropping now and saw beyond it the hill made a broken decline toward the river’s valley while another hill was rising to his west. There would be a small gap between them, but the broken ground and crease between the two hills would offer many hiding places.

Eibisolos angled towards the broken ground on the eastern edge of the crease. He found a place in the stone like a bowl with one side broken off on the northwest edge. He worked his was below the top of the descending ridgeline below the bowl. When he passed the bowl, he doubled back while ascending the slope to the broken rim. Once he secured himself in the bowl, he looked back at his half-brother.

Eiuneos had seen his passage, but pointed to the valley. Just upstream of the narrow point between the hills, a sandbar had formed giving a place to ford the river. The trader wagons were doing just that.

Eibisolos counted the men. Immediately, he stopped short. The led horses were missing. Eibisolos finished counting the men.

He counted nine men; the count was two short.

“The Man Who Rode” and his friend had left.

Eibisolos looked up and down, but he could not see horses or men.

How had they disappeared so quick? Had the companion mounted his horse as well and both he and the Man Eibisolos had seen ride a horse both ridden off.

It was the only explanation, but why.

Eiuneos must have seen them leave, but there was no way for Eibisolos to question him now. He could only wait until night and the gathering of the koryos. When they both reported their observations to the others, he would learn what had happened.

The first wagon was just pulling out of the river. The second wagon had become stuck in the sandbar. Soon, all but the three spearmen and the driver of the first wagon were in the river. Most were behind the wagon pushing it, but a couple on each side were digging out the wheels. The sun was low on the horizon when the right wheel came free. The mud made such a pop when the wheel let loose. Eibisolos heard it in the stone bowl where he was stealing glances regularly. As it came loose, several men hurried to the other wagon. Its driver had pulled skins from the back of his wagon. The men pulled poles as well.

The traders were camping just across the ford. The position was less than ideal for an attack, as running through the water would slow the koryos. It would also warn the camp.

Eibisolos turned and waved to Eiuneos, who was doing the same in reverse. After they exchanged the signals, his half-brother began down the hill to join their companions. Before the moon rose, they would assemble in and around the stone bowl.

Eibisolos turned back to watch the traders. The second wagon rested next to its twin. They had freed the four horses pulling the wagons. The drivers lead them back to the river to drink. The three spearmen had remained on the west side of the river. Two were spreading out furs for sleep.

Eibisolos slumped down in the bowl. There would be no surprise across the river. The koryos would face three warriors with fierce bronze spears before they stepped into the water.

Eibisolos sat in the stone bowl, watching the traders set up their camp. He knew his half-brother would lead the koryos to his watching place, but he did not expect them until night had fully fallen upon them. Even if they were close enough to reach the bowl while the sun’s rays still blessed them, they would not cover the last visible gap until the blanket of Lady Night shielded their movements.

The traders had set up simple shelters, poles strung with rope holding up tanned hides. They built a single fire and used it to roast some meat they’d kept in one of their wagons. They must have recently had a successful hunt to have fresh meat to cook. Eibisolos felt his mouth water as the aromas wafted his way in the night. The koryos had last had a kill and fresh meat a week ago. Since then they’d been so focused on raiding they had survived on scavenged berries, mushrooms, and other plant food.

The spearmen had remained on the near bank. One of the other men had brought them roasted meat on skewers of wood. Two men ate while one maintained his watch. The first one finished relieved him.

The sun set completely, but there was still time for the moon to rise. Eibisolos heard the men around the fire telling stories. Two of the spearmen bedded down while one maintained watch. His eyes heavy and the koryos still not arrived, Eibisolos slid below the lip of the bowl one last time and dozed off.

A rapid succession of feet dropping to the bottom of the bowl shocked Eibisolos. He reached to his waist and armed himself with his stone knife.

The moon had risen, and in its light, he recognized the faces of the rest of the koryos.

“Falling asleep on watch, brother?” Eiuneos said it lightly, but Eibisolos heard the edge in his voice as well. Eiuneos said it to avoid the rest of koryos bringing up the issue.

He’d probably saved Eibisolos a beating, but either way, Eibisolos wouldn’t know until morning. The koryos wouldn’t risk correction for his failing, leaving them a man short for the night’s raid.

“We will face their three spearmen on this bank,” Eibisolos told the koryos, not responding at all about his brief nap. “The traders made camp as soon as the wagons had crossed the river, but the three spearmen stayed on our side.”

“We can still surprise them,” said Paulos.

“Yes, but not the camp as a whole,” said Ueiktoros. “Eibisolos, you will lead Eiuneos and Magrios to engage the spearmen while the rest of us get across the river. They will have some warning at the wagons, but not much. We are half-again numbers with those Eiuneos and Gerlos claimed rode horses gone, so even that little bit of surprise should be enough.”

“At least one man rode a horse. He rode up next to the bushes I was hiding in when the second half of the day was half gone,” said Eibisolos.

“Yes, and he and the other leading a horse-mounted and rode north as I lost sight of them.”

“Did you not see these riders when you reached here, Eibisolos?”

The young scout shook his head.

“There were only the horses pulling wagons when I regained sight of them. There were two fewer men. The man who rode a horse up to me was one of the missing.”

“Well, no matter how magical these men who can ride horses are, they are not here. Men who are not here are of no concern,” said Ueiktoros. He looked around at the koryos. “Arm up everyone. Eibisolos, take you two men and start now. We will arrange up here. After a two hundred count we will follow. Give the howl of the wolf as you engage the spearmen.”

“For the koryos,” said Eibisolos as he lead his half brother and Magrios through the broken lip of the bowl and around. The moon was just above the horizon. It silhouetted the men he was to somehow stop, despite none of his team being armed with even flint tipped spears, as well as the larger trader’s camp.

He motioned both close as they padded down the slope like panthers, a fast but quiet stride.

“We will all rush the spearman on watch and bowl him over. Once he falls, Eiuneos take the rightmost of the sleeping pair. Slit his throat before he is fully awake. Magrios, do the same to the leftmost man.”

Eibisolos maintained a count the entire time.

“Run, now brothers, run,” he said in that whispering voice you use when you wanted to be overheard as his count reached two hundred.

The three young men sprinted, still making little noise. As Eibisolos lifted his hand to push the spearman, now only four paces away, he howled like the hunting wolf. The spearman had already turned to the sound of the sprinters coming within a handful of paces. The sleeping spearmen stirred.

Eibisolos heard sprinting behind him now as the koryos began their sprint to run across the river.

Then he heard the beating of hooves behind him.

There was a rough thump as a body hit the ground. Something heavy was stomping it, the sounds of breaking bones being loud enough to be heard over the man’s screams.

Eibisolos and his companions reached the spearman, who thrust between Eibisolos and Magrios. Eibisolos twisted away from the thrust. Magrios tried to grab the spear as it passed, but instead, the bronze head cut into his forearm, sliding between the bones which shattered when the spearman twisted his weapon.

It ripped up and out, almost completely severing Magrios’s arm as Eibisolos and Eiuneos knocked the man to the ground. Eiuneos was immediately up and running to dispatch his spearman.

Eibisolos stabbed the spearman on the ground in the throat. As he did, he saw several members of the koryos running from both sides of his field of vision. They were running in fear instead of armed. They did not cross the ford, but in front of him before both sets turned back as though something more frightening came from the direction they had been running to.

On his left, he saw Paulos fail to turn in time as “The Man Who Rode” leaned the horse he rode into Paulos’s path.

For the second time, he heard a man scream as all of his bones broke under the weight of a horse.

Eibisolos realized where the men on horses had gone. They had used the speed of the ridden horse to circle behind the koryos from the north. When the koryos charged and was engaged by the spearmen, the men who rode horses used their speed to overtake the warriors by surprise.

Then they used the weight and hooves of the horses as weapons. It was what Eibisolos had seen happen to men who tried to ride horses. This time men riding horses got the horses to do it to men who had not tried to ride them.

It was a kind of magic. No one in the koryos could be blamed for not realizing it could happen, but they would all pay the price for it, death.

Eibisolos heard hooves galloped behind him. He dropped his short flint knife and picked up the dead man’s spear as he turned to face death. He only hoped to goad the horse to pass him by with the spear.

A horse and rider were bearing down on him, but it was not “The Man Who Rode”. The rider was on the horse’s left side, guiding the horse that way, as they had been to the right of where Eibisolos had killed the spearman.

Eibisolos brought the spear up just as the horse was a length away.

The gambit worked, and the horse shied to its right, but the rider leaned further out to correct course before he saw the spear. The horse drove him on the bronze tip. Eibisolos fell backward, still holding the spear. The spear shaft slide through his hands, skinning them like a freshly killed rabbit until the butt hit the ground.

The rider stopped, but the horse did not. As he slid off the horse’s rear, the spear shaft bent under his weight.

Eibisolos released the spear. It and the dead rider dropped to the ground.

“Ekowsrey!” Eibisolos recognized the voice as “The Man Who Rode”. Behind him, he saw the man turn his horse towards Eibisolos and the fallen man. At the same time, Eibisolos saw his half-brother take up both of the other spearmen’s weapons and run to the ford. With the ridden horse turning away, the other men of the koryos ceased their own flight. Eiuneos was yelling, drawing them to him. He thrust the haft of one bronze spear into the hands of the first man to reach him.

Eiuneos stepped into the ford, where a handful of the traders had entered. As he and his spear-wielding companion waded further across, the men of the koryos rallied to him.

Eibisolos stepped as quickly as possible backward, keeping one hand on the shaft of the spear embedded in the dead rider as a guide. He pulled the shaft as he worked back, struggling to get it out of the chest of the dead man. “The Man Who Rode” crossed the distance in the time Eibisolos needed to free the spear.

He steered his horse at Eibisolos. The man’s eyes were wide in angry, that much could be seen in the moon’s light. Eibisolos had not time to twist or ready the spear. As he came free, he spun it hoping to hit the horse to knock it of course. At the same time, he threw himself to the side to avoid being trampled.

It was a close thing, but just as he could smell the sweat and blood on the horse’s body, the shaft struck its right flank. The horse shied hard while Eibisolos fell to his own left. While the horse did not strike him, the man on it let lose long enough to drive his fist at Eibisolos’s head. The blow was glancing and merely stunned Eibisolos for a second.

The man allowed the horse to run several lengths away. Eibisolos believed he was fleeing the battle, but as the horse turned around, he realized the man was just insuring he was out of range of the spear while he reset. Eibisolos also realized the horse would have more speed when it trampled him this way.

Sparing a glance towards the ford, it was clear the koryos had the upper hand. Despite the sound the traders had not had time to prepare, especially for two men wielding bronze headed spears against them. His half-brother was leading now. In fact, Ueiktoros was nowhere to be seen. He probably was a dead body in the dark. He was not the only member of the koryos missing, but except for “The Man Who Rode,” all the traders would soon be dead.

Eibisolos watched the horse turn. One man on one horse could doom the koryos or at least force them from their prize for a while. He would have to abandon it at some point, but the koryos needed to leave to hunt. Other scavengers could claim their prize unless the man and horse could be stopped.

Eibisolos thought of the spear pushing at him until the butt hit the ground when the other rider had been impaled. He steadied the butt on the ground and tried to aim the bronze head at the horse. He had to crouch to get any length on the spear in that position.

“The Man Who Rode” had his horse at a full run. He was only a couple of lengths away when Eibisolos was in position. Eibisolos closed his eyes and tensed, waiting for the impaled horse to trample him while it ran over him.

Eibisolos felt the spear tip grab, but not bury itself into the animal. Opening his eyes, he saw the horse had twisted at the last second and the tip had cut the horse’s side from the neck to roughly where the man’s leg had been. It had run past, barely missing Eibisolos, but the man had to throw himself off the opposite side to avoid being sliced by the spearhead.

He stood up, favoring his left leg, which he had fallen on. He drew a bronze dagger.

Eibisolos ran forward. The man raised the bronze dagger in defense. Eibisolos did not stab, but swung the half against the man’s wrist. He heard a satisfying crunch in the man’s arm. The dagger dropped. The man bent over to retrieve it. Eibisolos rushed the three feet and pushed the man backwards, bringing the spear point to his chest as he lay on the ground.

“Kill me boy,” the man said. “You have won.”

Eibisolos looked at the bronze dagger the man had bent to retrieve. The dagger only this past afternoon he had wanted to be his prize. Now he had both a bronze dagger and a bronze spear.

But they were the marks of a warrior. They were not the marks of a chief.

“You were wrong. When you declared to my koryos you had nothing worth stealing,” Eibisolos told the man on the ground.

“Yes, our bronze. I had hoped you would not think we had any beyond the three spears.”

“Not your bronze, although we take that back to our tribe. But more than that, you have the magic of riding horses. I would spare you if you agree to teach it.”

“I will teach you.”

“Not just me, but my tribe. Your tribe, in exchange for such a secret.” Eibisolos lay his new bronze spear on the ground next to the bronze dagger the man had dropped. He reached out his hand to help the man rise.

“I am called Wirosrediho,” said the man, taking Eibisolos’s hand.