People of the Black Sun(141)
Hiyawento examined the body. Sky Messenger appeared to be unconscious. Blessed Ancestors, please don’t let him be dead. “I can identify Atotarho and Nesi, and Chief Wenisa must be the big man, correct?”
“Yes. The others are the chief’s personal guards. They…”
A din of gasps and soft cries erupted from the warriors surrounding them, and Disu said, “I don’t believe it! What are they doing?”
Hiyawento looked just in time to see the Hills warriors pivot on their heels, swinging full around to face the oncoming Mountain army. They loosed a devastating volley of arrows into the onslaught. Hundreds of Mountain warriors fell, forcing the rushing people behind them to stumble and leap their fallen friends before they could continue their charge. Enraged roars rumbled across the valley. In the stunned moments after the volley, Negano shouted something Hiyawento couldn’t hear, but he watched in fascination as Negano’s forces turned tail and ran as hard as they could for the Bur Oak Village gates. Screaming Mountain warriors chased after them, loosing arrows on the run. Many of Negano’s warriors went down. Just before the survivors hit the gates, they swung open, and his warriors flooded inside to a deafening bellow of outrage from the Mountain People. The gates immediately swung closed, and Wenisa’s army hit the walls like a hurricane, shrieking and shouting curses, while Standing Stone arrows rained down upon them.
“Gods,” Saponi said. “What just happened?”
Hiyawento shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
Disu let out a bizarre cackle, then he threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t you see? Negano and his people just joined the Peace Alliance!”
* * *
Negano brought up the rear, shoving his warriors through the gates in front of him, shouting, “Move! Get inside! Hurry!”
As he pushed his warriors into the plaza, he heard the guards slam the locking planks on the gates into position behind him, and found himself surrounded by Standing Stone warriors with drawn bows. He shouted to his warriors, “Lay down your weapons! Lift your hands!”
With shocked expressions, his warriors did it. White-faced, they lifted their empty hands, and stared at the circle of bows that had closed like a bristly noose around them.
Negano desperately searched for Sindak but didn’t see him anywhere. He was probably still on the catwalk handling the murderous onslaught outside. Instead, a tall woman, half a head taller than Negano, strode across the plaza. They knew her. Every last one of them. An odd hush came over his warriors. They shoved each other aside to create a path for her to reach Negano, and she walked through the press alone, her stony black eyes fixed on Negano’s.
He held his hands higher in the air. She had just allowed around three hundred enemy warriors into her village, into the midst of vulnerable women, children, and elders—warriors who had been murdering her people yesterday. He didn’t know what to expect, and nothing on her expressionless face told him.
Blessed Spirits, she had a presence. She looked completely unafraid, or maybe she’d just given herself up for dead days ago. When she stood before him, her black eyes glistened with deadly intent.
Negano said, “Matron Jigonsaseh, thank you for helping us, we—”
“Get your people up on the catwalk immediately. We’re going to be short on arrows. I want one dead Mountain warrior for every arrow loosed. Move!”
“Y-Yes, Matron,” he stammered. He half-bowed, hesitated for only a heartbeat, then marched into the middle of his warriors to shout, “Pick up your bows and get to the catwalk now! Careful shots. One arrow for one kill. Go!”
She watched him with stone-cold eyes as Negano led his people to the closest ladders, and they charged up to join the battle.…
Fifty-six
Nesi stood gaping, momentarily frozen at the sight of Hills warriors flooding across the Bur Oak catwalks. Heartbeats later, they fired a coordinated, decimating volley of arrows into the Mountain warriors at the base of the palisades, warriors who’d been scrambling on top of the corpses, shooting straight up into the faces of anyone who leaned over to aim at them. Hundreds went down. Then more, as Negano’s archers launched arrows into the fleeing horde whose senseless rage had led them way too close to the village.
Yesterday, most of the people standing on the catwalk had been elders and children with poor aims. As of this moment, the Standing Stone nation had three hundred of the finest warriors in the land.
Nesi’s fists ached as he clenched them tight, and turned to face Chief Wenisa. Nesi was a big man, but Wenisa was bigger, his shoulders wider, his upper arms more massive. Though a cacophony of threats and curses had erupted from Wenisa’s personal guards as they stalked about in fury … Wenisa stood eerily quiet. Just calmly watching the battle with his bulging muscles about to burst through his shirt.