Hidden Kingdom: Chapter 21

 

Chapter 21

The rest of the meal was filled with friendly small talk and was capped off with a smoke of a shared pipe of some strange tobacco that Sara had never seen before. It left her feeling warm and slightly light headed, not an unpleasant feeling. She got to know the people of Madeba through those at the dinner. These people were from all walks of life, and she found out that they represented the leadership of the community. However, they were not all rich or from powerful families. In fact, from what she could tell, there were no powerful families in the community. Each of the leaders had been selected by the people, and Unger had been selected by the members of the leadership. Leadership positions were for life or until someone stepped down. When she asked if there had been a situation where a leadership member had become corrupt, Unger smiled at her and said that people with selfishness revealed themselves long before they reach the age where they can sit on the leadership. He did add that should it ever happen, then the community would have a trial, and if found guilty, they would be removed from the clan. At first, she thought it was odd that they would think the worse "corruption" someone could do was to be selfish, but as she thought about it, she realized that all the corrupt leaders she had known of were acting in their own best interested and not the interest of the people. They were selfish.

She had known of groups of people that had tried to integrate their beliefs into all aspects of their lives, including their government. All of them had been very violent towards others and inflexible. This society, however, had figured out how to make it work. Their beliefs were a critical part of their lives, but they were at peace with others that did not believe the way they did. The only thing that they would not tolerate was someone living as part of them but not following their faith. And even then they only expelled them out of the community.

After the meal, everyone started toslowlymake their way out of the main hall. The town did not have a hotel, but the people offered to put up the soldiers in their homes. Topher thanked them for their generous offer, but he would prefer they stayed together. At first, the people seemed offended by the statement, but then Unger told them not to be, as Plains-folk havedifferent ways of thinking and did not mean it as an insult. This seemed to appease them some. As such, room was made available in the local stable. They moved the animals out to the pastures for the night, allowing for enough room for the squad.

Sara managed to corner Unger. She expressed to him her concern that Queen Hellicus' troops were on the move again and that this time they were acting in a more hostile way than before. She made sure he would tell the other clans. She also asked that if they did encounter soldiers of Emos, that someone would tell the people of Carriland. He agreed he would but as she walked away she worried about these people. She had no doubts they could protect themselves, but she had a feeling they would not do anything unless they were attacked first. They were good people, but their religion demanded that reaction. To attack first would be unthinkable.

When she finally made it outside, she could see the squad talking among themselves and to the locals. Tonight felt like a furlough and not a night on the mission. She was glad, as she knew there were going to be hard days ahead. She looked around and saw Topher walking slowly with the Woodsman. She made a bee-line for them.

"So, did you order those men to come here and attack these people?" Topher asked the Woodsman.

The Woodsman took a deep breath and then said, "Yes and no. I ordered the squad south, but their mission was to attack Carriland. They were supposed to harass your homeland so you would be forced to deploy some of your troops to defend Carriland. That would have left fewer troops on the battlefields in Doorshire. At least, that was the plan. I ordered the commander of that squad to make haste to Carriland and attack your people and cities. I guess he thought he would attack these people too. He was always a little too brash and eager to please." He paused for a second. "I always wondered what happened to that squad. We never heard a word. To us they just vanished in these woods. They were some of my best soldiers but from what I have learned about these people, I can see that patrol getting wiped out. The people are peaceful because they want peace. If you treat them with violence, then they will return it in equal measure."

Topher gave a small laugh and said, "Yeah, I do not think he meant it that way, but I got the implied threat from Unger. If we attack them, we will be attacked."

The Woodsman smiled. He was glad to see that the general was smart and just. He then noticed Sara walking just behind them. He turned to her and said, "So, your majesty, did you realize the significance of what happened between Unger and Corval?"

Sara thought a bit and then said, "I think so. Unger is like the king here. He was basically saying that a member of another kingdom had done a good job and that he was personally going to tell her queen how good she did."

"Close, but you also have to realize that Unger was against her staying a member of Clan Shawcross and joining your army. He was admitting publically that he was wrong."

Sara thought about it. She realized he was. For a ruler to do that was a big thing. She would have no problem admitting to someone personally that she was wrong but to admit it publically was another matter. Outside the woods, that scene would have been unheard of, but she guessed that it was common for the Wood-folk. They were truly a different society.

She also realized that Private Corval was a citizen of another kingdom. She did not realize that Wood-folks had clans and were citizens of those clans. When it was reported that a Wood-folk had shown up at a garrison and was requesting to join the military, she had assumed that all Wood-folk were loners and belonged to no kingdoms. She would have to address this with her generals and then with the private. This could produce a conflict should there be a choice between her clan and Carriland. She was also going to have a talk about why the Wood-folk wanted to be a soldier for a foreign kingdom. She did not have a great concern but more of a feeling that, in the future, these things could be an issue.

They walked a few steps in silence when Topher said, "Well that was a great meal. I liked the spicy stuff. No idea what it was but it was good."

The Woodsman replied, "Yes they do know how to put on a good meal."

"And what was that drink they served after the meal?" Topher asked.

"They make the alcohol from the nuts from some of the trees. It is very strong and taste terrible, so they mix it with fruit juice. It tastes better that way. You just have to be careful how much you drink. That is why they only gave us one drink of it."

After a moment as the two contemplated that, Sara said, "Ok so what is in those dishes that we had and how do they make that flatbread?"

The three walked to the stable talking about the food, with the Woodsman doing his best to explain what was in each of the dishes and the bread.