Chapter 11
Tanwen watched as Indra put Miller through his paces. She tried him with various different weapons and techniques. He passed her tests and now his training would be ramped up. It would take another three months before he would be tested again to see if he could be one of Tanwen's guards.
After that, she went to see one of the leather makers to see if they knew a way of creating the ancient weapon. She took the book with her.
"This is Garay's shop. He's the best leather worker in Polis. He's from the Delfikru clan," Rabia said.
"Will he work with us?" Tanwen asked.
"Sha, he will," Rabia said, turning around and walking through the door to check it out first. Tanwen entered when Rabia gave the all-clear.
"Kwin Tanwen, it is a pleasure to have you in my shop," the man said, bowing. Garay was slim built, of average height for a clansman, with bright red hair tied in a braid down his back. He was clean shaven and had bright green eyes.
"Mochof, Garay," Tanwen said.
"What may I help you with, ai Kwin?" Tanwen opened the book and showed him the picture.
"I would like to see if this ancient weapon could be replicated. It is made of leather strips made into a kind of glove."
"May I ask why?" he said, hesitantly.
"There is a warrior with a damaged hand and he cannot use a sword, knife or axe properly. I thought that if we could figure out how to make one and then how to attach a blade to it, it might help him to continue to be a warrior."
"Does he know?" Tanwen shook her head.
"I didn't want to get his hopes up if we cannot do this."
"I understand." He gestured to the book. "May I?" Tanwen handed it over and he studied the picture. "I do not read Gonalseng, Ai kwin, may I ask if you could read what it says about it please?" Tanwen nodded and began reading. The leather straps were hardened leather but it didn't say how. Neither did it say or show how it was made, only that sometimes studs were added for more impact and damage.
"I guess I'll have to experiment," Garay said with a sigh before smiling.
"I had someone make a copy of the picture for you to keep," Tanwen said, handing it over. "I'm afraid the book needs to come back with me."
"That is fine, ai kwin. I will study the picture and try to replicate one. I will use my apprentice as the model." Tanwen nodded.
"How long do you think it would take?" Garay paused as he thought about it.
"Come back in three weeks, ai kwin. I think I need to test different lengths, widths, and hardness to see which is the best."
"Good, once you do, I'll be back to talk about attaching a blade to it." Garay's eyebrows rose as he looked at the picture again.
"It would be difficult to do, but it may be possible," he said slowly.
"I was thinking of a circular plate on the underside next to the skin, with another plate on the outside and a blade attached to that," Tanwen told him. He nodded as he envisioned what it would look like.
"Possibly. I'll need to experiment with the glove first before we try your way, ai kwin."
"Then I will return in three weeks," Tanwen said. Garay bowed and Tanwen left.
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A week later, Indra and Octavia came with four wagons filled with weapons and clothing and a few other artifacts. They met Lexa and Tanwen in the throne room.
"Welcome back," the Commander said.
"Mochof," Indra said as the two of them bowed.
"What did you find?" Lexa asked.
"There are identifiable weapons from all the clans as well as some clothing that can be traced to certain clans. There are other artifacts with symbols on from the three clans nearest the mountain, Commander. It took some time for my warriors to identify each item and assign them to their correct clan."
"Then we will have the clans gather to return their possessions. Anything in there of significance?"
"No, Heda, just clans symbols. Nothing as important as the queen's Podakru sword."
"Which has already been returned to Podakru. They were very grateful to have it returned and stunned to know Queen Tanwen wielded it in battle." Indra nodded. Most of the clans had sacred weapons only used by their own people. The fact that Queen Tanwen used it should be okay, after all she was the clan queen before she held the blade for the first time and as such, she was also the Podakru queen.
"We will gather the clans tomorrow at the training grounds. Training will be suspended for the day. These weapons, clothing and artifacts can be a big morale booster for the clans," the Commander said.
"Not to mention the emotional response to family artifacts returned to them," Tanwen said. Both nodded.
"For now, put a guard on them until we return them. I don't want any feuds flaring up because of an artifact that is disputed from a war over twenty years ago!" the Commander said.
"Sha, Heda. I have already placed a six man guard on them and the building they are stored in. Two inside and four outside."
"Good, then let us retire for the evening and start afresh in the morning." Indra looked at the Commander and then at Tanwen who shrugged and smiled. Just because she used certain words and phrases, didn't mean the Commander couldn't. With one last bow, Indra and Octavia left the room.
"Let's go to bed, hodness," Lexa said. "Tomorrow will be a long day." Tanwen smiled and held Lexa's hand as they walked back to their quarters.
The following morning, everyone was gathered in the training grounds. Leaders, Ambassadors and warriors from the clans. The only one who wasn't there was Queen Nia. She'd decided to return to her own lands. She left the Ambassador in charge.
"Today we will return some of the artifacts, clothing and weapons from the mountain. General Indra has been going through it all and anything identifiable to a specific clan will be returned. Anything unknown will be shared with all the clans!" The Commander said. There was a lot of rustling as people began whispering to each other.
"First will be Delfikru," the Commander said. Antni, the heda, and Jaxim, the ambassador, stepped forward. Six of their warriors formed up behind them, all of them standing to attention. General Indra and Octavia brought out each piece and showed the clan symbols and other ones recognisable as belonging to the Delfikru clan. Each was handed over and they were passed to the warriors. 24 pieces of clothing, weapons and other artifacts were given to them. The leader and ambassador bowed deeply before all of them stepped back.
"Next is Sangedakru." It went on and on as each clan received their belongings back in front of the others with the clan symbols fully on show. There was one last clan.
"Azgedakru, step forward!" the Commander said. Ambassador Canmin stepped forward and six warriors stepped up with him. As before, each item was shown to have their clan symbol on it before being handed over.
"There is one last artifact for Azgeda," the Commander said as Indra pulled out a wrapped item. "This belonged to the first king of Azgeda," the Commander said. She opened the package to reveal an arm torque in gold with several large jewels embedded in it. Canmin was astounded. It had been lost almost fifty years previously. King Ahmid had been one of the first taken by the mountain and he was known to be wearing it at the time. Indra placed the wrapper and torque into Canmin's hands.
"Mochof!" he said with a hint of reverence. His hands were shaking slightly but he kept his hands cupped to keep the torque safe. He stepped back and one of the warriors rewrapped the torque and Canmin put it into his pocket and kept one hand on it at all times. Nia had been sure that any Azgeda artifact would not be returned but kept by the Commander. Canmin knew differently and was glad that the Commander had kept her word and all artifacts were returned. This one was their most important. It belonged to the true kings of Azgeda and that wasn't Nia. Nia's grandfather had taken over the clan when Ahmid had gone missing. Ahmid's son, Rondal, should have been the king, but he was usurped and the line became Nia's. Canmin was in a quandary. He was actually the great grandson of Ahmid. His ancestry was well documented. It was a reason Nia appointed him as the ambassador. It kept him out of Azgeda and out of the politics in the clan and it kept the true line apart. Now he had the torque, he didn't know what to do. Nia was his queen, but he was of the real line of royalty. He had the torque and Nia didn't. He sighed to himself. Nia thought that if she had a husband who was of the original line and had a child by him, then that child would be the legitimate heir of both lines and she would know that going forward, her line would still be on the throne. Roan was that child and she had banished him. He was no longer the heir and was in no position to challenge her. Did he give Roan the torque or try to take the throne for himself? It wasn't something he could decide overnight. He would have to give it a lot more thought. He tuned back into what the Commander was saying.
"The rest of the items have been split into twelve. One for each clan. Delfikru, step forward." Delfikru stepped up and Octavia brought out six bundles. Three of them were weapons, two were clothes and one was artifacts. They were handed over and Delfikru stepped back. They went through them all in the same order with Azgeda last. When the Azgeda had gotten their items and stepped back, the Commander spoke again.
"If any of you recognise something among the items just presented to you as belonging to another clan, you can either just hand it over, or come here and negotiate for another weapon, piece of clothing or an artifact in exchange for it. I do not want anyone claiming another item from another clan's. If you think they have an atrifact that belongs to your clan, then we will have to judge who should have it. Remember, anything with clan markings on it that have been identified have already been returned. I do not want fights occurring and old grudges rearing their heads over these items. If I have to, I will take them off you again!" Everyone bowed and agreed with her. She nodded and then dismissed them. Each clan went back to their own embassy.
That night, each clan had a small celebration within their own ambassadorial compounds. The partying would only really start once they were back in their own lands. Tanwen and the Commander had their own celebration which resulted in a late start the following morning.
"I need to see the ambassadors and leaders today. I have to get across to them that the mountain is not a place they can go to look around. As the majority of the mountain is in my lands, I've decided to make it Trikru."
"Wise," Tanwen said. "I was thinking of going to see Luna at some point. She asked me to go for a visit."
"When?"
"Unknown. I want to get that cestus from Garay first."
"Garay? The Delfikru leathersmith? Tall, red hair, scars on his arms?"
"Yeah, that's him. He seemed quite enthusiastic about trying to make one." Lexa was quiet for a minute as she processed the information.
"When will it be made?"
"He said to come back in three weeks and that was a week ago."
"So in two weeks," Lexa said to herself more than Tanwen.
"Sha. For now, I want to look around the market. Rabia said something about old world traders. I want to see what they have."
"Alright, but take at least four of your guards, please. The Azgeda are up to something. If they tell you to leave, leave."
"What's up?"
"I don't know. My spies are reporting more movement, but not more Azgeda. It's like the ones already here are moving around a lot more than usual. I don't like it, it looks like they are up to something. Don't take any chances. I can't lose you, hodness."
"I won't take any chances, Lexa," Tanwen said, moving to her wife and hugging her before pulling back and stroking her cheek. Lexa nuzzled her hand. "I'm not about to lose you either. Being dropped to the ground was the best thing to happen to me apart from our marriage." Tanwen stopped for a second before carrying on. "Well, I could have done without all that crap between us and Anya and definitely with Tristan! But in the end, it led me to you. You're stuck with me, hodness." Tanwen moved in for a kiss but a knock on the door stopped her.
"Worst timing ever!" she muttered under her breath as she reluctantly pulled away from Lexa. Lexa didn't look any happier either.
"Commander, there is work we need to do!" Titus's voice rang out.
"Mind if I kill him the next time he interupts us?" Tanwen asked, half-seriously. Lexa smirked.
"Commander!" Titus called out again.
"I don't mind at all," Lexa muttered. She'd already told her guards not to let him in for any reason so she knew he wouldn't come in but it didn't stop him from shouting through the door. Lexa strode over and yanked the door open.
"Is there a reason you're shouting?" she asked harshly.
"There is much to do today, Commander," he said, still aggrieved he wasn't allowed inside.
"And it will wait until I'm ready. If you'd waited for another quarter candlemark, you wouldn't have come looking for me!" Tanwen went up to her shoulder and looked at Titus.
"You know, the way you are acting, you think the Commander works for you instead of the other way around. Be careful, Titus, pride comes before a fall." Titus glared at her. Tanwen saw Rabia and Ingrid approaching.
"That's my cue," Tanwen said, giving Lexa a quick peck on the lips before moving passed her.
"See you tonight, hodness!" she said as she walked down the corridor flanked by her guards. Pelana and Domnik joined them at the end of the corridor before Tanwen entered the lift with Pelana and Rabia while the other two ran down the stairs.
Lexa watched until she was out of sight before returning her gaze to Titus.
"You do that again and I'll have you flogged!" she told him harshly. "I don't know what your problem with Tanwen is, but it stops now! One more interruption in our quarters and you won't have a job anymore!" Titus opened his mouth to say something but the Commander held up her hand. "No! Now, go to the throne room and wait for me there. I will be there shortly. Do NOT come back up here again - for anything. If it's urgent, get a guard to come get me but you are now banned from this floor!" Titus swallowed and left. Lexa went back into her quarters and sat down to calm down. Tanwen was the best thing to happen to herself. She knew Titus thought she had to be alone to rule, but without Tanwen, she didn't want to. Tanwen made her rule better, she made her better and between them both, Lexa was determined to prove him wrong. She sat there for a few minutes before she rose and left to start her day.
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Tanwen strolled around the market, looking at what was on offer. Without a monetary system, they reverted to bartering but that often led to arguments. She heard a couple of them as she walked around but didn't try to stop them, they were not serious and were part of everyday life. She looked at the different crafts on display from leatherworkers to cooks, tailors to potters. She looked around them all, but didn't buy anything - she had nothing to barter with.
The next stall held things that came from the old world. She stopped to have a good look. She picked up a pen without any ink in it, and put it down again. There were small solar panels she recognised from small toys on the Ark. These panels were only around 5 cm long by about two cm wide, but they powered whatever item they were attached to. These were for small items only. She wondered if there were larger ones she could use - along with any heaters she could modify! She carried on looking at some glass jars that were still intact, filled with some kind of foodstuff, a pack of coloured bandages which she recognized as fibreglass bandages used to mend broken bones, and a small collection of what looked like travel mugs. They were dirty but Tanwen picked one up anyway. She turned it over and over in her hands and then took the lid off. It was hard but she did it and saw they were empty. They looked like they hadn't been used. She put it back and moved on to the next stall.
"Rabia, do we have anything to buy those coloured bandages with?" Rabia looked back.
"I didn't bring anything with me," she said.
"Me neither," said Domnik. A hand held out several small wooden carvings about an inch high.
"Try these, ai kwin," Pelana said. Tanwen looked at them with interest.
"Where did you get these?" she asked.
"I carve them in my spare time, ai kwin," Pelana said. Tanwen looked at her.
"Since when? I've never seen you do any carving."
"Since I was a child, and I've not done much until we came here and you got more guards." Tanwen nodded and backtracked to the stall.
She bartered three of the small figurines of children playing for six of the bandages in different colours. She did ask if the stallholder found any more of them, she would purchase them. The trader agreed and they moved off.
"I'm looking for some fingerless gloves," Tanwen said.
"What are those?" asked Domnik.
"Gloves without the finger parts. They cover the first part of the finger, but not the rest. We had them on the Ark and they were very handy. There was a gripping surface on the palm but your fingers were free to grip as well." Domnik looked intrigued.
"If we can't find any, maybe you can talk to one of our leather makers about making some.
"Garay?" Tanwen asked. "Not sure it would look good if I only favoured one of them. Maybe another one from another clan would make them for me," Tanwen said.
"Sha, Queen Tanwen," Rabia said.
"Let's go back and store these and then go and train," Tanwen said. "I've got some anger issues to get out."
"Yes, my queen," Pelana said, having seen Titus at the Commander's door when they went to get Tanwen.
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Two weeks later, they went back to see Garay. Tanwen was looking forward to it. She wanted to see if they really could make a cestus and fit it with a blde for the injured warrior.
"Hei, Garay," Tanwen said when she entered.
"Ai kwin," he replied, bowing to her.
"Did you manage to make one?" Tanwen asked with eagerness.
"Sha, ai kwin, I did. We may need to refine it to fit the injured man, but it might actually work. We just have to find a way to attach a blade to it."
"Excellent!" Tanwen said. Garay went to get his apprentice and the glove.
"This is Harrin, ai kwin. He is one of my apprentices. Harrin bowed deeply to his queen, shocked to be in her presence.
"Ai-ai k-kwin!" he stammered out.
"Harrin," Tanwen replied, giving a slight bow in return.
"Harrin, put this on please," Garay said to him, handing over the cestus. Harrin fitted his hand into it and then with his other hand, tightened and fastened the buckles. He held his hand out to Tanwen who stepped forward and examined it closely. She reached out and moved Harrin's arm in all directions getting a good look at it.
"Have you tried it out?" she asked Harrin.
"In limited exercises, ai kwin," he said.
"What can you do with it?"
"Well, not much, actually," Garay said. "For all it said it was a weapon, we haven't been able to figure out how. The best we can come up with is that it was used to beat someone to death with and that's only with repeated, sustained blows. One of our more muscular warriors could probably do the same thing with his bare hands." Tanwen was a little disappointed.
"What about those studs they said they put on them?"
"Again, it was for beating them to death with. Not much use otherwise." Tanwen sighed.
"I need to bring that warrior here and then you can take measurements of his actual hand and see if you can make one for him. Maybe between us all we can figure out how to attach a blade to it that will fit him."
"Sha, ai kwin," Garay said. Tanwen turned to Pelana.
"Go see if he's at the training grounds and then come find me." Pelana nodded and ran off. Tanwen still had two guards.
"Ai kwin, I would prefer if you stayed here until Pelana comes back," Rabia said. Tanwen looked like she was going to refuse.
"The Commander only let you go out this morning because you had an appointment with Garay and insisted you had at least three guards. With Pelana off on an errand, you are down to two." Tanwen sighed. Sometimes it was like having the Commander right there, whispering in her ear - and not in a loving way.
"Fine, but I get to use Garay's small fighting space!"
"My pleasure, ai kwin," Garay said with another bow.
"Harrin, come with me!" Tanwen said as she made her way outside.
"Ai kwin?" he said as he came to a stop just outside the door. Tanwen waved him over. He hesitated and then moved slowly towards her.
"You said you'd tested it in limited exercise? What were they?" Harrin perked up when he realised she wasn't going to use himself as target practice.
"Oh, at first it was a series of movements to see how it moved."
"Show me," Tanwen ordered.
"Sha, ai kwin," he said and moved more to the center away from the others and began doing some of the training exercises to limber up. Tanwen watched the glove rather than Harrin, but she saw some difficulty straight away. It was rigid so there was no play in the wrist. It may be that it was too rigid, but they would have to test it out.
Once he'd finished the exercises, Tanwen walked up to him and had him hold his arm out in front of him at shoulder level. She told him to try to move the glove without moving his arm. He found it impossible. Tanwen picked up a wooden training knife and held her arm out in the same manner. She went through a few small exercises where she moved her hand around but not her arm. Harrin tried to copy her but he couldn't. It was too rigid. If a blade was attached in the manner she wanted it, all the fighter could do was stab and slash, there would be no rolling of the wrist to get out of a situation or bring another situation for victory closer.
"Alright," Tanwen said with a sigh. "We may have to start again. We need that warrior as the model as well, it's supposed to fit him so I think it will have to be custom made."
"I'm here, ai kwin," said a voice from the doorway. Tanwen turned to see the injured warrior and Pelana standing out of the way.
"What's your name, warrior?" she asked him.
"Jufor and I'm no longer a warrior," he said in resignation.
"Do you know why I want to see you?"
"No. Your guard said you wanted to but now why."
"Then come here and I'll show you." He looked at Pelana who nodded. He slowly approached, keeping his injured hand out of sight in his pocket.
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"Jufor, I was watching you a few weeks ago trying to hold a knife in your left hand. Your movements looked weak and ineffective because you were holding the knife wrongly. You can be taught to fight left handed but I thought of another, ancient weapon you could try with your right hand."
"My right hand is useless! I can't even grip a knife let alone use it!"
"What if you didn't need to grip the knife?" He looked puzzled and Tanwen motioned for Harrin to step forward.
"This glove is called a cestus. It was an ancient weapon, but we don't know how other than to beat someone to death with it. I asked Garay to make one to see if we could figure it out. This is what he came up with. As you can see, Harrin's hand is closed into a fist with his lower arm covered in the glove. It is hardened leather, but we've figured out it is too inflexible. We need to remake it with a bit more flexibility in it. Can you rotate your right wrist?"
"A little, ai kwin, but not much. There was too much damage to fix. The healers said that some of the internal parts of the hand were severed and they cannot fix them. My fingers no longer move."
"May I see?" Tanwen asked gently. Jufor was reluctant, but he slowly removed his hand from his pocket. He held it up to her.
"May I?" she asked him before she touched him. He nodded once. Tanwen reached out and gently felt each finger and joint before she moved them for him. She watched for pain responses on his face and found none.
"If you feel pain, I need to know," Tanwen said. "It may indicate that you still have feeling in them." She tried again. For the little finger and the next, there was no pain. For the middle finger and the index finger there was a slight feeling of sensation but it was very muted which he reported to her. Tanwen turned his hand over to look at the inside of his wrist where the damage was. The cut across the wrist did not go all the way, it was more like halfway which looked deep and the other part was shallow. Tanwen was no medical expert but she thought the feelings in his middle and index fingers were muted because of injury, not severed ligaments or tendons. She never remembered which ones were in the hand. She was hard pressed to remember which were which either.
"Do you have any pain in your thumb?"
No, ai kwin, I can move that a little," he said and demonstrated. The thumb moved but it was slight, not more than half a centimetre at best.
"Have you been given any exercises to do to try to strengthen it or get more movement?"
"No ai kwin."
"Then we'll try some strengthening exercises. They may be small at first, but don't think they are stupid. You need to start getting your thumb and maybe fingers used to moving before you ask them to do great big movements. Right now, all I want you to do is to physically place your index finger against your thumb." She held her own hand out and showed him what he wanted him to do. He copied her.
"Now bend your thumb at the top joint only. She demonstrated again. He did it and then straightened his thumb again. Tanwen grinned.
"Nice!" she said.
"What is nice about it?" he asked.
"The fact that when you used your thumb, your index finger didn't lose contact with it, it bent as well! There's still hope to get it moving a little bit!" He did it again and watched as both digits moved. He smiled. He never thought he'd have movement in that hand again.
"I want you to do that exercise ten times, five times a day. DO NOT do more. You could do more damage by doing too much. Do this for seven days. I will meet you here in seven days to see the progress, okay?" He nodded, stunned at the thought of maybe being a warrior again.
"I want you to work with Garay to make a cestus made especially for you. We need to see if you can hold the handle of a knife in your hand or not. I was thinking we could attach a blade to the top of it so you can fight."
"A blade? Like a knife?" he asked.
"Maybe. If you cannot hold the handle, maybe we could attatch just a blade to it. My first thought was a metal disc in the inside with another metal disc on top and the blade attached to that. It would give you the ability to stab and swipe but not the precision of a skilled knife fighter. I would have liked a little more give in the cestus first so you could turn your wrist, but we'll have to experiment with it first. There's probably a better way to do it. If we can't figure it out, we'll call in an expert in making knives." Jufor nodded.
"I can do that, ai kwin," he said with a bow.
"Good, let's go see Garay and talk to him about how to make you a better cestus." Jufor followed Tanwen into the leathermaker's store and talked to Garay about what was needed. Tanwen promised to return in a week to see any progress and to see if Jufor had progressed with his physiotherapy. Maybe she'd contact Clarke about any other exercises he could do, but the more she thought about it, the more likely Clarke or Abby would want to see him for themselves before they suggested any.
Tanwen left Garay and Jufor talking through what was needed and walked back to the tower. They stopped at the market and looked at the displays before entering the tower and going to Tanwen's quarters. Two of the Commander's guards were already there, indicating her wife was also there. Tanwen smiled and Larkin and Pelana stayed on duty while the others went for food and rest.
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Tanwen entered her quarters to see Lexa bent over a large map and a frown on her face.
"Hei, hodness," Tanwen said as she took her outer coat off. Lexa looked up and it took her a couple of seconds before she saw her wife. Her face cleared and she smiled when she did. She went over to Tanwen and hugged her hard. Tanwen hugged her back.
"Hey, how was your day?" Tanwen asked.
"Hard. The Ice Nation's up to something, we just can't figure out what."
"In what way?"
"There's more movement. There's a law that prohibits more than 50 personnel of any one clan within Polis at any one time. Usually when another group from the same clan arrives, they wait outside and the group already here moves out and the new group moves in. Azgeda riders are coming almost daily in ones and twos and they seem to be leaving the same day as well, but I'm almost sure some are staying and their numbers are growing."
"By how far have they upped their numbers?"
"We don't know. Without proof and without a very good legal reason, we cannot just go in and count people. We need hard evidence that there are more people there than there should be!"
"How many are they supposed to have right now?"
"Azgeda always has the maximum of fifty."
"So make sure your gate guards keep any others outside until the same amount has gone out of the gates," Tanwen said. It was the obvious solution.
"We did, but some are slipping through. I'm beginning to think they are being bribed."
"Yeah, I can see how that could happen. The Azgeda could persuade a gate guard that one more person wouldn't upset the ratio, would it and they'd be leaving the same day to head back to Azgeda so what harm could one more do?"
"I can see that once, but many times?" asked Lexa.
"Oh, that one's easy. If they bribed them once all they have to do is threaten to expose them as the ones who took a bribe!" Lexas glumly nodded. "Have the gate guards changed recently?"
"No." Lexa sighed. "I think I need to talk to the garrison Commander. If he's letting the same people be on gate duty all the time, what are the rest doing?"
"Good question. What does Tight Ass have to say about it?"
"Who?" Tanwen went red.
"Sorry, it's my personal name for your Flamekeeper." Lexa burst out laughing.
"It is a good description of him, but please don't say it to his face in any formal settings?"
"I'll try not to, but he's such a tight ass when it comes to me!"
"Have you had any more encounters with him?"
"Not since you banned him from this floor," Tanwen said, beaming with pride that Lexa stood up to him.
"Good. I've had several talks with him about what he is allowed to do and what he is definitely not allowed to do."
"Hope he learns fast, Lexa. I still may have to gut him at some point!"
"Try not to, hodness. For now, let your guards deal with him." Tanwen nodded and leaned in for a kiss which Lexa was more than happy to reciprocate. When they'd pulled away, Tanwen looked at the map.
"What's happening now?"
"Just checking on routes to and from Azgeda," Lexa explained. Tanwen went over to see the map had every clan on it. It was a map of her entire kongeda.
"Wow!" Tanwen said. "I knew it went beyond the Mississippi, but I never realised just how much land you controlled!"
"Is it a lot? I don't know how much more land there is to our west?"
"There's not actually much more of it, Commander. Your territory seems to run from North Dakota, through South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, a small part of Texas and on down to Louisiana. The only states you haven't got at least a part of are Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming. Oh, and Alaska, but that's attached to Canada, and Hawaii is way off the coast."
"Is that much land?"
"Compared to the old USA, no, it's about a third or a quarter of it. You definitely have more than half of it!"
"What about the warlords? They seem to think they have a lot of land."
"They do, as I said, compared to the whole, it's not that much, but when you have to travel through it, it definitely is a lot, just not as much as yours. Texas, Montana, Nevada and California are big states. Most of the states in your kongeda are small ones, but they do spread out more. I could show you on an old map if you have one." Lexa moved off to the chest that held her maps and looked for one from before the war. She came back with it and unfurled it. She put the stones on the corners and edges to keep it flat.
"Okay, your territory runs roughly on this path," Tanwen said as she marked the path with her finger. "I don't know how much of each of the states your territory passes through that you have, but as you can see, it's most of the arable land. Your Plains Riders have all this land around Kansas, Nebraska and up into the Dakotas. Trishanakru starts where Plain Riders stop and carries on down from Kansas, through Oklahoma, a little bit of Texas and into the whole of Louisiana. At the top, Delfikru has Minnesota and a little bit of North Dakota. Azgeda…I'm not sure how much land they have. Their territory is mostly in Canada. Canada stretched from coast to coast as did America."
"That's a lot of land I do not control," Lexa said. Tanwen looked at her wife.
"You're not thinking of taking it all, are you?"
"No, not at all, I just never realised how much land I had and how much land I didn't." Tanwen nodded.
"As you can see from this map, these areas are the old states. Montana, Nevada, California and Texas. Those are the four biggest states you don't control. The others are not small either. Most of yours over in this corner are small states," Tanwen said, pointing to the dead zone in the upper eastern corner. Your biggest states are probably Minnesota, Florida and maybe Georgia or Michigan. The rest are smaller states."
"How many states were there?"
"50, including Alaska and Hawaii." Tanwen pointed at the two states who had their own separate boxes. "These two are not actually attached to the mainland USA. Alaska is way up here past the map area. It's also a large state and a lot of it has never been explored."
"And Canada? This is the territory Azgeda has."
"That's not as large as I thought," Tanwen said. "It looks like they have everything from the east coast out to Manitoba, but not into Saskatchewan. That's still a lot, Commander. Minnesota and North Dakota are around Manitoba too. Not quite sure where they are because they aren't marked on this map, but it's around there somewhere."
Lexa nodded and continued to study the map.
"So, what were you looking at before this one?" Tanwen said. Lexa reluctantly rolled the old map up and put it aside as she concentrated once more on the map already on the table.
"This is Azgeda. This is the route they usually take to reach Polis, but a number of visitors from different clans have noted a couple of Azgeda coming from different directions." Lexa pointed out places they were encountered and reported.
"How many are we talking about?" Tanwen asked.
"In the last month nearly forty Azgeda have made their way into the city."
"So they've almost doubled their entourage?"
"I think so, but I don't have any proof."
"Maybe you should have a couple of people sitting across from the Azgeda embassy, counting people who come in and go out. Make it obvious. They can't do anything but they will know they are being watched. It should make them think twice."
"It could make it worse. They'd think they'd been singled out."
"They have. If people are beginning to notice more Azgeda around, it means the gate guards have been doing it for long enough to maybe get sloppy. What are they bribing them with? It has to be something worth their while. I can't see them doing it for a free meal!"
"I don't know," Lexas said, thoughtfully. "I'll ask Alise to look into it. She's very good at getting answers just by asking the right questions."
There was a knock at the door.
"If that's Titus, I'm gonna gut him!" Tanwen hissed. Lexa smirked and went to see who was knocking and why.
"What is it?" Lexa asked.
"Heda Luna has arrived. She says she'll see you in the morning."
"Mochof," Lexa said as she closed the door, glad no-one needed her immediate attention.
"Who was it?" Tanwen asked, coming out of the bathroom.
"Message from Heda Luna. She's arrived and will see me in the morning."
"So we have the rest of the day to ourselves?" Tanwen asked coyly.
"We do," Lexa said.
"Good, wanna join me in a bath?" Lexa smiled and began disrobing as she walked towards her wife.
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
I'm not fully back yet, I'm writing a little bit but still not got my head into it. My therapist says writing is good for me as I can get my feelings out in my stories. I will be finishing this story, but it may take a while. Thank you for staying with me. Samdagger.