Chapter 28
The Iyehyeh Campaign Continues, 11 K
(NC, SC, 1379)
We moved on to the two abandoned towns and set them on fire. As usual we did not bother the hamlets or the fields. About a week later, we were moving toward the western chiefdom with great caution. I sent scouts out in all directions, and they reported back frequently. Every body of water was checked for telltale breathing reeds. Every depression, copse of trees, field of crops was checked. We were advancing in infiltrative formation through the woods, so I also constantly checked the wind direction and the dryness of the forest in case they might try fire. The winds remained fairly light, however, and the woods were well soaked from downpours every few days. We began passing the outlying hamlets and found these completely abandoned. Finally the scouts began to see signs of life. The rest of the Snakes had been seen a day’s march behind us. And, the enemy was massed in the woods just beyond the next hamlet. It was difficult to get a precise figure on their number since they were hidden in the woods. The crops in the fields around the hamlet had been cut down and removed so that there was a very large open space around the hamlet’s houses. There was also a group of the enemy conspicuously lounging around the houses that were supposed to lure us into the clearing, so we could be trapped in the open. Not a bad ploy, but surely they knew we used scouts and would discover the trap. I questioned the scouts carefully, but they were certain they had not been seen.
The men were quite adept at moving silently through the woods, so I decided to teach the enemy a lesson. I sent the majority of the men straight ahead into the woods to infiltrate unseen to the edge of the clearing and wait. Then I sent several hundred men in a wide arc to surround the enemy forces ahead of us. With them I sent a bunch of rockets they were to set off behind the enemy at my signal once they were in position. I went ahead with the bulk of the men. We reached the edge of the clearing, capturing or killing the scouts they had posted to watch for us. We lay in wait until the word came that all were in position. I then shot a screaming arrow into the air. Immediately the woods all around the clearing were rocked with the explosions of rockets. The enemy poured into the clearing in fright as more rockets roared through the woods behind them crashing and exploding into the trees. As their fear became panic, they rushed toward our position, the only direction free from rockets, across the open field. Alarmed at their numbers, I only waited until they were a hundred feet away before we rose up and poured arrows into them. Sheer numbers and total panic keep them coming, however, and soon our front line was hacking away with sword and axe, while the rear lines shot over our heads. Many of them had dropped their weapons in their initial panic or we might have had more problems. As it was, we were getting hard-pressed when the rest of the Snake Ordu came up on their left flank and along with the rocket men began pouring a withering fire into their flanks and rear. Some managed to filter back through the woods from where they had initially fled, fewer managed to fight their way through our lines, but the vast majority were slaughtered in the very pen they had prepared for us.
We did not pursue immediately, but dispatched any of their wounded and treated our own. We left their dead in the field, but buried our own. Our losses were not negligible, but paled in comparison to theirs. I sent the wounded back to the Ordu under strong escort and, with scouts all around, moved on toward the first town. We reached it at dusk and found it abandoned. We spent the night in the town, then set it ablaze the next morning before we left. Datha said that the chieftain’s town was still some distance away. The scouts continued to report no signs of life, and we continued to find and burn the towns of this chieftaincy. Finally the scouts reported seeing enemy movement again. This time they were distributed all over the woods around the next town in our path. They had made great efforts to camouflage themselves, but our sharp-eyed scouts had found them out. The easiest thing to do would be to set fire to the woods, but they were still too damp for that. I decided they were probably still not used to the rockets, so I sent the men to form a huge circle around their positions.
When the circle was complete, we began firing the rockets into their positions. By far the majority panicked and fled to the town, but a few did hold their positions and took some of our men with them as we advanced. One of them almost got me, but he misjudged his lunge and just missed me. He didn’t get a second chance. Smoking Mirror was struck in the arm by an arrow, and Thliotombi was badly gashed by a war club. We finally cleared the woods and surrounded the town. Datha said that this was the chief town. It was quite large, but was not palisaded. An attempt had been made to barricade it somewhat, and the efforts were continuing as we approached. I immediately ordered the fire arrows launched. They attempted to contain the ensuing fires, but to no avail. Without further ado, they rushed us. We fired into them as we backed away, but without the horses some of them reached us anyway, and there was more hand-to-hand combat. Still, there were not enough of them, and we mercilessly finished them off. The chieftain was not among the dead, and neither was the western stranger.
We patched up our wounded and buried our dead and then marched into the woods toward the next town. The scouts reported it abandoned except for some elderly. I ordered them removed and the town razed. A few of them made feeble attempts at attacking us and were cut down. The rest were placed outside of the town with whatever food they had with them, but without any weapons. I’m not sure if I did them a favor. We continued on to the next town and found it also abandoned, as were all the other towns of this chieftaincy. We moved on to the next chieftaincy. It was not one of those allied against us, and the scouts reported no hostile activity from them. I halted the men at their first hamlet and continued ahead with a moderate escort. The people of the hamlet ran when we approached, but stopped when we didn’t pursue and watched us from the edge of the woods.
We passed into the woods along a well-worn path toward the town. I was too wary not to bring along scouts and had them ranging all around us. We passed through a few more hamlets, then finally came to a palisaded town. Just as we were clearing the woods, a procession came out of the town. Men blowing a kind of flute or beating a drum led it. The sound was more shrill than musical, but it did draw one’s attention. Behind the noisemakers was a heavily ornamented honor guard. All of these were carrying long javelins and small ornate shields. They were quite tall and had the misshapen heads. Behind them was a litter borne by taller, more ornate, but unarmed guards. In the litter was a heavily ornamented woman. She was in a reclining position on the litter, but was bedecked with copper, shells, and pearls in the form of bangles and wore a feather cloak that was mostly green. I had not seen any green birds, except for the green-headed duck, but this was a lighter green than that, and the feathers were larger than those would be, although not by much. I eventually learned that the feathers were from a parrotlike bird that lived in large flocks here in the eastern part of the land. Once we reached them, the musicians let up, the guards stood to one side, and the litter bearers set down their burden. The woman rose and came forward to meet us. We dismounted and I stepped forward. She was taller than me and about ten years older. She had the misshapen head, but was quite graceful and dignified. Smoking Mirror had already managed to pick up the language from Datha, so he acted as interpreter.
“I thank you for coming in peace,” she began nervously and perhaps, hopefully. “I am Si’wi, the chieftain of this group of towns.”
“I am called the Raven, ambassador of the Khanate of the Blue Sky, and I always come in peace,” I replied, “but I have not been so received by your neighbors. Still, I have been told that this chiefdom was not a part of the attack on us. Do you then wish to be at peace with us?”
“Most certainly,” she answered earnestly. “I am glad that you have been correctly informed about us. We did not approve of the attack on you and felt that we should hear you out, before believing the wild story of the stranger. You are indeed an odd-looking person, and your ‘deer-dogs’ are remarkable creatures, but most of your followers look normal. You crushed the forces arrayed against you and destroyed the towns, but spared the fields and the hamlets. You could have attacked us, but took the time to learn that we were not involved and came to us in peace. What are your intentions toward us?”
“If you mean to receive us in peace,” I began, “you need merely listen to my proposal. I offer you three alternatives. You may join us, becoming subject to our khan; you may ally with us, remaining independent, except that you must send your young men for training with us and you cannot make war on your neighbors without our permission; or you may remain as you are. In both the first two cases, you will be under our full protection, and we will share our weapons and horses (the ‘deer-dogs’) with you. In the third case, you will be left alone, and we would be willing to remain at peace with you and trade anything except weapons and horses. Of course, we would not protect you and should you attack one of our allies, we would destroy you.”
“The western stranger said that you destroyed or enslaved all his people with no provocation,” she returned to her misgivings. “Is that true?”
“No,” I replied, “it isn’t. There was provocation, but one could argue that we overreacted. In any case, we only destroyed those who resisted, and those who didn’t resist were not enslaved, they were merely joined to us without giving them a choice. If we overreacted, it was because we misunderstood the nature of their organization. We thought they were united under one chief, rather than somewhat splintered. As it turned out, they were the first to resist us, and destroying them helped establish our credentials. Such shows of force are no longer necessary, and we take pains to separate our enemies from our friends or the neutral.”
“Do you really want me to tell her that?” Smoking Mirror was shocked.
“Well, why not?” I returned. “It’s the truth.”
“You continue to amaze me.” He shook his head, before translating.
“A most straightforward answer,” she smiled. “I think I can deal with you. Please come into the town as our guests, and we will discuss these options of yours in more detail.”
We followed the procession back into the town. It was much like the others. The houses were made of bark strips in a rectangular shape with a vaulted, barrel-shaped roof, much like the Mingue houses, only much smaller. The town was laid out much like those in the south, with a large central court for their games and a couple of mounds with structures on top. We stopped at one of these, and a heavily bedecked man bowed to all and led the way up. He was introduced as Yensigri, the chief of this particular town. We were seated and the usual nawak’osis was passed around. It was followed by a reddish liquid. It wasn’t the awful black drink, I hoped, but I tried it with some trepidation, only to discover it was a type of fruit wine. They were sparing of it, so they didn’t become intoxicated, but it was the first time I had seen such a drink here. Smoking Mirror said it was pleasant, but little more than water. It didn’t seem as strong as kumis, but since I very rarely had wine, I really couldn’t be sure.
I was questioned at length and quite intelligently about our people and their ways, and the subtleties of the choices I had given her. I also asked about her people. It turned out that she ruled as an absolute monarch, with total, unshared authority. She also said all of the other Iyehyeh chieftains had the same power over their towns. They did occasionally fight each other, although more often they fought their unrelated neighbors. Her people had been skirmishing with their western neighbors, the Tsalagi. I explained that I had already recruited the southern branch of that group and planned to visit the others after I had finished with the Iyehyeh and whatever tribe was directly south of them. She said that there was a great chieftaincy south of them called Kofitachiki. It covered a huge area and was ruled absolutely just like them, but they were a different people. I told her that I had already recruited among the groups to the south of them with very mixed results, and if they were of that sort I would probably do no better with them, but I was obliged to try. She then warned me that the western stranger had also planned to get them to join against us, but she didn’t know if he was successful. She did know that the two largest Iyehyeh chieftaincies had not joined the conspiracy. I would find them to the south of hers. I told her that my information indicated that there would only be two more chieftaincies to reduce, and both were relatively small. She said that she knew of them; they were to the southeast, not far from this town. There were others farther east, however, and she didn’t know what their disposition was. I asked if the stranger was one of the Hotcangara elites, and she nodded affirmatively.
Before we broke up, she told me that she could not join us outright, since she felt it would be too much of a change for her people, but she would consider allying with us and wanted to send a man with us to report back about us. I was amused at the idea that enslaved people would find freedom too much of a change, but made no comment on the arrogance. I agreed to take along her observer, but warned her that until they actually allied with us, we would not come to their assistance. We would pass on that they were considering it, however, and that might help. She thanked me and pressed us to spend the night, but I demurred, since I was anxious to get back to the men. We hurried back and arrived just before the last light failed.
The scouts were waiting to report on the enemy. It seemed that the closest chieftaincy, consisting of only four towns was completely abandoned. The next morning, I sent the scouts out again and split the men into three groups. They would each ride to and destroy a town, and we would meet again at the last town. The positions of the towns suggested this maneuver, but I urged the scouts to be vigilant so we weren’t caught while we were divided. Everything went according to plan, and we were all at the last town by nightfall. We spent the night there, then set it to the torch in the morning. Meanwhile, the scouts reported that the last chieftaincy was also deserted. It had five towns, but they were aligned in such a way that we could easily stay together while we burned them. Two days later, we reached the last of their towns. While we were burning it, the scouts reported that a small group was coming through the woods toward us from the northeast. I sent them out again to make sure this was no more than a small group. Before long the group came out of the woods and moved slowly toward us.
I could see that they were armed, so I took along enough men to wipe them out if they tried anything, and I moved toward them. As we drew near, I could see that they did not have the characteristic war paint, and then one of them laid down his weapons and approached alone. He was much like the other Iyehyeh elites in appearance, although he was not heavily ornamented. He was not a young man, and the journey could not have been easy for him. When he got close, Smoking Mirror and I dismounted and approached him.
“I am Sawen, from the chieftaincy to the northeast,” he said. “I come in peace.”
“Are you part of the conspiracy against us?” I asked harshly.
“No.” He shook his head emphatically. “We did not join it. I offer myself up to you in exchange for my people. You may do as you like to me, but spare my people.”
“If you are not part of the conspiracy,” I asked the old man, “why should I want to harm you or your people?”
“We were told you would kill us anyway,” he said simply. “I hoped it wasn’t true, but I didn’t know.”
“Well, now you do.” I was getting annoyed. “Where is the vile Hotcangara who has been spreading all these lies?”
“He is southeast of here,” he said, “concentrating those he has won over.”
“Can you tell me with any certainty,” I asked, “who else has not joined him?”
“I know that my eastern and southeastern neighbors have not,” he replied. “But I don’t know about the others.”
“Are your northern and northwestern neighbors,” I continued, “the ones we destroyed?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “And, of course, the one north of them and this one and the one northeast of here.”
“If your information is so complete,” I said sarcastically, “why didn’t you know we didn’t harm the far western Iyehyeh chieftaincy?”
“I did,” he replied sheepishly, “that’s why I dared to come to you.”
I gave him the usual recruitment speech and urged him to pass it on to his neighbors. I also suggested that he pass the word that those who are not arrayed against us have nothing to fear from us. We would be continuing toward the southeast and strongly suggested that anyone not against us make it known to us. He readily agreed and asked if he could send an observer with us. I agreed and he assigned one of his men. He sent some of the others off on the run to spread the word, and then he turned back more slowly. I was glad he had come and hoped he could sway some of the others not to join the Hotcangara malcontent.
We continued toward the southeast behind a full screen of scouts. Our path was along a river, and the ground was getting increasingly marshy as we went along, so I decided to move a little north of the river. This only worked for a while, and soon we seemed to be in a swamp. The scouts reported that there was higher ground a little to the north. We found a small narrow passageway between the muck and followed it for a few days. Then we came up against more swamp along a river right in our path. I decided to send out the scouts in all directions to look for anything, while we stayed put. The hunting wasn’t too bad, but it was fortunate we had brought along enough food with us. I was sure we were somewhat close to the coast, unless I had miscalculated the distances or directions we had traveled.
While we waited, one of the scouts brought in another small group from one of the chieftaincies, among whom was their chief, Keranhere. He had gotten the word and wanted to assure us of his good intentions. He remembered some of our men passing through the year before and again this spring and had no quarrel with us at all. I gave him the usual talk, and he also appointed a representative to go with us. He also told me that the sea was a distance that I interpreted to be about one hundred twenty li to the southeast. The swamp ahead of us was not very wide and beyond it was a town. It was also not against us and would receive us cordially should we go there. He didn’t know where the enemy was, but assured us they were not in the northeast.
We saw him off and some of the scouts began to trickle in. Those who had gone to the southeast confirmed what the chief had said about the terrain and the town. I decided to wait until all the scouts were back before crossing the swamp to the town en masse. Meanwhile, I went on to the town myself with a small contingent. All was as the chief had said, we were well received, and they sent along an observer. They also sent word to the coastal towns, which also eventually sent observers. They were able to tell us that the enemy was somewhere in the swamps, because they were not along the coast, and they had heard that the Kofitachiki had not joined them. I returned to the camp the next day.
The only scouts who hadn’t reported back were the ones who had gone west. Concerned, I sent two others after them, urging extreme caution. The next day, they returned with the others. It turned out that they had found the enemy and had been trying to figure out how many there were. It looked like they were little more than a frightened band of perhaps a thousand fugitives. They were hiding in the swamps hoping that we either wouldn’t find them or would give up because of the swamps. Well, it was true that I didn’t like swamps, but I wanted the Hotcangara renegade. If he got away, there was no telling how much trouble he could make, especially among the less than friendly southeastern towns.
I pared the men down to a few thousand. We left the horses and stealthily slipped into the swamp and surrounded the fugitives. They had not set any remote lookouts, or if they had, they had run off. Once they were surrounded, we crept closer and, picking our targets, shot a barrage of arrows into them. Virtually all of them who were exposed at all were struck with several arrows. The rest either crouched behind cover or ran in panic into more arrows. We crept closer and took out anyone who presented a target. They tried to return fire, but any of them who rose to shoot was quickly hit several times. We were finally close enough that we rushed them. We cut them all down. Only five of our men were wounded badly, and about twenty more were lightly wounded. We recovered our arrows and finished off their wounded as usual. Among the dead, Datha pointed out the chieftain of the large chieftaincy we had reduced and the Hotcangara. The latter was not as tall as the others and didn’t have the misshapen head. Even in death, his face was a mask of hate, but I didn’t recognize him.
As we slogged back out of the swamp toward camp, I was still not satisfied. There had to be more of them somewhere. No less than nine towns had been abandoned along our path. They must have held more than that pitiful group. Besides, there had only been a few women and no children among them. There had to be more of them somewhere. But where were they? Until I found them, I could not dismiss the troops. We crossed the river back toward the town I had visited. I sent their observer to reassure them that our presence was not hostile. We turned south along the dry ground and headed toward the coast. We had not gone far when the observer returned with some extra food and offered to guide us to the next chieftaincy to the south by the driest path. That was an irresistible offer.
He led us past a small town allied to his and on across a marshy river until we finally came upon the hamlets of the next chieftaincy. He guided us to the principle town, and there we were met as we approached. Word had preceded us, and they also had an observer ready to send along as well as observers from their neighboring chieftaincies. I accepted the observers and tried to ascertain the extent of their boundaries for my maps. They were a bit vague on that score, but it was clear that there were no more Iyehyeh chiefdoms besides this group in the immediate vicinity. To their south along the coast were the Cusabo. They were the neighbors of the Wahili through whom I had passed the year before. The latter had promised to pass my proposal on to them, and my mappers had been told to reiterate it when they passed through this year. So it was time to move inland. There were two major rivers on my map between my present location and the Wahili that I had followed inland the last year. These were the nearby Sewee and the farther south Cusabo. There were also some smaller rivers, but these two looked to be the principle ones. Our hosts claimed that the Cusabo River drained the lands of the Kofitachiki. The Sewee would also take me to a portion of their lands but would also lead me to more of the Iyehyeh chiefdoms, two nearer small ones and then two larger ones.
I decided more could be accomplished by going up the Sewee, so I asked our observers to take us by the driest route up the river. We went through another chiefdom and were given fresh fish as we passed through, no doubt to urge us on. Eventually we came to some hamlets containing a slightly different-looking people. They looked like a compromise between their northern and southern neighbors, with the southerners getting the better of it. They were unadorned and only lightly tattooed. They stood watching us as we passed waiting for us to make a move, and no doubt well aware that we did not disturb their fields. These people had only one town on this side of the Sewee, and our guides led us to it. We made no attempt to hide our approach, and the town was obviously prepared for the worse as we broke through the woods into the clearing. I left the men and rode ahead with a small escort. I was met by a small contingent from the town. They were fully armed and somewhat decorated and tattooed, but it was obvious that this was no major town. The leader was a grizzled veteran who had probably earned his position the hard way. He showed no fear as he stepped forward alone. His language was a little hard to follow but enough like the other Pansfalaya-related languages that I could make it out.
“I am Thlacco, mico of this town,” he announced.
“I am the Raven, ambassador of the Khanate of the Blue Sky,” I announced.
“You have a heavy escort for an ambassador.” He scowled. “Do you mean to attack us?”
“No, we never attack without provocation,” I replied. “Do you mean to provoke?”
“Not intentionally.” He studied me. “Are you the people who scattered some of the speakers of a strange tongue to the north?”
“We are,” I answered. “Would you happen to know where the rest of them have gone?”
“Yes, I do,” he replied. “It is no concern of mine if I tell you. They are among the people upstream from us.”
I thanked him for his help and told him about my offer. He said he could not speak to that since he had no authority. I would have to talk to the great chief of his people. If I wished he could send word to him and could catch up to me with the reply. That sounded like another subtle attempt to urge me on, but I thanked him for his help and agreed. He assured me that I would not need my huge escort if the great chief agreed to meet me. I told him I wouldn’t bring them with me if I were invited. I asked for a guide to speed me on to his neighbor by the quickest path, and he eagerly agreed, ordering the man to stay with us until the messenger from the great chief made contact with us. The man was not thrilled with the prospect, but the mico was not one to be quibbled with, and he fell in with us.
The next day, we were again among the Iyehyeh hamlets as we made our way to the first town of this chiefdom. I sent out the scouts again just in case. At dusk they reported back that the first town was nearby, but there was no apparent hostility and all looked normal. We camped in the woods that night with a double set of sentinels anyway. The next morning, we came out of the woods and approached the town. They sent a small delegation to meet us. No one was on a litter. There were just some of their warriors, heavily armed, but not adorned. Their leader was lightly adorned but didn’t have the misshapen head. I stopped the men and drew near with a small escort. They looked a bit nervous to me.
“I am Iswan, chief of this town,” he announced. “Have you come in peace?”
“That depends,” I replied coldly. “Do you intend to surrender the fugitives you have taken in from the north?”
“We have no fugitives here,” he almost shrilled nervously.
“I don’t care where they are.” I eyed him darkly. “I want them turned over to me at once, or we’ll consider you to be at war with us also.”
He excused himself for a moment so he could consult with his “advisors” in the town. While he was gone, I sent the scouts into the woods and had the men surround the town. This last gesture had the desired effect, especially after the men started testing their bows. Iswan came out again only this time accompanied by a woman.
“I am Pi’ri, the chieftain of these people,” she began. “We have granted refuge to our neighbors. I could do no less, for their chieftain is my husband’s brother. I cannot turn them over to you, but can guarantee they will give you no further cause to pursue them.”
“You don’t seem to understand.” I showed no warmth. “You either give them up or we destroy you with them. It was not a request—it was a demand. The Mongols do not allow people to ambush them or attack their peaceful embassies. They must step forward and accept their fate, or we will impose it on them anyway.”
“I can’t turn over these people to die,” she protested weakly.
“Whether they die is up to them,” I replied. “Are you prepared to sacrifice your own people for them?”
“You don’t intend to kill them?” she grasped the straw.
“As I said, that depends on them,” I said testily. “It has nothing to do with you. You must turn them over to my justice, or withhold them to certain death for them as well as your people.”
“They are scattered among my towns,” she said, “but I will have them brought to you here if you wish.”
“Fine.” I remained cold. “But first send out those in this town.”
“As you wish,” she almost whispered as she turned and slowly returned to the town.
There was a lot of commotion in the town, including some wailing and shouting. I began to wonder if they would fight, but before too long a slow procession started out of the town toward us. They were unarmed and unadorned as if they expected to be enslaved. I had them line up about five deep and looked them over. There were only about three hundred of them. The elites were easily distinguished since they were taller than the others and all had the strange heads. I separated these out, then spoke to the others.
“You have forfeited any right to choose your destiny,” I began. “You will all move north to the first Iyehyeh chiefdom that attacked us. There you will toil and raise enough crops to feed yourselves as well as the nearby Ordu. You will be assigned a governor to rule over you with absolute authority in the name of the Khan. Should you disobey or in anyway offend the governor, you will be destroyed without mercy. Should you prove to be trustworthy, you will become a part of the Mongols. If you prefer, we will kill you all now instead. That is your choice. What is your decision?”
It would not be an exaggeration to say the people’s relief was palpable. They eagerly accepted the offer. I told them to retrieve their belongings and proceed north under a small escort of my troops. I sent along a message to Khurumsi to pick a man to be governor. Then I turned to the elites. There were only about fifteen of them, and as I icily looked them over, their arrogant defiance began to chan