The Chronicles: Notomol Ch. 11

- "I don't know. Shush."

Prosquetel was a canny bastard. He had let pretty much all of the captains speak. Dubek hadn't said anything, but he was plainly unhappy. Old Whitehair walked into the circle, and looked around at the leading men, making eye contact with most of them. His lip curled as he glanced at us, but he moved on swiftly.

- "The Duchess gave her word with the best of intentions." he said. "And, as Ban Lemek has told you, it was a wise decision. It saved us from losing many fighters. But ..."

Here we go, I thought.

"Situations change. That was before the Izumyrians massacred innocent women and little children in Hvad town. Can anyone doubt that these men - our prisoners - would have committed the same crimes, had they been present at that atrocity?"

Prosquetel walked forward a few more steps. He made eye contact with a few key leaders once again. I was tempted to call out 'Get on with it!'.

- "Get on with it!" growled Dubek."

Old Whitehair turned to look at him. "Exactly, Master Hammer. We have to get on with it. This war, that is. How can we advance, though, when we have one hand tied behind our back? How many men would we have to leave behind, to guard these Izumyrian soldiers? If we have to fight another battle, would we risk defeat by keeping so many of our warriors occupied with guarding prisoners?"

I think I groaned aloud. I'm not sure if anyone heard me.

- "We must advance on Hvad town. We should have seized the opportunity and done so immediately after our victory. But now we simply must move on the town, if only to prevent another massacre of our people!"

- "That's nonsense!" said Dubek. "If we cross an open plain against their heavy cavalry, the only people getting massacred will be us!"

He stood there glaring at Old Whitehair. Or perhaps he was staring Iduallon down, daring him to open his mouth. Notomol intervened.

- "We are not advancing on the town." he said. "Certainly not until we have decided the issue of the prisoners. Where do you stand on that, Dubek?"

- "I wouldn't have taken prisoners. Not after what we saw in Stonje. But I understand that it would have been hard to kill so many." Then he shook his big ugly head. "I don't know, now. Seems to me that your word should be worth something."

Notomol wasn't going to leave any of the Captains out of it. He called on several other men. A few declined the opportunity to speak. One reluctantly agreed with Aldur; another repeated much of what Dubek had said. He called on his sister, Senderra, who represented many of their female fighters. She too declined to speak.

- "Giedra." said Notomol. "You fought bravely. Many who saw you believe that you too should have won a name that day. What say you?"

My friend wasn't shy. Giedra took her time, though, to let all of the attention focus on her.

- "We're not known for taking prisoners, in the Uplands. I agree with Dubek, on that point. Better that we had found a way to eliminate them all. But we didn't. And the Duchess promised them their lives if they surrendered. Who knows? She may be much wiser than I am."

I wanted to laugh at that little sally. Lady Temara would no doubt be insulted to be compared to an Uplander. But Giedra and I both knew that she was far wiser than the Lowland Duchess.

"Here's something else you may not know about the Uplands: we value names. Aldur, Dubek, and Liesma would be treated with great respect - because of the way they earned their renown. But there are other ways to gain a reputation. Cruelty and treachery are two of them. How do you want to be remembered, Duchess?"

Her words were met with complete silence, but she'd left her mark on the proceedings. As she stepped back beside me, I put my arm around her, and whispered in her ear.

- "My father would be so proud of you."

Notomol was clever, too. He let the silence go on. It was several moments before he called on someone else.

- "Guenna?"

I had nothing new to offer, but it wouldn't hurt to say a few words. "A few members of our band believe that the prisoners should be killed. They weren't very clear on how this should be done, though. Contrary to what you may think, I don't always see eye to eye with Giedra - as she will tell you - but we're in agreement on this. I also agree with Dubek, and especially with Mailis. If you kill these men, I doubt that any soldier will ever surrender again. They'll fight to the death."

Notomol waited a little more, and once again asked if anyone else wanted to speak. No one volunteered. I thought that Adrastas and Obran might come forward, but they didn't.

- "Then I call on one leader who hasn't said a word." he said. "Kolasovets?"

I was surprised - I imagine that many were. Did most of Notomol's fighters even know who he was? I was certain that the Duchess' people didn't. And did any of us really consider him a Captain?

He came forward, looking reluctant. Kolasovets did not cut a particularly impressive figure. He was so short - and he looked his age. His ears were too big for his head.

- "I am not much of a speaker." he said. "But I agree with Yadha Snakehand."

That was another surprise. It wasn't what I had expected him to say.

"There are 114 Izumyrian prisoners. They all have to be fed. We have over 400 fighters of our own, now - and more come in every day. No one has taken an accurate count of the non-combatants, but I'm guessing that there are between 600 and 800 of them. Most of you don't know this, but a large part of the food that you eat comes from them."

He paused for a moment, to let this sink in.

"In Stonje, the fighters - and especially the archers - provided food for the families that had fled their farms. Here, though, they are helping to feed us. But everyone needs a little meat. There are a limited number of hunters, and even the least accurate archers have been pressed into service."

He was talking about people like me.

"You fighters could help more." said Kolasovets. "Even if you can't pull a bow, or shoot a sling, you could carry the game we fell back to camp. The archers are beginning to exhaust the game nearby - we are having to push further and further afield. We are trying to prepare for the coming winter."

He paused. Deliberately, I thought. Notomol had cooked this up with him! Kolasovets had said it himself: he was no speaker. This had been rehearsed. It was clever of them, though.

- "Do you have any thoughts on the situation with the prisoners?" asked Notomol.

- "I do. I can only speak for a few of the archers. But we heard someone say that it would be easy to kill all of the prisoners. 'Herd them into one enclosed area, and then have the archers fill them with arrows.' That's what he said. Well, I have to tell you: I won't be one of those archers. Nor will many of my friends and fellow hunters."

Once again, Notomol let the little man's words hang there, so that we could all reflect on them. But then he asked Kolasovets another question.

- "I suspect that some people here will think that you are simply soft-hearted. Is that not so?"

Kolasovets held his head up. "When we first came to Stonje, it was after having seen Dusova. We were in no mood to take prisoners. And we were so few - there were only five of us. There was no way for us to keep prisoners. Our only choices were to kill them, or to let them go. Until we talked it over, and came up with a third solution: we severed their big toes. Both of them."

That came as a shock. Kolasovets had left that little detail out of the stories he'd told us. I was stunned. Shy, sweet, little Kolasovets, mutilating prisoners? I'm sure that most of our fighters were trying to imagine it.

You could still walk, though your balance would be poor. Could you swing an axe, and chop firewood? Could you fight? I didn't think so. I shifted my stance, as if I was about to draw a bow. Then I felt silly, and stopped. All around me, though, people were doing the same. Giedra was frowning as she tried to simulate thrusting with a sword while all of her weight was on her heels. I heard Rion curse under her breath, right behind me.

And yet ... those men could still be alive. They could still work, after a fashion. They could lie with their wives, and raise children. They wouldn't be dead, after all. Would you choose death before life without big toes?

- "Is this what you recommend, Kolasovets?" asked Notomol.

- "For these prisoners? No. It's very cruel. And I don't know who would do the ... severing. Or even how it could be done, with so many."

I surely wasn't the only one who realized that Notomol and Kolasovets had cooked this up between them. But it was so very clever. Those Captains who wanted to kill the prisoners now had an alternative. The mutilated Izumyrians could never fight as soldiers again, after that. We could send them back to Hvad town.

That would relieve us of the need to feed them, but also send a message to the enemy - as Aldur wanted. It was retaliation, of course, but on a different level. And the Duchess would not have broken her word.

Prosquetel seized on it immediately. He began to re-phrase the idea, wrapping it up in new words until it sounded like his own suggestion. Heras Koymil was an immediate convert. Aldur and Thuruar soon followed.

I didn't like it. But two things happened to change my mind.

- "You have a better idea?" said Giedra.

I didn't. Rion and Eliv were both much harder than either of us. They would have liked to kill all of the prisoners; they seemed to see Kolasovets' idea as some sort of compromise. Paksyalta, our best archer, was one of those who would have refused to kill the captives, but she could accept this solution.

Then I went to seek out Kolasovets. Senderra was with him, along with Evane and Inita. That confirmed my suspicion that Notomol had orchestrated all of this.

- "Is this really what you want?" I asked him.

- "No." he admitted. "But it's getting harder and harder to feed them. We were afraid, too, that one day soon, a group of fighters was going to take matters into their own hands."

- "You feared a massacre?"

- "Or a battle." said Senderra. "A hundred men - even if they're unarmed - that could have become a major problem."

- "We've had this discussion more than once." said Evane. I was startled - I'm not sure that I had ever heard her speak before. "It's not as bad as killing them. That's about all that can be said for it."

I had to hear it from the horse's mouth. I went to see Notomol. He was with Marmos, the bodyguard who was like a shadow, and almost never let his side. He had just finished talking to a small group of farmers. As they left, Notomol saw me standing there, alone except for Berilde. He waved me over.

- "Do you have a moment?" I asked.

- "For you? Of course."

- "You look tired." That wasn't what I had meant to say - but it was true.

- "Marmos and I will get something to eat after this. You're welcome to join us."

- "Thank you. We've eaten. I ... I wanted to ask about the prisoners."

- "I know."

- "Is this what you want? Is this the best solution?"

He did look weary. I recognized the look on his face: it was the burden of command. It had to be so much heavier than anything I'd ever experienced. It made me wonder why I'd ever thought that this was what I wanted.

- "No." he said. "As Kolasovets said, we were stuck between killing our captives, or letting them go. Paroling them - asking for their word that they wouldn't fight us again - didn't work. We ended up capturing some of those fellows a second time. I don't want to release over a hundred men, and have them promptly rejoin the enemy ranks. I doubt that the Northern Duke would simply let them go home in any case."

- "You can't release them, but you don't want to kill them."

- "Massacre a hundred unarmed men? No, you had it right - we would become no better than them. Next it would be rape, or killing women and children. All for the cause, of course, but ..."

We were both silent for a moment. I like to think that we understood each other, without having to say so.

- "It won't be easy." he said, finally.

***

It wasn't easy. It was awful.

Notomol organized it as best he could. He had the prisoners split into five groups of 23 or 24 each. That in itself wasn't easy, because we hadn't done anything like this before. It made the soldiers suspicious. They were also put off by the number of armed fighters surrounding them, in case of trouble. Virtually every archer and warrior we had involved in this process.

The Izumyrians were clearly unsettled. The first two groups had been separated, and were moving - under heavy guard - to new locations, each one separate from the others. Then the third group balked.

One of them shouted something in Izumyrian. A second man took up the cry. An officer yelled at them; I suspect that he was ordering them to stand down. By now, though, half a dozen other soldiers had also reacted, crying out and looking about them wildly.

This situation had the potential to get ugly.

Adrastas came forward. He spoke to the officers, in their own language. I learned later that he reminded them of the Duchess' promise. We were not going to kill them unless they threatened to escape, or to attack us. It was true, I suppose, even if it wasn't honest.

The third group was moved to the side, and the fourth group moved out, under guard. The fifth group, guarded by Giedra (and me) and the Uplanders, among others, also moved without too much trouble. The unruly and recalcitrant third bunch remained where they were.

Notomol then had Adrastas and others who were fluent in Izumyrian go to each group and ask for two representatives. Officers, or natural leaders were selected. All ten were brought before Notomol, with the Duchess and Prosquetel present.

The ten Izumyrians were told about the massacre in Hvad town. Prisoners from the surrendered garrison had been dragged out of their dungeon and hanged. Women and children had been killed. I don't know if our Izumyrian prisoners were properly chastened; I wasn't there to see it.

Notomol explained, through interpreters, that we weren't going to be able to feed them through the winter. Then, after a due pause (which I thought was a bit cruel) he told them that we weren't going to kill them - unless they resisted.

He gave them a stark, simple choice: lose your two toes, or your right hand, plus the index finger from the left hand.

Cruel? I think so.

Yes, I know very well what we did to my cousin Kestutis. Do you not think that he deserved it? It was definitely cruel - but he had to know that it was coming as we stood over him.

I didn't know these foreigners. Were there murderers and rapists among them? Almost certainly. Were they in any way prepared for what Notomol had just told them? How could they have been?

The Izumyrian representatives were sent back to their groups, to explain to twenty of their comrades what they had been told. All but one, that is, who absolutely refused to do so. He was taken aside, kicking and screaming, and kept apart from the others.

The other nine did as they were bidden.

Two soldiers returned to the group that we were guarding. They rejoined their comrades, and began relating the bad news.

They were understandably shocked. Most were struck silent, too stunned to react. But I saw anger on a few faces. One man was glancing at us, as if trying to estimate our numbers.

Thuruar was with us - and he understood more than a little Izumyrian.

- "Those three want to try something." he said. "The redhead, the short one, and big nose."

- "Which big nose?" said Giedra.

- "The one with the scarf."

- "Paksyalta!" I called.

- "I see them." she answered. She and Tugan, with half a dozen more archers, were on a little hillock beside us. They had a clear line of sight.

We gave the soldiers more time, to get over their shock. They had to come to terms with the fact that this was the only way that they were going to get home alive.

What would I have decided, in their place? My father had had his fingers crushed, but he hadn't lost the hand entirely. Honestly - if the roles were reversed, I don't know what I would have done.

After a while, Thuruar called for the first two volunteers.

Redhead and Big nose with the scarf came forward. The short one took a step forward, his eyes on them. I raised my hand.

- "Thuruar! Remind them! Any man who resists, or who attacks us will be killed."

I tried. Redhead tried to snatch at Rion's axe, while Big nose simply rushed at Giedra.

Rion pulled her axe back, and Eliv stabbed Redhead in the stomach. Then Rion buried her axe in his shoulder. Giedra stood her ground, and then headbutted Big nose in the face. Liesma stuck him with a spear. The short one rushed forward, and then went down with three arrows in him.

The remainder of the Izumyrian soldiers backed away. No one else attacked. Just to give you an idea of how stupid those idiots were - there were forty more armed Hvadi fighters surrounding them. Even had they bowled Giedra over and seized Rion's axe, they were going nowhere. Many more of their comrades might have perished.

We had to start all over.

We dragged the dead bodies away, and Thuruar repeated everything from the very beginning. It was difficult to convince two men to come forward. I'm sure that they expected to be taken deeper in the woods and murdered there.

Kolasovets was with our party, along with three members of Notomol's band from more than a year ago. They were the only people among our group who had ever done this sort of thing.

The first two Izumyrian volunteers were led a short distance away, out of sight. There were two large tree stumps, and each man - who had elected to lose their toes, rather than a hand a finger - were stripped of their boots or shoes. They were blindfolded.

- "It helps." said Kolasovets.

We heard a shriek of pain from not very far away. It was awful. Our two volunteers almost changed their minds.

Four strong men took hold of them, two on each man, to make certain that they didn't flinch, or try to pull away at the very last moment.

Instead of a chisel, we had axes. The axe blade was positioned atop the toe, and then a log of other blunt object was hammered down upon them.

It was awful.

The two prisoners cried out. Berilde choked, and then went to her knees, vomiting up her breakfast.

I thought that I'd been clever; I'd gone without that morning. That was why I was only bent over, trying to heave up yesterday's meal. It burned my throat, but very little came out.

Kolasovets took charge. He quickly re-positioned men, and told them not to be kind.

- "You didn't strike hard enough. Now we have to do it again. For pity's sake, don't hold back. Strike!"

That was only the first toe. The two prisoners, in agony, had to be held in place, and their opposite foot had to be held onto the stump.

"Strike!" shouted Kolasovets.

The second toes were more neatly severed. Two men immediately came forward, holding irons heated in the fire, to cauterize the wounds so that these men would not die from loss of blood.

Should I mention that while we did this, we could hear shrieks and cries of pain from two different locations nearby?

We gave the two first volunteers (victims?) a few moments to recover, and then carried them back to their comrades.

It wasn't pretty. Some of the soldiers were very angry. But they saw that the first two men were still alive. In pain - but alive. Redhead, Big Nose and the short one were dead.

Two brave men volunteered to go next.

Kolasovets supervised the next two pairs or prisoners. Then he turned to me.

- "Can you ...?"

- "Yes." I understood. I hadn't even watched the second and third pairs, and I was nearly sick to my stomach again. "Go on. We'll take over."