Clash of Eagles by Smale Alan

Author:Smale, Alan [Smale, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780804177238
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2015-03-17T07:00:00+00:00

Great Sun Man and Sintikala were packing up the blankets, talking quietly. The braves watched Marcellinus through narrowed eyes as he approached.

“Sintikala. Great Sun Man. I have more to say.”

They stopped and looked at him.

“I have killed Algon-Quian. I have taken slaves. I attacked Cahokia. I brought fear to Cahokia. I did that, and I accept full … responsibility? For that. You beat us. That was … fate. That was meant to be.”

Kimimela steadily translated as best she could. Sintikala listened calmly and spoke through her daughter. “ ‘Cahokia never feared you. We pitied you. We knew you could not win.’ ”

Marcellinus swallowed. “I am sorry for waging war on your people. It was not well done. But now I am here for a purpose. I can help you.”

Sintikala was a statue. “Today, you say so.”

“I say so today and tomorrow, and winter and summer.”

“And if Romans come?”

“Romans?”

“She means another army,” Kimimela explained. “If more Romans come here, to Chesapica and then to Cahokia? If Romans come, then you will fight for Romans, against us?”

“No,” Marcellinus said.

The atmosphere was brittle. Sintikala cocked her head. The braves had their spears pointed at him, waiting for the word, but Marcellinus would not lie.

“I will not go back to Romans and fight against Cahokia. And I will not fight for Cahokia against Romans. I will try to help Romans and Cahokians make peace. I want no more fighting between Roman and Cahokian. Believe me.” He took a deep breath.

What he really wanted was to re-create Cahokia in the image of a Roman provincial city and for Nova Hesperia to be ultimately a civilized ally of Roma. But that would be an almost impossible idea to convey to Sintikala and Great Sun Man. He would have to work up to that gradually.

An uncomfortable gray area remained unspoken. The fact was that Marcellinus was arming and training Cahokians who might one day fight against Romans if this went badly.

He elided it in his mind. No solution was perfect.

There could be no doubt that the Iroqua were a more imminent threat than the Romans. Marcellinus had to make the best choices he could on each day that was given to him. No one could demand more of him than that.

He closed his eyes for a moment. “And as I have lost my Legion, all my Roman warriors, the new Romans may take me prisoner and kill me anyway.”

Great Sun Man and Sintikala were still silent, so Marcellinus spoke again. “If you want to make me slave, I will be slave. I agree that it is what you might be if …” He gestured back and forth. If our positions were reversed was much easier for him to mime than for Kimimela to translate.

“I will be slave. Either way, I help you now. And every day, I learn.”

Sintikala’s eyes drilled into his skull like a pilum. He stood and accepted it.

Eventually she nodded once.

Turning, the two chiefs walked away into the longhouse.

Unhappily, Kimimela watched them go. Marcellinus was surprised that she did not follow her mother.

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