Led By The Stars by David Luders

Author:David Luders [David Luders]
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Adventure
ISBN: 9781849610490
Publisher: TheEbookSale Publishing
Published: 2010-06-15T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

The attack was a shock. Terewere had never quite believed that Taripoa-liu would send raiders so far from Nguna. It was fortunate that Kalontan was so alert. The moment a man sprinted up, yelling, he began sending off runners and pulling war parties together. The raiders had fallen on people working on one of the other pieces of land and by the time Kalontan and his men found them, they were uprooting crops and cutting down trees. The fight was fierce and wavered back and forth until Mranke with men from the village crashed into the fray and the raiders were routed. They took to their heels with Mranke and his small force in pursuit.

The other parties came in to say that there had been only the one attack. Terewere found Kalontan with his men dealing with the dead. ‘What is this, Kalontan?’ he asked. All the raiders had faces and shoulders blackened, but it was their hair that drew his eyes. On each it was a dull red.

‘It is sometimes done. They have dyed their hair with the root of the kura tree. It means that they will go on fighting until they have won. Only then will they let the natural colour grow.’

Staring at the dead man at his feet, Terewere rejoined tersely, ‘Then we know now that we are truly at war. Bury these red-heads here, in the garden.’

Later in the day, Mranke and his men returned, disappointed. The raiders had got clean away and he was disappointed again when Terewere said, ‘No, Mranke. We will not return the attack, not yet. Very soon Taripoa-liu will have his hands full on the other side of the island. Then will be the time.’

Thinking about it all, Mranke found that he was angry with himself, and ashamed. How could he have let Taripoa-liu slip out of his mind, just because Terewere had come to Bangbang and because of a girl with a face like Torua’s? Torua was unavenged and now, even to think of Pepene’s face was not so much a pleasure as a reminder and, yes, a reproach. Anyway, she seemed almost indifferent to him and after all she was still very young and he was black. He would just have to turn his mind to defeating Taripoa-liu and win renown in fighting. Then she could not be indifferent. What was it Terewere had said? There was to be fighting on the other side of the island. Maybe the best thing was to go back to Imere and fight for Malasi-koto.

Terewere too was angry with himself. He had been careless and five of his men were dead. M’arikitapu’s response did nothing to soothe him.

‘They were beaten off, then? Good, good. No harm done.’

‘I lost five men,’ Terewere replied tartly.

‘Mm, regrettable. But for chickens to hatch, shells must be broken.’

‘Your chickens and my shells.’ As soon as he said it, Terewere regretted it. Annoying this complacent ariki would not help. ‘It might be safer for you to move to a more secure part of the island.

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