The Warrior Couple on The Narian Connection

Somar brought his friend, Johnro and his niece over to where his son, Myan was cleaning arrows.

“Son, this is my friend Johnro. Their clan was just destroyed by that enemy we just defeated. And

this is his niece, Nury. We need some new bowstrings. Why don’t you take Nury with you. You can

teach her how to shoot arrows and then go hunt two or three deer.”

Myan couldn’t believe his luck. Nury was the most beautiful girl he ever saw and now he was

supposed to teach her how to shoot arrows and then take her hunting. He quickly closed his mouth.

“Hi, Nury, I’m Myan. Do you want to learn how to shoot arrows?”

“I killed three enemy warriors when they tried to climb that ridge.” he answered. “And I always

“Then let’s go. I’d sure like to be able to kill some of the enemy when they come back.”

Myan led her up the west ridge line to where he and his friends had their targets set up.

“There were some food plants back there that looked like someone put them where they were on

purpose.” she said. “I never saw anything like that before. Is that why your clan stays here?”

“No.” Myan answered. “Uncle Ogon trapped some aurochs in that valley down there so we stayed

where our food is. When he married aunt Sanya and brought her back from her father’s clan she

brought seeds for vegetable plants with her. Now we have meat, grain and vegetables to eat without

having to find it. We had plenty to eat this last hungry season.”

“I’ve never heard of any clan having plenty to eat during a hungry season.” she replied. “But I think it

would be nice. If we live that long. You’re sure handsome, how old are you”

“I’m twelve also.” Nury answered. “Too bad you’re so young. I’ll be old enough to marry next

year, you won’t be for two more years after that. I suppose you expect me to wait for you?”

“In our clan a man is old enough to marry when he proves himself a good hunter and warrior.” Myan

said. “I proved myself to be a good hunter already and just proved myself to be a good warrior. So it

looks like I’ll have to wait for you to become old enough.”

“Will you?” she asked him. “I was planning on waiting for you.”

“Of course.” He said. “After meeting you how could I marry anyone else? Here’s our targets. See

that blue one on the left end of the blue targets?”

“I’ll shoot it and go down the line.” he notched an arrow, fired then notched another, then another as

fast as he could. He fired ten arrows and hit ten targets in order.

“Wow!” Nury exclaimed. “I saw you do it but I still don’t believe it. How could anyone shoot that

“Before I’m done teaching you, you’ll be able to do it too.” he told her. “This is how you hold the

bow, in your left hand like so. Then you take an arrow, hold it between your fingers like so, put it on

the bowstring and pull back like so. You look where you want the arrow to go and point it there. If you

have to look down the arrow to see where it’s pointed you’ll never be able to fire fast. Here,” he

handed her the bow and an arrow, “you try it”

He stood behind her with his arms around her, helping her to fit the arrow to the bow and pull the

string back. He le go of the string, “Go ahead and release the string when you’re ready to shoot. If you

want to hit one of the blue targets you need to raise your aim a little.” He helped her raise her aim just

the right amount. She released the arrow. It flew from the bow right at one of the blue targets and

“That’s very good for a first shot.” Myan praised her as he let his arms slip down to around her

waist. “I missed by much more than that the first time I shot.”

“You didn’t have as good a teacher as I did.” she returned the praise as she leaned back into him. “I’m glad you’re going to wait for me. I never met a boy like you before.”

He gave her a tight hug then let go. “If we’re going to get two or three deer before sunset you need

She turned to face him and looked him in the eye. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”

He smiled back at her. “A little. You’re so beautiful I don’t ever want to be without you..”

“You don’t have to worry about that “ She answered. “They would have to kill me to separate me

from you. Can we get married tonight? I don’t want to wait.”

“I’ll talk to my uncle Ogon and my grandpa. They’re the ones who will decide when we can marry.”

“Good.” she said as she took another arrow from him and shot again, at a closer target. She hit this

one and reached for another arrow. Myan kept handing her arrows until his quiver was empty. They

retrieved the arrows and she spent the next half hour shooting at targets.

“Can we stop now?” She asked him. “My arms are tired. I hope the bow you make for me is easier

“It will be.” He answered. “And it’s time to start hunting if we want to get back before it’s too

“Are you afraid to spend the night with me?”

“No, but I can’t talk to my uncle and grandpa about marrying you if we don’t get back to the

settlement. You do still want to marry me tonight, don’t you?”

“OK, let’s go get those two deer.” she handed the bow back to him and they set out farther up the

ridge. Myan led her to a clearing in the trees about a half mile from the practice field. He held up his

hand, signaling her to stop. He hunkered down and started creeping forward slowly. She followed suit.

They soon saw two deer in the clearing grazing on the clover. Whenever both deer had their heads

down Myan would move closer. He stopped every time one of them raised it’s head.

When he was one hundred ninety feet away he fitted an arrow and fired. He quickly took another

arrow and fired it too. The first deer fell and the second one jumped and looked around. The second

arrow reached it’s target and the second deer fell too.

Nury started to say something and he held a finger to her lips to silence her. They walked out to the

two dead deer and he slit their throats to bleed them. While the deer were bleeding out another deer

stepped out into the clearing, upwind from them. Myan handed her the bow and an arrow and pointed

She nodded, fitted the arrow to he string, pointed it at the deer and fired. The deer dropped.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “That’s the first deer I’ve ever killed. Mom and uncle Johnro will both be

surprised.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him.

He kissed her back passionately for about eleven seconds then held her out at arms length. “We

“Why?” she slipped her arms back around him.

“We’ll never get back to the settlement tonight if we don’t.”

“Would that be so bad?” she continued to cling to him.

“If we don’t get back to the settlement tonight we can’t get married tonight.”

“There is that.” she agreed. “So I guess we’ll have to forgo immediate gratification for the greater

good. You men amaze me. Sometimes you want immediate gratification and other times you want to

“Who said anything about wanting to wait.” Myan replied. “I just want to get married more than I

He went over to some bushes on the edge of the clearing, waded into them and came out with a

sled. He loaded the three deer and they set out on the way back.

“Oh ho, the hunter returns before dark with three deer and the girl.” Ogon greeted them on their

return. “We didn’t expect you back until mid morning at the earliest.”

“And then,” Johnro added, “we didn’t expect you to have any deer.”

“Deer is what we went after so deer is what we brought back.” Myan informed them. “Besides,

how can we get married tonight if we don’t return tonight?”

“Is that what you both want?” Johnro asked.

Nury took his arm possessively. “Yes.” they chorused.

“You are both still pretty young.” Ogon said. “But, let us talk this over. We’ll give you an answer

Three days later, while they were luxuriating in bed, they heard a loud commotion outside. Someone

coming into the settlement. They got up fast. Nury beat Myan out the door.

“Soney!” she shouted. “I thought you were dead. I’m glad to see you. Who else survived?”

“The only others I saw were Manuk and his wife. We were rescued by the very handsome warrior,

“It looks like Oron can stop being jealous of you.” Nury told her husband. “Now he has someone

“I can’t believe it’s been a week.” Myan exclaimed as he slipped his arms around his new wife. “It

seems like just few days ago my dad brought you and your uncle over and introduced you to me. It’s

“Yeah.” Nury agreed. “Even if you did hurt me that first night. You at least let me heal afterwards.

They heard a bunch of exited talking outside. They rushed out and saw seven men coming over the

ridge to the west. Odar and Ogon were going out to meet them. Myan and Nury hurried to join them.

“Our scouts report you have ninety eight people in your party. What brings you to our settlement?”

“We were attacked by a group of thirty five warriors.” the leader, Nomaq, said. “It looked like the

remnants of the group that threatened us almost two weeks ago. They said if we didn’t join the overclan

they would destroy us on their way back. We were heading for the mountains by a different route than

they took. We didn’t want to run into them again.”

“The trouble was they came back by the route we were taking. Our warriors reacted first. We killed

twenty four of them and lost only three of our warriors. When we saw how few of them were left it

seemed good to find the people who defeated them so we followed their trail to here.”

“The valley to the west is empty.” Ogon said. “You are welcome to settle there. Then, when they

come again we’ll have more warriors to fight them with.”

“So, we’re just going to wait for them to attack us again?” Nury asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to

take the fight to them before they’re ready for it?”

“She’s been talking like this all week.” Myan told his uncle. “She does have a point though. I say we

send a raiding party to attack them as soon as we get our new friends settled.”

There was a chorus of yeses and you said its, mostly from the younger warriors.

Ogon asked him, “Do you think you could organize such a raiding party?”

“Sure.” Myan replied. “Nury wouldn’t let me rest if I didn’t.”

“I’m going along.” Nury said. “They killed my father. I want to kill as many of them as I can.”

“Niece,” Johnro interrupted, “you already put a spear in the stomach of the warrior who killed your

“Not as long as the leader who sent them out after us is still alive.”

Ogon said. “Remind me not to get on your wife’s wrong side, nephew.”

“How can we settle so near you?” Nomaq asked. “There’s not that much game around here. What

“Let me show you.” Ogon offered. “We have plenty of food even during the hungry months.”

Ogon led him around the settlement and the gardens, showing him the food plants.

“That should give you plenty to eat but don’t you get hungry for meat?”

“I saved the best for last.” Ogon replied. “Let’s go through this gate.”

Ogon led him into the valley of the aurochs. About a hundred feet into the valley they saw some of

“Aurochs, trapped in this valley?” an unbelieving Nomaq asked.

“Yes.” Ogon answered. “We have plenty of meat all year. We still hunt but we don’t need as much

space for that with all these aurochs trapped in here. We can help you trap aurochs in the valley to the

west and you too will have plenty of meat.”

A week later the west valley was fenced in and had twenty seven aurochs in it. Nomaq’s people

were building dwelling lodges and had a wall and two towers started. They also had some gardens

started and some hay cut. A very good start on preparing for winter.

“Somar will be in charge of this raiding party, Myan.” Ogon said. “You will need to follow his

orders. I want you to remember the main thing we need is information about this enemy. We really

don’t know much about them. Go ahead and finish putting your raiding party together. Just be sure to

“Yes uncle.” Myan was being unusually humble. “Thank you.”

Myan left to finish organizing his raid.

“That son of your’s is going to make a great leader if we can keep him alive long enough.” Ogon

told his brother. “Be sure you get information on how many warriors this overclan has. We need to

know what to expect when they attack us again.”

Myan was leading his warriors though the woods to his assigned attack point. Somar had his

warriors stationed to attack the warriors that were sure to chase Myan after his raid. There were

seventeen girls bathing in a nearby stream. Myan’s first objective was to kill two nearby groups of

guards. Nury would then get the girls and bring them out while Myan and his other warriors kept the

He placed four warriors within bow range of seven guards off to the right of their escape path and

led the other three warriors to within bow range of six more guards off to the left. Nury snuck closer to

the girls. When she was in position Myan gave the signal to open fire.

The thirteen guards fell quickly. Myan and his warriors shifted position to where hey could kill any

other warriors who tried to stop Nury and the girls from escaping.

Nury fired two arrows, killing two of the guards near the girls. One of the girls picked up a spear

from one of the fallen guards and threw it at the remaining nearby guard, killing him. Nury approached

the girls. “If you girls want to get away from the overclan come with me.”

They all jumped up and started running in Nury’s direction. She led them through the woods on the

agreed upon escape path. Ten guards started running to cut them off. Six from one side and four from

the other. Myan’s warriors killed them fast.

After Nury and the girls passed their positions, Myan and his warriors fell in around them.

“Who are these warriors?” one of the girls asked Nury.

“Friends who will help us escape.” Nury answered. “Save your breath for running. We need to

Twenty seven overclan warriors were soon following them, gaining ground. Myan and five of his

warriors turned and fired two volleys of arrows, dropping eleven ov the pursuing warriors. The

remaining sixteen overclan warriors took cover while Myan and his warriors turned back and caught up

Twenty one more overclan warriors joined the sixteen warriors who were back in pursuit of the

fleeing girls and their helpers. They were soon joined by fourteen more. Too many for Myan’s warriors

to stop even for a few seconds. They ran on another three hundred feet and Myan and all of his

warriors turned and fired. The pursuing warriors cried out their glee and redoubled their efforts.

That was what Somar and his warriors were waiting for. They opened fire from both sides of the

path the pursuing overclan warriors were following and soon all the pursuers were dead. All the

warriors then started fleeing in earnest, soon catching up to Nury and the girls.

Ten minutes later they heard a commotion behind them. The real pursuit had started in earnest.

An hour later they came to their first planned resting place. Beside the river at the top of a waterfall.

The warriors, Nury included, were hardly winded but most of the rescued girls were breathing hard.

“Myan,” Somar said after the girls caught their breath, “you and your warriors go on ahead with the

girls. My warriors will teach these foolish overclan warriors a lesson in caution.”

Myan led off at a slower pace, walking beside Nury. Just over eleven minutes later the overclan

warriors came into view of Somar and his warriors who were hidden at the top of the rise by the

waterfall. When all two hundred seventy overclan warriors were in view and the closest were only two

hundred feet away Somar and his twenty seven warriors opened fire. Most of Somar’s warriors were

firing at the closest enemy warriors but Somar and four others were firing farther back into the ranks of

The enemy warriors were dropping like flies. Someone finally wised up and called a retreat. They

just couldn’t charge well uphill into that kind of fire. They had already lost sixty eight more warriors.

Some of the warriors started circling off to the side away from the river, trying to get around behind

That’s when Somar and his warriors snuck back off the edge of the rise and started jogging to catch

The enemy, not knowing that Somar and his warriors had left, kept circling around their former

position. When they got behind Somar’s former position and found it empty they signaled to the

warriors who were still down below to come join them. The overclan warriors started following at a

“Two more days and we’ll be home.” Somar said. “I’m sure looking forward to that.”

“Yeah.” Myan agreed. “It’s a good thing the overclan warriors are following so slowly. We only

have two hundred eleven arrows left. Not enough to finish them off.”

“We’ll get up when the moon rises.” Somar decided. “We can travel another twenty miles tonight

then sleep until first light. That’ll give us a good lead over the enemy. I don’t think they’ll travel by night.

They lost too many warriors to our ambushes already.”

Simon walked up to the girl who threw the spear and killed a guard at the start of their escape. “Hi,

“Ala. You sure did a good job rescuing us. I’m real glad you did. The overchief was going to make

me one of his wives by force and I didn’t want that. He’s old, ugly and he smells bad. Not like you,

you’re young, handsome and you smell good.”

“You know, I was jealous of Myan because he got married to Nury, who’s very beautiful.” Simon

said. ‘I’m not jealous any more.” he took her hand.

Ala asked, “Are we going to sleep together tonight?”

“No, there won’t be time. I’m sure Somar and Myan will get us up as soon as the moon rises. We’ll

then travel for about five hours so we’ll need to just sleep. We can just sleep together if you want.”

“Sure.” Ala answered. “I’d like that.”

Simon spread out his bedding and they curled up, arms around each other, and went to sleep.

“Simon, wake up.” Nury shook him. “It’s time to leave. But first, introduce me to your friend.”

“Ala, wake up, sweetheart.” Simon woke his love. “Ala, this is my friend Nury, Myan’s wife. Nury,

this is Ala. We’re going to get married.”

“That’s pretty obvious.” Nury replied. “But the moon’s up and we need to put some miles behind us

before morning. I’m glad to meet you, Ala. We’ll talk more later. Right now we need to go.” she left to

“No,” Simon answered. “She’s usually much friendlier. But right now she’s very focused on the task

at hand. Which is getting us all back home safe.”

“Home, I like the sound of that.” Ala responded. “And as long as you’re there I’m sure I’ll like it.”

“Yeah, and I’m going to like it a lot better with you there.” Simon agreed. “It’s a great place. We

didn’t go hungry at all last hungry season. Everybody had plenty to eat and it’s very pretty. But I didn’t

Two hours later they forded the river. Myan and Nury immediately started piling up mounds of dirt.

Simon took one look at what they were doing and joined them. So did several other warriors.

When they finished Myan, Nury and Simon went over and sat with Ala.

“What was that all about?” she asked.

“When the overclan warriors get here they’ll see those mounds and think we’re hiding behind them

waiting to kill them when they try to cross.” Nury explained. “There’s no other good ford upstream for

a long way and they can’t be sure we’ll follow the river all the way home. There is a ford about five

miles downstream so they’ll probably send several dozen warriors there to circle around where they

“You’re definently all woman Nury,” Ala inquired. “How did you become a warrior?”

“My former clan was attacked almost three weeks ago. My father was one of the first casualties. I

was near him when he was killed. I picked up his throwing stick and one of his spears and threw the

spear into the gut of his killer then turned and ran. I escaped along with my mother, uncle and a few

others. We went deeper into the hills and ran into my uncle’s friend Somar.”

“Somar introduced me to his son, Myan. Myan taught me how to shoot a bow and helped me kill

my first deer. We got married that night and here we are killing our clan’s enemies, the same ones who

destroyed my former clan. I would like nothing better than putting an arrow in the belly of the so called

“You would rather do that than sleep with your husband?” a surprised Ala asked. “Or have babies

“Well, no, not really. But almost as much.”

“Will you teach me how to shoot arrows so I can kill our clan’s enemies too?”

“Let’s let Simon give you the initial lesson.” Nury suggested. “If he does it anything like Myan did

it’s pretty sensual and enjoyable. Myan and I can help after that.”

“Oh ho.” Simer exclaimed as the raiding party entered the settlement. “Simon got himself a girl. And

a very pretty one too! It’s about time, son.”

“I just needed a little help from my friends, Myan and Nury.” Simon responded as he slipped his

arms around Ala’s waist. “Once we rescued Ala and her friends it was easy sweeping her off her feet.”

“It was a lot more work for me.” Ala said as she leaned back into Simon’s embrace. “I had to make

eyes at you for hours before you finally came over and started talking to me.”

“So, when are you two going to give me grandchildren?”

“That will have to wait a little.” Myan interrupted. “The so called overchief plans on attacking this fall

when the weather is wet and the moisture will ruin our bowstrings. He doesn’t know that we wax them

to prevent that. That’s his second mistake”

A puzzled Simer asked “What’s his first?”.

“Attacking first Nury’s former clan then ours.” Simon informed his father. “That little mistake will

“I think you’ve been around Myan and his uncle Ogon too much.” Simer said. “You’re starting to

“That’s a good thing.” Myan, Nury and Ala chorused. “Our clan’s benefitted greatly by my uncle’s

“I know that.” Simer said. “But it’s not often I get to tease you or Simon and that was such a perfect

opportunity. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“We’ve been down here six days.” Ala complained. “And haven’t killed any overclan warriors yet.

All we’ve been doing is sneaking around spying on them. When are we going to see some action?”

“As soon as we start killing overclan warriors we’ll have to run for home.” Myan explained yet

again. “I’ve told you before that we need to wait for an opportunity to do them some real harm. Or do

you just want to just kill a few warriors and then run?”

“When is this opportunity of yours going to come?” Ala wanted to know.

“I told you we should have let her behind.” Nury said. “She hasn’t learned patience yet.”

The next day one of the scouts came back with some promising news.

“There’s a group of overclan warriors coming back from an attack on another clan.” he reported.

“There’s one hundred sixteen of them and they have fifty three captives. Twenty two of them young

“Where were they at?” Myan asked. “How fast were they moving and are they watching for

“They’re about ten miles to the east and they haven’t broken camp yet.” the scout answered. “They

aren’t watching at all. It’s like they think no one would dare attack them.”

“Here’s that opportunity you’ve been demanding.” Nury told her friend Ala. “Now you’ll see some

Ala was stumbling through the woods, making a lot of noise. She suddenly came in sight of the

overclan camp. She stopped, turned and ran. Twenty five warriors chased after her. She dodged in and

out of the bushes in apparent wild flight. A quarter mile out of the camp arrows started hitting the

“That was easy.” one of Myan’s warriors said. “Go back and do it again Ala.”

“If you think it’s so easy, you do it.” she retorted.

“Stop your bickering, children.” Myan said as he pulled one of his arrows out of a second dead

“Someone cover this warrior’s mouth.” Nury requested. “I’m going to pull my arrow out of his gut

and I don’t want the camp to hear his scream.”

Myan placed his warriors in three positions around the camp, putting all the warriors in camp in a

crossfire. He shot his first arrow, giving the signal to attack. His twenty seven warriors started firing too,

catching the overclan warriors by surprise. The attack only lasted twenty seven seconds. The overclan

Myan and his warriors stood up and entered the camp and checked to make sure all the overclan

“Who are you and what are you going to do with us?” one of the young women asked.

“We are warriors from the clans of the aurochs.” Myan answered. “We could let you go back to the

camp where you were attacked but, knowing the overclan, you probably won’t find anyone alive there.

We’ll go back there with you and check. After that, we could just leave you but then the overclan

would just capture you again. You could come with us and join our clans.”

“Why do you say clans instead of clan?”

“We are three clans united for mutual protection from the overclan.” Myan answered. “My clan only

had nine warriors when a raiding party from the overclan attacked us. Numar’s clan were living nearby

and were already our friends. Twenty four of their warriors got there in time to help us fight off the

“We will go with you.” the young woman decided. “What choice do we have? Our men were all

Myan walked into the destroyed camp. It smelled real bad with all the dead bodies laying around.

The overclan must have attacked without warning, most of the warriors didn’t have spears with them.

One girl did. She was very much alive and ready to throw the spear.

“What are you going to do with my sister?” the young girl with the spear asked. “Stay back or I’ll

“I’ll stay back. Myan said. “We’re taking your sister and these others to live with us since their clan

was destroyed.” he gestured at all the dead bodies. “You can live with us too, if you want to.”

“There are too many willing women fo us to rape anyone.” Simon answered. “Besides, my wife,

Ala, would gut me like a fish if I ever tried to rape someone.”

“Yeah, but she’s not here to see you do it.”

“I most definently am.” Ala said as she walked into sight. “No one here will rape you nor will anyone

The girl put her spear down and visibly relaxed. “What’s it like with your clan?”

“Plenty to eat all year long.” Myan answered. “Fresh killed auroch tastes real good in the middle of

the hungry season. Of course, Ala hasn’t enjoyed that yet. She and my wife, Nury, weren’t with us last

hungry season. Let’s get upwind of this camp, the smell is unpleasant here.”

“Anya, you’re still alive!” a relieved Alia said. “I thought you were killed when I didn’t see you with

us after we were captured. These warriors killed our captors and released us. We’re going to go live

with them since we have nowhere else to go. Are you coming with us?”

“Alia!” a very exited Anya shouted. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I’m glad these warriors

rescued you. And of course I’ll come with you. Where else would I go? Oh, Anyar and a few others

are up in a cave. Gibea pulled him into the cave after he got wounded. His leg’s infected, he probably

“Can you take me to this cave?” Nury asked. “I’m a healer. Maybe I can save him.”

When they got to the cave Nury followed Anya in. Anyar was laying there with his right leg propped

up with a real bad infection on the back of the calf

“Bring him outside, into the light.” Nury instructed. “I need to see the wound better.”

Gibea tried to lift her husband but he was too heavy.

“Here, let me help.” Simon said. “I’m the strongest one here.” he got on the other side from Gibea

“Oh, that is bad.” Nury said as she examined the wound in the light. “Myan, heat some water for

me. I’ll clean the wound then put a poultice on it. A little longer and it would have been too late. As it is,

Two days later Myan was on a hill looking down at he ford he intended to use. There were about

seven hundred enemy warriors there so he needed a different plan. He crawled back from the edge of

“We’ll have to go back to the river Alia’s people were attacked at.” he said. “Then we can go

upstream to that trail through the hills that leads to the ford near our settlement. It’s a little longer but

with this many overclan warriors here there won’t be many warriors there, if there are any there at all.”

“That’s a lot of backtracking.” Simon said. “And we’ll have to sneak past all those warriors again.”

“We’ll take a different route.” Myan answered. “We’ll go east and south to get to the river, not

They came out of the hills, overlooking a small side river, the one leading to the pass on the way to

Myan’s ford. “I’m glad you told us about that shortcut to this stream, Alia. It saved us a day and a half.

We’re less than a day from home now.”

“That’s good.” Simon said. “The food’s almost gone.”

“The rest of us are all doing fine.” Ala jibed with a smile in her voice. “You just got too used to

always having a full belly last hungry season. It’ll do you good to go a little hungry for a change.”

Oron came back from scouting. “There’s footprints on the valley floor. Mixed sizes. It’s a clan

moving up the valley. They’re about two hours ahead of us.”

“Then we’ll take the path that’s about halfway up the side of the valley and send scouts out ahead.”

Myan instructed. “Then we’ll see them before they see us. That will allow us to avoid any accidents

Oron returned from scouting, bringing a stranger with several spears and a throwing stick.

“Why are you following us?” he asked.

“We’re heading home.” Myan replied. “You just happen to be headed in he same direction. I might

ask you, why are you heading for my clan’s settlement? Are you allied with our enemies, the overclan?”

“The overclan is the enemy to any sane warrior.” the stranger answered. “We heard about a clan

who is fighting them and has plenty to eat without having to hunt for it. We want to see if we can help.”

“We are actually three clans united against the overclan with remnants of several other clans the

overclan already attacked.” Myan told him. “And I’m sure your help will be gratefully accepted.”

“Then let me talk to your leader and arrange an alliance.”

“He is the leader of this raiding party.” an indignant Nury told the stranger. “And he’s my husband.”

“There must be more to you than meets the eye, youngling.” the stranger said. “I am Norwic, chief

of our clan. We would offer you food but the game is skittish and our hunters can’t get close enough to

“Nury, Somar, Ala, let’s go get some meat for our dinner.” Myan ordered. He turned to Norwic. “Do you want to come along and see how well these bows work?”

Myan peered through the bushes. “Ala, see that auroch with the broken horn? He looks young and

“At this range?” Norwic questioned. “My best warrior could not throw a spear that far.”

“You mean that one?” Ala asked as she shot the auroch Myan indicated. It dropped dead in it’s

Norwic was stunned. “That was at least two hundred seventy feet. How can a little girl like her

throw one of those little spears that far? And a heart shot at that.”

“Prepare to be more amazed Norwic.” Myan said. “See that deer over there? How far would you

“At least three hundred seventy five feet.” Norwic answered. “No one could hit it from here.”

Myan put an arrow to his bow and killed the deer in question. “Nury, will you shoot those two deer

over there please.” he indicated two deer three hundred ten feet away.

“I take it you want heart shots?” she asked. At his nod she added, “well, at least they’re not

overclan warriors.” she fired, dropping both deer.

“The overclan warriors call her Nury, gutshooter because that’s where she shoots them.” Simon

said. “They call my wife Ala, gutshooter because she follows Nury’s exemplary example.”

Norwic closed his mouth. “I don’t believe it. I saw it but I still don’t believe it. How am I supposed

to convince the rest of my clan that someone can actually kill an animal at even half this distance?”

“At least twelve of them saw it.” Nury informed him, pointing to Norwic’s watching warriors. “So

you won’t have to tell them about it.”

While dinner was cooking one of Myan’s warriors cut the deer intestines into four lengths per deer.

Three others brought twelve drying bows into the makeshift camp.

“What are you making?” Norwic asked. “Bowstrings?”

“Yes.” Nury answered. “Your clan will need bows and we have the material at hand.”

Myan, Simon and Norwic were looking down at the ford. There were about two hundred forty

overclan warriors, some on each side of the ford. They crawled back from the edge, “we’re not just

going to walk home without one last fight.” Simon said. “And I was looking forward to a little peace.”

“Don’t count on much of that until the overclan is destroyed.” Myan replied. “They don’t want to be

peaceful. That crowd down there is a few too many for us. We’ll need a little help from our clans.

"There’s that pool upstream where someone can swim across and alert Ogon that we’re back. Then we

can attack from both sides at once. I have a plan that will work well once Ogon has some warriors in

Oron crept quietly out of the river. The overclan warriors were patrolling even this far upriver from

the ford. He saw four in front of him so he waited for them to move on. Once they were gone he left the

river and headed for the entrance to Numar’s valley.

The trip up the valley to Numar’s settlement was uneventful. He told them about Norwic’s clan and

“So, the overclan is very busy right now.” Numar said. “Still, I don’t like hearing about another clan

“The good news there is we destroyed their raiding party and rescued the captives. Oron said. “So

they didn’t gain anything by that conquest and lost their raiding party in the process. That’s one hundred

sixteen fewer warriors left to fight us. Myan wants Ogon to lead a party of warriors against the enemy

warriors at the ford while we attack from the other side.”

Ogon signaled from the high ground above the ford. Then Myan started putting his warriors in

Norwic asked “What is my warriors part in this fight? We can’t use those bows, we’re not good

“You’ll start the attack.” Myan answered. “We have the high ground here. If you and your forty

seven warriors attack them from the top of the path down to the ford they would have to charge uphill

into your thrown spears to get to where they could throw spears back at you. You could kill at least

one hundred before they could get close enough to throw their spears near you.”

“My warriors and Ogon’s warriors will be shooting arrows at them long before they could get close

enough to throw spears at you. They’ll all be dead before they could even get halfway close enough.

Norwic led his warriors out into position. They threw a few spears, mostly to let the overclan

warriors know they were there. The ones on the south bank moved toward the river to get away from

the spears until reinforcements from across the river arrived. The warriors on the north bank, seeing

Norwic’s attack on their fellow warriors, started crossing the river to attack Norwic and his warriors.

That’s what Myan was waiting for. He and his warriors started firing arrows at the warriors on the

south bank who started heading across the river to get away from the arrows. When the warriors

crossing from the north bank saw that, they turned around and started back to the north bank. That was

Ogon’s signal to open fire, catching the overclan warriors in a crossfire in the open. In less than half a

minute all the overclan warriors were dead.

“We didn’t get to throw very many spears.” one of Norwic’s warriors complained.

“And you didn’t get any spears thrown at you Joruc.” Norwic told him. “Be thankful for that. I’m

glad you’re on our side.” he told Myan. “You plan too well for me to want you as an enemy.”

They rounded a turn in the side valley and Norwic stopped in his tracks.

“You told me about your firing platforms and walls Oron.” Norwic said. “I sure didn’t expect them

to be so impressive. An enemy would be foolish to attack them.”

“That’s a good description of the so called overchief.” Ala said. “He thinks too highly of himself.

And of the might of his massed warriors.”

“Simon,” Ogon instructed, “set your burden down. I’m sure he can walk from here. Then lead

Norwic’s clan up this branch of the valley to their new home. Norwic, I have some things to show you.

Follow me. Nephew, you come too. You can tell me what the overclan is up to now.”

The more Norwic saw the more impressed he was. Redroots still in the ground, grain, looking like it

had been purposely planted, ready for harvest, winter squashes stored in a cool, dry place along with

cabbage. And beans, several tons of beans.

Then there were the piles of hay. “I was wondering how you got animals to graze where you wanted

them to. You didn’t. You cut the grass instead.”

“That’s the winter feed for our trapped aurochs.” Ogon told him. “We’re calling them cattle now to

distinguish them from the wild ones. It’s a lot of work but well worth it to have a reliable source of food

through the hungry season. Through this gate is our valley of the aurochs.” Ogon led him into the valley

“They’re all big, healthy well filled out animals.” Norwic observed. “I’ve never seen a natural herd

“We cull out the smaller animals.” Myan answered. “Keeping only the best ones for breeding.”

“What about these four who are coming over here.” Norwic asked. “Are they going to attack?”

“No, those are our oxen.” Ogon replied. “They’re neutered and docile. They make great work

animals. Myan, can you take two of them to the sled we’re loading with supplies for our new

“This I’ve got to see.” Norwic said. “I’ve never seen an auroch used as a work animal before.”

Myan slipped ropes around the necks of two of the oxen and led them out to where his friends were

loading the sled. He hitched them to the sled and, after it was loaded, led the oxen over to Norwic’s

“Are you sure you can part with that much food?” Norwic asked. “I’m not complaining. We can

sure use the food. We were too busy avoiding the overclan warriors to gather very much food this

“Even afer giving you this much we have more than we need.” Myan answered. “Don’t worry, we’ll

eat well this hungry season and so will you.”

“Plenty of vegetables, beans and grain but not much meat.”

“We’ll help you trap some aurochs of your own.” Myan informed him. “Sanya, uncle Ogon’s wife,

told us how boring that kind of diet is. That’s most of what her former clan ate last hungry season.”

“What are those men doing over there?” Norwic asked. “And what are they going to do with all that

“They’re building fences to keep your aurochs in the upper part of your valley.”

“So we’re going to have meat on the hoof just like your clan? That’ll sure be a welcome

“Yeah, the time you don’t have to spend hunting will allow you to help put up two firing towers here

and a fence between them so when the overclan attacks your warriors won’t have to stand out in the

Myan looked over the edge at the overclan warriors in the river valley. It looked like about two

thousand warriors down there heading for his clan’s valley. He wouldn’t be able to do much damage to

that many warriors with his fifty three archers but he could at least make a dent in them and improve the

odds a little when they attack his settlement.

He positioned his warriors along the river end of the ridge then waited for the enemy to get close to

their position. He let the forward guard go by and waited until the first part of the main body was even

with his position then opened fire. He and his warriors fired eight arrows each then went up the ridge to

The enemy swarmed up the valleys on both sides of the ridge and up the ridge, wasting time. That

gave Myan and his warriors time to set up another ambush two ridges farther upstream.

The enemy responded faster when Myan and his warriors opened fire from their new ambush so

they just fired six arrow each before leaving for safety. They accomplished their mission. The enemy

was checking out the ridges before passing them, slowing way down on their march upstream and they

lost just over four hundred warriors to Myan’s two ambushes. Myan and his warriors went home to

“There’s still about eighteen hundred of them” Myan informed his uncle. “So we’re still in for a bad

“You bought us about three more days to prepare for them.” Ogon replied. “That’s time much

needed by Norwic and his clan. Their firing platforms and walls are just about finished and they are

getting some very valuable practice with their new bows.”

“How are they doing?” Myan asked. “Are they hitting targets at over three hundred feet yet?”

“They actually have twenty three archers who are hitting fist sized targets at over three hundred thirty

feet now. Eight of them are hitting fist sized targets at over three hundred sixty feet. Most of their other

archers can hit targets at over two hundred forty feet.”

In the early morning three days later it was drizzling and, with the light breeze, it was drifting under

the roof on the firing platforms. Just the conditions the overclan wanted. Three hundred warriors each

went up the valleys where the other clans had their settlements, leaving just over nine hundred to attack Odar’s clan. They stopped their advance about four hundred fifty feet from the firing towers and

taunted the defenders. Some of them even darted closer then drew back, trying to draw fire.

Myan had his warriors fire a few arrows at the enemy when they got within four hundred twenty

feet, lulling the enemy into carelessness at longer range than that. From their twenty foot high firing

platform they could shoot close to five hundred feet but only Myan and Ogon were accurate over four

The overclan’s strategy was to get the bowstrings wet and wait for the moisture to ruin them. They

didn’t know about the beeswax protecting the bowstrings.

Myan had his warriors who were shooting at the overclan warriors go through an act of seeming to

change their bowstrings. This drew the response Myan was hoping for. The overclan warriors charged.

They were so tightly packed that any warrior who could shoot that far would hit someone.

The defenders in the twenty foot high firing platform were shooting their arrows four hundred fifty

feet, the ones in the two ten foot high firing platforms were shooting their arrows four hundred twenty

feet and the ones behind the fence were firing three hundred eighty feet.

The overclan warriors were dropping pretty fast but it didn’t look very good for the defenders. Too

many of the overclan warriors were getting close to where they could throw their spears over the wall. Soon, spears started thudding into the wall and then some started sailing over the wall.

Ala shouted out “Overchief, this is Ala whom you called your favorite. I am free from you and

married to someone who is ten times the man you wish you were. And I am pregnant by him.”

The overchief was enraged by this and ran forward from his position four hundred eighty feet from

the twenty foot firing platform. When he was four hundred sixty five feet from the firing platform he

stopped. Myan fired an arrow at him, hitting him in the gut.

“No!” he shouted in anguish as he fell. “This can’t happen to me. I’m not supposed to die. People

who oppose my will are supposed to die, not me.”

“What’s so different about you, overchief who was?” one of his guards asked. “You get an arrow in

the gut, you die like anyone else. And I don’t think anyone will mourn you.” he spat on his former

On hearing the overchief’s cry the attacking warriors stopped, turned around and fled. Those who

passed near the dying overchief spat on him and heaped abuse on him. The battle was over. The word

spread quickly to the groups attacking the other clans and they broke off their attacks. The survivors