Chapter One Jum

Eleven year old Jum finds himself the master of a group of mostly female servants captured in a town where the men have destroyed each other.

This is a story that I might finish.  It is about a boy who becomes the reluctant master of a group of women and the woman who becomes...

(It is very rough and will need extensive revision)

 

The Governor of Arslan

By Stan Morris

 

Prologue

 

If the men of Arslan had understood the relationship between the rain in the mountains far away and the sudden floods that came sweeping down the valley, perhaps they would have postponed the battle.  Or, perhaps not.  Their vanity coupled with their arrogance and hatred for their fellow Arslanians might have got the best of them anyway.

Or if the people in one of the towns they both called Arslan had been gracious enough to accept a different name for the part of town on their side of the river, Jax, perhaps the whole battle could have been avoided.  But one of the strange things about people is that they often dislike their neighbors more than the enemy who lives at a distance.

Arslan began as a village on the north side of the river, Jax.  It was a good location.  The golden grain grew well in the brown fields around the city. The meandering river flooded at the right times, spreading new soil from the hills to the southeast over the undulating fertile fields.  The climate was warmer than the cold steppe to the north, and more rain fell than in the parched lands to the south.  And the land was fairly level, especially in the valley of Arslan.

The only drawbacks were the raids from the horsemen who lived on the steppes to the north and in the hills of Kahz to the southeast.  Both were new people who had somehow learned to ride on horses.  Those from the north killed without mercy, but they were seldom seen this far south, while the raiders who came from the southern hills were not killers, but they stole anything they could find.  Periodically, they swept down onto the fields of Arslan and stole grain, pigs, cows, and even women.  But the men of Arslan were fierce warriors, and the raiders usually fled before their spears.

Gradually, the village of Arslan spread across the river, until there was a large community on either side.  There was an island in the middle of the river that lay between the two sides of Arslan.  Because of its convenient location, Middle Isle became the site of the great marketplace of Arslan.

Then someone had the bright idea of building a wall around the city, and that is when the trouble began.  Some people did not like the idea of building a wall around their city.  Most of these people lived on the south side of the Jax, and they had various reasons for not wanting a wall.  Some liked the openness of the city, while others saw economic opportunities to the south, and they feared that a wall would limit the expansion of the south side of Arslan.  Most of the opposition came from older people who claimed that a wall would be a break with their traditions. 

"An open city was good enough for my parents," they said, "and it is good enough for me."

The governing council was located on the north side of the river, and they wanted the wall because the deadliest raiders usually came in from the north.  They began to build a wall, but the warriors on the south side rebelled and refused to build a wall around their section of the city.  They created their own governing council, and so a tense standoff ensued.

Now that might have been the end of it, for left alone cooler heads might have prevailed over time, and the two sides might have lived in peace.  But there were two problems.  First, both sides claimed to be the true city of Arslan.  A silly dispute perhaps, but the two sides demanded that the other city rename itself.

The people on the north side of the Jax pointed out that the village had originally been located only on the north side of the river, and therefore they were entitled to the name.  The people on the south side of the Jax pointed out that most of the population lived on the south side of the river, and therefore they were entitled to the name.  One sensible person suggested that the two cities be named, North Arslan and South Arslan, but he was promptly banished from both cities.

The more serious problem was over who would control the marketplace on Middle Isle.  Both sides claimed jurisdiction, and this was no small matter, because the taxes from the commerce on Middle Isle provided almost all of each governing council’s revenue.

The disputes led to bickering, and bickering led to anger, and anger led to hate.  Eventually both side decided that they only way to settle this dispute was to have a war.  So one day, amid thunderclouds and lightning almost all of the men from the two sides of Arslan gathered on the island.  They carried their spears and they fought.  The battle was bloody, and the more the men of Arslan saw their fathers, uncles, and sons die, the fiercer they fought.  Rain began to fall, although this was not the normal season for rainfall.  The river began to rise, but the berserk fighters ignored the rising river.  They fought until only a few fighters remained standing.

In the hills to the southeast, an unusual torrent of rain had fallen, and suddenly a wall of water swept down onto Middle Isle.  The few remained fighters were too exhausted to flee.  The water washed them away from the island, and along with their bodies went the tents, the tables, the merchandise and the coins.  When the flood waters receded, the island was clear of all signs of the great marketplace and of all signs of the great battle.  Only the women, children and a few old men were left of the prosperous city of Arslan, and unfortunately for them, this disaster was witnessed by a wandering pair of horsemen from the southeastern hills.

 

Chapter One  Jum

 

Eleven year old Jum was the youngest member of the battle troop of Kahz.  Normally he would not have been allowed to invest the city of Arslan, but his father's foot injury had prevented the older man from being present at the taking of the city, so he had sent his only son to represent him.  And rules were rules, no matter that Jum was only eleven, so on his back was his knapsack, and inside were the collars made of colored ribbons and the stiff lengths of twine.

Jum walked hesitantly along one of the streets of Arslan looking for females.  The Prince of Kahz had ordered his men to collect all of the inhabitants of Arslan first.  Each would become a servant of the man who captured them.  There were very few adult males left alive after the Battle of Middle Isle, so this meant that Jum was looking for females, for unless they threatened him, he was to ignore any old men.

As he was walking down the dusty street, a small dog darted out from under a table that was at the edge of a shop on the side of the street.  It came to a stop in front of Jum and began yapping at him ferociously.  Jum grinned, for the dog was no more than a puppy.  Jum knelt down, and the dog stopped its yapping.  Nervously, it crept toward Jum.  Carefully, Jum reached out his hand, and he allowed the dog to sniff him.  Then he began to rub the dog's head.  The dog crept closer. Jum took the dog in his hands and lifted it.  When the dog began to lick Jum's face, the boy giggled.  Suddenly Jum heard a cry, and a small girl, younger than Jum, rushed out of the shop.  She came to a stop in front of Jum.

"That's my puppy," she cried.  "Give him back!"

Jum looked at the girl.  She was about six years old.  She was dirty, and she wore only the usual short wool shift that girls wore in this part of the world.

"What's your name?" Jum asked.

"Gea," the girl answered as she ducked her head and scuffed her toe in the dirt.  “That's my dog.”

"I'm, Jum," the boy explained.  "I'm a warrior of Kahz.  You are my prisoner, Gea," he added with an air of self-importance.

"You’re a warrior?" the girl asked, giving the boy a doubtful look.

"Yes," replied the boy "Honest.  Look, I have a slave collar for you to wear."

He handed the puppy to Gea and removed his knapsack.  He knelt down and opened it.  Curious as to what was inside, Gea came closer and crouched down to take a look.  Jum removed one of the collars.

"See? You have to wear this around your neck."

Gea took the collar and studied it.  "It's pink," she said.

Jum blushed.  "The other colors were already taken," he said defensively.

To himself he moaned, Why couldn't I have gotten a red or yellow or a manly brown?

"It's pretty," Gea said as she tied the collar around her neck.

Jum removed one of the twines from his knapsack.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's to tie your hands behind your back, before I send you out of the city," he explained.  "You have to wait for me at a place by the last house. There's a man there who will tell you where to go."

"But then I can't hold Zak," the girl objected with distress in her voice.  "He'll run away."

"Oh," Jum replied.

He frowned as he thought over her words which were perfectly sensible.  What was he going to do?  No one had told him what he should do if he captured a girl who was holding a puppy.  Grown-ups, he thought with an exasperated sigh, never think about these important things.

"You better come with me then," he replied.

He hoped that he would not get into trouble for leaving Gea’s hands untied.

Across the street, hidden in one of the small shops, a frightened woman had been watching the boy and the girl.  Marsa was afraid, as were all of the women on the south side of the Jax.  The wall kept the raiders out of the north city, but here on the south side of the river, the women were at the mercy of the hill men.

Marsa had more to worry about than herself, because she was the guardian of two toddlers who had been left in her care by widowed men who had fought and died in the Battle of Middle Isle.  She was debating whether to flee into the surrounding countryside where food and shelter would be difficult to procure, or to submit to one of the raiders.  The very rich families had fled to the walled city on the other side of the river, but they were forced to pay a price for their safety.  The poor, like Marsa, were left unprotected, for they could not pay the entrance fee.  Seeing the actions of the boy with the girl convinced her that an opportunity had beckoned.  She stepped into the street holding the hands of the two toddlers.  The boy was startled, but the young girl greeted the woman.

"Hi, Marsa.  This is Jum," said Gea.

"She's Marsa," Gea said to Jum.  "She's nice."

“Jum," repeated Marsa as she examined the boy who was wearing drab brown pants and a sandy colored tunic that drooped down to his knees.  "Jum, I surrender to you.”

"You do?" said the startled boy.  "Oh, yes.  Yes.  You are now my prisoner," said the boy, trying to act in a manner that his Prince would want him to act.  "And them, too," he stated pointing at the two male toddlers who were peeking at him from behind Marsa's shift.

"May I have one of those?" Marsa asked politely, indicating the collar around Gea's neck.

"What? Oh. Yes. Yes, you must put one of these around your neck," said the boy as he handed a pink collar to Marsa.

She took it and tied it loosely around her neck.  Then she took two more and tied one around each of the toddler’s necks.  She was not at all certain that this was a safe course to follow, for who knew what kind of man stood behind the boy?  Yet, the boy was kind, or he seemed, so perhaps the father of the boy might be kind also.

"And I have to tie your hands behind your back," Jum said.

Marsa turned and put her wrists together.  Jum wrapped the ends of the twine around Marsa's wrist, and then he pulled them tight.

"Ouch," murmured Marsa as the fiber dug into her soft brown skin.

"Oh. Sorry," Jum said as he loosened the twine

"Is that better?" he asked.

"Yes.  Much," Marsa replied, grateful to discover that the boy was considerate even of a servant’s well-being.

"Now, you have to go outside the city and wait for me," Jum said.

"Jum," Marsa said, "If you allow me to accompany you, I could show you where several woman are hiding.  I could call to them and ask them to surrender to you.  And you and Gea could watch these two," she continued, motioning with her head at the two toddlers.

"Well."  Jum looked north, debating with himself whether or not he should take her advice.  "All right," he finally replied.

He decided that he was probably already in trouble for not sending Gea back, so it would not matter if Marsa came with them too.  The small procession followed Marsa down the dusty dirt packed street. On either side of the road, low mud brick buildings stood empty, or at least they seemed to be. In a few minutes, Marsa stopped and pointed to one of the brown-gray houses.

"Jum, there is an old woman in there,” Marsa explained.  “She’s frightened, but she would never admit it.  Can I go inside and get her?"

Jum looked at her suspiciously.  "You won't run away will you?" he asked.

"No, I promise that I won't run away," Marsa replied.  "Besides, where could I go with my hands tied behind my back?"

"Um...all right, go.”

The door of this abode was a wood frame with a cowhide stretched over it.  Marsa pushed it open with her shoulder and entered the house.

"Old mother?" she called.  "Where are you?"

An older woman pushed aside a linen curtain covering a doorway and hobbled out of the room while leaning on a cane.

"I'm right here, Marsa,” she answered, her feeble voice quivering.  “What are you doing here?  Shouldn't you be hiding?"

"I have surrendered myself, old mother," Marsa explained. "To a boy.  He seems kind.  He let Gea keep her dog."

The old woman sniffed.  "Bah.  I plan to make them drag me from my bed," she declared.

"Please come with us instead, old mother," Marsa pleaded.

The old woman considered Marsa's plea.  She really didn't want to be dragged out of her house by rough men, and although she was old, she was not yet ready to die.

"Oh, very well,  I'll come.  But the young one had better not try to take advantage of me!" she growled in a threatening way.

No man in his right mind would want to take advantage of you, thought Marsa, as she led the old woman out into the dusty street.

Outside, Jum breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Marsa had not run away.  The old woman is fearsome, he thought, as he handed her a collar.  He really did not want to touch her, but it was his duty to tie her hands.  Marsa intervened.

“The old woman needs to use her hands to hold her cane,” Marsa pointed out.

“Oh, yes.  That’s right,” Jum replied, relieved that he would not have to come close to the old woman.

They resumed their trek though the street, until Marsa stopped in front of a shop.  She seemed to be debating with herself.  Finally, almost reluctantly, she called out.  A very pretty girl came skipping out of the shop.

"Hi, Marsa," she said with a dismissing glance at the old woman.  "Who is this?"

"I'm Jum," the boy said.  "I'm a warrior of Kahz, and you are now my prisoner."

"Ooo, a warrior!" Auslee exclaimed, "And you look so strong and smart."

Jum preened at the unexpected compliments.

"Well, Jum, you are in luck because I am Auslee, and you have captured the prettiest girl in all of Arslan."

The old woman snorted.  "Vainest girl is more like it," she muttered.  Auslee sniffed and ignored her.

"What are those for?" Auslee asked, pointing at the collars around the women’s necks.

"These collars show who you belong to," Jum explained, "All the servants have to wear one around their necks.  Every man has a different color.  Some are plain like mine.  Some have several different colors.  Those are for the important warriors," he added lamely.

"Oh, I liked this pink," Auslee assured the boy, "Could I have one for my wrist too?"

Jum confessed that he was out of collars, so Jum untied Marsa's wrists, and they all went into a linen shop where Marsa found some cloth that matched the color of Jum's collars.  Quickly, she made some additional collars for Jum.  Then Jum tied Marsa's hands again.

One of the toddlers demanded to be carried, so he was hoisted onto Jum's back, and Jum carried him, while Marsa led them to three more women.  Weary of carrying the toddler, Jum finally untied Marsa's hands for good, so she could carry the young one.  Jum decided that he had found enough women.  He started back to the edge of the city followed by his little troop.

On the way, they came upon two young men who were battering down a door.  Jum knew them by sight.  They were brothers, Jool and Iram.  As Jum approached with his troop, Iram stepped toward him scowling.

"Hold!  The woman in there is ours.  Think not to steal her.”

"Um..."

Jum looked back at the disorganized group following him.  The toddlers were quarreling with Gea over who got to pet the dog, Zak.  Auslee had gotten into an elbow bumping contest with one of the younger girls.  The old woman with the cane had stopped a ways back to examine some pots in one of the abandoned stalls.  She was looking around furtively, and at any moment Jum expected to see her stick one under her shift.

"I have enough girls," he said.  "How many have you captured?"

"Uh, none," Iram confessed as he watched Jool beat on the door.

"Yes, but the one hidden in this place is a veritable beauty," Jool exclaimed.  "Tall of stature she is, large of breast and extremely lively.  She is mine."  With a shout of triumph, he broke down the door at last and hurried into the building.

"Ours, brother.  She is ours," Iram protested as he scrambled into the building after his brother.

As Jum waited, he heard a loud commotion inside the building.  He heard banging, thumping, and loud female curses.  Suddenly, Iram flew backwards out of the door to land on his back.  A moment later his brother burst head first through a window covered with a wooden shutter and landed face down in the dirty street.

For a moment, there was silence except for the groans and moans of the two brothers.  Then a woman appeared at the door.  She was indeed thin but tall, taller even that any of the warriors of Kahz.  Jum's jaw dropped as he stared astonished at the proud female’s stern visage.  She was dressed in strange clothes rather than the shift that all women wore. She wore trousers and a blouse, and they were dyed different colors rather than the drab beige of the shift.  Her hair was as black as the night of the new moon and it was silky and long, hanging down almost to her waist.

She carried a strange wood staff which she twirled around and around.  She stepped into the street.  Jool lifted himself up and stared at her.

"Such beauty," he said, "Such grace.  And mine."

"Ours," brother reminded him with a scowl.

"I'll be the property of no man, you weak scoundrels," the woman answered, contempt in her voice.

She lifted her staff as if to give one of them another whack, but at that moment, Zak jumped down from Gea's arms and ran yapping between the woman’s legs.  The strange woman took a step to the side to avoid stepping on the puppy, but her foot landed on a errant empty wooden spool of thread.  With a squawk, the graceful lady spun around.  She tried to steady herself with her staff, but she set its end on Jool's foot.  Jool howled with pain and pulled his foot out from under the staff, and this sent the young lady sprawling on her stomach in the dirt at the feet of Iram.  Iram promptly sat on her, and before she could throw him off, Jool grasped the opportunity to jump on her also.

Much cursing from the three of them ensued, but in the end Jool and Iram managed to tie the lady’s hands behind her back, and then they tied her ankles together.

"Whew," Iram gasped.  "I'm not sure this woman will be worth the effort.  How do we get her out of the city and to the holding area for the counting?  I don't want to release her feet again."

After much discussion, Iram had to hoist the lady over his shoulder.  He walked forward, while behind him Jool tried to engage the cursing lady in a conversation.

Jum and his troop followed the colorful threesome out of the city.  There, beyond the last houses and shops, an area had been roped off for the newly captured servants.  There were boys, girls, and women, and a few men who were so old they had not participated in the Battle of Middle Isle.  All together, they numbered about two hundred people captured by the hundred men of Kahz.

Jum and his prisoners were among the last to appear.  The counting had already begun.  A captain of the guard would hold up a colored collar, and the new servants who wore the owner’s color would come forward to be counted and noted in the records.  Most of the men had one or two prisoners.  Some unlucky individuals had none.  A few had as many as five or six.

When Jool's name was called, he dragged the strange lady forward.

"One," the captain of the guard called.

Then Iram's name was called.  He grasped the lady’s arm and moved her forward a step.  The captain of the guard frowned.

"That one has already been counted," he said.

"She is mine, also," Iram insisted.  He and Jool began to argue.

"Get back in line," the captain yelled.  "I'll count you each with a half."

Once he had dispensed with the two brothers, the captain reached for another collar.

"Jum," he called with amusement.  "Jum, did you find a cradle with something in it perhaps?"

Marsa immediately moved the women and girls forward.

"There are ten of us for Jum," she said loudly.

The captain squinted at the women and girls.  He looked at the collar in his hand, and then looked to make sure that the color of the collars that the women were wearing was the same.  Men around him stopped what they were doing and stared.

"Ten," the captain finally called, "Ten captives for the boy, Jum.”

"Wait, that cannot be right," a man who had come back empty handed protested.

Other men around him murmured in agreement.  They began to crowd around Jum’s motley collection, as the alarmed women shrank together.  Even Auslee looked subdued.

"What's going on here?" a commanding voice growled.

The captain of the guard turned.  Marsa looked up and saw man on a magnificent golden horse who had ridden forward.  He was wearing expensive clothing and his helmet was gilded with bronze.  Several men in his retinue rode with him.

"Your pardon, Prince Narthus," the captain said as he bowed.  "This boy claims that he has captured ten slaves.  That does not seem possible.  Some of the men think it is a trick."

The Prince was as surprised as the rest to hear of Jum’s prizes.  He considered for a moment.

"Are they wearing the boy's collar?" he asked.

"Yes, Your Highness.”

"Then the King's law is the law.  They are his."

The Prince looked at the boy.  He has not yet come of age, the Prince realized.  This was puzzling.

“What is your name, boy?” the Prince asked.

“Jum, Sir,” the boy answered.

“Jum... Jum...” mused the Prince.  “Are you not the son of Abramel?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Ah, yes,” the Prince said, and he laughed. “Your father partook of too much mead the night before we left and injured his foot as he staggered out of my father’s abode.”

There was a roar of laughter from the entourage of the Prince.

“Yes, Sir,” Jum replied glumly.

The Prince looked over the clump of women and small boys.  His eyes narrowed as they lit once on Marsa who hastily lowered her head.

"How come you to capture so many women, boy?" the Prince asked in a stern voice.

Jum looked around helplessly.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he said, his voice squeaking.  "It was an accident.  Honest.”

The Prince smiled wryly as his men chuckled.

"An accident, heh?  Well, good for you.  These servants are yours to keep.  You will need a large house for so many women.  I will give you the chief merchant’s house for your own.  It is at the end of the same street where the palace, such as it is in Arslan, is located.  Go there with your slaves."  He turned his horse and rode away.

Jum was dumbfounded.  He barely comprehended as Marsa swiftly herded his group away from the slave pens and back into the city.  But his mind quickly turned to more mundane matters when the playful puppy became so excited that it peed on his foot.  He hastened after Marsa and his troop when he realized that he was falling behind.

The chief merchant's house turned out to be located on the eastern edge of the city.  It had many rooms and a huge courtyard that was surrounded by a tall mud and straw fence. Even the cooking area was covered, although it had no walls.

The smaller girls were excited, for they had not known the merchant who had lived in this big house before the battle of Middle Isle.  Marsa was more subdued; for she knew that the merchant’s wife had abandoned the home and had fled with her children and servants to Arslan across the river.  Marsa looked sadly around the abandoned dwelling.

"Are we going to live here?" Gea asked, wiggling with glee.  She ran around the mud house peering into every room.  "Can I sleep in this room?" she asked.

"That is for our Master to say," Marsa told the girl.  She looked at Jum.  "Do you wish to assign us our rooms, Master?" she asked.

"Uh, do whatever you think is best," Jum answered. 

He had no idea what to do or how to begin to establish this household.  In the space of a few hours, he had acquired ten servants and a magnificent house.  He was tired, and mostly he wanted to lie down and take a nap.

"Would you allow me to help?" Marsa asked.

"Oh.  Yes.  Yes, that would be good," the grateful boy replied.

Marsa quickly found the main bedroom and showed it to Jum.  It was carpeted and it had a mat filled with some kind of soft feathers.  There were richly dyed covers over it.

"Rest, Master," Marsa said.  "I will arrange the house."

Jum nodded and lay down on the mat.  In minutes, he was asleep.  While he slept, Marsa set the rest of the women to work, cleaning the dusty tiled floors and drawing water from the well which she found inside the walled garden. The old woman found dried meat hanging from a rafter and dried figs and plums were also found.  The wealth of the previous owner was made obvious by the barrels of fanned emmer, einkorn and barley which lay in a large pantry.  Red chickens cackled in the streets by the house so Marsa sent the younger children to find their nests and to gather eggs. When Marsa found some need, she sent the older girls to scavenge from the empty houses on the street.  The girls had to take care, for sometimes they exited the low abodes to find an irritated hill man who had been given the dwelling by the prince.

When Jum woke, the sweet aroma of baking bread was drifting in from the kitchen tandoor.  His stomach informed him that he had not eaten since the morning, so he pulled on his tunic over his head and went to investigate.  When he reached the outdoor kitchen, he found some of his new servants placing platters of food on the rough wooden table.

Then, just as he was about to sit down and eat, there was a noisy commotion on the other side of the wall.  Thuds, banging, grunts, and groans could be heard close by.  Jum and most of his new servants rushed around their new dwelling until they found the exits, and then they poured out into the street where they saw Jool and Iram tussling with the strange woman they had captured earlier.  She had broken the bonds holding her feet, and now she was using them to kick the brothers.