The Amtrack Wars - Earth Thunder Part 85

Karlstrom had provided her with a set of body dyes and a spare pair of hands to transform herself back into a painted Mute before leaving the Federation,-but this had merely compounded the danger because her skin markings now matched those she had carried on her first visit to Ne-Issan. It was only after Clearwater had voiced her concern that Cadillac made all the connections and realised he had seen officials in the palace who had been part of the original reception committee which had grilled them before pa.s.sing them on to Lord Min-Orota.

Officials who had seen Clearwater painted up just as she was now ....

The flight from Wyoming to the domain of the Yamas.h.i.ta had taken place over two years ago, but in view of what had happened afterwards, this particular set of Iron Masters were unlikely to forget. If just one of them made the connection, or Lord Min-Orota decided to drop in to offer his congratulations, it could make life extremely complicated.

But not dangerous. Despite the nail-biting uncertainty attached to summoning, the combined power of Roz and Clearwater over mind and matter made them virtually invulnerable to any form of violence.

Cadillac's optimistic a.s.sessment of their situation was shortlived.

Clearwater made it quite plain that he need not expect any awe-inspiring displays of earth-magic from her while she was carrying a babe-in-arms or from Roz- who chose that moment to tell Cadillac he was going to be a father.

It was up to him to protect his brood, and the best way to do that was to take them home. Now.

Unbeknown to Cadillac, their princ.i.p.al host, Aishi Saki-moto, Acting Regent of the Yama-s.h.i.ta, was working on the same problem. He and the other leading members of the family had wanted the Shogun and the Lord Chamberlain removed, but their pleasure was marred by a lingering dissatisfaction which stemmed from the fact that the murders had been engineered by gra.s.s-monkeys - albeit with their full support and the direct involvement of Lord Min-Orota.

Even though it was Yoritomo who had killed Ieyasu, and Lady Mishiko who had poisoned her brother, the knowledge that it was Cadillac who had removed the Shogun's head left several members of the family council feeling that the honour of the n.o.bility had been besmirched.

Witchcraft might have achieved what a brave and selfless band of samurai could not, but in their eyes, it was an unwholesome and unacceptable way of achieving power which demeaned the warrior ethic and should not be pursued further.

Sakimoto himself was privately unrepentant. The deed had been done and not one of the 'purists' now expressing reservations had raised this issue before the Mute witches had been despatched. What they wanted was to have their cake and eat it, but Sakimoto - who did not enjoy the same autocratic power as his predecessor - could not afford to alienate them by pointing this out.

To maintain the unity needed to win the war against the Toh-Yota, he agreed to dispense with the services of Cadillac and Rain-Dancer forthwith, and reduce the lavish reward they had been promised to a minimum.

All of which was easier said than done. The friendly demonstration of the gra.s.s-monkeys' magic had been alarming enough. What h.e.l.lish creations might they unleash if they became angry?

With Clearwater and Roz demanding action, Cadillac knew he had to move fast, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to cut through the swathe of officials and gain an audience with Sakimoto. The Regent, who blamed the current civil unrest for his unavailability, was always courteous and deeply apologetic for the brevity of their meetings, but kept evading the question of the promised reward each time it was raised. Cadillac realised he was being given the runaround but he was determined not to leave empty-handed.

Removing the Shogun and Ieyasu had not been the only reason for coming to Ne-Issan, but it was the stunning success of that venture which now hindered his hopes of concluding an agreement on trade and cooperation between the Yama-s.h.i.ta and the She-Kargo.

Aishi Sakimoto repeatedly a.s.sured him of the family's desire to maintain trade-links with the Plainfolk, but explained that the bulk of their energies and resources were now being poured into the armed conflict with the Toh-Yota and the handful of domain-lords who had rallied to their defence.

The giant wheel-boats used on the Great Lakes trading expeditions were needed to ferry troops and to act as mobile gun-platforms in the river war now being fought along the navigable length of the Hudson, and around the island garrisons - such as Manatana, Sta-tana and Govo-nasa that controlled access to the sea, to Aron-Giren and the coastal domains further south.

Sakimoto also pointed out - with a remarkable lack of rancour - that the present shortage of suitable vessels had been aggravated by the loss of five large wheel-boats at the hands of the She-Kargo. He accepted Cadillac's a.s.surance that he and his two female companions had taken no part in that particular battle, but - as his honoured guest 'must surely understand - there could be no further trading expeditions until those vessels had been replaced and the present conflict had been resolved.

In other words, 'don't call us, we'll call you'! Cadillac knew the Regent was bluffing. The Yama-s.h.i.ta were pretending they didn't need the business in the hope of wringing concessions from the Plainfolk.

The family needed to trade; opening up the Great Lakes route to the Western Lands had boosted their wealth and power.

But they could afford to wait - and get even at the same time. Having squeezed the Mutes dry for years, they had a layer of fat to live off until their raggedy-a.s.sed clients became so desperate, they'd cut each other's throats in order to be first in line to do a deal.

Just like it was before ....

It didn't seem a good time to tell Sakimoto that the new Plainfolk Council had decided to shift the trading post inland to Sioux Falls, or that from now on barter rates on all goods would be fixed collectively by the Plainfolk and - best of all - none of the clans in the She-Kargo faction would be sending any more journey-men down the river to fill the slave compounds and the dreaded Fire Pits of Beth-Lem ....

It was a frustrating time, but Cadillac refused to give up, and finally managed to pin Sakimoto down on the question of the reward and the provision of a suitable conveyance to take them to Du-Aruta. Sakimoto promised to do his utmost to find a seaworthy vessel- not easy in these troubled times. As for the reward, Cadillac should submit a list of goods which, in his estimation, would be fair recompense for his praiseworthy efforts.

The list, added Sakimoto, should not be too large, since it would only be a small boat.

Okay, thought Cadillac. If it's a list you want, that's what you're going to get ....

The next time he appeared before Aishi Sakimoto, Clearwater was at his side. They both knelt on the appointed spot, touched their foreheads to the floor then, as they sat back, Clearwater rekindled the blue-ice fire in her eyes and speared the mind of the unsuspecting Regent just as she had caught and controlled Nakane Tgh-Shiba, the Consul-General of Masa-chusa and Rodiren.

Sakimoto found himself seized with an overwhelming desire to grant these gra.s.s-monkeys whatever they wished. He tried to fight it off, and was struck with a blinding headache. Yes, yes, of course! What was he thinking of? He wanted to help them. It made him feel so much better! Two scribes? He sent one of his secretaries to fetch them.

The leading members of the family? An aide was despatched to summon all those within the precincts of the palace to the council chamber.

As they arrived, Clearwater transfixed each of them in turn with the same electrifying stare, leaving them with but one thought burning in their brain - to show their grat.i.tude for what their honoured guests had achieved by an unmatched display of generosity.

Cadillac dictated the list of items they required, the scribes wrote them down one by one, the Yamas.h.i.ta family council nodded approvingly then added their signatures and seals to both copies ....

At the beginning of March, 2992, when the heavy rains unleashed by the eruption of Mount St Helens had given way to wind-driven snow, a hunting posse of San'Paul Mutes from the Clan Shawnessee were alarmed to see a ghostly white wheel-boat moving across the Great River towards the site of the vanished trading post.

Those blessed with a vivid imagination took it to be a phantom vessel returning to collect the wandering souls of the dead-faces who had perished so far from home, but the boat was as real as the dark plume of smoke that gushed from its funnel then was torn to shreds by the keening wind. Its ghostly appearance was due to the fact that its decks and galleried superstructure were encrusted with snow and ice collected on the long journey from Bu-faro on Lake In.

Inside the boat, the huge cargo decks were packed from stem to stern with goods, animals and people.

The loading manifest, which ran to several pages, was akin to the one compiled by Noah for the ark. Ten stallions, fifty mares, twenty-five breeding pairs of oxen, a similar number of ox-carts, wheels and suba.s.semblies to make a hundred handcarts, pigs, ducks, chickens, a small mountain of farm implements and tools ranging from adzes, anvils, augers, axes, brad awls, chisels, drills and hammers to lathes, mallets, picks, pincers, rakes, saws, spades, shovels and vices; various seed grains and vegetable plants, boxes of dried fish, sacks of rice; cooking pots, pans, nails, knives, needles, thread, buckles, bolts of woven cloth, straw matting, six hand looms, spindles, woollen yarn, dyes, rope, pulleys, chains, candles, tinderboxes, lengths of metal rod, angle iron and flat strip, finished timber; five hundred crossbows, several boxqoads of metal parts for a.s.sembling two thousand more on wooden stocks made by the Mutes themselves, five thousand cross-bow bolts, boxes of arrow and spear heads, et cetera, et cetera, and - the biggest prize of all - seven hundred and sixty-eight Mutes from She-Kargo, M'Waukee and San'Paul clans who had journeyed eastwards and had ended up as slaves in the Yama-s.h.i.ta domain.

Their release had been Cadillac's proudest achievement.

The wheel-boat sent up the usual salvoes of green rockets to indicate its peaceable intentions, but the beach was deserted as the flat nose ran aground on the sloping shingle. From the wheel house perched on the roof of the top deck, there was no sign of last year's battle. The piles of bodies had been burned or picked clean by the death-birds; the wreckage of the five wheel-boats had been stripped by hordes of human scavengers and the remaining structures dismantled. Every plank, beam, pillar and bolt had been prised loose and carried away along with the cannon and roundshot by teams of sweating Mutes who recognised them as weapons of war, but did not know how to make them spit sky-fire and earth-thunder.

Cadillac had acquired that knowledge. He knew that the three ingredients of black powder could be found in Plainfolk territory, and that it was possible to grind and mix them by hand. The problem lay in the extraction process; obtaining worthwhile quant.i.ties required a degree of cooperation and organisation that was beyond the present capabilities of the Plainfolk.

They regarded themselves as warriors and hunters, not workers. If his own plans were to bear fruit, and Talisman was to forge them into a nation, the old ways would have to go, their entire lifestyle would have to change.

Dramatically ....

When the newly-liberated Mutes had unloaded the collection of goods and animals, the wheel-boat captain bade Cadillac a polite farewell and headed for home.

None of his fellow officers had returned from the last expedition, but he had heard the stories gathered by the out-stations from the stricken D'Troit and C'Natti clans. He and his crew had no wish to remain a minute longer than necessary on a lake which could throw up a murderous wall of water to the height of the surrounding hills.

Cadillac, Clearwater and Roz - all warmly wrapped against the cold watched the wheel-boat gather speed as it pulled away from the sh.o.r.e.

Around them, the liberated Mutes whooped and yelled, hugged one another and danced for joy.

Roz and Clearwater - who was carrying Sand-Wolf against her chest turned to Cadillac and gave him two fat kisses, one on each cheek.

'You're a genius,' said Roz lightly. 'But shouldn't there be someone here to meet us?"

'It's all under control,' said Cadillac. He interrupted the celebrations of the nearest group of Mutes and asked them to pa.s.s the word. Buffalo-Soldier was wanted.

Now.

'The warrior from the Clan Shawnessee?" asked Roz.

'That's right. Their turf is just south of here. We can stay there till the snow melts."