"Aakva speaks to me now," said the servant. "It speaks of lush mountains to the east, where fat darghat and suda kneel to drink at the cool waters; where the trees are heavy with sweet fruits; the fields crowded with kadda melon and the white grain.
"Every evening Aakva’s fiery fingers point beyond the Akkujah Mountains as a sign. They show me the Diruvedah and the Kuvedah, their bellies bloated with food, their grasslands crowded with game that leaps upon their spears; their children tall and laughing.
"Every morning Aakva points west of the mountains, to this land of famine, and the God of the Day Light says to me, `Uhe, this is my sign that the Mavedah must leave this place. The masters of the Mavedah must go to their clans, tell them of Aakva’s new Law of War, and have them gather at the foot of the Akkujah Mountains where the cliffs of Akkujah fall to the Yellow Sea. From there the God of the Day Light will lead the Mavedah across the mountains, through the land of the Irrvedah, to the Dirudah. And the Mavedah will defeat the Diruvedah and will drive all those who will not submit from the Great Cut and the southern Akkujah into the northern mountains."
Uhe paused, its arms outstretched. Its voice became low and grave as it continued. "The tribes beyond the Akkujah will try to join against us, but too fast will we attack. With the blood command of Aakva at our backs, we will strike through the mountains and across the plains, brushing them all aside. And then we will flood the lands with our victories!
"The Mavedah will rule all!"
Uhe lowered its arms, then stooped and retrieved its coverings. With its skins replaced, Uhe faced Iyjiia "And that is what the God of the Day Light says to me."
Bantumeh studied Uhe. "Wars? Are we to believe that the God of the Day Light inflicts this ancient punishment upon us? What have we done?"
Uhe bowed. "Bantumeh, you are kind and wise. But you are too kind to meet this need of the Mavedah. It matters not what we have done. Following the old law will see the end of the Mavedah. Aakva’s new Law of War will see us, our children, and the Mavedah live."
Uhe looked around at the faces of the hunters crowded about the masters' fire and said, "I see there to be things worse than war. I see our once-proud hunters whimpering and grubbing in the dirt; I see the Mavedah eating now things too low to rank with waste; I see the Mavedah eating now things too precious and sacred to be food. And I see from this the end of the Mavedah."
Uhe faced the ruler of the Mavedah. "Bantumeh, there are things worse than war."
Iyjiia stood and waved its hands back and forth. "You cannot know this, Uhe. The oldest of us has never seen war. And this is only because we all obey Aakva’s laws."
Uhe faced Iyjiia "A tribe does not fight itself, Iyjiia Mavedah does not fight Mavedah. I see a new tribe coming to Sindie. It will be made of every tribe, all of whom are Sindie. Tribe and world will be one. Once there is nothing but Sindie on this world, there can be no war. Thus we will have both peace and plenty. Iyjiia, do you dispute my vision?"
The hunters crowded more closely around the ring of masters, every gaze fixed on the chief of Aakva’s servants. The tips of the hunters' spears glinted in the firelight. The night was still, save for the relentless press of the death drums.
A chief servant of Aakva had a privileged position. Food for its belly, skins for its back, a privileged place in the master’s ring, and shelter of stretched skins to protect against sun and cold. All this was provided by the tribe in exchange for the servant’s studies and visions. To dispute Uhe’s vision would mean ordeal by stoning or fire. And there was always the possibility that Uhe spoke truly. Iyjiia liked its position. Iyjiia was old. "I do not dispute your vision, Uhe."
The roar of approval from the gathered hunters was cut short as Bantumeh stood and shouted, "I dispute your vision, Uhe!"
Bantumeh turned toward Iyjiia "May Aakva clean its waste with your cowardly tongue!" The ruler of the Mavedah faced Uhe. "I would see which of us Aakva favors with the stones!"
The challenge to ordeal was ended by the hiss of a hunter’s spear. The pointed shaft entered Bantumeh’s chest, and Bantumeh looked at it as though surprised. Up at the hunters went Bantumeh’s gaze. "One has chosen for all," it said, then Bantumeh fell and was still.
Those who surrounded Bantumeh’s still body felt the breath of Aakva’s tabu against murder upon their necks. But no one looked to see who was missing its spear. And no one pulled the spear from Bantumeh’s body to see whose mark the spear carried.
As the food preparers closed on Bantumeh’s body, Uhe pulled the spear from it and held the shaft over its head as it faced around the circle. "See you all that Aakva has spoken." And then Uhe threw the spear into the fire. If there was indeed a mortal’s sign upon the spear’s shaft, it went black before their eyes. And it was said that the shaft carried Aakva’s own sign.
One hunter began the cheer, and then all the hunters cheered until their sound pushed the death drums from the night sky. All swore their obedience to Uhe and Aakva’s new Law of War. The masters left the fire to convey Aakva’s new law to their clans, and the hunters left to begin their preparations for the fighting to come.
As the beat of the death drums again filled the night air, the food preparers brought Bantumeh’s stripped and split bones and placed them in the flames of the masters' fire. Uhe was left alone at the fire, save for a hunter named Conseh who squatted next to the flames. Conseh’s hands were clasped because it carried no spear. The hunter’s face betrayed no feelings.
"Uhe, I have a question."
"Ask, Conseh."
"When Aakva talks to you, Uhe, do you hear it through your head, your womb, or your belly?"
Uhe studied the hunter. It seemed to the servant that Aakva’s tabus had taken ghostly forms and were dancing above the hunter’s head.
"Conseh, you are impertinent."
The hunter stood and the images vanished. "My peace demands an answer, Uhe. Aakva’s new law speaks to most of us through the womb and belly."
"Do you dispute the new law, Conseh?"
The hunter waved its hands at the servant of Aakva. "I would not dispute you, for the God of the Day Light’s new law speaks to us all, and with a voice that cannot be stilled." Conseh looked at the masters' fire where the spear was all but consumed among Bantumeh’s blackening bones. "But it is a law that any one of us could have made."
The servant of Aakva looked toward the fire. The shape of the murderer’s spear was indistinguishable from the fire’s sticks. "I have no answer for you, Conseh."
Conseh looked toward the backs of its fellow hunters as they moved into the night to prepare for war. "It is my wonder what the hunters will do, Uhe, once Aakva stops speaking to their wombs and bellies and begins again to speak to their heads."
The hunter left the fire. And to Uhe the hunter left both a question and a truth.
The call of the Law of War went over the Madah. On the beginning of the first day, Uhe greeted the first light prone over the ashes of the masters' fire. Iyjiia came upon Uhe and heard the new ruler of the masters of the Mavedah begging the bones of Bantumeh for forgiveness. The chief of Aakva’s servants said to Uhe:
"Why do you ask this of Bantumeh? We all saw the spear that killed Bantumeh, and that your hand was not on it."
Uhe pushed itself up slowly from the ashes. When it was to its knees, it faced the first glow of the God of the Day Light coming from behind the back of the distant Akkujah.
"Iyjiia, why are you not bringing the Law of War to your people?"
"I have already done so. My people now move to the southern Akkujah. I have returned as is my place as one of your masters. Why do you ask Bantumeh’s forgiveness?"