Unfortunately there wasn't much the Forest People could do. The Sons of Hapanu had powerful crossbows, which could kill at a much greater range than the bows of the Forest People. They carried short thrusting swords, which could penetrate the hide shields and were much handier than the spears and clubs. They wore iron helmets and shirts of iron scales sewn onto leather. Finally, they fought in disciplined ranks, while the Forest People fought every warrior for himself. So even when the Forest People had the edge in numbers, the Sons of Hapanu usually won.
In spite of this, their raids had been more of a nuisance than a menace until the last few years. The Forest was large, and although the soldiers from Gerhaa fought well there weren't too many of them. No tribe had lost more than a few dozen people in a year.
Now things were changing rapidly for the worse. A new ruler in Gerhaa was sending out more and larger bands of soldiers, and bringing still more across the ocean. The raids came more often, and last year the Kabi had lost a whole village. Did the new ruler of Gerhaa want to conquer the whole Forest and kill or enslave all the People? No one knew.
No one knew how to keep him from doing it, either, if that was his plan. This wasn't because everyone was paralyzed with fear. It was obvious to Blade that everyone desperately wanted to fight off the Sons of Hapanu. It was just as obvious that no one knew how. Weapons or tactics to meet the soldiers of Gerhaa simply weren't on hand. Blade decided the best thing he could do was come up with some, and keep his mouth shut in the meantime.
To make matters worse, the Forest People had to do serious fighting against another opponent beside the Sons of Hapanu. They had to fight the Treemen, and Blade soon learned all he needed to know about this enemy.
Blade spent several days in the Swebon's house, then suggested that it was time for him to move to a place of his own. He did not mention that one reason for this was Guno's increasingly open suspicion of him and what his coming might mean to Four Springs Village. In theory, Blade would be safe as Swebon's guest, but in practice any incident while Blade was under his protection would be an embarrassment to the chief. That would be making a poor return for Swebon's trust and hospitality, and matters might go beyond that. Guno was a mighty warrior, with more victories to his credit than any other two men of the village. He had friends who might not be ready to make trouble for Swebon, but would certainly not hold back from making trouble for Blade.
Fortunately Blade had no trouble finding his own quarters. Everyone was glad to oblige a man who'd slain a rogue Horned One single-handed, and as it happened the carpenters had just finished a new houseboat for the eldest of the village blacksmiths. Unfortunately the blacksmith died the day before the houseboat was finished, so the carpenters were happy to offer it to Blade.
Blade moored his new home at the far north end of the village, and put on longer ropes to allow it to float well clear of the bank. He also made a rough «burglar alarm» in the form of a long stick with sharp nails sticking up through it. By day he kept it covered with a thick grass mat, but at night he removed the mat. Anyone jumping from the bank to the bow of the houseboat would land on the nails, and after that his yells would be enough to bring Blade out armed and ready.
«You are farther from the light of the village than I am happy to see,» said Swebon. «I would not see you taken by a Horned One.»
«It will take a strange Horned One to attack me so fast that I do not wake and leap to shore,» said Blade. «In any case I do not fear Horned Ones as much as I do men-or at least one man.» He didn't want to say any more, but judging from Swebon's expression he didn't need to.
Blade took his spear and club, pots and bowls, sleeping mat and water jug to the houseboat on his fifth day in Four Springs village. He passed a quiet night and spent the next day talking with the village bowmaker. The man had many complaints about the poor quality of the wood the carpenters were bringing him.
«Oh, if there was wood in the Forest to make a bow strong enough to send an arrow through a Treeman or the metal shirt of a Son-! But the carpenters say there is none, and perhaps they know. If there was such a wood in the Forest, they would have found it long ago.»
«Very likely,» said Blade politely. He'd been thinking about the bow problem ever since he heard of it. He didn't want to raise anybody's hopes, though, until he knew a good deal more. So he and the bowmaker talked of other things over a leisurely dinner, then Blade returned to his houseboat for the night.
He'd just fallen soundly asleep when an explosion of shouting and screaming jerked him awake. He grabbed his club with one hand and his spear with the other, then whirled toward the bow. Any attack would be coming from there. After a moment he realized that whatever was going on wasn't aimed at him, at least not yet. Keeping down, he crept forward and peered through the screen of leaves.
In the pale light of the campfires, people were running around as if flames were licking at their heels, shouting and crying out to one another. Mothers were clutching children, while stark-naked warriors with clubs, spears, and shields were herding clusters of weeping women ahead of them. For a moment Blade thought the village was being raided by another tribe. Then he heard shouts of «The Treemen! The Treemen! Gather by the river! The Treemen are upon us!»
Blade knew that the Treemen were seven-foot apemen like the one he'd found dead at the little camp on his first day in this Dimension. He didn't know much else about them, except that they were deadly enemies of the Forest People. He did know that he was going to need his weapons before long. He bent down and began pulling on the ropes to the bank. Slowly the houseboat crept toward the land.
Blade was no more than ten feet from the bank when a moving shadow in the branches of a tree caught his eye. The shadow froze as if it sensed Blade's eyes on it, then started moving again as three women and two gray-haired men came toward the base of the tree. Blade opened his mouth to shout a warning and raised his spear to throw, but the Treeman was quicker than Blade.
Like a pouncing lion he leaped down from the tree into the middle of the five people below. A sweep of one long arm knocked a woman and a man flat, while the other arm clutched another woman around the waist. She screamed, clawed, and bit. The Treeman tightened his grip, ignoring the woman's struggles until her teeth finally worked through the hair into his skin. Then he let out a roar more like an animal than a man and smashed his other fist into the woman's head. She went limp, either stunned or frightened into paralysis. The Treeman reached for a branch overhead with his free hand.
As he started hauling himself and his victim up into the trees, an arrow whistled from behind a hut. The Treeman roared again as the arrow hit him in the left shoulder, but didn't stop or drop the woman. With the arrow still in his flesh he hauled himself up into the branches and disappeared into the darkness.
Blade rose to his feet and leaped to the bank. As he landed, the fallen man and woman started struggling to their feet and the archer from the hut darted out into the open. Blade reached for the woman, then the roars of more Treemen made him turn.
This time there were three of them. Blade hurled his spear with all the strength of his right arm. It drove into a Treeman's thigh so deeply that the bloody point came out through his buttock. He took a couple of staggering steps forward, then dropped to his hands and knees and started crawling. Blood poured out around the spear and he roared with pain at every movement, but he kept on coming.