Page 12 of Circle of Days
“Oh, yes you are.”
“Send Olf. He hasn’t got a girl here, or anywhere. And he would be better than me at throwing Wun’s team out of our pit.”
“I’m sending you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m head of this family, and I make the decisions.”
“And you refuse to reconsider, even when your decision is stupid.”
His father punched him in the face.
Cog’s fists were hard and his punches hurt. Seft staggered back, hand to his face. The blow had struck to the side of his left eye. His vision was blurred.
Olf and Cam cheered and applauded.
Seft was shocked. Although this had happened before, it always surprised him that his own father would be so cruel.
His father drew back his fist again, but this time Seft was ready and he dodged the blow. He felt encouraged: his father was not omnipotent. Seft quickly hit back, wildly, and managed to punch Cog’s nose.
It was the first time he had ever struck his father.
Cog’s nose spurted blood. He roared indignantly: “How dare you strike me, boy?” and came at him. This time Seft failed to dodge the punch, which hit the side of his head and knocked him to the ground.
He was dazed for a moment. When he came round, he saw that he was lying next to a small pile of flints. He was vaguely aware of a small crowd watching the fight.
He got up and snatched up a stone with which to defend himself.
Cog said: “Hit me with a stone, would you, you disobedient dog?” He came at Seft again.
Seft raised his right hand with the flint in it. But the blow was arrested before it made contact. Seft’s wrist was seized from behind in a powerful grip, and he dropped the stone. His wrist was released and his two arms were grabbed, pinning him in place. He realized that Olf had grabbed him. He struggled but could not move: Olf was too big and too strong.
As he wriggled helplessly, Cog punched him again, hard, first on his face, then in his belly, then on his face again. He screamed and begged his father to stop. Cog’s face came close, with a twistedsmile that betrayed pleasure in savagery. Cog said: “Will you go back to the pit?”
“Yes, yes, anything!”
Olf released him and he collapsed on the ground.
He heard Ev, the ropemaker, say to his father: “You’ll get yourself in trouble.”
Cog was still angry. “Me? In trouble?” he said aggressively. “Who with? You?”
Ev was not intimidated. “With people a lot more important than me.”
Cog gave a contemptuous snort.
Seft was hurting all over and crying. He managed to get to his hands and knees. He crawled away. People stared, which made him feel worse.
He tried to stand. A stranger helped him and he managed to stay upright.
Then he stumbled away.
After the ceremony, and before the evening feast, the main occupation of the day was trading livestock. Herders knew the dangers of inbreeding, and were always keen to introduce fresh blood. They acquired new livestock at every Rite, especially bulls, rams, and male pigs, generally exchanging them for their existing stock one for one. Herders from far away would go home with males from the Great Plain to improve their own stock.
Ani walked around with two other elders, Keff and Scagga, watching for signs of discord. Bargaining was normally good-natured, but it could turn nasty, and the elders had the job of keeping the peace.
Elders were loosely defined, and people joined and left the group without ceremony. Keff was recognized as leader and called Keeper of the Flints, because he was in charge of the herder folk’s reserve of wealth, a stash of part-finished flints in a guarded building in the center of Riverbend. Scagga belonged because he was the head of a large family and had a forceful personality—sometimes too forceful, for Ani’s taste. Ani herself was generallyregarded as wise, though she would have described herself as sensible. She had siblings and cousins, all younger, kinfolk who might serve as elders when she died.
