Page 23 of Circle of Days
“What has Dadda done?”
“Plowed up the Break. It was probably all the men, doing what Troon told them to do, whether they liked it or not.”
She was speaking as if this was a big problem. Pia could not see why. Farmers broke up the soil to sow seeds, that was no surprise. She said to her mother: “Why are you cross?”
“Because the Break was grazing land for the herders, and they’re going to be angry with us for changing it to farmland.”
Pia thought for a while. “So it’s like when Stam takes my ball and runs away.”
“Exactly.”
“But I run after him and knock him down and take it back, and he cries.”
“Yes,” said Yana. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
A friend of Yana’s, a broad-shouldered woman called Reen, said: “The men must have worked day and night to dig up the entire Break so quickly. Men are sneaky. You’re never sure what they’re up to.”
Yana said: “My Alno wouldn’t have done anything this foolish unless he had to. I’m just hoping there won’t be trouble with the herders.”
Some of the others made noises of agreement.
Reen looked grim. “I don’t see how it can be avoided,” she said.
Pia saw two figures approaching across the Break. As they came closer she recognized them. One was Troon, the leader of the farmers, called the Big Man, which was funny, because he was quite small—though he made up for it by shouting bossily. The other was his minion, Shen.
Troon was Stam’s father, and Stam ran to him excitedly. Troon patted the boy’s head and nodded to Stam’s mother, Katch. She was a timid person, Pia thought, perhaps because her man was so domineering.
Stam’s mother and Pia’s father were sister and brother, which was why Stam and Pia were cousins. She had recently learned what “cousin” really meant.
Most people were afraid of Troon, but Yana was not. “What on earth have you done?” she said.
The other women came closer to hear the conversation. Yana was sticking her neck out by criticizing Troon. They would not have dared, but they were pleased to see her standing up to him.
Troon looked offended by her tone but he only said: “I’ve created more farmland. We need it.” He looked around the listening circle. “You women keep having babies. Every year there are more mouths to feed.”
Yana was not satisfied with that answer. “This land was grazing for the herders. And it’s their way through the woods to the river. They’ll be outraged.”
“I can’t help that. We need it.”
“You’ve done something reckless. The herders may not take this lying down.”
Pia could see that the women were awestruck by Yana’s persistence.
“Leave this to me,” Troon said, and he looked defensive, as if Yana was the leader and he was being reprimanded. “Don’t you worry.”
“I’ll worry, and you’ll worry too if this starts a war. For every farmer there must be ten herders, at least. We would be wiped out.”
“They’ll never attack us. Herders are ruled by their women. They’re cowards.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Yana.
Ani had been wondering what the farmer men had been up to while absent from the Midsummer Rite, and now she knew.
Urgent messages were often carried by quickrunners, young men and women who could travel the length of the plain in less than half a day. Two days after the Midsummer Rite a quickrunner from the herders in the west arrived in Riverbend with a message for the elders. The farmers had taken over a large area of grazing land and broken up the soil ready for seeding.
The farmers were aggressive. Ani thought it was because their way of life was insecure: they could be wiped out by a single year of bad weather, whereas the herds could survive two or more summers of drought. And young farmer women bore a fat baby every midsummer or two, perhaps because they lived on grain and cheese. Herder women, fed on meat and wild vegetables, were leaner, and that might be why they gave birth less often, about once every four midsummers.
The elders gathered in Riverbend, by the circles of tree trunks,to discuss the news. But they realized quickly that they needed to see for themselves what the farmers had done before they could make any decisions. So they agreed that a delegation would walk to the Break the following day. Keff, Ani, and Scagga, the three most active elders, were chosen to go.
