Episode 10 : The Semites Gather - Part 5

 Gradually, Rakugan was beginning to be enveloped in a flurry of activity.

 The warriors of Guro, Lhasa, and Tubai, for the time being, gathered in their respective clans just outside the Rak Valley, and waited patiently for the order to move out.

 The women were busy with their work. They prepared rushed hospitality for the warriors of the allied clans who came all night long, and brought out all the food they had, and cooked and served.

 But it was also the work of the women to squeeze and gather the flowers, to boil the poisonous liquid in the jars over the fire, to boil the stone-made arrowheads in it, to arrange them, to dodge them, and to make the poisoned arrows, the greatest weapon of Shem, and to make sure that the vines of the bows were not broken or loose, and to tighten them again, It was also their job to make sure that the arrows were not broken or loosened and to tighten them. They also had to hurry up to give the warriors sachets of squeezed herbs to ward off the poisonous insects and sandhills that were so numerous in Nosferus.

 And the warriors had to prepare their stomachs, and sharpen the blades of stone machetes, and boil red moss in unglazed jars, and make a reddish-brown dye, and smear it on their faces to make the faces of the fearful warriors. They had plenty of work to do.

 In the meantime, the chiefs, grand chiefs, and other leaders were holed up in the "Chief's House" in Raku, busy with more specific discussions.

 It was a scene not unlike the peaceful village of Rak, where Linda and Remus had been welcomed by Suni.

"We'll help you with something.

 But Suni and the women of Rak pushed her back, and she and Remus joined hands and sat quietly in a corner of the square, so as not to be disturbed, and watched the village of Shem hurrying to prepare for war. He sat quietly in a corner of the square, out of the way, and watched the village of Shem, which was in a hurry to prepare for war.

 It is already dawn, and a lovely hot day in Nosferus has begun.

 Warriors in full war dress, their faces smeared with dyes of different colors depending on their tribes, rush about the square with stone axes at their waists, and women carrying jars and bundles of arrows run out in rapid succession.

 The smell of boiling food and burning wood filled the air, as Semitic words were constantly exchanged loudly between the two sides of the square.

 Guin, holed up in the chief's house, seemed to be busy discussing and giving orders, and was rarely seen.

 At first Istvan the Valakian sat down side by side with Linda and the others, and talked in vain about such and such things, and tried to make fun of the women of Shem. He went into the chief's house and never came out.

 The hurry and the urgency of the moment dominated the wide valley of Rak, and made the steps of Shem naturally hurried. A band of Shem warriors, with leather banners at the tops of their spears, rushed into the chieftain's house, and, on receiving orders, rushed out again.

"Hey--Linda."

 Remus, his round eyes wide, whispered to his sister, stirred to boyish exultation by this scene.

"I never thought this would happen - didn't you ...?"

"Really."

 Linda, too, was caught up in the atmosphere and replied with a faint heart.

"Really, in the Crystal Palace in Paro, in the remote Rude Forest, in the prison of Staphorus Castle - no, even last night, when I was cowering in the floor of Shem, waiting anxiously for Guin and the others to return, I had no idea that this would happen! I never thought it would happen at all!"

"Hey--Linda."

"Hey, Remus."

"I wonder what's going to happen now!"

"I don't know. It's what happens."

 Linda said irritably, but then changed her mind and added.

"But at least we're not just two miserable children who lost our country and are now being hunted by enemy soldiers. Remus! I want to join the tribe of Suni and fight Mongol!"

"But can we win?"

 Remus said suspiciously, looking at Shem and the others in front of him. Linda was annoyed.

"Oh, Remus! It's obvious. We have Guin."

"But the enemies are much more numerous, and there's also a horse--"

"If you ever say 'but' to me again, I'll rip your tongue out."

 My sister was angry and shouted bravely.

"We're gonna win. We're gonna win!"

"Do you have a hunch about that?"

 Linda looked at him with suspicion, wondering if her weak-minded brother was being sarcastic and making fun of her.

 Linda did not realize it, but this prudence, this thoroughgoing realism and positivism, this unconscious skepticism, was the keynote of the character of her twin brother, who had exactly the same face as hers.

 It was as if God wanted to see how far he could give two people born on the same day and with the same face different characters. She couldn't understand them, she felt bitter for Remus, and she always secretly thought that it was her responsibility as an older sister to raise her cowardly brother to be a hero.

 But Linda has not yet learned the secret that courage is sometimes one with folly, and that skepticism and cynicism are sometimes the best qualities of a king. Not only that, but she is allowed to be so rich in qualities, so close to the realm of the mysteries and the gods, that she is unable to understand the essential understanding and forgiveness that Remus has for humanity.

"It's not like I had a premonition.

 Linda's expression softened slightly as she looked at Remus and determined that her brother was not being sarcastic.

"Because we have to win, we have to win. There's no going back. If Shem is wiped out, our final resting place will be in the desert of Nosferus, too far from Paro. They will seize us and drag us behind horses, and take us to Torus and torture us to death. Their heads will be cut off and they'll be exposed on the gateposts of the market in Torus. I'm not afraid of death, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen. We survived the fall of Paro and the fall of Staphorus somehow. Surely we are destined for the rebirth of Paro.

 Besides--"

 Linda grabbed her brother by the shoulders and pulled him close, her voice hushed.

"Hey, Remus, don't you feel like it? Guin says that ... everything will be better with Guin around! When I'm with Guin, I don't feel afraid of anything, and I don't think that our destiny will end with Nosferus. I know that Guin is a special person!

"I don't have any premonitions."

 Remus said sadly. But Linda was unconcerned.

"I'm Linda the seer. Oh, yes, I am-- I can feel it. Guin's not a normal person. No, not because of the Leopard head or the awesome warrior. What makes Guin special-- what makes me think he's different-- well, ... yes, Guin has a destiny. Guin has a destiny that follows her."

"Fate?"

"Yes . Guin himself, of course, has his own destiny, like everyone else, but there is something more, something about him that first of all, wherever he goes, always brings about a violent change in people's destiny, something that makes him nothing but destiny itself to them. There's something about him.

 And that's what makes him so special, what separates him from everyone else! Don't you feel that, Remus? As long as Guin is with us, we have nothing to fear... and as long as that's the case, the army of Mongol and the wilderness of Shem are just steps on the road to some greater destiny. Oh, my God!"

 Linda's voice was filled with unmistakable enthusiasm and a fierce, unyielding trust. Remus looked at Linda with a glare.

"Oh--if only I could believe like that,..., if only I could feel such a premonition!"

 In his voice, there was even a crack of deep, wounded envy.

 That's when Linda poked her brother in the side.

"Look. Guin's coming out."

"I guess the talks are over. Let's go, let's go."

"I'm sure you are."

 Linda said hopefully.

 Guin, surrounded by the heads of the tribes of Shem, appeared at the door of the chief's house like a great leader. Linda watched with fascination as he gave orders to the Semites with a natural ease and conviction, as if he had already been leading them all his life, and each order was immediately carried out with the worship and loyalty of the Semites.

"Hey, look, Remus-- he's like a born emperor, for all intents and purposes. He's a king, a commander-- and a hero!"

 He whispered, completely fascinated. Remus, for his part, was attracted by Shem's party, which had just come down the valley to the center of the village to report in place of the new party.

"What is the matter with them? They are rushing about as if they were messengers."

 He murmurs curiously. But it never occurred to me,

"They're scouts returning from a raid."

 When I heard Guin's answer, I was completely frightened.

"Well, Guin--are we done with the war council?"

 Linda asked as she stood up to jump. Guin nodded gravely.

"Have you had enough rest?"

 He said, looking half-heartedly toward the entrance to the valley, and placed his large hands on the heads of the twins.

"Yes, enough."

"Hey, Guin, when does the war start?"

"It's almost time. Just when I decided to start."

 Guin said.

"Behold. One by one, the warriors of Raak are leaving the valley."

 He was right. From the central square of the village of Rak, where so many people were huddled together, the sight of Shem - especially the warriors in their war dress - rapidly disappeared, and they were gathering in ranks towards the entrance of the valley.

"Hey-- can we win?"

"I've been thinking about it all day."

 said the leopard-headed warrior, not answering Remus.

"What shall we do with you? The old men, the pregnant women and the babies from Lhak, Tubai and Rasa will soon cross the mountains to the east and hide at Dogu Hetu. Soon the rest of the people will join them. I've already ordered them to head this way. This is an all-out war... you can stay in the mountains... but if you do that... there's nothing you can do.

 But I can't spare the men for you now, nor can I form a line to send you back to Argos. Even so, we have few men here.

"Well, why don't you just tell us to fight?"

 Linda exclaimed indignantly.

"We've decided we'll never be Guin again. What awaits us is torture. Give us weapons. We'll fight beside Guin."

 To that, Guin just shook his head.

"In this way, I think I can understand why Mongol was so obsessed with Paro's orphaned child."

 Mumbling to himself.

"If I could only find out the secret of the mechanism that moved you from the Crystal City to the Ludo in an instant... not only would I be able to send you to safety in no time, but if I could do it on a larger scale. I could send my troops anywhere I wanted and pull off any surprise attack I wanted. You have no idea how terrible you are, how precious you are, how you can't even give up as much gold as you weigh."

"But it's not like we knew how it worked before we used it."

 Linda said it like it was an excuse.

"We, too, were just sent into it - well, assuming we get the crystal back and the sealed palace of the Crystal Palace is ours again, that is. There are only a few things we know about it. For example..."

 In her eagerness to help Guin in any way she could, Linda tried to say something in a low voice.

 But suddenly, Remus' hand grabbed his arm.

"What the fuck! Shut up."

"Linda."

 Seeing the choking crack in Remus' voice and the way his eyes were looking at her, Linda kept her mouth shut and turned around.

 Then he flicked his pretty lips. The black head nearly ducked behind Rak's house in a panic.

"You're a coward! I can't believe you'd do that!"

 Linda whispered angrily and glared at him with grim eyes. But he went round and round the women's house, and appeared from the other side, quite unconcerned.

"Yo, Guin."

 He said it with a dignified look on his face, as if he were whistling.

"What are you doing? If we don't hurry, the monkeys are already lined up, waiting for the commander-in-chief."

"How dare you. You're pretending you didn't hear me."

 Linda whispered to Remus. Istvan grinned, ignoring the twins as if on purpose,

"Hey... apparently, there's no sign of Kaloy and the others coming. With Lure's flaming chariot, it looks like we'll have to do this on our own!"

"I'll see what I can do."

 Guin replied.

"All right, well, let's get going, shall we?"

"What about us? Hey, Guin, what about us?"

"The kids can stay home with the monkey kids."

 and Istvan .

"Hey, maybe you could take me out."

 Never mind that, Linda shouted worriedly.

"Time is running out, anyway. Come with me to the entrance of the valley, children."

"Yes!"

"Yeah, Guin!"

 The twins follow Guin as they fly away.

 By now, all the warriors had left the village of Rak and were waiting for Guin and his men, filling the uphill road from the entrance to the valley.

 Sheba is coming back with the young warriors of Rak.

"Liard."

"Okay, I'm coming.

 With the Paro twins on his left and right, and Istvan and Shiva behind him, Guin walked up the slope leading from the village to the top of the valley.

 As their troops passed, the warriors of the four clans of Rak, Guro, Tubai, and Lhasa, who were lined up on both sides of the road, waiting for the time to go into battle, said, "We must go,

"Liard, Liard!"

"Liard!"

 and the banners and spears in their hands were thrown in unison.

 The women of Rak, who are still defending the village, and the old men, pregnant women, and children who are going to the mountains in the opposite direction from them, came out in groups from the rear, calling out the names of Guin, the chiefs, and the good men and sons.

"Oh, my God! The Shemites are united."

 Linda whispered to Remus, her eyes wide.

"And it was Guin - our Guin - who did this in just one day!"

"But there are twice as many of them as there are of the Mongol army."

 In fact, the brother of the house replied pragmatically.

"First of all, we haven't added Kalloi, who is second only to Raak in size, rivals Glo, and is the most ferocious and skillful."

"No, don't say that. Don't say that to disappoint me.

 Linda didn't seem happy.

"You're always like that-- Hey, where's Suni?"

 Remus looked around for an answer.

 But he did not have time to find Suni for his sister.

 At that time, an unmistakable noise came from the tip of the Semitic Union Army, which was about to leave the valley under the command of Guin and his group.

"What's wrong!"

 Roto yelled at me.

"Oh, my God. The messenger--"

"Emissary?"

 The chiefs buzzed.

 As they watched, a young, breathless warrior named Rak rolled out from the line of warriors.

"Nor!"

 Roto screams. The young warrior was badly wounded. His head was cracked open, blood dripping down, he was almost blind, and his whole body was cut. It's a wonder he's still breathing.

"That must have been one of the messengers who left Caloyhe."

"Yes, Liard."

"Karolyi is--"

 Nor gasped. Seeing what he held in his hands, Shem and the others shouted.

 It was two fresh heads, dripping with blood.

"Gog and Luki."

 Sheba groans. Both were brave men of Rach who sent messengers to Caloyhe.

"Gauro told me to tell Master Lothor that ... Karoly was a brave man who had attacked Aum across the river and burned his castle to the ground. ... Even if he did not join forces with the cowardly brown-hairs and the idlers, Aum would fear Karoly and pass him by. And he will pass by. ..."

"Stupid."

 Roto spit it out briefly.

"Somebody should take care of Nor."

"Cowards-- you call us cowards?"

 There was an outcry of grief.

"In the first place, did not Aum come across the river because Karoi attacked Kyats and burned Aum's castle on the banks of the Kes?"

"The enemy is Karoi."

 The air was suddenly filled with acrimony. As if to draw out the grim silence,

"Down with Karolyi!"

 Somebody screamed.

"Oh-- beat Karolyi!"

"Ea, ea, aye!"

 The shouts immediately spread to the entire army, and Shem and his men suddenly stood up in full force.

"Liard!"

 Shiva looked up at Guin with despair in his eyes.

 That's when.

 Guin is on his feet!

"Wait-- Shem and the others, listen to me!"

 A chattering, shaking roar escaped from his mouth. He opens his hands and begins to scream.