“Why are some of the instructors younger than so many of the men they’re training?” Nikko asked.
“The instructors are warriors, some as young as nineteen. The older men in training are freeholders—farmers not trained before to fight. Warriors learn their skills from boyhood by training long days, until every act, every move and response, comes quickly and correctly without thought. These farmers will never equal warriors, but they are strong and proud, and the best will be as good as most orcs. Until they are thirteen or fourteen, most of them spent a lot of time practicing with sticks, like those little fellows out there, earning lots of sore spots. And as bowmen they’re already very good. All their lives they’ve shot at marks, and hunted game to help feed themselves and their families.
“In the past the bans protected them from war, but the bans mean nothing to orcs. And while the warriors will protect them as much as they can, the freeholders must be ready to protect themselves if they need to.”
“Freeholders,” Nikko said. “Do you have slaves then?”
“We used to—warriors taken prisoner from other clans in raids. But after we united, the thralls returned to their own clans. Now all men are freeholders.”
“Don’t you mean all men are either freeholders or warriors?”
“In a sense. Warriors are freeholders too, but a warrior is special. In the homeland he worked his own land, but had the help of slaves to give him time to practice with weapons.”
“And I suppose warriors consider themselves better than other freeholders.”
Nils nodded. “To be chosen by the clan as a sword apprentice, to become a warrior, was a great honor. And a warrior is proud of being a warrior. But a warrior’s father often is simply a farmer, yet the son honors him. Also, a warrior’s sons often will not be chosen, will simply be farmers, yet they are his sons and he will love and respect them. And a warrior will have been simply a farmer in past lives, and perhaps a slave in one to come.”
That startled Nikko Kumalo. “Do your people believe in rebirth then?”
“Of course.”
“And do you remember, uh, past lives?”
“No. To die is to forget. Sometimes a little child remembers, and occasionally an old person, but it is usually a little glimpse, unclear and often uncertain.”
So, she thought, they may not be afraid to die. “How do you decide who will be a warrior?”
“In their thirteenth or fourteenth summer, boys were selected for size and strength, and skill in war-play, to become sword apprentices. In their nineteenth summer they became warriors. But that is changing now.”
“Why haven’t your people killed each other off over the years?”
“The bans set limits and rules for fighting between clans and tribes. Few but warriors were killed.”
“But then, warriors must be more likely to die young. If you select the strongest and quickest to become warriors, in the course of time your people will become weaker.”
He shook his head, smiling. “Warriors can have several wives, other men but one. And it isn’t unusual for women to seek the attention of a warrior. Among our women, warriors are considered desirable lovers.”
“And what do their husbands do if they find out?”
“Beat them.”
“Beat the wife, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“But why the wife?”
“The wife has insulted him by turning to another man, so he beats her.”
“And nothing is done to the warrior?”
“No. He has honored the woman’s husband by finding his wife desirable.”
“But . . . ” Nikko started to protest, then realized the futility ot it and asked instead, “What if an unmarried girl gets pregnant by a warrior?”
“Unless the warrior marries her, the child is taken from her and grows up in the warrior’s family as his child. Then, because she was desirable to a warrior, other men will want to marry her.”
“How many wives do you have, Nils?”
“One.”
“Only one?”
“There mav be others later. Ilse will remain the principal wife.”
They had left the training field, wandering along the river to a high cutbank where children were swimming.