“Yes; that’s it. I hope it wasn’t some great friend of yours?” I said, seeing her eyes.
“But it was! It was Ziné’s brother! She’s my greatest friend. But, no! It isn’t a great shock, because we were sure he was dead. We never even thought of him being alive, although the spies said they believed he had escaped from the gate. But, in the first place, we did not believe them, and then, although a certain archer of the chief Shaman’s guard, who professed a secret friendliness for our folk, and we did our best to help him through them, we never thought he could traverse the desert, nor did we know what lay beyond.”
She was silent a space, her lips moving, praying, I think, for the man’s soul after the manner of the Christian Sakae.
“Who was he, then, and how came he by his death, or rather by the captivity that led to it?” I asked at last.
“He was one of the biggest chiefs of the Green Sakae. As I told you, the Shamans for some years have been overcoming the other clans—the Red, Brown, and Green Sakae—always beginning by stirring up the people against their chiefs. Some were slain by their own folk, misled by the Shamans’ guile; then others, whose people would not rise against them, were attacked by the Shamans when the country was weakened, and so overthrown and slain, save some few who escaped to us.
“When the state of the Green Sakae country was at its worst, Carius—that was his name—sent Ziné to stop with us for greater safety, hoping that things would be better. But by treachery the Shamans captured his fort by night. We heard that, though he made a good fight, he was taken prisoner and carried off to their country.
“My father tried to help him by spies—we were not at war with the Shamans then, nor were we strong enough to invade their country—sending clothes and money, which the spies promised to get to him if he were put out to death through the gate after the Shamans’ cruel fashion. And Ziné put the picture in with the clothes. The spies told us they had succeeded with the help of the archer I mentioned, and said that it was common talk among the guard that next day his body could not be found. So then for a space we hoped, believing that he had got the things they said had been dropped over the cliffs and freed himself and escaped. But after a while we felt sure he must be dead, and thought that the spies, after the manner of such men, lied to us to get the greater reward.”
“Then is Euphrosine, or Ziné, as you call her, still with you, or is there peace in her country now?”
“No; it is as bad as ever, for there is no rule, and the people fight among themselves, and the Shamans slay and pillage as they will, now helping one section, now another, for they do not really desire to rule the land themselves yet. They wish to destroy all law, so that they may then easily set up their own customs, when folk are wearied of war and pillage and unable to resist them. I do not know much about their rule, save that some of their decrees are foul beyond imagining. As I told you, they worship evil gods. But when we get home my father will tell you more about it all than I can. I think he hopes to destroy the Shamans some day and restore peace to the other clans. Then, if he does that, Ziné will be chief of her clan again, for she has no other close relations.”
“Do women rule, then, in your country?”