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| The Rite of Spring: Fragment 10h | ||||
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The Author |
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| I describe the camp of the Chieftain of the Rhiconaiach | ||||
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| The Rite of Spring: Fragment 10h | ||||
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The Author |
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| I describe the camp of the Chieftain of the Rhiconaiach | ||||
The Rhiconaiach, like all of the Rhiconicfhearchaorusduadh (the tribe of the noble people of the god Rhiconic) are a compact, dark-skinned people. They graze herds on the steppe; as this is, by and large too arid to support permanent pasture, they adopt a nomadic lifestyle. Like all nomads, fortifications are of little value to them, for they must always move on. Their encampments are inevitably vulnerable to hostile action, and must be protected by constant vigilance. Thus, the Rhiconicfhearchaorusduadh are a warrior culture, as are other more familiar steppe dwellers, the Sioux, the Tartars, the Masaii. Like those cultures, having developed a warrior class to protect their own encampments, they have found a useful additional source of wealth in raiding on their own behalf.
They are a proud people, but not wealthy. They inhabit tents, circular in plan, supported by a tripod of poles in the centre, and a number of poles around the periphery supporting the outside walls. These poles are set at an outward angle of some thirty degrees from the vertical, so that, with the wall canvas stretched vertically by nets sewn to the inner side and filled with boulders, no guyropes are needed. Thus you must see the Chieftains tent as a low, circular structure, some ten metres (or, as they would say, five manheights) in diameter, having a conical roof.
The walls and roof are of brownish black material, woven principally from coarse goathair and coated with a greasy waterproofing compound, which it is impossible to clean. Parts of the tent are therefore stained with chaff, pollen, and dust. Extending from the front of the tent (it faces south) is a large awning supported on poles. The awning was brightly woven in many colours, with a design of dragons; it is much faded by the sun. From two of the poles which extend high above the awning, pennons depicting dragons flap limply in the sluggish breeze.
The tent has a considerable bare space around it, for the Chieftain is accorded great prestige by his people; however, surrounding the bare space is a circle of similar, but smaller, tents. Many figures can be seen huddled in what little shade is cast by these; for, in addition to the owners of the tents who are now inside resting in the heat of the day, there are many people in the camp who have no tent. Some of these are the outcasts of Rhiconaiach society, not recognised as part of the clan, but tolerated for their services.
Others are refugees; the Clan, in its leaderless state, is under considerable pressure from its more vigorous rivals, and many families have lost their tents over the past weeks. The Clan will, in due course, provide new tents for the surviving warriors, and warrior families will adopt the legitimate children of dead warriors. But among the Rhiconaiach, there is no place for widows. They may commit suicide (which is thought proper); leave the Clan and try to survive alone, or join another tribe; or become whores. There is always a requirement for whores in the Noble Clan, for although monogamy is practiced, desirable (this means well born - not even a suitor is permitted to see the face of a maiden) women are expensive. Also, although the men expect absolute faithfulness from their women, they are not often faithful themselves.
Under the awning is placed a carpet, also once brightly coloured. In the centre of this carpet, a small brazier of bronze, again worked with a design of dragons, burns incense to keep the flies at bay. Just outside the opening of the tent is placed a stool, which is in fact a camel saddle, with brass ornaments.
A man in middle years sits upon this. He wears a tunic of white cloth, belted with a broad sash of black woolen stuff. He has a vacant expression, and the front of his tunic is stained with food and spittle. He wears woollen leggings, with sandals whose criss-cross thonging comes up to the knee. Beside him stands an older man. He wears a robe - not unlike a long dressing-gown - which seems to be composed entirely of skin taken from the faces of larger carnivorous mammals. From the shoulders and cuffs of this garment hang pendulous tassles of human hair and eagle feathers. About his neck he wears an enormous double necklace of dragons teeth, some of them as much as twenty centimetres (or, as he would say, a span) in length. This is clearly heavy and uncomfortable. He holds in his hand a tall staff, at the top of which is set the skull of a young dragon. The staff is bound with more tassels of hair and feather.
In front of the first two, three other men squat on the carpet, in the relaxed posture of people to whom squatting is normal, and seats are almost unknown. These three wear similar clothing. A tunic of multicoloured striped cloth falling to just above the knee is held in by a belt from which hangs a sort of rudimentary kilt, composed of seven loose rectangles of the stiff hide cut from the tail of a dragon. The belt also supports a knife or two, and a waterskin. A gorget made of strips of dragonhide is worn around the neck, with the strips hanging down to protect the chest and shoulders from cutting weapons. A pair of tall, unpolished boots with bronze spurs complete the outfit, although the youngest of the men also wears a loose turban of apricot coloured cloth. Similar cloths in other colours lie beside the other two.
All of these men have their heads shaved, and wear their beards long and plaited. By each on the carpet is a lance with a collar of brightly coloured feathers signifying their band allegiance, and a war axe. Their appearance is typical of Rhiconicfhear warriors, although these men, being war leaders and powerful, are able to command the best gear.
A troop of eight (or, as they would say, ten) horsemen are standing in the bare space around the tent. These men are not rich or powerful; their kilts and gorgets are of plain boiled leather, and their tunics show a single stripe of rusty red, down the left hand side so that it roughly covers the heart. They wear red cloths on their heads, and their lance-plumes are also red. One has dismounted, and stands holding his horse. He stands in a deferential attitude, speaking to the eldest of the squatting warriors. Beside him stand two young women, one rather in front of the other. They are naked, and both hold their hands so as to cover their genital regions. Both have visible bruising and scabs, despite their very dark skin. Their hair is long, for the hair of Rhiconicfhear women is never cut. The woman standing behind has her head bowed; her face cannot be seen. Her companion holds her head up, and her expression is of anger and bitterness, although her posture is supplicatory.
Beyond the outer ring of tents, hobbled horses and camels graze in a rough paddock of thornbushes; further off, flocks of goats munch the tawny drying grass under the watchful eyes of herdboys. And beyond them again, the wide grassland stretches to the horizon in all directions except southward, where the great mountains of the Rim are distant and blue. And over all is the broad blue dome of the sky. And from the sky the great, golden, dragon eye of Rhiconic, the all-seeing god, blazes down, parching the grass, drying the wells, promising the thirst of the high summer which is to come.
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