There is a place in life where you turn a corner and you might see, if only a little, what lies ahead and this becomes the defining moment in your life. What will you do in reaction to what you see? Is it the steeling of a resolve to move forward and face what is coming, or to cower back and find another path. This was one of those moments for the people who had come off the boats and finally face their decision, but not quite yet.
We already have the decision of the people on the boats, turning back from the possibility. It is easy to think less of them, but these are choices that define us and how we want to live. For the Alaed, there has always been the tendency to pull back and rely upon the tried and true, though the wisdom of the Mariner is very true in this case. The world of the Convocation that they thought was so safe and familiar will (very) soon be gone. There was a glimpse of this in the past few weeks, but many people ran back regardless, ignoring the strange odor to happenings at Firsthome.
Then we have Enis. He never intended to be the great trigger in all of this, but it is the sort of man he is. As a rise comes between the estuary and what lies to the south, there is only another in a long line of impossible situations that must simply be faced. As happened so many times in the pass, watching a large group of invaders enter the east end, he would only grip his spear more firmly and got to the work he was committed to do. He will do what he has always done in facing terrible odds and coming out of it victorious because God is with him and his people. The idea of faith in the covenant has passed into a knowledge that the heavens are with the people of Waykeep and the promise of protection has always been kept.
Rendlyn is in a tough place. Sport-fighting is an act, a deception that is meant to entertain. Enis impresses him because his actions in the arena were never staged. If the big man threw you, it hurt and usually hurt very badly. The big man had become a friend in their short time together in training, but he hadn't thought much of the chants and the inspiration that inspired them. "Show" muscles, sculpted with weights and repetitions had to ultimately give way to reality and the "pretty boys", Rendlyn among them, had to admit this grudgingly. As he came up out of the estuary, just a step behind Enis, and surveyed the swamp running almost endlessly to the south, there was little in the way of resolve. He faced it like a sport-fighter - how could one make it look impressive without really engaging at all, like a sport-fighter? Rendlyn saw the impossible situation before him and couldn't see his next strategy.
What was spread out before the two men on the ridge and the vanguard of the others who were simply glad to get a rest from sloughing through the estuary, was a sea of canvas tents that stretched as far as the eye could see. With the exception of Enis, everyone quailed at the sight and the smell. No people could readily be seen among the tents, but it was obvious that a large invading force was there, somehow broken through the defenses of the pass and settled temporarily here in a swampy lowland.
Rendlyn sucked in a lungful of the fetid air and his eyes widened. Turning back to get below the line of sight of anyone that might look their way, He pulled down Enis with him, the other defenders clustering around them. "What have you brought us to?"
The big man shrugged. "The Mariner called us here. We have to face this host."
"We will be mown down like grass! Have you seen how few we are? Everyone left with the boats!" He pointed back over the estuary and the flotilla could still be seen, moving off into the channel, back toward Manatoa. "If I had known what we face, I would have stayed on the boat as well." There was some grumbling of agreement from the folk nearby.
Enis raised his arms in the way that his fans found so familiar. "This is the time of your choice. Waykeep and the Covenant lies to the south, through this sea of invaders. Will you follow me and the chants that you have learned and that have led you here?" There was a tired half-yell from the weary defenders who were committed to the wild-man.
By this time, all the defenders had gathered and there was an uneasy stand-off of a sort. Some people had come to this place in allegiance to Enis and his Covenant; many others had just come to spectate like they had at the arena and felt little if nothing but an interest in the show they wanted to see. "I am not going to my death - I didn't bargain for this." Rendlyn said it loudly, as he would have in a sport-fight looking for the crowd to agree with him. He got a ragged response but it was there.
"The Mariner said there is no way back. The boats are gone, but you can go another way if you choose." Enis looked to the north, past the estuary to cliffs and boulders beyond. "God will surely bless you for your willingness to come this far, even if you turn away from Waykeep." He looked back at the small assemblage. "The path to the Covenant lies through this swamp and these invaders. You can turn away to another path if you like, but my way is south."
Rendlyn threw up his hands and turned towards the cliffs to the north. "I'm going to find another way! Anyone who wants to turn aside and live can follow me." He began moving off, crossing the stream at the head of the estuary and many of the people who had left the ships followed his lead.
Enis gave a great sigh, surrounded now by a much reduced group that were looking to him for the next instructions. "May God go with them," he said quietly.
As Enis and the remaining people moved into the swamp, it was obvious that something was amiss. They were passing the nearest tents and hearing an assortment of groans and wails coming from them. Outside the tents, spears could be found laying about, as if cast away in desperation. The tents were roughly set, mostly sagging and haphazard in their pitching, as if the invaders had been too lazy to do a proper job late one night. The big man, stepping quietly among the detritus of the camp, picked up a cast-away spear and signaled to his people to do the same. The Alaed hung back to see what their leader would do.
Pulling the canvas away from a nearby tent site, Enis revealed a pair of invaders, twisted on the damp ground. They looked to have fallen there, packs tossed nearby but unopened, bedrolls present but unused, canteens empty near mouths. The invaders looked dead or close to it, the only indication that they still lived being raspy groans and labored breathing. The big man moved one man's arm with his foot and there was no reaction toward a defense. The anxious group near Enis looked to him even more intently.
Enis gave the instructions as they came into his mind from God, his voice distinct but low. "Uncover the tents, kill the men with spears, then move on to another tent. No one must be missed, though any women found should be left alone. Begin here and move south."
There was a handful of defenders who couldn't stomach Enis' requirements and turned away to follow the track made by Rendlyn away from the swamp. The others gripped their spears and got to work with Enis, skewering near-lifeless bodies taken with some unknown malady, ripping apart tent after tent, body after body with a grisly resolve to executing the promise that those who crossed the pass would die. There was no resistance from the fallen invaders and the work of slaughter went relatively quickly.
It took some hours to complete the job, and that is how the spear-wielding defenders came to see it - a job that must be done. At the end, blood-splattered and sore, the group assembled to Enis at the south end of the swamp, now littered with torn canvas, impaled men, and blood. Wandering among the carnage, a few women wailed over their dead men in their sickness and despair.
"Let the woman do with their men what they will," Enis said quietly. "For our part, we must go and seal up the pass above Waykeep."
The group moved wearily to the south and toward their new home.