There would be no raid this morning, nothing to do but for him to enjoy the day.
He woke up unable to hide his excitement.
Elua was coddling in his arms. The scaled kobel caressed her tenderly, then got up and covered her with the blankets. She feigned to still be sleeping while he rang the small bell.
While there was no need, the tribe still had a warrior keep guard before his door at all time. At the ring he knocked the ground in turn and the tower awakened. Rumors of captives rushing to prepare both clothes and bath along the breakfast.
But they would take time to come because only one was allowed to enter and dress him.
So he waited impatiently for them to fetch her from the basement.
When the door finally opened and the female stepped in, her purple eyes glanced at the legend and she clenched her teeth. He in turn wanted to pretend not to look at her but watched that face, those red stones running like fire all along her body.
Captivity could not dampen her beauty.
She was the one forced to bring him new clothes, to help him dress and then follow to another room where stones already hot waited for more water to be poured in.
She was also in charge of washing him.
Tunu could not tell why but when that captive kobel was there he felt threatened, on edge. As if she could pierce right through him and see a monster even he could not perceive.
"Has she tried to escape?" He asked the other captives.
Those kobels shook their head.
"Don't tell me you're finally tamed!" He joked, but sourly. "Not even Etelet could accomplish that."
She would not answer. Nor would anyone else. They knew their place and so, as he bathed, he might as well have been all alone.
"If you behaved, I could take you out with me. Aren't you tired of that hole?"
That was as much a taunt as his genuine feelings. Her answer was only to fret and, for a couple seconds, to stop her task. But soap in hand she worked on those scales until he grew tired, got up and let her fetch wool to dry him.
She helped with his clothes once more and that would be where it stopped; breakfast would be in company, so he gestured for her to be brought back to her cell.
The basement was a reserve but before all that kobel's prison.
He himself was about to leave when he felt it again, a jolt of tension throughout his body. He could perceive her gaze without even looking. The murderous look of a fine killer.
Downstairs Elua had supervised the breakfast. Their guests, warriors and tribesmen of various trades, were already waiting for him.
He only took one look at them all.
"Sorry, I'm already headed out today. Please enjoy the meal without me."
They watched him bolt out and wondered aloud: "What's with him?"
"He has the tribe's fate on his shoulders." Elua explained. "You'll have to forgive him."
How equal her voice had been.
But he was crossing the court, back through the gate and to the lower plateau. The early hour still had grey shades waiting for the sun to fade. Few were awake but the labor that shrank at his passage.
He had thought coming out so early would have him arrive first at the meeting but here was the chief and a few others.
They had been discussing an empty pedestal.
"Here you are!" The chief hailed him. "What do you think? A good place for a statue."
"A fine spot." He guessed. "And you want me to pose?"
"No need. They will make casts of your body, then use that to chisel their piece. You will get to see yourself in the finest details."
He would not. Sculptors mostly knew how to chisel stone and smoothen surfaces. No tribe really mastered more than simple shapes.
Still, just the shape of their legend standing among their houses would have them in awe.
"What about Tusali?" Tunu asked.
"What about him?"
"Shouldn't we make a statue of him as well? He was the first to get scales after all."
That had the old kobel amused.
"Well, he lives through you, so making a statue of you will satisfy him. Tusali is fine but your name is the one our youth hears."
That, again, tightened his heart. He looked away, embarrassed.
The last thing he wanted was for the chief to lecture him about feeding; and the chief in turn was keen enough to keep his mouth shut.
"Statues aside, there are other businesses to discuss. Raids, of course, but also Etelet."
"What about him?"
"The tribe dislikes him and I tend to agree. He spends all his time with the fawns, he learns their ways and ignore ours. I think he is leading us astray."
At Tunu's silence the chief continued.
"So let's agree, I'll find Lutuk another apprentice."
"No."
And the champion raised his voice.
"No, you are going to build a statue for him too! Kreil, look around you! Everything you see, every bit of him is his doing! All of it! All of our wealth, all of that strength, that's him! And you want to punish him because he's weird?!"
To his surprise that bout made the chief laugh and clap.
"Perfect! That's just perfect!"
"What is?"
"You've finally told me no. Alright! His statue will have to wait, but I'll... make your case to the tribe. Nobody knew you held him in such high regard."
"He shouldn't have to need me to be admired! Look, take from the treasury and just melt gold plates for him. Then nobody will contest his brilliance."
"You would use your treasure on him?"
"Of course. And for you too. You haven't even touched the fire stones."
The chief shrugged.
He wanted to say more but only gave one look at his own hand for Tunu to understand what he meant. Kreil was aiming higher than mere decorations.
If anything, to resort to that was to him an insult.
They discussed some more, about statues and women, about all the salt they now had and the endless problem of water. Many more things until Tunu left, back up the path toward the highest plateau.
There, on the way, kobels were quarreling.
One was complaining to a group that was busy tying another captive to a pole.
"He is a kobel! Just whip him and let him go!"
"You don't even know his crimes!" The others pushed back.
"Wait!" One warned and pointed to their champion.
Tunu hesitated to let the scene go on without him but, the moment they noticed his presence, he sighed and went directly to the poles.
A dozen of them followed the road, with captives who tried to flee or fought back exposed there for all to see. Left until time did its work.
"What is this about?"
"This kobel," the group answered, "he ate the food he was meant to serve us, then he fled when we found out."
"What food?"
That took them aback.
"Grilled boar, why?"
"Give him raw meat. If he is willing to eat it, he can go back to work. Otherwise, it's the pole."
They looked at each other. Even the one kobel who had quarreled did not know what to make of it. But Tunu had gone through them to approach the captive himself, to crouch and look at his scared eyes.
"It's not much. Just raw, animal meat. Easy."
"I will eat it." The kobel promised.
"Good. A kobel should be hungry for meat. We descend from the wyverns, it's only natural for you to long for it. If it was only your blood talking, then there was no crime. Right?"
"R... right!"
He could fell all of them still looking at hem warily as he left. Yet his heart, after this, was, for the first time in days, at peace.