The war reindeer
Yadne was right: revenge came for the girl’s abduction. On the day when the master of the house and his son were making a new sled, a reindeer came wandering into the camp and on its white side was a black arrow – this was the Vaynot clan’s sign of war. As the Gods’ Favorite looked at the reindeer, he told his son:
“They wage war like they throw weddings: everything is done according to the rules.”
Mebet went inside so that he could change into a new deerskin. Though he scoffed at human conventions, he was yet well aware of them. Shortly after the reindeer had come, emissaries from the hostile clan should arrive so that they could discuss the terms of war and designate a site for the battle to come. To refuse to accept these emissaries would mean defeat before the first
