A
nd it was after four days of fruitless searching in the disputed lands between the borders of The United Republic of America and Mexitli that Sebastian Red was much surprised to come upon a village of Iahnian farmers living in a small and lushly green valley. He had never heard of an Iahnian settlement this far south as The Iah had little to do with Mexitli and Mexitli wanted even less to do with The Iah. Sebastian Red paused on the trail leading down to the village and patted the thickly muscled neck of his great bronze stallion Ra. “What d’you say, boy? Spend a couple a’ days here with these good gentlefolk before headin’ back on up north?” Ra snorted and his huge head nodded up and down in agreement. Sebastian chuckled and gave the reins a flick and Ra
trotted onto the settlement. It looked as if some sort of party or celebration was going on. Bright streams of multi-colored paper decorated the two and three story adobe buildings and balloons and gaily-painted masks were plentiful. Music played from the main square where nearly a dozen musicians enthusiastically filled the air with lively Iahnian songs. The Iah were quiet folk who were excellent farmers and fishermen and they worked hard and well at both trades. Few were over five feet tall and they had nut-brown skins, pointed ears and slanting, almond-shaped eyes of gold, violet and sapphire. As Sebastian rode into the main square and swung down off of Ra, several Iahnian men walked over to him, each bearing jugs of wine, tequila and broad, friendly smiles. One stepped forward and