The Chronicles: Notomol Ch. 09

- "Will they?"

- "Of course they will!"

We moved east. It wasn't against my better judgment - I truly had no idea what forces were at play here, or which rules or conventions might apply. Prosquetel took charge - and I let him do it.

There were nineteen boats, apparently at anchor in the shallows on the other side of the river. They weren't all the same size. A few were fishing craft, with only enough space for two men and their catch. Most were larger, though, obviously meant to carry cargo. The two largest were flat-bottomed barges.

The boatmen had clearly seen us, but they didn't seem too interested in coming to see who we were. They had to know, though, that we weren't Izumyrians. Prosquetel had Gerimir and Heras Koymil's men wave their arms to attract attention.

Finally, one of the larger vessels came closer, powered by four men at the oars. A big, bearded, bald man held the tiller. He had a gold ring in his ear, which I thought quite unwise: it would hurt like hell if someone ripped it off his head.

The boat stopped some thirty yards from shore.

- "His name is Velik." Gerimir told Prosquetel.

- "Velik!" shouted old Whitehair. "Well met! We are glad to see you here! I am Prosquetel, Chamberlain to the Duchess!"

- "I know who you are." replied the big man. He had a growly, gravelly voice, and didn't seem to need to shout for it to carry across the water.

- "Are you the leader of the boatmen?"

- "I speak for us, from time to time."

- "The Duchess is here, Velik - with her son. The Duke's heir. We need to get to the other side of the river. Can you help us?"

Velik had to think about that for a moment.

- "We could." he said.

- "That's not a yes." muttered Giedra.

If Prosquetel heard her, he gave no sign of it. But he must have sensed that Velik was prepared to bargain with him - and that the price would no doubt be high. The old soldier brought out his best argument: Temara herself.

With her baby in her arm, seated on a magnificent Izumyrian horse, she rode down to the river bank. Little though I liked her, I have to admit that she cut a fine figure.

- "I am Temara, Duchess of Hvad!" she called out. "And this is my son! We need the help of the boatmen of Hvad!"

- "More polite to them than she ever was to us ..." grumbled Giedra.

The bald man nodded his head, and smiled. "And we'll gladly take you across, Lady. But the rest of these folk ..."

- "This is my army!" shouted the Duchess. "You must take us over."

- "I don't think we can." said Velik.

I wondered if the Duchess could remember the last time she had been desperate to cross a river. Pursued by Izumyrians, Temara and her little party had met my father and me.

- "Of course you can!" shouted Iduallon. The idiot was clearly incapable of keeping his mouth shut.

- "Why not?" shouted Prosquetel.

- "The Izumyrians." said Velik.

- "There are no Izumyrians here."

- "Not right now, no. But they'll find out how you got across." Velik shook his head slowly. "That could be very dangerous for us. I just don't see how this would be worth our while."

There it was. I hoped that Prosquetel was good at haggling.

Old Whitehair appealed to the boatmen's loyalty. They had very little. Velik repeated his offer to take the Duchess across - free of charge. Predictably enough, Iduallon couldn't stay out of it; he insulted the boatmen. Velik's eyes narrowed.

- "I think the price just went up." I said.

Velik noticed me. I don't know if he heard me. It might have just been the fact that I was standing with Giedra, Rion and Eliv, Liesma Horseface, Paksyalta, and Berilde and Sarine. I suppose that eight women with weapons will stand out at most gatherings.

- "Who might you be?" growled the boatman.

- "My name is Guenna. I'm the daughter of Veran One-Eye. Do you want me to introduce my companions?"

Velik spoke to Prosquetel. "Uplanders cost double." he snarled. Then he looked back to me. "Because we have wash the boats out afterwards."

I was too surprised to know what to say. I mean, we'd all experienced how the Niskadi look down on us. But this ... this was hatred.

- "These Uplanders saved the Duchess' life!" shouted Gerimir.

Velik wasn't impressed. "Good for them." he said.

The bargaining went on. Ban Lemek was drawn into it, because he had recovered some coins from his steading. Now we had a match: the boatman's greed versus the Ban's miserliness.

In the end, we had to offer most of Lemek's silver coins, two Izumyrian horses, and a dozen Hvadi ponies. Velik was holding out for more - not more horses though, because the boatmen had limited use for them. He wanted more coin.

- "That is all the coin!" I shouted at him. "Don't you understand? If the Izumyrians catch us here, you and your men will get nothing!" I was actually directing my words at the four oarsmen as much as at their spokesman.              

Then I spoke to Prosquetel, in a louder voice than necessary. "You'd best guard the Duchess closely. I wouldn't trust these boatmen not to sell her to the highest bidder."

I don't know if my intervention helped. It might have sped up the proceedings just a little. And perhaps a couple of the boatmen were just a little bit embarrassed.

It was awkward, and it was uncomfortable. It also took far too long. I kept expecting to see - or hear - Izumyrian horsemen charging down to the river bank.

But we got across the river. Velik stayed well clear of me, and I of him.

***

It was tempting to think of attacking the Izumyrians guarding the ford. Now that we were on their side of the river, we could hit them from behind. Iduallon and Heras Koymil were all for it, of course. That alone was enough to give me second thoughts.

Attacking them would tell them that we had crossed the river. There was little or no cover there - it would be difficult to take them by surprise. They could simply retreat across the ford - it would be foolish for us to chase them into the river. And wasn't it better to keep our present location a secret, in any case?

Then I thought of Velik. The boatmen's spokesman would do anything for money. He would sell us out to the Izumyrians at the first opportunity. In fact, he might very well be on his way to tell them right now.

That changed my mind. I explained my thinking to Prosquetel, Ban Lemek, Mailis, and Giedra. I needed Old Whitehair to keep Iduallon and Heras Koymil from spoiling my plan, and I had to ask the other three to provide their archers and their best fighters.

Giedra led the archers. She had Paksyalta, Seva and Tugan, plus eight others. I thought that a dozen unarmoured people, many of them women, would not immediately alarm the Izumyrians. They would be curious, and perhaps even cautious, but I hoped that they wouldn't suspect an attack.

It worked remarkably well. Giedra and her little company simply walked along the riverbank until they drew near to the ford. Then twenty of the enemy formed a double line, and began to march towards them. Our archers kept walking. The Izumyrian commander should have realized, at that point, that something was amiss.

At thirty yards, Giedra's little company produced their bows, and loosed a dozen arrows. The soldiers were surprised, but they reacted quickly and charged. Giedra wisely decided not to risk another volley; she gave the order, and our archers ran away. The Izumyrians were far more heavily burdened - they couldn't possibly catch up. After fifty yards, their enthusiasm for the chase waned - especially when they saw another twenty Hvadi approaching.

These were clearly warriors. I'd sent some of Lemek's best men to support Giedra. The soldiers chasing Giedra chose to rejoin their comrades at the ford.

Now our archers could approach again, backed by twenty warriors. The Izumyrian captain was quick to act; he turned his whole force to face them, to drive off these rebels. Giedra's archers loosed two more arrows each, but the soldiers raised their shields, and very few were hit.

Giedra retreated again, with Lemek's warriors. The Izumyrians pursued - until they saw twenty more warriors (Mailis' best) coming down the riverbank. Even worse, they saw fifteen horsemen riding wide of them. Prosquetel had Gerimir and Heras Koymil with him (he'd wisely left Iduallon to guard the Duchess).

The Izumyrian captain had to make a decision: to pursue Giedra could lead to a fight against an equal number of Hvadi rebels, with horsemen behind him. It would also leave the ford unguarded, if Prosquetel meant to cross the river behind him. Worse still, this might all be just a diversion to allow someone to come across from the other side.

He chose as I would have. The soldiers turned and hustled back to the ford. That left their backs exposed to Giedra. Our archers hurried after them, to take advantage. After a few shots, the Izumyrians formed an impromptu rearguard, and the archers had to keep their distance.

At this point the enemy could see another company coming up to join their assailants. It was me, with Liesma Horseface and the rest of the Uplanders. At this point, the enemy commander had to have realized that he and his men were on the wrong side of the river. I don't know what his orders were, but he definitely stayed at the ford too long.

Giedra and the archers were able to loose several more arrows. They didn't score hits very often, as the soldiers had their shields up. But a few men were hit, and one more was killed.

They withdrew, in good order, into the river, and backed their way across the ford.

They left behind seven dead, and carried at least five wounded with them.

- "A rather modest gain, for so much effort." was Prosquetel's comment, afterwards.

- "We should have taken them all!" said Iduallon - who wasn't even there.

Mailis and Ban Lemek thanked me, though. They hadn't lost a man.

We turned south.

*****