The Chronicles of Hvad Ch. 02

HVAD CHAPTER 2

It may have sounded insane, at first, but Borna's plan had a certain logic to it. We had no flint, to make a fire, and no furs to sleep under. We had no food, no bows or arrows, and nothing to set traps or snares with. We couldn't hunt with a sword, or axes and daggers.

Hiding in the forest wasn't an option. First, we would have to find our way out. I was hopelessly lost, completely out of my element in the deep woods, and further disoriented by our panic-stricken flight.

But Borna simply pointed, and said: "That way." And then he led us out. I have no idea how he did it. All through our childhood, he had never revealed any exceptional sense of direction. But now, by dead reckoning, he led us on a miles-long trek through the trees.

Many people are frightened of the forest - and rightly so. They fear wild animals, the darkness, and the unknown. The first of these fears is real enough. There are wolves, and bears in the hills. But the most dangerous is the boar. They're unpredictable animals. A boar will charge for no reason - and those tusks aren't decorative. Every steading has a man who limps, or hobbles about on one leg. And he's a lucky bastard, because his friends were there to finish off the boar before the boar could kill him.

Fear of the unknown is the worst. Imagination can be a terrible thing. The legend of the Saramash persists. I've never seen one, but there are people who claim that they have. The Saramash only hunts at night, and prefers to attack a person who's alone.

They rake your eyes, with powerful talons, trying to blind you. Once their prey is helpless, a Saramash will drag them away into the deep woods, to devour them bit by bit.

Some people claim to have encountered the creature; all of them say they were lucky to have escaped. But when you ask 'What did it look like?', their reply is usually 'I don't know - it was too dark', or 'How should I know? I was running for my life'.

I'm not sure if I believe all of that. But I can tell you this: it's much easier to be skeptical when you're sitting by the fire, with a drink in your hand. It's a different story entirely when you're in the woods, at night.

Nightfall, in the forest, was terrifying. The darkness came quickly, and completely. There were spaces, like little islands, where moonlight and starlight penetrated. Elsewhere, the darkness was absolute. We had to measure our steps, and feel our way forward, because we couldn't always see where we were placing our feet.

That's harder than it sounds. The forest floor is no pasture. It's uneven, pitted, and littered with debris, like fallen branches. There are dozens of varieties of smaller shrubs and plants to trip on or stumble over.

Our progress was slow. It's impossible to walk quickly, in the darkness. My hands were up, to brush away branches - some of which I didn't see until I contacted them. I didn't want to walk straight into one, and lose an eye.

But Borna's luck held. There was a pool of moonlight ahead, in the distance. That's what saved us. It was a clearing, used by woodcutters. There was a path, which had to lead out. We followed it. There was little danger of running into anyone. Who goes to cut wood at night?

The quarter moon was a blessing, once we left the forest. There was just enough light for us to find our way, but more than enough darkness to conceal us. We found the stream, and drank our fill. Then we followed it, towards Asrava's steading.

We walked in silence, past isolated farms, and shabby little cottages. Khoren made to approach the first one, but Borna grabbed his arm, and shook his head. We circled them, at a safe distance.

Once, a dog started barking. My heart nearly stopped. We ran, like maniacs, in the dark. A small stand of trees drew us. I have no idea what we thought we were going to do - climb the trees? Fortunately, the dog must have been tied up. We stood there, panting, like idiots.

It was not difficult to find the palisade of Asrava's steading. One of the great weaknesses of our little forts is the circular wall of logs. Without a rampart walkway, those inside cannot see over their own wall. We were able to approach quite close, unseen.

And undetected. They could not possibly have heard us, since the celebration was still going on. We crouched in the shadow, at the base of their palisade, and listened to the drunken shouts and singing coming from their great hall - the hall we had slept in the night before.

- "Sit. Stretch your limbs." whispered Borna. "We wait."

They were the first words he had spoken to us since we had left the forest. Borna had never been a blabber mouth, but he had gone silent, and cold. We sat there for a long time, under their wall, listening to the sounds of their revelry grow fainter, and gradually die down.

Still he waited.

Then Borna surged to his feet. He drew his dagger, and pointed to Khoren, and held up one finger. Then he pointed to me, and showed two. In that order, we followed him. He skirted the edge of the log wall, careful to stay within its shadow, but not to brush against it.

We could see the beaten path leading to the main gate well before we came to it. Borna edged along the wall, feeling his way with his toes. He paused, frequently, to listen. I couldn't see much, of course, except Khoren's great bulk. And the only sounds I could hear were my own ragged breathing and the hammering of my heart.

Borna stopped - and waved us back. He turned, and held up two fingers. Then he slowly drew his thumb across his throat. He mouthed the words 'On three', and then turned around. He held out one finger ... and then two .. and Borna sprinted around the edge of the wall, into the open gateway.

Khoren lunged after him, and I followed.

I was just in time to see Borna seize a man by the beard, and pull up. The fellow grunted in pain, but he was too shocked to scream. Then Borna dragged his dagger across the fellow's throat. Blood gushed forth, splashing all over him.

He had taken the farther of the two guards, leaving the nearer one for Khoren. The big brute simply grabbed the second guard by the top of the head, and drove his knife in, under the chin. Savage, but effective. The man dropped his spear, which fell to the ground with a thunk.

There was nothing for me to do. The two men on watch had been drunk, or drowsy, or even half asleep on their feet. Now they were dead.

- "Stand here - look like a guard." hissed Borna.

He and Khoren dragged the two bodies outside the stockade, just around the edge of the wall. The first victim left a trail of blood. If anyone came along, they would see it instantly.

Once they were done, Borna explained what he intended.

"We'll go inside the hall. Daggers, not axes." Borna had also taken a cloak off one of the dead men. He wrapped it around his fist, and then knelt in the dirt.

"They're all asleep. Drunk. Push the cloak into their mouth - stab them in the heart. Smother them so they can't cry out." He demonstrated each step of his instructions. He unwrapped the cloak, and passed it to Khoren. "Use this one."

- "What about the houses?" whispered Khoren.

- "Leave them."

I was out of my mind, that night. I know this for certain, because I made no protest. I didn't question Borna's plan. The three of us were going to sneak into the great hall, and attempt to murder ten times our number of warriors.

- "What if they wake up?" asked Khoren.

- "Then follow my lead. We'll run if we have to."

There was a man sitting outside, with his back to the wall of Asrava's hall. Luck still favoured us: he was dead drunk. Khoren killed him, almost casually, and then dragged him a few feet away.

We entered the hall.

It was warm, and dark - but not entirely silent. Drunken men do not lie quietly. There was snuffling, heavy breathing, and some truly thunderous snoring.

The great firepit was a mass of coals, now. It still produced a great deal of heat, but not so much light. Khoren went to the right, Borna to the left. I let him go ahead. It was not that I was squeamish, or unwilling to perform this task - I just didn't want to get in his way.

Borna did it exactly as he had described, outside. He knelt beside a drunken man, who was sleeping on his back. He smothered the fellow's face, and then stabbed him in the heart. The victim lurched, and his foot kicked out, striking another sleeper nearby.

Borna calmly moved on, located this man, and stuffed his balled up cloak into his mouth. He stabbed again.

Meanwhile, I was examining his first victim. It was hard to tell, in the near dark, but he seemed to be still twitching. I slit his throat, to make sure.

The third man was lying under one of the trestle tables. Only his legs were sticking out. That posed a problem. Borna waited for me to come up, even as he unwrapped the cloak from around his hand. He pointed to the feet of the drunken man, and then explained, in hand signals, what he wanted.

I put down my dagger, and grabbed the man's leg with my right hand, just as Borna seized his other ankle with his left hand. We pulled, and dragged the fellow out from under the table.

- "Whuh -" The man was plainly still very drunk. I thrust my balled-up cloak into his face, while Borna stabbed him in the chest. But his angle was off - it wasn't a killing blow. Our victim's body convulsed, and his leg snapped up, striking Borna square in the stones.

I put all my weight on the drunk's neck and head, pressing him down, while Borna shifted his position and struck again. And again.

That did it. We froze, then, listening - but there was no outcry. No uproar, no sounds of a dozen warriors leaping to their feet and reaching for weapons. The only noise was a gurgle from the far side of the firepit, quickly stifled.

It was warm in there, and I was sweating freely. I recovered my dagger. On the opposite side of the hall, I could see Khoren gliding along. He was a little bit ahead of us.

Borna killed the next sleeper, by himself.

There was a loud clatter, across the hall, as something was knocked over. A cup, perhaps, falling off the top of the table and bouncing off a bench. It made a noise to wake the dead, and my heart nearly stopped, again. But nothing came of it.

We reached the high table, and skirted around its edge. There were men sleeping behind it, and Khoren was already at work among them.

At this point, a feeling was growing within me, an uncomfortable suspicion that all was not as it should be. Something was definitely wrong. But this was not the moment to stop and puzzle it out.

The first sleeper we came to behind the table had his legs tangled up with another. When Borna stabbed that man, he jerked, and awoke the second. I moved quickly, and threw my weight across him. My stab was high, but I jammed my dagger under his jawbone. I twisted my hand, and drove the point sideways, trying to cut his throat. Somehow I got my cloak across his eyes, and pressed his forehead down.

It was messy, and it was ugly. But he was dead.

We froze, expecting an outcry, or some kind of reaction. We had made so much of a racket - we must have awoken someone. But nothing happened.

There were three rooms at the back of the hall. The one on the left had been allocated to Gosdan and his sons - was it only last night? The middle room, I presumed, was for servants. The one on the right was occupied by Asrava and his family.

A man was sleeping in the doorway of that chamber, snoring loudly. A Hand, presumably. Khoren ended his noise.

Borna touched my arm. He pointed to his eyes, and then to the other two rooms. Watch them. I nodded - understood. He then stepped across the body of the dead Hand, and entered the family quarters. Khoren followed.

That's when I realized what was wrong. There should have been two men there. Two Hands - one each for Asrava and Mushtal. And our progress through the hall, as we killed them in their sleep, was also off. I was counting, frantically, in my head. Where were they all? There weren't thirty men in this hall. Where were they?

Someone screamed. It came from Asrava's quarters. A woman. The scream was quickly cut off, but it would surely have woken everyone in the hall - if not the entire steading.

I heard stirring in the far room. I quickly flattened myself against the wall between the two doorways. A man emerged from the last room, carrying an axe.

I leapt at him, trying to curl my arm around his neck even as I stabbed him in the back. It was only as I drove the dagger home that I realized the blow was probably not going to be mortal. He stumbled, and we twisted as we both fell, so that he landed atop me, driving the breath from my lungs.

Somehow I hooked my legs around him, and stabbed him in the side. It was lucky for me, though, that we had fallen this way. A second man emerged from the room, walking unsteadily, as if he were drunk, or still half-asleep. Lucky for me, I say, because he carried a spear, and would have spitted me, except that he couldn't strike at me without hitting his friend.

Then Khoren appeared, and with a tremendous back-handed axe blow, nearly severed the spearman's head. Blood sprayed everywhere, including into my eyes. The man I was fighting continued to struggle. I couldn't see, but one of my stabs into his side must have struck something vital, because his resistance ceased, and he went limp.

I stabbed him twice more, to make sure, and then pushed his body off of me. I climbed to my feet, trying to wipe the blood from my eyes.

- "Alright?" asked Borna.

- "Mm-hmm." I grunted.

- "Then give me a hand here." he said.

I joined him in the family's room, stepping over the dead Hand to do so.

Inside, I found a dead body - Asrava's - and three young women, kneeling together in the corner. Garine, the eldest, glared at me. Noyemi, the younger, and Lulalme, the concubine, both had their heads down.

- "Bind their hands." Borna told me.

As I looked for something to tie them up with, Garine found her courage. Or maybe it was simply that her spite and bile began to overflow.

- "You're dead men!" she screamed. "My brother'll have your guts! When he finishes raping your sisters, he'll come back - and then you're dead! You're dead!"

- "My brother is dead." said Borna, calmly.

- "Just as well!" shouted Garine. "Because he was poxed! Did you know that! My father gave him that blonde bitch Sona because she had the pox! And as for you - my brother fucked Kanni before you had her! You -"

She shut up, at that point, because I knocked her forward with my foot. I knelt on her back, and then used my dagger to cut a strip from her nightshirt. She struggled, but not very effectively. I grabbed her hands, and tied them roughly. It would probably cut off the blood flow to her fingers, but I didn't care much.

- "You want her gagged?" I asked.

- "No." was all he said.

Lulalme put her hands behind her back, making it easier for me to tie them, and Noyemi submitted to having her wrists bound as well.

- "Bring them." said Borna.

Khoren had gathered half a dozen servants, and lined them up behind the Hospodar's table. All had their heads down, avoiding eye contact - except one.

- "Kanni." said Borna.

- "Yes, Lord." The bruise on her face looked even worse than it had last night - was it only last night? It was turning an angry shade of purple. Borna looked at her, and she at him.

- "Kanni, I want some light. Can you do that for me?" he asked.

- "Yes, Lord." she answered.

Kanni lit a few rushlights, and stirred the coals in the firepit. She threw more wood on the fire, and it quickly flared up. Meanwhile, Khoren and I tied the hands of the remaining servants, and sat them on the bench at the high table.

- "Are there any other warriors in the steading?" Borna asked the three girls.

- "Why would we tell you, you piece of shit?" snarled Garine. "You're dead men!"

I was fully prepared to gag her, at that point, but Khoren had a simpler solution. He back-handed her across the face, full force. She staggered and fell, striking her head on the wall, before she slumped to the floor.

- "Enough, Khoren." said Borna. "Kanni, where is Mushtal?"

- "He went with Manahir's grandsons, Lord. To Gosdan's - to your steading."

- "Are there any more warriors here?" asked Borna.

Damn me if she didn't walk up and down both sides of the great hall, looking at the men we had killed. In two cases, she had to flip them over to see their faces. Borna folded his arms over his chest, and waited patiently while she finished her circuit.

- "Three, Lord." she said. "There were two at the gate. I suspect you've dealt with them already. And I don't see Kalais."

- "I think he's outside." said Borna.

- "There are also three of your men." said Kanni. "They're being held in one of the houses. They're tied up, but they haven't been mistreated. One of them is badly hurt."

- "Can you show me?" he asked. "Ljudevit - keep watch. Khoren - with me."

While they were gone, I got Garine into a sitting position, with her back against the wall. Her sister, Noyemi, watched me do this. I wasn't the one who had struck the girl, but I felt ashamed nonetheless.

None of the captives gave me any trouble. A long while later, Borna returned, with Kanni and Khoren, and three of our own warriors.

Dirayr was our horse master. His father had been a warrior with Borna's grandfather, and then served Gosdan. Dirayr would have followed in his sire's footsteps, but Gosdan noticed that he had a way with the ponies. He was respected in our steading, for his knowledge, and for his patience - with horses, if not with people.

Dirayr was still young - only a few years older than Borna and me. He was honest as the day is long, and a decent fellow.

Priit was a tremendous fighter. When it came time for Borna to choose a Hand, I feared that he might choose Priit, who was better than me with spear, and sword, and shield. He was also honest, loyal, and humble. I would not have blamed Borna, had he chosen Priit over me.

I greeted them all warmly, and embraced each one.

- "Who's the third?" I asked.

- "Ontran. Wounded." said Dirayr. "In the gut. He won't last the week."

- "I'm sorry." I said.

It was no surprise that Asrava had taken them prisoner. The warriors of a druzhina are dependent upon their lord. It is the Hospodar who provides them with weapons, a horse, a house, and food and drink in his hall.

With Gosdan's death, these men would have to find a way to support themselves. As horrible as it may sound - since Asrava was the one who had betrayed their leader - they would have had no real recourse other than joining the warband of another Lord.

Dirayr was a valuable commodity, given his expertise with horses. If he had the gumption, or the confidence, he could negotiate a privileged place for himself. Priit and the others were just warriors. They would need to find a lord, and take what was offered.

Maigon had said that he was going to install his brother, Vazrig, in Gosdan's place. It was Vazrig, then - or Asrava. A hard choice. But now, the decision was simple - with Borna back from the dead, as it must have seemed to them.

The odds against us were truly appalling. And our families would be vulnerable. But men most often prefer not to think, or to truly weigh difficult choices. It's easier to stick to simple principles. Gosdan was their lord, so their loyalty must belong to his surviving son. If Borna could feed and support them, these men would follow him, without question.

In the daylight, we were able to see who we had killed. There were 19 bodies. Four belonged to servants - in the dark, we hadn't been able to distinguish them from warriors. But Asrava, his Hand, and 13 members of his warband were dead at our hands.