The Chronicles of Hvad Ch. 02

It was a simple matter for us to set up camp in one of the clearings, hidden from sight, and to conceal the horses there. It was long past blueberry season, so we were unlikely to be disturbed by accident. Someone would have to know we were there, and be actively looking.

Borna asked Dirayr to watch the horses - and the women.

That left four of us. We went on foot, leading a single horse. We skirted the edge of the forest until dusk. Still several miles from the steading, Borna stopped outside a farmer's house. I knew the place: it belonged to Ontran's father.

Borna knocked on the door, and then stepped back, keeping his hands in plain sight. The old farmer was no fool. When he opened the door, and saw the Hospodar`s son standing there, he didn`t hesitate. He waved us in right away.

Khoren was left outside, with the horse, to keep watch, in case someone had seen us approach the house. Priit was a close friend of the family, so he came in with us.

- "My Lord." said the farmer. He sank to one knee, with a visible effort.

- "I'm not your lord." replied Borna. "Not until I can reclaim our steading. If I can't protect my own, you don't owe me anything."

- "You are the Hospodar." insisted the old man. He had been a warrior in his day, and a good one, before the stiffness had crept into his joints. "The steading is only a symbol. And how can you protect us, if we don't rally to you?"

His wife came forward, and knelt beside her husband.

- "Don't kneel." said Borna. He lifted her to her feet. "Mother - I came with news. Your son wasn't killed in the ambush. But he was badly hurt, and captured."

- "I was captured with him." said Priit. "That very night, though, Borna came, with Ljudevit and Khoren. They killed Asrava, and every one of his warriors. Fourteen of them."

The old warrior swelled visibly, with pride. He levered himself to his feet, with a grimace of pain. "Mother, we have to feed these boys. They've done good work."

- "I'm sorry." continued Borna. "We brought Ontran back with us. But ... he died last night."

The old man was silent for a moment. Then he nodded. "At least he died among friends."

That was all he said. I saw a tear in his wife's eyes, but she continued to prepare food, as if she hadn't just learned that her son was dead. They would grieve, in their own time - but not in front of us.

She produced bread, and cheese, and some smoked sausage. They didn't have much, but they would have given it all to us, and gone without themselves.

- "What happened at the steading?" asked Borna.

- "I haven't been," said the farmer, "but Mother here can say. It makes for hard telling."

She hung her head. "They ... they dishonoured your father, Lord. And your brother. They took their heads, and .."

- "Stuck them on spears outside the main gate." spat the old man. "Like Upland barbarians!"

- "We expected as much." said Borna. "We found their bodies - theirs and the rest of our dead. We buried them."

At Borna's request, the old man took up the story from the very beginning. Maigon had arrived outside our steading just before dusk last night. After the ambush, they must have ridden directly here. Gosdan had left over thirty warriors behind, when we travelled to Asrava's steading, but they weren't all inside the stockade.

Borna's mother, Elo, was faced with a vastly superior force - nearly 75 men, commanded by Maigon, Vazrig, and Mushtal. She capitulated. Our warriors who were inside the steading were summoned to the Great Hall, where they were disarmed. Maigon offered them honourable employment, with his grandfather, with Asrava, or with their new Hospodar - Vazrig.

- "No one knew, Lord, if you were alive or not. They had ... they didn't have your head. But no one was brave enough to stand up and say so."

The next day - earlier today - Maigon's men had started taking hostages from the families of Gosdan's warriors, to ensure their compliance. After noon, they shut the gates, and stopped allowing anyone to leave.

That was all the old couple knew. Word travelled fast, in communities like ours, but until we could speak to someone inside the steading, we couldn't be sure what was going on.

Borna thanked them.

- "No." said the old man. "Thank you, Lord. And if I should be speaking to anyone who would like to know where you are, what should I say?"

- "Blueberries." said Borna. He didn't need to ask them to be careful who they told.

- "Can we help to bury Ontran?" I asked.

- "Best if it's left to us." said his father.

- "I understand." said Borna. He embraced the old man, and then his wife.

We brought Khoren some of the food, and regrouped outside.

- "Now what?" he said.

- "Now we kill Maigon." said Borna "And Vazrig. And Mushtal."

- "Good." said Khoren.

- "They have seventy men - or more." I pointed out. "And the gates are closed."

- "There are other ways in." said Borna.

He was right about that. As children, we had discovered every place along our palisade wall where we could slip between the logs. There were even one or two spots where the wall looked perfectly solid, but wasn't - and Maigon would know nothing of them.

- "Stop your pissin'." Khoren said - to me. "They have no idea that we're here."

- "They're on guard inside." I insisted. "If they took hostages, that means they expect trouble. They closed the gates." Then a thought struck me. "And let's say we do get inside the Hall - how do we avoid killing our own people, in the dark?"

Priit might not know, but Borna and Khoren would remember. While we stabbed the sleeping warriors in Asrava's Hall, we had also killed four servants by mistake. It was impossible to tell them apart from fighting men.

Borna looked unconvinced by my arguments.

- "What if we run into trouble?" I asked him, quietly. "What's the backup plan?"

- "Meet at the blasted tree." he said. There was an old, tall white pine that had been struck by lightning when we were seven years old. The four of us could find it blindfolded, if need be.

- "Sure." I said. "The four of us run. But what about Dirayr? We stir up a hornet's nest, and tomorrow morning we'll have fifty men out looking for us. Mounted. What are the chances that they'll find our tracks? That would lead them straight to our horses."

"We had nothing to lose, two nights ago." I said. "But tonight, we do. They'll retaliate, Borna. Our families ..."

Borna grit his teeth. He really wanted to act. Surprise was our only advantage. Finally, he nodded. "You're right. We have to hide the horses - and the women - before we try anything."

- "So that's it?" grumbled Khoren. "We're going to run and hide?"

- "I don't know about running." answered Borna. "But we have some hiding to do."

***

- "We should have gone in, last night." said Khoren. "We had surprise on our side. Just like at Asrava's."

- "Ljudevit was right." said Borna.

- "He's chickenshit." said Khoren. "He's scared."

I'm not entirely sure if I was intended to hear this exchange. We were moving the captured gear deeper into the woods. It wasn't a great hiding place, but if we had to leave in a hurry, it might not be found.

Khoren had drawn Borna aside, and started to talk to him. Unfortunately, Khoren didn't lower his voice - and I wasn't the only one who heard him.

Noyemi was carrying a shield on each arm, and had just finished passing the first one to me when we heard their conversation. She didn't say anything, but I could feel her eyes upon me. Maybe that's what spurred me to act.

- "He was right about hostages, Khoren. I have to think this through." said Borna. He stopped, and looked up as I approached.

- "You two should lower your voices." I said. "We could hear you from way over there. And by 'we', I mean me - and Noyemi."

I looked straight at Khoren. "You want to repeat any of that, to my face?"

I don't quite know what I was thinking. If he did repeat it, I would have to go for him - and he would probably kick the shit out of me. Or even kill me. But I couldn't just let it pass.

Khoren didn't get a chance to answer. Borna forestalled him.

- "No - he doesn't."

Borna didn't even look at Khoren. The big brute didn't challenge him. He just scowled.

***

Later that day, Borna called us together.

- "We have to move the horses. When Maigon and Vazrig find out what happened at Asrava's, they may figure out where we are. If they search for us, and get too close, I want to be able to pull back - deeper into the woods."

"But we can't do that if we have all these horses."

"Dirayr - I want you to take the horses to pasture. Let them graze."

- "Hard to do, for one man." said the horse master.

- "I know." said Borna. "We'll help you take the horses there. You'll find herders at the fall pastures who'll help, once they see you. Find men who'll keep them for us, over the winter."

Dirayr was about to speak, but Borna forestalled him. "I know - I'll pay. We'll try to get our hands on some grain, and I can pay in coin, if need be. Or in horses. And listen: the horses are important to me, but you're more important - by far. If the enemy finds you, you run. Fuck the horses."

- "He doesn't mean that literally." said Priit, with a gap-toothed grin.

But Dirayr looked unhappy. Borna saw it, too.

- "What is it?"

Dirayr didn't want to say anything, but Borna insisted. "Out with it."

- "It's just ... why me? Last night, and now this ..."

I could see Dirayr's concern. Last night, Borna had taken Priit, with Khoren and me, leaving Dirayr to watch the horses and the women. Now he was getting herding duty, while Priit would remain with us.

It may sound childish, but all the men in a druzhina worry about their rank. Their place at the table, or in the pecking order, matters to them. It's a bit like wolves in a pack - no one wants to be the lowest. There will be some snarling and snapping over who eats first, or who sits higher at the table.

Borna handled it well.

- "I can't send my Hand." he said. "And Khoren ... well. So it comes down to you or Priit. And you're better with horses than he is."

- "That's true enough." said Priit.

- "So Priit can stay here, and guard the women. Unless you have a better suggestion."

Dirayr would have seen it himself, had he stopped to think about it. He was smart enough to see it now, and had the sense to apologize.

- "What about the two lame ones?" he asked.

- "I'll keep those - and two more, in case I need to find you in a hurry." said Borna.

We worked through the day, and saw them off.

Khoren was frustrated, and took it out on Garine, that night. She didn't scream, this time, but it was still unpleasant to hear their thrashing about in the dark.

I was frustrated, because there was nothing I could do about it.

And I suspect that Borna was uncomfortable. He may have regretted giving Garine to Khoren. But he was also stymied by our situation.

Despite our great success at Asrava's steading, we seemed to be no further ahead. The horses, and all the loot we had taken, were a mixed blessing, at best. Borna would need horses, and money, if he was to build a warband. But now he had to hide the loot, or protect it. I wonder, sometimes, about having more possessions than you can comfortably carry.

Was Asrava ever content, knowing that he had a hoard of coins buried beneath the floor? Or did he worry about it all the time? We had food, weapons and armour, furs, Asrava's coins, the horses, and female captives. Now we had to guard them. So it seemed to me that our possessions were a burden, rather than a blessing.

Khoren wanted to attack, to strike at our foes. I did, too, but I could see Borna's dilemma. His mother and sisters were in the enemy's hands. He didn't share all of his thoughts with me, or with anyone else.

The next day, someone found our camp behind the blueberry patch.

Three someones. We saw them coming, on foot, and recognized them before they got close.

The leader of the little group was Lovro. He was a strong warrior, a good fighter. He was also by far the ugliest man in the whole steading. Lovro's head was long and narrow. He had a remarkably long chin, as well. His beard concealed that, a bit - but it also made his head appear even longer and narrower. A huge, misshaped nose didn't help his appearance any.

He was a tall, lanky fellow, with incredibly long arms. His reach gave him a big advantage in a fight. Lovro could beat almost everyone in a sparring match.

With him was Abirad, who was also tall, but much heavier. Abirad had a rounder, fleshier face, and long, curly hair. He was a bit vain. We had a nickname for Abirad; we called him 'Misery'. He was the biggest complainer, and the most pessimistic man I'd ever met.

The third member of their party was much shorter - but then, he was only 15 years old. Shant was Mihran's son. He was dark-haired, and dark-eyed. Shant looked young for his age, especially because the shield and spear he carried were too big for him.

Borna embraced each of them in turn.

- "Now we're talking!" said Khoren.

Abirad sniffed, and curled his lip. "This is it?"

I could understand Abirad's disappointment. Only a few days ago, they had watched seventeen of us ride out. It was even more disheartening when we tried to ascertain where our next support would come from.

There were members of Gosdan's druzhina who were married. They would not leave their wives unprotected while our enemies occupied the steading. Some of these men had children, as well. The younger, single men had parents and siblings who depended on them. I couldn't blame any of these fellows for not abandoning their families to come hide with us in the woods.

Lovro, Abirad, and young Shant had raised our spirits when they first appeared. But as we talked over the situation, our morale began to wilt.

*****