The Chronicles of Hvad Ch. 05

HVAD CHAPTER 5

In the morning, Borna showed no ill-effects from the heavy drinking of the night before. He made no mention of our strange conversation, either. Instead, he was all business. The storm had passed, so that the day was cold, but clear.

He had all of Mushtal's horses gathered. There were thirty of them. He gave one to each of the four men who had decided not to join us. It was a gift, he said, out of gratitude for their service to his father. They were embarrassed, although I don't believe that Borna intended to shame them.

The remainder of the beasts we loaded with food and drink, furs and weapons. Then we set fire to the great hall, and watched it burn.

- "Twice is enough." said Borna. "I don't want to have to capture this place a third time."

We burned every house and building in the steading. Borna spared the people's lives, but left them homeless, in the middle of winter. They would have to find friends or relatives to take them in. He did not destroy the food we could not carry, however - Mushtal's people would not starve.

- "He's ruthless." said Priit. "But not cruel."

- "Clever, too." I said. "These folk know what Mushtal and Vazrig did in our steading. They'll be grateful that we didn't behave in the same way. And the tale will spread - people will hear of Borna's mercy, and his generosity."

Eight of our old companions rejoined us, along with the three women who wanted to be warriors. With them came wives, children, and a few older parents.

- "Can we feed them all?" I asked Borna.

- "We'll find a way." he said.

- "You're not bringing Lulalme along, are you?" I was already envisioning a potentially difficult encounter between Kanni and Asrava's concubine.

Borna laughed. "No, Ljudevit. I don't think that would be wise."

We picked up the two foresters, and the rest of the horses. The trip back was not so hard as the outbound journey. It was cold, but we had plenty of furs, and Borna allowed us to build fires, under Kawehka's supervision.

It would be a lie to say that the new arrivals settled in happily. There were several happy reunions. But most of the newcomers were unprepared for the conditions that awaited them. We had tried to warn them, to lower their expectations, but the reality came as an unpleasant surprise for most.

Nanaidh showed her worth immediately. She reprimanded anyone who complained, or grumbled. She reminded them that Borna's stalwarts had been living in these conditions for months. Had these words come from me, or even from Borna, they might have sparked resentment, or even a revolt. But no one could argue with Nanaidh.

I thanked her.

- "Never mind." she said. "It's we who should be thanking you. We're feeling a bit out of sorts - but part of that is guilt. That we didn't rally to Borna at the very beginning. Like Lovro. Or Shant."

- "You had families to worry about." I said.

- "That's what we kept telling ourselves. A few thought that Borna was dead. And yes, there was the issue of hostages. But I think that most of us were simply stunned. We had no ... no preparation for this sort of thing."

"The rapes, the murder ... what they did to Hravar. These things should have been enough to help us see the light. Mushtal was a brute, Ljudevit. But Vazrig is a wild animal. He has to be put down."

"It's our shame that we didn't resist him when we could - or when we should have."

- "He would have killed you." I pointed out.

Nanaidh snorted. "Is that the only time to fight? When you think you'll win?"

She made it sound so simple. But the first conversation I had to have when we returned was anything but.

- "Your brother is dead." I told Noyemi.

- "How did he die?" she asked.

- "In a fair fight, outside the hall." I related the whole story to her. I'm not sure why - maybe I thought that it would soften the impact.

- "Is that where you were wounded?"

- "Eh? Yes -" I realized then that the worst of my story was yet to come. We had burned her steading. Her family were dead, but now she could never go back, either. Her home was gone. The people she had known were scattered.

We had killed her father, brother, and sister. In my opinion, all three of them deserved to die. But Noyemi didn't deserve to have her home, her entire life destroyed. And we had done that to her. Had we ruined her life? Or had we somehow saved her from those baleful influences?

- "I'll ask Borna to free you." I said.

- "He'll say no." she replied.

- "You don't know that."

Noyemi looked at me, once, and then sadly shook her head. "We both know that. I'm a threat to him, because of who I am. He doesn't want to kill me, but he won't let me go."

I sat with her for a long time, though we said very little after that.

***

We hacked into the hillside, to dig out more shelters. Well, the others did - I wasn't much help, with only one hand. The ground was cold, and hard, but not quite frozen. The men cut down trees, as quickly as they could, and shaped them into a crude wall of logs.

Kawehka and the foresters hunted, and provided us with meat that they would have eaten in years to come. We also mounted two small expeditions, and stole livestock from small farms. We robbed people who should have had a right to our protection.

Meanwhile, our Hospodar continued to train Shant, and Tsoline, and now the three new women. He enlisted the help of some of the warriors, and kept them busy, sharing their skills, and keeping them sharp.

Spring finally came, and the weather improved. That brought new challenges - and opportunities. After a month of babying my injured shoulder, I felt ready to use two hands - and two arms - again.

Vazrig resumed his 'sweeps', descending on the clearings behind the blueberry patches, hoping to catch us off guard. The foresters watched them, and then let us know when they were gone.

Once, they nearly did catch us. After a 'surprise sweep', as we had begun to call these sudden descents, Vazrig's men left - but they were back only a few hours later, at top speed. They caught sight of two of Kawehka's foresters, who had to scamper into the deep woods in a hurry.

- "Clever bastard." said Lovro.

- "Not so clever." I said.

- "Oh no?" said Borna.

The bare kernel of the idea was mine - everything else was Borna: the timing, the execution, the allocation of tasks.

We waited, armed and ready, for eleven days. Critical work went undone. It was frustrating, and dispiriting. People began to grumble, though not when Nanaidh was nearby.

Many were ready to give up after the third day. Borna held to our purpose, though, and dominated by sheer force of will. No one could say 'no' to him - not directly.

And on the eleventh day, it happened.

The foresters watched, from one of their concealed vantage points, as Vazrig and forty of his warriors rode from the steading. Tsoline immediately ran to tell us.

We were not at our camp, deep in the forest. Instead, we were hidden in a small clearing only half an hour's march from the steading. We had been waiting there, every day, for ten days. Now, finally, Vazrig was on the move.

It would take our enemies the better part of two hours to ride to the blueberry patch - and back. In that time, there would only be ten of their warriors left in the steading.

- "The gates?" Borna asked.

- "Closed and barred behind them." said Tsoline.

- "No matter. Let's move!"

There were half a dozen places along the log-wall of our steading where a small child could slip through without much difficulty. There were two - three, at a pinch - where a youth could squeeze past.

Gosdan had never expected to be attacked in his own steading. A palisade was no serious obstacle, if your enemy outnumbered you more than two to one. Since there were no such enemies within a hundred miles, there was little point to upgrading or even maintaining the steading's log wall.

Borna showed them the spot. Shant, Nanaidh, Tsoline, and Fimi were able to squeeze through. The other woman was too broad in the shoulder and the hips. Surprisingly, two young foresters were also able to fit through the gap.

Beside me, Lovro grinned. I knew that those two would be teased, later, with jokes about their slender, girlish hips, or some other such nonsense.

For now, the two groups moved along the wall - one inside, one outside - towards the main gate.

It was broad daylight. People were tending gardens, or otherwise working, outside the wall. They would see us. But by the time they could raise the alarm, it would be too late. Everything depended on how swiftly Shant could lead our infiltrators to the gate - and how many of Vazrig's warriors were guarding it.

The answer to that last question, it turned out, was two. Neither wore armour, or carried a shield. Tsoline and the foresters had their bows - they killed one guard, and wounded the other. Nanaidh leapt at the injured man, and finished him off.

They unbarred the gate, and the rest of us swarmed in: Borna, with fifteen armed and armoured warriors, plus Kawehka. Seventeen - oddly, the same number that had ridden out with Gosdan, headed for Asrava's steading.

Lovro took half the warriors, and the foresters, and swept through the settlement, looking for enemies. Borna went directly to the great hall. By now, there were shouts, and screams, here and there. We ran past women and children that we did not recognize.

Three warriors waited for us, just outside the hall. They had enough warning to take up weapons and shields. But they quailed when saw our numbers.

Khoren charged at one of them, and seized the rim of the fellow's shield. He yanked it down, and then thrust his sword over the top, into the man's unarmoured chest.

The last two turned and fled. Borna chased one down, and leapt on his back. They crashed down to the ground, weapons clattering, in a jumble of arms and legs. But Borna was atop his man, and drove his blade into the warrior's back.

The third man threw away his shield, and outraced us to the back of the hall. We found him in the family quarters.

- "Stay back!" he shouted. "Or I'll kill her!"

He had one arm wrapped around the neck of Borna's mother, Elo. The other hand held a knife, which he pressed against her side. Elo looked more surprised than frightened. Her eyes went wide when she caught sight of her son.

Borna stopped, and waved us all back. Then he held up one hand.

- "You won't kill her." he said, calmly, taking a step toward them, and then another.

- "Stay back! "I'll kill her!"

- "You said that." remarked Borna, in a remarkably casual tone. "But I don't think you will." He took another step. "Here - I'll put my sword down."

Borna moved forward again. But he continued to speak to the desperate man, calmly as he had begun. "You won't kill her - because you know that if you do, you'll follow her immediately. If she dies, you won't leave here alive."

"Besides, you won't kill her at that angle. The worst you'll do is wound her. Look where your knife point is."

Perhaps it was Borna's calm tone, or the fact that he had dropped his sword. Whatever the reason, Vazrig's warrior made a simple mistake. He looked down, at his own weapon.

Borna lunged. The man lifted his arm, extending his short blade to stab Borna - he really didn't intend to kill Borna's mother. But he uncurled his arm from around her neck, and spun Elo away from him.

His feet were badly placed. He was not thrusting at Borna, or stabbing - he merely held up his knife to fend him off. Borna batted the blade aside, and tackled the fellow, driving his shoulder into his opponent's midriff.

Khoren and I were there a moment later. I stepped on the fallen warrior's knife, disarming him. Khoren stabbed him in the ribs. And then in the chest, as Borna rolled away.

I couldn't help shaking my head in disgust. We could have taken him prisoner. If we held some of Vazrig's men, he might refrain from retaliating against our kin, or some of the innocent people in the steading. But Khoren had to kill the fellow. Idiot.

Borna helped his mother to her feet.

- "Are you hurt?"

- "I'm ... well, now." she said. "You look ... "

- " 'I look', Mother? How do I look?"

- "Like a man." said Elo. She could barely meet her own son's eyes.

- "Where are my sisters?" asked Borna.

- "Maigon sent for them. He had them brought to Manahir. I don't think he trusted ... his brother ... not to ..." Elo could not finish. Borna embraced her again.

- "You're safe now. You're with me."

We had no wish to linger. Vazrig and his men would return. Though our numbers had swelled, we still couldn't face forty warriors in the open.

But there were two things that needed to be done before we could leave. First, we rejoined Lovro's group. They had found three more of Vazrig's men. One was dead, but Lovro, at least, had the sense to take the other two prisoner.

Then we ransacked the hall, the stables, and several other buildings. We took thirteen horses, food, weapons, sleeping furs, and tools. Then we smashed casks of ale and cider, and spoiled the food we could not carry.

But the second thing that needed to be done was far more heartwarming. Hravar's wife and young son stood outside their house as we approached. Their faces were a sight to behold, as Hravar walked up to them.

- "I'm back." he said.

- "You - we thought ... you were dead." She could barely speak. She had never expected to see her husband alive. Her son simply embraced his father, and shed his tears freely.

To explain how Hravar was still alive, I must go back to the day he came to our camp.[1]

We sat by the fire, late into the night, trying to find a way out of Hravar's cruel dilemma. If he returned to Vazrig, he would have to reveal the location of our camp. We could not uproot everyone and move. But if we ambushed our enemies, it was obvious that his wife and son would pay the price.

If Hravar failed to return, the same held true. He had come to the conclusion that he had to die, to save his wife and child. Borna, Lovro and Dirayr, Priit and I sat with him, partly in commiseration, partly still hoping to find a solution. Even Shant and Berit kept us company.

Khoren was off shagging Garine. But Abirad, who was Hravar's kinsman, was also missing. Of all of us, he was the one who should have been closest to Hravar, supporting him, or trying to help. Even sitting near him would have been ... something.

Instead, he complained that he was feeling unwell, and wandered off. In his kinsman's hour of need, Abirad was not there. And yet it was Abirad who provided the solution we were so desperately seeking.

After Borna had kicked him in the groin, Abirad had ceased grumbling. Well, to be more accurate, he had stopped talking at all. No one was unhappy about that. It was a relief not to have to listen to his litany of complaints.

But he wasn't happy. Abirad must have believed that Borna had mistreated him. He didn't tell anyone, though. Instead, he nursed his grievance, and tried to think of a way to regain his self-respect. He wanted to get back at Borna, in some way.

He was not stupid enough to challenge Borna directly.

We heard a man scream, and every single one of us leapt to his - or her - feet. We raced towards the sound.

It was Abirad. His hands were cupped to the side of his face, and his eye. There was blood - and something worse, leaking between his fingers.

Noyemi stood there, with a bloody dagger in her hand.

The story took us a moment to uncover. It was this:

- Abirad tried to rape Kanni. He choked her, and then stuffed a scarf in her mouth, while he forced her knees apart with his own. When we found her, she was coughing, and gasping for breath

- Noyemi heard Kanni's struggles. When she came to investigate, she saw Abirad's pale buttocks, as he tried to lower his pants with one hand, while simultaneously holding Kanni down

- With remarkable presence of mind, Noyemi reached into Abirad's belt, which was nearly at his knees, and drew his dagger. Abirad sense her presence, and turned his head

- Noyemi swung her arm, intending to stick the dagger in his ear, but Abirad twisted and pulled away. The tip of the dagger pierced his eye and glanced off his cheekbone

- Abirad screamed

Priit and Dirayr hauled him to his feet. Abirad's pants fell about his ankles. Lovro could not even look at his erstwhile companion. Hravar's face twisted into a disgusted scowl.

- "How could you?" he said.

Borna looked to Kanni first. She was able to breathe, and seemed not to have suffered any permanent damage.

I took the dagger from Noyemi's fingers. "You did right." I told her.

That was when the idea came to me. I broached it to Borna.

- "Hold the trial now." I said. He didn't say a word - but he nodded once.

Abirad was entitled to a trial, and to call witnesses, if he wished. Normally, he would be given time to do this, but these were exceptional circumstances.

Hravar, had he been so inclined, could have argued on Abirad's behalf. He did not. No one spoke in his defence. The facts were plain, and Kanni was able to speak. Her simple testimony was all we needed.

Borna looked at every one of his warriors in turn: Khoren, Lovro, Dirayr, Priit, and Hravar. Then he looked to Shant and Berit, though they were not officially entitled to voice their opinions.

He was about to pronounce sentence when I interrupted him.

I spoke quietly, but rapidly. And if I do say so myself - effectively. No one opposed me, and many nodded in silent agreement. Khoren scowled, but remained silent. Hravar could have spoken up - but he did not.

That was how it came to be.

We shaved Abirad's head, and clipped his beard. Then we put his other eye out.

It was cruel. But this way, no one would be able to tell the difference between Abirad and Hravar at a distance. Khoren broke Abirad's nose, as an added touch. Finally, we jammed Hravar's dented helmet onto his head.

We gagged him, and two others helped me drag him out, within sight of the steading. There we executed the sentence for attempted rape. We put Abirad to death, and then took his head, so that no one from our steading would be able to tell that it wasn't Hravar.

No one in Borna's little warband objected at the time, and no one ever came to me afterwards, to say that we had been in the wrong.

Hravar's wife was overcome with emotion. She embraced Borna, and wept on his shoulder. He whispered in her ear. Then, her eyes bright with tears, she took my hand, and squeezed it.

Sometimes - not often, but sometimes - the Fates can be kind.

***

It was odd to have Borna's mother with us. Elo had always kept to the background. She advised her husband and disciplined her children in private. I was unaccustomed to the sound of her voice.

She was even quieter now. Whenever Borna spoke to her, she would whisper, so that I wouldn't hear. Everyone treated her with the utmost respect. It wasn't only for her status as a Hospodar's wife, and mother, but for what she had been through.

Hravar and his wife, on the other hand, were a source of great joy for everyone who saw them. Their boy raced and bounded through the camp like an excitable puppy. His parents were often seen holding hands, or whispering to each other.

The spring came, and our food situation became more acute. We had stolen supplies, and the foresters hunted, but there were almost fifty people to feed - half of them non-combatants.

We didn't dare to raid for supplies again. Vazrig was making some kind of move virtually every day. He would swoop down on the clearings, as before. But on a few occasions, his men rode from the steading, only to turn around and race back, hoping to surprise us.

They made brief forays into other parts of the forest, looking to find a trail, or some sign which would lead them to us. They came nowhere near us, but it did make us leery of venturing too far.