The Chronicles of Hvad Ch. 06

- "Borna's Hand?" said Imants. "Your name is known."

- "You've heard of me?" I was surprised.

- "Your Lord's fame is spreading. I would very much like to speak with you, Ljudevit, if you can spare the time. There is much I would know - and much that I wish to verify."

I was stunned. The arrival of a guslar was significant, of course. But I wasn't thinking only of the entertainment he could provide. Guslars sang songs, and recited poems. Their favourite subjects were the deeds of men of valour.

Many men were greedy for gold, or women. This is probably true in other lands, too. But few Hvadi could resist the allure of fame. No guslar would sing of how much money a man acquired. Instead, they could, and did celebrate great deeds, courage, and generosity. Men could come to be immortalized in this way.

If this Imants wanted to talk with me, it could only be about Borna. That meant that he was working on a song, or a poem - and that Borna was his subject. This could prove invaluable. I brought Imants straight to Borna.

They took to one another immediately. Neither was blind to the advantages of cultivating the other, but I do believe that there was genuine liking between them. That very night, Imants agreed to sing for us.

He performed two old favourites, and did a very good job with them. We'd heard them before, of course, but Imants added a few details which were new, without losing any of the flavour of the originals. The applause was well-earned.

Then he played a song we had never heard before. It was called Borna Vrej.

He described the treachery of Asrava, the betrayal of Gosdan and Antras, and the taking of their heads - which he expressed in terms of repugnance. Obviously, he had not performed this piece for Manahir and his grandsons.

Imants sang of Borna's escape, and then his decision to strike back immediately. Khoren and I were briefly mentioned. He was referred to as 'strong-arm'd Khoren'; I was 'brave Ljudevit', so that the metre matched.

The song told of our daring attack on Asrava's steading, where we vanquished double the number of foes who had actually been there.

Our folk loved it. Imants became the most popular person among us overnight. He was young, but showed promise. His voice was deep, and resonant. He had that certain quality - a kind of solemnity - which made his performance seem serious, and important.

I wondered, though, how Noyemi would take it, since her father appeared as the principal villain of the piece.

- "You alright?" I asked her.

- "Yes. Why?" she replied. "Oh - the song? It was very well done. He has a good voice."

- "Borna asked me to look after the guslar." I said. "I'll need your help - yours and Kanni's."

Noyemi nodded. "I'll help."

After that, the guslar followed Borna nearly everywhere he went, silently observing. When he had the opportunity, he asked questions. Imants was already surprisingly well-informed, but there were topics about which he knew very little - such as our battle against Vazrig, or our most recent raid.

- "You've certainly stolen quite a few horses." he said.

- "Worth a song?" asked Borna, with a grin.

- "Perhaps - if I can find a better title than 'The Polite Raid'." said Imants.

When Borna was too busy, the guslar would ask me for a story, or for more detail about a story he already knew of. He also followed Lovro, Dirayr and Priit, and was more than ready to sit with Kanni and Noyemi. He spent time with Hravar, and with Nanaidh, too.

But I was his most frequent target, because I was Borna's Hand, and had known him from childhood. I'd been there from the beginning. And that led to me being featured in one of his songs.

We were by the well, in the steading. Imants was asking me, for the eleventh time, about Borna's childhood. Noyemi sat nearby, listening politely. Or perhaps she was interested - she had not heard most of these stories before. It was a warm day, so I was drawing some water for us.

Aigars and another man were on watch at the gates that day. I saw Aigars approaching with three strangers, each leading a horse.

- "Three new men." he declared. "They've come to see Borna." He couldn't bring himself to tell a little lie, and introduce me as Borna.

- "Then you've come to the right place." I said, standing a little straighter. It's remarkably difficult to look like a warlord when you're holding a bucket. And unarmed.

- "Want me to water your horses?" offered Aigars.

- "S'alright." said one of the men. "We wanted to show them to Borna."

- "Suit yerself." said Aigars. He walked off towards the gate.

That was my first inkling that something was amiss. Only Dirayr would have turned down a friendly offer to water his horse. At first glance, I couldn't see anything special about these particular horses. All of our other new recruits had come on foot. Hospodars gave their men mounts - how had these men earned theirs?

- "Where've you come from?" I asked them.

- "East of here." said the first man. "Near t'the Uplands."

His answer didn't sit well with me. That was when I noticed something about the horses. The Uplands were at least three full days' ride away; yet these men's mounts looked relatively fresh. It was past mid-day. Had they been riding from far away, their horses should have been hot, sweaty - and thirsty.

They were looking at me oddly.

- "Everything alright?" I asked.

- "It's just ... you're not quite what I was expecting." said the same fellow.

- "That's exactly what I said, when we first met." said Imants.

I laughed, and introduced them to him.

- "You have a guslar?"

- "Imants is our guest." I answered. "Speaking of which - I've been remiss. Noyemi - would you get some food for our guests?" I reached out a hand, and helped her to her feet. I pulled her close, as if I was kissing her cheek.

"And send the first warriors you see to me." I whispered.

"You fellows thirsty?" I asked, loudly.

- "I wouldn't say no to a drink." said the first of them. He was the only one who had spoken. But I had not lost sight of the others. The first two handed their reins to the third, the youngest-looking of the trio. Then they came around the well.

By now I was fully alert. Most people, when they first meet Borna, act very differently. They can't take their eyes off him, for one thing. They are finally seeing the man they have come - sometimes a great distance - to see. Or they talk to him, telling him who they are, and why they have come.

This held true even when it was only me, impersonating Borna. But these three had relatively little to say; they were also looking about the steading more than they were at me. There was nothing remarkable or unusual about this place, that it should attract their attention. They were acting too casually, as well. I didn't expect them to be fearful, or intimidated - but they were meeting a Hospodar, after all.

In hindsight, I suppose that I could have simply dropped the bucket and run for help. It would have looked quite odd, though, if these three men were innocent. I must admit that my first thought was to get Noyemi away from them, and my second was that I shouldn't leave Imants alone.

Guslars were neutral in any feud, and should not be harmed. But I couldn't forget the fate of Teeth, Gosdan's guslar.

By the time these thoughts had flashed through my head, and I'd sent Noyemi on her way, the two men were approaching. The leader began to talk, telling me that he knew of more people that were on their way.

The second man came around the well in the opposite direction - behind me.

I smiled at the first one, though I was no longer paying attention to what he was saying. I was busy pouring the water back into the well. Then I spun on my heel. The second man was three yards away, and his hand was on the hilt of his knife.

So I continued to spin, and swung the empty bucket at his head. Who expects to be attacked with a bucket? I caught him a good whack on the side of the head, and knocked him to the dirt. That bucket was solidly built.

I spun around in the other direction, and swung the bucket, but the talker hopped back a step, and drew his own weapon.

The horse-holder dropped the reins, and sprinted around the well, aiming to come up behind me. He pulled out an axe as he ran. Imants was backing away, but he was also shouting for help.

Talker lunged at me with his blade, but I swung the bucket at his extended arm. We both missed.

He chose to hack at me, instead. I realized that the bucket would make a very poor shield, so I chucked it at his head, and danced back a couple of steps. That brought me closer to his friend, coming up behind me.

Then I did something that I hadn't tried since Borna and I were kids. I leapt up onto the edge of the well, and jumped across. I landed a bit more heavily than I had intended, startling the three horses.

My two assailants reversed their directions, and came at me from both sides of the well. I retreated between two of the horses. My pursuers had an axe and a long knife - I had my bare hands.

That's when Nanaidh arrived, at a run, with Durra and Siret a few paces behind.

The men intent on murdering me could perhaps be forgiven for taking their new opponents lightly. They probably saw these women as a distraction, to be brushed aside so that they could on with the job of killing me.

- "I've got them." said Talker. "Finish him." he told his companion.

Nanaidh nearly took Talker's head off. He barely got his own blade up in time to block hers, and such was the force of her blow that his own knife was driven back into his forehead, gashing him badly.

Then Durra stuck her spear into his stomach.

The last attacker came for me, but I pulled at a horse's halter, and got the beast between him and me. While he tried to decide which way to come around at me, Siret drove her spear into his back.

It was over that quickly. Durra didn't settle for stabbing Talker once; she drove him to the ground, then pulled out her spear and plunged it into his heart.

Siret had seriously wounded the third man. The second, who was still stunned by his encounter with the bucket, lived long enough to tell Borna who had sent him.

- "Manahir." he said.

Maigon's grandfather. The Ban of Yeseriya.

Borna asked several more questions, and got very informative answers. Then he had all three would-be assassins hanged - even though one was already dead.

***

The very next evening, Imants performed a new piece.

- "I call this one 'Borna's Bucket'." he said.

It began as an epic, but quickly changed into something lighter, almost comic. It was the guslar's re-telling of the events he had witnessed firsthand. I was the main character, and Noyemi made an appearance. Imants made no secret of the fact that he had been present.

Now I understood why he had asked me so many questions that morning: how had I known that they were assassins? Why hadn't I simply fled, or called for help?

He wove all of these things into his tale, which reached a high point when I felled one of my attackers with the bucket. My leap over the well was compared to the feats of the greatest heroes. Wisely, Imants paused between each stanza, leaving time for his listeners to laugh.

Then my rescuers appeared: Brave Nanaidh, Fiery Durra and Swift Siret were all named, and their deeds described. The women were immensely proud to have been included in the story at all.

Imants changed the tone near the very end. He included the prisoner's confession, and named the individual who had sent them to commit murder. The guslar lamented the low state of morals in the modern day, when supposedly noble men dishonoured fallen foes, took innocent children as hostages, raped and burned - and then stooped to the use of assassins.

Finally, he told his listeners that the bucket - and the well - were still there, if they wanted to see them. Every time they drew water, he insisted, they should hold that bucket with reverence.

Everyone roared their approval when he had finished, and many - Borna included - insisted that he immediately play it again. The next night, Imants had to perform the song at our forest camp, where most of the non-combatants were.

'Borna's Bucket' did me no harm. It increased my standing among our people, to the point where they smiled when they saw me.

- "Alright with you if I use the bucket, Ljudevit?" asked Hravar, with a smile.

- "You going to take that thing along, next time we raid?" asked Lovro.

Imants became one of us. He was still only learning his trade as a guslar, but he had instinctively found the right note with our community. People love the old tales, and dream of heroic deeds, especially when they sit around a fire, warm and comfortable. But in the midst of a war, with death and atrocities fresh in our minds, Imants' lighter touch did not go wrong. We needed to laugh, too - and we did.

***

Men continued to appear at the steading, to offer Borna their service. But there were women, too. I don't just mean mothers, or wives. These were females who wanted to be warriors. They had never heard of 'Borna's Bucket', yet somehow they knew that we had women warriors among us.

Some had heard of Berit. Most just wanted to stand on their own two feet, and defend themselves, or others. One had some skill with a bow. Another had practiced with a spear. But even those who had never held a weapon wanted to do just that.

Nanaidh was now skilled enough to help Borna with their training. In some ways, she was better than he was, because she understood what these women were capable of. Tsoline was wonderful, too: she could teach them the bow, and we discovered a few budding archers.

Seven more women joined us, in the weeks after our victory over Vazrig, and a total of twenty-four young men, including a few veteran warriors. I counted our druzhina, one day, and came up with a total of 59 fighters, including Borna and me: forty-seven men and twelve women.

A third of these had little or no real experience. Borna was working on that, though. He trained them, and took them out riding, watching for Maigon's raids.

And then our enemies came in force.

***

Before he died, the would-be assassin revealed that Manahir, his son and grandsons were concerned about Borna's popularity. They couldn't understand why, but they were well aware that warriors were travelling to join him.

They had lost scores of veteran warriors in combat with us. The inexperienced young men who had replaced these losses were not immune to Borna's appeal. Some whispered that he bore the mark of fate. One - Aare - had even joined us.

Maigon, his father and grandfather believed that they had to act to reverse the momentum. Borna had to be stopped, before he grew too powerful, and too influential.

They thought that we had re-occupied the steading, and moved all of our people into it. Borna would have to defend it. And so they would attack with all of their men.

Maigon knew how few fighters we had when we attacked and defeated Mushtal. He still put our numbers at less than forty now - and half of those neophytes or women. In a battle outside the forest, with overwhelming superiority, Maigon believed that he would prevail.

Borna told us all of this to his inner circle: Lovro, Hravar and me. Then he gathered a larger group of his most trusted warriors, including Dirayr and Priit, the foresters, Nanaidh, and Durra. He explained the situation to them.

- "What do you suggest?" he asked.

- "Move the non-combatants back into the forest." said Dirayr.

- "And give up the steading?" said Nanaidh.

- "We should burn the steading ourselves, if it gives us an advantage." That was Hravar.

- "You'd give it up? Without a fight?" asked Nanaidh.

- "Explain, Hravar." said Borna.

- "It's ... it's simple. If we stand and fight there, we have to go toe to toe with Manahir's men. He still has some experienced warriors. We don't. One on one, man to man - we'll lose. And that's without counting their advantage in numbers."

- "Go on."

Hravar didn't like being the centre of attention, but he persevered. "The fights we've won ... it's been because of surprise, or daring. Attacking Mushtal's steading in the dead of winter. The ambush at Borna's butt. Attacking this steading while Vazrig was away. And then tempting him to attack us on ground of our choosing."

- "So you do want to fight." said Nanaidh. She sounded relieved.

- "Of course I do! I'm just saying that we should use what's worked before. A trick. The land. Fuck the steading - it's beating those bastards that counts."

- "What about pulling back into the woods?" said Priit. "We could lead them into another ambush, maybe."

- "What if they don't bite?" asked Nanaidh.

Kawehka coughed, to get our attention. "That would be ... unfortunate." he said. "If we have to spend the next winter in the forest, there won't be enough game to support so many people. I'm sorry, but ... it's just not possible."

Dirayr yawned.

- "We keeping you awake?" asked Lovro.

- "If you must know, I'm waiting to hear Ljudevit's plan. You know he has one."

- "I don't." I said. "But Borna does."

***

I'm not entirely sure how he did it. Borna could pass by a place, and immediately imagine how a fight would unfold there. It could be a hill, a stream, a marsh ... and he might visualize an engagement involving ten men, or fifty. Then he could tuck these places away, in his memory, and bring them back at need.

He'd been doing it since we were children. The blueberry patches, for instance: while I was trying my best to persuade Fimi to sleep with me, Borna was picturing an ambush there, and thinking about where he would place his men.

That was why he knew - he didn't guess, he knew - that our enemies would lay up for the night in a sheep pasture called Ovlivada. It was an ideal site for their camp.

It was far enough from our steading that we wouldn't spot them, or stumble across them by accident. There were no farmhouses nearby, only a couple of temporary shelters built by shepherds in case of rain. But Ovlivada was also conveniently close enough to our steading, so that if they broke camp in the mid-morning, they were only a short ride away. Their attack could be launched before noon. A shallow stream ran through the eastern edge of the pasture, so there was a good supply of water. Finally, a small grove of trees would make it easy to find firewood, if they wanted fires.

There was only one thing about this pasture that was at all unusual. On the western side, the land dipped away. It wasn't a hill, or a slope. In fact, it was barely noticeable, unless you were looking for it.

Borna and I found it when we were fourteen. Well, Borna found it. We were riding east, towards Ovlivada. Suddenly, he reined in, and called me.

- "Ljudevit! Stop!"

- "What?"

Borna pointed to the east. "Where did the trees go?"

- "What trees?" I asked.

- "Don't you remember? We could see them, a while back."

- "What are you on about?"

Borna made me turn around, and ride back the way we had come. We had no important task to complete, and we weren't in any hurry, but I still found it odd to be retracing our steps - well, the horses' steps.

He kept looking over his shoulder, and soon had me doing it, too.

- "What are we looking for?" I asked.

- "There!"

Borna insisted that we ride another hundred yards before he would let us turn round again. Now I could see what he meant.

From where we sat our horses, we could clearly see the grove. It was perhaps a mile away, or maybe more. Now, as we rode east again, Borna insisted that I keep my eyes on the trees. It quickly became apparent that we were riding downhill.

The dip was imperceptible. I couldn't feel that we were descending, but it was plain that the trees were sinking beneath the horizon. After a few hundred yards, we couldn't see them at all.