The Chronicles of Hvad Ch. 10

The man left behind was less decisive. Less aggressive. He had only fifty men, at most. How many of those were sick, or otherwise unavailable? Would he dare to come out of the steading, to face what looked like a superior force? There were only fifty of us, but with the captured horses, in a swirling mass of cattle, we might have seemed more numerous. And how was he to know that we didn't have even larger numbers, waiting in ambush?

We stole their cattle, and raced for home. If the men in Manahir's steading sent word to their companions, chasing the clouds of smoke, we still had a head-start on them.

Our overloaded convoy reached our steading intact, with the salt and gold looted from Solimoj, and 74 head of cattle, to boot.

***

Borna's raid was a masterpiece. We had stolen a mountain of coins. It was easily three times the amount we had found in Manahir's hoard - and that was after rich gifts to those who had participated, Payl and Lunach in particular. Once again Borna was recognized as a generous leader, the classic warlike Ban who could reward his followers.

We had more salt than anyone had ever seen. Dirayr estimated that it would serve the entire steading's needs for four or five years. Kawehka and the foresters were delighted to have salt, but also the cattle. It removed the threat of shortages, should we have to spend another winter under siege, in the woods.

Then Lovro returned, with Mutimir. They had done exactly what Borna had hoped. They had set fire to hayricks - and the occasional barn - in northern Yelsa. That was the diversion which drew out the enemy's warriors from Manahir's steading.

They had ridden across Indrek's territory, from east to west, setting fires and causing confusion. Then they ditched their torches and rode hard, to escape their pursuers. Perhaps the enemy were looking for fifty, or even a hundred raiders. Whatever the reason, it seemed that Borna's luck extended to Lovro and his crew of arsonists: they managed to reach safety less than a week after the rest of us.

Lovro received a hero's welcome, and Mutimir, too. In fact, he won something very precious, perhaps even more important to him than gold.

- "You've done it, Mutimir!" said Borna. "You've won a new name: LongRider!"

Mutimir thought it over, but not for long. LongRider was immeasurably better than ThreeNipple. It also appealed to the ribald sense of humour of the Uplanders, for whom a 'ride' was a sexual encounter. Their hoots of laughter helped Mutimir decide to keep his new name. He was now bound to Borna by more than loot, and shared hardships.

Leho of Adarion and Indrek of Yelsa had been made to look like fools, which neither of them could suffer without some form of retaliation. They came with 300 riders, and burned the land between Manahir's steading and our own.

Then they burned our steading - Gosdan's steading, as I still thought of it. None of us lived in it, any more. But as the place of my birth went up in flames, I could clearly see the passage of an era. Asrava's steading was gone, and now Borna's.

The old type of warfare, of cattle raids and daring displays of courage, were over. Now it was a struggle to the death, with all of the spoils to the victor. Thankfully, Leho of Adarion was no savage, like Manahir's grandsons. But he would have to be completely crushed before Borna could rule as Ban in Yeseriya.

The enemy did not linger, after their burning. They weren't keen to come after us in the forest again. Instead, they rode away, satisfied that they had delivered a message.

But the message received was very different from what they had intended. Twice, now, Leho had brought hundreds of riders to attack us. And twice he had left, without achieving a victory. In fact, Borna was stronger at year's end than he had been at the beginning.

Imants, the guslar, arrived as the leaves were falling. Noyemi was with him.

- "Is there room for a pair of wandering singers?" he asked.

He was warmly welcomed, of course. Nothing is better, over a long winter, than to have a guslar, for stories, and songs. Imants was especially popular, having been with us before.

But thanks to their lifestyle, guslars also bring news of the rest of the world. They pick up snippets of information, old and new, and spread them all over Hvad. Both Borna and I were eager to talk to the guslar - and his apprentice.

- "You are very welcome, Imants." said Borna. "Always. And this year you won't have to eat roots and tree bark."

- "So we heard!" replied Imants. "I had a hankering for salt beef, as it turns out."

- "You heard about that?"

- "Everyone is talking about 'The Long Ride'. There are already two songs about it. My version, of course, will be the most authentic - once you've told me all of the true details."

- "Ljudevit will tell you. I'll leave you to him, for now. But tonight - you and your lovely apprentice will eat with me." said Borna. "And maybe a song, after that?"

He left the three of us alone.

- "You look good, Imants. Healthy. So do you, Noyemi ... look good, I mean. How - how did the arrangement work out?" I asked.

- "Better than I imagined." said Imants. "You'll hear it for yourself, this evening. Noyemi has a voice of her own. And songs of her own, as well." She smiled shyly at the guslar's praise.

- "Where have you been?"

- "We went through Yelsa and Mahuc, and then to Hvad town. 'Borna's Bucket' is well known, now. I am often asked to play it."

Both Imants and Noyemi looked up, over my shoulder. Their eyes went wide.

- "This is the guslar?" said Payl, who was standing behind me. "And this is Noyemi?"

- "This is Payl, the Shining One." I said, by way of introduction. "She's a warrior from the Uplands, leader of a band of women, and -"

- "And his woman." she interrupted. Then Payl sat down beside me. In case they hadn't understood her, she seized me by the back of the neck, twisted my head around, and planted a wet kiss on my lips. I yelped when she bit me.

"Always wanted to meet a guslar." she said.

Imants was fascinated with her. He stared at Payl. She let him.

- "I sense a song in the making." he said.

- "About me?"

- "Oh, yes." said Imants.

- "Will Ljudevit be in it?" asked Payl.

- "Very likely. Unless you would prefer that he wasn't."

Payl then turned her attention to Noyemi, studying her the way Imants had been staring at Payl. Noyemi looked back at her. She didn't seem at all intimidated. Perhaps a year of travelling with Imants had given her confidence. Or perhaps it had always been there.

- "You were his slave?" said Payl.

I choked. But before I could rebuke Payl - if I had dared - or come to Noyemi's rescue, she answered for herself.

- "I was. Before that, I was the daughter of a Hospodar, named Asrava."

- "I knew of him." said Payl.

- "My father and brother betrayed Borna's father to his death, and tried to steal his inheritance. Borna and Ljudevit killed them, and captured me." said Noyemi. "Borna gave me to Ljudevit, for my own protection. So that no man would harm me."

- "He didn't rape you?" asked Payl, in a matter-of-fact voice, as if she was discussing the weather, or asking Noyemi if she'd had a good night's sleep.

- "No." said Noyemi. "He protected me." She gave me a smile, then; it was all the thanks I had ever needed.

- "Hmm." grunted Payl. "I don't understand Niskadi. At all."

- "Ljudevit is an honourable man." said Noyemi.

- "I know that. I just don't understand him much of the time."

Imants had a thousand questions for Payl, which she was courteous enough to answer. It was not the oddest conversation I have ever been part of - but it was close.

That evening, after dinner, Imants performed for us. There were probably three hundred people gathered in our forest to hear him.

Borna sat with Mutimir on his right, and Tsoline on his left. He had taken up with Kawehka's sister again, the moment we were safely back. Siret was off on her own, with Durra - but Dirayr was nowhere near her. I didn't know what had passed between them. I was simply relieved that Dirayr had not come to me for advice, or support, because I had no idea what to say to him.

Imants played some traditional favourites. Payl listened with her mouth open, entranced. I glanced around, to see that most of the Uplanders were equally attentive. Even Meeli wasn't scowling, for once.

When Imants started 'Borna's Bucket', the crowd roared their approval. I was able to listen to it without blushing, but it still made me uncomfortable. I couldn't escape the feeling that people were looking at me.

When Imants finished the song, Payl punched me in the arm - hard.

- "That was about you!" she hissed. "Why did you never tell me this story?"

- "It's a ... Lowlander thing." I said, suddenly inspired. "Achievements sound greater when someone else does the bragging for you. Remember when we first met? Borna had me tell his story, instead of doing it himself."

Payl looked thoughtful. "So I need one of these guslars?"

Imants stepped back, and let Noyemi take his place. She stood, instead of sitting, and did not play a gusle. Imants would accompany her on his instrument. I had heard her sing before, but I had never seen her perform.

It was a song of her own composition. The title was 'When They Go'.

She sang of the women and children, left behind when the men go off to war. It was about mundane, everyday concerns, like food, and clothing, and tending to the sick and the wounded. Simple things, but she made them seem noble, and honourable.

I'd never thought about what the women and children left behind went through. Of course, they worried about their men - their fathers, and husbands and brothers. They hoped that the men would come back unharmed. That they might come home victorious.

The alternative - that they could be defeated - was difficult to think about. What if the enemy came to the steading first? What if they raped, and killed?

I thought of my sisters, then, and of my parents. Borna's mother and sisters. They'd suffered and died, just as surely as men died in a fight.

Berit had died fighting. So had Fimi. But my sisters were just as dead, and they'd been raped and degraded first.

There was complete silence when Noyemi finished - partly because no one knew the song, and didn't know that she was done. But mostly it was respect. Noyemi had a way of pitching her voice that touched all of our hearts. The applause was delayed, but it was sincere - and loud.

She sang a second song, and showed her versatility. This time her pace was faster, urgent even, and her voice was harder, rougher. She sang of Berit, and Fimi, the first female warriors to die fighting for Borna. She sang of Nanaidh, of Durra and Siret. There were two verses for Tsoline.

Noyemi paused, and raised her hand, for silence.

- "I first sang this in Hvad town." she said. "But now I've added a few more verses."

Imants picked up the tone, and Noyemi sang of Payl, the Shining One, of Irija and Meeli, and the Uplander women who had taken part in Borna's raids, and the famous long ride.

When she finished, there was dead silence again. The Uplanders, I think, were stunned. A song about them? Celebrating their achievements? I glanced at Payl, beside me. Her eyes were glistening, near tears.

Then she stood, and strode forward, stepping over other spectators. Payl went directly to where Noyemi waited. Asrava's daughter was taken by surprise: Payl threw her arms around Noyemi, and embraced her.

Then Payl released her, and turned to look at the crowd. She tilted her head back, and let loose an ear-splitting shriek. A moment later, it was answered by the Uplanders in the audience - a curious mixture of shout and scream.

The Shining One wasn't finished. She pulled off the gemstone ring that Borna had given her, and presented it to Noyemi. The Uplanders let out a shout of approval. They were joined by a number of Lowlanders, who also appreciated the gesture.

To cheers and applause, Payl came back to sit beside me.

- "She's good." she said. I noticed that the tears were gone. In their place was a look of fierce exultation.

- "Noyemi?"

- "Yes. She's very good."

- "I think so, too."

- "But if you lie with her I'll still beat you senseless."

***

With winter coming, Borna called the Uplanders together.

- "You've done wonderful work for me, this year." he told them. "You've won notable victories, and taken loot. Your enemies have learned to fear you; your allies have come to respect you."

He was laying it on a bit thick, if you asked me. But the Uplanders nodded, as if everything he'd said made perfect sense, and was no more than their due.

"But now I'm sending you home. Take the horses and the loot you've won, and go back to the Uplands."

"Because I need you back in the spring. You, and any more warriors who will join you. Maybe when they hear your tales, they will want to come along next year. I can use every fighter. It won't get any easier, from here on. There will be some hard fighting, and I'll need every Uplander you can bring me."

He had gifts for Mutimir, Lunach, and Payl, and even for Irija, Meeli, and Vepar. This wasn't simple generosity. Borna was shrewd. If other Uplanders saw the spoils they returned with, they might be tempted to come out next year.

- "Will you miss me?" Payl asked me, afterwards.

- "Of course I will. I'll have to ask someone to beat me with a stick, and throw stones at my head, so that I don't grow soft while you're away."

Payl punched me in the ribs. But then she kissed me - properly, tenderly even.

- "I'll miss you." she whispered.

***

We were very, very lucky to have brought in so much food, in preparation for that winter. It turned out to be one of the coldest, windiest seasons we could remember. It was a good time to be in the forest: the trees cut the wind, and it felt just that little bit warmer in the shelter of the woods.

I had plenty of time to talk with Keptel, the half-Izumyrian. He agreed to teach me the language, as best he could, and he was surprisingly honest when I asked him questions.

- "Who rules, in Northern Izumyr?" I wondered.

- "The Duke. But he's not well. Most of the work of running the Duchy is done by his son - the heir - Barsam."

- " Barsam? What's he like?" I asked.

- "Still young. Busy. Never still. Dashes here and there all the time."

- "Is he the one planning the invasion of Hvad?"

Keptel looked up at me, suddenly. "What - what makes you say that?"

- "Fairly obvious, when somebody sends a military engineer to study our fortifications - or the lack of them. Was this engineer also supposed to find sites to build forts for this Duke? The best routes for an invasion?"

- "I don't know about that." he said. "High-and-mighty didn't tell us much."

- "But you're no fool, Keptel." I said. "Tell me, how many warriors can this Duke raise?"

- "Dunno. Two, maybe three thousand. But he could send out a call for adventurers, or even hire mercenaries."

- "Adventurers?"

- "Landless men. Second n' third sons, who don't stand to inherit anything. Poor cousins. Some rulers have restless relatives. They'll give 'em money and men - to go away and cause trouble somewhere else. Izumyr's full of 'em."

- "How many men could Barsam get that way?" I asked.

- "I dunno for sure, Ljudevit. Another two, three thousand? But that's just a guess."

I tried to school my features, to keep him from seeing how shocked I was. If this Barsam could raise between 4,000 and 6,000 men - without even counting mercenaries, if he could afford them - that was more than all of the fighters in Hvad.

And if the Izumyrians rode horses like the ones we had captured from the engineer and his attendants ... if they fought like cavalry, on those big, powerful horses ... then we were doomed. Because we couldn't stand against them in the open field. We'd be trampled, crushed like acorns beneath a mill stone.

Our choices would be to submit, unconditionally, or to take to the woods, as Borna and I had been doing since his father's death. Or perhaps there was a third option: we could flee to the Uplands. The Izumyrians would be unlikely to follow us there.

I told Borna everything that Keptel had said. He did not seem as shocked as I was.

- "Hmm." he said. "Does Keptel know if Leho and Indrek are aware of this?"

- "It didn't cross my mind to ask him that. You think they could be part of it? I find that hard to believe."

- "Huh. Indrek, probably not. But I'm not so sure about Leho." said Borna.

- "It'd be suicide!" I blurted out. "Even for Leho. Adarion has the best land in Hvad. The Izumyrians would take it all. It'd be the end of Hvad!"

- "Not for them - Leho and his brother. They want to be Izumyrian, remember? They might end up as puppets. But the Izumyrians might have offered him something. Only ... what?"

- "Then why attack you?" I asked. "Why not just wait for the Izumyrians to invade, and hand it to him?"

- "The invasion might not be for sure. Even if it is, they're not quite ready if they're sending an engineer to survey our fortifications. Or, maybe ... maybe the deal is that Leho keeps his lands if he cooperates with the invasion." said Borna.

- "So he's trying to get his hands on Yelsa and Yeseriya before the Izumyrians come?"

- "I'm guessing that he's had his eye on Yelsa for some time. This betrothal to Indrek's daughter wasn't a spur of a moment thing. But the turmoil in Yelsa was an opportunity. Too good to be missed."

- "So you think that Leho is planning to already be Ban of three provinces when the Izumyrians come? And then he'll join them?" I asked.

- "I'm not sure, yet. I have to think this over. So do you. If that engineer is an Izumyrian agent in Hvad, I'd be willing to bet that he's not the only one. Talk to Imants. And Ljudevit?"

"Learn Izumyrian."

***

We spoke again of the prospect of invasion, two days later. I'd been mulling it over, trying to envision a war that we could win.

- "Same way we're winning this one." said Borna.

- "Ambushes and raids?"

- "They seem to be working so far, Ljudevit."

- "Borna- there are thousands of Izumyrians."

- "Then we'll need more fighters. More women. More Uplanders, too. And more archers. More arrows." He nodded slowly. "Lots more arrows."

- "You saw their horses. They'll come in armour, mounted on those massive beasts. How can we fight them?"

- "At night. In the dark. They don't sleep in their armour, or on their horses." said Borna.

- "You seriously think we could beat them?"

Borna smiled at me. "It's not about beating, Ljudevit. We'll fight because there's nothing else we can do. Where else can we go?"

I remembered, then, what Nanaidh had said to me: "Is that the only time to fight? When you think you'll win?"

That memory triggered another. When Leho had invaded, and Borna had to consider going to the Uplands for the first time. Durra's opinion had been succinct: "Where my Lord goes, I will follow. As his Hand, you should feel the same."

***

The next day, Imants sat down with me. Noyemi was there, too. I'd already told Imants how 'Borna's Bucket' had impressed Payl and many of the Uplanders. Noyemi knew how much of an impact she'd made with 'When They Go', and with her song about warrior women.

Instead of discussing their songs, I asked Imants about his travels, and his experiences on the road.

- "You know that I could tell you a hundred stories, Ljudevit. But you aren't interested in the quality of the inns in Hvad town, are you? What exactly would you like to hear?"