The Chronicles of Hvad Ch. 10

- "Am I so transparent?"

- "You are many things, my friend," said Imants, "but devious is not one of them."

- "We captured an Izumyrian, in Adarion. He's a military engineer." I said.

- "Working for Leho? Or Dagnis?"

- "No. He was there scouting, for someone named Barsam."

Imants frowned. "The son of the Izumyrian Duke?"

- "That's the one."

The guslar was still young, but he was also shrewd, and well-traveled. He thought about what I had said, before answering.

- "You think ... that they are considering ... an invasion?" he said.

- "Keptel says this Duke could raise 5,000 men. Or more. Do you think that's possible?"

Imants shook his head. "I don't know."

- "Tell me what you know of Izumyr." I asked him.

- "I've never been there." he admitted. "They wouldn't be interested in a guslar. Wrong language, and I doubt if our stories would mean much to them. I'm told that they prefer tumblers, and more music with their songs. Their guslars are called 'joglari', or 'menestrels'. I've never seen one perform."

- "But you've met Izumyrians."

- "Yes. Merchants. There are always three or four in Hvad town. But they also visit Adarion quite frequently."

- "Honest traders? Or could they be spies?" I asked.

- "Why not both? If you wanted to learn about Hvad town, for instance - wouldn't you ask someone who's been there? You could ask me. Would that make me a spy?"

"But yes - I would be very surprised if some of these merchants were not deliberately sent to gather information about us. The lay of the land, our leaders, our numbers ..."

- "That's what I was afraid of." I said.

*****

Imants was thriving. He seemed to me to be growing, before our eyes, into a great guslar. When we first met, he was a fledgling, barely beyond his apprenticeship, but now he was rapidly approaching mastery of his craft.

It was partly his expanding repertoire. He played many of the classics, the traditional songs and stories that everyone knew. He could intersperse his own compositions, now - and they didn't seem at all out of place. 'Borna's Bucket' was good fun, of course, but when Imants performed 'The Long Ride' for the very first time, we were all privileged to witness the emergence of one of the legendary guslars.

It was an epic poem, with Lovro and Mutimir featured as principal characters. Aare and I both had a verse dedicated to us, as did Payl. But the listener was aware, throughout the tale, that the subject was Borna. The raid was his idea, his conception. The daring, the speed, the struggle against enormous odds ... it was all Borna.

Imants never mentioned that Borna had been lying with his friend's woman - he didn't know about that, and I wasn't going to tell him. But otherwise, one of the great strengths of the poem was its truthfulness. Imants didn't exaggerate, or inflate the numbers of our enemies. The heroes didn't perform superhuman feats, nor did they receive magical assistance from the Otherworld.

It was a story about men and women, daring the unexpected - and achieving it. When he stopped playing, there was dead silence, just as there had been after Noyemi's song. But this time, no one wanted to break the mood by applauding. The silence lingered, became drawn out, and a little uncomfortable.

So I stood, and shouted his name. And we began to applaud him.

On this night, he vaulted himself into the ranks of the greatest guslars, whose songs would still be performed long after they were gone. People would know their stories, recognize their songs. And an old greybeard, nursing his cup over in the corner, would smile and say: 'Ah, that was Imants.'

But he had done more than that. Imants had created something timeless with 'The Long Ride' - he'd made Borna a legend.

Borna knew it. He rewarded Imants richly, as a great guslar should be. But he thanked him, too - from the heart. Imants had served him just as much as Lovro had, though in a different manner.

I didn't get a chance to speak to the guslar, that night. He was far too popular. But I found Noyemi off to the side, by herself.

- "He was magnificent." I said to her.

She smiled. "He is gifted."

- "You're very fortunate." I added. I meant that she was lucky, as an apprentice guslar, to be afforded the opportunity of learning from Imants.

- "I have been very fortunate." said Noyemi, very softly. From the way she said it, I knew she meant more than her training as a guslar. To make sure that I got the point, she looked me in the eye. Then Noyemi stood on tiptoe, and kissed me on the lips.

She kissed me for a little longer than was proper.

Then she released me, though she was still standing much too close. "Traveling with Imants has been a dream come true." she said. "It's a dream I would have never have had, unless ... unless I had met you. I owe you my happiness. Yet ..."

Her bright eyes were fixed on me. "Yet I would probably have been happy enough, if you had forced me to marry you."

Noyemi reached up, and brushed my cheek. Then she turned away, and left me standing me there.

*****