The Chronicles of Hvad Ch. 14

HVAD CHAPTER 14

Barsam's father passed away in late autumn. No one was surprised, and very few people showed any real regret. The old Duke had been in poor health for the better part of a decade. The funeral and other observances would be mere ceremonies, rituals devoid of any genuine sorrow.

Northern Izumyr had a new master. His subjects had watched the young heir grow up. Every year, he had taken a larger share of the rule of the Duchy. Barsam had shown commendable restraint, and had deferred to his father's wishes. Now, though, it was all his, and he could embark wholeheartedly on his long-cherished project: the invasion of Hvad.

I was tempted to return home. But Borna needed so much more information that he couldn't learn from travelling merchants. And much as I wanted to see Payl, our child, and my friends ... I came to the conclusion that I could achieve much more with my access to the new Duke. An opportunity to do something valuable might present itself - even if I didn't know what shape it could take.

Every morning, I breakfasted at the Marga. Izumyrians had a type of porridge, made from oats boiled in milk, which I found much better than our Hvadi kasha[1] - perhaps because my hosts were very generous with their honey.

Only a handful of regular customers ate their morning meal at the inn, along with the itinerant merchants who stayed the night. Often enough, Dulo had time for a brief conversation, or even a longer one. Usually, though, it was old Rasiph who enjoyed bending my ear until I begged for mercy.

Then it was off to the training fields. I continued to vary my route, always alert for an ambush. I spent the bulk of my time watching the Izumyrians as they rode in groups, or sparred, ahorse or on foot. And I tried to work out ways that we could beat them.

Some days Barsam called on me. The guards took my knives, and let me into his tent. He had dozens of questions about Hvad, and seemed to value my responses. It may be, too, that he enjoyed the company of a warrior who didn't kiss his boots - or his ass.

His soldiers became accustomed to seeing me about. Most took their cue from Ingram and Lir, and treated me with more politeness than I had come to expect from Izumyrians.

At the end of the day, I tried to avoid a predictable pattern. I left earlier, or later than usual. Some days I rode back with Ingram, or I circled the city at speed. It was merely a precaution. I couldn't be sure that Dagnis' men had finished with me.

In the evenings, I became a fixture in the common room of the Marga. The men were friendly, especially after I had stood up for Dulo with them. Rasiph treated me as his protégé, but he wasn't above teasing me.

- "Can't keep yer eyes offer, can ye?"

- "What?"

- "Caught ye lookin' - ye wern't payin' me no mind, an' that's a fact." he said, rolling his eyes.

- "I fail to understand." I replied. "What should I look at? Or not look at?"

- "Yer not foolin' anybody, y'know."

It was true that I found Dulo fascinating. I watched her work, and admired her skill. I also steered conversations, when I could, so as to learn more about her. Payl would have slapped me on the side of the head - or she would have challenged Dulo. But my interest was purely ... curiosity. So I told myself.

- "Ye'll have to add Preet to yer list." said Rasiph, to Dulo.

- "Oh, he's already on it, old man." she answered. "Right behind you."

- "Me?" sputtered Rasiph.

- "I see you watching me."

- "What? No - no! That's just me tryin' to catch yer eye - fer another ale." He tilted his mug towards her. "See? Empty."

I took the hint, and ordered us both another drink.

- "Dulo - please." I asked, when she returned. "What is this 'list'? I am confused."

- "Later, Priit." Dulo alone was beginning to master the pronunciation of the name I had taken - the name of a dear friend. I appreciated her effort.

"I'll tell you later - alright?"

She was as good as her word. When there were only a handful of customers remaining (and one of them was snoring quietly), she brought another jug to our table, and sat down with us - next to Rasiph, and across from me.

- "Where do you want me to start?" she asked.

- "The list?" I said.

- "Tell it from the beginning." said Rasiph. "I love this story."

- "When I was about 15 years old, the men were beginning to flirt with me." said Dulo. "I'd noticed them looking, before that. But some were becoming less ... subtle. So I asked my grandmother, Marga, for advice."

"She told them all to back off."

- "I 'member it." said Rasiph. "'I catch one 'a you sniffin' too close t'the honey jar ...'"

- "And it worked." said Dulo. "For about a year. So then Granny Marga invented a second cousin from the south, and told everybody that I was engaged. That worked really well. No one wanted to offend her - or my grandfather."

- "So they'd look." said Rasiph. "But not touch."

Dulo glared at him. "Who's telling this story?"

Rasiph made a face, but he subsided.

- "I was 18," said Dulo, "when Marga sat me down, and asked me - straight out - what I wanted. Did I want to sleep with all of my customers? Or none of them? I asked her if there wasn't some kind of middle ground. I understood that favouring one, or some, could lead to trouble."

"And there was no way that I was going to be some kind of whore. But I thought that I deserved a life of my own. I wanted a choice."

"My grandmother encouraged me to take a lover - and then, when I was ready, to drop him. But to do it nicely."

- "Broke the poor bastard's heart." said Rasiph. Dulo chose to ignore this interruption.

- "When I was ready, I let it be known that I was considering taking another lover." she said.

- "An' then watched 'em line up." said Rasiph, with a toothless grin.

- "Don't be so smug, Rasiph - you thought you had a chance. Hah - you still do."

- "This ... this is the list?" I asked.

Dulo nodded. "That's right. I don't have to be beautiful, or even desirable. The innkeeper's daughter? It's a male fantasy. They see me - they find out that I'm available ... and the game is on."

- "The game?"

- "Some try gifts. Gifts don't hurt, but I'm not a whore - like I said - I can't be bought with a trinket, or an outrageous tip. Nor am I impressed by brawn, or strength, or wealth."

"Acts of kindness are welcome. But I'll treat everyone the same until I decide. And I'll continue to treat them the same afterwards."

- "She does." agreed Rasiph.

- "And I am very selective." said Dulo. "I can wait a long time for the right man."

- "Two years, eleven days." said Rasiph.

- "You counted?"

- "We had bets on it."

- "I dropped the last one five months ago." said Dulo.

- "Six months, fourteen days." said Rasiph.

Dulo laughed. "You see? It's become a game. They're all being very nice to me - hoping to be next."

"And it doesn't really matter if I don't pick them - they'll go on being nice. As long as the door is open, they're happy."

- "But when you ... take a lover - does that not close the door?" I asked.

- "Only temporarily. 'Closed' doesn't mean locked. It's not a marriage. They know that I'll eventually drop that lover, and choose another. So they always have a chance to be next."

"So ... you can never marry?" I asked. Somehow, that struck me as a great tragedy.

Dulo laughed. "Of course I can. In a few more years, I'll be old enough that it won't matter. Even now, I probably could. Most of the regulars are friends. Even the married ones just play this little game in their heads, where they could be next ..."

"Even Rasiph still wonders where he is, on my list." she teased.

- "Near the top." he said, with a wink at me.

- "What about you, Priit?" asked Dulo. "Are you wondering if you're on the list?"

- "Course he is." said Rasiph.

- "Ah ... but where?" said Dulo.

***

- "Well, well. Look what we have here."

It wasn't a voice that I recognized, but the tone was enough to put me on alert. The speaker was just behind my left shoulder. I was waiting outside Barsam's tent, at the time - my daily inactivity. Instead of walking about, I was sitting on the ground, with my back against a barrel.

I rose to my feet, and turned so as to put the barrel between us. I kept my right hand at waist level, close to my long knife.

It was the idiot who had grabbed Dulo by the wrist. He was a big bastard, and he was grinning at me. The two men behind him might have been his friends from that night at the Marga, but I couldn't tell.

- "I was hoping to run into you again." he said. He clenched his fists and took a step towards me. That was bad. I would have been much happier if he had drawn a weapon. A fist fight with this big lout wouldn't end well for me, especially if his friends joined him. But killing or wounding him might not be good options either.

That's when the flap of Barsam's tent swung open, and Baron Kaim stepped out. Kaim was short, but stocky. He had a reputation as a martinet, and soldiers dreaded seeing his shaved head and tightly compressed lips. He was Barsam's closest advisor.

Kaim took in the situation with a glance. The big idiot looked pretty stupid, leaning forward with his fists in front of him. But Kaim probably didn't miss the fact that my hand was on the long knife in my belt.

- "The Duke will see you now, Master Preet." he said. Then he glared at the three soldiers, as if memorizing their faces.

I didn't smile, or even smirk, as I stepped away. I handed my knives to the guard, and entered the tent.

Barsam was there with Baron Voss. Kaim followed me in. The Duke was bent over his table, studying a parchment spread out before him.

- "Preet - tell me what you think of this." He leaned back, to give me a better look.

It was a map of Hvad. I'd never seen one, until we captured Manahir's steading. Indrek had two maps: one of Yelsa, and one of all Hvad.

- "It's a map." said Voss. He was portly, fussy, and self-important. I didn't understand why Barsam kept him around - unless it made the new Duke feel more intelligent. Or perhaps Voss had been an early supporter, and Barsam was repaying his loyalty by including the old fusspot in his councils. One thing was for sure: if Voss was given an independent command during the invasion, Borna would run circles around him - or beat him like a rug.

Baron Kaim, on the other hand, was a mystery to me. He rarely spoke, and then only in short, clipped sentences. He might have been Barsam's hatchet-man. I found it hard to imagine a true friendship between them.

- "Preet's seen maps before." said Barsam. "I want to know if this one is accurate. What do you think?"

It was a challenge. Barsam knew that I was a warrior, a killer. Now he wanted to see if I was intelligent enough to be of any more use to him. He might also be testing me. Barsam must have known quite a bit about Hvad already. He had reports from his spies, from merchants - and Dagnis must have told him even more. So, tempting though it was, I could not mislead him, or lie about the accuracy of his map.

- "What are these symbols?" I asked, pointing to an 'X' surrounded by a circle.

- "Forts." said Barsam.

- "Steadings? They are not fortresses. Only villages surrounded by a log palisade. This one is gone." I said, pointing to the place where I was born. "Leho burned it. This one is also gone." I pointed at Asrava's steading. "Borna burned it."

I pointed to Manahir's steading. "This one has two gates - north and south. And a gap in the wall - fifteen feet wide."

I didn't tell them that Asrava's steading - now Mutimir's - was much further to the east than it appeared on their map. Nor did I mention one of the first things I'd noticed: there was no hint of the Uplands, except as a series of squiggly lines.

Barsam scribbled some notes.

- "How do you know this?" asked Kaim.

- "That is Yeseriya. My home."

- "What else can you tell us?" asked Barsam.

- "Adarion is not so big. It is the most populous province, but not twice the size of Yelsa. Yeseriya has more forests than this map shows."

- "What's over here? Wilderness?" He was indicating the Uplands.

- "Mountains." I wondered how little I could get away with telling them. It was Borna's hidden reserve of manpower. The less they knew about it, the better.

"Savages live there. They are ... wild people." I screwed up my face into an expression of disgust. Payl would have kicked me - hard.

I watched as these Izumyrian noblemen exchanged knowing smiles. It amused them, I suppose. They considered Lowland Hvadi little better than savages themselves, so if there were people that we looked down upon, they must be truly barbaric.

They went on to discuss sieges, right in front of me, as if I wasn't there. Or perhaps they thought that I wouldn't understand. Voss stated his opinion that they might need two to three days to capture a steading. In fact, it would only take two hours. They had enough men to completely surround our steadings, and to simply climb the walls, or pull them down. But I didn't correct them.

Occasionally, they used technical terms, or an Izumyrian term that I didn't recognize. Sometimes, I could guess at the meaning, based on the context.

Two days later, Barsam and Voss asked me many more questions, with Kaim watching and listening.

How did Hvadi warriors fight? What were Hands? Did all of the members of a druzhina wear armour? Did Hospodars fight on horseback, or on foot?

More tests. Dagnis would already have told them these things. Perhaps they didn't trust the information he gave them, and wanted me to confirm it. So I told them the truth: spears and shields, swords and axes. I described the role and the status of a Hand. I explained what druzhinas and Hospodars were.

But I did not mention the foresters, or Borna's use of bowmen at the Hog's Back. I said nothing about women warriors, or about the Uplanders.

Voss was openly exultant. "If this Borna can only raise a few hundred spearmen, we'll roll right over them!"

I was still looking for a way to find Borna the proof he needed - some kind of evidence that would persuade the rest of Hvad to support him. The invasion was coming. But if I stole a map and some papers, and returned home, would any of the Bans believe me?

The information I was collecting about Barsam's army would be of great value to Borna. But would it make a real difference?

I began to wonder if we weren't stuck on the horns of dilemma, as Leho had been. If Borna couldn't raise all of Hvad, then it would be back to the forest for us. Small raids, ambushes - a little war, again.

On the other hand, if Borna could raise a real army, from all of Hvad - say, 2,000 warriors - would he give battle? Against twice as many Izumyrians, with their heavy cavalry? Would Borna have to defend Adarion, or Hvad town? He would lose the mobility and flexibility that had made him so devastating against Manahir's grandsons, and against Leho.

I was starting to fear that we would lose.

***

They came early in the morning. There were only three of us in the common room: me, old Rasiph, and a younger man, named Kurs, who was hoping to catch Dulo's eye.

There were six of them. I recognized several of them as Dagnis' retainers. One was the lad whose nose I'd broken. Another was the fool whose head I had rammed into a post. Behind them was a big fellow I hadn't seen before. He looked more than capable, and less than friendly. He had to be Dagnis' Hand.

They all had weapons drawn.

I got my long knife out, and put a wide table between them and me - for all the good it would do. If they came at me from both sides, I might take one of them with me before I got stabbed in the back.

I'll say this for Kurs: he had no weapon except for a short knife, but he came to stand beside me.

- "It's not your fight." I told him.

- "Go away." said the Hand, to Kurs.

Old Rasiph was far more practical.

- "Dulo! he yelled. "Dulo! We've got trouble!"

But she already knew, somehow. Something must have alerted her, or she had seen them coming in. A bell began to ring. Not a little chime, tinkling as someone shakes it - this was a serious bell, with a clapper the size of a hammer. And Dulo was swinging it two-handed, as if someone's life depended on it.

Well, mine did.

Dagnis' men stopped in their tracks. They had no idea what the ringing of the bell meant. The big Hand moved first, towards me. But the last of them, nearest the door, ducked back and stuck his head outside.

- "Men coming!" he called out, in Hvadi. "Lots o' them!"

The Hand glared at me. He wanted to finish this - to finish me. But common sense, or self-preservation prevailed. Dagnis would not want a bloodbath in a popular inn. How could he explain it to Barsam? The Hand waved his arm, and the six of them retreated. No parting words, no dramatic threats.

Moments later, half a dozen men burst into the common room. They didn't know if it was a fire, or some other kind of emergency. But when they saw me with my knife still drawn, they began to realize what they had prevented by their quick response.

- "It's over!" shouted Rasiph. "It's over! Y'can stop ringin' the damn bell!" In the end, he had to go and find Dulo, and grab her by the arms. She couldn't see - or hear - what was going on.

At some point, I remembered to breathe. Another dozen men came into the common room from outside, even less aware of what had happened.

Dulo burst through the door from the kitchen. She stopped abruptly as she saw nearly twenty men standing in the common room. Everyone looked at her.

But Dulo was looking directly at me. I nodded, to reassure her that I was safe, and unharmed. But our silent exchange didn't go unnoticed.

- "Ahh... looks like Dulo's made her choice." said Rasiph.

Dulo recovered swiftly. "What?" she said. "I'd have done the same for any of you."

There were a few more 'Aahs', and a groan or two. Then a burst of chatter erupted as the later arrivals demanded to know what was going on.

Kurs had to be disappointed. I offered him my hand.

- "You are a brave man." I told him. "You too, Rasiph - you old degenerate. The two of you can drink on my money until further notice." It was Barsam's money, to be precise, but they didn't need to know that.

No one left. The usual breakfast crowd were joined by those who had answered the bell, and the idle curious. Somehow, the news travelled quickly, and the common room filled up.

- "I should go." I said.

- "You'll do no such thing." said Dulo. "Put that thing away, and sit down." I sheathed my weapon, but remained standing, unsure of what to do. Then she put a strong hand on my shoulder, and pushed down.

"Sit." she insisted. "Don't be an idiot. They could still be waiting out there."

- "That's right." said Rasiph. "Don't be an idiot."

I couldn't tell if he was referring to Dagnis' men, or to Dulo's choice - if he was right, and she had indeed made it.

It would have been churlish for me to leave. I rose to my feet, and called for silence. It took some time, but I finally got their attention.

- "Thank you." I said. "Thank you all. You have saved my life today." Most everyone present knew the story of my last fight with Dagnis' men - and the fact that I had killed two of them.

"Dulo - thank you, too - for your bell. I have a request: if it is not improper, in Izumyr, then I would like to buy these men a drink. To show my thanks."

That went over well, of course. It also kept Dulo busy, serving drinks as well as breakfasts. And it gave me time to consider my situation.

Dagnis. I was reasonably sure that a word in Barsam's ear would be enough to have his dogs called off. I would remain careful, of course - but I was not especially worried. The only man among them that I feared was the Hand - and if he killed me, Dagnis would be directly implicated.