I climbed down the slope, slipped, and made it up to the place. I shifted the bones, and in the dim light, I saw them.
There, before me, was Ishild.
What remained of her.
She had skin in places, and some fat over her bones. Her hair was blonde, long, and mostly intact, though oddly settled over the eyeholes of the skeleton. Her hands were grasping at the horse’s skeleton, and I saw her legs had been broken by the fall. She had not died immediately.
I had not tried to look for her after she fell.
I had not thought to help her. I had been relieved.
Not far off, I saw other skeleton’s legs.
There, robes were moldy, and bones were clear under the ribs. Spiders were scattering to every direction from the thing, and I walked for Odo’s bones.
He was laying on a heap of even older ones.
They had sacrificed there before. Perhaps Veleda had, as well.
Odo’s hair was gone. His head was gone. I wondered at that, for it looked almost like it had been cut by sword. I knew it was Odo, for it wore a thick, golden band on its finger. It was filled with strange, mystical carvings of ancient origins on its massive surface. It was different, it was clearly different, and I pitied Catualda for trying to cheat the Semnones with a fake one.
I kneeled and reached for it. I felt terrified for taking it, for while my life had not been peaceful without it, it had been bereft of Lok. It had been free of curses and our family trouble.
I reached out, sighed, and touched it, pulling.
It fought me.
I cursed and broke the finger, and I heard Hands whimpering above me, and then praying to gods. I pulled the ring off the bone, and then got up and kneeled next to Ishild, and realized the boy’s skeleton was not there.
Odo’s son was not there at all.
The boy who had been supposed to survive Ragnarök with my Lif wasn’t there.
I looked around, and below, and decided he had rolled clear and died in some hole. Perhaps the water, when it had flowed, had…
I knew not.
I felt frosty fear clawing at my belly, far worse for the missing one than the fear of the skeletons, and while I didn’t know it then, that boy had not died and would one day haunt my son and daughter, both.
I looked up to Hands, who let a rope coil down at me, and I grasped it, and he helped me up. Gervas was climbing, cursing his armor. We all despaired on the way up, rested far too often, cursed our age, and then finally, Wulf pulled us up, her powerful shoulders straining.
Up there, we buried Wide Snout.
He had been unlucky, but brave, and I begged Woden to take him to his halls.
Then, later and below in the trails of Godsmount, with Hands waiting by, I turned to Gervas and Wulf.
They stared at me.
“I—” I began and went quiet.
“What, Father?” Gervas asked.
“There is something taking place, and that something is dangerous and filthy,” I said. “And since now, after a long while, none are watching us, I need something from you two.”
Silence.
Hands snorted. “What he means to say is that you two will ride with me.”
Wulf frowned and turned to me. He pointed a finger at Hands. “Do you mean to be rid of us?”
“Your father agrees,” I said. “And for now, you shall go with Hands.”
“You both will,” he told them. “You will come with me.”
His dogs made small, nervous sounds.
Gervas held his head. “But the war? It is dishonorable to flee…not to be part of it.”
“The war,” I said, “is a thing of filth. Tell me boys, were we wrong with your father? Do you dream of life in Rome, one that is safe, and your houses respected? Or do you dream of the old ways, now that you have lived it?”
They looked at each other. Wulf shook his head. “The old ways, I suppose. What other ways are there? We cannot go back to Rome? We have seen you and Father doing many strange things and meeting odd people. We see the tension in your faces, the shame. We know there is more trouble than with Maroboodus. Are you saying there is no honor for us here? That you and him…” He went quiet.
I nodded. “We are bastards and traitors, Wulf. For you. We have ever worked to save you two, and our wives. I have failed in that. But I won’t fail in the rest. I have never been a good father, like mine wasn’t. But what I can still do is to kill those men who threaten you. Alas, but I cannot trust the man who was supposed to give us safety.”
“In Rome?” Wulf asked. “This man is in Rome?”
I smiled. “I shall see you, perhaps next year.”
They stared at us with incredulity. Wulf shook his head.
I refused them before they could start arguing. “Go. You will not want to be part of what is about to happen.”
They saw my face. They saw the shame, the dark despair.
Wulf, finally, grasped Gervas’s reins and pulled him away. I turned to Hands and held my head high. “I shall see you soon.”
He smiled. “It is a habit of mine to lead yours away. I shall see you soon, then. Good luck, Raven.”
“Good luck, Hound,” I said. “Gervas?”
He looked at me with cold fury. “Yes?”
“Do not believe everything you will hear, if I should die,” I said. “But believe much of it. Do not be like I am. Or your grandfather. Let us go and settle our scores, and do not come back. It will not be worth it. I am not.”
I turned my horse and rode away.
***
When I reached Armin’s village days later, I met Catualda outside the village. I watched him ride out, and he stopped before me. He looked feverish as he stared at me, and I produced him a small bag.
He eyed my condition, stared at my wounds, and shivered.
“Rabid dog, that’s what you always were,” he said, as he took the bag. He opened it up and slumped on the saddle. He looked up at me, and I smiled.
He reached out to crush me in a hug, and then, he rode to make Maroboodus a liar amongst the Semnones and the Langobardi. I let my soul sing for it and rode to the villages.
I found the Black Lodge, and Rhamis, holding a child of Segimundus, appeared. She smiled up at me, and I decided she had found happiness. Libys was with her, his eyes on me. “Hraban,” she said and then looked sad. “Gunda. I am sorry. It was so unexpected. She was feeling better.”
“And yet, death took her,” I said sadly. “I mourn, but it doesn’t change a thing. Wyrd, eh?”
“Wyrd, Hraban,” she said.
I looked around. “Is Segimundus here?”
She nodded and looked nervous. She said nothing.
I smiled at her. “Can you get him?”
“He is very busy,” she said softly, carrying the child back inside, and turned to speak to me. “You know he is unhappy with you. You know why.”
I shrugged. “I’d have words with him. Perhaps he won’t be as unhappy after I do?”
He wasn’t convinced. She looked nervous and then finally nodded. “Try to make him feel better. He has been upset for many things other than you. A man from Armin’s camp rode to him, and he hasn’t been the same since.”
I smiled. She went inside with Libys, the Chatti vitka, and I waited.
Then, Thusnelda came out and she looked at me with a puzzled look. I bowed my head before her. She looked surprised. “Shouldn’t you be with Armin?”
I shook my shoulders. “I am late to war. I shall be there presently. I doubt Armin has missed me.”
She smiled wryly. “I have tried to help Armin. Your father’s threat is very serious. He will not speak to us.”
I looked at her carefully. I saw her eyes were moist and nervous. “Will you not offer me your hospitality, lady?” I asked her.
She spoke on. “They said you are in Mattium still. I am happy to see you, of course! Aye, drink and food. You look like you have had trouble.” She looked serious. “Donor was here days ago. Left sudd
enly. Have you seen him?”
“Not seen him,” I said. “I met some bandits, but not him.”
She stepped forward. “Good. Gunda’s loss…I am sorry. Those Sarmatians were fiends.”
I looked into her eyes and saw sudden tears there. “Not all, I said. Some are fine people. Most, in fact. But what wasn’t, is now dead.”
She looked at me and knew I had dealt with Ourbazo. She agreed with a smile. “I am happy for you. Armin will want you in the war, Hraban. I hope you shall fight well.”
“I rarely fight badly, Thusnelda,” I said. “I cannot bear to see them fight without me. Rome is there, coming?”
She nodded. “He is ready. They are coming soon. There are four legions. More shall come. Gods, let him be protected. If Maroboodus—"
“Maroboodus?” I said. “I hear he shall no longer be a threat to Armin. Do not worry about him. He will have his own trouble to deal with.”
“Why?” she asked, puzzled.
I didn’t answer.
She watched me in silence and placed a hand on her belly. The belly was slightly rounded. She smiled as she noticed me looking. “Finally.”
“Aye, finally,” I said, and smiled down at her. “I would speak with Segimundus, Thusnelda. Just for a moment.”
She listened to the discussions behind her in the Black Lodge and looked up at me. “He hates you. Sadly for him, he is no man to finish his grudges. He always needs help. I am helping when I can. Libys, and Rhamis as well. But he is a good man. Don’t upset him.”
I grinned, and she walked past me, unhappy.
I watched her go. She was pregnant.
Gods help Adalwulf and me.
Segimundus came out of the hall. He frowned, unhappy to see me.
The sting of losing Gunda’s hand had never left him. No man could endure such a humiliation and keep their peace. Rhamis had been there to patch up some of that dishonor, and still, it would never go away. It was like a stain of piss on his tunic. Men saw him, and whispered, and chuckled. His bride had been stolen from under his nose once, and the man who had done it, loathed by all, had lived.
There were poems of his shame. Songs. I had heard them. Men spoke of him. Women gossiped.
Gunda’s death had not alleviated that shame. He said nothing.
I bowed my head to him.
He didn’t answer in kind.
I grew irritated by him. I shifted in my saddle. “How is the Black Lodge, adeling? How are the villages?”
“War-lord,” he finally answered, though icily. “It is well. The land is well. I have a thousand men to guard it. Another thousand still keep my father in his burg. Donor scouts the land. Life goes on.”
“I congratulate you, and your sister both, on your many children,” I said.
He fidgeted. He said nothing.
I frowned. “Is there something the matter? You look like you have swallowed a cup of horse cum.”
He crinkled his nose as my rudeness. He waved his hand to the west. “Something odd happened a few days ago. The Chatti marched here and followed Armin’s men to the west nearly immediately. Your dogs were with them. A man stayed. He was a drunk. Nothing more than a sot. But he had a tale to tell.”
“Sots tell tall tales, lord,” I said. “I came to see you, and Rhamis. I see she is well. I have been worrying—”
“Why would you worry for Rhamis?” he asked irascibly. “I do not understand.”
I looked away. “Rhamis is relative. Of course I worry about her. And Arpus has been discussing with Armin.”
“Discussing you, that is,” he said dryly. “She is not related to you. Gunda is dead.”
I smiled. “Yes, discussing me. They intend to bring me back home. Closer to home. I will settle my feud with Donor. I shall need a command of men. Not now, but later. Two thousand men, they said.”
His eye was twitching. “The man said you will rule Black Lodge. He said he heard Arpus and Adgandestrius speaking. He said…”
“It is Armin’s idea,” I said. “The Chatti want to marry me to a lesser noble, but Armin knows I am the son of Maroboodus, no matter how bad things have been lately between the Summer Sword and me. He cannot afford to lose me. I do, after all, have a way to pacify Maroboodus.”
He looked nervous. “You do? They speak of little else here than Maroboodus.”
“I do,” I said. “I agreed I would help Armin. We will forgive each other.”
His eyes were red with anger. “He travelled to the Chatti last Yule. They said he met with Arpus.”
I shrugged. “As I said. I will likely rule here. I will take your men.” He shook with anger. I looked at my fingernails. “I cannot be married to Rhamis. Marriage is a holy thing, lord Segimundus. It cannot be broken.”
He blinked.
“I hear you will go to war next year, and I will stay here,” I said. “I shall look after the towns and the women who stay here. Rhamis is safe with me. As I said, I cannot marry her. Arpus said so. I can only marry her if you die in war. After a respectable mourning period, of course.”
His face went blank.
I turned my horse. “I loved Gunda. I love her family. Rhamis is a good woman, no? And since I hear you have been speaking against me, Segimundus, I will not feel sorry if you fall in war next year. I will ride after the army now, lord. Guard the towns well. Keep Rhamis and Thusnelda safe! Be happy! Perhaps I either die this year, or Armin wins the war. Then you are safe, eh?”
I kicked my horse and didn’t turn back.
I heard a door slamming, and then Libys’s voice raised in anger, and I smiled. Then the smile disappeared.
Thusnelda was pregnant.
Gods always found a way to cast a cloud over bright Sunna.
CHAPTER 18
(Bructeri Lands, June 18th, A.D. 15)
The third year of war began with victories, and lost opportunities.
Gochan and I looked down on the latest battlefield.
The battle was over, and the dead were still. A sea of wounded crawled across the meadow, begging for help.
Rome had collected its dead. Caecina’s legions and auxilia rarely fled the field without collecting the dead, at least. This time, they had not killed the wounded and had spared the captured.
Germanicus was not there. Only Caecina. He had compassion for those he took prisoners.
“Forty cohorts,” said Gochan. “More or less.”
The enemy had sent three legions in late June to march on Alisio roads. Those legions had marched for Alisio, and then, they had swung to the north. They had entered Bructeri lands, where they had humiliated the Bructeri the year before and some fifteen cohorts of heavily armed auxilia had marched south from the north. They had gone through the Frisii lands to swing south, and the Chauci had warned Armin.
The fifteen thousand Chauci with Ernust had stopped the enemy there, in the middle of Bructeri lands, and Armin had made life hellish for Caecina in the woods of Bructeri. No open battles had been fought. They had all been surprises. It had been costly on both sides.
Armin was riding near us, Horse-Arse and Grip on his tail. His men, those of Donor, were near him, all eyeing me with distrust and open hatred.
He stopped to look down. “How many?”
Gochan shrugged. “A few hundred Romans died. Many, eh? A thousand of ours. A good trade.”
He smiled wistfully. “A good trade, eh?” He gave me a quick glance. “I hear odd things from my home. Thusnelda sent me messages and told me you were in Black Lodge, before you came here. Said you had been in a fight.”
I shrugged. “I always look like I am in a fight. I left late to get here, as you know. That Ourbazo tried to take me.”
He pondered at it. “My scouts say your boy has not been seen.”
I looked at the scouts. “You are not very sharp, are you boys? He is with Adalwulf.”
“She said you upset Segimundus,” he said. “She didn’t know how. He wasn’t speaking to her. He was silent for days, listening to his vi
tka and Rhamis. What happened?”
“Segimundus is a delicate flower, lord,” I told him. “I told him to guard the village better. I rode in unannounced. I told him I dislike him for speaking against me when I am not there. If he mentioned nothing to Thusnelda, then I suppose he took my warning to heart.”
He flinched at my insolent tone and looked south and east. He shook his head. “I do not understand. They were marching this way. The southern legions from Moganticum. Where are they?”
I nodded. I knew. “And we have not seen Germanicus. Perhaps he got cold feet.”
“He is planning something,” Adalwulf said from behind. “The auxilia from the north, and Caecina with his from the south. He is somewhere out there.”
Armin looked nervous. “We must try to put the legions that are here to flight, Germanicus or not. I am gathering men to do it. The woods give us a chance.”
“The woods do, always,” I said.
He rubbed his chin. “Where is your son?”
“Adalwulf?” I called out.
“Scouting,” he called out. “They are always scouting. Best for it. Young and stupid, but fast.”
Armin looked around, but there was no Donor to refute me. The scouts and their war-lord looked glum and silent. He settled down and looked over the land. “Donor set out to follow you, Hraban, didn’t he? You didn’t see him?”
“I was being followed by Ourbazo,” I said. “He died. Maybe he ran into Donor before he and I had our argument?”
He frowned and shook his head.
“We shall move to attack Caecina,” he said finally. “You will get your orders. It will take place in the morning.”
Thousands of his men were streaming for us in long, hungry columns.
And it was then Adgandestrius rode from the woods.
One look at his face told Armin Germanicus had been found. The man rode hard for us, and his beard was quivering with rage.
He stopped before Armin, pulling his horse back and forth. “Armin!”
Armin took a long breath and prepared to receive the news.
So did I.
“Germanicus! He is in our land!” he called. “He was!”
“Is, was?” Armin asked. “Stop blabbering. Speak plainly, adeling!”
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