‘I’m not so sure she will be as happy.’ Conn had negotiated an appropriate dowry for daughter. Given her change of status, he should apply for a discount. ‘I thought you would be Wealdend next.’
‘Not unless I had a child; when I have a child I can be Wealdend. So this is a good day.’ Conn hugged her again, and watched her go to the main table, while he joined his table. When they asked, he explained.
Halla shook her head knowingly. ‘Seems to be going around…’
‘What is?’
‘Being with child…’
‘Really?’ Conn sat down and filled his tankard with ale. ‘Who else is pregnant?’
‘Jofrid...’
Conn choked on his beer. They all looked at him strangely. When he gathered his breath, he asked again. ‘Jofrid is pregnant?’
‘I just said that. Don’t you listen? And there is one more that I know of.’
Conn stopped drinking this time. ‘And who is that?’ he was hoping to hell it wasn’t Eachna – but he had been careful.
‘Me…’
‘You?’
‘Yes, me. You are very monosyllabic this evening. You are not presenting a good first impression to your new bedda… I apologize Fiona, he is not normally this bad.’
Fiona had watched the whole thing with amusement. ‘I don’t understand why the Eaorl is so concerned.’
Halla laughed, in true amusement. ‘I’m sorry Fiona, I didn’t explain. The Eaorl is the father of all these children…’
Fiona was genuinely shocked and it took her some time to be brought up to speed on Conn’s family tree. She was just coming to grips with the possible twenty children that Conn had sired when Derryth arrived. She had never met a Twacuman before. That took longer to comprehend. Derryth laughed after he had congratulated everyone.
‘I just don’t know where he gets the energy from.’
After the feast they headed back to the Inn. Conn showed Fiona to her room, which had been prepared to the highest level of luxury possible, and a hot tub of water was waiting for her in the corner. She gushed as she inspected her room – she almost cried.
Conn turned to leave and she spoke.
‘Eaorl...’
Conn turned back.
‘I presume you will come to my room later?’
‘I had not thought to impose upon you so early…’
She smiled. ‘It will be fine. It is not as if it is my first time – I have definitely seen more than sixteen winters. Beside; everyone else you fornicate with is with child – you have nowhere else to go… by the sounds of it you rarely sleep alone’
That was mostly true – there was still Eachna but he was trying to avoid her.
Fiona continued. ‘Give me ten minutes and you may come back.’
Conn nodded and went to his room, bathed and returned at the appointed time.
~x081~
Winter had officially started when Conn, Fiona, Derryth, Jofrid and Halla said their farewells to Kiley and Ailsly in the donjon as a ship waiting in the harbour to take them north.
There were hugs and kisses all round.
Conn addressed them both. ‘I have something for you. This has just been finished.’ He rolled out a large parchment that showed the town of Trokiak in great detail. ‘It is a design for a new donjon – it will be the best in Meshech – and repairs and other building work to strengthen the walls that surround the town. When you to proceed, talk to Sir Abrecan, he will arrange the craeftiga to come from Atrak.’
‘But the cost will be huge.’
‘It will be but it will be necessary – and I will pay half – I will put the money we received from Gatina to good use. The walls did well enough to hold out the Rakians, but if it had been me trying to get in, you would all be theow in Kishdah by now.’
The thought sobered them. ‘We will speak to Sir Abrecan. It is the least we can do. Is there anything else you need us to do?’
‘Yes, what do you know of Lilith’s heart-stone?’
Kiley was surprised at the question, and she considered it for a while.
‘Very little – I recall a story about a group of Folgere who arrived here in the Healdend Albert’s time; claiming to have the heart-stone and wishing to present it to the Healdend for safe keeping. I don’t know if it is true but I will ask my librarians – although they are a bit busy with all the work you have given them copying from the scrolls to the codex.’
‘So it has disappeared?’
Kiley remained curious. ‘Certainly it is nowhere that I know of. Why do you want to know?’
‘Just in case the Cirice can be found.’ Conn had decided he wasn’t going to tell the Healdend that he had the heart-stone – just in case they wanted it back.
Kiley was not stupid and awareness quickly spread on her face. ‘That is why you want Kuita – of course. There was a place somewhere in Kuita that was the original home of the Trokians when they arrived here four hundred years ago. What was its name again?’
‘Kadash…’
‘Of course – Kadash. But how can you find something that is in the sea between Kuita and Cyme. That is impossible.’
‘That has yet to be proven…’
They bid them farewell again and headed out to the dock. By road it was a three month journey – by ship, only a week – with good winds.
Chapter 07
Soon after arriving in Zedah, they farewelled Jofrid, and the hundred plus Valkeri that she commanded, as they head back to Cyme. Conn was certainly going to miss her – and her regular visits late at night were going to be missed twice as much.
Zedah itself was a very small community, and very remote, and Leomon probably didn’t quite know what he was letting himself in for when he agreed to allow Conn and his fyrd to stay for the winter. The fyrd, however, behaved exemplary – a few took bedda from amongst the locals, while the rest either herded horses while they grazed on the mountain slopes, or built things.
Conn always started the discussion innocently.
‘Leomon’, he would say, ‘you know how we had difficulty loading and unloading the schooners when we arrived?’
Leomon would agree – they had some teething problems because his dock was simply not big or deep enough at low tide for Conn’s schooners. ‘If I did a few little changes I think I can solve that problem. Would you mind if I have my Engineer Corp have a go fixing it?’
Leomon would of course agree – at first he didn’t really understand what the engineering Corp did, and before long he would have a dock that was designed for a town three times his size.
‘Leomon, I apologize but the Engineering Corp have created a drainage problem with the new dock. Do you mind if I get them to fix it – they just need to dig a few ditches?’
A fully paved town later the drainage problem was fixed.
‘Leomon, I apologize, but the new Inn,’ Conn like to live in Inns rather than houses, ‘is unfortunately twice the size as your donjon. It just doesn’t look right – do you mind if I build you a new one?’
When Sherwin arrived back in Zedah at the beginning of spring – Conn had sent him to Menia on a study mission – he could hardly recognize his old home. He also had a new bedda – one of the very homily daughters of Ciarrai, Eaorl of Menia – who had a few to go around. Another daughter, his eldest who had been widowed, became bedda to Esras, Aebeling of Kania.
So much work was possible over winter in Zedah because of its position so far north; the winter had been far milder in Zedah than anywhere to the south. Rakia had a particularly bad winter, and Conn heard that poor Amargein il Motya died in a prison cell after a particularly bad cold spell.
The mild conditions also allowed Conn and Derryth to spend a lot of time outdoors – which was where they needed to be – a pregnant Halla on some days was not someone you wanted to be around. By the end of winter, Fiona was also pregnant, so the happiest people at the beginning of spring were Conn and Derryth – everything was being prepared for their expedition to the moun
tains in the east. Sadly, they could be away for months!
Derryth walked up and interrupted Conn as he ate breakfast with a cranky Fiona and a very cranky Halla.
‘Conn’, he called, ‘There is someone wanting to see for you at the gate. You should come and see who it is.’
Derryth had a smile of his face, so it must have been amusing.
Conn hurriedly bid the ladies farewell and followed Derryth out.
‘Is that the best excuse you could come up with – someone to see you at the main gate? You even looked like you were lying.’
‘Twacuman don’t lie…’
‘So there is someone waiting to see me?’
‘That’s what I said.’
‘Why didn’t you bring her to the Inn?’
‘She refused to come inside the gate…’
When they arrived, a peasant woman, who looked about seventy– which was a very old age in Trokia, was waiting for them. Derryth introduced her as Anu. Anu, Derryth explained, was apparently a relative of the Eaorls of Kuita.
After Conn was introduced, Conn asked how he could be of assistance.
‘Perhaps it is the opposite, Eaorl of Kuita.’ Anu said, ‘Perhaps I can help you. When I heard about the new Eaorl, I came as soon as possible. It has taken me ten days to get here. I live in the Kuita foothills, near the home of our ancestors. I understand that you want to find the ancient road into Kuita?’
Conn was taken back. ‘You are remarkably well informed Anu il Kuita. In fact scarily so. But it is true that I would like find this road – I’d like to rebuild the road so that it is easy to access Kuita. And you say that you know where the road is?’
‘Oh yes,’ she cackled, ‘I can lead you directly to it – but only you. I can’t lead anyone else there. I need to show it to the Eaorl himself. That is my condition.’
Conn sighed. He hated people setting conditions on him. ‘And if I don’t except your condition, do you think my men will find the road?
She laughed, in what Conn imagined to be an old ‘witch’ type of way. ‘Yes, but it will take them years.’
He thought so; finding the road quickly could save lives and money. He didn’t have years to look for it. ‘Very well, I will accept your condition. My fyrd will be ready to march in a week. We can leave then.’
‘No,’ she answered defiantly, ‘Your men can come later. We need to leave tomorrow morning.’ She stood and headed for the door. ‘I will meet you here at dawn.’ With that she turned her donkey around and rode away. Conn was going to follow and ask more questions; but he thought better of it.
Old people, Conn thought. Why is there always something very suspicious about old people?
The next morning, Conn had twenty horses ready at the east gate just after dawn. Anu arrived very soon after, on her donkey. Conn asked if she would like to change to a horse or a larger donkey.
She declined, saying that the pace the donkey set would be suitable. She turned and rode away, and Conn hurried to catch her up. The donkey was quite fast; for a donkey.
It was a six day ride to the foothills and Conn was unable to engage the old woman in conversation at all. She kept telling him that talking was a waste of breathe. For the most part she did not ride with them. In the morning she would set a destination, and set them off; and then she would be there the next morning, to set their next target. She claimed that travelling at night suited her and the donkey better – and she could navigate by the stars.
Sherwin had agreed to accompany them, and they found accommodation in the Villages along the way; Conn had brought in a lot of food over the winter so hospitality was not an issue; they had plenty to last until the harvests.
After five days, the land became unused, and densely wooded, so travel became very slow. These mountains had a name – the Mhari Mountains, Anu informed him. A long time ago, The Priecuman had a town that looked up at the mountains – and its name was Mhari.
‘Where is the town now? Conn asked, not expecting an answer.
‘Under the ocean ... I believe. There was a time when Cyme was joined to Meshech. It isn’t anymore.’
‘But that would be a thousand years ago – were the Priecuman here then?’
‘Did I say Priecuman – I apologize – I meant to say Twacuman. That is what I was told.’
Conn looked at Derryth – who shrugged.
‘Don’t look at me – it’s before my time…’
As they travelled Conn had men mark a trail; five hundred engineers, Logistics and wiga would be following along behind. It needed to be well marked as Anu had them going in directions he would never have considered. Finally she brought them to a small valley; the entrance was not more than ten yards wider and as she led them inside, and it was near the highest point in the Mhari Mountains. But it was a dead end – there was nowhere to go.
‘Here?’ Conn asked ‘There is nowhere to go.’
‘Be patient. Time will reveal all. You need to go to the end of the valley, and climb; and from the top you can look down into Kuita. The road was not wide – it was just a road that gave access from one side to the other. Go and have a look.’
Conn and Derryth rode as far as they could until the horses could travel no more, and they then scrambled the fifty yards of hill on foot until they reached the top.
Anu was, of course, right; they looked down to Kania Bay, the blue ocean clearly visible in the distance despite the miles.
‘Well, I’ll be damned.’ Each side of them were mountains – they stood on what was basically a pile of rubble between the two great escarpments. ‘Someone has deliberately closed this access road down – or something has. Perhaps an earthquake. Weren’t there earthquakes during the last ‘Darkening’?’
Derryth nodded. ‘There was – lots. So it was an earthquake that did this?’
Conn nodded. ‘Possibly, and we will have to undo it. It is going to be a lot of work. But we just need to remove enough to allow horses to pass.’
By the time they had returned to the floor, camp had been set up. They looked for Anu but she was gone. Disappearing was a skill she had. But she was right – Conn would have found this road into Kuita, but it could have taken years. Instead it had taken ten days. While they waited for the rest of his fyrd to catch up, Conn sent pigeons to Menia, Dor and Zedah to inform them of his progress. Without proper tools there was little they could do except cut down trees, so when the engineers arrived they could set to work.
The Engineer’s quick appraisal confirmed Conn’s assessment that it would take two weeks at least to move enough soil to get the wiga over and into Kuita.
They did it in ten days. The mountain side was covered in bamboo – very tall and broad. Conn build a bamboo pipe-way to carry diverted water from a waterfall down the mountain to the top of the large ridge – and with the constant flow of water on the soil, great holes were soon created as the water washed the soil down the mountain side. With enough time and water, the entire barrier would be gone and even horse and ox carts would be able to use the pass.
Conn was the first to lead his horse through the new path; he was leading Derryth’s stallion as he had gone ahead to scout a path down the mountain. Behind him three hundred wiga were preparing to follow.
Conn watched as the ten scouts melted out of the trees and appeared in front of them. Derryth grabbed the reins of his horse.
‘Nothing for a couple of days at least. No sheep, no goats, no cows and no sign of horses. Nobody has been up here for years.’
‘Three days to the coast, then?’
Derryth agreed, and more pigeons were dispatched to Menia and Dor.
The fyrd headed slowly down the mountain side; the pathway was gentle, if heavily wooded, and although capable of greater speeds once the trees had cleared, they travelled with caution. They camped for two nights without lighting fires, even before their scouts reported signs of humanity.
The road finally led to what appeared to be an old stone town, and there were several paths f
rom there down to the village harbors along the coast. Conn decided to do the rest on foot and with one night to go, he led two hundred wiga down the mountain.
They got as close as they could before they waited in the dark for Derryth to return from his trip to the village.
‘It’s a pretty simple layout; lots of longhus along the water; very little behind the main walls. I would guess that the population is over a 1,000. The ships are along the docks and it seems that they are not heading out tonight. There are minimal sentries anywhere. Do you think your ships will make it in?’
‘Most definitely, they have clear maps and the beacons we will set up will give them navigation points.’ Conn confirmed every step of his plan with his Captains and they left to position themselves.
Derryth shook his head for what seemed like the tenth time. ‘Tell me again why we are not just storming the longhus?’
‘I want to see if we can capture the villagers without bloodshed. They are more use to me alive than dead. If we have to kill them, we will. But that is the last alternative.’
Derryth was still amused. ‘And plan ‘A’ still requires you to play those … bagpipes again, does it? No wonder we didn’t bring the horses. Infernal things.’
Conn laughed. ‘Back in Taransay, they say that a piper marches when he plays just so that he can try and get away from the music.’
‘I fully understand his feeling. I on the other hand want to march in the opposite direction.’
They moved down into the village. The palisades were minor and not guarded well. Those that were on duty in the middle of the night, were easily overcome, gagged and bound. The pirates thought that they were safe from attack both from behind and from the sea. They would be surprised.
It would have been close to midnight when Conn was in position; the special beacons he had designed and set up were finally in place. The main longhus was at the end of a ‘street’, muddy and putrid, and Conn positioned himself at the other end. He then started to play ‘Scotland the Brave’, followed by ‘Amazing Grace’ on the bagpipes as he marched towards the longhus. He was about to start on his third traditional marching tune, ‘Highland Laddie’ when the village filled with half-dressed men swinging at imaginary foe with their swords.
The Eaorl (The Casere Book 2) Page 10