The cousins looked at each other. ‘Won’t that make me a vow breaker?’
‘Hardly, I will be paying for a company of Valkeri to help you guard my town. Just business.’
When Conn left the next morning, everyone was happy – in more ways than one. Jofrid, as happy as she was to have Halla back as Aebeling, couldn’t always hide her disappointment about no longer being the Aebeling; now she could move on. Conn was happy too, when Jofrid visited him later in the evening, she took her friend with her.
In Trokiak, Aisly was not as happy as she could have been – she was pregnant again but that is what you get if you want to show your appreciation the way she insisted on showing it. Having your first real connection to your Gyden also makes you throw caution to the wind. Still, she was assured by Lilith that it wasn’t twins, so that was something at least.
As well as attending meetings of the Witan, Conn had a meeting planned with the Master of the Books – Immin, the Chief Librarian, and he found him with a collection of ancient scrolls on his desk – as well as a few new codex.
He stood and bowed in respect. ‘Ah, Eaorl, thank you for coming – you could of sent for me…’
‘I was wondering how the transcribing was going?’ Conn was paying for the copying of all scrolls into codex in Trokia as well.
Immin showed him around for some time—dozens of bocere were hard at work coping from scrolls to the codex, and doing it three times so that there were several copies of each. One was being sent to the castle at Atrak, where Conn’s own bocere were creating the largest library in Meshech. It already had a copy of every known work in Lycia, and was part the way though the scrolls in the libraries of Moesia and Silekia.
Later Conn joined Immin back at his desk. The librarian busily searched his desk for documents. ‘Now, you wanted to know about the events that led to the Aebelings becoming Healdends, during the War of Liberation, as it is sometimes called?’
Conn nodded. ‘I do – I know that in 562 there was a rebellion – the Aebelings of Trokia, Moetia and Gatina threatened to go to war against the Casere Goibniu. I also know that Goibniu resigned as Casere and they all went away happy. I don’t know why – or how – or where.’
‘Well, your query became very interesting because not long after we started looking we found an ancient scroll – it is called the “The Confession of Leachlainn”.
‘Wasn’t Leachlainn part of the rebellion – is it not a strange title? Wasn’t he considered a hero?’
‘By all except himself it seems. Let me read it to you.’ Immin opened the scroll part the way through. It was old and damaged in places. It was not before time that it was being copied. He started reading.
‘My people, there will never be a true account of the sad events that led to the creation of the four current demesne in Meshech. Others will write only of the triumph of the three Aebelings against a despotic Casere; of the triumph of men of virtue over a man of greed – but it cannot be farther from the truth. The new Healdend will write how they were gallant and virtuous in the face of deceit and ambition. But history is written by those that can. None will write of the betrayal by many against one; about the false voice that drove sane men to do the unthinkable and how fair counsel was ignored to the peril of an entire people. None will write of the torment felt by many when the false voice was discovered. None will celebrate the true sacrifice of one to save not just his but all people of Meshech. None will condemn me for my blind ambition and betrayal of these same people. Nowhere will it be written that our actions caused the demise of all Meshech; that good counsel was ignored by all except the Casere who sacrificed himself so that fateful day will be put off and that Meshech may rise again. What was done, can’t be undone. I have no choice but write a true history, so that I may find peace, but it has eluded me. I die a condemned man for my part in the destruction of my people because …
Immin stopped reading and looked to Conn; ‘That is all that we have been able to save. The rest is dust. Without your request, this scroll would never have been discovered. I have been in this library for thirty years and I have never seen it before.’
‘Well, it kind of stops at the most important part, which is kind of annoying…is there much more on these events?’
Immin fumbled for another book; it was a new codex. On the cover was the title “The Glorious History of Trokia”.
‘We have just finished this volume. It contradicts itself many times, but it has some good information.’ Immin scanned through the pages. ‘Here – it says that Aebelings of Trokia, Rakia and Moetia met with the Casere in the grounds of the Donjon in Mylae.’ He looked at Conn curiously, ‘I have not heard of a Great Donjon in Mylae.’
Conn agreed. ‘Neither have I. Wasn’t Mylae part of Silekia?’
‘Indeed it was – in fact four Ratakian Eaorldoms – Lipara, Mylae, Soloes, and Ilissus – were part of the Silekia until the Rakian- Silekian War of 633.The Eaorl of Rakia was wealthy and powerful enough to convince his brother Eaorls to join him in his invasion of Silekia.’ Immin scanned pages. ‘It says he had a Fyrd of a thousand mercenaries from Kishdah.’ He went through more pages. ‘I don’t even know where Kishdah is…’
‘They are Ancuman – Kishdah is their home.’ Conn had heard the term twice before – once from Elddis and once from Sibbe. ‘But that is sixty years later – how is that connected to 562?’
‘It makes sense to me now – the Eaorl of Rakia was Ancuman – or at least the first Eaorl was.’
Conn knew that there was Ancuman blood throughout the Noble families of Meshech – in fact most of the problems were linked to Ancuman involvement. Given that they were expelled by Sherric in the 360s, they were somehow back in the 560s. Someone had decided not to learn from history.
‘How did he get to be an Eaorl?’
‘I know that – it says here that “The Aebeling of Gatina was steadfast in his refusal to accept the demands of the Casere and together with his Kishdah counsel he promised rebellion and called his Eaorls to arms. Only the actions of Trokia achieved resolution without the shedding of blood. The Gatinan counsel was rewarded with the new Eaorldom of Rakia and a daughter of Gatina for his efforts”.’
‘Lucky him.’ Conn paused to absorb the information. ‘So the Casere tried to do something, but they resisted and he abdicated. That’s a sudden but significant decision – to avert open warfare. What about 633?’
‘Well, it would seem that the Eaorl of Rakia commenced a war against Silekia and his thousand mercenaries were brought to a standstill only by the combined forces of Moetia, Trokia and Gatina – but the agreement that ended that war created the Aebeling of Rakia – both Silekia and Gatina had to cede land to the new demesne. I mentioned the Silekian Eaorldoms – Lipara, Mylae, Soloes, and Ilissus – except that it appears that the Eaorl of Ilissus refused to pay homage and surrendered his demesne. The Gatinan Eaorldoms were Motya and Hera as well as Rakia,’
‘What about Akarah, Tindara, and Syra?’
‘They were created by the new Aebeling of Rakia after the war – to reward his followers.’
He closed the book but noticed that another pages was uneven and opened to that page. He glanced quickly before reading on. ‘Eaorl, this is interesting I think. In 636, Rakia blamed the Gyden Tabiti and her counsel for the war and as part of the treaty the other Healdends insisted that all Cirice in Gatina be closed down. It seems however that that the Cirice in Gatinak itself had long been abandoned by that time.’
Conn shook his head. ‘Why would you blame your own Gyden for your own actions… unless…’ Conn stopped. ‘Thank you Immin, and if you find out anything more, can you please bring it to my attention.’ Conn knew what he needed to do now.
After sending a few pigeons, Conn farewelled Aisly and her twins, and headed south on a fine day for what should have been an uneventful trip to Gatina. Sadly things didn’t work out that way.
Three days out, at dawn, just after they had passed into Gatinan waters, the lookout
yelled out.
‘Ship ahoy! To the west.’
Njil and Conn immediately searched the horizon with their telescopes. Conn presumed that it would be one of his ships or local fishing vessels. The lookout yelled again. ‘Captain, he has seen us and is turning to flee. It is not one of ours. In fact I have not seen the type before. It has a single square sail and high deck at the rear.’
‘I think I know what it is…’
Njil looked at Conn. ‘You do? It certainly isn’t Meshechian.’
‘It’s an Ancuman vessel – curious that it would be this close to the land. I’ve always presumed that they would have sailed well off the coast before heading for Rakia.’
‘So what do we do? Just let it go?’
Conn shook his head. ‘Not, it has seen us – I don’t want this ship to be spoken about too much. Let’s hunt it down.’
Conn had seen such as vessel; and not so long ago – the vessel was just a cog. Njil ordered all hands on deck and the archers to be at the ready. Despite the best efforts of the captain of the cog, its single sail was no match for the topsail schooner, and the schooner was drawing inevitably closer and closer.
‘They have bowmen,’ the lookout cried ‘Beware the fire-arrows’.
Njil ordered buckets of water to be made ready, and then looked at Conn. ‘Do we fire first – our bowmen have longer range?’
‘No – wait… let’s confirm that they don’t intend to surrender.’
The answer was almost immediate and the lookout called ‘Volley!’
They watched most arrows hit the water and the few that hit the deck were quickly extinguished with the buckets of water.
‘I think that was pretty clear’, and with Conn’s agreement, he ordered his bowmen to fire at will.
Instantaneously, a volley of 100 arrows flew and hit the ship, but because the Ancuman didn’t think they were in range, they hadn’t properly prepared for the influx of arrows. Conn watched as many Ancuman bowmen fell in the first and second volleys, until they brought out the shields. They also immediately changed course, trying to get out of range of Conn’s bowmen.
They watched it turn.
‘They do know they can’t get away don’t they?’ Njil pondered. ‘Wait a bit; what are they doing now?’ Conn joined him in observing the Cog.
‘Eaorl, what are they going to do with the people they just brought on deck?’
People were being brought from below up on to deck. Conn could see that they were Gatinans and their hands were tied; and he watched them being untied. Conn had an idea why they were on desk.
‘Njil, prepare the rescue boat for launch…’
‘I’ll have to slow down…’
‘Do it anyway – they are going to throw those people overboard…’
By lowering the sails, and slowing down sufficiently to lower the small boat from the bow, they lost over 500 yards. Consequently it took them some time to get back within bow range again. Despite the hostages, Ancuman continued to die – everyone who stood up got an arrow in exchange so their efforts.
Conn stripped himself of all his outer clothing and boots. ‘Once the hostages hit the water, get me as close as you can and I’ll go into the water. Then chase that boat down; I think it’s time we boarded it; if you can capture any alive; all the better but I do want the boat. Go in hard, make sure they don’t scuttle it.’
Torunn looked at him in bewilderment. ‘You are not going into the water are you? That is crazy? You will die.’
Conn shook his head. ‘I’ll be fine – I’m a trained surf lifesaver. I even did my training Down Under.’
‘What’s a surf lifesaver?’
In the distance, they saw the first prisoner being tossed over the side – and Gatinans were not good swimmers – in fact very few Meshechians could swim at all. It had taken him some time to teach his sailors to be able to even do breaststroke.
The first was followed by other prisoners – they clearly hoped that the ship would stop to rescue the swimmers. They were misguided.
Conn answered the question. ‘Someone who jumps into the ocean when he shouldn’t have to…’
As they drew alongside the first of the floundering swimmers, Conn dived into the ocean, with some bamboo floaters attached to him by a light rope. Other floaters were thrown from the deck to the struggling swimmers.
The water was bitterly cold – no one would survive in here for long. As he rose to the surface, he swam quickly to the nearest; a middle aged man trying valiantly to stay afloat. He was going under as Conn reached him and dragged him to the surface; passed him a float board and told him to hang on.
He swam to the next; a young lady and towed her to the next buoy. He could see that the sloop would soon be there. There must have been about six captives and already two had disappeared. He swam to the last that he could see and it was a young girl. Keeping her afloat, he turned and swam back towards the sloop that was heading his way; they had succeeded in saving the fourth one.
By the time that they were all sitting in the sloop, out of their clothes and under the blankets the Schooner was long gone; it had disappeared over the horizon and they were alone in the ocean. They raised the mainsail and changed course, tracking parallel to the coast. The day had been consumed in the pursuit, and there was no chance that they would be rescued before night. They could also not take a course for land either, as there would be a danger of breaking up on the rocks. It would be a long night. But at least it was not a stormy night, the craft was at capacity.
The sloop was fitted out with emergency supplies of food, blankets and clothing; rudimentary pants and a simple yukata – but at least they were dry. They had supplies of salted fish, beef jerky and hard biscuits – as well as some rum to mix with the water; and it wasn’t long before they started to feel warm, thanks to the rum.
Once they were fed and warm, Conn answered their questions and started asking them his.
The elder girl’s name was the Eaorl of Mazara’s youngest daughter, Granuaile, while the younger girl was her cousin, Wilda, daughter of the Thane of Panua in Mazara. The two others were wiga; entrusted for their safety. They recognized Conn immediately – both had served in the campaign in Trokia.
The Thane of Panus had a donjon quite close to ocean – his was a fishing community. Granuaile was on her way to visit her grandmother when they were attacked by the Ancuman.
‘Were you far off your path – did you get lost?’
Granuaile was the spokesman. ‘No – not at all – it was the same road that we always use. We were just riding along and then we were surrounded by these bowmen – you said that they are Ancuman? I have heard of them but I’d never seen one before.’
‘So they were waiting for someone to capture …’
‘It was very strange – not ten minutes before we were surrounded, we passed a group of merchants heading towards Panua – they must have passed right by the... Ancuman … but they weren’t taken.’
Conn immediately looked to the wiga. ‘Did they ask you any questions?’
‘They did – they wanted to know about the war in … um… Trokia – and if we had been there – and when we surrendered.’
‘Before or after you got on the boat?’
They were surprised at the question, and they looked at each other. ‘Before – before we even left the road.’
‘And you were a Folctoga?’
The men were not young. ‘We both were. Why is that significant?’
‘Because you were the target. Wilda’, Conn turned around and addressed the girl, ‘did they ask how old you are?’
She nodded.
‘And...’
‘I’ve seen fifteen summers…’
‘I suspect that if you had have been any younger both you girls would have died there – but with two of you, the Captain would have had one to play with and the crew the other… they hadn’t touched you yet, had they?’ He suspected not – Ancuman liked their intercourse rough so they would have
had some bruises by now.
They both shook their heads.
‘So what did they want?’ Granuaile asked.
‘They wanted to find out what they could about the Trokian war – obviously they couldn’t kidnap any of their Rakian partners – but who is going to miss a few Gatinans? And there would have been much to gain by interviewing two experienced Folctoga for a few months.’
It was now night and the only guidance they had was the night sky – luckily Meshech had a few stars to keep them on course. As soon as the light allowed they scoured the horizon for flares; the Schooner should be signalling its position to them before a very bright sun made the fireworks harder to see.
It was Granuaile who spotted the signal.
‘There – flashes of red and yellow.’
Conn immediately fired one in response and an acknowledgement signal was received; this time in blue. Several hours later, the Schooner sided up to the sloop; which Conn noted happily, escorted the Ancuman Cog.
Finally on board and underway, Fiona hugged him closely for the tenth time..
‘Gyden, you gave us a fright. I thought we would never find you.’
Conn laughed, hugging her back for the tenth time. ‘There was never a doubt; Njil knew what to do; we knew what to do. If, however, you had not found us today, we would have kept our course and made shore by tomorrow. It would have been inconvenient but still safe.’
Fiona was delighted that the girls had been rescued – Granuaile was in fact a cousin – Fiona’s grandmother was of the House of Mazara, and she made extra sure that they were comfortable.
Conn and Njil looked at the Cog as it sailed along behind. They were travelling at half speed to keep it in sight. That being said, it was a large craft – also able to carry over a hundred tonnes of cargo.
‘They had no intention of being taken alive. After we had grappled the vessel for boarding they just rushed us – we had no choice but to fire and our archers don’t miss. They tried to burn the ship but luckily they didn’t have time to get it started properly and we were able to put it out. There is minimal damage. The cargo is interesting – a fair amount of Ryals – chests full in fact – I wonder what cargo they were selling. Mostly, they are carrying food – they have enough to last several weeks – even for the thirty men aboard. It must be a long way to …’
The Eaorl (The Casere Book 2) Page 14