The Eaorl (The Casere Book 2)

by Michael O'Neill

  ‘I grateful – truly I am – but I didn’t see the need to risk the Twacuman at this time.’

  ‘Nearly every female in Halani is pregnant – everyone here is a father already. Caewyn is not concerned. What will happen, will happen.’

  Once in Silekia, the fyrd split into two; Conn led half towards Tegeste while Wilga led the other half towards Emona. Yet another fyrd was leaving Salvia, being led by Cathal, the Eaorl of Salvia. Together they would perform a version of the blitzkrieg, albeit as fast as was possible on horseback!

  Following behind them waiting were an even larger number of people under the command of the Logistics Corp; tilia, craeftiga, engineers, medics, while similar skills and a hundred Valkeri waited on ships at sea under the command of Njil. With him were dozens of cargo ships. He was intending to remove all Rakian control from Silekia by the end of autumn at the latest, and it was necessary that those liberated would be able to survive the next winter. He didn’t imagine that there was going to be lot of resources left after the Rakians left.

  The fyrds were highly decorated. Wilgar il Melnik led a fyrd shield, tabards and guidons displaying the red goose that was Melnik; while the Eaorl of Salvia, with his raging boar emblem, was to ‘attack’ his neighbour Sirido. Cathal had within his wiga a squad under the leadership of Eadrys, the Eaorl of Sirido, who had returned from Silekia a few weeks earlier. His squad of fifty were wearing the sheep device of Sirido on their shields and tabards.

  Conn had been preparing the uniforms for some time; Hama had tabards and shields prepared for all Silekian Earldoms – and those that were leaving from Silekia had the uniforms delivered to them by ship. The Eaorl of Tegeste had the flying gull on gold and green, while Azali had the Rooster on black and green. Silekian families all shared the base of green in their crests. The Eaorl of Jader had a prancing stallion device.

  ‘If nothing else, they are very colorful.’ Derryth comment dryly as he looked at the sea of shields and guidons behind him. ‘Perhaps the bright colors will scare our enemies to death.’

  ‘You doubt their abilities?’ Conn did – almost half the force he led wasn’t trained by him.

  ‘Not as much as I appreciate their enthusiasm. Still, we are going to leave a lot of these behind as we go aren’t we?’

  ‘We are – The Eaorls will keep their squads with them to secure their demesnes. Even so, if you are standing on the walls of Tegeste and you see all these colourful shields, wouldn’t you be fearful.’

  ‘Impressed yes – but only fearful of one of them.’ He tapped Conn’s golden sun shield, ‘This one.’ All Twacuman in the fyrd wore the golden sun, as did the remnants of his fyrd from Trokia. Amongst the Silekians, there were Moesians and Trokians as well; all highly trained.

  Since the campaign commenced a few days earlier, the inhabitants of the castle would have been confronted by an armada of ships with that very sign – Njil had commenced a blockade of the harbour – and every ship prevented from while nothing entered. For the last day Njil would have been practising with his new toy, an on-board catapult, and using it to destroy some non-essential battlements and walls – just to show that it could be done.

  By the time Conn and the fyrd arrived at the outskirts of Tegeste, it was evening; they had not been engaged at all – all guard posts had been abandoned and all wiga moved back to defend the castle or abandoned their posts. This was confirmed by the people they passed; none showed fear of the approaching fyrd because they were told that they had nothing to fear. It was after all led by their rightful Eaorl, and the bowed to the young man as he passed. Some older ones came out and shook his hand.

  Conn hoped to capture the castle without spilling too much blood, and to do so he had enlisted the help of an old friend. Some years ago a stable boy named Imar had helped him out, now he had called on him again to help him in. No longer a stable boy, he had become one of the wealthiest merchants in Tegeste. The money he received from Conn had allowed him to purchase a small store and when Rory visited Tergeste, he surprised everyone by asked Imar to be his sole agent in Tergeste – as well as giving him a daughter as bedda. Some years later, that arrangement allowed Imar to accumulate great wealth.

  He had also been Conn’s main source of information within the town, and his conduit to getting the message out that the rightful Eaorl was returning and if you didn’t want to be killed in the crossfire, you stayed indoors, kept your head down or surrendered very quickly.

  They were in sight of the walls and on the outskirts of Tergestek when a Rakian arrived. He handed Conn a message; Conn handed him a gold Ryal. He bowed and disappeared into the night.

  Conn read it and nodded. ‘Right. No surrender as expected, so in we go.’ Conn had sent a demand that the donjon surrender. He had used one of the scouts captured earlier as the messenger.

  Uileog of Azali, Major of his fyrd, immediately gave instructions and very soon drummers started to play a beat, getting the message out; and with the order received, Captains took their squads and headed out to surround the town; to play their role in the charade that was to be the attack on Tergestek.

  This plan had to wait, however, so the fyrd settled in and watched, well out of arrow range. Finally, at two in the morning, Conn led a group of twenty Twacuman silently through the streets of Tegeste, on foot.

  An hour later, they arrived on the river bank next to the outside wall of the castle; they had walked in the darkness to the where Conn had escaped so many years previously. Imar had informed him that the doorway was no longer at ground level; it was now five yards above ground level, and he need to be able to get up there if he was to let them in.

  Below the doorway, in the thickets at the base of the wall, Conn had a ladder assembled; he had brought several pieces of bamboo that he fixed together into a single six yard pole, and with steps inserted, Conn was able to climb up to the door. He felt a little exposed as he knocked on it twice.

  It squeaked as it opened. A torch flared as the outside air hit the flame.

  ‘About time; the air in here is dry and smelly. I’ve been waiting for hours.’ It was Imar.

  ‘What do you mean ‘hours’,’ Conn retorted, ‘We are right on schedule.’ He greeted the young man warmly as his group scampered up the pole into the secret tunnel. It was tight squeeze.

  ‘Well, I got here early.’ He passed around torches and they lit them to expose the narrow and winding tunnel. Derryth led the group through. And they got to the inside door, Derryth stooped, while Imar open it without concern.

  ‘Eaorl, you will be happy to know that I was finally able to purchase all the property around this doorway – no one seems to know about it anymore, anyway. So the entrance is now in the middle of one of my warehouses.’

  Conn thanked him and looked around the large barn; there was a tower at the back of the room.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘That’ said Imar ‘is something I had built to fix the roof… but it is really just a ladder that will get you to within a yard of the castle walls. I couldn’t get any closer.’

  Without instruction, the Twacuman started climbing the ladder and carefully pushed through the hatch. They signalled the all clear, and they filed out on to the roof and wall. Conn was the last to go up.

  ‘A yard, Imar, is more than close enough. Thank you. Now keep your head down – no heroics – we don’t want to accidently kill you in the crossfire. I’ll see you again after it is all over.’

  As Conn cleared the opening and replaced the hatch, he watched Derryth and half the group turn right towards the gate, while Conn followed the other half as it went left towards the donjon. Derryth was to secure the front gate and get it open at sunrise, about an hour away. As they inched along the azure towards the next set of bastions, they could hear conversations between the inhabitants – the Ratakian officer was ordering several wiga to patrol. As he stepped out to the azure, however, an arrow ended the conversation. The Silekians immediately surrendered. Conn asked them to patrol the
other way; towards the next bastion. As they got closer, the Ratakian officer ordered them to halt.

  ‘What do you think you are doing? You are supposed to be patrolling the other way! They turned and headed back until it was just Conn that stood in front of him and he noticed that a sword was an inch now from his throat.

  ‘Let’s head back very quietly to the bastion – if you want to stay alive.’ Conn ordered. The Ratakian turned back along the wall and opened the door into the guard room. As expected, most were Rakians and after the first three died, the rest surrendered. Conn looked out; there was only one expanse of azure from the bastion into the donjon; a gate securing access to the tower. It was times like this he wished he had a watch – but there was only a minute or two before the sun peaked over the horizon. The lack of men on the azure was going to be noticed very soon – and it was only incompetence that stopped them noticing now.

  Almost immediately, the sun arrived, and two new things happened. The first was a barrage of mud balls from the catapults on Njil’s ships – they were specially designed to create a distraction more than anything, and they rained down on the seaward side. The second thing was that the front gates started to open and the drummers outside started a new beat – and as men inside the bailey rushed to defend the front gate they very quickly ran into a company of Sagittari, some of Conn’s best with experience from Trokia, and displaying golden suns shields, charging towards them, led by Uileog of Azali, and a hail of arrows from the Twacuman on the Azure near the gate..

  It didn’t take long for the Silekian wiga to surrender and severely outnumbered, the Rakians did the same.

  With everyone’s focus on the gate and bailey, Conn rushed out along the azure to the donjon – he knew there were Ancuman there because as he got closer, he began to feel the presence of the Gyden of the house of Axum. She Gyden was angry – again. Nothing seemed to be going her way.

  As Conn and Eirnin and two Twacuman wiga headed along the azure towards the donjon, wiga rushed out – the Rakians died – while the Silekians took the opportunity to surrender. The door open, Conn made their way into the third level of the tower, and found the stairs that led them down to where they could hear the Eaorl – there was a lot of yelling and screaming, and they found him in the main chamber – on the second level.

  Conn and Eirnin rushed through the doorway; four Rakian guards rush to defend their Eaorl but quickly died. The intruders now looked at the four remaining men. The last four included the Ancuman; another woman, also tall and elegant, the Eaorl, and two Rakian advisors. Conn could hear the Gyden in the Ancuman’s head as she recognized him. She removed her sword and headed for him, while the two advisors ran to a corner of the room and sat on the floor – their hands up.

  ‘Cowards!’ Mundy, Eaorl of Tegeste yelled as he drew his sword.

  ‘All yours.’ Conn offered Eirnin.

  ‘Thank you, Eaorl. Hello Uncle, I have come to avenge my father and grandfather.’

  Mundy laughed – ‘Eirnin, is that you? My, you have grown. I was really disappointed when that Moetian bitch of a mother of yours stole you from the castle. How dare she make that decision? I wanted to kill you, and I wanted to have her. I planned to defile her daily – bitch! Still, at least I get part of my dream.’

  In the meanwhile the Ancuman woman circled Conn while she looked at the Twacuman wiga standing guarding the doorway, confused. ‘How it is that the Twacuman would side with a Priecuman. Very strange.’

  The wiga ignored her and spoke to Conn. ‘We’ll guard the hallway’.

  ‘Thanks Algiva, we won’t be long.’

  She twirled her sword. ‘So you are the one that is causing all our problems – putting off the inevitable and giving the Priecuman false hopes.’

  ‘You know that this day is lost.’

  ‘Perhaps – but at least you will be dead – I will avenge those that have died.’

  ‘Not sure why you can succeed when others have failed – there is only one of you. If Fara and her boy couldn’t kill me – nor Alfvir – what makes you think that you can? Ask your Gyden what she thinks of me – we have met before…’

  She was surprised. ‘My Gyden…. how…’ She stopped herself, and snarled. ‘So they are dead... and Alfvir too?’

  ‘No, he isn’t dead – though the rest are; the other five. I’ve sent him back home on a small boat with a whole bunch of others I captured. I kept the ship.’

  ‘I think you like to tell tales, Feorrancund. Enough talk, it is time for you to die.’ She engaged Conn with a high level of ferocity; her large sword heavy against the lighter katana. Conn kept thinking he should have brought his broadsword. It was on his horse. But like always she was not as quick as Conn, nor ultimately as skilled, and the realization that this was going to be difficult dawned relatively quickly, as every intended lethal stroke failed to achieve its goal.

  Behind them Mundy was fighting the good fight with his nephew but losing. The boy had been intensely trained by the best in the business. She paused when she saw Mundy fall; the young man had avenged his father.

  Conn asked her to reconsider. ‘You have no choice – the day is lost – please surrender.’

  ‘To surrender is to become Theow. I will not be Theow to any man – let alone you. It is bad enough that I had to let that’ she indicated to the fallen Mundy ‘thing think he was giving me pleasure as he fondled my body and had his way with me. Disgusting.’

  ‘There must be a middle way.’ He blocked another savage blow and pushed her off to the side.

  ‘Not for the Axum.’ Conn could hear her Gyden urging her on… ‘Kill! Kill! Kill!’

  Her death came minutes later – she pushed too hard and too fast and Conn sadly had no choice. As she lay dying, the wakizashi imbedded in her chest; the Gyden screamed her hate until she too was gone. Conn retrieved the wakizashi, collected her necklace and sword, shaking his head. ‘Such a dreadful waste...’

  Soon the castle and the town were under total Silekian control, and all Rakians wiga were gathered up and taken to the great hall where they waited judgement. Conn’s wiga systematically collected the deceased, and had the Silekians wiga prepared a funeral pyre. Before they were placed on the pyre, each was identified, and after all the deceased had been properly dealt with, the pyre was lit. It burnt for some hours.

  As this was happening, Njil docked and unloaded the hundred Valkeri who would provide security over the castle until the end of the war; replacing the wiga who had served Mundy. Carts, mules, and thousands of tonnes of supplies was then unloaded from the next fifty vessels that docked in the harbour. It would take days. Njil also had a special passenger – Onora, Eirnin’s mother. Conn had requested that she join her son back in Tegeste, and she had brought her bedda, a Moesiak wiga.

  While Conn had Eirnin and his mother meet with all the Silekians within the donjon, Conn spoke to all the Rakian, giving them a choice – make a vow of loyalty to Eirnin or get on a boat – some of the Rakians ships that had been captured over the last week were available to take human cargo back to Rakia. Surprisingly, or not unsurprisingly given that he learnt that many were refugees from Fallon’s wrath, all elected to stay in Tergeste, and were more than happy to bow their heads to Eirnin. Conn impressed upon them that the wrath they feared from Fallon would be nothing like what they would face from him if they betrayed that oath.

  Conn had planned to stay in the town one night, and had Logistics prepare a huge feast as a celebration. As the main guest, he sat at a table at the front of the great hall, with Eirnin, his mother Onora, and a members of the Witan. Because the Eaorl had betrayed Silekia, many of the Thanes were still the original families; and were known to Onora, and welcomed by her. Imar was another special guest, and sat between Conn and Derryth. As they ate, Eirnin asked permission from Conn for Rheda, his daughter, to join him in Tergeste.

  ‘With your blessing, I would like her to be my bedda.’

  It was a good match but not good politics.

&n
bsp; ‘You have my blessing but that is some time away – eight years – surely you will take bedda before that.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, I would like Rheda to be my primary bedda – I will wait.’

  Having Rheda as his primary would mean that her children would be the next Eaorl – if she had a boy. ‘As you wish. That raises a question – who do you nominate as your heir? Mundy has only daughters – and eight years is a long time.’

  Eirnin looked at his mother.

  ‘His father line is of the house of Ilissus – in Rakia now but it was once in Silekia – and we had a visit from the Thane some years ago. I think he would be Eirnin closest male kin. I think his name is … Ceolred or something – I only met him once.’

  Conn asked if Tergeste had always been of the House of Ilissus.

  ‘No – the original house ran out of sons, and the last Eaorl of that house had a grandson from Ilissus that he chose as his heir.’

  The number of times that the former Earldom of Ilissus popped up in conversation was starting to irk Conn but there was little he could do about it. He then turned to Imar and asked an unexpected question.

  ‘Imar – who is your progenitor?’

  Imar was surprised and had to think for a moment. ‘My progenitor? I believe that would be Alhart – Alhart il Ilissus.’

  Conn shook his head in frustration while Derryth laughed. Eirnin and his mother were very surprised. ‘You also descend from the Eaorls of Ilissus?’

  ‘Yes – the fifth son of the third bedda of Cynhard. My ancestor became bedda to the heiress of a merchant family, and my line have been merchants or artisans ever since. My uncle owns the livery where we first met.’

  Conn had a question. ‘Is there anything significant about Alhart?’

  To answer the question Onora sent for a bedda of one of the Thane – she was an aunt to Eirnin and her name was Blerung. The question repeated to her brought a knowing nod of her head.

  ‘There are several named Alhart in our family – the first arrived on the boats from Sytha. The most famous however was the third Alhart – also called the kidnapper – he was the Folctoga of the fyrd of the last Casere – Goibniu – and is famous for marching the Fyrd the entire length and breadth of Meshech. It took several years.’