‘You are done for, Goth,’ Njord chuckled as I glowered at him, having lost my authority, if I ever had any to begin with. He pushed me playfully. ‘There was no oath against speaking our minds, lord Pup, and I don’t remember making any to take your side in an argument.’
‘To you, I am Maroboodus,’ I said and was rewarded by snickering Saxons.
‘You two will have some interesting chats, I’m sure,’ Njord said happily. ‘So, we shall take to the hills then?’
She glared at the man, but he didn’t die as she probably hoped. ‘We go that way, yes,’ she said with determination. ‘I’ll show you some trails Father once showed me near here. It’s dark, but I think I’ll find them. Then we go over the hills, follow the Long-Lake, skirt that river, and then when we reach the Three Forks, the three rivers I’ll tell you where to go.’
‘So, let us move,’ Ceadda said and we traveled. We ran softly and rode carefully for the north, for the Lake, then turned northeast as a scout found trails that the Svea princess approved of. She would frown, squint along the tracks, and like a goddess of the hunt, her dark hair blowing in the wind, she pushed us forward. We made good time, avoiding people’s dwellings and the Saxon scouts were very good, wily, careful, and stealthy, especially with the girl’s help. We would stop, and crouch when we saw a local hunter and then another, trailing some deer, and wait patiently until they passed. We trekked through a deep, mossy wood that was steaming in the moist air and then took to the high ground of the hills Ceadda had mentioned, where it was dryer and heather fields were red and white in a late fall glory. They were very tall hills, though easily navigable, even on horses, and when we’d made our way across a few, it was afternoon. I gazed at the Long-Lake to our north, stretching from the coast far to inland, swallowing rivers as it went deeper to the misty lands, and to the south, where Goth settlements still showed by trails of smoke and well-tended fields. The wider river was making its lazy way to the west through the Goth settlements to our south. Ceadda was talking with the girl and she gave him some words, and the savage Saxon nodded. He walked to me and nodded at a patch of stony land where tall boulders stood on the side of a hill. ‘We stop here and rest for some hours. Then we shall run with the wolves of the night and make our way as far as we can.’
‘The horses need rest,’ Aldbert said softly.
‘We will eat them, if they do,’ one burly Saxon said happily and I saw by the shocked look on Aldbert’s face he had decided the horses were fine. He probably thought he might escape with the help of a horse, should there be any trouble and he clearly regretted having said anything at all. I’d have to talk to him, and despite the promise I had made to keep him in my sight at all times, I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t giving us away.
The Saxons were sitting down, few were running to the woods to scout and Njord came to Aldbert and grabbed the bags of food from him, opened them up with a practiced yank and went on sniffing at the contents, like a pampered rat as he poked inside. I groomed Scald, checked its hooves and tied it to a tree, and noticed Ceadda standing on top of a tall, mossy boulder, gazing back the way he had come. Sol was getting lower in the sky and the peculiar, drowsy, and somewhat depressed mood you often suffer when everything is murky and night is falling, took over the camp. I went to Ceadda and he nodded at me and gave me his hand. I grasped it, he pulled me up to stand next to him.
‘You ok? Thighs not too sore?’ he teased me for riding.
‘My ass is sore,’ I agreed.
He laughed and clapped me so hard I nearly fell and he grabbed me. ‘Look, Red,’ he said and pointed a finger to southeast. I couldn’t see anything special and squinted. He noticed my hesitation and grunted, casing a nervous eye to the girl. ‘Pretend you noticed it, or she will probably not respect you. You did well to argue with her and not look like a spineless maggot, but just pretend to know what you are doing now, as well.’
‘I saved her ass, she should respect me,’ I told him, feeling like I was lost in the mists. ‘What am I seeing?’ I saw only trees and that made me anxious.
‘Not yet you haven’t,’ he told me darkly and nodded for the horizon. ‘Her ass is far from safe,’ he said and kept nodding towards southeast. ‘Especially if that Maino gets her. She’ll not like that.’ There, the endless hills, valleys, pine and birch woods as far you could see, dotted with some fields and even villages that were hard to spot. I nodded sagely, made him snort with amusement. ‘You are blind as a drunk rat. And I’ve seen some. They don’t see a cat if they run over its tail.’
I cursed him and turned to look west, the way we were going. The river snaked that way and then I saw it combine with others far away. ‘At least I see that.’
Ceadda sighed. ‘Three Forks, as she called them. Beyond that, is where our scouts placed Snowlake. There is a small body of water, lake or a swamp, nestled by the two forbidden looking hills,’ he said and shuddered. ‘Her tribe, they live by it. It was a large settlement of a hundred Svear, and they were well armed. But we surprised them. I’m happy we save a day’s hike.’
‘Your lord went all that way for a woman,’ I stated. ‘That he would have given our enemies in return for silver.’
Ceadda laughed. ‘Can you blame him? I think he forgot his greed the moment he saw her staring up at him furiously, her guards dead around her. She didn’t fear, not one bit,’ he whispered and turned to look at the girl, who had produced a comb and was looking up at us as we stood there on the rock. ‘He tried to have her the first night we made camp, but she refused.’
‘Refused?’ I said with a cold smile. ‘Tried to have her?’
He waved his hand, bothered. ‘Cuthbert the Black wasn’t a good man. What can I say? But she raked his face and kicked him in the balls so hard we all heard the chain mail jingle and him yelp. I doubt he has ever been more hurt. Well, except the day he was killed. He was grimacing when he tried to sit in the saddle, I tell you that, so his balls were probably swollen. He decided to wait,’ Ceadda said and smiled. ‘He planned to give her over to the high Goth for silver, but I’m not sure he would have. I didn’t always like our lord but he gave us plenty of loot, fine homes and our families what they needed to survive. Our land is no less harsh than yours. We get droughts, and sickness and fight Chauci in the south every year and I tell you now, those bastards have many men. Each year we bury a dozen of their warriors, but they seem to seed more and more just to spite us. Cuthbert was a famous lord, but there are others and someone else will take our oaths and we fight again. With you lot, even.’
‘He fought well,’ I stated reluctantly. ‘But if he tried to hurt her, I’ll kill him again in Valholl, the rotten bastard.’ I looked back to where we came from, thinking about Bero, Hughnot, and even Father. And Maino. Him above all others. ‘But then, so are many others. Rotten bastards.’
‘Now that you have her,’ he chuckled, ‘I thought I wanted to give you a fair warning. Keep your legs together when she hugs you.’
I chortled and nodded, wiping my nose that was dripping. ‘Gods, give us a hall and mead. So, what was I supposed to see out there? No more games.’
He shook his head. ‘Blind bastard, but I suppose it’s good you know it and don’t pretend. No good at sea, you wouldn’t be, but perhaps you could just sit at the oars, eh?’ His eyes were dreamy as he gazed down the hillside. ‘I bet your lazy Goth ass would love a hall at the end of the road and some well-brewed ale or sweet mead to invigorate your weary bones, but I’d love to have our ship,’ he said wistfully. ‘We do love our ships. They are almost better than a hall and a field of wheat or barley, and a warm wife. It’s a man’s life, that.’
‘Forget the damned boat,’ I growled. ‘What did you see?’
He nodded and pointed a finger down the hill. ‘Now look there,’ he said, pointing southeast. ‘See?’
And I finally did. There was a glint by a winding river, not very far. Then another. ‘I see it.’
‘Them,’ he corrected.
‘I see �
�them. Hunters? Locals?’
‘Manhunters,’ Ceadda said sternly. ‘I bet there are dozens. I just feel it in my bones. And if you ask Njord, they are a hundred or more. And they will have dogs. God Saxenot spare us if they find our trail. It’s a miracle they have not already. Perhaps the girl knows her business, after all, but I dare say I chose well to take the hillside.’ He stammered and blushed. ‘Though perhaps I would have stumbled on some of those halls she avoided.’
‘We could have taken a boat after all,’ I said and turned to look at the stretching body of water in the north and froze. There were specs gliding over the waves, ships rowing up and down the coast.
‘They have been there since morning,’ he smiled with a cold smile. ‘Goths. Most local, having been warned to look for us. They are careful Goths since Svearna will not like them this deep in these waters.’ He turned back to the valleys and spoke hesitantly. ‘I think you might have done better by leaving us behind and just riding off with her.’
‘But what if she would have left me in the woods?’ I asked him with a smile. ‘Or gave me to her people as a sacrifice?’
His eyes brightened and he chuckled. ‘Yes, I know we were to guard you more than her.’
‘We might still need that route,’ I reminded him and he didn’t seem to mind either way. Perhaps there would be an escape with them, should things go terribly wrong, but the Goths were guarding the waters now. He shrugged, eyeing the glinting metal not too far in the woods. ‘Too bad it wasn’t easy. Can’t be helped, I suppose. Looked good for a moment there, but now it can end up like a badly built hull that never sees water. Forgotten bones on some sad meadow,’ he said, eyeing the girl. ‘Why don’t you just go and talk to her, lout,’ Ceadda said. ‘Might want to know her name before things turn ugly.’
They did.
‘More men,’ said Njord below us. I had not noticed him coming forth, but he pointed a finger where the glints had been apparent.
Indeed, I saw men, but not that many. I hesitated as I stood on the ledge of the rock, and wondered at the Saxons and their firm belief there was something more than a few hunters. Perhaps it was some Goth lord out to hunt the regular Svea raiders, or to pay back for some insult that had been given earlier in the year, a feud solving in the process. ‘Shit and Donor’s balls,’ Ceadda cursed crudely and pulled me to my belly. Dozens of men appeared, tiny specs at the edge of the river. There were too many men, well-armed and dangerous to be a local party and indeed, I could now see slinking shadows of dogs as they loped to the edge of the water to lap up some of the clear water. Gasto bred dogs, I remembered, were often silent in the hunt. They were infamous all across the land for being disciplined, uncannily obedient, and terrible in battle. The ones I saw were like just such slavering, nasty beasts they used in the hunt and battle both.
‘You have great eyes,’ I stated after a while ‘But why are they by the river? Pausing for a camp?’
‘Look now,’ he said softly. ‘To the water. Forget the bastards dragging their feet across shit in the woods. Look at those other bastards.’
And I saw them as well.
I had been looking at the woods, but there were large boats rowing on the river and the boats were filled with rowers. They were not the seagoing ships we used to travel the stormy coasts, heavy and clinker-built, but lighter, longer ones with high prows. I noticed many of the men sitting on the benches were glinting dully as the chain mail on their torso gleamed. I shuddered with fear.
‘Is it possible it’s your father?’ Njord asked, having placed his spear in the grass to avoid it shining in the light.
I shook my head reluctantly. ‘Not likely. Those must be Bero’s champions. Maino, certainly, shall be there, slavering for my head.’
‘You shouldn’t have cut off his beard,’ Ceadda said. ‘But it was amusing, I give you that.’
‘He’ll be there, hoping to shear off my fingers, toes, nose—‘
‘Cock,’ Njord added unhelpfully.
‘That too,’ I said softly. ‘Unfortunately. Yea, he shall be there if he wasn’t crippled. Danr, Eadwine. And Gasto. Perhaps Friednot’s former men. But Gasto, yes.’ I said the last name with dread, as he was a great tracker and the dogs were his, no doubt.
‘The dog lord?’ Ceadda said. ‘Yes, we once had a shieldwall broken by those slavering bitches from Hel. His dogs, not his daughters.’
‘His girls feed the dogs, I hear, and train them with Gasto,’ I said sullenly.
‘Perhaps your lord Bero is out there as well,’ said the Saxon with almost perverse happiness at being hunted by so many. ‘There is a man with long black hair and a brooding, dastardly face. Tilted to his side he is, like a man with only one useless ball.’
‘You cannot see that far!’
‘No, I cannot,’ he grinned. ‘But I bet he is there nonetheless. Let’s hope your father is there as well. Though that might not make any difference to how things will end, right?’
I nodded. ‘He wanted to exile me. My grandmother thinks I should be sacrificed,’ I stated. ‘Let’s try to make it out of this without my father, in any case. He might be tempted to knock my head off, and not just knock sense into it.’
He gave me a long look and then at the girl. ‘Go now. Speak with her and then we leave. You two make a great, if strangely ill-omened couple. Let’s hope they stay down there for the night indeed, and the dogs are in a lazy mood, but they will get to the river’s end before us. They can use those smaller rivers to get before us and those dogs will make life miserable for us. They’ll swing north, they'll swing south and will always have dozens of men near. We will have to rush west and hope we cross those hills and fields,’ he nodded to the land directly north of the three rivers crossing each other in the west. ‘We have to get to that village before they cut us off.’
‘Gasto will pick up the trail,’ I said with dread. ‘No matter what. They are sure to have something of ours that the dogs can smell, and—‘
‘We will deal with him if he gets close,’ the Saxon said with a grim grin. ‘We are not easy pickings, even without our shields.’ He gave me a long look. ‘Go and speak with her.’
‘Why?’ I said, feeling reluctant and scared suddenly, and that made me smile, since she was scarier than the hounds.
‘Because,’ the Saxon explained, ‘you’re a young man and could use a kiss. Go and charm the girl, my lord. Do so for all of us. Make sure she is really into you. She is the key to our boat, isn’t she?’
‘Yes, of course,’ I said, much more terrified than I had been when I fought Maino, I made my way down the boulder. It was mossy, and some gave away from under me and I fell and rolled down with a shriek. I bumped to the muddy ground, bit my lip, and tasted blood.
‘Not like that,’ Ceadda said, and then roared with laughter, which he subdued into chuckles as I picked myself up. Aldbert scowled at the Saxons that were all laughing like damned bastards, walked over, and pulled me up. I also found the girl hovering near, her eyes hard, but mouth twisted with mirth.
‘Maroboodus …’ Aldbert began, but I shook my head at him.
‘Later, over a mug of ale,’ I said, not looking at him. ‘Many mugs. I need to be drunk to have a discussion with you.’
‘Later, yes. And drunk,’ he agreed and I made my way to the girl. She squinted as she looked up to me and got up and brushed off her furs and tunic from brambles and mud. It made me feel somewhat better to think it was important for her to look presentable before me.
She scowled as she saw the relieved smile on my face. ‘I’d brush myself off for the meanest peasant. I don’t like to look untidy. I’m a—‘
‘Princess,’ I said.
‘A woman,’ she corrected and smiled to take off the bite. ‘You’re clumsy as a newborn horse when I’m around, but you know I’m relieved it is you who saved me,’ she said with a small bow and nodded towards the woods. ‘Come, walk with me. Didn’t your Saxon dog tell you to have a chat and make sure I won’t have you lot stretched
nude on an altar to one of our gods? We do have some gods we don’t share with you, cousins, and their vitka would make your belly churn. Literally. With a knife.’
‘He did ask me to make sure that will not take place,’ I told him and looked away from Aldbert who had begun to say something, but went quiet. ‘You stay here.’ He nodded and obeyed.
She pulled me higher up the hill, and we navigated the heather bushes under the steady eyes of the Saxon sea wolves and Aldbert, who was frowning after us. I followed her willingly, happy she had brought up the subject of our future, and after some time, she found a log, where she sat me down. I pulled the sword out and put it on my side and she adjusted the ax as well and we both smiled at that. She gazed at the weapons and put her weapon aside. She looked at my lip with a small frown, kneeled before me, and touched it. Her finger came off bloody and she sucked it clean. I started to speak, but she waved me down. She stared at me steadily for a moment and then finally took a deep breath, as if awakened from a dream. ‘Your father is Hulderic the Goth, no?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘He is my father, and Bero is his brother.’
She nodded steadily and smiled. ‘My father speaks of your family quite often. You are of the old blood, very old indeed. The oldest, he says. He is Gislin, of Snowlake, and we are of ancient blood as well. Father claims we are as old and holy as you.’
‘Everyone thinks they are old and holy,’ I smiled.
‘Yes,’ she said with a small laugh. ‘People think themselves special. Why live otherwise?’
‘Do you have a name?’ I asked.
‘Yes, one very much like your Saxon friends,’ she said mischievously. ‘I’m so happy you finally got around to ask it.’
I frowned. ‘Saxon name? They have names, yes, but—‘
Maroboodus: A Novel of Germania (The Goth Chronicles Book 1) Page 20