Take the body and give me the rest

by Julius Schenk

  The man smiled, lifting himself from his small cushioned chair and walking towards them. He shook Rosen’s hand warmly. ‘Master Rosen, so very good to see you. Looking for some more pleasure slaves for that new villa of yours we’ve all heard about?’ he said. ‘We have some great ones from the south and also from right here in the city.’ He gestured to the cages and they looked inside. Inside was a garish imitation of a bedroom with six women with only sheer silk clothing sitting on the ground, the bare bed and one leaning against the bars, her blond head slumped forward with hair dangling down covering her face. Being well fed was about the only good thing in their situation.

  Rosen went even more red-faced. ‘Oh no, no, no. We’re here for my friend Sir Seth, a knight, you know, looking for some fighting men for his caravan troop.’

  The slaver looked crestfallen. ‘I see. Fighting men, not my area. I’ll pass you on to a good man down the line, by the name Dagosh; that’s more his line. We respect each other’s areas of operation down here.’

  Goldie grinned at the man. ‘Makes for less bloodshed, right?’

  He laughed nervously. ‘That’s right, but do tell him that I sent you down, won’t you?’

  Seth turned to regard Rosen ‘I said I wanted Mercenaries not slaves’

  ‘I know good sir but this is still where you find them, they get the business of those who can’t afford slaves, but we’ll have to see I’ve heard of this Dagosh and he sound like a strange character’ Rosen said

  ‘How’s that?’ asked Seth

  ‘He does strange things like gets in fist fights with slaver about the way they treat their chattels and is always buying the one near death for a couple of coppers and giving them paid jobs. Paid jobs!’ he was outraged. Seth thought it did sound like strange behaviour for a mercenary Captain.

  They walked on past the cages of slave women and Seth tried not to think too deeply about it. If he was honest, he was glad that none of them had so much as looked at him. He could hardly buy and free a whole city’s worth of them. He stopped and looked around the markets at all the different cages, groups of people roped together or chained by the foot to the ground with metal pegs. All told there would have been a few thousand, as the Pellosi say. More than the families in the Bloodcrest duchy.

  They soon found the man they were looking for. He had the look of a fighter, around fifty years, no hair except a short red wiry beard and a very tanned bald head from the sun. He looked stern and not at all like a thug, much more like a soldier or field commander. He wore worn leather armour but had a very well used, but well cared for, looking short sword that hung at his side.

  Rosen spoke first as they approached. ‘Master Dagosh, may I please introduce my friend Sir Seth?’

  Dagosh nodded at Rosen and shook hands with Seth, ‘Well met, sir. And Master Rosen, hope you’re well, I hear your caravan trip was quite the adventure. Would these be your Northern friends, then?’

  ‘The very same ones,’ said Rosen.

  Seth looked at him in the eye and found he liked the man. He had a strong grip and callused hands of someone who held a sword every day. ‘I’m after some good fighting men for my caravan troop,’ Seth said.

  ‘That is well. I have the best trained men and the most disciplined; we’re not some marauding rabble but a proper, if small, army. I take my work very seriously, as you can see.’ He gestured to four men who were standing behind him. One was a Pellosi man with a bow across his back and a quiver of arrows; no barbs, Seth was assured. Two others were in matching clothes and held the pikes of men of the line; they looked solid. The last was a wild haired, dark skinned man.

  ‘I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like him,’ said Seth.

  ‘They are from a people deep in the desert, very fierce, good horsemen.’ He had a strange small bow strapped to him and a long curved sword—blunted, Seth was told.

  ‘They look like solid men, but I was hoping for more than four,’ Seth said.

  ‘Of course. These are but a few men to show the quality of our troop, but if you would like to come to my property, you can even see where they are trained. How many men are you thinking? And what’s the term of engagement’

  Seth turned to Rosen who was like looking his mid-morning drinking was catching up with him. He passed him a small gold coin, his very own bonus back. ‘A small token for the introduction; we’ll take it from here, if you like.’

  Rosen smiled at him, looking relieved. ‘Fine, fine, bring your new men along to the merchant tomorrow and I’ll have a look. Try not to get more than ten, I won’t be paying you that much,

  ‘Of course,’ said Seth.

  His young guard lending him his shoulder, Rosen worked his way back through the market to the carriage and slowly go it. Once he was gone, Dagosh asked him again.

  ‘So how many men were you thinking of getting? Ten isn’t really worth our time’ he asked.

  Seth leaned forward and whispered to him ‘As many as I can get for three hundred gold pieces, a handful of silver and a ruby chip.

  Chapter 27

  The sun was still bright in the sky and yet to begin to descend when Seth and his troop of Northmen trotted on hired horses along a road leading them outside of the city walls. The villa was a few hours ride, as Dagosh said to them. As soon as Seth had whispered his intention, Dagosh had quickly packed away his signs, coins and ledgers, saddled his horse, got his men in a wagon and said, ‘Follow me.’

  They were now following his wagon as it led the way to the villa and to his new troop. Seth was still so unsure if this was the right path of action, but at least they were progressing along it quickly. They had only arrived in the city in the morn, and now they were on their way to hire an army. Seth liked Dagosh and thought he’d done well to find him. He’d been expecting a mercenary Captain to be a gold chiselling drunk but this man seemed serious and focused.

  The wagon turned off the main road and onto a narrow cobbled way. It was surrounded by a tall stone wall, but the massive metal gate was wide open with only two men on guard and both of them gave a relaxed salute as Dagosh passed. The wagon rolled through the gate wooden wheels rattling across the slightly uneven stones.

  The main house was a villa, as he knew from memories of Stephan and Dirst, but it looked over a very large courtyard. At the bottom of the courtyard were barracks like any Seth had bunked in during training or at Black Rock.

  ‘Looks like a real army, not a ramshackle mercenary camp,’ said Grimm.

  ‘That’s true enough. Bodes well for the type of man Dagosh is,’ said Seth.

  The wagon had disappeared around the corner of the villa and Dagosh had dismounted to stand on the steps of the house. He waved to them and went into the house. Seth and the men dismounted as well, passing the reins to two older household stewards and proceeding up the stairs.

  ‘Flint, can you bring that chest?’ Seth asked.

  They walked up the stairs and in through the open door. It was a vast room and, like everything in this hot country, without many walls. Dagosh sat at a large dark wooden table and motioned. They came and sat with him. As they did, a few female servers appeared and served them some cool cups of water in metal cups. The servers were dressed in silk dresses from head to toe, no skin showing except for arms, faces and feet. Most of them were very, very old and moved at a slow pace, a few faces bore old slave markings, or scars were there lifelong slave collars had been removed.

  ‘Welcome to my villa, sir, and thank you for making the journey. After we discuss terms, I’ll be happy to show you the rest of the troops,’ Dagosh said. He then motioned to a steward. ‘Please rally everyone to the main ground, let them know we have a presentation, thank you.’ To Seth, he said, ‘So you want as many men as you can get for three hundred gold coins? Can I see the gold?’

  Flint had placed the chest down on the table and opened it before Dagosh. As he looked at the copper coins, he started to laugh. As he was laughing, Flint drew a dagger from his side and, taking a coin, s
craped it along the edge, revealing the gold underneath.

  Dagosh looked up at Seth. ‘Well done. It’s an old trick of the men who collect taxes for the dukedoms. Less likely to get robbed with a chest full of coppers. Of course, I’ll have to check them all and count them. But how many, you say?’

  Goldie answered for them. ‘There is three hundred and thirty four, exactly,’ he said.

  ‘You counted them?’ Dagosh asked.

  ‘I just know by looking,’ he said.

  ‘I’m inclined to believe him,’ said Seth. ‘But feel free to confirm the count.’

  Dagosh shut the chest and passed it to a steward who was standing nearby. ‘Check them as gold and do a count.’

  ‘Well, Sir Seth, I have one hundred and fifty men all fully trained, equipped and ready to fight.’

  ‘Sounds like the right number to me,’ Seth said.

  ‘We’re our own troop, called the Cold Death and for that price you can engage us for a season if we like the sound of what your planning and it’s not going to be too foolish. I’m not in the business of throwing away my men’s live or my own’

  ‘Sounds good to me, if you can supply your own food, mounts and weapons. Plus we take joint control with you as Captain’

  ‘Ahh control, control is different. First tell me why you need us. One hundred and fifty men, especially my men, is no caravan troop. And from what I hear of your men, you’re a little more than that yourselves’.’

  Seth thought about lying to him, but he felt like he could trust this man.

  ‘I will tell you our real purpose, but answer one question first. Why is this place more like a real army, if smaller and not like a rough mercenary camp, why is it one of the most orderly looking camps I’ve seen’ Seth asked.

  Dagosh sipped his water and spoke. ‘I was a soldier and fighting man my whole life. We lost a battle against another duke. He had me and hundreds of others of us sold as slaves, which is completely against normal practise. Eventually, I escaped, with only a little blood and started buying back those from my old troop. Only a few were left, but it started me on this path. I take the most wrecked, sick, abused and runaway slaves. I buy them or steal them and give them freedom and a sword. I give them respect, a chance to live and a chance to get revenge . We all need discipline Seth and it make a man feel good to go from being someone who has no control of his life to one that can stand on his own two feet and face all comers with a strong sword arm. I don’t need to tell you that.’

  Seth knew this was the man to help him without a doubt.

  ‘You know Lord Renton of Black Rock Keep?’ Seth said.

  Dagosh actually spat on his own table. ‘That creature is where I get most of my runaway slaves from. He has strange habits, that one. Many people get sold there and never come back, ever. Dark rumours and dark deeds from that place.’

  ‘We came to Black Rock with his sister, the Duchess Elizebetha. She intended to take back her seat and rein again.’

  ‘Let me guess: his arse stayed stuck in the chair.’

  ‘They marched us out the door and shut it behind us. He has about equal men loyal to him as she has to her, so I don’t think he’ll kill her yet, but we need to get back there soon and in force,’ said Seth.

  ‘So you want to take this well-trained but still very small army of one hundred and fifty men against a keep guarded with moats, towers, battlements with hot oil and a standing force of at least double ours?’

  ‘I don’t need them to take the Keep; I need them to hold it,’ Seth said.

  ‘What? I don’t understand,’ said Dagosh.

  ‘Getting the Lord Renton out is going to be the easy part. Someone else is coming to aid him and I have a feeling he’s coming in numbers,’ Seth said.

  Dagosh laughed. ‘I think you’re in over your head, young sir.’

  Seth knew what he felt inside, and for the first time he wasn’t unsure, or worried. He knew he could do this. He’d been waiting to do this. He was a leader of men and soon he’d have the men to lead and the purpose he was searching for.

  ‘Listen, at the Battle of Deep Water, my army was outnumbered three to one and we were victorious. This is nothing new to me.’ He said feeling the pride the General felt in that incredible victory that was the capstone of his career.

  Dagosh looked stunned. ‘Deep Water was thirty years ago in Cravosi. Were you even born yet?’ he cried.

  Seth gave him a few moments to calm himself and, ignoring his outburst, simply said, ‘Do we have a deal?’

  Dagosh just smiled at him. ‘You’re crazy, but I’m with you. But joint command not sole, they won’t follow an outsider alone no matter your reputation or the task.’

  That sealed the deal. He could feel Dagosh was itching to command from the field again. They shook hands and raised a glass.

  ‘Well, let’s go see these troops and convince them dying for you is a really, really good idea,’ Dagosh said, standing up from the table.

  The sun was setting and lamps helped to light the way from the house to the courtyard. Large lanterns stood in the sand on the large courtyard, and Seth got his first glimpse of the troop he was leading out tomorrow at sunrise.

  The main body of men were dressed as the four at the market. They carried the weapons of men of the line everywhere. A large silver shield on one arm, long pike with a flat blade at the top. They were separated into five groups of twenty and seemed to have one man at the far left with a splash of red on his clothing showing he was the Captain. Seth was again surprised they were following set ranks and command structure. The faces of the soldiers were all different. Many were dark skinned, some light, even a few tall Northerners, but all from different places. They still looked uniform and united though. They all had a look of reserve and determination.

  Next to them on the left were two groups of ten archers. These were all Pellosina women. Seth had never seen women serving in any force at all, but the Pellosi had turned archery into an art form so why not women, Seth would have to ask Dagosh about them, as most were young and quite attractive as well. They stood with bows down in the ready position. Lastly to the far right were four groups of the dark-skinned men with wild hair. They had necklaces of bone and more paint on them than clothes. Dagosh had said they were horsemen, but they stood on the ground in the space.

  Dagosh went to stand in front of them on a small wooden platform that was built there. Seth stood next to him and looked from face to face, person to person. They did look like soldiers.

  ‘This man here is Sir Seth. You may have heard of him recently, due to some adventures on Master Rosen’s caravan from the capital.’

  A murmur went through the assembled troop. It seemed they had; soldiers always knew everything.

  ‘He is intending to hire us for the season at very good price, which of course will be shared by the rules of three.’ Another very positive murmur. ‘But first we need to show we can do a little more than just look good in armour. First troop step up!’ he shouted.

  As he did, the shielded pike men of the first group stepped forward as one. Seth could hear the Captain to the left of the men shouting directions to them. They marched forward four steps in lock step, dropped knee and formed a solid shield wall. Seth heard the words, ‘And lunge,’ and all twenty spears slid out at once and back behind the wall. ‘And lunge.’ They came out again and again in perfect time. They then locked down the wall and waited, a wall of steel, just spear points protruding, like an armoured animal.

  Dagosh shouted, ‘Archers, try them out!’

  Seth almost cried out as the archers in two groups suddenly turned towards the shield wall. Two things happened in quick time. One, the men of the shield wall stood up as one, following their shouted commands, and all turned to face the archers and locked down again. Two, the archers dropped in formation of one line crouched on knee and the other standing to its side. They fired two quick volleys into the shield wall, most of the arrows flying off harmlessly, one or two finding thei
r way through.

  Dagosh then shouted something in the desert language like, ‘kill!’ The horsemen completely broke rank and, drawing curved blades, ran at the exposed backs of the line of pikemen. Before they could start to swing wildly, the second line of pikemen had marched in sidestep and locked down without pikes out, blocked them in. They swung their swords wildly at the shields, causing them to clang and ring. They were screaming and shouting, but Seth heard some laugher, too.

  With a few more words shouted from Dagosh, all the troops returned to their positions. Seth was surprised to see no one lying in a pool of blood from the arrow fire.

  ‘We use blunt arrows and blunt swords in our training but not in sparring. I like to get them to practise holding formation under heavy attack. You will know it’s about holding fast no matter what.’

  Seth was more than impressed. Blunt arrows or not, they would still draw blood and hurt like hell, and those horsemen would still dislocate a shoulder from those heavy blows to a badly held shield.

  ‘Thoughts?’ asked Dagosh.

  ‘Frightening but effective,’ said Seth laughing.

  Dagosh held his hand up to the assembled troop and spoke very loudly to them all, his voice carrying across the clear night. ‘We will now receive a verdict from Sir Seth as to if he will take on our troop to the last man, or decide against it.’ He whispered to Seth, ‘Give them the thumbs up or down like in the fighting pits.’

  Seth was glad he’d seen the fighting pits as Dirst and Stephan. He looked out at the assembled force and, giving the moment some drama, put his hand out and turned his thumb upwards. A loud cheer broke out from the soldiers, spears clinging against shield. Doubtless, they wanted some action as opposed to standing around training only.

  ‘Now, I will ask Sir Seth to talk to us of our new mission, and I will ask each of you to agree to follow this man in joint command, you all know me well, I wouldn’t be following this man myself if I didn’t believe in him, his friends and the mission he is pursuing.’