The Aebeling

by O'Neill, Michael

  Conn laughed. ‘You haven’t seen one like me before have you?’

  She shook her head. Hesitant at first, she finally spoke. ‘No. Never; and I have spent a lot of my life in Lykiak – where traders and visitors from all lands tend to accumulate – and I have never seen anyone like you. And your words don’t sound like words I’ve heard before.’

  ‘My home is a long way away, and I know little of these lands. You must tell me everything you know – especially about Lykiak. When was the last time that you were there?’ Conn thought a separate topic would be good to move to. Warming to the challenge, Allowena started talking – and it took her years to stop!

  Back inside the Inn, Wilgar and Shona informed everyone of what had happened. They cried, wept, and thanked Conn personally. They were introduced to Annisa as well. After a while, she commented.

  ‘Shabby looking lot; they must have been on the road for some time.’

  ‘They were – I’d like to do something about their clothes.’

  ‘Let me help – I am your Burhgerefa. I am yours to command.’

  ‘Very well.’ Conn handed over a small purse containing several gold Dinars. ‘Do you think we can arrange new clothes and shoes for them?’

  She looked at the coins. ‘I think we can do something.’ She called Shona and all the girls, and they left the room. Allowena stayed with him. She seemed very curious about everything he did.

  Conn looked at her with a questioning face. ‘Does this Inn seem normal to you?’

  She looked around. It was sooty, covered in dust and generally filthy, with mould on roof beams from the leaky roof, as the thatch hadn’t been replaced in years. She nodded. ‘On the poor side, I guess; some in Lykiak are better, some are much the same.’

  ‘I think it could do with some improvements. Let’s talk to the Innkeeper.’

  They walked over to the counter where Abrekan was still haggling about the cost of the hay and oats for his donkeys, and board for the night. When they had finished, Conn asked if they had a bathhouse.

  ‘A what?’

  ‘Bathhouse – you know, somewhere where you can wash yourself in hot water.’

  He shook his head, ‘Seems a silly reason to have a whole building for.’ He said that a pail was available.

  From his pouch Conn collected five Dinars, and placed them on the counter. The Innkeepers eyes opened wide at the sight of so much gold.

  ‘I’m sorry to say that your Inn doesn’t reach an acceptable standard – if it was in Taransay, I would have it burnt down as a fire hazard and a home for vermin.’ Hyperbole might get his point across. ‘Here is six thousand Ryals. Do you think we can make some improvements?’

  The Innkeeper looked surprised. It was the theme of the day. ‘Ten more and I’ll sell you the inn – and I’ll throw in one of my daughters – heck, three of them. For those three coins, you can have any two of my daughters. Whatever you want me to do; I will do it. I don’t want my Inn burnt down…’

  ‘I’ll pass on the daughters but this is what I want to happen.’ He gave a whole list of instructions – including a new roof.

  ‘I will get to it immediately.’ The Inn keeper leapt to his feet and started yelling instructions to his bedda and children. The Inn was soon a flurry of activity; with a dozen extra hands as Conn directed his new vassals to help. He put a very surprised Wilga in charge. Despite being the son of an Eaorl, he was one of the youngest men there.

  Conn then asked Allowena to take him to see the cooper.

  ‘Cooper?’

  ‘A person who makes barrels?’

  ‘I think the smith makes barrels.’

  It was only ten minutes down the boggy street, and they arrived at the small shop. The craeftiga was sitting outside. Business appeared slow, but they had heard about the new arrivals and most people were out and about to see what was happening. Allowena introduced Conn, and the smith welcomed him graciously.

  Conn told him what he wanted. When he didn’t quite understand, they sent for a carpenter, and Conn explained his requirements. He then handed over a gold Ryal – several month’s pay – and asked that it be done as soon as possible. He really needed to have a decent bath.

  Grasping the money as if their lives depended on it; the two craeftiga promised to start immediately. On the way back, Allowena took him to other craeftiga, and he ordered another ten thousand Ryals of goods. Arriving back into the increasingly cleaner Inn, Conn found a bench and sat. Abrekan soon joined them, followed by one of the daughters – clearly miffed about not being bought – and mugs of ale – but hoping to change his mind by having most of her bosom exposed.

  Abrekan quizzed him. ‘Is it true to say that you have been making an impression?’

  Allowena answered for him, excitedly. ‘He has! He spent more money today than I have ever seen.’

  Conn smiled. ‘It is important to make a good first impression; you only ever have one chance to do so.’ Conn took a draught of the ale, immediately almost chocking. ‘The Inn is looking better already – even if the ale tastes like dishwater.’

  ‘You can’t have everything go your way…’

  ‘I have never understood why not.’

  After a couple of weeks, they had much better Ale. Conn sought out the brewhouse, and convinced the brewers there that there was a better way to make ale. The Ryals he handed over helped his argument immeasurably. Things were looking up.

  As soon as word got around that Conn wanted to employ any Silekian in the village, the Inn was soon overrun with refugees. Conn sat them all down, fed them ale and food, and explained what he was doing. They all immediately joined his payroll. They were even happier when he paid them a six month’s wages in advance. Some of the Silekians had been there since the fall of Tegeste and Emona a few years previous – scratching out a living as Tilia, but with conditions so poor, they had not thrived. Flush with money, the Eaorl was happy, and the merchants were happy. The Innkeeper was ecstatic.

  Under the guise of training, Conn’s new employees undertook tasks that inadvertently benefitted the entire cotlif; they were soon thatching houses, rendering walls and digging trenches; and as all the activities required the permission of Octa and the villagers to complete, Conn utilized Octa’s eldest son Hengist as his intermediary. As a consequence of the training, however, the cotlif was starting to look cleaner and tidier.

  Octa stood with Conn and Abrecan as they watched the floor in the Inn have the last paver placed; the renovations were complete. He shook his head.

  ‘I’m going to have to have my longhouse paved now – the Inn can’t be the best house in the village – and my bedda want me to build one of your washroom things – this is all very unsettling. Everything was so much simpler just a few weeks ago.’

  As money flowed to the Silekians, it then flowed to the merchants and craeftiga. Soon it started to flow outside of the village to Lykiak; to purchase goods that were not available locally. After the Reeve from Haran arrived to consult with his new boss and plan the work for coming seasons, even more money flowed out as they created a huge shopping list of items – valued at more than three million Ryals – and unheard of amount of money that was almost ten times the annual income of the Eaorl’s.

  In order to pay for all this, Conn had to work with Octa’s monier to smelter his gold bars into smaller gold Ryals, as there simply weren’t enough coinage in Tabae to exchange for his coins. They even created a half Ryal. They were also busy smeltering every piece of silver, tin and copper in Tabae that wasn’t critical into the smaller coinage. Conn needed a nice silver, copper or tin mine to avoid a liquidity crisis.

  The other forty plus Thanes in Tabae and even from neighbouring Eaorldoms soon heard about the availability of Ryals, and brought anything they didn’t need into Tabae – not only silver and copper items, but also every spare sheep, goat, pig, ox and horse they had. The money they received they used to buy seed for this year’s crop. There being no spare seed in Tabae, the merchants set out w
ith their pack animals to source the seed elsewhere – Conn’s request alone was over two hundred tons. It would take three thousand horses to carry that much in one trip – it was going to take a lot of trips.

  At night he would feast with Octa and his family – and the many Thanes that decided now was a good time to be visiting the cotlif. After a few weeks of being there, Octa asked if Hengist could spend the year with Conn in Haran. Much of what he had seen and heard made him believe that there was much to be gained by having him observe Conn further.

  Conn agreed. ‘What about Naomh?’ Naomh was one of Octa’s numerous children and about the same age as Allowena. They were good friends.

  ‘Naomh? She’s a girl…’

  ‘Indeed she is – and a very pretty one – and she seems very bright. In Taransay, we don’t separate our girls from our boys when it is about learning. Besides, she will be a good companion to Allowena…’

  As was becoming usual, Conn had his way and the almost sixteen year old moved with them to Haran.

  While Conn prepared for life as a thane, Abrekan made plans to return home. He had found it amusing to watch Conn at work so had put off leaving as long as possible. He intended to travel by road to Moetia and then to Trokia. They were eating in the Inn when Conn asked him to reconsider.

  ‘Wouldn’t it be quicker to go by ship?’

  ‘Of course – but if I have to take my donkeys and skins as cargo, it would become uneconomical. I would not be able to realise a good price for the skins in Lykia; I need to get them to Trokia or Moetia at least.’

  ‘What if I buy them?’

  Abrekan stopped to consider. ‘The leathers?’

  ‘Both.’

  ‘But what do you need with forty donkeys?’

  ‘For one, I have a donkey stallion – I need to breed more donkeys so that I can breed more mules…’

  ‘True enough… but the leathers – these are some of the finest in Meshech – the tanning skills of the Twacuman are second to none.’

  ‘The Cordwainer has improved his skills recently – with some more help I think he can do justice to those skins.’

  Abrekan was continually impressed by Conn’s range of skills – he had seen him work with craeftiga in wood, clay, glass, molten steel, and iron. He didn’t doubt that he could work with leather as well.

  Conn moved on. ‘Anyway, without the animals and the skins, would you go to Sabatah?’ Abrekan had described the local ships called Ceol that travelled around the Meshechian coastline, and they were very much like the Dhow. They had one or more masts, lateen sails, long thin hulls, and had crews of between ten and thirty, depending on the tonnage – which was typically small – around 50 tons; but they were coastline huggers rather than ocean voyagers.

  ‘Yes, I will find passage from there. I might have to wait for some time – but I will find someone going to Moetiak. It is still faster than riding.’

  ‘Could you buy a ship for me?’

  ‘You want to buy a ship now?’ Abrekan was still getting surprised by Conn and his suggestions.

  ‘I like ships...’ Conn smiled in response. ‘The war I mentioned – the one that we won – well, we won because we had more ships.’ It was all a fabrication, but Abrekan didn’t know that.

  Abrekan sighed. ‘So you want to buy a ship – I guess that it shouldn’t be so hard. Gold speaks loudly.’

  ‘Not just one – lots. I want a fleet of ships.’

  ‘A fleet of ships…? You WANT me to buy you a fleet of ships?’ Sometimes Abrekan got a little exasperated.

  ‘Not just buy – I have designs that I want you to take to a ship builder. Do you know any?’

  He sighed. ‘Trokia has the best shipyards in all the nations. I think my bedda even has a relative – a cousin – who is a builder of ships.’

  ‘All the better. Do you know what the cost might be?’

  ‘Becoming a ship’s captain is like becoming a Thane – expensive. Several hundred thousand per vessel – depending on the size – I presume that yours are big.’

  ‘About twice the size of the local vessels – as well as faster.’

  Resigned to his fate, Abrekan considered the matter for a moment. ‘And what do I do with these vessels after they are built?

  ‘Trade – you will have the money to buy and sell all over – set up offices in all the ports. Also, everything I don’t sell here, I will pass on to you. There will be a lot.’

  Abrekan protested in vain. ‘I am a small trader and shipping is not in my normal line of business.’

  ‘I’m interested…’ It was Eggar, his twenty year old and youngest son. ‘I enjoyed my time on the lake with Conn – he even said that I had potential.’

  In Halani over winter Conn had built two small dinghies – with lap-strake cedar planking and a single linen sail. He used them to teach the Twacuman how to sail; as well as to amuse himself. Both Caewyn and Eggar had shown an interest, and they spent time racing each other. By the time they left, he tried in vain to beat the girl. Every breeze was her friend and even Conn found it hard.

  ‘That is true – he will make a fine captain. Besides; you need to find new business pursuits – you do not need to return here except to visit – I will supply Halani with everything they need.’

  ‘But the cost…’

  Conn handed over a leather pouch roll; it contained five gold bar. ‘Do you think it will be enough – to get started?’

  Abrekan laughed a weird laugh. ‘I think it will be more than enough. Anything else you want me to do?’

  ‘There is – I want you to leave Godric with me for another year. He needs more time to learn everything there is about banking, finance and double entry bookkeeping.’

  ‘I didn’t understand a word you said then. He tries to explain what you teach him but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.’ He paused and looked at his sons. ‘So you are taking both my sons.’

  ‘I am going to give you two in return. I want you to take Dodi and Broch back with you – as bodyguards.’

  Abrekan was surprised. ‘But both have brands – they will find that most in Trokia will treat them as theow.’

  ‘We understand – they are going to act as theow – and they expect to be treated by you as theow.’

  ‘Now I don’t understand.’

  ‘It is often said that no one ever notices theow – they are invisible to free people. They will be excellent body guards – and information collectors.’

  Abrekan laughed. ‘You mean spies! I knew that there had to be a reason. What if they get caught – the punishment is death.’

  ‘They won’t get caught. No one will ever know.’

  Conn had been training the pair relentlessly; not only in protective combat but also in covert operations. Already Conn knew everything about everyone in the village. They had all been practising. Rab and Peig were also in training; but he had different plans for them.

  When Abrekan finally took his leave of Conn and headed to Lykiak on horses that Conn had lent him, he went with an escort of wiga led by Wilgar, who was going to Lyciak to do some ‘shopping’ for Conn and would return to Tabae in a few weeks. Since his arrival Conn had spent whatever free time he had training with Hengist and the Eaorl’s Fyrd. Octa had about thirty men, spilt into three squads; one of whom was on patrol while the others guarded the cotlif. After a few days of Conn’s clearly noticeable disapproval of the Fyrd and its abilities, Octa asked him the open question.

  ‘Oswald tells me that you are not enamored with my Fyrd.’

  Conn feigned surprise. ‘They are not too bad, I guess… if you only want them to be a nominal defense.’

  ‘A nominal defense?’

  ‘If you want them to actually fight, they might last about two minutes.’

  ‘Two minutes!’

  ‘If you’re lucky.’

  Exasperated, Octa objected. ‘I think you exaggerate. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to tell you that every Thane can have twenty wiga on his staff; and with thre
e domains, you could have sixty – which of course is more than I have! Why don’t you show us how good the wiga of Taransay are?’

  Rising to the challenge, Conn recruited sixty wiga from amongst the Silekian refugees, and put them in boot camp. After a week they had horses and swords, some bows, but little else; that was Wilga’s job in Lykiak – to equip them more appropriately. Conn planned to manufacture his own weapons in the future, but he wasn’t going to tell Octa that.

  After two weeks of training, Octa conceded the point and requested that his Fyrd train with Conn’s Silekians. He decided that he wanted them to last more than two minutes.

  Octa had warned Wilga and Conn that with no Aebeling in place, Lykiak was a dangerous place for the common person. It had been ruled on behalf of the absent Aebeling and the Witan by a Metgiend, but a hundred years of governor rule had led to imbedded corruption. Dealing with Lykiak was never an easy thing without greasing the right palms. He urged that Wilga be careful.

  Indeed, all the merchants who returned reported problems with the town guards who controlled access into the cotlif. It seemed that the news that they had Ryals to spend increased the level of greed displayed by the guards. Wilga had the misfortune of getting separated from his men, and had taken a beating from the guards on leaving. He didn’t have enough Ryals on him to satisfy the exit fee.

  Conn was deeply offended at Wilga’s treatment, and it was a slight that he did not intend to let go unrewarded. It was not in his nature. It would wait, and he wouldn’t forget.

  Several weeks after arriving with Abrekan, Conn led a procession of over five hundred men, women, and children, on the five days trip to the Burh of Haran. Merchants were already on the road; delivering the large amount of seed – wheat, oat, barley, vetch, turnip and pea – that Conn had ordered for his domains. There was enough to survive not only this season, but if things went poorly, for several seasons after that.

  Haran was the closest to Tabae, the most inhabited, and also closest to the border with Silekia, and as the home of Annisa, it was the logical choice for their home base. It also contained the most fertile fields, and that was where the planting would start. The herds of horses, oxen, cows, sheep and goats that had been departing Tabae on a regular basis, under escort of his Fyrd, headed to Hama instead of Haran, as the lack of crops provided extensive forage for the animals. A large number of shepherds – and Maremmas – would inhabit the plains until Conn had built yards, fences and barns.