The Aebeling

by O'Neill, Michael

  The wet climate, however, provided an excellent ecology for huge forests of trees.

  ‘Do these trees have a name?’ Conn asked as he inspected the bark and leaves of some very large samples growing close to the roads they traversed.

  ‘They have always been known as the “Casere Tree” – it is said that thousands and thousands of trees over a hundred years were planted here after the expulsion of the Ancuman.’

  ‘The Silekians planted them? I thought they never made it this far north?’

  ‘No – not the Silekians – I was taught that it was the Twacuman who planted them. Why do you ask?’

  ‘Interestingly I have forests of a very similar tree growing in Hama and now Atrak. They are very good for shipbuilding. What do you use them for?’

  ‘Nothing in particular – they are a bit big for our craeftiga – we only have a need for small fishing boats.’

  Menai was a river port; and after following the river for seven day, they arrived at the outskirts of the cotlif at the point where the river met the ocean; the port was an excellent size, well protected from the ocean. The cotlif itself, sadly, was not in such excellent shape – it was old and desperately run down. Inside the ancient palisades, the streets were covered in mud, muck and stench; not aided by a lack of drainage and the daily squalls. The docks were only just functional, and most buildings would be harder to repair than replace. Conn could see Allowena’s disappointment, and she willed herself not to cry.

  He rode up beside her, and placed his arms around her, and whispered.

  ‘Do not worry – it will be fixed. It is not for you to be concerned. Before I leave, all will be well.’

  She whispered back. ‘How do they live like this?’

  Conn laughed. ‘Your memory is short – you lived like this just a few years ago!’

  She sighed, ‘I know – but I now know better.’

  They were greeted on arrival by Eaorl Ciarrai and his large family. Ciarrai was almost fifty; and he had several children of various ages and a longhouse full of servants and bedda. Devlin’s mother had died young – he was an only child, but his father had made up for that with other bedda. They fussed and carried on trying to make Allowena feel welcome and comfortable in the dust and grime. She was thankfully overwhelmed by the warmth of their welcome.

  Conn, however, tried his best to look a little displeased – and it was sufficient to attract the attention of one of the bedda who whispered into the Eaorl’s ear. He was more direct.

  ‘Thane, you seem displeased. Please accept our apologies if we have offended you in any way.’

  ‘No, no. I am not offended, but, its, well...’ he trailed off.

  ‘I insist – what can we do to remedy the situation. You are our honored guest.’

  Conn sighed deliberately. ‘Well, I have an allergy – a sickness if you like – to dust and smoke – and I’m afraid that Allowena has similar problems. In Atrak and Hama we have made changes to our houses so that we don’t have such issues. I am in fear of her health...’ He stopped because he had to cough.

  The Eaorl was distraught. ‘Well, that must be rectified immediately – we will not have Devlin’s new bedda – and your daughter – unwell. That cannot be allowed to stand. Tell us what we need to do.’

  ‘Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to put you out.’ Conn then had another coughing attack.

  ‘Not at all – please treat my staff as your own. I have heard much from Aerlene about what you have done in Susa and Atrak is apparently a marvel. We will follow your lead – in fact I insist you do what has to be done.’

  ‘Well, if you insist. I’m sure Allowena will have better health if we do something… just a few small things… ’

  The next day Conn gathered every tilia and craeftiga in the village and, under the guidance of his wiga – all master craeftiga – he set them to work. There were a few grumbles at first but when Conn told them that the tilia would be paid fifteen Ryals a day and the craeftiga twenty five, they stopped complaining. Their efforts were assisted by the arrival of five ships from Atrak with two thousand tons of supplies and an additional hundred craeftiga. The supplies included a large supply of food and alcohol; some of which was promptly sold to the Inns. A lot was kept for the impending bedda feast.

  Ciarrai stood with him as they inspected the supplies being transferred inside the warehouse – Conn had explained that everything being unloaded was part of the dowry. Because Allowena was becoming bedda to an Eaorl, it was custom for Conn to pay an appropriate amount of dowry.

  ‘Thane, you are far too generous – you would have to pay less for a Healdend’s daughter; and I cannot pay you for these items – I fear we are now the poorest domain in Moetia because of everything you did in Susa..’

  ‘I’m sure we can do something about that. Have you thought of building ships?’

  ‘Ships? I believe that this was once an important ship building area; but we lack the expertise.’

  ‘I can supply that.’

  ‘Nor the money…’

  ‘I can supply that too.’

  ‘But why would you want to start building ships here? Surely there are better places?’

  Conn shook his head. ‘I don’t think so – your mountains are covered in the perfect trees for shipbuilding – and you have a river that will allow them to be transported to the shipyards for processing. This could be one of the greatest shipyard in Meshech.’

  Ciarrai took a deep breath. ‘I guess we can try… I don’t enjoy being the poorest domain in Moetia. What size are the ships going to be?’

  ‘Each is over a hundred tons and cost around two hundred thousand Ryals to build. That should be fairly profitable for you.’

  ‘Two hundred thousand Ryals! How many do you want us to build?

  ‘At least five a year.’

  The Eaorl was stunned into silence, so Conn continued. ‘There is a problem we need to solve though – tell me about the pirates. Oh, and tell me more about that map I was given.’

  Conn’s ships had sighted the pirates on their way to Menia, but their superior speed prevented any problems. Conn didn’t want it to happen again.

  Ciarrai shrugged. ‘It is just something lying around gathering dust. I recall that it was given to one of my distant grandfather by his mother; she was the daughter of an Eaorl in Trokia. I’m glad that you can find good use of it.’

  ‘I can – it’s a map of the coastline of some place I think is called Kadash, but I can’t be sure. Do you know of such a place?’

  The Eaorl nodded. ‘There sound familiar – I don’t believe that name is used – I think it is called Kuita now – that is where my ancestor came from anyway. Her father was the Eaorl of Kuita – he was the last. It lies directly over the ocean to the west in northern Trokia – and is just over a day’s sailing from here. I believe Kadash was one of the ancient Ancuman cotlifs but the last great rising of the oceans I think put it under water – and made access by the sea dangerous. Kuita is now home to the pirates who are the bane of our existence. They are the only ones that can navigate around those islands.’

  ‘So your ancestor was the last Eaorl? What happened?

  ‘Have you heard of Cyme – the island with the Valkeri?’

  ‘The female wiga – yes, I’ve heard of it.’

  ‘Well, Cyme was once the home of the pirates but around 720, the females theow killed all the males in the middle of the night and have defended it ever since. As bowmen, it is said that they are second only to the Twacuman. The pirates that survived needed a home and after many failed attempts, they invaded Kuita in 756, killing the Eaorl, and took control of the domain. One of the Eaorl’s bedda and her children were visiting Menia at the time and survived but the rest of the family perished. Because they had control of the seas, it has been impossible to regain the Eaorldom. The daughter became bedda to my great grandfather while the son died some years later pointlessly trying to regain his domain.’

  ‘Are the pirates everywh
ere or just near their coast line?’

  ‘Everywhere – it is said they have twenty or thirty vessels continually scouring the bay; most ships just pay the tax – whether it be money or goods, and go on their way.’

  ‘So you don’t usually have problems here?’

  He nodded. ‘Not now – but in the past we did; we no longer do what we once did – we were once fishermen who would take our harvest to Moetiak for sale; but that is too dangerous now. We lost too many ships, men and cargo to bother. So now we stay close to the shoreline and we only have small fishing boats – just enough to provide us with food.’

  Conn had no intention of paying pirates to traverse the ocean. He turned to the Eaorl. ‘So, who is the nearest Kanian Eaorl?’

  ‘A Kanian Eaorl – that would be the Eaorl of Ar – less than two days away.’

  ‘When was the last time you visited?’

  He laughed. ‘Not since I was a child – another grandmother was of Ar.’

  ‘I think it is time we went and paid our respects then. I’m feeling social.’

  ‘You want to visit Ar? What on earth for –They are even poorer than me?’

  Ciarrai thought him mad until Eggar arrived with the schooner, wiga and another hundred tons of supplies. He then thought him just reckless. Nonetheless, after a day unloading and reloading, they set sail for Ar.

  They deliberately sailed further out to sea, and at half the speed that they needed to, it wasn’t too long before they found what they wanted. Three pirate vessels could be seen arriving on either side and behind them. They were sleek vessels powered by a single large sail and further powered by rowers, and with the extra human power, they were drawing close very quickly. The first vessel arrived at bow range off the port quarter and fired a volley at the schooner, as a warning.

  The volley of several hundred arrows they received back wasn’t a warning; it was lethal; the arrows were then followed up by a catapult volley of burning pitch in small barrels that exploded on impact – spreading the highly flammable goo everywhere. The vessel started burning out of control within minutes, with the vessel sailing out of control.

  Its cover blown, the schooner hoisted its brown sails with the golden sun and circled around to hunt down the second vessel on the starboard side– which was now trying to make a rapid turn to escape. However the schooner quickly drew near the second vessel and bombarded it with the “Greek fire” and it too started to burn. They chased the third vessel as well; but they didn’t attack – they just ensuring that it travelled towards the stricken sailors before Conn gave the order to change course and head for Ar. Conn had no real interest in all the sailors drowning.

  ‘If I hadn’t seen it; I would never have believed it.’ Ciarrai was dumbfounded during the entire event. ‘And these are the vessels that you would have me build for you?’

  ‘Indeed they are.’

  The people of the port of Ar were very surprised to see the tall ship pull into their harbor and then tie up at their wharf; even more so when two hundred wiga, in brown surcoats with golden suns, rapidly disembarked and commandeered the town. The port itself was old, run down and barely managed to find room for the schooner. Only after they had threated to sink the fishing boats milling in the harbor or tied to the wharf that they even found room to tie up.

  There was little security; in fact the arrival brought out the people rather than made then run indoors; over a hundred people – men, women and children, stood and watched, and they were finally joined by the Portgerefa, who arrived panting, escorted by a dozen old wiga.

  ‘What is the meaning of this’ he demanded, though his tone suddenly changed as he became aware that the village was full of armed wiga.

  The Eaorl walked down the gangplank and greeted him. ‘Portgerefa, I am Ciarrai, Eaorl of Menia; I have come to pay my respects to my kinsmen Dagdail, Eoarl of Ar. Would you send someone to fetch him please?’

  Conn joined the Eaorl from the boat. The Portgerefa took a step back, as did the very nervous wiga that stood just behind him.

  ‘From Menia, in Moetia? You’ve come to Ar, in Kania? I don’t understand. Are you mad?’ He caught his breath. ‘Anyway, I cannot send someone to fetch the Eaorl – he is the Eaorl after all – you should go to him.’

  Conn was dressed in his purple gambeson with the chainmail over the top; he carried his longsword over his shoulder. It was just for show, but it had its effect. He addressed the Portgerefa. ‘Very well – but how many horses do you have? I’ll need a hundred.’

  ‘A hundred? Why so many?’

  ‘Well, if we have to go and see the Eaorl, I’ll need to take a proper Fyrd with me. A hundred should be enough – or we could march the way there on foot. The Eaorl of Menia tells me that it is a half day by foot. I just can’t guarantee the behavior of my men on a long hot march. Are there many villages along the way – for recreation?’

  With the almost explicit threat hanging before him, the Portgerefa quickly agreed to send a rider to ‘request’ the Eaorl’s presence in the port. With that in hand, they had the Portgerefa escort them to the Inn to wait. There was only one, old, and run down, and it had almost no beer or ale of any quality for sale. Ar was definitely poorer than Menia. As an act of ale diplomacy, Conn had several barrels brought over from the ship, and shared around. Soon everyone was his friend – the beer from Atrak was an excellent quality, and the Portgerefa finally stopped shaking with fear. When lunch, a stew fish rich with onions, garlic and herbs, and served with a fine grain bread, was prepared from the ships supplies, and brought to the Inn, they were like old friends.

  Dagdail, the Eaorl of Ar arrived mid-afternoon. Given that the port was under Conn’s control, he was escorted in by Conn’s wiga, much to his annoyance.

  Dagdail was not impressed. ‘Ciarrai, you old scoundrel, I haven’t seen you in thirty years! What in the name of all that is sacred do you think you are doing invading my port? Are we at war and nobody tell me? I’d hate it if I’d lost already?’

  Ciarrai ignored him and introduced Conn. The Eaorl introduced his two sons, Eafa and Daigh.

  ‘Anyway, you old fool, we are not invading,’ Ciarrai responded. ‘We are visiting. The Thane of Atrak, on whose ship we travelled, wished to ensure the security of his ship. It is, after all, a valuable vessel.’

  ‘That thing on the dock is ONE ship? I thought it was three? Still, how did you get past the pirates?’

  ‘We didn’t, we sort of went through them – two sank – one is going home with its tails between its legs.’

  ‘Seriously?? Well, that is something positive. They are the curse of the bay. So tell me again why a huge warship with a Thane from Lykia and a Moetian Eaorl suddenly drops into my port.’

  ‘Just to say hello.’

  ‘Surely you are kidding. Who drops in to say hello?’ he looked around the Inn. ‘And what on earth is everyone eating. It smells good. Somebody fetch me a serving.’

  He was presented with a bowl of stew and a large slice of bread. He tore a piece of the bread and gingerly tasted it before wolfing it down. ‘This bread is delicious – and what are they drinking?’

  As soon as he had the tankard, the Eaorl then proceeded to eat and drink for the next twenty minutes. He hardly said a word – he was obviously very hungry.

  When he had finished, he looked around the room. ‘Well, that is the best meal I’ve ever had. If you keep providing food like this, you can come back again. In fact, I’m thinking of visiting you next week. Tell me what has been happening in your part of the world.’

  As the cousins talked, Conn observed Daigh at the door looking out at the ship. He was dressed as a wiga – unlike his brother and father.

  Conn stood beside him, and Daigh bowed respectfully on his approach. ‘Would you like to go and have a look?’

  Daigh was genuinely surprised. ‘Your ship – you’d let me have a look at your ship?’

  ‘It’s just a ship. Arlen will show you around.’ Conn called over Arlen and arrange
d for Daigh to get a tour. He came back in awe; and thanked Conn profusely.

  ‘That is not just a ship – I have never seen anything like it. If you had ten, you would rule the oceans.’

  Conn interrupted. ‘I have twenty...’

  Daigh looked shocked. ‘Then the oceans are yours. As for your wiga, Thane, I have yet to see better equipped men. I serve at the Healdend’s pleasure as Folctoga and if I had half of what your men have, I would have double what I have now. I will not be so bold as the ask how many you have.’

  ‘I won’t sport with your intelligence to give a number. But, I always have a need for good men – perhaps you can join my Fyrd one day.’

  Daigh smiled a thin smile. ‘Your men are all Silekians – my Healdend is not at all enamored with Silekians, so I doubt that I will have the opportunity – which is regrettable.’

  ‘Stanger things have happened.’

  As the time was getting late, Conn asked the Eaorl for a tour of his village – he had previously observed craeftiga working with reeds and grasses.

  The Eaorl explained. ‘The waters here are shallow and there are a lot of reeds and such. We make our way by making baskets.’

  ‘Can you make more?’ Conn always needed goods to trade.

  He nodded. ’Of course – but without access to markets there is no real need.’

  ‘The Eaorl of Menia will buy everything you can make.’

  Ciarrai was surprised. ‘I will?’

  ‘Yes, and I’ll buy everything he doesn’t need. The pirates will soon be out of business, and Ciarrai will send a ship to collect the baskets from you. I have some alternative designs that I’d like you to consider. Here, let me show you one. I’d especially like some hats…’

  In half an hour Conn had created a high quality wooden based basket from the rattan; impressing everyone. At an agreed price per unit, Conn ordered as many as they could make, and they returned to the ship leaving behind a surprised but very happy Eaorl of Ar. On their trip home, a couple of pirate vessels obviously hadn’t received the memo, and tried to intercept his ship; one sank and the other was left to collect the stricken crew. Soon there would be order in the Kanian Bay – albeit Conn’s order.