The Sword Brothers

by Peter Darman

  He was conscious that his hut had formerly been the lodgings of a widow who had been evicted to make way for him and Daina and always made sure that she was provided for out of their food stocks. The widow was in fact a handsome woman in her late twenties named Elita. She missed her husband terribly and had no children to console her and so Daina insisted that she was a regular visitor to her former home. Conrad gave her half their chickens, a goat and two pigs, though there was no prospect of her starving as she ate at least three evening meals with them every week. Conrad did not mind as she was affable enough and it made Daina happy for her to be with them rather than sitting alone with her distaff. Elita was one of the first ones to be told that Daina would be having a baby in the new spring.

  Thalibald was delighted and when he informed Master Berthold the latter sent Daina a silver crucifix as a present. The winter that gripped Livonia that year was, like the previous one, harsh, the rivers and lakes freezing over and the ground covered in deep snow. When the first snowflakes had begun to fall Conrad acquired a new companion when a stray dog wandered into the village. He found it one morning curled up shivering outside his hut and immediately took pity on it. He did not know why but perhaps the sight of anything abject and alone elicited feelings of compassion in him. The dog was a mangy, flea-bitten beast with sores on its back legs and a slight limp. Conrad took it in, fed it and left it asleep by the fire as he and Daina went about their daily tasks. They washed its wounds, filled its belly and combed the fleas from its coat. It loved Daina but had little time for Conrad, being content to lie at her feet and occasionally growl and bark at him when he showed his wife any affection. Bad tempered and rather affectionless, at least to him, Conrad named it Henke, which provided him with endless merriment.

  Daina got the village blacksmith to make Conrad a silver ring that she gave to him one evening. It was a simple affair and he put it on a finger on his left hand.

  ‘No, no, you must look at it first,’ she implored.

  He took it off and turned it in his hand.

  ‘Look at the inside.’

  He peered at the ring and saw strange markings on the inside.

  ‘It is our names in our language,’ she said with a girlish giggle. ‘The blacksmith sent it off to an engraver in another village. It means that we are together for all eternity.’

  He took her in his arms and gazed into her green eyes. ‘I don’t need a piece of metal to tell me that.’

  She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. ‘It is silver not iron.’

  ‘It is wonderful, thank you.’

  Though winter was harsh life was made bearable by the feasts Thalibald gave, the swelling of Daina’s belly and the company of Rameke and Elita. Waribule kept himself to himself but told Conrad he was pleased that he would soon have a niece or nephew to play with.

  ‘It will be a boy of course,’ Conrad told him.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Elita dangled my ring on a strand of Daina’s hair over her belly and it rocked to and fro, which means a boy apparently.’

  When Thalibald heard of this he had a gold ring made that he presented to Daina, insisting she wear it at all times. He may have been baptised into the Christian faith but old habits die hard and Conrad found out from Elita that the old gods looked favourably upon women who wore a gold ring. It ensured that they and their infants would survive childbirth.

  As Christmas came and went and the new year was born Conrad heard little of events beyond the village’s confines. Thalibald told him that the Rotalians had raided south towards Treiden but Caupo and the Sword Brothers from Segewold and Kremon had chased them back to their own land. The spring came and Thalibald informed him that Lembit had been released from his luxurious confinement at Riga and he, along with the hostages that the bishop had taken, had gone back to Saccalia. An Oeselian fleet of longships sailed into the estuary of the Dvina but Riga’s defences were too strong and they retreated after causing little damage. As the lichens and mosses began to appear on the ground and on trees as spring took hold and the forest filled with fungi, Daina went into labour.

  As she had promised to do Ilona came from Wenden to be the midwife, throwing Conrad and Henke out of their hut while she and Elita tended to the expectant mother. Conrad spent hours either pacing up and down outside the hut or on his knees praying when he heard Daina’s screams, while Henke pawed at the shut door or cried when he heard Daina in distress. Then it went quiet and he feared the worst, but wept like a child when he heard the cries of a small infant and Ilona came from the hut to inform him that he had a son. They called the child Dietmar.

  At long last Conrad’s life seemed to make sense. He had seen his life and family ripped apart, he and his sister being saved only when they had the good fortune to literally run into Rudolf and Henke. He had never questioned his fate in the intervening years, being resigned to becoming a member of the Sword Brothers. But now he realised that he had been brought to Livonia for a reason and that reason was to marry Daina and raise a family with her. He counted himself truly blessed that God had smiled on him and led him to the wonderful life that he was now living.

  Chapter 21

  It was an old trick but effective nevertheless. They had arrived two days before: four Saccalians who sailed down the Gauja in a riverboat with a cargo of grey squirrel pelts. They left their boat on the bank and walked inland to Thalibald’s village, requesting an audience with the chief. The peace between their people and the Christians meant that trade could now be conducted along the Gauja and they told the chief that they had access to furs from Novgorod. Most trade was conducted along the Dvina but why not open an alternative route? The wealthy who lived in the cities and towns of Germany had an insatiable desire for furs and paid handsomely for those that came from Novgorod. Why bother paying the taxes levied by Riga when ships could pick up their valuable cargo at the mouth of the Gauja? Thalibald listened to their words and was convinced.

  He feasted them in his hall and they told him that the furs they had brought with them were a gift. But they represented only a fraction of what could be purchased from Novgorod. Peace meant trade and trade meant riches. Both Livs and Saccalians would grow rich together and their peoples would prosper. Thalibald knew that Lembit had accepted baptism and had returned to his land a follower of Christ. The priests and missionaries of the bishop were now living among the Saccalians, preaching the word of God and being unmolested. Surely, they suggested, now was the time to put aside old grievances and embrace the new future. After all, did not Christ himself preach forgiveness?

  Thalibald embraced them, drank with them and saw a future of prosperity and peace. While he, Waribule and his warriors got drunk with the traders he sent Rameke to Wenden to inform Master Berthold of these developments so he would not find out via a third party. Rameke was unimpressed and asked to stay but his father reminded him that he was a warrior and a warrior obeys his lord. And so, as Thalibald’s hall echoed with the sound of drunken laughter, Rameke and a small escort rode from the village and headed to Wenden. The gates were shut behind him for although there was now peace with Lembit, Thalibald was not so naïve to believe that a warlord should sleep with the gates of his village open.

  Henke began barking when he heard the sounds of revelry coming from the hall. Conrad’s hut was not next to the chief’s residence but the night was warm and still and the noise of drunken voices and cheers carried far.

  ‘Shut up, Henke,’ Conrad hissed, concerned that he would wake Dietmar in his cradle at the foot of the bed.

  Sure enough the babe started grumbling and then crying as he heard the dog’s bark. Conrad got out of bed and grabbed the mongrel by the scruff of the neck.

  ‘You can sleep outside tonight,’ he said irritably as he slid the bolt back, opened the door with his other hand and turfed the mutt outside, closing the door and slamming the bolt back into place. Daina, dressed in her nightshirt, picked up Dietmar and cradled him in her arms to soothe hi
m. Outside Henke growled, snarled and scraped at the door.

  ‘You can sleep outside, you bag of fleas,’ Conrad shouted.

  Dietmar began crying again.

  ‘Shush, Conrad,’ whispered Daina as she began walking up and down, rocking Dietmar in her arms.

  After a few minutes she managed to quieten her son and laid him back in his cot. The sounds of merriment continued to come from Thalibald’s hall. Daina rested her head on Conrad’s chest.

  ‘Your father will have a sore head in the morning,’ he said.

  ‘I think it is the morning,’ she whispered.

  Outside he heard a low snarl.

  ‘I swear I’m going to strangle that dog,’ he said in exasperation. ‘If he wakes Dietmar again…’

  There was a yelp and then silence. A shiver ran down Conrad’s spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He jumped out of bed and pulled on his trousers, then his boots.

  ‘Get up,’ he ordered, ‘and get Dietmar.’

  Bleary eyed, Daina sat up in bed.

  ‘Hurry!’ he shouted, causing Dietmar to start wailing.

  He felt sick as he heard screams and knew that the village was under attack.

  They had sailed downriver at night, hauling their boats from the water before the dawn broke and concealing themselves and their vessels among the trees. They were particularly careful to remain hidden when they got to Wenden, knowing that the crusaders always sent men to the river to keep an eye on what was happening on the Gauja, or so their lord had told them. On the last night of their journey they had beached their boats on a sandy strip on the northern bank and pulled them into the dense forest that came almost to the water’s edge. They had removed the telltale indentations caused by the boats and the marks left by dozens of boots and then waited. Waited until it was dark.

  It was easy enough. While Thalibald and his men filled their bellies with meat and beer two of the merchants left the hall to take a piss. They quickly made their way to the watchtower next to the closed village gates, slit the throats of the guards before descending to the ground and lifting the oak beam that secured the gates. In they flooded, silent death dealers attired in mail armour, helmets and armed with spears, axes and swords. They did not come to plunder or rape, only kill. Kill quickly. Kill efficiently. Kill everyone.

  Conrad tucked the axe in his belt, gripped the handle in the shield boss and clutched his sword.

  ‘Stay close behind me,’ he said to Daina.

  She was trying to calm Dietmar but was herself in tears, frightened by the dreadful noises outside. He held his shield slightly behind him to cover them both as he edged towards the door. He saw the boar spear that Rameke had given to him as a present, sheathed his sword and picked it up just as the door was kicked in. Daina screamed as the snarling brute with a thick beard heard her and was stopped in his tracks as the blade of the spear was thrust into the nape of his neck. Daina stared wild-eyed in terror as blood sheeted out onto the earth floor of her hut and followed Conrad mutely as he held the spear in place and pushed the dead warrior back out of the door into the street. To witness chaos.

  Some of the huts were already alight, the flames illuminating the scene of panic as women and children raced around in alarm before being cut down by warriors. He saw the body of Henke in the dirt and kicked the dead man off his spear, momentarily catching sight of the design on his shield. He saw a leering wolf’s head and gritted his teeth. He had to get to Thalibald’s hall. That was the place where the Liv warriors would rally. If they were still alive. He heard Daina’s voice.

  ‘Conrad!’

  He turned to see Elita, half naked, running towards them, and following her was a wolf shield about to split open her skull with his axe. Elita’s mouth opened in terror as Conrad threw the spear that missed her head by inches and thudded into the chest of her pursuer. He pulled the axe from his belt.

  ‘Move Elita,’ he shouted.

  She rushed to Daina’s side and kissed Conrad’s wife.

  ‘We have to get to the chief’s hall,’ he told them. ‘Stay close. Move.’

  The warriors were going into every hut and slaughtering all inside. Animals in pens behind dwellings were squealing and screeching as the sounds and smell of death reached their nostrils. Conrad’s hut was less than a hundred paces from Thalibald’s hall but that short distance turned into the longest journey of his life as he tried to be ahead of the women, by their side and covering their backs. Two warriors came from a hut, their axes bloody and leers on their faces. Conrad swung the axe blade at one, cleaving his face in two, then whipped back the weapon to send the spike into the other man’s eye. He clutched his face, screaming in pain, as he fell to the ground. Conrad bundled the women before him and shepherded them around a pen full of squealing pigs. He opened the entrance and the animals bolted into the street and into the path of a group of wolf shields that had seen him kill two of their comrades.

  On they went, skulking by the sides of huts where women and children had been butchered. The air was filled with screams, cries and the smell of smoke as the village was torched. Conrad roughly shoved the two women into the shadows of a hut as half a dozen enemy soldiers raced by, heading towards the centre of the village. Daina was trying to hush the howling Dietmar, but such was the din that his noise was barely audible. Perhaps he should try to escape from the village and hide in the woods. But what sort of man would he be to abandon his wife’s family in their hour of need? So he followed the wolf shields, herding the women between two animal pens and by the side of a hut to come into the small piece of open ground in front of Thalibald’s hall. Just in time to see Waribule scythed down by a succession of axe blows.

  ‘Noooooooo!’ screamed Daina as she beheld her brother’s death.

  ‘Move!’ screamed Conrad as he bundled them both towards where Thalibald and half a dozen of his men were still fighting, holding off an increasing number of Estonians with difficulty.

  Conrad tucked the axe back in his belt, drew his sword and plunged it into the back of a warrior who was fighting his father-in-law. Thalibald saw him and then Daina and ran forward, grabbing his daughter and hauling her into the middle of his small circle of fighters. He said nothing to Conrad, merely nodding grimly and continuing the fight. Elita tripped and fell, jumped up, smiled at Daina and was then decapitated by an Estonian axe. Daina shook with horror as Conrad ran the man through, deflected an axe with his shield and severed its owner’s arm at the wrist with his sword.

  Thalibald’s hall was on fire now, the flames roaring as they engulfed the building, sending sparks high into the night sky. The chief was wounded in the arm and then a spear blade pierced one of his hamstrings. He went down on one knee, holding his shield above his head to deflect the rain of blows that was directed at him. Conrad fought off his attackers and hauled him to his feet. Thalibald smiled at him and his expression went blank as a spear was thrust into his spine.

  ‘Conrad.’

  He heard the faint whisper of his wife’s voice and turned to see her clutching Dietmar, an arrow lodged in the cloth that held him and blood staining the material. His eyes filled with tears as he witnessed his son’s death but in his despair did not see another arrow lodged in Daina’s stomach. She smiled weakly at him and collapsed to the ground, still holding the infant to her chest.

  Conrad screamed with fury and helplessness as he hacked and thrust to keep the wolf shields away, standing over his wife as he cut down three enemy warriors. He saw Daina’s mother fall and die not six paces from him, Thalibald’s other warriors also being slain near their lord’s wife. He caught an axe blade on his shield, stooped and thrust his sword under it to rip open the mail armour covering the belly of an Estonian, the broken metal rings being soaked in blood as he twisted the blade. Whipping it back he flicked the handle and sliced open the nose of an opponent with the point. The flames roared and he fought on, never moving from his wife and child. He heard Lukas’ words.

  ‘Keep moving. If
you stand still you are dead.’

  But he would not leave them.

  He felt a jolt and looked down to see that a spear blade had been thrust through his side. But he did not feel anything. He felt another jolt as a sword point was thrust into the rear of his left shoulder blade. But he did not feel anything as he fell to his knees and dropped his shield as he still clutched his sword. He felt another jolt as an axe blade gashed the side of his head and he was knocked to the ground. He kept looking at the face of his beautiful wife as the darkness enveloped him and he faded away. But he did not feel anything.

  *****

  ‘Will he live?’

  Rudolf stared at the unconscious, bandaged figure of Conrad on Ilona’s bed and shook his head.

  ‘That is in God’s hands,’ she said, tying off the dressing that covered that top half of Conrad’s skull. ‘I have done what I can.’

  The glow of the flames of Thalibald’s village had been spotted from the gatehouse in Wenden’s perimeter wall and Master Berthold had been notified. He and Rudolf had been entertaining Rameke in the master’s hall and were about to retire when they were informed that the Liv settlement appeared to be burning. The alarm was sounded and Rudolf, Lukas, Henke and a dozen sergeants rode south with Rameke and his men. The five-mile journey took an hour because it was pitch black and the riders had to take care lest their horses were injured on the pot-holed track. In addition, though no one said the words, the possibility that the village had been raided could not been discounted.