Raven's Wyrd: A Novel of Germania and Rome (Hraban Chronicles Book 2)

by Alaric Longward

  I sat there on my horse, with my smiling baby daughter in my arms, wrapped warmly, and tears welled in my eyes. Gods know such a terrible situation would make any loving parent, most people, mad with anxiety and fear. I wanted to kill him. I wished to ride my horse at him, and over him, bleeding, and dying even, I would ride on, until the end. But, to give Lif to that beast?

  'Do not,' Cassia demanded. 'He cannot be trusted,' she spat.

  'I am my own thing,' Hands said tiredly, looking over his shoulder as if trying to see if there were any threats blocking his way out. 'And I am helping both my Veleda, and your poor Ishild. Your Ishild asked me to stay close, and now I am here, irate and battered, having slept in lice-infested barns and old bundles of hay for too many days. You don't know how many men I have strangled in the dark, as they were hunting you. Many!'

  'Surely you know the trails around here, and can lead us all away?' I asked desperately.

  He shook his head. 'No, Veleda wants her. She does not want you. This is where you choose. Give her to me, and I take her to safety.' He fished out a piece of meat from his bags, and he chewed on it happily. 'You decide,' he added, the tough meat being ground to paste in his ruthless mouth. He observed me for a moment and sighed. 'Let me tell you something, and should you speak of this to anyone else, I will hunt you down. I have a daughter, too, Hraban. A sweet wee thing, lovely as an apple. None know where she is, for she would be in terrible danger, as I have enemies, and so I know what you are going through. As for your sweet little one there, I will not hurt her, and I have slaves who will look after her while we travel,' he told me, looking mildly embarrassed while sneaking looks behind me, his chewing getting a bit more erratic. 'One minute, Hraban, then you are out of choices.'

  Fulcher stirred, and was about to say something, but I rode forward, tears filling my eyes and dripping into my beard. I slowly lifted her, and her little hand had a hold on my finger, her clear eyes gazing at me, as if trying to remember my face, until Hands pulled her away from me, gently but resolutely. 'Will I see her again?' I asked, with a shuddering breath.

  He snorted, amused as he grinned at the little girl, who had a very serious look on her face, though she seemed unafraid. 'Do I look like a damned seer? I know not. Everything is possible. You might. Depends on the wyrd, and those bastards down there, and so many other things in this damned world. However, she is Veleda's now, and she is a wise girl. She will be fine, unless you find Veleda for the whore-mongering bastards. Think on that,' he said, peeking at the girl and smiling at me. 'Takes after her mother, thank the gods. Take care now.'

  'How will you get away from them? They are going to come after you, when they find we do not have her!' Cassia asked spitefully, guiding her horse forward.

  'Oh! That. Yes, here,' he said, and grabbed something from the side of the horse and savagely launched a javelin that spun into the air before anyone could move. It pierced Cassia's horse and she fell off the saddle with a surprised scream. Hands laughed like a mad man, happy with the quality of his throw, and kicked the flanks of the horse. 'Heyaah!'

  'Hands! Siegfried!' I bellowed, as I whipped my horse.

  'I am true, Hraban, but I will not risk Lif,' he yelled, 'Veleda will hold her safe, but you see to your woman, and fight well! Perhaps you should leave her and run, but I suppose you found honor with Lif!'

  I staggered in my saddle, and turned the horse. He was riding away, to Veleda; I hoped and spat after him. I cursed and whipped my horse to Cassia, who was being helped by Ansbor, her leg under the horse. 'That piece of lice-ridden fat!' Fulcher exclaimed, now also off the horse, then pushing and prying to get her out of the vice-like grip of dead flesh, blood, and churned mud. 'He betrayed us!'

  'He is an opportunistic stink bag,' I growled and helped them. 'Quickly!' I said, and then a horn rang out. It was a mournful, sad sound of reverberating threat, and it rang through the distant valleys amidst the surrounding Matticati hills. Even Hands turned to look around, but then whipped his horse again, and I lost sight of Lif, as he plunged to the foliage and took to the trails known only to the hunter of men.

  A line of men rode out of the south. It was Gernot and Ansigar, and they were there, very close. 'Get them!' yelled Ansigar. 'Now!'

  'Mount up,' I said with trepidation, as a crescent of ragged enemy bore up towards us. I climbed on my horse, and turned it downhill towards the enemy. Ansbor pulled Leuthard's blade, and Fulcher, in a mail I had given him, followed with his thick spear as they vaulted on their surprised horses. I gripped out the spear of Balderich, Wolf's Tear, loosened the swords on my hips, hitting the flank of my faltering horse and nodded to Fulcher and Ansbor.

  'Don't hurt the child!' Gernot yelled. 'At them, disarm them!' Our horses lurched forward.

  Then, five men rode out of thickets to our left. Three held bows, two javelins, and they all aimed at Cassia, who was scowling at them.

  'Drop the weapons, or she is dead,' Ansigar ordered as his horse galloped closer.

  We hesitated, our horses confused, and Cassia shook her head at us. 'Do not,' she mouthed, but the archers were all aiming at her, and there was no choice but to surrender or to ride away, hoping to escape and sacrifice her.

  I looked to the sky, terrified at what I would suffer. I dropped my spear. Fulcher grunted and dropped his, and as Ansbor refused, staring at the enemy sullenly, Ansigar rode to him and pushed him off the saddle. I dismounted and stared at Gernot, who was riding for me, his face unreadable, his weak brown hair tangled and dirty.

  'Quite a chase, brother,' he said, as his men rode around us. His men collected our weapons, and as Cassia refused to give the axe, Ansigar hit her with his spear shaft, and she fell on her back, and said no more, whimpering in pain.

  'Let her be, turd eater,' I told him, but he lifted his eyebrows at me. I was in no position to make such threats.

  Gernot gestured at us. 'Tie them down. Not him.' He pointed a finger my way. A veritable avalanche of men jumped on Fulcher and Ansbor, hitting and kicking them until they were side-by-side on the mud, cursing, tied like sacrificial pigs. 'The child, where is it?' Gernot mused, looking around.

  'Where is the baby?' Ansigar asked Ansbor savagely. 'Where in Hel’s name is she? You men! Find the child! You two, track back where they came from. Find anyone hiding the brat!' Men turned to obey him.

  Gernot rode around me, gazing down. Then he stopped his horse, gazing down at me, and a man handed him my Nightbright. 'Where is Lif, Hraban? Did you leave her for the wolves?' Gernot asked, his voice grating. He gestured at his men, and Fulcher screamed as someone hit him. I gazed at Ansigar's leering rat face as he enjoyed every moment, and he vaulted off his horse and walked around the captives. More of the ragged men rode up the hill. Odo was not there, but the men whispered to Gernot. He nodded and then approached me, calm as gentle rain.

  He was no longer his impatient self, desperate and angry. He had grown with his wound and exile. He nodded, and men pinned my hands behind my back. Cassia moaned, and men leered at each other. Her turn would come. I prayed she would stay unconscious. 'Your friends, Hraban?' Gernot whispered tiredly. 'Do you wish to see them bleed for this? I have no choice, brother. Lif?' I spat at him; he did not even wipe it off. 'The men told me there was a fat rider here, just before we got up. That you gave him something. They saw this, but could not track him. Where did he go?' My brother looked at Cassia, then at Ansbor and Fulcher, who were tied down, their faces desperately trying to keep their calm. Gernot was thinking on which one would be hurt next.

  Cassia grunted as Ansigar stalked around her, poking her with the spear shaft, and then she moaned in pain.

  'You animal. Come and fight me, bastard,' I cursed him.

  'You should not have left me alive, Hraban, and she will not appreciate it,' Ansigar told me coldly.

  'Speak, and spare her the humiliation,' Gernot told me. 'We will kill them cleanly, take you and the ring,' he said, and tapped it as his eyes gazed at the great prize of our family, 'and the
y need not suffer. But, we will need Lif.'

  'I will give no such promise,' Ansigar said softly and stepped over Cassia, ripping at her tunica. Gernot's face finally showed emotion. He hefted Nightbright, and thrust the blade under the chin of Ansigar, pushing him away from Cassia.

  'I said. She will die a clean death. You will have to learn how to listen,' Gernot hissed at Ansigar. Cassia looked at them, afraid, inching away, and Ansigar nodded carefully. Their relationship had changed as well, and I wondered how much Gernot blamed Ansigar for his misfortunes.

  'I do not know where Lif is. The fat one had his own agenda,' I told Gernot's back.

  Gernot shrugged. 'Perhaps Lif need not be found at all. Odo asked for her, certainly. But, you know, he will be happy with you. And the shitty ring. Perhaps he would be happy with nothing at all. He is strange and mad, and it is possible the prophecy is already moving as it should, and all this is just necessary, tedious dance. But, he will still hurt me for failing him.' Fulcher struggled a bit, and a man hit him again. 'Lie down,' Gernot told me. I laid down on my belly, and he smiled sadly as he squatted before me, speaking so softly none others would hear. Ansigar did not like it, his thin face screwed up with suspicion. 'All my life, Hraban. Your shadow has blocked the sun for me, all of it. In Mother's eyes, in Grandfather's many plans. You denied me everything. All that I am, and should have been, you stood there to stop it. Then came Father. Finally. Finally, I had my share.' He ambled closer. 'You know what happened. We were both sorry for it, all the things we did to each other. Now, we have nothing more left than to finish this. You did not take my life that day, and so I have to live a vagabond, a lord of the filthy rabble. I am the small ruler of larvae, and Odo, Hraban, rules me with hate and hurt. I failed him, you see, and he is not happy. So I need Lif. Not for respect or power. I need her in order to keep breathing, even if I despise myself for it.'

  'Why not leave him then?' I spat. 'Like you left Father.'

  'I had to leave him; Odo had me by the balls. He has ever manipulated me, and I did kill Hagano for him. As you remember, the deed you took my hand for,' he showed the stump to me.

  I smiled. 'Well, if it is any condolence, you were never any good with a spear. And perhaps god Tiw approves, as he, too, lost his hand to an animal. I was not a man the day we fought.'

  'You fought well, brother,' he agreed. 'But, now, you are caught like one. An animal.'

  'Father would laugh at this, his two unwanted sons killing each other,' I smiled at him.

  'He would,' he agreed with a grin. 'You burned his hall? I guess he paid back, eh?' He traced my scar with his left hand's finger inside the helmet. 'Fancy. Odo will make it pale in comparison, though. You will have terrible time with this bastard.'

  'In Gulldrum,' I stated blandly.

  'Ah, yes, their ancestral home,' he said, licking his lips. 'He'll perhaps take you there. I am not sure. I've been to the place. It is an altar to suffering inside a hill, under the root, and over the underworld. Perhaps there he will rip your eyes out and eat them, then he will break your arms, and gods know what else. If nothing else, he keeps such promises. And then, he will let you go, and you will wander the world until you run into Veleda, and he will give her blood to the ring, and we shall all pass away, as will the gods.'

  'You speak much, brother,' I said calmly. 'Why not just make a stand, if you wish to be rid of the liar?'

  He smiled. 'Well. You were always right about me. I am not brave. That is why I need Lif. But one thing remains from the boy you used to know,' he said maliciously. 'It is that certain bit of meanness and nastiness, and I know I was both mean and nasty. So, let us even the score. Ansigar!'

  'Lord?' our former friend answered sarcastically.

  'Take his hand,' he said maliciously, as he got up and his men sat on my back. 'Put it in front of you. This is what Father planned on doing to you, before you were exiled. Now, there is none to save you. We shall be the two brothers, my friend, both as crippled and torn. You will lose one hand here for certain, to pay me back, and then the other one, if you do not tell me where this fat man is taking the baby. Put it forth, bastard Hraban, or I will indeed let Ansigar deal with the fabulous woman there.' His eyes flickered to Cassia, who was looking on bravely, angry as Freya the goddess before a battle.

  I prayed to Woden for strength and nodded, and putting out my left hand, looking at his eyes.

  'Your right hand, brother. Right one. Like it was for me,' Gernot said softly, and I grimaced and obeyed him, terrified.

  Ansigar smirked at my helplessness, and grabbed the Head Taker and walked next to me. He spoke to me. ‘You left me crippled as well. I'm not very strong nor is my aim very accurate. This might take time. You be strong for me!' Ansigar smiled at me sadistically.

  'Let him be! Ansigar!' Ansbor was saying, and was rewarded by a smack from a burly tower of filth.

  'I have not yet decided what to do with you, Ansbor, but do not claim you never wanted to see this bastard humiliated,' Ansigar told our friend. I prayed to Woden as he raised the blade, wondering how I would survive without my hand, horror tearing at my insides. Then, I heard the horn again, blaring a challenge, but as I looked around, none of the enemy was holding one. They were all looking around.

  'There it is again,' Gernot said, mystified. 'What—'

  A steady, small line of men came to sight over a small hillock just next to us. They were men on horses, very large men on very large horses, well-helmeted all, with large spears and shining armor and thick, wide shields. For a second, I saw the image of my father that fateful night he charged to Hulderic's village, and saved Tudrus and the remains of our village from Vago, as his men had looked like these men, but these were not men of Maroboodus.

  There were only five of them, and my brother had fifteen, but Gernot was taken aback. His men looked at him in confusion, but he waved them down, walking forward to see the men better.

  'Who are you? Matticati?' Gernot yelled, as Ansigar was motioning his men to pull us into a heap and the rest to make a shield wall, save for one who was supposed to watch us. They made a semblance of a line, though not all had a shield or even a proper weapon, but now one held Grandfather's fabled spear, a lanky, broad-shouldered man in a brown tunic and furred pants. Another had Leuthard's former sword and looked ridiculous holding it, his filth mocking the fine blade. Gernot's left hand held Nightbright; Ansbor was clutching the Head Taker. One man was watching us, but he paid little attention, his eyes transfixed on the silent men facing us. I got up to my knees, quietly and softly, observing the guard.

  The strangers rode forward, casually, looking from side-to-side, seeking trouble, but likely not fearing it. Leading them was a bronze masked man, with a barrel-like chest and golden hair spilling from under the rim of the helmet, and a fine mist was coming through the mouth hole. He rode towards us, stopping some twenty feet away, his men spreading out around him. A casual attitude of practiced killers emanated from them. The leader punched his spear to the ground and held up his hand. 'We are no Matticati, but who are you, a ragged-looking lot? What are you doing to the woman?' His voice was mockingly arrogant, and his horse seemed to echo the sentiment as it whinnied spitefully.

  'This is none of your business, friend. This is an evil man, offending my lord who is a vitka of might and dread. Do not cross him, fool!' Gernot said, with as much conviction as he could gather, gesturing towards me.

  'Is it your sister?' the rider asked.

  'No, a prisoner,' Ansigar said wisely, gazing at the large men like a small dog would at a pack leader. With fear. 'He is our target.' He thumbed my way.

  'If she is not a relative of yours, then we have a problem,' the rider stated with a grunt and shook his head at Gernot, who was about to speak. 'No. Shut your trap. I asked about the woman, not the man, but by all means, let us talk about him in a bit. As for the woman. I saw him.’ He nodded at Ansigar. ‘A rapist. I hate such men. I am thinking your vitka is a fable and a filthy lie,' the man gestured at Ger
not’s men, 'and a group of rag tag robbers and mongrels do not make a favorable impression on me.' The shield wall shuddered nervously. I peered at the guard as I got up. He had a thin knife on his belt, and I stepped forward silently, grabbed the blade, and impaled the guard so hard the blade went through his side, breaking rib bones. A man moved for me, but stopped as I pulled the blade out, and retreated back to the shield wall. Men now glanced at the riders, and at me nervously, fingering their weapons and waiting for Gernot to command them.

  He said nothing, licking his lips.

  'So they got no balls, do they, boy?' the leader yelled the question at me. I stared at Ansigar and my brother, and both were now whispering angrily. I stalked to my friends, and released Fulcher and Ansbor with savage jerks of the blade, and not a man in the shield wall moved my way, but they shuffled back to form a sort of a huddled group. My friends were up, despite their many injuries, and Ansbor dragged Cassia aside, who seemed revived as she got up on unsteady feet. Silence was oppressive, until one of the enemy dropped his spear, then fumbled as he tried to get it up. The leader of the riders and his men laughed at that.

  The leader asked again. 'Balls? Do they have them?'

  'No balls at all,' I explained, and sneered at Gernot. 'Nightbright, the Head Taker, and the spear. The large sword as well.' They made no move, and I growled, Woden whispering to me of violence.

  'And if I meddle in this, they will run, right?' the rider continued, snickering with his men.

  'They will run like rabbits, lord. And you have already meddled in it,' I answered. 'My weapons, cur!'

  'Are you worth anything, boy?' the rider insisted. 'Something to reward my meddling?'

  'I'm a man who pays his debts,' I told him. 'Happy to bow to you, my lord. As are my men.'

  'Ah, you offer service?' he asked curiously.