by David Noel
"That’s true," replied the knight, "but I stand by my decision. First, I think that it’s clear that I see more than most men do," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "and that goes for seeing the true quality of a young man as well as seeing through the illusions of the Wyvern. Second, the very fact that you feel unworthy of the honor instead of accepting it as your due helps prove my assessment of your character. There are other squires that I deal with who are all too quick to point out their virtues and try to lay claim to honors. I take it as a good sign that you don’t do such things. "
"Yes, sir," said Brendan bowing his head. He was sure that he didn't deserve such praise, but he was not about to argue with Sir Gerard about it. The knight continued,
“The real question is, are you ready to make the commitment needed to be a Centurion? Do not answer lightly or quickly. You heard what the Vouivre said, ‘Commit all of yourself or none of yourself’, the choice is yours, but it must be made at some point and you will be held accountable in the next life for whichever you choose.”
Brendan sighed, “I need to tell you the complete truth about why I left Constantinople. I was hired to steal the official regalia of the Parakoimomenos, the High Chamberlain of Emperor Constantine VII. One of his political rivals wanted to embarrass him so I was hired to make the theft. After I pulled it off, the High Chamberlain, tracked down his rival and began tearing the city apart to find the thief. I decided that leaving was my best plan for survival. I had always planned to leave at some point to go fight Vikings but stealing from the High Chamberlain drove me out of the city a couple of years earlier than I had planned to go.
“Where is the regalia now?”
“I snuck into a guardhouse by one of the city gates and left it there as I was leaving the city. I knew if I took it with me they would be determined to track me to the ends of the earth to get it back but I hoped that by leaving it behind where it could be found they would be less motivated to continue pursuing me. So, as you can see, I am not worthy, I am still a liar and I am not just a petty thief.”
“Why should this change my opinion of you? The details are new to me but the general truth about who you are and what you have done in the past is not. The Lord Jesus himself has a soft spot for thieves who turn their lives around. He told the thief on the cross, ‘this day you shall be with me in paradise’. Should I be more judgmental than Christ? Christ died for the sins of the world, including yours, the question is, can you, in faith, accept his gift of grace?”
Brendan shook his head, “There are many things that I don’t understand, and I don’t know that I will ever be able to completely set aside my doubts.”
“I am sure that when you jumped to that railing in Constantinople you had doubts about whether it would hold you or not, and yet you still jumped. You didn’t let doubts stop you when the prize was only a few gold trinkets so don’t let doubts hold you back now.”
Brendan closed his eyes for a moment and tried to pray. God are you there? He thought. A little voice or a vision would go a long way right now. Nothing. God doesn’t answer prayers. He opened his eyes and looked at Sir Gerard, the most solid man he had ever met. Faith as solid as his was built on a rock, not on empty promises. There was something true and real behind him and his faith and Brendan wanted it. You have just seen evil defeated by faith and the dead raised in the name of God, if you will not believe that, what will you believe? He asked himself in frustration. Brendan stopped. Again, with these thoughts that seemed to come out of nowhere! Lightning shot through his body. Was that God or was that his imagination? He had always thought the voice of God would be far grander and harder to miss instead of such a quiet voice that sounded like his own, but the words were nothing that he would think to himself. Either way, the words were true. It was maddening! He didn’t want to believe but he had seen the dead raised. There was no doubt, the smell of putrefaction had already begun in the girl, but now she was happy and healthy in the arms of her parents. The Vouivre had known things about him that nobody else knew. And, if he was honest with himself, two Centurions had stepped in at just the right moment to save his life and save his soul.
Brendan looked up at the knight, his decision was made, he would leap for the railing. “I will always have questions and I will struggle and fail but I will commit everything to Christ and to being a Centurion.”
Sir Gerard smiled, “Then henceforth you shall be known as Squire Brendan. Now, let us hurry and get out of this forest before it gets dark,” said the knight pointing his horse back up the path.
“Yes, my lord,” responded Brendan as he quickly collected up his knives, “but if we have killed the Wyvern then is it really that important to hurry?”
The peasant’s daughter spoke up at this point, “It is said that the lives of the Wyvern and the Vouivre are tied together. One cannot be truly killed as long as the other is alive. To kill the Wyvern for good, you must also kill the Vouivre before the sun sets or her brother is reformed in the darkness. Anyone good enough to defeat the Wyvern would never dream of killing the Vouivre, and anyone evil enough to kill the Vouivre would be a friend of the Wyvern.” She paused awkwardly for a moment, “And thank you for saving my life,” she said and then rushed forward to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Brendan smiled at her and her father and then turned and followed Sir Gerard up the path.
◆◆◆
The expression on the mother’s face when she saw her husband and daughter both alive was beyond words. To Brendan, her joy made the dangers worthwhile. Sir Gerard introduced him to Father Cardic as “Squire Brendan” and the young man found himself blushing for the second time that day. The priest grunted.
“Don’t let it go to your head boy,” he said. “I better not hear you telling any stories about how you killed the Wyvern. Giving your vows in front of the order AND becoming a squire, we’ll have to have proper ceremonies for both when we get back to the castle.” Father Cardic turned to Sir Gerard, “You might want to warn him about Miss Portia before we get there, she can be rather hard on new squires.”
“Miss Portia?” Inquired Brendan.
“My daughter,” answered Sir Gerard. “She is my pride and joy but at this point, I think the less that is said, the better.”
Chapter 9
“It is said that in the far north there lives a species of wolf called the winter wolf whose blood is colder than ice and whose breath can freeze a man where he stands.”
The Centurion Book of Beasts – Folio V: Assorted Other Creatures
Portia, Aurora, and the other handmaidens watched in silence as Sir Bertram readied all the knights and squires in the area for a quick reconnaissance in force. A rider had come with word of a large Hungarian raiding party to the east but how many there were and where they were headed had not been determined yet. Portia remained stoic on the outside even as her stomach did butterflies on the inside. Her mother and Sir Bertram had discussed how to handle it before she made the decision to just send the knights and squires. There was the strong possibility that the knights could find themselves heavily outnumbered, but doing nothing was not an option, and sending both the men and the women and leaving the castle unprotected was just as risky in its own way. There was no good solution to the problem.
Portia knew her mother and Sir Bertram, they would do whatever was best for protecting the farmers and villagers in the region, even if it was risky. The plan was to send the knights and squires out on horseback to track down the raiders while the men-at-arms fortified the village of Wicklin to the east to help protect it from attack. If the knights thought they could engage the Hungarians they would, if not, then they would fall back to Wicklin. The shieldmaidens and handmaidens would protect the castle to make sure it wasn’t an easy target for the raiders. If necessary, they could be called upon to provide a flanking force to attack the Hungarians from behind if the raiders surrounded and attacked Wicklin.
“We might sit here and do nothing,” Aurora said, as
much to herself as to Portia, “we might fight off an attack on the castle by ourselves, or we might ride out and face the Hungarians in the field.”
Portia did a quick count in her head. There were about two dozen shieldmaidens and a few more than two dozen handmaidens in the castle at the moment, mostly wives and daughters of the knights. There was a local militia and a few more knights, squires, shieldmaidens, handmaidens, and men-at-arms scattered throughout the countryside that they could draw upon, but it would take several days to muster these reinforcements.
Portia nodded, “The next few days may be very exciting.”
An older man-at-arms walked up.
“Enough sightseeing, ladies,” Aurora announced to the other handmaidens, “time to get back to work. This is Master Kurt. He has been fighting the enemies of the Order for longer than most of your parents have been alive. He knows every fighting technique there is to know. He has been working with Miss Portia to teach her the best way to fight a Hungarian. You may thank him later for keeping her so busy that she couldn’t run sparring drills with us. Master Kurt, Miss Portia, please show us how it’s done.”
Kurt nodded and began, “The first thing you need to know about real fighting is that there is no perfect fighting style and no ideal weapon. Every fighting style and every weapon has its strengths and weaknesses. I can’t teach you how to beat every warrior that you will ever face but I can teach you how to beat a Hungarian by attacking the weaknesses in his style. Please remember that what I teach you today will beat a Hungarian, but it can get you killed against a Moor or a Norseman so keep that in mind if you have to fight someone else. Let’s start by assuming that you are facing him on top of the wall, we can talk about facing him on horseback later. The average Hungarian fighting hand-to-hand will be carrying a saber or a bow and wearing lamellar armor. A few will be carrying round shields, but most won’t since a round shield is as much of a hindrance as it is a help to a horse archer.
The first thing you need to do is trust in God and know that his hand is upon you. The second thing that you need to do is trust in your equipment. Your gambeson padding is reinforced with silk to make it stronger than most and your mail is made from durum which is lighter and stronger than any weapon your enemy has. It is not totally impervious to all attacks, but you must trust it with your life, if you hesitate or hold back out of fear you will die. Your swords are made from altum which is harder and sharper than anything he can even imagine so his armor is no match for your sword. The third thing you must do is take the initiative, and then keep the initiative, keep the initiative, and keep the initiative. He will be stronger and probably faster than you but if you keep him off balance and back on his heels trying to parry your blows then he can’t use those advantages. So how do you do that? Here is where the francisca and your fearlessness comes in…”
The training continued for hours as Kurt played the part of a Hungarian swordsman while Portia demonstrated the best attack techniques and then Portia and Kurt played Hungarians while the other girls practiced the attacks. They drilled and drilled and drilled. Kurt insisted that the handmaidens practice until every move was automatic. If they could fight like a machine, then they would be the quicker fighter. Their opponent would be the one forced to think about their counter moves and always be a fraction of a second behind.
Aurora finally called for a break, “I think that it’s important to practice even when you’re exhausted because the further you can extend your limit the better it will be for you in battle, but now I am seeing that even Kurt and Portia are getting sloppy. So, we will call it a day. Any last words of advice for us, Master Kurt?”
“You have one more advantage over any Hungarian you will face on the wall, You have now seen the different strengths and weaknesses of his armor, his weapons, and his style, he, on the other hand, has probably never faced a shieldmaiden in hand-to-hand combat. He will assume that you fight like the knights, but the Order deliberately equips you and trains you differently from the knights so that if he attacks you like he would attack a knight, he will get himself killed. You have one of the most important advantages of all, the advantage of knowledge.” With that, the old warrior nodded and walked toward the dining hall.
All the girls looked exhausted. Portia almost felt guilty when Aurora said, “Be ready, tomorrow’s training will be even worse.”
The other handmaidens grumbled and complained about it, but the rest all knew that they were no match for the self-appointed leaders if things got ugly.
“Lady Evelyn!” Priscilla called as the Gray Lady walked up. “We are beyond exhausted, we need to rest tomorrow, we just can’t train endlessly and still be prepared to fight.”
Lady Evelyn raised a cool eyebrow, “Who do you think ordered Portia to start training with Kurt so she could teach you all what to do? Who do you think ordered Kurt to stay with us while all the other men-at-arms went with Sir Bertram? You will have the training grounds to yourselves for the next 3 or 4 days and I expect you to make use of them every minute. I can see that Portia and Aurora train you even harder than I do, and I approve. The more sweat you lose on the training grounds the less blood you will lose on the battleground.” Lady Evelyn turned and walked after Kurt toward the dining hall.
Aurora faced the other girls, “You will each get into the best fighting shape of your lives. Your own lives depend on it, the lives of the women fighting beside you depend on it, and every cook, maid, groom, and gardener who lives in this castle depend on it. You can all defeat a Hungarian warrior if you work with all of your strength and use every bit of your training.”
“Portia makes it look so easy,” complained Priscilla, “but look at her biceps.” Priscilla reached out and poked Portia’s muscle with her finger. “Hard as a rock.”
Portia almost punched her in the face but a warning look from Aurora stopped her.
Aurora stepped in, rolled up her own sleeves, and held her arm next to her lieutenant’s. Her muscles were smaller than Portia’s, but they were well defined and just as hard.
“My build is the same as yours and you can see how much muscle I’ve put on. God has blessed each of us with different bodies, but he has given us all the same duty to do the most that we can with what we have. Hard work can do far more than you give it credit for.”
Portia said nothing but the reality was that, despite her encouragement to the other girls, there was no shortcut to a physique like Aurora’s. The other handmaidens seemed to sense this, but they nodded in agreement. Aurora led the handmaidens back to the barracks to put up their gear and then to the dining hall to eat. Portia was going to personally make sure that there would be no skipped meals tonight.
In the dining hall the Gray Lady pulled her daughter aside, “Portia, I appreciate the way you have taken control of the handmaiden barracks. It’s good to see some leadership rising up among the handmaidens. We are making plans for the defense of the castle if it should come to that. You know the girls best, make a plan for who will be stationed together on each wall and bring it to me tonight so that I can review it before tomorrow.”
Portia waved Aurora over, “Actually mom, you should know that I’m only in charge of running the combat drills, Aurora’s in charge of the handmaidens. Since she’s the real leader in the barracks, she should make up the plan.”
The Gray Lady raised an eyebrow, “Who decided this?”
“We decided together,” Aurora said, stepping forward.
“Why did the two of you decide that Aurora should be in charge?”
Aurora hesitated and Portia spoke up, “I’m the best fighter among the handmaidens but she’s second and she’s a much better leader. She’s wiser, more patient and self-controlled, she understands how to deal with the other girls better, and she even understands tactics better than I do. She’s the ideal Centurion shieldmaiden and she’s not even a shieldmaiden yet. Who else among the handmaidens would be a better choice for captain?”
Lady Evelyn’s eyes grew moist, �
��Spoken like a true Centurion. I can see that my daughter has become more mature than I gave her credit for.” She turned to Aurora, “I’m having dinner later tonight with my two lieutenants from the shieldmaidens. You’ll be eating with us so bring your plan and whoever you choose to be your lieutenant from among the handmaidens. Now get your girls into their beds and meet us within the hour.”
The Gray Lady turned and headed back to the keep. She hadn’t told Aurora to select Portia as her lieutenant, but they all knew who the obvious choice was.
“I’ll get the girls tucked in while you work on the plan,” Portia said, giving her friend a quick hug, “and congratulations on your promotion!”
Getting the rest of the girls into bed had been easy since they were all exhausted. Helping Aurora come up with a plan had been harder, but they finally had it and headed toward the Great Hall in the keep. The Great Hall was designed to hold fifty people in a pinch. Originally it had been both the dining hall for the castle and the main meeting room for conducting business, but as the castle grew a separate dining hall had been built. Now it served a variety of other purposes including private meetings for the senior staff. Lady Evelyn sat at one end of the main table, Baskins the Foreman, Dana the Doma, Nian Zhen the Doctor, and Garret the Blacksmith sat on her right while the two shieldmaidens, Claudia and Esperanza, sat on her left. Two places were set beside the two senior shieldmaidens, so Aurora and Portia made their way to those seats.
“Good, we’re all here,” the Grey Lady began. “Forgive the cold meat and bread for dinner but I closed the kitchen after everyone else was finished and put the castle on restricted rations. The harvest is months away, so I’ve decided to conserve the supplies that we currently have and prepare for a siege just in case. Let us be clear on this, I am not expecting a siege so do not say such a thing to anyone, but neither do I wish to be caught unprepared.” She glanced down the length of the table making sure that everyone heard her words on this before she continued.