Codrin came in the evening, brought by a letter from Mohor, but it was only father and I in the room waiting for him.
“There are some last moment changes in the army’s chain of command,” father said, and Codrin just stared blandly at him; I was sure that he was guessing that nothing good would come from our meeting. “Mohor will join the army.” There was a moment of silence, he was waiting for Codrin’s reaction, but nothing came, and that put father in an awkward situation, as we were expecting a dialogue that could smooth the worst part to come. “He needs to understand his capabilities and prepare for next year. Isn’t what you suggested?” father pushed again for some dialogue, yet Codrin just nodded. “For similar reasons, and the need for rehabilitation, Aron will join too.”
“You know the only condition I set,” Codrin said, void of feelings.
“This is a hard and long war, and we need all our forces to win, Codrin. Every Knight and soldier. Aron is our Knight. His soldiers are our soldiers,” father said. “We need them as much as we need you.”
“You need me dead or alive?” Codrin reacted, the same blandness in his voice as it was not his life under discussion.
“Your life will not be endangered more than in any other fight.”
“It appears that you have taken my fate in your own hands, and don’t allow me to be the judge of what endangers me. Of all the people here,” he gestured at me, then to the castle, “you are the only one who knows what happened.”
“It happened, it may happen again. I understood you last time; you were still a protector, with not much to lose in rejecting the offer of the left wing, apart from some potential gains that no one could guarantee. Now, you are a commander who has proved his worth. The next campaign will enhance your reputation even more. Are you ready to lose your well-deserved reputation?”
“I will think about,” Codrin said, standing up abruptly, stopping the talk in an impolite way that was not his usual manner, and he left the room in silence; still, we could finally see some emotions in his reaction.
When the door closed behind Codrin, father was still staring at it, trying to understand if he had failed or succeeded.
“He will accept,” I said; Codrin’s loss of temper convinced me that father’s words had started a realignment of his thoughts.
In the morning, Codrin consented to join our army, as commander under Mohor’s lead, so to speak.
“Thank you,” Mohor said simply, and I almost smiled. He had understood for some time that simple words worked better with Codrin. In a similar situation, Aron would have received several long phrases to please his insufferable greed for attention. “Now that things are settled, we need to make some necessary arrangements. After this campaign, you will receive a hundred hectares of land and be named half-Knight.” He stopped, and glanced at Codrin, who did not react in any way. “There are three regions in Mehadia’s southern part. We plan to name you governor of one of them. We will decide together at the right moment which place suits you better.”
What Mohor did not say was that the paper for the first fifty hectares of land was already signed, and Codrin would receive it after Mehadin’s defeat, even if we were not able to take Mehadia. The land was in Severin; the other half would be granted from the conquered areas, if there were any.
Realizing that Mohor had finished, Codrin bowed briefly, then things moved to the last mundane preparations for an army that would leave a day later. When they had left, I remained alone in the room, my mind filled with a strange effervescence, unrelated to the war preparations.
You have to stay away for a while, Codrin. After Saliné’s wedding, we will make you our Secretary and Knight. You will move here again, and maybe you and Vio… This will repair many things. But there is nothing I can do for Saliné. I gripped the edge of the window until my knuckles went white, forcing myself to look faraway, unable to see through my tears. Nothing…
“We can’t trust Codrin,” Aron said that afternoon, after requesting that he discuss some important things with Mohor and me, although my feeling was that he asked for me too only because I was in the room. “There is no guarantee that Orban will not attack Severin in our absence. We need to take more precautions, and leave some more people here. Not many, but young, all the others are old, just enough to keep the enemy busy until we return. Cernat has a lot of experience, he knows what to do, and Bucur could stay and help him. We should not worry while we’re in battle.”
“We will see. I have to speak with Cernat first,” Mohor gave him an ambiguous answer.
“Bucur should go with you,” I said thinking at Saliné, after Aron left us alone.
“He will come with us,” Mohor answered, thoughtfully, “just to avoid more complications, but I did not want Aron to think that I rejected his proposal without careful examination.”
Next morning, he told Aron the army could not go into such an important battle without a good left wing commander.
After Aron left, I learned that Codrin had gone home for some last preparations. In haste, I took two soldiers with me and rode to his home. When I entered the house, I found only Vlad in the main room.
“Please leave us alone,” I asked him, and undecided, he just stared at me. “I am not that dangerous,” I smiled, and a little ashamed he left the house. Codrin entered a moment later, finding himself alone with me.
“I wanted to tell you one thing before you leave,” I said, before he could speak. “Two, in fact,” I corrected myself. “Some things are not what they look. What happened in that hall was just a self-preservation façade Saliné thought was necessary for both of you, nothing else. Please believe me, and come back safe.” I touched his face, and went out without waiting for an answer, hoping that the little I had given would allow him to maintain some bond with Saliné.
Chapter 21 - Codrin
The first four days on the road to Mehadia brought nothing more unusual than marching in columns, and that left me more than enough time to think of Saliné and everything else that had happened in Severin. My mind replayed her walk in the hall, with Bucur’s hand on her shoulder. It was harmful, yet I could not stop myself. Unchecked repetitions banish your reactions after a while, freeing your mind to think again. That evening, I had wanted to quit Severin and leave them alone. I still do not know what changed my mind. Maybe because my fate was too entangled with Jara’s family, or maybe in a corner of my mind there still was a trace of hope. It could have been that Saliné was sick and needed help, or it could have been that people distressed in love no longer think normally, and that would apply to both of us. So I stayed, freezing my mind, completely void of feelings, letting things pass around me like I was just a faithful observer of my own life. It was that strange talk with Jara, just before I left Severin, that instilled some life in me again, but it was not much. I wanted to believe, yet I could not.
On the fourth evening out, we stopped at the fork between the northern and southern roads to Mehadia. I knew it so well, the place where my plans took shape, preparing to deliver justice to Jorn and create the tension I needed between Mohor and Mehadin. Before leaving Severin, it was somehow agreed that we would take the northern road, which would be more dangerous but also shorter; yet my decision was not yet firm, and I sent three teams of scouts into Mehadin land to gather vital information. Two of them, led by Vlad and Ban, had all the men from the guards reporting to Vlaicu. I did not trust Big Mouth’s men, and he would not complain; scouting was dangerous and he wanted to keep his soldiers. The third team was made up of mercenaries. In the war games we played in Severin I found that they were more disciplined than Mohor’s soldiers, and one group of ten particularly attracted my attention: they were not far, in skills, behind the Arenian army. Their leader, Valer, was also the mercenaries’ captain, and for that reason alone I coopted him into the war council, despite the opposition raised by Big Mouth and some Knights. We also crossed our swords in trainings several times, and Valer was almost equal to Cernat when we trained in Jara�
��s house. How good was Cernat ten or twenty years ago?
The council was an awkward thing because of a peculiar issue that had nothing to do with the gathering. Mohor had only one tent, indeed a large one, able to assemble fifteen people in the main room, if needed. He and Big Mouth were sleeping there, and many things happened outside the council meetings, in my absence. It did not suit me, but I could not change anything.
“We take the south road,” I said in the council, gathered two days late after all our scouts came back, reporting that both roads were free.
“We agreed to go north. Why should we change what we already agreed?” Big Mouth asked.
“We need surprise.”
“I don’t agree.”
“Nobody asked you. I will take the south road. You can take whatever you want.”
“Codrin, why could not you be more diplomatic?” Mohor asked after the council ended.
“Do you think it will help? If I say north, Big Mouth will say south. If I say south, he will say north. He doesn’t raise issues to be solved in the council, he just creates them for his own purposes. Beware, Mohor, today it’s me, tomorrow…”
“He is a Knight, and many of our soldiers report to him. There is always a hierarchy and there will always be. Never forget that.”
“And you are a Seigneur. Keep your Knights and soldiers under control, if you want to keep your place in the hierarchy.”
Tohani was a small castle, with no city attached to it, yet a frontal siege would have made us lose many soldiers. Ban’s team reported that we were being watched; it could have been Mehadin or it could have been the Knight who owned the castle. I hoped for the latter. Our teams had the order to avoid a fight with the enemy’s scouts, and just survey from a distance, to leave the impression that we were unaware. During the night, we camped close to the junction where the road to the castle separated from the main one, and in the morning, we moved on toward Mehadia, leaving fifty soldiers behind, hidden in the forest. A few turns later, the scouts brought news that twenty soldiers were following us in parallel through the forest, and I sent Vlad back with the order for the soldiers left behind to surround the castle and block access to it. After another turn we went back to the castle too – the twenty enemy soldiers had no way to enter the castle, so I expected a weak defense, if my assumption that they belonged to the local Knight was correct. In front of the castle, the fight between our soldiers left behind and the twenty enemies already started when we arrived, and after their few soldiers retreated, we besieged the castle – our assault ladders were already prepared. We took it fast and, as we found later, there were just eleven soldiers on the walls, mostly old or too young.
In the evening, we took council in the main room of the castle, and with no danger, we threw our swords on the big table sitting in the middle; things were calm and bright – we had lost only seven soldiers.
“It went well,” Mohor agreed with my own judgment.
“We can sleep here tonight,” I said. “Tomorrow we set the fire and leave for Mehadia.”
“The castle is too important to be destroyed, it watches both roads to Mehadia,” Big Mouth contradicted a thing that was already agreed, and I glanced at Mohor, but he looked surprised too. “Marcel’s son needs a castle.” Marcel, was the second Knight in Mohor’s hierarchy, and not necessary Big Mouth’s best friend, but not his enemy either. Marcel was as surprised as Mohor, yet somehow the idea pleased him, putting me in an awkward position.
I waited for Mohor to answer, but for some unknown reason, he stayed silent, leaving me to handle everything. “You don’t care about Marcel’s son; you want to stir the pot again. We have already agreed what advantage we have from burning the castle. We should not…” I left things in suspension.
“I am a Knight,” Big Mouth shouted, pointing to himself. “A Knight, like them,” he gestured around. “And unlike you, we know the value of a castle.”
“Yes, we know the value of the castle,” three Knights, Big Mouth’ closest allies, echoed him.
“A castle is something built in time, built to endure, transferred from father to son, the symbol of our power. How can we rule the peasants when they see a burned castle? Belonging to one of us. It doesn’t matter if the past owner was our enemy today, he is still one of us,” Big Mouth gestured again to the Knights, contrasting them to the vagrant I was, and he became suddenly agitated, advancing toward me in a menacing way.
I did not react physically, just lowered my center of gravity, ready to repel an attack. Like me, Big Mouth was armed with only a dagger. “If you know the value of it, then you know why we must burn it.” I was trying to show Mohor that I was capable of diplomacy.
“A real commander wins without burning castles,” he shouted again, and I realized that his anger was false.
“A real commander wins battles,” I shrugged, still trying to stay calm.
“You won a small battle and think you are a commander.” His voice became even louder, and he was now just two steps away from me, his hand raised, ready to strike.
With his next step, I caught his hand as he tried to push me, and I turned his body over my shoulder. His back hit the floor with a dull sound, and a gasp escaped his mouth.
“Turn!” Mohor shouted, and turning I saw Bucur attacking me with his sword.
At the last moment, I avoided his sword, jumping aside, and with my hand on the floor, I rotated, hitting Bucur’s foot as his body went forward from its own momentum. When he fell, I hit the nape of his neck with my elbow, then pressed my dagger to his throat. I should kill you… But that could have unforeseen consequences, that I was not able to ponder so fast. I needed time to think, and you do not have that time in a fight to the death.
“Codrin, don’t.” Mohor came behind me, and grabbed my hand with the dagger.
“This traitor tried to kill your commander,” I said, though I pulled the dagger away from Bucur’s neck. “We must judge him.”
“Yes,” Mohor agreed faster than I thought, but his reaction stopped there; he did not order Bucur arrested, so it was just a way to calm me.
“I apologize,” Bucur found his voice. “I thought that my father was in danger. I did not want to kill you; it was just a son’s reaction.” His voice was calm, like nothing had really happened, his body was not tense, and the thought that I was being framed by Big Mouth and Bucur came to me.
What for? “This castle is not in the lands you will keep, Mohor,” I ignored Bucur. “Big Mouth knew that perfectly well when he suggested bestowing Marcel with it. Everything was just a game to give Bucur the opportunity to attack me. It was not a son’s reaction, it was a set up.” I knew that Mohor would not be happy that I had unmasked the plan of giving away some land, but there was no other way to counteract Big Mouth’s game. I glanced at Marcel, and he was frowning. I have to tell him…
“There was no plan,” Bucur stated calmly, playing his role. “I apologize once more. It will not happen again.”
The snake is a good actor. I must reevaluate Bucur. He might be more dangerous than I thought. There was reptile coldness in him, and unlike Big Mouth he could keep his composure in tight situations, something I did not see in our brief encounters in Severin.
Undecided, Mohor was scratching his chin, and silence filled the room, waiting for his decision, not an easy one, I conceded.
“Traitors should be punished,” I said, forcing his hand. “A trial should be set for tomorrow, and the traitor should wait in jail.”
Reluctantly, Mohor agreed with me, and sent Bucur into a cell in the tower. For some reason, now looking as calm as Bucur, Big Mouth did not interfere at all, letting only Bucur speak, and I was not able to understand their strategy. Maybe they thought their ‘filial reaction’ tactic was good enough.
What will happen tomorrow? I knew that Mohor would not execute Bucur, but I was expecting to see him in jail for a while, and that could change many things. Before going asleep, I explained our strategy for the land to Marcel, wit
hout mentioning Orban, and while logically he agreed with me, I still felt his disappointment in not getting the castle for his son. And looking back, I realized that none of the Knights in the room made the slightest gesture to interfere when a man with a sword attacked an unarmed one. Not even Mohor… He warned me, then just waited. But he interfered for Bucur.
In the morning, the soldiers left to guard the door of the cell where Bucur was jailed were no longer there, and I immediately knew what had happened. Undecided, my hand touched the hard wood of the door before handling the knob. Screeching, the door opened, revealing an empty cell. What options do I have now?
“I freed Bucur,” Mohor said behind me, the voice of man announcing that the sun was rising or the wind was blowing.
It was early morning, so he asked a guard to wake him up when I went to the tower – an obvious small bone of attention to mollify me. In a curious twist, we were both in a difficult situation that could evolve in many ways. Sometimes, a tiny reaction can irreparably alter things. My mind produced a ghostly image of Big Mouth: his mouth, wide open let out a raucous laugh.
“Obviously,” I said, slamming the door of the empty cell, and turned to face Mohor.
“You may want to know why I did it.”
“I might, but I would not get the right answer from you,” I shrugged.
“You think I would lie to you?” There was a touch of surprise in his voice, yet his face stayed immobile, a calm I guessed was not there.
“No, you will tell me your truth, but you are lying to yourself.”
“Bucur was worried and made a mistake, nothing more.” He ignored my jibe.
“Yes, nothing more,” I sneered.
“It’s better if you two stay separated for a while. I sent him back to Severin,” Mohor said, without pronouncing a name. “You should appoint another commander of the left wing.”
“Why are you so sure I will still lead your army?” I moved away from him and rested my hands on the cold stone in the gap under a large arch. On its external side, that level of the tower had no walls and no windows, just arch after arch, and their thick columns made of stones of different colors, orange and gray – there was an exquisite symmetry in their alternation. In the valley, the road to Mehadia wound through the forest, and the main part of the army occupied a high meadow. In the calm morning, there was no visible trace of movement. High on the hill, the castle offered a good view of both parts of the road.
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