Athea cast a coy glance at Athos, smiled mischievously and said, “Oh, we’ve had a few moments at least.”
Athos blushed and coughed loudly as Constan laughed light heartedly and said, “Glad to hear it, lass.”
Constan left the couple’s tent and rode to his own pavilion which was already in the process of being broken down and packed up. He liberated a jug of wine that was on the verge of being poured out, skipped pouring it into a cup since they seemed to have been packed up already, and just drank the contents straight from the jug.
Chapter 58
Evening, October 18th 636, Near Jerusalem, Palestinia Province, Byzantium
Eastward Bound
Athos’ group had swiftly wound their way through the winding valleys of the hill country between Nashon and Jerusalem. They journeyed without incident and didn’t encounter a single damned during the course of the day. Now camped behind the last hill before the walls of Jerusalem came within sight, they sat around a fire and talked.
“Gor, how far do you think we have to travel into the city to reach the Church of Holy Sepulchre where the cross is kept?” Athos asked.
“At least two miles I’d say. We are camped a few miles from the west walls of Jerusalem. The church is east of old town situated at the base of a hill that many believed to be Cavalry, the hill upon which Jesus was crucified.”
“Makes sense. Legend has it that the tomb that Jesus rose from, belonged to a pharisee who believed in his teachings. It said that the tomb was built into the side of Cavalry Hill.” Jerry said.
“Aye, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is built into the side of Cavalry Hill upon which Jesus was crucified. The lowest level of the church contains the tomb within which Jesus rose from the dead upon the third day.” Gor said.
Athea snorted, “Our entire belief system is based on someone who rose from the dead. It seems rising from the dead isn’t that great of a feat anymore.”
Several of the Skutatoi in the group gave Athea a hard glance at the blasphemous statement and crossed themselves. Athos picking up on the look whispered into Athea’s ear, “Careful, love, many of these men are extremely devout and we’ll soon be treading on the holiest of grounds. We must take care in what we say. I need them to be focused on the mission, and not outraged by words of blasphemy.”
Athea nodded slowly and gave Athos a faint smiled in reply. Turning to back to Gor, Athos asked, “Do you have a specific path in mind for us to reach the church?”
Gor nodded, “Aye, we are going to enter through the Joppa gate on the west side. There are a couple of farms there just outside the gate, with suitable barns for the horses. Also, if we circled around the walls, we would have to leave the horses there anyways as the terrain is both hilly and strewn with rocks. Bad horse country.”
Athos nodded in understanding, “That makes sense. We can ill afford to lose several horses to broken legs and such from rough terrain the likes of which will be encountered.”
“Once we reach the western wall, all that remains of God’s Temple built by Herod the Great, we will circle around the temple mount to the eastern side. On the east side lies the Via Dolorosa. Legend has it that the Via Dolorosa was the road used by Jesus on his way to the crucifixion upon Golgotha Rock. It runs relatively straight to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher from the temple mount.”
Baltazar joined the conversation, as he inwardly shivered as he said, “Let us hope that our walk down the Via Dolorosa involves less bleeding and sacrifice then Jesus’ journey.”
The group nodded in agreement and crossed themselves virtually in unison at Baltazar’s words. Many finished making the sigh of the cross by saying in faint voices, “Amen.”
Constan, mounted on Viribus, sighed as he looked at the ground in front of him. Turning to Tovin he said, “Are ye sure this is the best ground to make our stand?”
Tovin nodded glumly, “Aye, ‘tis the only spot in which there is any kind of hill to cover up the flanks of the army as you meet the damned.”
“Hills are not the word I would use for this formation, more like a gentle rise.” Constan said.
“I’m sorry, sir. There are better hills along the route, but never two occurring simultaneously on the north and south side of the road in the manner that you wished for.” Tovin replied.
“It will have to do. Thank you, Komes.” Constan said.
Tovin saluted and turned to ride toward his men when Constan added, “Before ye settle down for the night. Can ye post several men about a three hours’ march west of here. They are to stay off the road and conceal themselves in the hill country nearby. They need to be able to make their way back here swiftly. I need some warning that the damned are coming.”
Tovin nodded and said, “At once, sir.” He then saluted and turned his horse toward the mounted men of his command who were clustered together a short distance up the road toward Jerusalem to the east.
Constan looked over at Droungarios Hovig and said, “Those hills are going to have to be defended as well. I was hoping we could concentrate the line on the road, and have some men in reserve. Like Leonidas of Sparta’s three hundred.”
Hovig frowned as he nodded, “Aye, ‘twas a good thought at least.”
Constan gazed down the road to the west for a few moments and then sighed, “We need to get the top of those hills fortified.”
Hovig rolled his eyes in disgust and said, “I’d hardly call them hills, sir.”
“Aye, never the less, it’s what we have to work with. Given enough time and digging we can turn them into what we need so that our flanks are properly protected.” Constan replied.
“What did you have in mind, sir?” Hovig asked.
“We need ditches dug, about one thousand feet in length on the top of each of those humps. I just can’t bring myself to call them hills anymore. At the end we need another hundred feet or so to turn toward Jerusalem.” Constan said.
Hovig nodded in understanding, “One man per every two feet or so, and if the damned try to turn our flanks that additional section will cover us for a time.”
Constan smiled, “Aye, ye got it. The line needs to extend from a thousand feet north of the road, to one thousand feet south of the road. With the road itself getting the same treatment.”
“With luck, the men will be looking down upon the damned as they try to climb up the earthen wall. They’ll make short work of them with their Spathas.” Hovig replied.
“They’ll make even shorter work of them with their axes. Did ye have the handles shortened like I asked, so that they could be swung with one hand?” Constan asked.
Hovig nodded, “Aye, the men were a bit skeptical but they did as you ordered. They didn’t mind losing the weight just before a march.”
“I would think not. I used to inwardly curse daily hauling all of our gear as we trudged eastward into the flaming inferno of Persia.” Constan said.
“I remember. They wouldn’t let the baggage train carry anything, as they were fearful of an ambush at any moment.” Hovig replied.
Constan chuckled lightly, “Aye, the sorry bastards couldn’t stand directly against us after we broke their backs in Mesopotamia, so they took to ambushing us. I swear I was going to cook in that armor.”
“A fine job they did of slowing us down with what they had left, too.” Hovig replied.
“Aye, we paid for every mile of that thrice cursed desert with blood, but it didn’t do the bastards any good. Ctesiphon still fell.” Constan said.
Hovig nodded, “I was there. Such a great day. We recovered three hundred standards that had been lost to those bastards over the years. One said to have belonged to Crassus of first triumvirate fame.”
“Indeed, a contemporary of Caesar himself. The blasted thing must have been nigh on seven hundred years old.” Constan said.
“I wonder how they kept the moths from consuming it over so many years?” Hovig asked.
Constan shrugged his shoulders in reply and said, “I think the best
part was the food from the palace.”
“And the gold.” Hovig said.
“Aye the gold. I should have been smart and bought me a bloody farm using that gold.” Constan said.
“Why didn’t you?” Hovig asked.
“After Emperor Heraclius released us from the army, I rushed back to Constantinople.” Constan replied.
“Why? You’re from Macedonia in Thrace.” Hovig said.
“A girl. We promised ourselves to each other on the eve before we broke out of the Persian encirclement of Constantinople and drove east.” Constan said.
“What happened? How did you end up back in the army?” Hovig asked.
Constan smiled ruefully, “It’s a long story. The short version is that I was a fool.”
Hovig nodded slowly, “Another time perhaps.”
“Another time.” Constan sighed wistfully before adding, “Get the men working, have half bed down for four hours and get some sleep while the other half digs by the moonlight. At the end of the four hours, have them switch off. We need to keep the men as well rested as we can. Once the damned get here there will be no chance for that.”
“A good plan, sir. The moon is full tonight so there should be good light to dig by.” Hovig replied.
“The men say it will be a blood moon tonight.” Constan said.
“Let us hope it will not be our blood.” Hovig said.
Constan nodded ruefully, “Aye, dismissed.”
Hovig straightened into the position of attention, saluted, and spun on his heels. Within moments he was barking orders to the nearby Kentarches. Constan turned and saw that his pavilion was already being set up behind the center of his proposed line of defense. He walked over, secured a campaign stool, a jug of wine, and a cup. He placed the chair upon the highest nearby point of land and drank by himself as the sun set. For too many of these lads, this will probably be their last sunset.
He sat in silence for a time as the sun disappeared behind the horizon in a cacophony of colors. Within a few minutes the moon broke the northern horizon. Just as Constan feared it was both larger and had a faint red cast to it. As the men feared a blood moon. She’ll come tonight.
Chapter 59
Morning, October 19th 636, Near Jerusalem, Palestinia Province, Byzantium
Into the Lion’s Den
Athos awoke to the sound of a rooster crowing. Surprised, he sat bolt upright. Athea, who was snuggled up against his back, groaned and said, “I’ll get the lamb right away for you, did you need more wine?”
Athos ignored Athea’s words pointed and said, “That was a rooster on that hill over yonder.”
Baltazar, who had also been awakened by the rooster’s cry as well said, “Aye, he must have escaped during the damned attack here.”
“That cock is a lucky bastard. The damned don’t make any distinction between animal and man when it comes to their feeding habits.” Nasir said.
“True.” Athos said. He stood and stretched to work the stiffness out of his body after a night spent on the hard earth and then said, “Let’s get them up. We have a long day ahead of us.”
Baltazar, Nasir, and Jerry slowly worked their way through the slumbering forms on the ground clustered around the dying embers of their camp fire. Liana and Maarika worked to stoke the fire while Athea labored to form dough that they had brought with them from the 5th Babylon’s supplies into little biscuits for breakfast. She placed each one on the flat rocks that they had used for cooking the previous night. She then carefully set the rocks onto the edge of the growing blaze. Warmed by the fire, the dough, sitting upon the cooking stones, began to rise.
The group ate in silence thinking about the day ahead, and what it may bring. Bored with the silence Maarika decided to break it with a question, “So why is finding this wooden cross thing so important? Couldn’t the Emperor just have another one made? He seems rich enough.”
Maarika’s question caused several of Jerry’s men to choke on their meals. Nasir leaned back and let out a long and hearty laugh at Maarika’s question as everyone else threw angry glares at him for disrespecting both the True Cross and the Emperor. Finishing he said, “From the mouth of babes. In answer to your question yes, the Emperor could have had another cross made. Hell, he could have had a thousand crosses made.”
“Why doesn’t he just do that instead of risking all of our lives to get this particular cross? Seems rather shortsighted to me.” Maarika said.
Mouths dropped around the camp at Maarika’s words. Athos, unable to contain himself any longer over the disrespect being shown to Jesus’ sacrifice, asked, “Does she not know about Jesus? You know, how he sacrificed himself, so that our sins can be absolved.”
Nasir said, “Aye, the monks tried to drill it into her head while I was laid up at the Monastery of St. Catherine’s in the Sinai. She’s a smart girl, but she refuses to believe. To her our religion makes little sense. Before she was traded to me for passage into the Empire at the outpost I used to command, she was a pagan that lived in the deep deserts of Arabia. Her tribe still followed the old ways.” Turning to Maarika he asked, “Did your lessons at St. Catherine’s with Sister Nenet cover Jesus?”
Maarika shook her head, “I’m sure they would have eventually, but someone was in a hurry to leave, so they could go warn Aqaba about the damned. Never mind the fact that it was already a damned infested smoldering ruin.”
Nasir’s smile faltered “And how was I supposed to know that? If you had given them proper warning when you were there the first time, I wouldn’t have needed to be in such a hurry to leave the monastery.”
Maarika let out a snort and frowned, “It’s not like I didn’t try! What was I supposed to do? Let the bastards have their way with me? That way they could focus their little minds on something besides dropping their seed into me long enough to hear about their impending doom? If those dirty foul-smelling bastards would have listened more and laid their filthy paws upon me less, I would have been able to get my message across. Do all such soldiers have their brains in their balls?”
Looks of anger at the blasphemous treatment of Jesus, began to morph into expressions of mirth, as the men listened to the exchange between the couple. A few of them even openly chuckled.
Nasir couldn’t help himself any longer and burst into laughter, “So are you going to tell me what the importance is of this particular cross?” Maarika asked once again.
As Athos watched the last bit of food disappear down the gullet of one of Jerry’s Skutatoi, he said, “Mount up.”
As the group worked to saddle up the horses Nasir replied, “Jesus, the son of our lord and savior was crucified on the cross we seek.”
“I’m confused, you say you only follow one God, but you also worship his son?” Maarika replied.
Nasir smiled, “Aye, ‘tis confusing. God is a trinity, the father, the son, and the holy spirit.”
“Hmmm, that sounds like three Gods not one.” Maarika replied. Several of the men within ear shot crossed themselves at her words of blasphemy.
“Woman, you have a mind like a lizard trap. Sharp and quick. The trinity is not three separate Gods, the trinity is different elements of the same God.” Nasir replied.
Maarika rolled her eyes and said, “It’s no wonder your priests spend all their time sitting around and disagreeing about what your holy book says. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Within a span of fifteen minutes, all seventeen horses had a saddle placed on its back, and buckled to its belly. Athos, mounted on his horse, turned to Gor, gestured toward Jerusalem with his hand and said, “Lead on.” He turned in his saddle, made eye contact with Maarika, smiled, and added, “Before we have to go back to Antioch to fetch a priest to explain our beliefs to Maarika’s satisfaction.”
As Athos turned again to face forward, Gor nodded and gave him a faint smile without saying a word. He kicked the flanks of his horse to get her moving forward. The group fell in behind their guide single file, as they circled the hill,
they had spent the night behind and made their way onto the road. Once on the wider expanse, they rode side by side in pairs.
They rode for about half an hour before the walls of the city loomed just ahead. The walls were built from a tan colored stone and cast a long shadow as the sun slowly rose over the city behind them. Gor turned in his saddle and pointed at a complex of stables built next to the road, a few hundred feet from the gates of the city.
The Joppa gate set in the western walls of Jerusalem hung half open. Such a large city looming ahead in silence cast an eerie pal over the party as they dismounted. Athos cast a nervous glance at the open gate, turned to Jerry and said, “We need two people to stay behind and make sure the horses don’t become a damned meal while we are in the city.”
Jerry nodded and said, “Lernik and Nurhan, you are to stay here and guard the horses. Try to keep them quite so you don’t attract any attention from the city.”
The two men smiled and nodded at the order, obvious relief in their eyes. The rest of the group, worked to help each other don their armor. As each piece of the metal protection was put into place, well-oiled brown leather straps were pulled, and fastened securely with buckles. Athos slowly walked through the group to ensure that each member of his team, was outfitted to his satisfaction.
As he paused to inspect each person, he would occasionally reach out and pull on a piece of armor to ensure it was held into place tightly. When he was content that a man was ready, he would nod and give them a faint smile. Satisfied he turned to Gor and asked, “Once we enter the gate which direction should we head?”
“The road we are on is a broad boulevard. It was purposely designed for wagons bringing in goods for the market in the center of town set upon the top of the old Temple Mount. It runs straight from the Joppa Gate into the center of the city. Not much has changed with the mount since the time of Jesus. Instead of being a place devoted to the worship of God, it is still a place of commerce and trade.” Gor paused for a moment before he thought to add, “At least it was while this city yet lived.”
Byzantium Infected Box Set Page 90