The Bretwalda (The Casere Book 4) (21 page)

‘How much are you offering?’

Conn tossed over a bag of gold ryals – Ancuman gold ryals. ‘Take what you want.’

The man looked at him curiously and tipped out the contents of the bag on the table. There was a fortune spread out over the table. The old man piled it into small piles and then bigger heaps, before putting the majority of the ryals back into the bag; tossing it back to Conn. He shrugged when Conn looked at him. ‘Anymore and people would consider us thieves. When do you plan to start burning?’

‘In the morning; bit by bit.’

‘Don’t forget to take care of the animals – there are some good goats in the fields – they are the only reason we have survived this long. We sell the wool.’

‘You don’t want to take them?’

He shook his head. ‘No, this is their home. Give me some men and I’ll show you what you have bought.’

By morning the fifty odd residents had packed up their belongings and put them on a horse drawn cart. The Thane said his son was taken in by another family without a son – he would go there. The ryals and the extra people would help his son.

By midmorning, the first blaze was started, and it continued for several hours; all the curious spectators that came to see what was the matter, spent the day under guard. What Conn wanted happened mid-afternoon. A troop of wiga travelled out from the town to investigate the smoke and they were surrounded before they knew what had happened to them. Most were Makurai – only the Folctoga was Axum; but that was enough.

More fires were started later in the morning and a larger troop – perhaps a hundred had arrived; this time some died as they had suspected something was amiss. Most of the Makurai changed sides immediately. Conn expected most of the action would occur the next day as not only horses but bodies had been sent back to the town.

One of the Twacuman sentries came to Conn as they ate and waited. ‘Feorhhyrde, Derryth says that there is a small group of men – just fifteen or so, that have camped a mile away. He feels that it is unusual.’

Grabbing his sword and bow, Conn followed the sentry back to his position. Derryth was confused. ‘I have never seen anything like it’, he exclaimed angrily, ‘The fire is in the open, it is not protected by the trees –it’s dangerous; you would think that it was a bunch of children – but it isn’t.’

Conn observed for a while. ‘It’s Larena – and I hope a special guest.’

‘Who?’

‘The Aebeling of Makuria; Sigkarl. Larena went ahead to see if she could smuggle him out. Hopefully she has.’

‘I thought you said you didn’t have a plan?’

‘That is not correct. I do have a plan.’

‘Since when?’

‘Five minutes ago.’

‘Nice of you to tell us.’

‘I haven’t had time. Send a troop down nice and loud to fetch them. Send another down nice and quiet just in case it’s a trap – but I doubt it.’

It wasn’t – Larena had been able to smuggle the Aebeling out with the help of all the Twacuman. Even the Aebeling was impressed with what they were able to achieve – given that he didn’t come willingly. He unfortunately drank something that had sent him to sleep – a particularly nice new Twacuman theow had enticed him into a small room – and he had woken up in the middle of the forest surrounded by people armed with bows. He was indignant at his kidnapping; confused when he was greeted by the Jarl of Elis, and surprised to be reunited with his son.

‘I don’t understand – is this a coup?’ he addressed Conn directly. ‘Has someone hired Priecuman mercenaries to usurp me – and with who?’

Conn nodded. ‘It is a kind of coup – but we are going to replace the old you with a new you.’

Sigkarl looked bleakly at him.

Conn continued. ‘Perhaps I should explain. We don’t have a lot of time – I’m expecting a large fyrd to arrive here in the morning, and I’d hate to disappoint them by being unprepared. Would you like a mug of wine?’

‘No – I’d like a skin of wine. A mug will never suffice – I have a headache. Continue please.’

After hearing Conn’s story, he was not indisposed to his plan and objective – he saw little reason why his son shouldn’t be the next Aebeling – provided he had the support of the Jarls. He would have three at least – and probably more. He could see that Conn could be very persuasive.

~oo0oo~

Next morning, they waited. Conn had sent scouts in all directions; and to make sure they didn’t get lost, he started another fire – this time with as much extra rubbish that he could find. It was a big black blaze.

The farm itself was starting to look good; all the available rubbish had been collected and burnt and in its place men had started to work on fences and buildings for the goats that roamed the hills. Conn even had others, the prisoners, starting to dig drains and ditches.

As expected a large number of wiga started to appear just after dawn. They were coming from two directions. Conn had his fyrd of five hundred in two halves; the Sagittari were on the ground behind pikes on a small island in the muddy ground that was the farm. Conn was with the Cataphracts in the woods at the back waiting.

‘How many wiga?’ Derryth enquired of Conn as he studied the horizon with his telescope.

‘About two thousand – maybe more.’

‘Four to one – excellent odds,’ Derryth commented dryly, ‘for them.’

What generally works against a side with an overblown sense of power and authority is that they never stop to consider. When they arrived, they didn’t ask themselves why there was group of armed men nonchalantly burning a building – they just charged. As they hit the soft ground their horses became nervous and when the pikemen came out, the riders got nervous as they couldn’t manoeuvre their horses as they’d hoped; and when the arrows started to fly, they tried to get out of arrow range – which wasn’t easy given the boggy conditions. This was also about the time that the second half of the fyrd, the Cataphracts, arrived; as the Ancuman wiga started to milled around each other in confusion. So when the Cataphracts charged, they had little time to mount a proper defence.

Easily a third of their forces lay dead or injured after the first clash with the cataphract – especially the Ancuman Folctoga. When the cataphracts turned to charge again; with Conn’s big black stallion under armour at the front and Conn and the claymore that had severed the head off the Folctoga astride, they tried to run, and didn’t get far. More wiga with arrows waited and within thirty minutes, the entire fyrd surrendered.

Very quickly, they were collected together and the wounded were attended to. Sigkarl and Eldarr went to inspect that was left of the Makuria fyrd. Conn had tried very hard not to kill Makuria, and the losses had not been severe. Given the new circumstances, they very quickly, without hesitation, agreed to follow Eldarr and the Aebeling. Sigkarl only had one concern still.

‘The folgere – what do you propose to do about them.’

‘Subterfuge... I would like you to escort me and a few other back as if we are prisoners. I’m sure that we can arrange a presentation for them in the bailey.’

~oo0oo~

After lunch the next day, a long line of men headed back to the castle; the Aebeling and the Jarl of Elis leading about fifty men towards the town. Six abreast, Conn and the other prisoners rode in the centre of the line, and they rode that way, all the way back. It took some hours and they arrived as the sun set. At the gate walls, the Aebeling had the gates opened and the line of horses filed into the outer bailey. The walls were old and crumbling and the buildings in a poor state of repair. Conn had commented so as they passed through the town itself.

‘No gold – whatever we have is taken to fight a war they cannot seem to win. All your fault really.’

Inside the bailey, the Aebeling waited on his horse as a group of folgere rushed out of the castle.

‘Sigkarl, what is the meaning of this?’

‘Meaning of what exactly?’ The Aebeling had been instructed to annoy.

The folgere was indeed shocked at his response. ‘You should know better than to speak to me like that, Aebeling. Someone will have to pay for your insolence.’ Dismissing the Aebeling, the folgere looked at the group. ‘Where is the Folctoga?’

‘Dead.’

‘And all the wiga from Axum?’

‘Mostly dead, I think. Some will survive their wounds, I guess. Not that I really care.’

‘And yet you survive – and victorious no less. You of all men have defeated and captured these Priecuman … savages.’

‘You flatter me, folgere. And what gave you that idea that I was victorious? Of course, if I am, I know how I’ll be celebrating.’ He then blew the folgere a kiss. ‘Someone for you to look forward to.’

The folgere was strangely embarrassed. ‘Your tone, Aebeling, is verging on treachery.’ He was now getting angry.

‘Not today. Today is your day to suffer – or tonight at least.’

The folgere was clearly now used to such insolence, and Conn saw that he was reaching for his sword. If he was any good with that weapon, the Aebeling would be dead before he could defend. As the sword left the scabbard, Conn kicked the stallion and his sudden surge forward was enough to divert the folgere’s attention with the chest of the stallion shoving the folgere aside; saving the Aebeling. Conn landed on the ground in a smooth dismount as the folgere, his sword still in his hand, struggled to his feet.

‘Folgere, for your information, I am no ordinary Priecuman – I am Conn, Marquis of Kerch. The Aebeling is right; today is your day to suffer.’

He lunged for Conn in outright hatred – Conn had opened his mind to Ashtoreth for the single moment it took to enrage all her disciples. He died as the katana sliced his neck. The dozen other folgere ran down the steps; the sight of their leader dying in front of them making them berserk. Behind them, Derryth and other Twacuman focused on the Axum wiga – they had snuck in with a group of Twacuman servants prior to Conn’s arrival. Any Axum that reached for his weapon had an arrow, non-lethal, warn him off.

In moments, at Conn’s feet lay a dozen dead and dying men, and all the wiga behind the Aebeling had their bows on the assembled crowd. Conn walked back to the Aebeling.

‘You pushed him a little too far.’

‘You did say provoke him.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t realize that he might actually kill you. I thought he was supposed to protect you.’

The Aebeling shook his head, and smiled. ‘No – he has wanted to kill me for years. When he first arrived, and wanted to play one of his special games with me, I forcibly reversed the roles – and his Gyden liked it so much that since then, they have been receiving from me ever since. Nothing they could do about it.’ He smiled sadly as he walked past the bodies of the younger folgere. ‘I will miss some of them.’

Conn then understood why there were so few children. Not only was his preference males, the Aebeling had a ready supply of willing young men, and their Gyden encouraged it.

Sigkarl took in a deep breath. ‘You know; I think that the air is sweeter already. Are you sure you got all the folgere?’

Conn was sure. Ashtoreth was nowhere to be felt and she couldn’t hide from him because she didn’t know he could feel her.

The Aebeling guided them into the great hall and bid them sit at seats as servants rushed out with food and drink. ‘It has been a very long and taxing day – what say we celebrate our victory.’

He ordered his servants to prepare a feast and to invite the regulars. ‘You will find that in my hall are the best musicians and dancers in all of Kishdah.’

~oo0oo~

Indeed, his dancers were excellent – a mixture of males and females, all of whom wore nothing but loincloths and oil. They were also of the three tribes – Ancuman, Twacuman and Priecuman – all theow. Drums predominated, and the dancing became frenzied and very erotically charged. When they had finished, he offered any of the females to Conn, who declined as Larena had been sitting by his side most of the evening and whose hand hardly ever left his leg. He wasn’t going to need a dancer for the evening, as attractive as some of them were.

As soon as the Aebeling had departed, she declared that she needed to meet with Conn urgently, and escorted him to her room. When he left her room some time later, he found Elfrea waiting for him. She had arrived on the ships with Sir Njil.

‘Thank you, Elfrea – I didn’t know where I was supposed to be sleeping.’

Outside the donjon and in the inner bailey were a number of barracks – previously occupied by Axum wiga. They had all been cleaned out and one room set aside for Conn. Inside he sat on the bench and started taking off his boots.

‘You can come out now. I know you are here.’

‘Aw, you spoil my fun.’ spoke the voice from the shadows in the corner of the room. ‘So, did you enjoy your time with Larena – she seems very enthusiastic.’

Conn laughed. ‘You shouldn’t be spying, Aga.’

‘Who said I was spying? I was learning – and studying – to see if there was something else I needed to know about the fornication habits of the Priecuman.’

‘What have you learnt?’

‘No difference – just kinder.’

‘As long as there is a purpose. So why are you here? Does someone need me?’

‘No. She came over and helped him get undressed, before undressing herself, and lying down on the blankets. ‘I just thought you might like some company. I have learnt that Priecuman are like baby orphan goats in some ways – they get lonely very quickly.’