The Bretwalda (The Casere Book 4) (42 page)

As they waited he would walk through the street of Gatinak with Devnet; both definitely knew that they wouldn’t be seeing each other again. Conn feared that Devnet was unlikely to survive the winter as he seemed prone to catching pneumonia. Conn suggested that he move to Aeaea for his health.

‘I understand that it is warm there all the time’, Devnet asked, ‘perhaps I will visit – might be good for my weary bones.’

‘Lots of hot springs as well,’ Conn suggested; ‘it will definitely help your aches and pains.’

‘Let me know when you get there, and I’ll abdicate. My son is eager already to see the end of me.’

They both knew that he would never abdicate, but it was a nice idea.

~oo0oo~

Egward il Sytha had soon realized that he was on a losing bet with Tulia and was about to leave home empty handed when two more of Conn daughters showed up. Bermia, the future Eaorl of Susa, and Gweneth, the future Baron of Barek, had come to visit their father. Encouraged, he chanced his arm a little longer, with better results. The girls could have taken bedda a few years earlier but had delayed. They found just what they wanted with a couple of war heroes – Bewdar il Enak has served with distinction in the Red Jackets, but Captain, soon to be Major, Egward il Syra had even more medals, including a Bronze Star, a Silver Medal, and a Gold Cross from his time in the Green Jackets. He now had a Baroness to add to his collection.

The only one disappointed was Oslinda. Being only fifteen, she was not in the market yet but had her eyes on a prize. She came to see him in his room. ‘Papa, I want you to order Kadwahl not to take bedda.’

‘I can’t do that. He has been at war for two years – he probably wants to settle down.’

‘He’s the second son – what is he going to settle down to?’

‘I don’t know – he can take up one of my retirement packages and become a Laird.’

Conn retired a lot of his wiga after every campaign – the reward for putting your life on the line. With the Earldoms devastated by the Ancuman, and Conn having the resources, he was able to provide Laird fiefs for all the officers and ships or stores for those that wanted a change of industry. He also helped them all find bedda, and provided finance as needed.

‘Can you imagine him as a farmer? He’s far too cute.’

Conn couldn’t, but not for that reason. ‘I could offer him a commission in the Brown Jackets?’

‘Won’t that mean going away with you?’

‘It will – but just until next winter.’

‘And you won’t get him killed?’

‘No promises, sweetheart, but I’ll try not to.’

‘All right then. Just a shame you don’t have a better colour Jacket – I don’t think he suits brown.’

They watched her leave the room. Halla was back with him, and sat beside him on the bench. She had very little on and it was all pressed against him. ‘Haven’t you already offered him a commission?’

‘I have – he’s considering it. I want him in charge of the Ancuman squad made up of wiga from the Southern Isles.’

‘About your jacket,’ as she started to undo it. ‘I like you in brown, but I prefer you in nothing.’

~oo0oo~

Tulia was going to travel home with Conn but surprised him by asking to stay behind to spend a little more time with her sister. She also had other reasons.

‘We have so many Trokians still here; I think it best that someone stay to keep a watch over their best interest.’ she argued. ‘Mother doesn’t need me just yet…’

Conn agreed that she could stay until spring; he doubted that Aisly would survive another two winters; and she didn’t. He also knew that Tulia would spend most of her time in Mazra with Wulfgar. When she became Wealdend two years later, she took Wulfgar as bedda and soon found that she enjoyed her time more in Mazra than Trokiak, and abdicated her position to her younger sister Alhilda – just after she became bedda to the Aebeling of Kania – allowing a reunification of the two domains. Her parents would have been proud.

As Sir Njil eased the ship out of the harbour days later and headed to open sea and Kadash, Conn contemplated his current situation. His bedda had declined by one – Aga had gone to Halani with Derryth – but she still had Halla and Vila. Of his children, only two remained with him – Disetha and Tihild. Vila’s daughter Fareitha also travelled with her mother. The Ancuman were great friends. He did have an extra one – Kadwahl of Katane had accepted the Colonel’s commission, and it seemed that Oslinda did have a chat with him first, and he promised to survive. Conn also had a boat full of Kerchians and Ancuman.

Halla slid up beside him, as the wind bit into the sails and the schooner launched forward.

‘A ryals for your thoughts. You seem melancholy.’

‘Not really – it feels that we are travel this way for the last time. That this is the beginning of the end.’

She involuntarily shivered. Conn wasn’t sure if it was the cold wind or not, but she drew in her jacket as the breeze picked up behind them. ‘So where will it end?’

‘Where it all began, in Kishdah.’

Chapter 20
Eight Eight-Seven

Conn arrived in Aeaea seventeen days into the new year, and he arrived to find the port bustling. Derryth was waiting for him as he arrived.

‘What took you so long?’ was his welcome, as well as a warm embrace.

‘The usual. Is everyone here?’

‘Yes, the replacement Kerchians have arrived – as well as the five companies of Merians. I’m scared of them already.’

His Merians were a special company of wiga that he had been training for some years. He thought he might need them in Axum – against the Axum infantry. They were trained to fight on foot with long swords. He had named them his Galloglass Regiment of Foot, for want of a better title. With all the experience at losing that the Axum had in their battles with him, he expected that they would have learnt how to deal with his cavalry. His galloglass was his counter move.

‘Let’s hope the Axum are as well.’

Waiting also on the dock for him was Jowan and his three children. The twins were in excellent health, despite their sad arrival. Caewyn was not there when he arrived, but she arrived the next day. She didn’t say where she had been, and Conn didn’t ask.

She did have a question however. ‘What do you know about Krocla?’

‘Krocla? Nothing what is it?’

‘I don’t know either but it is important.’

Several days later they departed for Sala and after Sala they would be heading to the norther port of Marad-jo. He was timed to arrive soon after a series of sequential invasions. The first was the capture of Volci-jo by Vigbert. They had developed a plan to take over the port – with inside assistance – and then to head east rapidly. The next target was Clusium-jo; and they would arrive just as Saba arrived by sea in a two pronged attack. Days later, they would secure Nora-jo for the safe arrival of the Alwa. Then they would dig in and wait. North the same thing would happen; the Makurai would arrive north of Mende to capture Siri-jo, while Farrun would “invade” Mende-jo, and then travel south to help the Himyar take Kura-jo. He would then dig in around the port of Perusa-jo. All these demesnes were Geirfrith loyalist. They didn’t expect too much difficult in taking the towns. Outside the ports, the Farstein would be waiting.

He would just have enough time to order all his wiga from the north to Axum when he would learn that Conn had arrived and taken Marad-jo. It would be a bad few days for him. No-one could fight a war on three fronts even with fifty thousand men – which he didn’t have. The “Bretwalda” was down to twenty thousand at most.

When Conn arrived in Sala, he had confirmation on the dates and numbers of the invasion. He even had confirmation that Vigbert had taken Volci and was on his way to Clusium. Conn departed the next day for Marad. His invasion was timed for a new moon; his Twacuman gave him such an advantage it is impossible not to use them, and the fishing villages that had been highlighted from the knowledge of the Twacuman who had been bought and sold thorough out the island, proved indispensable as well. The Twacuman had been memorizing details for three hundred years, just for when it was needed.

The fishing villages that they invaded had no answer for the vast ships that filled up their harbours; they had little in the way of wiga anyway; and the workers they had were all Twacuman theow. Conn’s landing parties were all Twacuman, and the word was quickly spread that the Marquis had returned. The ports secured, Conn had his ships unloaded, and the fyrd headed out to secure the surrounding area.

They swept through the first set of barracks they encountered like a storm; sweeping everything before them. A valiant defence by some resulted in over a hundred dead before the rest realized the futility and surrendered. That was Conn’s major concern – having too many prisoners, but that was what the Southern Isle wiga were for, crowd control.

Farming in the Ancuman nations was estate based – huge large estates owned by Jarls, Thanes, or Folctoga; and who didn’t actually live on the estates – they were run by servants. The landed gentry all lived in town to practice politics or war. It was where the barracks were as well; each large town had very large areas set aside for wiga.

As he was once told, the Axum like to do little else except fight and fornicate.

For the first time, Conn had a lot of wiga who marched on foot and it changed the nature of his progress. They headed east to Marad, where Conn was assured had a significant fyrd base with several thousand men. After ten days they were before the walls that contained the main parts of the town. The town had surrounded itself with wiga; a line stood out of the town and faced them. There didn’t seem to be that many but too many to take lightly. He was tempted to send in the Merians but thought better of it.

Outside of bow range, Conn sent for one of his prisoners, a Folctoga.

‘How am I supposed to arrange that?’ he asked incredulously, after Conn asked him to go to the castle and ask for their surrender. ‘The folgere will never surrender – they will demand that we all sacrifice their lives to protect them.’

‘You don’t have to worry about the folgere – I have that in hand. I want you to carry on as if they were not there.’

He laughed a strained laugh. ‘You are crazy – that is not possible.’

‘Consider two things; most of your wiga have been sent south to defend the Healdend. You can see that by looking at the defensive lines. You were in Gatina, you know my artillery is better than yours and I’ll start levelling the gates soon. If I have to take the city by force, I will let the Merians have the town for a day – unsupervised – to choose six theow each.’ That alone should have him worried. The Merians were as fitting the image of a marauding barbarian as was possible. They love to fight, as Conn knew, and the victor always got the girls. Already, they had purchased theow and were fighting over them.

Shaking his head, the Folctoga walked away. They watched him go carefully down to the town.

Conn returned to Derryth, ‘Are we ready?’

He stripped out of his armour and put on his black outfit and at midnight, he followed the Twacuman down into the city. It was slow work getting past the lines of wiga and then through the street and then to a part of a wall where a long rope was conveniently placed. Conn and Derryth shimmied up the rope and into the castle. There was Twacuman there to meet him. He said his name was Keldar. He guided Conn through the town house until he found the rooms of the Folgere. Conn could have found it himself; the voice was in his head and it was strong. There must be proper cirice in Axum.

He looked at Derryth. ‘This is going to be harder than I thought. I’m going to need cover.’ He looked to Keldar. ‘How many Folgere?’

‘Six – they are all inside. They have a prisoner – a young girl – she is one of the Geirfrith.’

‘Okay. Now I’m annoyed.’ He went to the door and banged on it with his kunai. Voices yelled from inside.

‘Go away.’ Conn could just hear the beginnings of a scream from the girl. He banged again and kept banging until the door was opened. The folgere who opened the door was mid-sentence. ‘You will suffer for this disru….’ He then looked at the wakizashi that had just entered his stomach and saw Conn rip it upwards.

‘You have just committed sempuku. Happy to be your second.’

With the recognition of Conn by the haligdom, the other folgere raced to their swords. One rang a bell, presumably for guards but they ran into Derryth arrows. Fighting inside a cirice was harder than he had expected. Ashtoreth was much stronger here than he had ever imagined, so it took longer before the deed was done. He used his sword to cut the ropes that held the naked girl to the table. She had several fine cuts marks down her stomach and chest as if the Folgere were going to peel her skin off. He grabbed a cloak and pushed her to the door. Outside Derryth had a squad of wiga pinned down and they raced in the opposite direction.

Keldar stopped them. ‘They are covering the walls. We need another way out. Follow me.’

Every castle has doors; they are needed to function and there was a gate house at the back of the castle. Conn knocked on the door of the guard room and a guard came out. He stopped as he saw the wakizashi on his neck.

‘Open the door for me or I’ll do it myself.’ He looked at the three of them. Keldar was long gone.

‘What door?’

‘The one at the end of the passage – and quickly.’

He turned back inside and walked into the room. The second guard was surprised but then stopped when he saw Derryth’s bow. Together they removed the protective bars over the doors and it finally squeaked open. Sending them outside the room, Conn led the girl and Derryth back into the dark street of the town.

‘Feorhhyrde!’ A voice called out and they followed it. A Twacuman was waiting and he led them back to their camp. Safely there, Derryth went searching for coffee.

‘Let’s not do that again. I’m getting too old. Too much excitement for any one day.’

Disetha was waiting in the tent for him; he had insisted on coming to Axum with him while Vila and Tihild waited in Sala. When she saw the girl, she was started. ‘Papa, what happened?’ Conn explained and she took her away for medical help.

Derryth handed Conn a coffee. ‘What is with the girl. They were going to torture her. The Gyden normally get their fulfilment through fornication.’

‘I don’t know but it is something different about her.’

~oo0oo~

Later that morning, the Folctoga returned with several officials from the castle and they symbolically handed their swords, or keys, to Conn as they arrived.

‘We have agreed to surrender, Marquis. It was proving a hard task until the folgere all suddenly died. I do not know how you did it, but you did.’

Conn looked to the men in front of him. ‘There is always a way if you look hard enough. You understand my offer? You stand aside and if I find that you are coming to attack me from behind, I will eradicate the lot of you and take every single female under the age of thirty as a theow and sell them in Meria. They love theow in Meria as you have probably heard. If any of you still wish to define yourself in glory on the battlefield; I am happy to let you go ahead – go join your Jarl and the Healdend. There will simply be more meat for my sword to cleave its way through – and more estates to hand out to the victors.’

The looked at each other. ‘We, umm, see little to gain by dying. We have heard that the Eagle’s Claw is flying again – as per the prophecy.’

‘It is.’

‘We have no desire to fight against our kin – even if we are Farstein. Perhaps the new Healdend will remember that?’

‘He will. I’ll ensue he does. I will send you all the prisoners I have – send me all the wiga from the Southern Isles that you still have in your barracks.’

Soon after the men had left, and other delegation arrived. Keldar had arrived to speak to Derryth and other clan representatives. Conn thanked him for his assistance.

‘You are the Feorhhyrde – and the heir of the Marquis of Kerch. That is why we are here – to serve. We knew that you were on your way.’

The Twacuman seemed to have a very effective communication network. ‘Which clan are you?’ Conn asked.

‘We are of the fifth son.’

He looked at Derryth. ‘So you are the same as Derryth. He didn’t mention that.

Keldar looked at Derryth with curiosity. ‘I am honoured to meet my kin from so far away. Are there others of your kin who are Wothbora?’

‘My father is Wothbora. I chose another path. My brother is Wothbora after him.’

He stood silent for a minute processing the information. ‘But you have finished your training?’

‘I have.’

The man looked at the people with him and they all nodded. He looked back at Derryth. ‘If that is the case, I have something for you.’ With his right hand he removed a ring from his left hand – from the little finger. ‘I have been a custodian of this for you. I have no son. I am the last of the fifth. Everyone else here is from different clans. My grandfather told me that the one who should lead, but does not lead, will come to collect it.’ He handed it to Derryth. ‘You know this is true because I can remove the ring.’

Derryth looked at it strangely, twisting it in his fingers. ‘I have heard of these – but I am not worthy.’

‘You have fought and protected the Feorhhyrde. Who is more worthy?’

Conn was curious. ‘What is it?’

‘It is one of the Beongard.’

‘And what is that?’ The term was unfamiliar to Conn.

Derryth sighed. ‘It is one of nine rings given by the Gyden to her eight sons – she gave two rings to one son – the third son – to show that he was the leader of the eight.’

Keldar nodded. ‘But in truth he had that ring as custodian for the arrival of the ninth clan. The chief of that clan gave the extra ring to Ewan, son of the Marquis of Kerch.’

‘And if you have the ring that means…’

‘I am the chief of the fifth clan.’ Derryth took a deep breath and put the ring on his pinkie. It made a distinctive clicking sound as he removed his right hand. Derryth looked at it, and then the men and women who now knelt before him. He walked behind them and placed his left hand on their left shoulder. They placed their right hand on top of his, and they spoke simultaneously – a Twacuman word that encompassed words like ‘duty’, ‘obligation’, and ‘respect’, all in one word. It tied them together in an eternal bond.