“Is Cantemir well?” Mara asked, and Codrin nodded. “And you?”
“It could be better, but I am already able to walk. From how the wound looks, it seems that there will be no long-term effects. I will know more in a week or two when I start training again. I must be more careful,” he said, suddenly lost in thought.
“What is worrying you?”
“The new Itinerant Sage came with Drusila, and he seems to be an astute observer. He deduced that I was not linked to the assassin who tried to kill Cantemir, and he found Vlad. Orban’s men interrogated him for a few hours.”
“I saw Vlad,” Mara said tentatively.
“Ah, yes. They don’t know me in Arad as Codrin, and in the past I saved Cantemir’s hide once or twice. He convinced Orban to release Vlad; but I put him in danger.”
“Danger is everywhere.”
***
Poenari fortress was the strangest thing Codrin had ever seen. The main wall was a semicircle, six hundred feet long and seventy feet tall. It was squeezed between two towers which were not built by men; they were natural formations, almost circular, six hundred feet in diameter and three hundred feet tall. On their tops, some defensive structure had been raised, their merlons visible from the valley. From where he stood, the basalt towers resembled a black organ, ready to be played by a giant’s fingers. Seen from above, later, Poenari was even stranger than Codrin had imagined. The two towers were, in fact, the visible parts of a huge natural structure having the shape of a horseshoe. The wall simply enclosed it, creating a four-fifths natural, one-fifth man-made fortress. It was impossible to climb the three-hundred-foot-tall basalt lateral ridges, and while the back of the horseshoe shape was lower, it was still an impressive hundred fifty feet tall, and a small wall was built on top of it. There was a difference in this part of the structure too: while it was made of the same black basalt, the back of the horseshoe did not look like a monolith. It was like a giant hammer had smashed the mountain and left the pieces in place, in an agglomeration of rocks that became cemented together over time.
“What do you think?” Vlaicu asked.
“You were right, it’s not easy to conquer such a fortress, and the wall seems to be in a much better shape than I expected. The merlons and the parapet look undamaged from here. I can’t say yet, if we have enough men to defend it. I must see what’s behind this wall.”
“Let’s do that. I haven’t been inside yet,” Vlaicu agreed.
They followed the road and, after a steep curve, two things came into sight: a young girl walking alone, and the gate of Poenari. Codrin’s eyes moved from one thing to another, and even though it was strange to see a lone girl in that wilderness, the gate attracted his attention more. It was not built in the middle of the wall, but on the right-hand side, at the border between the wall and the natural tower, and it was placed forty feet from the base of the wall. There was a road, dug into the stone, curving around the tower.
With a drawbridge in place, no one can break through that gate, Codrin thought, and pushed his horse faster to reach the girl, who was scared now and trying to climb away from the road. “You have nothing to fear.” He dismounted in front of her; she was already perched on a tall rock, menaced him with a dagger, her blue eyes intent on him. “We are going to Poenari. If you want, I can take you on my horse.”
Her eyes moved from him to his horse, and she bit her lip, saying nothing, her fingers gripping tighter on the dagger.
“His name is Zor,” Codrin pointed to his horse. “He likes little girls.”
“I am fourteen,” she snapped, shaking her head, her long blonde hair flying around it.
“I apologize, if I offended you. Zor likes young people. Come,” he extended his arm toward her. “There are many soldiers behind me. It would have been easy to capture you, if I wanted to do that.”
Reluctantly, she took his hand and jumped down from the rock. Codrin extended his arm again and grabbed her basket.
“Mountain berries,” he took a few to taste. “They are nicely ripe. I am Codrin.”
“Amelie,” the girl said. “They are for my grandfather and my sister. She wants to make a pie.”
“Now, let’s meet Zor.” He gave the basket back to her. “But we must hide the berries from him.”
Amelie smiled for the first time, and without waiting for Codrin, she walked over to Zor. When she got to him, her left hand was filled with berries, and the horse found them quickly, then let her play with his mane.”
“Zor, you are a traitor,” Codrin laughed. “Ready?” He looked at the girl, and when she nodded, gripping the basket, he lifted her into the saddle, and mounted behind her. “Do you live in Poenari or in a village nearby?”
“The villages are far away,” Amelie said. “The closest one is six miles from here. We don’t have many visitors in Poe,” she said after a pause. “That’s what we call Poenari. It’s a bit long, the full name.”
“I am planning to stay for a while,” Codrin said cautiously. “How many people live there?”
“More than one hundred. Do you have enough food?” She turned swiftly and glanced back at the long row of soldiers following them.
“We have some food with us, and carts will bring more in two or three days; and more people. Are there places from we can buy food?”
“The villages, but they don’t have much. Except Chevres, which is larger, but it’s fifteen miles from here, and even there you will not find food for... How many people you are you bringing?”
“More than two hundred.”
“Why are you coming with so many people?”
“I don’t like to walk alone,” he laughed. “I am also carrying a little secret, but I will tell it to you later.”
They were now three hundred paces from the gate, and Codrin saw that there was no gate, only the old frame and the mouth of a long tunnel passing between the wall and the mountain.
“Sava, take five men and announce our arrival,” Codrin ordered.
Sava was the first to enter Poenari through the decayed gate, which could not be closed. Despite decades of neglect, the old fortress was still impressive, and he took his time to look at the thick walls. Even in its broken state, the gate could at least be used to block a part of the tunnel, but it seemed that nobody had thought of it, and there was no sentry to guard it; but there were signs of habitation and, even with his great experience in handling people, he felt uneasy negotiating free passage for Codrin, who did not want to enter by force. There was something strange in the fortress, a feeling that haunted him. The tunnel went on for longer than he thought, and it looked as strange as the rest of Poenari. It was twenty feet around, with a paved floor, and while the wall was smooth and seemed to be carved out of stone, the floor was made of laid stones and mortar. It appeared to be a circular tunnel filled with stones to make passage easier.
“Hello!” Sava shouted when he had left the tunnel, and the only answer was the echo of his horse’s metal shoes on the stones. The sound reverberated off the walls. He urged his horse forward, and entered the first precinct. The view surprised him; from outside, there were no signs of a second, inner wall. And from here the main, outer wall looked even stranger. Inside, it rose at an angle, making it trapezoidal in section. He rode left and right for a few hundred paces, to see only empty walls and houses and then went further, to the second gate. While smaller, this was in a better shape, but it was open too, and through it, he saw people for the first time: a few soldiers – older than him, some the age of his father, if he were still alive – two women, both in their mid-thirties, and a child around ten years old. Showing no fear, their eyes followed him until he dismounted. Two of his soldiers were still with him, while the third went back to tell Codrin and his army that they could enter, as there was no danger.
“Good evening,” Sava nodded to them. “You have nothing to fear. Seigneur Codrin will enter the castle soon,” he said, with a broad, friendly smile on his lips.
His words seeme
d to have an effect like lightning. All those eyes which had been scrutinizing him became filled with wonder. The women covered their gaping mouths; the soldiers formed a single rank, though only one of them was armed, with a dagger. The youngest soldier ran toward a large house close to the gate.
“We come in peace,” Sava said, but the people seemed to agitated to even answer him. What is wrong? He rubbed his chin. “Go back and tell Codrin that while there is no danger, the people here are a bit ... strange,” he whispered to his closest soldier. “Maybe he should come with only twenty men.”
Chapter 19 – Codrin
Out of the tunnel, Codrin, as Sava had done, looked at the strange wall. Why this trapezoidal section, He estimated that the wall was thirty feet wide at its top and a hundred-twenty feet at its base. Codrin had enough experience in fortifications to understand that everything was a waste of materials and money. After a while, he gave up, thinking that he might learn more from the soldiers inside.
Passing through the second gate, Codrin arrived in the main plaza at the same time as a man in his late sixties came out from his house, followed by the young soldier who had gone to warn him. Codrin dismounted and helped Amelie do the same. The old man seemed to be in command, and Codrin walked in front of him. They stared at each other for a while, and Codrin saw the cataracts in his old eyes. They were not solid enough to make him blind, but his vision was impaired, and he felt the need to set his hand over his eyes, even though his eyebrows sprouted profusely from a central point, sporting long grey hairs like willow branches – the light was still strong.
“Good evening,” Codrin said, “I am Codrin, the new Seigneur of Poenari. Please don’t fear me or my men; no one will hurt you.”
“Poenari doesn’t fear its true Seigneur,” the man said, a strange tone of fondness in his voice, and he tried to kneel.
Codrin reacted swiftly and caught him by the arm. “There is no need to kneel,” he said gently.
“My vision was right, Seigneur Codrin. I had it six years ago when I doubted that you were still alive. That vision told me that you would return home, and I have waited for you ever since. Please forgive old Bernart for the state of the castle, but the past forty-one years have been hard for us. I am sure that you will rebuild everything. You were only twenty years old when you left. You are a grown man now.” Tears ran down the old man’s face and, totally confused, Codrin did not know what to do.
“Let’s go inside and talk there, Bernart,” Codrin finally said and took the man by his arm. “Vlad will help you. Don’t say anything to him yet,” he whispered to Vlad, then waited until both men had entered the large house. He glanced around and spoke to some of the people gathered in groups. They did not seem worried. There were now almost a hundred of them, many over forty years old, yet there were some children too, and Codrin saw a twenty-year-old woman staring intently at him. Some people were gathered around her, a sign that she was someone that counted in the remnants of what was once a marvelous fortress.
“That was quite a surprise.” Amelie frowned at him.
“I am sorry if my surprise has upset you,” Codrin said.
“I can’t say that, but I don’t really know what to say.”
“Maybe you should go inside with the berries, and we can talk later.”
Reluctantly, the girl walked away to the large house, and from the door, she glanced once more at him. He did not take my berries, so I think that I can trust him, she thought. And his name... But he is not who Grandfather thinks he is. This Codrin is too young to be the old Seigneur, but he looks like someone who wants to stay longer. We need more soldiers to protect us.
“I am Codrin, the new Seigneur of Poenari, though I am not the one you expected to return,” he said, loudly enough to be heard by all. “You have nothing to fear; all of you can remain in Poenari, if that is your will.”
“How can we be sure of that?” the young woman asked.
“May I have your name?” Codrin smiled at her.
“Siena,” she said, bluntly. “Bernart is my grandfather.”
“There is plenty of space here.” Codrin gestured toward the many houses on the right, which appeared to be empty. “I have only two hundred people with me. Any city has more value when it is full of life.”
“And what will my people do if they remain?”
“What they have done until now. The soldiers will join my soldiers. The servants in the castle will still work there. Let’s go inside and speak with Bernart too.”
“Let’s speak here, for all of us.”
“Siena,” Codrin said gently. “I did not ask you if you wanted to come. I told you to come with me inside.” She was between him and Bernart’s house, and he walked toward her. “Please come,” he added, seeing that she was nervous and biting her lip. He stopped in front of Siena, and touched her shoulder. She started, but turned and walked inside with him. “Vlaicu, bring everybody else into Poenari,” he shouted from the door.
“Bernart seems to be very attached to the former Seigneur,” Codrin said tentatively, after closing the door behind him. “Let’s stay here for a while and talk a little before we meet him.”
“From what Grandfather remembers, the Seigneur was a kind man,” Siena said coldly.
“Why do you see an enemy in me? I just want you to help me to talk Bernart without hurting him.”
“I don’t see an enemy in you, but why would you care about an old man who is still devoted to the rightful Seigneur of Poenari?”
“I am the rightful ruler of Poenari now, but a man who was loyal for forty-one years to a missing Seigneur deserves respect. So, will you help me?”
Siena stared at him and bit her lip again. “I don’t know what to do,” she finally whispered. “He doesn’t see well and your ... name. Six years ago, he had a vision that the Seigneur would return and that kept him alive.”
“Strange,” Codrin mused. “You will learn all this any way. I am from Arenia, and six years ago, I lost everything, after my parents were killed. My road to Frankis started that year. I don’t want to say that it was me in Bernart’s vision, but I find it a strange coincidence.”
Arenia? The name struck her, but she kept her calm. “Do you want to play that card? What do you really want from us? Why do you think that you are the legitimate ruler of Poenari?”
“Because I am. There is a different political environment around you. Things have changed in the last forty years while you were cut off from the world.”
“A few weeks ago, you were the Grand Seigneur of Leyona.”
“Well,” Codrin smiled coyly, “it seems that you were not so cut off from the world. Given the ... political environment, Leyona was more than I could hold onto. An agreement was made, and I received Poenari.”
“You gave away a large city and received a ruin in return.”
“A marvelous ruin. For someone like me who has few resources, Poenari is the right place. It can be easily defended. I don’t know if I will be able to rebuild Poenari to its past splendor, but some rebuilding will be done.”
“There are only one hundred seventy-five galbeni in the Visterie,” Siena sighed; for a moment, Codrin’s vision of rebuilding Poenari had subdued her. She had grown up with stories about a wonderful past, with ladies and Knights swarming the city; with balls that filled the large hall of the palace. She had seen nothing of them, and the city was almost a ruin from the day she could understand what a city was, but many nights she dreamt of dancing at a ball with men of quality, dressed in marvelous clothes. Even though he was no longer a rich man, her grandfather was still a Knight, with many lands; just that there were no people to work those lands. Poenari was now an isolated place.
“There is more money in my Visterie.”
“Do you have a Vistier too?”
Codrin looked at her and rubbed his chin for a while. “I have people to fill the most important positions, but I don’t have that many. If I have understood it right, you are the Vistier and maybe the Se
cretary of Poenari too. You may help me in both these tasks, if you want to, and if you convince me of your worth, I will give you a position in the Visterie: the second Vistier.”
It was her turn to stare at him, her thoughts swirling, and in that moment, a silent current of understanding passed between them, and some trust too. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Let things go naturally. Grandfather is an intelligent and experienced man; he will figure out who you really are, eventually.”
“I won’t go into too much detail at first, but I can’t tell him that I am the man who I am not.”
“I understand that,” she nodded. “Follow me, or some people will worry that you are not being ... kind to me.” Codrin tried to react; opened his mouth and closed it, thinking that beginnings are always strange and difficult. Already walking away, she could not see his irritation.
When they entered a large room that seemed to be an office, Codrin could see that Vlad was cornered, not knowing how to handle the old man, who was living in a past that was long gone. Bernart was asking question after question about ‘his’ Seigneur, and Vlad’s only refuge was to say that he was too young to know things that had happened long before he was born, but he told a few stories about the wars Codrin had fought in the past months.
“But why did he not come home until today?” the old man asked, for the tenth time.
“I have spent many years in Arenia,” Codrin said, and seated himself in the farthest chair from the old man. “Please stay seated,” he said when Bernart tried to stand up.
“Arenia? Like in my dream. Were you a prisoner?” The old man stared at him with his almost blind eyes.
Codrin started and blinked a few times, then glanced briefly at Siena, who ignored him. “In a manner of speaking. It was an unstable period there, like it is here now.”
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