The Usurper

by James Alderdice

  “Your man is an incredibly fine archer. I’ve never seen such a shot and in this wind!” proclaimed Baron Undset.

  “I didn’t know if he could do it, but it was worth a try,” said Gathelaus.

  Roose rode up beside Gathelaus, “My thanks. If we could not have crossed this, I don’t know what we should do.”

  “Its what you’re paying me for,” answered Gathelaus.

  “Still,” remarked Roose. “I am at a loss. I had not expected this kind of obstacle. On the open field of battle, I can anticipate the cavalry charge and ballista, even the groundswell of enraptured troops but when trusted men will stab you in the back and a sorcerous spy…” He trailed off. “Please forgive me. This was an embarrassing turn.”

  Gathelaus shook his head, “On the contrary. This was a good thing. Its better that we know he knows, as well as some of what the opposition is. Always better that we have a name like this Tormund Ghast. We’ll deal with him.”

  Fourteen years earlier…

  The Deed Beyond The Deed

  On the far borders of Vjorn near the edge of the Ice Sea, I, adjutant Barrett was called before the company commander Captain Hengist, who was in charge of the recent disputes between the Picts and the border lands. I do hereby relate my own misadventure with one of the scouts, Gathelaus Thorgrimson.

  It began as I was called to the office of the captain…

  “Barrett!” barked Captain Hengist.

  “Here sir,” I said with a salute.

  “What is that chaotic sound out there?”

  “It’s Gathelaus, sir.”

  “What’s he doing?”

  “There was a disagreement with the Picts, sir.”

  “He is not killing them, is he?”

  “No sir, there are no weapons involved it’s a fistfight, sir.”

  Captain Hengist, puffed on his pipe and stood from his desk. “How many is he facing?”

  I shrugged. “All of them?”

  “What is going on out there?”

  “It seems that the Picts, who camp alongside the ‘Big Ditch’ – a canal that flows through St. Gorthon to irrigate the fields therein, had a dispute over a woman. Supposedly one man decided to claim the wife of another man and the two began to fight over her and gradually a large number of the restless Pictish braves took sides.

  “They did have the civility to lay aside their weapons and duel using only their bodies until one alone could claim victory and thus gain the woman. But of other such barbarities in the fight they had many, especially in the way they treated the squaw during the conflict.

  “She, unfortunately had no say in the matter, but such is the way of the savage. The two sides did beat each other furiously wrestling and boxing one another after a fashion and it did sway each way in an undefinable manner as far as I could perceive.

  “When they weren’t beating each other over the head, they would then grab the woman by the arms and pull her each way in a veritable tug of war virtually killing the poor creature.

  “Now some of the troopers did try to intervene and thus save the woman but they were largely beat back by the strong-willed Picts whose blood was up in the heat of the moment. And of course, Gathelaus’s intervention was especially misconstrued as he has all the subtlety of a pair of brass knuckles.

  “He approached them when they were pulling hard on the young squaw and he admonished them to let her go and settle the dispute without harming her. They however took it to mean that he was saying he wished to join in the fight and he, being a white man, was the instant focus of their wild aggressions.

  “Gathelaus suddenly had some twenty braves assaulting him and while for a moment one might have thought that the young swordsman would be overwhelmed, Gathelaus who has always been a hard man to handle, proved himself to be the meanest, toughest man I have ever seen.

  “I should add that at this point in the evening, Gathelaus had already had a fair amount of drink in him and could not nearly have been at his full wits and capabilities.

  “At one point the braves had all taken hold of Gathelaus by his arms and legs, picking up fully off of the ground and having him stretched out like a feast-day goose, but he ferociously kicked his legs until they were forced to drop him and he struck them with his fists until all tumbled down and then all at once he was punching them into submission. He whipped the lot of them, and they did concede and allow him full access to the squaw. She herself was more than resigned to such a grim fate as that.

  “The braves having fully accepted that he was the victor, now cheered that the conflict was resolved. Gathelaus then did try and turn her over to that man whom he believed had the legitimate claim to her , but she did refuse such saying that he [Gathelaus] was the man who had fairly won her hand and that she did belong with him now.

  “This put Gathelaus in more of a fix that he had anticipated even facing off against twenty men. He told her a white lie that he was already married and she only brought up the Pictish custom of plural wives for the more valiant warrior. Gathelaus said that he did not wish to take her from her people and upset her family and that she should stay with her first husband.

  “To this she reluctantly agreed, though she said she was still truly his squaw and would only stay with her first husband on Gathelaus’s permission and that when he should desire her, she should come to him by and by.

  “She did also give him a small beaded medicine pouch she said, For the deed beyond the deed that he had done for her. She made and placed sacred items inside. She said it was enchanted and would protect him from the great evil and ghosts he would soon encounter in this country. Gathelaus reluctantly put it around his neck, wearing it much to his apparent chagrin. But I must add that he did never take it off so long as we remained in the territory.

  “And so ended our first night in St. Gorthon, which I must say ended up being the lightest conflict of the visit there.

  “Now when you Captain Hengist had asked mayor Leithead to have a flat boat large enough for a wagon and team, prepared for the sake of going down river to do some exploring of the region. This was accomplished shortly before we arrived but upon inspection, but you seemed to have changed his mind and declined to float the river. This was obviously disheartening for those who had worked so hard on the project as timber was hard to come by here. But he did encourage the troops there to remain and work hard in the region even if they should remain there forever.

  “That last particular remark is on account of the restructuring of the territory boundaries and that as of now the royal government had moved the markers now making St. Gorthon within the protectorate boundaries of Vjorn, and as such the inhabitants were now a full three years behind the exceedingly high state tax commissions. This did constitute quite a financial burden upon the folk as making a living in that arid land was already difficult enough.

  “These incredible hardships of living in this desolate land did make quite a few of the settlers wonder on their place in the kingdom and I can’t say that I blame them.

  “I did have a long talk with the task master Bonelli on my own tribulations within the kingdom and with my recent reconnection after having been disfellowshipped on account of my adherence to the counsel of Godbe. I cannot as yet say that I was wrong, but at this time neither will I say I was right. The fate of the Godbeite reformation remains to be seen.

  “The flat boat did however see its use. The matter began on the next morning, when one of the Picts came to our camp and did call specifically for the help of captain Hengist and Gathelaus.

  “Apparently the squaw Gathelaus had rescued the night before had been taken by a bitter shaman by the name of Toohoo-emmi who was reputed to be quite evil and always working mischief in the area. He had slain the woman’s husband and made some incredible demands that we all knew by no means would Hengist abide by. This Toohoo-emmi was lord of a place known as Kai’Enepi or ‘Demon Mountain’. The other Picts came to express similar grievances and soon enough the chiefs delivered
their plea to Hengist for help in dealing with the wicked shaman who was so vexing their lands and peoples.

  “At first it seemed that Hengist would not hear their pleas as he had said they should sort this thing out themselves but this only caused confusion and much grumblings. It looked like things were going to get out of control and in an attempt to normalize relations with area bands, we did convene a meeting with Tut-se-gavits, chief of the Raven tribe; To-ish-obe, principal chief of the Wolf tribe; Orado, chief of the Falcon tribe; Farmer, chief of Buffalo tribe; Frankia, chief of the Snake tribe; Rufus owa, chief of the Eagles above the Road tribe; and Gorthon, chief of the Elk tribe. Sixty-four braves from the seven bands accompanied the chiefs to the meeting. And this was one of the few times I saw captain Hengist smoke the peace pipe with the Picts.

  “To the overall request for assistance captain Hengist replied that he would do what he could while also saying that they should still take care of their own problems. To-ish-be replied that while he agreed there should be a separation and such that this was a spiritual matter that was beyond his people’s abilities and that we [meaning the Vjornish kings men, who said we had the Great Spirits blessings in all things] should be obligated to do something about this wicked man who could consort with devils. This made captain Hengist smile in a way he knew he had been caught with words. He agreed to send who he called his right-hand man for just such a situation, Gathelaus. Captain Hengist said he would have Gathelaus go out and solve the matter—if the Picts would also put forward a squad of their own best men for the job and in this they very specifically volunteered a young shaman whom the local troops called Chief Jon as well as five of their stoutest braves. Chief Jon was somewhat reluctant to accept this charge and I did understand that for some reason he was looked down upon, but until later I had no idea as to why.

  “And here is where I was also roped into accompanying this venture as Captain Hengist decided that I should go along and record their doings. It would be fair to wonder if he wasn’t punishing me for the whole of the Godbeite debacle and I did wonder if this wasn’t a surreptitious way of simply being rid of me should some unfortunate accident happen along the way. It is unkind of me to write or even think such things but this wretched land and cold has played with my very reason.

  “It was agreed that we should depart in the morning and that evening as I shared dinner with the Bonelli family I was told of some of the more sinister happenings in the area that were attributed to this Toohoo-emmi. He told me that the goings on in St. Gorthon have been eerie as of late. That it is not meet to go out at night as strange things have been seen in the hills at night and some folk have been known to disappear. He said that the call of wolves has been terrible close and that he and others have taken to melting down silverware for the sake of keeping the pure metal as special knives to keep close at hand. Bonelli did give me one of the precious knives should I need them on this adventure.

  “We did have the good fortune of Chief Jon speaking good Vjornish as he would be our translator if needed along the way. Neither Gathelaus nor I speaking Pict with any great proficiency. We took the afore mentioned flat boat down the river to gain entrance to Toohoo-emmi’s abode. It was said he ruled from an ancient cliff palace that sat atop Kai’Enepi, the Demon Mountain. Our respective leaders bid that we should float downriver until we arriving at the trail leading to his mountain. Take the fight to him and force a resolution of some kind.

  “It was a pleasant enough trip down the river and Chief Jon did tell us a number of things about our antagonist. It seemed that this Toohoo-emmi, whose name meant ‘The Black Hand’, had once been the chief medicine man for the Picts but had recently been deposed since he began dabbling in black magic and being far too removed from the Great Spirit. He had been seen going into trances with his eyes only showing their whites and talking with unseen forces. All of this may very well have been fine except that firstly some animals [horses] had gone missing and then finally people started to go missing and it was assumed that Toohoo-emmi was sacrificing them after the manner of the Old Ones.

  “Chief Jon was the one who had exposed this horrible crime and was then made medicine man for the tribes. This was a dubious honor because he had not been trying to take that position but merely right the wrongs that had been done. He had at first expected to exonerate Toohoo-emmi of the wild rumors and accusations but instead found indisputable evidence to condemn him. This certainly put a strain on things as I understood they had been quite close at some time.

  “Gathelaus was rather indifferent toward all of this, spending a lot of his time using his saddle as a pillow and drinking whiskey, while letting his hand trail lazily in the warm river. He expressed no interest in Chief Jon’s tale and I felt it would be up to me to make peace once we found Toohoo-emmi and had the maiden returned. I hoped that by expressing Captain Hengist’s annoyance at this behavior we could peaceably conclude the matter. I should have recognized Chief Jon’s worry earlier on but I was ignorant of such things then.

  “It is true that sometimes we become blind to our own world outlook and standing, we can become complacent and forget outside views and I have stood in that place far too many times.

  “We had travelled some distance downriver when Chief Jon pointed out we were being followed and I was horrified to find out by whom or what he meant.

  “A trio of great black snakes swam in the river pursuing us. They dipped their heads every now and again and when they did I saw their scaly tails twist in the water a good ten paces behind where their head had been, I estimated these reptiles to be in excess of twenty feet long!

  “I woke Gathelaus and asked him to look and be wary. He casually took a drink of his whiskey and blinking, answered that it was but beavers, and true these heads were near as large as or even larger than a beavers head, but I assure you, they were indeed snakes of enormous size.

  “Chief Jon explained these serpents were servants of the Toohoo-emmi and would protect his domain from the likes of us. I took hold of a paddle as I had no spear and I again urged Gathelaus to take up arms against this impending threat. He laughed and said there were no such snakes so large nor in this part of the cold north. Granted, he did use much more colorful language than I shall repeat here.

  “The other five braves were in a panic, crying out “Nooyooadu!” But they did utilize their bows and arrows to prepare for the coming assault.

  “The serpents made a swift reconnoiter of us aboard the flat boat and did strike almost simultaneously panicking the horses into breaking their tethers and flinging themselves off the flat boat and into the river and very nearly cap-sizing us in the process. I regret that it took such dire action to bring Gathelaus’s attention to our situation.

  “Gathelaus was up in an instant and had his sword flashing like the devil’s own teeth, and I must admit I did wonder about a house divided against itself. It seemed that for now the devil did protect his own as the snakes dodged his strokes and ducked back under the waters no harm done to them but we had lost all of our horses and one of the Pictish braves already.

  “Then the snakes did launch themselves at us once again. I did batter one of them with a paddle dazing it, I suspect for it dropped back down into the murky waters but it certainly was not yet deceased.

  “One brave shot a pair of arrows into a serpent and it remained sluggish though it did not halt its attack. Another brave was knocked off the flat boat but Chief Jon managed to sink his tomahawk into the sluggish one’s head slaying it, though in its convulsion it hit him in the chest and fell back into the river.

  “Gathelaus watched swinging his blades whichever direction he did look and it saved him, as one snake reared from the waters suddenly and was met with both blades full into the mouth. This blasted beast also slid back into the river with a splash of gore across the flat boat. I tried to remain steadfast in the face of such horrific violence and felt it was near beyond me.

  “With but one serpent left, we all kept vigil and
also did rescue the one brave who had been knocked into the waters. We had absolutely lost the horses as they did not rise from the surface and we did suspect the serpents had grabbed their legs and drowned them along with the first brave who was knocked overboard.

  “There was some swirling in the murky brown waters, but nothing came of it but our own fears.

  “When the final serpent did not attack, Chief Jon said he suspected that it had been Toohoo-emmi himself and that without help the wicked shaman would not attack as fierce a foe as we few again by himself, and that Toohoo-emmi had many other resources to fight and wear us down including other black magic’s that did bring much fear into the braves though I am quite sure that it was not his intent to worry them.

  “Chief Jon said we were floating nearer to the abode of Toohoo-emmi and bid us be watchful.

  “We floated to a spot in the river where a small canyon opened giving us but a very narrow view like unto a doorway to another realm. Beyond the cliff walls we saw in the distance some verdant greenery while a small reddish stream flowed into the Virgin River. I expressed some surprise that this stream and canyon were not on the maps that had been supplied me by either the explorer Brimhall or adjutant Anson but then neither did they mark a map with any place known as Kai’Enepi either. As near as I could understand Chief Jon’s explanation, he seemed to be trying to find the Vjornish words to tell us there was a ‘glamour’ over this place and that what was once a sacred place of the Picts was now polluted and held in thrall by this Toohoo-emmi and his wicked band.

  “Gathelaus guided the flat boat into the sandy beach area of the canyon and we did ground the vessel and pull it as far onto shore as we could muster now lacking the horses. We staked and roped it to some boulders though it would be no small feat for someone else to come along and dislodge it, even perhaps a large wake of the river could do the deed, but we were resolved to continue on despite the potential loss. None of us thought leaving a lone man behind to guard the flat boat was a worthwhile venture in this dangerous country.