He didn’t argue for I always paid for my meals and room and he liked having a Captain as a tenant for I could always be counted on to stop a fight. So taking a bottle of wine and two clean glasses, some cheese and bread, I returned to my room and poured my guest a glass. She sipped the wine for women of her class made do with cheap beer but ate the bread and cheese with gusto and when she was done, I looked at her, sipped my own glass and asked, “Why me?”
Embarrassed, she took a breath and started, “We talk, women like me. It’s obvious that you like women yet you never hired any of us and you refused my own offer. You are so strange. You saved my life on the road and then again when I was beaten and never asked for naught in return. I… I wanted you to like me.”
“On the road?”
She started then, fearing, “My Lord, when you saved those Witches from the christians, I was one of them. You didn’t recognize me but we were all grateful for you. And when you began to search for us we decided to find out why. I offered to see what I could learn for I … I liked and respected you and over these days and days, I find myself…. I didn’t plan this. It just happened. I’ve never lied to you.”
“So you are one of the Witches of Arabel. And you are to spy on me for your coven?”
“Yes My Lord. We have to be careful.”
“And your eviction, that beating and your asking me to teach you?”
“All true, My Lord. I was evicted because I quit whoring. I did want to learn to defend myself though my coven thinks I asked for them, not me. Are you going to throw me out?”
“Not tonight. I need to think about this.” I took her blanket from the floor and lay them on my bed. “It’s cold tonight, you may as well be comfortable and warm. BUT, no sex.”
“Yes, My Lord,” she smiled at that.
***
I awoke with her in my arm and she looked rested. She was still aged, looking older than her thirty but that was to be expected though she was attractive when cleaned up and fed. So I woke her and we dressed, not looking at each other then went downstairs to have breakfast. I waved Erik inside for it was cold out and told him, “Pour the lads a beer each. ONE! SMALL! And some bread and cheese as well. I’m going up to clean up a bit.”
“Captain, is there any trouble? You’ve never asked for an escort before.”
“No trouble. I feel the desire for a walk through the city and would like some company.”
***
I watched Lyssandra brush her teeth. She always did that. When I asked her why when so few others cared, she replied, “I like to eat. My friends with bad teeth cannot eat well so when I have to choose between teeth and stomach, I can eat the next day but not with rotten teeth.”
“A good decision. I wish others felt that way. Arab women chew betel which rots their teeth away and forces them to wear veils. Japanese wives paint their teeth black to look rotten so no one will seek to entice them into adultery. And I’ve seen women who drank nightly and fell asleep with their heads and hair in the chamber-pot as their stomach juices ate their teeth away. Ready? Time to go.”
Instead of heading east, I asked, “Where is your apartment?” and when she pointed north, continued, “Lead on.”
Arabel isn’t large. There are 7,000 people packed into a walled city that can comfortably hold a tenth that number. But somehow they manage. True, crime is rampant, murders from overcrowding common but still, I liked the city.
The further north we walked, the poorer the houses and dirtier the streets. Erik nodded to the men who slung their shields over their backs to resist a dagger in the kidney while he himself moved to my left to give me room to draw and cut if need be. Only a fool would attack four armed men, three armoured, but hunger and desperation make many a man a fool.
Soon enough we reached the street where Lyssandra lived and upon asking, she pointed out the landlord’s door. “Sergeant, you and the lads remain here but in sight and act like you want a fight. Lys, with me if you would.”
It didn’t take long for the door to open a crack for a knife pommel makes a lot of noise when pounded against a door. The eyes within saw me, then past to my men, then to Lys and hardened. “Open man for it’s cold here and I would be away,” I demanded. He hesitated and then, “Peasant! Either you open your door or I have my men tear it from the frame and use it to build a fire to warm my hands!”
It near slammed off its leather hinges so afraid was he. He shook in his bare feet as I mentioned, casually, looking over my fingernails, “I understand you were the former landlord of this woman. Further I understand that you evicted her and kept her belongings. Might I ask why?”
Lys started to speak but I raised my hand and she quieted. I knew her side and wanted his for in every situation there are three sides, hers, his and the truth and rarely do they match. “My lord, this… woman owes me three months back rent.” Lys started to snap something but I stopped her again. “I am a poor businessman and must pay my own bills so I kept her things until she could pay me what she owes. If not, I must sell them for what I can get to cover my loss.
When I turned to her she snapped, “Three, you thief. I paid for two of those with my…” I stopped her for I didn’t want to hear what she was about to say. Then turning to the landlord, I removed my purse and opened it saying, “Unlock her door if you would. Lyssandra, take what you want or need or is valuable.” Then I followed them both to the top floor where even rats feared being eaten. The landlord opened her door and stared at my purse as I glanced within. “You lived here? The place isn’t fit for the rats who prefer the hall. Hurry for I now need a bath.”
She managed to pack everything of value into a single bundle, the furniture wasn’t worth taking or even burning and then I asked, “How much to settle?”
“My lord, I have expenses and…..” he saw Erik and the lads in the hall and finished quickly, “Three silver drachma will do nicely.”
“How easily you lie when facing your head on a pike. Since you said three, that means one and a half. Since she takes little, you may keep the furnishing to cover your loss. One! And I suggest you be happy.” I was tapping my hilt with the drachma which caused him to gulp and then, “One will be enough, My Lord.” I dropped it into his hand then said, “Time to go. We must train hard today to wash the cold from our bones.”
On the way to the field I asked, “You can keep your belongings in my office until you find a job and a place to live. Until then, same deal as always. You train, clean and can stay with me.”
“Yes my Lord,” was all she said but in a way that didn’t show unhappiness.
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ROMANIAN PLANS
Some months later, Lys was still in my room and the bed we shared often creaked to our passion. I found myself enjoying her company and conversation and never asked her to leave. Then I was called to see Viktor again.
“What did you do this time?” Felix asked.
“Naught that I know. Things here are too quiet. Maybe he is reducing our numbers and we must find another employer or turn bandit.”
“Then, my friend, I shall leave you for he seeks you, not me and I find my life to be easier when the nobles and I avoid each other.”
“I find the same my friend,” I called to his back, “but things rarely seem to work that way.”
Olaf was there and was observing a map on a table with the priest who still hated me, though we had not seen each other since I threatened his life. As always, and as expected, I bowed, doffed my hat though being Noble myself I didn’t have to bow as deep as the others and called, “My Lord Prince Viktor! You call and I am here! How may I serve you?”
“Come Lord Obrien, observe this map if you will. I understand you can read and write many languages?”
“That I can, My Lord. My own Gaelic, English, German, Italian, Latin, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese, Indonesian, Tahitian and a few others. Plus under the instruction of my love
r, I also am also gaining fluency in Serbian, Slovak and Turkish.”
“A wonder are you Irish to so easily learn foreign tongues. I, myself, speak Latin and Greek in addition to Serbian and Slovak but my Turkish is lacking. And to find a man who can not only sign his own name but read and write is additional wonder.” Viktor was being too friendly. Never trust a noble who is too friendly. I generally am the most polite to the man I am about to behead so his attention disturbed me.
“As I was discussing with your Commander here, see this map? To the east is Romania and these are the castles that Vlad Dracula built to stem the Turkish tide. Most are destroyed but some are still standing or can be repaired. This one here is, we believe, home to a group of bandits that have been plaguing the countryside.”
“Prince Viktor, that looks to be some 200 miles away. That’s a ten-day journey and few bandits would make that trip so why are you concerned?”
“Prince Vlad’s successor, whose name escapes me at this time, is busy fighting the Turks along the Bulgarian border and cannot spare the men to stop the bandits. He has asked my king to assist and so I have been tasked with their eradication. Succeed in this and it will open channels between Romania and ourselves that well benefit both. Here is the information you will need and a map to the castle. Take as many men as you need and also take Father Goran with you. He may be useful.”
“Useful? How can a priest be useful when chasing bandits?” I inquired.
Goran spoke up, speaking as if I were some common wretch. “Because, my lord,” he had to force himself to say that, “the Romanians are Greek Catholic and will benefit from the true Catholic faith.”
“It seems to me that when Rome fell, the Pope left Rome to Constantinople and a pretender entered the Vatican to set up a second church so you should benefit from they who were the original catholics.”
“BLASPHEMY! God will….”
“Silence Father Goran. We all know that Lord Obrien, being a pagan, doesn’t understand the intricacies of church politics and is easily deceived by historical facts. But you WILL go together so I expect you to be polite to each other. If that is not possible, then not kill each other. Dismissed.”
Olaf called to us as we bowed and left, “You leave tomorrow morn and Captain, take your best men and plenty of weapons. Take no chances and suspect everything you see.”
***
I was not in a good mood when I reached my office. “Sergeant!” I yelled in passing and slammed my door near off its hinges. Opening my package, I unfolded the map and read the reports as Erik and Lyssandra entered, he to my desk, she to my chair and began to massage my shoulders. “Whose idea is this?” I asked her. Since joining the Company, she had ceased to wear her dress and while on duty, wore a shirt and pants and a vest to contain her small breasts.
“Erik’s,” she mentioned, never ceasing to rub. “He thinks that relaxed, you will talk easier.”
I sighed, relaxed or tried to then motioned her to the bar. “We are to take some men to Dracula’s castle in Wallachia to destroy some bandits that have taken up residence. And if that isn’t strange enough, we are to take the priest, Goran, with us.”
Erik looked over the map. He never questioned me but my superiors weren’t that lucky. “Why, Captain? Those bandits show us no threat. And a priest on a combat mission? Why that too? Romanians are Greek, not Roman and would burn him as easily as they burn you.” He laughed then, “Perhaps you two will share a stake and finally make friends as your skin burns off. Or maybe the ghost of Vlad Dracula will hang you both from a pike and sup on your blood as you slowly expire. Or…” Erik was Protestant, or one of the many churches springing up during the Reformation to take advantage of the Catholic lapse. He never questioned my religion out of loyalty and rarely mentioned his own.
“Enough! It’s bad enough I must spend the next ten-day on the road with him. Must I endure your pleasantries too? Though to be honest, after a week with that priest, the stake will be a welcome relief.”
Lyssandra interrupted, setting beers before us. “Must you two joke about that? Burning a Witch is no joke. How many of us have the christians burned? Are you to add to the pyre?”
“Lys, we joke to relieve the stress. We Irish burned few witches and then only when the Tierna were too late to stop the church. When the Bishop ordered Dame Kytler burned, she arrested him to teach him a lesson. Those who would burn an Irishman will oft find themselves feeding the pyre first. I think you should go with us.”
“Why, My Lord?” she was concerned and not a little scared.
“Because the Amazons will need female company, because you need combat experience if you are to be a part of this Company and because it will really piss off the priest to see you there.”
“That!” Erik laughed as he drained his tankard, “I like! How many men?
“According to this, there are no more than a dozen bandits, all poorly armed. Twenty should do it. All horseman as I wish to travel fast.”
“All will be ready, Captain.” He saluted as he left then Lys plopped into my lap and looked over the map.
“It looks so near on paper. I’ve never been more than a couple leagues from Arabel. I hear that Dracula is a vampire and eats the flesh of babies.”
Hans moved forward, glanced at the map and spoke, “Vlad Dracula was a Prince of Wallachia and Transylvania. He fought and held the Turks when none would give him aid and turned back the Islamic hoards time and time again. When he sought aid from Hungary, he was refused because Catholics aid only Catholics and Dracula was Greek. Eventually, he convinced them to help and for that the Greek Church excommunicated him, damning his ghost to wander the land without rest.”
“And we must aid them?” she asked.
“It is what we get paid to do. Now kiss me and return to your training. You are becoming an adequate horseman and archer but your sword skills need much work.”
“Then, my love, you will have near two weeks to train me on the road.”
She stood then at the door, stopped and whispered, “My Lord, when you spoke to Prince Viktor, did you see his son Dusan?”
“No, but then I rarely do. They say Viktor prefers men and the occasional sheep so I wonder how he had a son? Why? You ask that every time I go to the palace.”
“I have a history before, my Lord. One I fear to speak.”
“I know about your past profession so this can’t be as bad.”
“My Love, I don’t wish to hurt you because you of all men have been kind to me. But once, years ago, Viktor took me as a lover. He would visit me at an inn and… His tastes are for men and he would use me as if I were a boy but sometimes…. I had a son by him, Dusan. Viktor took my son, saying that he had an heir and needed no more women and drove me into the streets. I’ve had only glimpses of my son since.”
“Does Prince Dusan know?”
“I fear not. I am not the kind of woman a Serbian Prince would brag about as a mother. Slav and whore and peasant isn’t something you wish the world to know in your breeding. I would see him again if I can.” Then she left.
I understood as my own wife and children had been burned to death by the English in their effort to purify the Island of the Irish race and I missed them always. But how? I needed to speak to Viktor so buckled my sword and taking my cloak and hat called as I passed the field, “I go to make arrangements, be ready for the morrow. I left a list of men on my desk, add to it as you will.”
One thing about being Tierna was that being a Noble myself, I rarely had to wait for an audience though I found that they were often short and now knew why. He knew that Lys and I were together and that probably made him insecure. Few men could stomach facing the current lover of their former lover. Then, entering I bowed, doffed my hat and called, “My Lord, I am making preparations for the morrow but would beg that Goran remain behind.”
“And why do you wish to counter my orders, Lord Obrien?”
“Not counter, Prince, amend if I may. It is no secret that Goran and I are at odds and being together for a month or more is ripe for trouble. He will seek to turn my catholic men against me and my non-catholic men and in the heat of battle, I need to know my men will work together and obey me without question. Also you know well I love a good argument and arguing with a priest will get me naught but trouble. I would finish this mission with ease and as little trouble as is possible.”
“I understand your concerns but the decision is made and Father Goran will accompany you. I believe that he will be useful. However I will talk to him and ask him to remember that his life depends on your graces. There is more?”
“There is, My Lord. If the priest must go, might I ask that you accompany us to the city gate as a show of solidarity. With you in procession with he and I, it would emphasize the importance of this mission and the need for peace between us.”
“A procession! I like that. Music and flowers strewn before my horse. Done! Have your men report before my Palace by noon.”
“As you will My Lord, and may I request that your advisors and the Prince accompany us too. Sometimes men will fight and die for the honor of a noble smile when they would hesitate to die for gold.”
“A good point, it is time Prince Dusan learned to rule after I am gone. BUT, the Prince is my only heir and so if any harm comes to him, heads will roll! Do I make myself clear!”
“As always, My Lord. I will have my most trusted men between you and the Prince and the rest of the crowd with myself and my most trusted of the trusted next to you both as a shield. My life will be in your hands. I suggest that you choose well your body-guard for the return trip to the palace though, for we will be gone by then.”
Then bowing again, I left. This went better than I expected but still, the priest could be controlled for even he feared Viktor’s wrath and as much as he wished otherwise, he’d follow orders. Though the further we got from Kosovo in time and distance, the less weight to Viktor’s orders would be felt.
Lyssandra & The Return of Lyssandra Page 4
