The Winter Sword: A Novel of Germania and Rome (Hraban Chronicles Book 3)

by Alaric Longward

  ‘I promised to free him, but you are not reasonable.‘

  ‘There are Batavi in Castra Flamma,’ she told me, and I went silent, interested. ‘You are serving as a Batavi, no? You are but a smelly, lying Marcomanni, and they probably groan in shame with your appointment,’ she said and winked her eye, and I cursed her, for she was very beautiful, ‘but you are one of them, no?’

  ‘I am,’ I told her. ‘But they are sure to have a leader. A Decurion, at least. And that leader is likely under the command of the camp prefect.’

  ‘There is a military tribune there, um …’ she thought and tried to form the words. ‘Tribune laticlavius?’

  I nodded. ‘Oh, fine. I suppose they need someone like that since that castra is at the junction of Segestes and the Chatti. But that does not help me subvert a troop of Batavi to rescue their enemy.’

  She smiled. ‘Both Segestes and Odo have spies in the village of Castra Flamma,’ she explained. ‘And the Decurion of the Batavi is one. His name is Lothar.’

  ‘How does this idiot boy of yours know such things?’ I wondered.

  ‘He is a slow speaker. Not a slow thinker. Unless with girls,’ she grinned. ‘He is a nice man.’

  ‘So. You expect me to hustle over to the castra—’

  She snapped my forehead with her finger. ‘Yes.’

  ‘You are very physical, you know. Does Armin enjoy this shaking, poking, and pushing routine?’ I asked drolly.

  ‘He loves it. You will go to the castra. Explain things to the military tribune. Of course, he cannot do anything about my father, not really, but he can give you aid with Odo. You tell him you know of a hole with bandits. Tell him Lothar is a cur. He is surely a man Drusus has set up there and will help him.’

  ‘The legate of the legion commands his tribunes, and it is possible Drusus has nothing to do with his appointment to this place,’ I began to argue, but she did not care.

  ‘Then you will take the Batavi by force. And do your duty,’ she fumed.

  ‘My duty?’ I snickered and waved my hand. ‘It will take the time to find Odo, even if I manage to find men,’ I complained. ‘I don’t know where Gulldrum is. And winter is nigh.’

  She rubbed her forehead. ‘I know. But as I said, there were more than just spies of Segestes in the village.’

  ‘You said Odo has men there,’ I noted. ‘Yes, I see. Does this Lothar know this person of Odo’s?’

  She leaned close. ‘That is how Father and Odo discuss. Through these men. Odo will send his emissaries here now that they have agreed on this deal, but Castra Flamma is where they usually deal with each other. Find out, from this Lothar, who is Odo’s man in the village. Remember to do that before you do anything drastic to him to gain the Batavi. Find a way to help Armin before next campaign season. Kill Odo. Free Sigimer. And remember; if you slay Odo, your daughter will be safe. Ask the Tribune to warn Drusus of Segestes, but you will stay there and keep your promise.’

  ‘Now,’ I growled, angered by the promise I had to give. ‘How do I get to Castra Flamma to perform these miracles? Shall I dig a tunnel or jump over the hills? You might as well ask me to do that as free Sigimer.’

  She shook her head. ‘I have little power, Hraban. Very little. I do not even have my horses anymore. I only own some slaves. Two men who own a boat. They owe me.’

  ‘Slaves owe you? Do not make me laugh,’ I told her desperately. ‘You own them, they don’t feel any gratitude for their mistress.’

  ‘I helped the daughter of one when she was very, very ill,’ she said sternly. ‘She is alive and a mother now.’

  I nodded. That I could understand. ‘Boat. That would work. What about getting out of this den of thieves, murderers, and bastardy? After I mauled your boyfriend—’

  ‘Armin is my man,’ she hissed. ‘Ragwald’s boy is a friend.’ She stammered. ‘A friend who had some plans, perhaps, for me, but that is besides the point.’

  ‘Right.’

  She nodded as she cast an evil eye on me, and I fidgeted, trying to hide a smile. ‘Vulcan still needs help. Winter is coming, and he has been raising Hel about raising an apprentice but then losing him to Helmut. Says he will not be able to supply the household with tools and horseshoes they will need during the winter. So Segestes has agreed you can help him, chained to the anvil. For a week. Perhaps.’

  ‘Did Vulcan get such an idea himself?’ I smiled at her.

  ‘No, he is a pretty damned excellent smith and could manage without an inept Marcomanni slowing him down,’ she said with a pretty smile. ‘I helped him find this thought in his thick, fat head, but it was not very hard. It seems he has learnt to like you. I don’t know why. You are insufferable. I also arranged for Mathildis to bring you food. She is grateful to you for Manno though she too thinks you are a bastard to nearly kill him.’

  ‘You women are fucking mad. ‘

  ‘Shh,’ she told me, grabbed my lips and arched an eyebrow. I liked her. There was a fire in her, and though she had put me in an impossible situation with Armin, I wanted to help her. Women are my bane, I thought. She went on. ‘Helmut is enraged she is to do this, by the way. He is not very … stable,’ she said, looking nervously at the door. ‘He has men watching you. Not Brimwulf.’

  ‘Not Brimwulf? Why?’

  ‘Brimwulf let you break Wulstan’s face, so he is with Segestes now, doing something else. Wulstan is in a terrible pain and cannot sleep.’

  ‘Should I be sorry for him as well? He is just a boy, after all?’

  She grinned. ‘No. But Helmut will watch you and fetch you. He will beat you if you so much as twitch the way he finds displeasing,’ she said, grabbed some of my ale and grimaced as she tasted it.

  I nodded, smiling at her discomfort. ‘So … for me to gain my freedom, I have to escape either chains or this hall. How will I get to your boat if I am locked here or chained? Can you get the key?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, I cannot. Helmut has it. And after hearing about this meeting, I will be locked up as my father told me to stay away from you.’ She smiled at me. ‘But you will be out of here and must find a way.’

  ‘You made me promise such preposterous, impossible things without actually having a way for me to escape?’ I asked her, shaking my head in desperation. ‘Is that so?’

  She leaned on me. ‘Find a way, Hraban. You are lucky and wily. A Fox like Armin. Or perhaps more like a lumbering, dangerous bear that smashes all the traps as it trudges on. Figure out something. I gave you a route out of here; you have to find a way to use it. You have a week. With luck. Get to Castra Flamma and then find Odo.’

  ‘Something,’ I laughed wildly. ‘I must think of something?’ I held my head and laughed. Then I calmed and nodded at her as she retreated. ‘But I suppose it helps to get out of this room, at least. And to be fed. Thank you, and I appreciate the food!’ I licked my plate and placed it in the sack.

  ‘You already have a plan,’ she said with a grin. ‘Don’t you?’

  I nodded. ‘I had one. But Brimwulf is an idiot.’

  ‘He is a man who cannot live without his honor,’ she said, understanding what my plan had been. ‘Taking Mathildis away is his dream. But he cannot live a dream with dishonor on his conscience.’

  ‘I have a plan. But Brimwulf will not like it. And it will risk Mathildis.’

  She hesitated but shook her doubts away. ‘I see. For Armin, I will risk both of them. The boat is near the docks, the one with a red bow. There will be someone there day and night for the next week. If you get there, you have a chance. Your plan? You had better execute it within a week. They will fetch you soon. Please save Armin. Do not let him die!’

  I nodded at her; she embraced me awkwardly, gave me a kiss on the cheek and left. Your mother, Lord Thumelicus, was a fine woman. She could be a ruthless harlot, but she was a very fine woman.

  CHAPTER 17

  Helmut came soon after and unlocked the door. His eyes were like beady coals as he regarded me, especially after I
smiled at him benevolently, my lips smeared with grease. He carried the fetters with him, and as he pulled my hands to be bound, I greeted him cheerfully. ‘A beautiful day, is it not? So, no Wulstan? Is he having trouble sleeping?’

  His hands grabbed my face, and he pulled me close to him. ‘I see Thusnelda fed you. She will regret it, she will. Perhaps one day Segestes chokes on a bone, and I will show her how to behave like a good girl.’

  I wanted to throttle him, for now I worried for Thusnelda. She had taken great risks, perhaps too great, and Helmut and Ragwald were very dangerous men. ‘I’m sure Armin would understand. He would hug you in forgiving throes of love.’

  His face twitched with the threat, but there was also something wild and dangerous in the look, and I knew he was the sort of a man who enjoyed being hunted. ‘I’ve had a dozen unwilling women in this estate, boy. Perhaps I would have Armin as well, the golden-haired bastard.’ Fucking rapist, I thought and began to insult him, but he poked me painfully. ‘Shut your face, filth. Shut it, and keep it shut, or I will remove your teeth.’ I grinned at him in spite, and we walked towards the smithy. There, he unshackled me and nodded at Vulcan, who wearily grabbed an iron shackle and placed it on my ankle.

  ‘Make sure he does not escape, I will be watching,’ Helmut said, leaving and walking around the general area like a hungry wolf stalking a bleeding cow.

  Vulcan grinned at me. ‘You managed to create some havoc, did you not boy? Did they leave you with the ability to work? Were no bones broken? You still a man?’

  ‘I still breathe. They had some dogs try to chew on my rear, but they found Ragwald’s son’s throat instead,’ I said and shrugged. ‘Manno.’

  ‘I heard,’ he told me disapprovingly. ‘He is not a bad—’

  I shook my hands in desperation. ‘Everyone knows he is not, and I know as well, but he was unlucky to be related to Ragwald and just standing there. What are we making?’ I asked as I took up the sledgehammer, cursing the chain on my foot.

  Mathildis appeared, smiling shyly, her freckles pretty as she nodded at us. ‘Lentils, water.’ She gave them to me, and I winked at her, making her blush. Her father was scowling at me from the corner of the house.

  ‘You are looking beautiful today, Mathildis, very beautiful. Your suitor lost his voice?’ I asked. Vulcan stared at me with suspicion.

  She glanced at her father but smiled at me. ‘Thank you. Also, my brother has not been beating me lately. I owe you, Lord.’

  I smiled at her. ‘A girl as pretty as you owes me nothing! Your very smile makes the sun pale in comparison and men forget their petty toils and aches when you approach. So I thank you, Mathildis.’ Vulcan hummed and grinned briefly and looked away.

  She blushed even more, her red hair spilling to cover her face. ‘You mock me.’

  ‘Bastard,’ Vulcan whispered so very softly. ‘You damned bastard. Sun pales—’

  I ignored Vulcan. ‘No, no, I do not. I thank you. Are you still to marry the dog bitten peasant?’ I asked.

  ‘He is not a peasant!’ she chided me. ‘I did not want to marry the dolt, but he is all right.’

  Why do they all like him? I wondered and changed tactics. ‘I felt sorry for him,’ I said. ‘Poor boy.’

  She nodded thankfully. ‘Helmut is thinking about some other suitors, but I want something else.‘

  ‘Brimwulf,’ I smiled.

  ‘What?’ she said and looked like a frightened kitten. Vulcan looked away from me in disgust. I arched an eyebrow at her, and she grumbled. ‘Yes, I am sorry,’ she said apologetically. ‘Is it easy to see? I mean, can everyone see this?’

  I shook my head in denial, looking disappointed. ‘No, it is not easy to see. Only the men who think you beautiful, the ones who are interested in you might sense you like him rather than them.’

  She looked shocked. ‘You mean you like me?‘

  ‘Yes, of course, dear girl,’ I cooed. Vulcan went outside and began chopping wood furiously, cursing vehemently.

  ‘I am sorry,’ she said, nearly placing a hand on my arm, but wisely withdrew it in time.

  I managed to sound utterly miserable. ‘Ah well, I am but a slave. I know. They will kill me soon, I hear. But Brimwulf is a happy man to have such a woman.’ I leaned closer to her conspiratorially and winked at her. I felt like Woden, the trickster of a god. ‘He said he likes you. Very much. He is looking forward to your first night together. He thinks you will know what to do, you know?’ I winked at her, and her mouth shot open.

  ‘Do you mean—’ she said, her face crimson. ‘Do you men speak of such things amongst themselves?’ Vulcan threw something to the wall, and we went silent for a moment, but apparently, he calmed down.

  I began whispering. ‘He means to take you away; he does,’ I told her as I chewed happily on some lentils. She was so red, I could no longer see the freckles. ‘Best not to go back yet. Your face would give you away.’ She giggled shyly, and Vulcan sighed at the doorway, unable to enter. ‘Alas, you are lucky. I will never again know such a fine thing. To be with a woman. I would like to, but I do not have hope,’ I said, my voice full of sadness.

  ‘What do you mean?’ she asked dreamily, still thinking about Brimwulf. I felt strangely jealous of the archer, for Mathildis, despite her father, was a very sultry girl.

  ‘They will … ‘I made a cutting motion near my pants. ‘For Manno. For saving you.’

  ‘You did it for me?’ she asked in awe.

  ‘Partly,’ I said, unable to lie entirely.

  She nodded and felt sad for me. ‘I understand, I have not, you know ... I am not married. Brimwulf … talks about me?’ she stammered. ‘About having me? That is forbidden? Is it not? I could be condemned in a Thing for that. If they suspected we had done something.’ She could not breathe for she was suddenly near panic. ‘One should be married before one does such things. Or speaks of them.’

  I shook my head. ‘Thing. Our laws. Most men and women are already … you know. When they marry. Yes, the vitka and völva preach for us to stay chaste, but in reality? No. And Brimwulf anticipating the pleasures of your body? Your love? It is flattering. A man like him, he likes a woman who knows how to handle a man,’ I added helpfully, feeling like a total idiot, like a fisherman in unknown waters filled with rocks and currents.

  Some tears sprung to her eyes. ‘I don’t know what to do when the time comes.’

  Vulcan was humming again, cursing me to Hel.

  I ignored the old man and winked at her. She was more worried about her inexperience than the fact someone was going to steal her away. ‘I, uh, can perhaps give you some pointers? That way he will be very satisfied.’

  ‘Pointers?’ she asked, suspicious.

  ‘Um, we talk more in the evening? Perhaps? You will bring me food?’ I asked for Helmut was approaching with suspicious fury, as I had hoped he would.

  She nodded hurriedly and took my jug of water, visibly trying to compose herself as she left. I heard Helmut rage at his daughter, and Vulcan fixed an eye on me. A stern eye. I shrugged. ‘You will not drag that wee thing to your escape scheme, will you? Or will you?’

  ‘I will,’ I told him. ‘But with luck it will make her free as a bird. And a bit more experienced at that.’

  ‘You bastard spawn of rats,’ he hissed and then laughed, unable to contain his mirth. ‘I wish I was young.’

  ‘I will need that seax,’ I told him seriously. ‘Will need it, you know?’

  ‘We are making pickaxes, axes, but I have indeed been working on a seax,’ he told me softly and pulled it from under a pelt. ‘Figured you would only make a mess of it.’ It was the length of my forearm. The hilt already had holes in it for attaching the wooden handles, but the blade was still thick and unformed. He fixed an eye at me, and I nodded in thanks.

  We worked on the axes that morning. I was hammering, saying little. In the afternoon, I hammered on the seax, ever so slowly smoothing it, Vulcan advising me brusquely. ‘Gently, you dolt. It is not as strong as
the blades of the Gauls. The iron is not as good, so it will have to be thicker, so do not flatten it over much! Idiot child! I just said do not flatten it, and then you immediately smack down on it like you were four years old!’ he yelled at me after a particularly failed strike that made the sparks fly.

  I wiped my forehead. ‘If I do not know how and I want this one to be good, why don’t you finish it.’

  ‘Because it has to be made by you. You will use it. It will know you, and you will know it. A weapon made by the man who uses it will be his closest friend. You will know this weapon like you know none other,’ he whispered to me, reverently. ‘Including your famous swords.’

  I looked at him long, hard, and nodded. All that afternoon I concentrated on the weapon. I took it out, weighted it, tapped it and hammered it and it was taking shape until it was a crude, but serviceable seax, a blade I had indeed fashioned.

  ‘A bit longer than I usually make them, but good, good,’ he appraised. ‘Sloppy but serviceable.’

  ‘It is wonderful,’ I told him and meant it.

  ‘It would be worthless if you sold it at the market because you have very few skills, but I know what you mean.’ He grinned. ‘I will sharpen it for you,’ he told me when Helmut was seen approaching with the fetters. ‘I hope you know what you are doing. Well, of course, you do not.’ Helmut’s hands were trembling as Vulcan released my leg iron, and he put me in fetters. He was silent as he took me to my quarters and looked at me carefully as I sat on the bed.

  ‘Ragwald has decided,’ he told me with chilling ferocity. ‘On the part he will take. Want to know?’

  I looked bored. ‘He will take my prick,’ I told him. ‘I know he would love to have it in his hand.’ He stared at me for a moment and then ripped the fetters off me. He left with a curse and left me shaking in terror. The guard chuckled as he shook his head at my defiance, and then Mathildis came, with soup and ale.

  ‘I will have to bind some of his wounds,’ she said while blushing. ‘Will take some time.’ I grinned to myself and then felt strangely nervous.