“Enough,” Cassia said, desperately.
The snake around my heart, it squeezed harder.
He shook his head, and spat. “Let the dog suffer. He richly deserves it. Oh, aye. She saw me looking. And the look in her eyes? It was a lonely look, Hraban, one to break a man’s heart. I stripped, and she watched me. Not a word. Not one. She didn’t deny me. She shivered with shame, and fear, and desire.”
Cassia took a step forward. “Sasas, no …”
He shook his head. “I took a tentative step forward, and she still didn’t tell me ‘no.’ The doe was afraid, but not bolting. I waded to her, my heart bursting with love, yearning, and pity. And then I stood next to her, whispering to her, begging her for love. She denied me with downturned eyes, shivering and tried to leave, but I embraced her gently.”
I pulled my sword, as the snake squeezed so hard, I couldn’t breathe.
He laughed. “Slowly, struggling with her honor, Raven, she caressed my back, her fingers like scared birds. That changed, as I hardened, and soon she stroked my neck gently, and finally, as I guided her hand, she gave me pleasure with her loving fingers, her eyes on mine. I kissed her neck, her shoulders, then our mouths met.”
“Shut your mouth!” I snarled.
He laughed. “When it was too much, I turned her around in that warm water, boiling with lust, and she felt my hard manhood upon her buttock. She still held it, stopping me from moving. Still, I begged her, I begged her like a child would. She held me for a while, listening to my words, shivering with love, and then let go of me, and I guided it. I guided it between her buttocks, and her thighs.”
He stared at me with malice, and his men grinned.
The silence was enough to hurt. It savaged my soul.
Kill him before he speaks.
Too late.
I heard him speaking, as I swayed in my saddle. “Slowly, Raven, very patiently, pushing up very gently, I entered her warmth. She groaned, and gasped, and when I was fully in, she leaned against me, holding my arms. I was there, for a moment, and then she pushed me, guided me, and I moved back. She pulled me back, and I pushed back, deep inside her, and she took all of me, and wanted more.” His eyes were full of lust. “It took a while. It was patient, wonderful, and perfect. When I was close, Raven, to the stars, she felt it, and still let me stay there, giving her joy. Then, I went over the stars, and so did she. She did, for she moaned softly and tore at my hair, on fire. When it was over, she was frightened. She staggered away from me, holding her face. She fled, and I let her, for I knew we … should not have done what we had ...” He looked at his hand, and made a fist. “And you came back. You claimed her body, but not her soul. I hate you, Hraban, but soon I can bury you.”
Cassia was weeping softly. Sasas was not lying.
His eyes were desperate, burning. “No woman can lie on a moment like that. She wanted me. She had me. She and I have spoken, every day since of love, before you came home. No more baths out in the springs, only common dreams. She told me it must never happen again, unless she is a widow. Only then, would she let my seed grow in her.”
Everyone watched her. I didn’t.
The snake killed my heart. I felt numb, dead.
I had asked her. I had asked her, and she had, but not like this, no, no …
The price I must pay. For Julia. For my plans, for my stupidity.
She had been alone, for so long, and she had been uncertain, bitter, betrayed, and she had betrayed me, but had she had a choice? Had she enjoyed it? Had it been, because he had been leaving, or because she needed him?
She had done all she could to secure what I had asked of her.
She was sorry for it. I knew she was. She had tried to tell me. But was there more to it than duty?
I heard Sasas speaking, and looked at him. “I have prayed to my gods for you to die. But this night, as husband and wife, we shall truly find a union of love and warmth. And you say she doesn’t love me? What sort of a woman would let a man so close, inside her? Would let a man caress her and enter her, to make her gasp with his love? What kind of a woman—”
“A Roman woman,” I snarled. “A survivor. And for all the things you have been allowed to do to her, you shall weep in Hades.”
“She asked me, Raven, to escape with her. Today. Now,” he said. “So, prepare to die.”
I watched Cassia. Her face was burning with shame, regret, and anger, but she held her head high. “Do you love him?” I asked Cassia.
“How dare you ask me that?” she whispered. “No.”
Sasas looked shocked. “No?” The bastard tilted his head in confusion, shame and rage bubbling from his lips as he stared at Cassia. “You do not want me? I brought all my men …”
“You,” I said as I pointed my sword at him, “brought all your men. Including the one who was supposed to watch my son.”
His eyes were huge with horror.
“Where is Gervas?” I asked him, smiling cruelly.
“I—” he stammered. “He was to stay with Maroboodus. I took my men—”
I laughed bitterly and nodded. “Gervas is with Marcus. And Marcus is not with Maroboodus. They will be here soon. And we shall all leave this place together. But not you.”
He stared at me with confusion, and then nodded at his men. They rode closer, looking at our weapons, holding spear and sword on their sides, ready.
The Sarmatian was swallowing as he pulled his beautiful, long spatha from his side. “I am not sure what you are playing at, Raven,” he snarled. “But I can still accomplish what I set out to do.” He nodded at Cassia. “Perhaps she is too afraid of you to speak the truth? I can forgive her that. I have family with wide lands in the East, and that’s where we go. She is not the first woman who must endure a Sarmatian wedding, if she lied to me. She will learn to love me.” He winked feverishly as he leaned towards me in his saddle. “A woman like her burns in your veins, Raven. You know it. I’ve watched her for a long, long while. She doesn’t fear me. Not at all. Not yet.” He kissed his sword. Cassia was scowling, her face truly fearless.
“Come, then, and try,” I said.
He chuckled. “You killed those three shits well enough, didn’t you? But here there is no escape. I’m a young man, your men are outnumbered, and in the end, you’ll see me ride off with her.” He lifted his gold-hilted sword, the raven in the pommel snarling at us as he placed the spatha on his shoulder. “How do you wish to die?” He nodded at the men. “They will make it fast. Or I can make it slow, if you choose to insult me one more time.”
“I think you shitted your pants, Sasas,” I snarled. “And that’s why you are loath to climb down from your horse.”
His face reddened, and he nodded at his men.
A huge man lifted his spear and rode for us. The man’s red face was glistening with angry sweat, his lips were quivering, the others followed, and then I whistled.
Men rode out from the woods, where they had been tracking us. They held Thracian weapons, and were fast as arrows. The Marcomanni stopped charging, and stared at the attackers with surprise. Javelins flew as the Yellow Band guided their horses at the Marcomanni and the Quadi. Two horses fell, the men spilling to the ground. The Gold Wolf rode hard at the huge Germani. The man tried to turn, but a spear pushed into his skull, breaking his neck, and the man was hurtled from his saddle.
The Thracians, the men I had hired to guard Cassia, and who had served faithfully for years, paid by Gernot, killed men like a scythe taking down barley. Tudrus and Adalwulf charged with them, and a mad melee took place. Dodging them I rode for the Sarmatian with Wandal and Ulrich. My friends held javelins.
His eyes went from one to another, and he opened his mouth to say something.
Then he turned the horse, and kicked the sides.
It was too late. Javelins flew. The horse fell in a heap as the javelins struck its side and rear. Mud flew, the man’s helmet rolled on the grass, and he stumbled to his feet. Wandal and Ulrich rode around him.
“So,” I snarled. “Do you wish to brag now? Tell me again how you entered my wife?”
As I got near him, I jumped down. He stared at me silently, wiping his face of mud.
I pointed Nightbright at him and watched Cassia. “Do you want me to spare him?”
Cassia’s face showed her fury, and then, perhaps pity.
For him?
I turned back to my foe. “Come, Sasas. Perhaps we will go to Woden together? You’ll have to be brave to see Woden, though. He doesn’t like mud-faced cowards, does he? Come, now. Come, and caress me, if you dare.”
He was shaking as he stepped forward. He stumbled on the muddy road, his horse climbed to its feet, whinnying with pain. It took off and the Yellow Band gathered around us, and looked down at him impassively. He licked his lips as he saw The Gold Wolf. “Maroboodus will pay—”
The Gold Wolf shrugged. “We were paid earlier. Still are being paid. Just fight well, kill him, and we’ll send you along soon after. He is old, isn’t he?” He winked at me, though his face betrayed his sorrow. He spoke to me then. “Make him fart his life away in the grass. You’ll feel a bit better after.”
I spat, and the Sarmatian took a step forward, terrified.
I roared, and rushed forward, Woden’s anger thrumming in my head. He shrieked, surged forward, and the spatha flashed for my neck. It was a fast, skillful strike, and changed direction, but still I dodged under the cut, saw the blade sink into the muddy road, and slashed my blade along his arm. It went deep, it cut muscle and to the bone, and he fell over his sword, wounding himself in the process. I stepped over him, kicked him over, and considered his terrified eyes, and spoke. “I am Hraban, The Raven of the Marcomanni, the son of Maroboodus, of the Goths, of the oldest blood in the lands. I am Woden’s loved, and his bastard. Here, a payment for having my wife.” I cut to his knee. I sawed crudely, and he shat and pissed himself with the pain. The leg was savaged, and unusable, as was his arm. He was shaking his head, holding my leg weakly, while weeping. I kneeled next to him, as I watched a wagon approaching. On it, sat Marcus, and from the wagon jumped out Gervas, who ran for Cassia, shocked at the sights around him. “Tell Maroboodus,” I hissed, and saw Gunhild with her daughter, and Cenric peeking out of the wagon, crawling from under a cover, “that I decline to be his blade. That I shall neither do his bidding, or fear him, and that for my mother, it was never possible. Still, thank him for guarding my family when I could not. But now I can. Tell him I shall indeed go to Armin, and there we shall build war with Rome, and he had best behave, for I have his wife, and his child.”
“You will let me live?” he whispered, his eyes on Gunhild. “Wait. That is his wife. And Cenric! His daughter is there!”
I nodded and got up. “Yes, as I said, I have them. That woman is what gives him his right to rule the Marcomanni. The boy’s not his. But the one in her belly—unless it is a girl—would be his heir. Let him consider that, if he should try to cross me.”
I grasped his fine sword, looked at the blade and the pommel, and walked to my horse. “I shall keep this. I will call it Heartbreaker.”
Cassia took a step forward. “Hraban. No. Don’t—”
I ignored her. “Is the ship ready?” I asked The Gold Wolf.
“It is ready,” he answered. “Agetan is overseeing the loading of it. Your brother has paid me well, so we are yours to command, still.”
“Thank you for drugging the three fools that day,” I said, tired and shamed. “And now, we shall leave. Your children are in the harbor?”
“Everyone is ready to go,” he acknowledged and looked around nervously. “But we had best leave right away. Don’t want to get caught like this. Might be hard to explain.”
I laughed bitterly, and turned to Marcus. “Thank you for arranging this.”
He smiled nervously. “It was so very easy. There was chaos, the Dacians were quarreling, your father was roaring, and I just took a chance and walked out with them. There was no guard waiting for Gervas. I am coming with you, then.”
“No,” I said harshly. “You are not.”
He stared at me with his mouth open. “What?”
I shook my head. "You knew Hulderic would die the night Father returned. You were there to make sure of it.”
He croaked an answer. He was twitching with fear, looking at me with begging eyes.
“I’ve not forgotten,” I said, and pointed a sword at Gervas. “You kept an eye on them. You set up things so the man chosen to guard Gervas was a weak, unmarried man, someone who might betray Maroboodus. Alas, that you chose him.” Bile rose to my throat, and I felt the stabbing pain of what had happened deep in my gut.
Wyrd.
I went on. “You let The Gold Wolf and his men in. You did all that for me. So, you shall live. But I don’t want you to forget Hulderic, either. Tie him to the Sarmatian shit. Good luck, Marcus.”
Sasas's eyes were burning feverishly as he eyed Marcus as he was being crudely tied to him. I didn’t pity him.
I pointed a sword at Sasas. “Gold Wolf.”
Cassia sensed what was coming. “Isn’t it enough?”
“Why?” I asked her. “Do you want to spare him? Do you have a use for him?”
“Isn’t it all enough?” she whispered, and when she saw my eyes, she knew it wasn’t. She turned away.
I looked at The Gold Wolf. The Thracian turned his eyes to me. “Lord?”
“How long can a man survive without his cock?” I asked.
“Long enough to see your father,” he answered, and pulled out a dagger.
I turned my horse, and rode for the harbor, the others following me, save for The Gold Wolf and the men he needed.
“Hraban!” Marcus called out as they tied him to Sasas. Then, soon. Sasas screamed pitifully, and I smiled, happy for a few moments, before the pain returned.
Wandal rode next to me. “I am sorry. She did it for you. And will we truly go north to Armin?”
“Yes, we shall find Armin, for there is none else,” I said, and rode away, wishing for silence
We made our way to the harbor, where the Thracians took us to a long, narrow merchant ship, which his men oared. We left, south first, and then west on the Danubius.
On the ship, I finally approached Gunhild. I kneeled before her, and she gave me a long, tired look.
“Did Burlein die well?” she asked. “I never learned of it.”
“He fought Nihta bravely,” I answered, avoiding the details of Burlein’s terrible death at Nihta’s hands. “And I killed Nihta later.”
She took a ragged breath. “It has been hard surviving, Hraban. Very hard.”
“I am sorry I failed,” I whispered.
She held her face and wept, and while I had failed, she would find a place for herself and a new start. I had a plan for her.
Later, Adalwulf joined me. He and I watched the river, and he spoke. “She loves you. She always did. Look. Gisil has suffered like she has. And the choices …”
I shook my head. “I know. And yet …”
“Don’t … you knew anything might—”
“Blaming myself is what I do. But I blame her as well,” I said softy. “I shouldn’t, but I cannot help it. None of it makes sense.”
“For Cassia, and Gervas, Hraban.”
“I need time.”
He clasped my shoulder. “We are free, and it was hard. We aren’t exactly friends, but remember why you did all of this. Don’t lose it all now.”
He nodded and left me to my suffering, and later, when I slept next to Cassia, my heart was cold. I hugged her, she let me, and what healing was needed would take a long time, and things, I thought, could never be the same. I should talk to her, brave the truths she would tell me, I should endure with the help of love, and yet, I was terrified.
What if I coul
dn’t endure, and had no love to help me do so.
For us, the way led north. Rome would be far.
It was a long, a dangerous way, but I had to find Armin.
For Gervas.
And perhaps even for Cassia.
BOOK 5: THE BONE HILL
“I, Hraban, and Armin, and thousands of others want you! For Roman perfidy! For Roman greed! Choke on German riches, Varus! We have naught but spears and death to give! Choke on the mud and find the Germania that was always here, lurking in the woods! Woden eat you!”
Hraban to Varus
CHAPTER 31 (Sigimer’s hall, September 15th, 8 A.D.)
That September, I sat in Sigimer’s hall. The old man I had once saved from Odo was seated at his table, smiling at Cassia and Euanthe and especially at Euanthe, who was flirty, petite, olive-skinned, and had a pleasing smile, and who truly adored the old man.
“Wine?” she asked him in crude Germani.
“Wine, but I’d rather have mead,” he said. “If you don’t mind, love? That one with rich honey, and lingonberries.”
“The old bastard,” Tudrus growled, “wants honey-mead.”
Sigimer winked at her, and she laughed, and left. She and Tudrus were happy with their family. Agetan and Wandal both smiled in the shadows at the discomfort of Tudrus. Ulrich was outside with the horses, snooping around the village.
Sigimer gave me a long, shrewd look and sighed as his eyes travelled over Cassia and the boys speaking in a corner, wondering at something a large warrior of Sigimer was showing them. It was perhaps Sigimer’s famous bearded ax, which the man was unable to use. He had lost a leg and seemed feeble, but there was still a strong sparkle in his eyes.
He was nodding. “Sanctuary? Truth be told, Hraban, I’m running out of sanctuaries in my lands, these days. It is getting harder to know who is spying for Segestes, see? But I’ll find something. You spared my life once, and a man who was prepared to defend me with his life can show up with an army of pretty women and staunch children anytime.”
The Bane of Gods Page 40
