Raven's Wyrd: A Novel of Germania and Rome (Hraban Chronicles Book 2)

by Alaric Longward

  'Yes, I can help with that,' I told him sourly.

  'So, let us plan,' he told me happily, 'and keep in mind it will be a terrible, messed up plan from the start.'

  Later on, I lay on my bed, which was filled with wooden chips. I idly kicked them off the bed, as well as I could, but it was hopeless. Ishild was leaning on the doorsill. 'Ansbor was sitting on it today. He was carving something. Bored. Ermendrud told him to clean it up, and he did, but—'

  'But, this is the best he could do. I don't care,' I grumbled, and nodded at her. 'Getting close?'

  'The old woman says it is so,' she told me with a shudder. 'It's not long. What did you discuss with Burlein?'

  'Plans. Plans for the melt, what we will do. Things he has done.' I wondered what to tell her about his plans for Gunda and the Chatti.

  She sat down heavily, and kneaded my hand gently. 'You will conquer him, Hraban. Maroboodus. One way, or the other.'

  'We are riding to him when we can, and then we will see, indeed, if it is so. We planned for some surprises for the battle, but we are children playing war,' I told her judiciously. 'Then, if we win, I think we will find fame and honor and a hall with the Chatti. We will see.'

  'I … very well.' She got up stiffly, trying to hold her spine erect. She smiled at me wistfully. 'Sorry I cannot enjoy this pregnancy. It is not a feast to carry it. This is harder than last … ' She shut her mouth.

  I laughed and waved her off, and she ambled out, looking dour. Ermendrud came to the doorway, eyed the mess around the bed and the floor incredulously, and stepped in. She had been wary of me the whole winter, avoiding being alone with me, and I understood her. Much water had passed in the swift river from the time I had contemplated on marrying her. After that, she had taken with Wandal, but now Wandal was lost, her father dead by Nihta's hand. She stooped to pick up the pieces of wood on the floor, but I swung my legs around. I took her hand, and she looked at me, astonished. 'If I can, Ermendrud—'

  'If you can, indeed,' she said bitterly, tore her hand out of my grip and wiped hair from her face. 'I trusted you.' This was a discussion we had not had since the day I left her.

  'I was a bastard,' I sighed. 'I was being caged by my father, by Armin the Cherusci, hunted by Tear and Odo, both mad dogs, and then there was Gunda.'

  'The Chatti princess,' she mimicked my voice, and her face took on a semi-idiotic look as she groped the air as if reaching for the stars. I could not help but giggle and then laugh, and she slapped me in fury, but could not help joining me. When we were done wiping tears off our eyes, our eyes met.

  I gave her my hand, and she took it with a huff, looking down. I spoke as well as I could. 'I thank you for sending Wandal with me to my exile. He saved my life. Now, I shall do all I can to find him. Ansbor and I, perhaps Fulcher, will help as well. Euric, of course. We will find him.'

  She nodded, about to say something, but then shook her head with some kindness. 'It is well. After this business with Maroboodus is done, yes?'

  'Yes,' I told her wisely, afraid she might fly into a frenzied anger again. 'He will chase after us, if we just leave. Burlein will not survive alone, either. It has to be done. For more reasons than my dead family.'

  She nodded. 'He did kill mine, too, so do it well.'

  I pulled her up from the floor. 'I think the weather will turn warm very soon. Euric needs to be found.' I gazed in her eyes, and she understood I was planning something.

  She observed me suspiciously nonetheless. 'And you want me to go there? To find him.'

  'You go and tell him to stay away, for now. Tell him to keep you, Ishild, and the baby safe,' I told her. 'I think it would be best if you were somewhere in the mountains.'

  She shrugged, as her eyes flickered to the other room. 'I do not trust her. Ishild.'

  'Is it because of Tear?' I asked.

  'No, I actually trust the old skins better than her daughter. There is something about her that reeks of falseness,' she said slowly. 'But, I will do as you asked. And when you bring Wandal back, I will be thankful. Not before!'

  'Ermendrud,' I told her as I held her hand. 'You were pregnant?'

  She clamped her mouth shut, and blushed, looking away. 'Yes.'

  'How did you lose it?' I asked, treading a strange road. If it had been mine, I should feel sorrow. I should feel sorrow anyway, but I was unsure of my feelings.

  'It was yours, Hraban,' she said bitterly. 'And I lost it like babies are lost. They are weak as leaves in autumn wind, especially so early in pregnancy, and I was afraid, always afraid, and so the gods punished me. I bled, and Cassia helped me.'

  'Afraid of Wandal not coming home?' I asked.

  'Yes. And when you were missing,' she told me miserably. 'When they said you were dead and so was Wandal, I cried for days. I was a coward, you see, unable to brave life alone, and I did not eat, hoping to die. I had nobody. Euric forced me to, but the baby died.'

  Her words were sad and bitter, and I pitied her. I pitied the baby as well, and cursed myself for the misery I kept causing people. I wiped tears from her eyes, then mine and felt wretched. She had deserved much better. 'I wish I could make it up to you.'

  'I don't think you can, Hraban. I cannot forgive myself for starving myself, punishing myself. Perhaps I tried to die as well. I was a coward. I ever was. And you cannot forget you used me. It will have to be carried around all our lives, our pain.'

  'Aye. I think you are right,' I despaired, holding my temples, and she clung to me. An adult carries many mistakes on their shoulders, and mine were already terrible.

  She smiled at me and turned to go. 'Clean this wooden scrap from the floor. This is no pigsty. Only hay allowed. As for Burlein, Hraban, try to make sure he knows what he is doing. I will go with Ishild and the baby, and try to be braver. I swear I will keep an eye on her. I will not let her die. I shall not fail. I promise.'

  'I thank you for that. Keep everyone safe, if I cannot,' I asked her wistfully, and she smiled. 'I will find Wandal.'

  'I will. You keep yourself alive.'

  'Yes, by gods,' I told her, and liked her fine and myself less so. I could be married to her then. She might have delivered me a son or a daughter, but wyrd, my choices had killed the baby. I felt ashamed, and spat at fame. Gunda, a princess. I left Ermendrud for a promise of fame, and a woman I did not know. She suffered for me. Damn Fulcher anyway, but he was right. I hated myself, and did not like it.

  CHAPTER XIV

  The snow was finally melting. What remained was ugly gray, the fog was as thick as water, and all of our clothing chafed with the moistness and dirt. While the sun was still shy, hiding behind banks of heavy, puffy clouds, the people were out, enjoying themselves, staring at rivulets of water running for the river, the occasional greenery reaching up from surprising places. Overall, it was all hopeful, and the diminishing snow banks revealed wonderful hints of summer, especially the first yellow flowers, soon followed by the white ones. There was something wonderfully joyful about spring, but this wa only so if you had endured a real winter. In Rome, the misery was different. There, the floods covered parts of the city, the heat of the high summer was terrible, or the moist misery of the spring were child's play compared to freezing months of hunger in the north.

  Fulcher came to me as I was dressing. He sat down with a huff, wiping clammy sweat off his forehead. I lifted a brow. 'Well?'

  He smiled. 'Burlein got word, and news. From Hard Hill. Some for you, one for me. The bastard who killed my family, Bricius, is there with some of those mercenaries of his. Your father is scrounging up men as best he can.'

  I grunted. 'We will both get what we need, then. Soon.'

  'Or die forgotten and humiliated,' he told me gravely.

  'Yes, of course. Can you find a guide that can take … ' I asked loudly, and then lowered my voice. 'Ishild, Ermendrud, and the baby to Euric, after the baby is born?'

  He looked shocked. 'Yes. I suppose so. I know where Euric was likely wintering. There is a mining villag
e days away, and I told him about it, but—'

  'Things will get dangerous, very much so,' I told him. 'There will be Hermanduri here, by the thousands, likely. This place won't be safe.'

  He shook his head so his red hair flew. 'Hermanduri? Yes, yes. But, what of Cassia?'

  'I—'

  'Forgot about her?' he said sternly.

  'No, not really,' I told him timidly. 'And Ansbor—'

  'Does not own the girl,' he spat. 'I will do as you say, but wonder at your thoughts at the same time.'

  'She is a healer, and might save our lives. A hardy girl,' I told him sternly.

  'And very pretty,' he said darkly. 'Don't do things we all regret.'

  'I—'

  'Don't risk her for her pretty face,' he told me nastily. ‘She should survive this war, like the other girls. Even if you entertain thoughts of taking her from Ansbor.’

  I stared at him incredulously. I pointed a finger at his nose. 'Look. You give me advice on honor, or lack of it, on fame, and the uselessness of it. I need no advice like this. She is a friend.'

  'So were Ermendrud and Ishild,' he said, looking down, and I slapped my thigh.

  'You might be older than I am, but you know nothing about that,' I told him, as I girted Nightbright on my hip.

  'I think you might be blind.' He wiped his incredibly long hair away from his face as he stood. 'I have sight, Hraban, and I fear there will be tears, one day. Either make your move, or let her go, but do not keep them guessing. Best to break hearts quickly than to let them rot.' He walked away, mumbling in anger.

  I cursed deeply and went out, retrieving a roan stallion from the stable, his mane steaming as he walked out to the mud and slosh. He was not Minas, but still a beautiful, sure-footed animal, mighty restless after the winter. Like I was. Gods, Cassia. Ansbor liked her, not I! She was a healer. We needed healers. I cursed Fulcher, and sulked on the back of the horse, but the horse was happy, utterly happy, as he galloped hard on a patch of trampled snow, and I was giving him much needed exercise while brooding over the many unknowns in our lives.

  Then, a filthy, fat man, with long brown hair in a ponytail, rode into the yard. He had a brutal, scarred face, a coarse beard, and he was wearing gray furs that were strangely practical, not constricting, cut in a way to keep him warm, and allow him great freedom of movement. He was a man who had obviously spent most of his time outside. By his garb, he could have been a trapper or a hunter. I knew his face though, and I knew he was a hunter.

  Of men.

  He stopped his thick, sturdy horse, removed his mittens, and scratched his tangled, dark beard. It was indeed Hands, the Chatti who had once been employed by Father, until he had disappeared while taking after Veleda, the girl I was now determined not to find. Had he found her? I turned the horse carefully, and put my hand on Nightbright. The man saw this, grinned at me, and jumped down, muttering a curse as he shuddered with a pained limp.

  'You! What are you doing here?' I asked Hands, but he didn't seem to understand as he ambled forward, and I drew my sword.

  'No need for that, lad,' he said as I got down from my horse and walked towards him.

  'I am not a lad. I am Vago's Bane, Hands, and I didn't kill him while he was squatting down for a shit. I bit his hairy throat out. I have well-deserved scars and wealth. Address me as I am, you damned, blood handed bastard,' I said with a growl, but he raised his hands and rolled his eyes tiredly.

  He smirked at me. 'Very well. Relax, O Lord Bane. I mean you no harm. None have paid for your head, and since you are such a dreaded lord, I am sure to attack you only when you are squatting on a shithole. I’m not above such tactics. I have no scruples, you see. Sword away, lord.'

  I did not sheath my sword. 'You are a creature of my father’s. Why are you here?'

  He grimaced. 'I know you might think so. Nevertheless, I work for coin, or even cows. I am not exclusive. And your father was likely upset I failed to deliver Veleda to him. Gods know things got harder for him after that cur Odo was not happy. No. I don't work for that one either. Neither for Odo, nor your father. Not this time. I am here for someone else.' I regarded him with slitted eyes, and he grinned. 'Veleda? The girl?' he said. 'Remember?'

  'What about her?' I growled.

  'Donor's blue ball-hairs! I work for her!'

  I sneered at him, blinking, unbelieving. 'She is ten. What does she pay you with? Good advice?'

  His smile disappeared. He adjusted some of the gear on his horse while glancing at me repeatedly. 'You gave me a permanent limp last year. What are you, seventeen?' He smiled to himself.

  'Eighteen, I think. You should expect such wounds when you underestimate your prey, young or old,' I sneered, and he nodded.

  'You are right. I did not expect you to have that seax.' His smile was overly sarcastic as he shook his head in disbelief. 'Neither did I expect what happened after I went after Veleda.' He looked embarrassed.

  'Do explain,' I said, tapping Nightbright to my thigh.

  He gestured vaguely towards north. 'The girl you spared, that night. Veleda. I tracked her in the forest after you … persuaded me to leave. I didn't leave, of course. I set my hound on her.' My eyes narrowed, and he shrugged. 'I know you expected me to renege on our agreement, come now.'

  I pointed my sword at him. 'She told me you would not harm her, but I thought she was just wise to the ways of the woods,' I told him with a scowl.

  He snorted. 'No, she is not wise to the ways of the woods. The dog found her in a few minutes, panting in damned excitement as she was running. He barked softly, making enough noise for me to find her; that mutt had some style, and I loved it. A good hunting partner for a man like me. Yet, when the stupid bastard caught up with her, he went quiet. I found the two nuzzling, for Freya's sakes! She patted the dog. She was calling him cute! I was furious. It is her dog now, by the way.'

  'And you followed the dog, and let Veleda pet you?' I said. Veleda. She had been a wise, careful little girl, one who did not speak like a child. She had told me we would meet one more time, and that it would be terrible, for Odo would find her then as well. Wyrd, if we did, but I would fight for her, should that happen. I shuddered at the thought, and decided she was wrong.

  Hands was peered at me under his eyebrows, smiling and laughing softly. 'Yes, she is a queer creature, wise to the ways of men's hearts.' He laughed for a moment, like a bear would, his greasy, barrel-like chest heaving under the fur. He continued, 'Veleda. The little mysterious alf. I tracked her indeed to my damned dog, and I was going to do something that I am good at, what I was told to do, and paid for.' He put his face on his hands. 'I had a sturdy spear, a nice pair of manacles that I would have put around her damned, thin neck, and she was worth a fortune, and I could not. She left the dog rolling on the moss, happy as a damned wood fairy, and then she shook my hand, spoke to me, of high Woden, and fierce Donor, gentle Frigg, and the rest of the sodden gods, and told me that I am needed. I do not know how, but I could not open the manacles. She was too … honest? Kind? Above my threat. She touched my heart in so many strange ways. I know her mother is Tear, the völva, and perhaps she put a spell on me, but I do not think so. And so, I took her away. Not to Maroboodus, and certainly not to Odo.'

  He walked towards me and pushed down my blade. 'Come, offer me something to drink. Something with spark, spirit, and fire, if you have any left after the winter.' He walked past me to the house, went in with cool familiarity, and I gaped at him incredulously, as he plopped down on my seat.

  I followed him in and chuckled at his hairy face. 'You have gone soft, Chatti. There is a man's heart under all that dirt, fat, and hair.'

  He slammed his fist on the table. 'She has a way to move men's hearts, and I remember you didn't take her, either!'

  'What in Hel's name is this?' Ermendrud shrieked, as she came to see who was making the racket, but Hands gave me a long-suffering look. I shrugged at Ermendrud and made a begging motion with my hands. She fumed and disappeared, soon rumma
ging around the cellar, trying to find something edible, and the last of the mead.

  Hands chortled, as I dragged a seat in front of him. 'So, Vago's Bane has to beg for a woman to do what she is supposed to do.'

  I laughed at his face. 'Coming from a fat bounty hunter who obeys little girls, this is quite an observation.'

  'Fine!' he told me sourly, and nodded with confusion, as it was Cassia who brought him some mead, and he smiled at her as sweetly as a greasy older man can. Cassia looked at me with some doubt, and I indicated to the other room. She went, muttering unkind things.

  Hands shook his head, looking at her amble away. 'My, my. Perhaps I misjudged you. A saucy blonde, a ravishing brunette, and then, there is Ishild, of course. Quite a number of women you have under this small roof. I hear your Ishild is pregnant?' He glanced at me with humor as I indicated in the affirmative. 'And you are not married to her? You know, that will cost Burlein some men. Your father might be a traitorous piece of rot, but Marcomanni do love their old ways. I am surprised Burlein has not forced you to marry! Would make sense. But then, he is married to a married woman, and that will cost him even more men.'

  'I … ' I started, nearly spilling the news of Burlein's plans and Gunda, but decided it was none of his business. Instead, I glowered at him, hoping he would get to the point of his unwanted visit. Or had he? Was it Ishild? I sat up, but he continued, taking a swig from the mead horn.

  'Gods, that is still good. I actually like them like this, my drinks. Old, and a bit rancid. Like I am,' he chortled. 'Burlein. I hear he is getting ready for war. Maroboodus, as you know, likely has men here, just like your lord has men there, and it will be a damnable mess.'