The Oath Breaker: A Novel of Germania and Rome (Hraban Chronicles Book 1)

by Alaric Longward

  'I was not talking about this thing, Hraban, but her,' he said, and Ansigar edged to the light with Ermendrud. She had a bruise on her cheek, and her dress was torn. Ansigar had a hand on her bare breast, and he was leering. She looked furious, not afraid. Gernot smirked at me. 'I have seen Felix. Sneaking around, speaking with strange people, forever shadowing you. I thought he might have his uses. I was right. Felix knows a lot. He is brave and hard to force to do things he does not wish to do, but he does speak when his limp cock meets an erect spear point. Then he sings finely.'

  Ansigar was fondling Ermendrud's breast, looking at me in a challenge. He had a nasty club in his other hand, ready to hurt her. I heard Woden demand I let go of my fears, felt his savage dance in my head, but I kept my peace after a great struggle and took a ragged breath.

  Gernot was studying my face, intrigued at my reactions. 'Felix told us you are sleeping with a girl. A crime, if people hear of it. Your reputation will be ruined. Even more ruined, that is. The story of the vitka is out, running like fever through the villages, and all look at you like they would at a pile of offal.'

  'I will never speak,' Ermendrud said bravely. 'Never will I admit it!'

  Gernot smiled. 'You will not? In any case, Hraban will not marry the Chatti after such a rumor. Remember, my fool of a brother. I have been given the right to call people for law speaking. I will accuse you, Hraban. I will have witnesses, no matter where I get them from and how much they cost. The only question here tonight, Hraban, is whether I will do so, or will you be humble? Not like you have been while serving me, arrogant and stiff-necked, but truly humble. Beg for mercy, and we will let you go.'

  'Let go of her,' I told Ansigar, dangerously close to pouncing on him. He shook his head and leered. He put his hand on her belly, tearing the cloth down. Ermendrud's face went white. She was trembling in fear.

  Ansigar sneered at me. 'Ask one more time, Hraban. Nicely. Fail, and I will slide my hand there. You care for the girl, do you not? Be polite.' They looked at me. I shook in all-consuming hate, but went on my knees heavily, thinking it just another humiliation in the line of many similar ones, which would be repaid.

  'Come, Hraban. Beg, and you will scamper away in one piece, later,' Gernot said, excited. 'First, crawl to us. Then you beg in front of us.'

  I went forward on all fours. I passed Felix, and glanced at him. His eyes were pleading, and I steeled myself as I went towards Ansigar. Gernot was walking next to me. Then, suddenly, he kicked my side savagely. 'Stay down!' Ansigar hissed. I obeyed, and Gernot dropped his weapons as he kicked and kicked me. I guarded my bruised face, Woden raging in my mind. When he stopped, out of breath, I had pains all over my sore face, sides, and back.

  'Beg, dog,' Gernot hissed as I reached Ansigar.

  I went to my face on the mud. 'I beg for you to let her and Felix go.'

  Ansigar snickered. 'I will let her go to the gods, but only after we have had her. And sent you on your way, as well.' Ermendrud was trying to break free, but Ansigar clubbed her urgently, and she fell with a gasp of pain. I tried to get up, but Ansigar raised the damnable club. Gernot held his spear at my back, and I stopped.

  Gernot pushed me with the point of the spear, breaking skin. 'It is over, Brother. I was ever the smarter one, but now, I am also the braver one. I take my chances, and you will go beyond this world. I am sorry I lied to you, but this way, I don't have to smear you in public. You will keep what honor you had left and, perhaps, never be found. The river is swift. Perhaps they will think you ran away,' he said, his voice calm though the spear trembled.

  Ansigar shook his head. 'No, he must live. We are sending him away, not to the next world. Don’t ruin our future. We have been promised a great reward.'

  'I do not care, Ansigar,' Gernot said bitterly. 'I want to …'

  'All will be ruined, Gernot, if you fail. He must live. We will break his leg, but that’s all,' Ansigar said calmly. Gernot was hesitating, and then I sensed he was listening to Ansigar.

  ‘Yes. Fine,’ he said, miserably.

  ‘Don’t worry. He will suffer,’ Ansigar laughed. ‘Now, as for the leg.’ He moved towards my limb, hefting the club. The spear stayed in my back.

  'You will ruin Father's plans, you idiot mongrel.' I cursed him and prayed. I would not go easily.

  'I told you. I have my plans. In addition, maybe you are not really needed for these plans Father has? Perhaps I take your place, whatever it is that is happening? Perhaps …' And with that, things changed. He went silent, and the spear came off my back.

  A shadow fell on the light.

  The door had opened and a man was walking up to us. I turned to see the hard-faced Manno. The former vitka was soon standing in front of us, staring incredulously. Then, as if deciding the strange scene was unimportant, his face went calm. He saw me, and nodded. 'Son of Maroboodus,' he noted as if speaking of a slab of horsemeat. 'The boy with the club of Hercules, the one who visited Flowery Meadows. You two, let the girl up.'

  'Who are you?' Ansigar asked, his calm broken as his voice trembled.

  'They will leave,' Manno told them with savagery. 'No woman will die in this butcher yard. No innocent boy either. Let them go. I’ll find you two later, if we survive the night.'

  'Let her,' Gernot said cautiously, watching the short, muscular warrior vitka. Felix struggled onto his feet. Ermendrud got up, and I nodded at her. She sobbed and ran, unsteadily, Felix following her. He glanced my way, and I grinned at him, hoping to look brave. Manno was there, and I would not leave the place he described as a “butcher yard” alive.

  Gernot opened his mouth. 'I am …'

  'Leaving, boy. I am Manno, his foe, and the man he owes deeply.' He nodded at me, in no hurry. 'A deed will be done here today, many deeds, in fact. My Lord Bark and the fool Isfried will have men slaughter Maroboodus and his dogs in the Thing. I was to be there, but why should I be there when there is bleeding to be done closer at hand, a debt to be paid in full. They asked me not to touch you, for some reason. But I will.'

  Gods, I prayed. Manno thought he was not needed to serve Isfried in the Red Hall, and could kill me in peace. Were there really other men up there? I had not thought about it, and wondered if Armin had lied to us, hoping Maroboodus to indeed die this night, and if not this night, then by our plan.

  Gernot shook his head, wondering at the man's words. Apparently, I was to die after all, and Gernot was contemplating the fact Father might fall as well. It did not bother him as much as it should have. 'There will be guards alerted, and you will …' he started uncertainly.

  Manno ignored the two and turned to me. 'Did you, Hraban, poison my brethren with foul magics, unholy tricks and tricky gods' cursed poultices?'

  I nodded, steeling myself for anything as I got up. 'I was told by a worm of a man your brethren would be sick, at most.'

  'And did you slay my wife with a blade? You butchered Ralla, my love, did you not?'

  'I did stab her to death while she held you tenderly,' I said, terrified of the dark storm rising in the small man's face. 'I did it to serve my father. When one drifts far from honor, it is hard to make choices based on it. I had reasons to do so.'

  Manno grunted, animal-like, shaking his head in regret, spittle on his beard. 'Your father's turn to scream at the edge of a blade is nigh. Tear and Odo will tumble to Hel this very night, a red night, if the gods see it fit to be so. I dwelled here, Hraban, and I know people who loved me; a healer and a holy man, and some people are all too happy to help me. One told me where you spend time, lingering idly and sometimes toiling with your friends. You were not there, at the smithy, but Woden smiled, and I saw you two walk away. I have time before I go and meet my gods up there at the cursed hall, but I will take time for this, no matter the cost, you understand? Of course, you do. The killer of my wife. Will you die well, boy?'

  'I will,' I told him as resolutely as possible, shaking.

  'Get ready then, and spare me a seat in the halls of the plenty, if Woden
or Freya will have your soul for the afterlife,' he said, and pointed at my brother's weapons. 'Take them and bear them with honor.'

  'He'll not lay his rancid fingers …' Gernot shot at Manno, but I let Woden's dance take me, I growled in feral, all-encompassing rage, and rushed Gernot. I punched him hard on the side of the head, tumbling him to the dust. I kicked him and grabbed his spear and shield from his nerveless fingers. Ansigar, the prudent one, was edging away, which I regretted. I turned on Manno, who was grouching behind his shield, a framea pointed my way.

  It was all simple, and there was no need for elaborate words.

  'Woden!' I screamed, and rushed him. Woden was dancing at the edges of my mind, savage, demanding blood.

  However, Manno was no peasant from wooded hills.

  He had been a great champion once, and he was calm as gentle rain as he let my raging stabs come. I rushed him shield first, stopping before tripping over his foot, and I punched the spear at his face, my Woden given strength making me snake-fast.

  His shield was there, and I danced back, avoiding a small jab.

  I did not give up, mad with anger. Yet, each attack he grimly pushed back, upsetting my speedy thrusts, resolutely holding me at bay, patient. His shield covered most of him. I danced around him. I noticed Gernot being helped up by Ansigar, but Manno's calm face was all I really cared about. He kept turning as I danced. I alternated my grip, stabbing overhand, dropping the framea to grab it midair for an underhanded stab. I thanked Koun for his training, for I was brutally fast and apparently tireless. I slammed my shield at him, trying to move him.

  'Ralla,' he said, as he stood there, indomitable as a rock wall.

  I rushed again, aiming my spear at his skull, and he lifted his shield just an inch. I refused to retreat, hoping to surprise the man who had beaten many a warrior in battles like this. I alternated the spear to stab at his foot, and so I nearly died.

  His shield slammed down on the shaft, snapping the framea. I saw my spear tip had drawn some blood, and he was grimacing in pain though it was a minor laceration. His shield met my face, and I fell back, the shield in my hand hampering me. I tried to let go of it and get up, but Manno was there, over me, his voice calm and nearly gentle at his victory.

  'Ralla was a good, gentle wife. You served your father, yes, but now your death will bring balance to tormented souls.' The cruel spear point came closer, hovering near me, his muscles ready to plunge it in. I saw Ansigar had dragged Gernot near the door, and both watched in morbid fascination at my soon-to-be demise. 'I will put it slowly into your heart, Hraban. That much I want you to suffer, boy,' he told me. 'You will cry, and I'll feast on the tears.'

  'Like your victims suffered, Manno?' I asked him in near panic. 'When you were a vitka and killed many a wife and husband alike?'

  'They rarely suffered like you will. Scream my name. Manno! Scream it to the Valkyries. Die for Ralla. Die slowly. I would hang you, but I want you to die by my hand. I wish to feel you trembling in pain at the end of this shaft, like a trout would.' I felt the seax sticking out of my belt; the handle awkwardly under my side. Woden was still dancing in my head, but the song seemed sadder, his dance slower. I would die.

  'I hope you are satisfied by my demise, and not Odo's. The man who gave me poison instead of vile liquid to make you lot sick, as he promised.'

  'I, or someone else, will get him and slash his spindly spine,' he said, and licked his lips as the tip of the spear entered my chest. I squirmed in desperation, for time, for salvation.

  I grimaced in pain, provoking a smile from him. I shrieked and reached out to him desperately, hoping for a miracle as I spoke. 'No, you won't. Odo will survive you, by decades! Bark wishing to bury the bones of Wulf at the Meadows? We know. It's all a trap within a trap, and you, the foolish sacrifice they are using like a sack of meat to bait a wolf!' His eyes opened large as mugs. 'Ask Gernot the foul there, he knows!' I said, though Gernot did not know anything, not really, unless Felix knew, and had sang him a song about that as well.

  Manno's face turned towards Gernot in anger. 'What does he mean? Is there truth to this?' he asked, shocked. 'We are betrayed?'

  His spear did not move for a few seconds, and so I grabbed his foot, where I saw blood, and felt my fingers go deep into a wound. I raked, tore at it. He howled, stumbling, a piece of flesh tangling from my fingers, slippery with blood. Freed, I pulled the seax out of my belt and saw the spear coming back down, Manno's face twisted in anger over it. I slashed the blade up, screaming, and felt blood splatter on my face as his thigh was cut. So much blood. The framea quivered right near my ear, transfixed to the floorboards.

  He gasped, staggered, and fell on his side, the dark liquid flowing fast as a river. I got up, wiped the tangy stuff off my eyes and noticed Gernot's jaw trembling by the door.

  'Brother,' I said, coldly. I looked like a forest demon, a maneater. They shivered. 'Come, Brother, and embrace me,' I said, malicious as a dead man seeking warmth.

  He shook his head, backing off. 'Felix told me everything about her, Hraban. Everything he knows. I will condemn you. I will demand your death. I will ruin your reputation.'

  I growled and ran unsteadily, but they were running to the night. I heard Wandal bellow a warning outside and Ansbor follow suit. I was utterly exhausted as all my rage fled. I fell on my knees before Manno, who was shivering.

  He looked up at me, face calm and utterly white. He grabbed my arm weakly. 'I will meet Ralla.'

  I nodded. 'I hope so, Lord. In addition, I am sorry for all of this. I did not lie about the poison.'

  He smiled. Groping weakly for his face, he was trying to utter a few more words. 'It matters little now, Hraban. Beware of Bark, boy,' he managed, and then fell to the darkness. Wandal and Ansbor rushed inside and stared at me, not comprehending the sight they were gazing at. Felix appeared as well, out of breath, his breath rasping. Ermendrud followed him, about to saunter to me in relief. I stopped her with a warning look.

  'What happened, eh?' Wandal said. I shook my head, tired.

  Ansbor spat. 'He is in shit full of trouble again, and so are we. At least he is alive. We saw Gernot and Ansigar run, and no doubt the piss-sodden pair of mongrels has something to do with this?'

  'I will deal with them,' I told them. 'Felix, get Father. Or Nihta.' We waited while he did, Ermendrud wringing her hands. I hoped she would stay quiet. We had trouble enough, but she did. Eventually, we heard a horse and jingling of armor as men stopped before the hall. Maroboodus came in alone, wearing a bloody tunic while his sharp sword was bared, and I saw he was bleeding from a scratch on his chest. There had been more men, after all. Apparently, Armin and Isfried had indeed tried the direct approach, and the supposed trap was only a backup plan. Father eyed me, then Manno. He nodded at my friends, Felix and Ermendrud. 'Stand at the door.'

  Father came and kneeled next to me. 'This is the man?'

  I nodded, dead tired. 'What happened up there?'

  'They tried to kill us, four desperate men, and Tear was wounded, but not badly. I killed two, Nihta put down the others, and the Thing is in uproar while I play the victim of malice once again. Now, you will leave for Isfried.'

  'What if this was their real plan?' I asked him calmly. 'What if there is no other plan, and they go to war next?'

  'I told you, much has to be risked, Hraban. I will let Armin know, for the bastard is up there, that I have taken the bait. I will make a mysterious boast, that soon, one more of my enemies will die at the Meadows. I will mention Manno’s name and his cowardice. It will be well.' I looked at the wound in my chest, gingerly touching it.

  'Yes, Father,' I told him, miserable and unsure of the happenings around us, and I felt like a leaf plummeting towards an uncertain destination.

  Father grunted, as if reading my thoughts. 'You are a good fighter, Hraban, lucky at least, but no luck will last if what Gernot is telling everyone at the hall is believed by the Marcomanni. He discovered Ermendrud, and is making a bid for pow
er again.'

  'He is telling them of Ermendrud, yes,' I said. 'He would have raped her. He tortured Felix, and says he is making new plans, plans he drew long since, especially seeing how you betrayed him. He was going to murder me, and Ansigar insisted I was to be kept alive, even if I was to be hurt.'

  Maroboodus's grim look made me feel sorry for the bastard. 'Gernot and his new plans? With Isfried, perhaps? I will find out. He will rue this, but now, he is not done. He will wish to condemn you publicly; he is working to call up a meeting. It's too late to shut him up. You already have a bad reputation, and people heed him. He has done well in the law speaking previously. I will think about this, Hraban, and of ways to fix what is broken.' I nodded, and he prodded at Manno's corpse with his toe. 'Tomorrow, Hraban. We will deal with many unfortunate things, but for now, I go and ensure Armin knows a fool of a man is captured, properly tortured and utterly broken, and I will wait for mad Isfried to come. And Hraban, it is best to marry her or find a foolish man for her, quickly.' He left and glanced at Ermendrud, as he passed her.

  I sat there, staring at Ermendrud, wondering at what to do. Wandal came to crouch next to me. 'Who is the girl, eh?'

  I introduced her with a ragged breath. 'Ermendrud. A friend. Not a lover, like Gernot is claiming up there.' She was worried, just like Maroboodus was. It was her life that was at risk, and her spotless honor. Perhaps she thought if we were married that day, it would be fine, and Gernot's lies would not touch us, and she was right. We could agree to this, dowry or not.

  But I would lose Gunda to Gernot, and the bastard would win.

  I sat there, finally having to face the issue I had staved off for so long. I knew I wanted to marry the Chatti princess. It would give me much power and high position, and I did not love Ermendrud, not more than the thought of Gunda, at least, and I was a terrible bastard.

  'Gernot is making a ruckus up there, he is crying about Hraban and god cursed immorality in the same sentence,' Ansbor said drily. 'Knowing you, he is not lying.'