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

by Alaric Longward

  'I love you, but I will not. But if you have to kill me, I understand …' she spoke, but I cut her off.

  'Your father will join you in the afterlife, not I. I do hope he cannot hurt you there. If he can, I am sorry,' I said, thought of my dead mother, and grunted as I thought about stabbing the blade to her heart where it would kill swiftly. The dagger was hovering above her.

  Yet I could not.

  I looked away, cursing. She smiled. 'I understand, and thank you for your love. Here, I will help you,' she said, and crawled to the edge of the water.

  I did not stop her as she slid in though I lunged for her after it was too late. I cursed her as the current spun her about. She held onto the rock. She looked at me and smiled sweetly, free of her troubles, and then let go. A strong current swept her off. It was a fast current, so fast it seemed she had not been real. She was gone, under the rocks, the goddess claiming her. I breathed hard and wiped away tears. I dropped the dagger on the altar cloth and noticed the scroll she had brought to the edge of the water. I felt nauseous but picked it up and opened it. In it, she had written a prayer.

  I read it aloud. 'I give this man, Raven, to the gods. To you, Abnoba the Azure. And myself. Guard us on our journey. Together we greet you, great mother of water, to take us where we belong. Together.' I wept as I read it. She was mad. A victim of her bitter religion and terrible father, and likely a victim of sudden love for me. She had meant to follow me. She wanted to join me in the afterlife.

  I suddenly vomited and sat up, painfully. I felt sick, perhaps of grief. Or the drink? She said that we would meet soon. She had said that what was in her drink would prevent her from getting pregnant. Perhaps it was not an herb to prevent a child, but something to kill her. And I had swallowed it.

  I blanched and went to my knees. I put fingers deep in my throat and threw up, violently. I threw up until I could not throw up anymore, and I felt stronger after I wiped my face. I was weak in the knees, feeling horrible, but I would live, I thought. I got up after a while, feeling empty both in the belly and the head. I walked to the bed, and saw a neat pile of scrolls next to it on a wooden box and rummaged around. There was an ancient one, broken in places, parts of it missing, but reading it and understanding some of it, I knew it was the scroll Tear wanted. I took it.

  'I won't forget, and I am sorry,' I told the gurgling goddess. I had to go home. I had men to kill, a child to save and gods to thwart. I was a man of the Marcomanni, a Germani and a self-made warrior.

  CHAPTER XXII

  Death is final. I wanted her back, but she was gone, no matter how many thoughts rebelled against the fact. I painfully started to climb the stairs and thought of the poor, mad Shayla. Vago would pay for her, too. I went slowly. I felt sick, and the cold, wet stair was slippery as I crept up.

  Looking up to the pale moonlight, there was one of the guards standing in front of the door, between the pillars. He glanced towards me now and then, down where the shadows held me safe. I waited as he looked down and then crept up when he turned. I smeared some mud on my face and arms, and the man started to walk back and forth, his sword clanking on his side, glancing down, bored. I did what Nihta had taught me. I timed my steps to his, breathed shallowly. Even a man with his limited senses can hear tiny sounds that can alert him.

  Slowly I came up to where the light shined. I glanced at the hated dagger in my hand. It was sharp. I was near the top. I was crouching some six feet down the stairs. He would see me for a second, and if he was good, he would retreat to the yard and scream for help, and I would die. I would be with Shayla after all. I lay on the edge of the light, trying to listen to where the other man was and if the slaves were up there. He kept walking by, still glancing down each time, slave to his ways, and I cursed him under my breath. They would grow tired, and come down with torches, and maybe I could surprise them. Or they would have more men come down, and I would be herded to a corner and killed, unless I followed Shayla to the maw.

  I had no more time or patience. The man went past. I steeled myself, ran up, and saw how he turned, took a step back and looked down. Straight at me.

  His eyes widened, and his mouth opened as he saw a large, darkly smeared demon springing forth from the abyss. I grabbed him by the beard and pulled him over me, and we fell back to the tunnel, painfully. He struggled, and I stabbed him in the neck and throat so many times I lost count. I was dead scared. He swatted at me weakly, and we slid down to the dark shadows, rolling over each other. Finally, he lay still. I looked up, heard steps and ran up. The other guard came to the doorway, his mouth agape, an axe in his hand at the ready. He saw me moving and growled, coming forward.

  I was going to die.

  Then he yelped, slipped on the steps and fell over me. I stepped aside and heard him tumble down into the dark, bones crunching nastily. One of the slaves stood in the doorway, his hooded face hidden, his leg still up as he had kicked the man. I stared at him, waiting for him to scream. He did not. I stepped forward with the dagger, keen on silencing him, but I saw a familiar pendant on his chest. The statue of Mercury. I stopped. He raised his trembling hands and pushed back the cowl.

  'Hello, master,' Felix said flippantly.

  He was thin, bony in fact, and dirty for having missed many baths, and I hardly recognized him. I laughed, too loud for our safety, and hugged him fiercely, sudden tears rolling down my cheeks. 'You lying bastard! How? How did you come to be here!' I asked, happy, despite the fact I knew he had had a part in the murderous plans of Maroboodus and Antius, and the death of my family. Yet he had saved me that night.

  He glanced around while clapping my back. 'Master, now is the time to walk, not to talk. I followed you. I ran to the dark woods after you fell from the rampart. I hid and followed you. I stole a boat, lived in squalor, and travelled after you.'

  'I thank you, Felix! I thank you,' I said.

  His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. 'Well, you look fat! I have eaten scraps and sick rats while that druid fed you thick cow and fresh vegetables, honey from the comb mead and expensive wine. No doubt she gave you other things, too! Where is she?'

  'She is dead, Felix. Speak no more of her. No evil words, no kind ones.' He looked suspicious but nodded. I looked around, and saw some men further away, horses being tended. 'I understand you managed to follow me, but how did you enter here?'

  He looked sheepish. 'There was a guard, but …'

  'Did you do him unnatural favors?' I mischievously asked him as I pushed him to the shadows. A slave was walking by slowly, in her thoughts.

  He seethed, looking at the passing slave. 'What? Is that the thanks I get …' he said, his small face mad as a bull with a thorn in the nut.

  'Where did you get that?' I tapped the winged god on his chest. He was quiet and trembled. I nodded at him and guided him to the side. I looked in his eyes. 'You didn't steal it, did you?' I asked.

  'No,' he said softly. 'It was always mine. I kept it at that altar in Hard Hill at nights. So basically, you stole from me.'

  'And the master,' I said, 'the one in the harbor, was Gaius Antius. Your infernal master. He told me this. And you worked for him, a liaison between traitors Maroboodus, Catualda, and Antius, and a useful, foolish boy to use to manipulate Bero to Hel and Maroboodus to an important seat.' He nodded. 'So, why are you here?' I asked him gently. 'Why not go back to Antius? Why did you follow us when we left Hard Hill? You were promised a lot for your work, no doubt. Why did you save me from Maroboodus to start with?'

  He was licking his thin, dry lips, for I was getting madder with each uttered word, thinking of blood and death. 'You saved me from Gernot and Ansigar,' he said. 'Nobody has ever fought for me.'

  'I fought for Ermendrud, as well,' I reminded him.

  He shuddered. 'You did. But you saved me, and I think you would have, Ermendrud or not. Antius was my master, Maroboodus as well, but you were my friend. I hope you are.'

  'Did you know Maroboodus would kill my family?' I asked him, my heart heavy
.

  He fell on his knees. 'I wrote the scroll for Catualda, the one he sent to Vago.' He cried but did not beg for mercy as I crouched before him, holding my head. Woden screamed for his blood. I put my hand on his thin neck, and we were in that position for ages.

  Wyrd. He was young, like Hagano had been. Did Sigilind want him dead? Did Hulderic?

  Did I?

  I hated my father and Antius, who chose willingly to do these things. I hated Odo, who would stop at nothing to hurt me. I hated Vago, who killed people I loved callously, a weapon for my enemies. But I had pitied Gernot, and I pitied Felix. I hugged him softly and clapped his back. 'You are a rotten bastard, Felix. Like I am. But you are here, and we will go, and forget everything else.'

  He sobbed. 'I thank you.'

  'Wandal?' I asked hopefully, shaking the gloom off.

  'I did not see him, master, I saw him fall off the wall, but nothing after it. They took many prisoners, the Matticati. Perhaps …' he ventured.

  'Let us go,' I said as I went down to the dark tunnel to rummage with the guard's body. 'The other slave?'

  Felix shrugged, spitting in disgust and fear. 'First man I killed. He is dead. Right there,' he said and nodded to the shadows of the villa.

  'You stole the clothes?' I asked as I found an axe, the sword was somewhere down in the dark.

  'I stole them. The problem with slaves in a Roman household of this size is they do not know each other. I just pretended to be one. It worked. So, the druidess …'

  I pulled out the rusty armor and the tunic of the man with a grunt, cursing as they rolled on his arms and refused to budge. 'I said I didn't wish to talk about it,' I said sternly.

  Felix did not give up. 'Well, yes. But she tried to poison you. I saw the other slave pick up some poisonous vials for her. He told me that anyone drinking the yellow liquid would meet his or her ancestors. Therefore, I switched it. It was yellow, and I only had one yellow liquid to replace it with,' he was blabbering while scanning the grounds.

  'So you tried to save me from poisoning?' I said as the tunic came off and I pulled it on, the heavy armor after it. It felt royal, heavy, and safe.

  'Yes, that is why you are alive. The poison did not work. It was just my piss,' he said, proudly.

  I laughed darkly. 'Felix, the poison was for her. She meant to drug me, then bleed and drown me and kill herself with the poison. I switched the drinks. So I am not sure if I should be grateful, but happily, the wine was not worse off for your weak piss. Let us go. Do you have a plan? No, you will not mention Shayla again.'

  'I, very well,' he said and looked at me. 'Killed herself. You have a weird effect on women. Your face is covered in mud, master.' I nodded and quickly scrubbed my sleeve over it as I pocketed a pouch with a few silver denarii, a silver bracelet that had been hacked into pieces to be used for payment, and a silver ring.

  'Horses?' I asked gently, pulling on a pair of ill-fitting shoes. Felix nodded at the dark stables. 'We belong here, Felix, so let us walk slowly and brazenly,' I said proudly and marched off towards the stables though I had no intention of going there yet. We would pass the door to the villa. The guard at the door nodded at us, and I prayed he did not think me suspicious. I was talking slowly with Felix. I heard Vago's voice from upstairs, speaking excitedly with Catualda. 'So, Felix, I have a deed to do,' I told him with a grin.

  'Where are you going?' Felix rasped at me as I walked towards the door, my hand on the axe handle.

  The guard stepped forward, his head tilted in confusion. 'What is it?'

  I nodded at Felix. 'Do you know this slave?' He looked over my shoulder, and I slammed the axe in his neck, ripped the weapon off, and hit him another time. I took his shield and spear, dragged him to the side and rolled him beneath the stairs, waiting for yells of alarm. None came. 'Wait here, Felix. If I don't come back, I wish you a good life,' I said to the boy who was wringing his hands above the fallen guard.

  I walked in and a servant came forward, one of the two men tending the fire in a pit in the middle of the room. On the walls were expensive sconces and the whole reception hall was very Germani, yet hung with red curtains. It was much simpler than what Bero had liked. I nodded at the men. 'I have a scroll for Lord Vago. Quickly now.'

  The man walked forward, his hand out. 'I will take it to him. He will not be disturbed.'

  'It is important enough for him to want to be disturbed,' I growled. The man shook his head and smiled at me insolently. I took out the scroll Tear so much yearned to see. The man took it and opened it.

  'What is it? I cannot make it out,' he complained.

  'You would do well to read it in the light, lout,' I growled, and he nodded apologetically. I walked towards the fire pit after him. 'It is important,' I said, and they both looked at the scroll. I threw the spear at one, impaling him, and slammed the shield in the other's face. I picked up the scroll from his unconscious hands and stepped on his throat. There was a crack, and he let out a curious, wheezing sound.

  I searched the room. Behind a curtain there was a stairway going up, hallways to the right and left. It was eerily quiet. I got up the stairs, and in the end of the hallway, there was a gilded doorway with torches sputtering on holders, and a single guard wearing a cloak and a helmet, with a tall spear in his hands. I left the shield and spear and took out the scroll again. I went up to the stairs, and the guard looked at me carefully. I could hear Vago behind the door. I turned downstairs and pretended to be listening to someone. 'Here? At the end of the hall? Thank you, thank you.' I turned to the guard who lazily leveled the spear. I took a deep breath and walked towards him briskly. 'Ware man, I need to speak to Lord Vago! There has been a rebellion! A murder!'

  'What? Who?' he said, his spear point wavering.

  'Lord Vago's son! He has been attacked. He is dying, perhaps dead! Quickly, now!' I said, and the guard turned to the door, uncertain.

  'His son is inside …' he started, but I swung the axe once again, grabbing his spear.

  The weapon hit him on the side of the head, breaking his leather helmet, and he flew into the room, the door breaking under his weight. I threw the spear after him, nailing him to the door. I walked over his corpse and went in. Vago looked up, surprised. He was wearing breeches, the strange, green tunic, and simple shoes, his silvery helmet on a desk next to mine. A young man with tattoos of axes on his cheeks got up quickly, wearing a toga. Catualda got up from his plushy seat, his mouth opening in terror as his nightmare came calling. His beard was foamed from the ale he had just drunk.

  In Vago's hand was Draupnir's Spawn.

  'Hello, Catualda!' I told the man casually. 'A bad time to visit, but not for me, I think.'

  'Shayla?' Vago asked as he walked to a window.

  'Waiting for you,' I said savagely. 'In the afterlife.'

  He sneered in anger. 'My daughter. You would kill women.'

  I pointed a finger at them. 'You both killed my mother. You killed my grandfather. What of your father, Catualda? You watched as Bero was taken to terrible torture and death. So shut up, curs.' My finger turned to Vago. I sneered. 'Why did Shayla wish to die, Lord? She was afraid of you. I know what you have done,' I said and stalked closer to him.

  His confused, tall son pulled a thin dagger from the folds of the toga, looking at me uncertainly. Catualda moved for the window, glancing at the ring in Vago's hand. I acted, darting for the young, toga-wearing man and swung the axe. He dodged and tried to stab me but the voluptuous cloth hindered him and he tripped, his face a thing of hate. I swung again, and the edge missed, but the side of the weapon crunched onto the cheek of the man and he fell, spilling teeth on the bed as he bumped off it to the floor.

  'Your son, eh?' I asked. Vago's eyes glittered in the dark room, his hand on the windowsill.

  'Give me the ring, Lord,' Catualda said urgently.

  'He is Hunfrid, my heir.' Vago's face betrayed fear as he looked down at his son, slapping Catualda's fingers off when he tried to take the ring off Va
go's finger. His eyes glanced at the open, inviting window.

  I laughed, resting the cruel axe on top of Hunfrid's face. I pointed at the window. 'Go ahead, Vago. There are songs about you already, this will be another one. How you ran away from your prisoner in your own bedroom through a window. “Hunfrid's Fate,” they will call it,' I mocked him, and he stiffened.

  Vago shook his head carefully, abandoning any thought of fleeing. He was a famous lord and I but a recent prisoner of his. He snickered as he considered that, but sobered soon. 'You deny me my place, my godhood. You deny us our plans for overthrowing Rome. Do you know for whom your Catualda works? It is not the Romans!'

  I nodded. 'He works for himself, the bastard. He wants to be a king, like my father does. Under Armin the Cherusci.' Catualda looked at the ring feverishly; so agonizingly close. I gestured at the ring. 'That ring, Lord Vago, will inspire men, and your vision of being a strong Roman, stronger than Rome itself, could come true,' I said mockingly, and tapped the axe on Hunfrid's head, drawing blood.

  Catualda was anxious. 'He knows, Hraban. We will raise all the Germani as one and wipe the Romans off this world. We need all strong men to unite, you see, and plans are moving!' he said, hopelessly trying to win me over, even now.

  Vago nodded as if wondering at the strangeness of it all. 'But you live, and the world is at risk, even the small piece I wanted to lord over.' He cursed foully.

  'You would be a sod-ridden god of turd eaters, Vago,' I said with a sneer. 'Only queer things would follow and praise you.'

  Vago shook his head, uncaring of my words. 'I will be one, though. I want no less. I have paid heavily for godhood. You killed my dear Shayla, you have likely slain Koun as Catualda told me. And gods know what happened to Vannius. He was near your filthy presence. Now him,' he gestured bitterly at Hunfrid.

  I laughed and nodded at Catualda. 'It matters not what you believe, but it was him. Catualda killed Koun, and I liked him. Catualda is a worm that always has two truths readily at hand where one would serve best. I will see his innards soon. I think he has nothing human in there. He is a spineless bastard who helped my father kill my unsuspecting family, then betrayed him as well.' Catualda smiled at me, not insulted in the least.