“I have to leave.”
“Shh,” she pressed a finger to my lips. “Let’s talk about yesterday.” She did not mention any specific thing, but it was clear she meant my duel with Aron. “I should have done this earlier, but both of us waited for the other one to make the first step.”
“I don’t know what they told you, but it was not me who started it. The first rule before judging is to hear both sides,” I shrugged, knowing that she would have no answer to that. Staring at her fingers, I was expecting an uncontrolled reaction from them – they are the best display of inner struggles; but again, there was none. “But I am just a stable boy,” I added, after a while, and tried to pull my hand away from her.
Her grip tightened, stopping me. Not that I could not escape. “Codrin, you are not a stable boy.”
“If I am sent with the servants when your guests come, then I am a servant,” I burst out, “and they will treat me like that. Boy, take the horses,” I mimicked Big Mouth.
“You are a just young man unable to find his place in the hierarchy,” Jara sighed, but she avoided tackling the issue with my exile to Meline’s house, and Aron’s order. “You are a noble by birth, and raised in that spirit, but you can’t act as an equal to a Seigneur or Knight now. Well, you can, but you have to take the consequences. And don’t think that I don’t know how it feels. I was once a Grand Signora. Now I am just a Knight. Isn’t that funny? There is no a feminine equivalent for Knight,” she joked, trying to change my mood. “You made a fool of Mohor’s most trusted man. I had to be harsh and send you with the horses, to placate him for what happened to Aron.”
“Big Mouth threatened to smash my head if I didn’t take the horses. Did they tell you that?”
“Stop with this Big Mouth thing. His name is Aron, and he is a Knight and Spatar, a man of power.” Her tone was now slightly colder. “You set a trap, pushing him to ask for a duel – don’t protest, you knew your skills and assessed Aron’s. Aron is Mohor’s top dog; you humiliated his dog and put Mohor in a bad position. Not that Aron did not deserve it,” she smiled. “Please understand; I don’t blame you, but sometimes a pinch of humility is needed just to survive; that’s why I asked you to take the horses. At any time, Mohor or Aron could send twenty or more soldiers to kill you.”
“The ‘boy’ must take the horses,” I said, annoyed.
“A Seigneur, or a Knight, rules the people in their lands, so yes, the boy must take the horses, and you know it.”
I stared at her and decided that it made no sense to continue. She was right in general, but for her political game and marriage, she wanted too much to believe their version to even ask me what really happened. “Well, then I have to leave.”
She caught my hand between hers. “Codrin, it was just a survival lesson not meant to harm you. Tell me that you will return soon.” It was clear for both of us that I had to leave for a while, just to be alone and make up my mind, and stop impeding her plans with Mohor. She stared at me until I finally nodded.
“I will leave again before your marriage. I need to find my own place.” It will not be easy, and for sure nothing like here.
“This is your place,” she gestured around. “Some doors will open for you after my wedding. Mohor…”
“Mohor is your future, not mine. During that last stay, I will be more careful with Saliné,” I said, with unwanted melancholy in my voice, and took my hand from hers.
“I don’t understand.”
“You are working hard to find the highest possible place for your daughters,” I said, repeating her own words. “I understand that, but I don’t want to be burned, just because my rank is so low.” By marriage, Jara would again become a Signora, reflecting her status onto her children, and there was not much place for people like me in their new ranks; I knew it from my previous life. Things happen.
“Please, don’t decide now. Let’s discuss it again when you are back,” she pleaded.
“There is nothing to decide, when you have just one opportunity. Do me a favor,” I abruptly changed the discussion, just to end it. “Don’t hunt alone when I am away.”
Things had started coldly and ended in a sadness that none of us could hide. Somehow, I could no longer fully trust Jara, and that made me harsher than I wanted to be. It was a miserable evening followed by an even longer night.
Maybe she is right; we can restart this later, and I can have my place back. And Saliné... I retraced my argument in my thoughts, and it was almost morning when I felt asleep.
Chapter 10 - Codrin
Delia and Panait welcomed me, but he had no work for me – it was not the right season for caravans, but the news and gossip season was always open, and I left a few days later, knowing all that moved in Arad and around it. There was an intricate layer of interactions between the Dukes and Seigneurs, far more complex than at a royal court. Under normal circumstances, a kingdom has one source of power, and everything gravitates around it. Here, the central authority went away with the kingdom’s dissolution, and there were many local sources of influence competing with each other. After the two Dukes in the north, Orban was the strongest Seigneur in the northern half of the former kingdom, and he wanted to extend his power further, becoming a Duke too. The easiest place for him to conquer was south, Mehadia or Severin, or both, and by extension Jara. She will marry the wrong man again.
Unable to return to the place that I still wanted to call home, I decided to try my luck guarding the roads out of Arad – it might be a source of friends and money, my instruments with which to buy land and achieve Knighthood. I was not lucky; the poor family I saved from some petty robbers was, and that provided me with a hot meal, before they moved on through the forest. Good enough, I encouraged myself, and with a stubbornness born from not having many choices, I continued to guard the roads.
Nothing happened for another two days, until, three hundred paces away from me, I noticed five men intently watching the road. I may have a job soon. They did not look like the usual robbers, but they were not there for a picnic. Good horses, good armor. No bows. This could be a rewarding business. Silent and showing no trace of tension, they were just waiting for the prey to come to them. This business could be dangerous. A few boring turns passed until movement caught the corner of my eye – still far on the road. Five people again, riding fast. An embassy, I recognized Orban’s banner through my spyglass, and that revealed that both the reward and danger could be much higher than I had estimated. Orban’s soldiers were among the best. So must be the hunters; I promoted the waiting men from robbers. The hunters remained still, from their lower point the prey was not yet in sight. Taking Zor by the halter, I climbed down behind some bushes from where it was easier to control the battle, although the hunters were now out of my vision.
Down on the road, the embassy passed close to my position, and I got the impression of recognizing one man from Arad. The attack started a minute later, and three fighters died in the first exchange. Only one hunter… I pushed my horse to the edge of the forest, and I charged. The man I thought I knew and three hunters were still alive. One hunter is wounded. I pushed my horse in parallel with their leader, keeping him between me and the other two. He was good, but not that good. Caught between S’Arad’s man and me, another one died fast. The wounded tried to run, and I had to use my bow.
When I turned, the man I vaguely knew was searching the body of the hunters’ leader.
“That’s my reward,” I said, touching his neck with my sword, and he jumped back, raising his arms in a pacifying gesture.
“Winner’s Right,” he agreed.
They had a good amount of money. I kept the leader’s sword too, but the most interesting thing was a letter, a contract between a Knight – who required the man in front of me to be dead – and the hunters. There was a lot of money in that contract, for a good reason: the man they hunted was Cantemir, the first Secretary of Orban.
“So, Cantemir,” I stared at him. “What do you want to do no
w?”
If he was surprised by my knowledge, he did not show it, just took my measure. His eyes then moved from one the dead body to another, and back at me. “First I have to thank you for saving my life, then… How old are you?” he finally asked what everybody usually asked me in similar circumstances. Jara teased me during the winter that my face looked just fifteen years old.
“Old enough for this game,” I pointed to the bodies around.
“Are you for hire?”
“It depends on the price,” I shrugged to show a small trace of interest, and he gestured to me to continue. “Where are you going?”
“Dorna.”
“Seven galbeni to go there, and five if you want me for the return, too. And you pay for my lodgings in the city.”
“You are not cheap.”
You are alone in the forest. “You consider yourself a person of high value, and it would be disrespectful to disagree with you, by asking a low price. And you have an urgent errand.” I knew from the Panait that war was ready to erupt in the west, and from my evaluation Cantemir was not a real swordsman – owning a sword does not necessarily make you a warrior. The road back to Arad was almost as long as the one in front, not leaving him too many choices, and protecting high-ranking persons was more rewarding than working with caravans – the risk was not the same. “The job seems to be dangerous,” I pointed to the bodies, as a last argument.
“Why just five galbeni for the return?”
“It’s the normal price; you can find some other protectors in Dorna, but none now. Of course, they will not be as qualified as I am.”
“Who are you working for in Arad?” he tested me.
“Panait.”
“Are you the protector that saved his caravan from Hateg?” Cantemir’s left eyebrow raised in surprise, he still could not pass over my youthfulness.
After I nodded that yes, I was that man, believe it or not, he paid me six galbeni in advance, and the day continued in silence; maybe he was in shock or just considered me too young and unimportant to deserve his attention. Before sunset, we left the road to find a hidden place, easier to defend, and we took watches through the night.
“Do you know what?” I asked, in the morning. “The road is shorter when people are talking.”
“What do you want to talk about?” Cantemir looked uninterested.
I think I have something for you. “Will war start between Lenard and Rares?”
“Why would that news be of interest to you?” This time there was a slight tone of curiosity in his voice.
“I spend most of my time protecting caravans and travelling people,” I gestured toward him. “The last thing I want is to bump into an army or a battle. Soldiers don’t really have a reputation for being kind.”
“It may start,” he shrugged, and from that moment, we moved slowly into a new game: trading information – unimportant things just to test the water.
Cantemir rented an apartment in the best inn in Dorna, and dinner was served in our living room. When the wine finally raised his morale, I took out the letter captured from the hunter and handed it to him. “You may have an interest in keeping this.”
He read it slowly, me watching him, but Cantemir was not in a high position for nothing, his face kept his thoughts hidden. “Why now?” he asked, after a while.
“Well, such news is more digestible in a safe room than in the forest.”
“You may be right.”
Free for the next two days, I visited Iaru to trade news between Arad and Dorna.
Cantemir decided to leave the city on the third morning. “Just the two of us?” I asked, when it was already clear that he had not hired more protectors.
“From your self-described qualities, it should be enough,” he smiled.
“I have a penchant for good descriptions. Maybe I should put them on paper.”
In the two days spent in Dorna, I had started to believe that information could be more important than I initially thought; it could give me some relevance in the game the Seigneurs were playing. And having a double identity helps my game. Nobody knows that the man here, Tudor, is the same as Codrin from Severin, at least for a while. Protecting caravans represented a stable source of income; it was just that I need twenty lucky years to buy enough land to become a Knight – the first step up into the Frankis hierarchy and a springboard to claiming what was mine by right in Arenia. If properly handled, Cantemir could give me some insights into Orban’s plans, and the merchants news from everywhere. And of course Jara… I must stay close to her and help … both of us. With time and distance, day by day, my thoughts flew back to their house: the peaceful reading evenings, carrying the girls in my arms, cherry picking, riding in the forest, training, a world that was mine too and I wanted it back. And Saliné... I knew that Orban was their worst enemy, and my game would be dangerous. But that means getting close to Mohor too. And his big mouthed Spatar…
On the road I started to push Cantemir into more interesting exchanges, but he avoided them elegantly. I have to make the first step. “One week ago there was an embassy from the Duke Stefan in Dorna.”
“Valuable information. It would have had even more value in Dorna.”
“It came to me just yesterday, and I don’t really know what has and does not have value for you,” I shrugged to emphasize my innocence.
“There will be no war,” he replied with a pensive look. “You can drive your caravans safely in the west.”
“Was this war the reason for killing you?” It was a clear political decision, and my question could be interpreted as just trying to know more about an action in which I had played a role.
“I don’t know. Anyway, that issue was solved and the letter will soon solve a second one. But, this has nothing to do with your caravans.”
“I beg to differ. You can’t know where the safe parts are if there is no one to tell you. That letter,” I said after a while, as he became silent, trying to evaluate how far our collaboration could go. “It has more value when not used. And a second thing,” I interrupted him, just as he intended to tell that it wasn’t my business. “The man who wrote the letter sold a lot of land in the south, far from here. I cannot think what for apart from raising an army.”
“I know that. This is a long-term game. The war in the west was just an overture to cut off some lines from our defense. There is a subtle reassessment of power around us,” Cantemir finally accepted that our collaboration could be of mutual benefit.
Was Mohor involved in all this? Even in the killing?
Back in Arad, I visited Panait to inform him that the roads would be safe in the west, and the next day I met Cantemir again, at his request.
“Are you free for a new job?” he asked.
“My caravan will leave in three weeks,” I lied, as that was just the limit I had set for my imposed exile. “And usually, I work only with my men.” There was no such thing as ‘my men’, but while I wanted a new contract, I did not want to join the embassy of a player I needed to avoid like the plague, with many people who might identify me, and of course, it made me look more important.
“You’re going west,” Cantemir smiled and I nodded, even though it was not true, just to make a new bond between us and keep things out of his sight – there was no need to signal where I would go. “It’s a long journey, but you will be back in time. Histria,” he added the name of a city that was indeed far to the south – a seven-day ride. “My brother inherited something there, and he is a Knight and a good rider, but for certain reasons he can’t take any of his men.”
“We ride fast, one protector would be enough,” I pointed at myself without asking what that special reason was, just recalculating the fee. “The road is longer, but there is no emergency, so we can settle for twenty-five galbeni.” It was just a three-day ride from Arad to Dorna.
“Well,” he laughed, “I told my brother that your services are expensive.”
“Expensive, but respectable,” I smiled too.
“Speaking about the south. There are rumors of a wedding there.” It was a risky move that could affect Jara, but I bet that Orban would anyway know about it soon, if he was not already aware. “S’Severin and Lady Midian.” Midian was Jara’s Seigniorial name, and Midia her former city that she had lost to Orban.
“Well, we knew that some negotiations were taking place.” His answer told me that he valued my information just for being fresher; Cantemir was a subtle Secretary, and I did not feel like a traitor. “I am curious how Jara and Aron will work together at the same court,” he said, then went silent, and I did not react, waiting for him to speak again.
“Who?” I asked when the silence became too long.
“Nobody,” he said slightly distraught, as if just realizing that I was still there. “My brother will be here tomorrow morning,” Cantemir dismissed me.
I went to Panait, telling him that I was traveling to Histria – his sister was married there to another Mester, and I received a letter and a recommendation to her family. The journey ended in sixteen days without incident. I had a new bag of news that I could not evaluate yet. Maybe the fact that both Orban and Mohor had sent embassies to Histria a month before was of immediate importance. And now came the hardest step: going back to Jara.
***
There was no one in the courtyard, just silence dancing around. It’s too early for dinner. There was no sound from the house either, and I pushed the door slowly. A faint smell of cooked food relaxed me. Let’s see, now. The second door betrayed me, and Jara turned from the window. She stayed silent, while I advanced hesitantly.
“Jara,” I said finally, coming face to face with her.
“What took you so long?” Before I could answer, she embraced me gently, and I hold her too. “Welcome home.”
“Thank you, Jara. You have a well-known reputation for being tough,” I replied.
“I should chain you. Just to confirm my reputation,” she ruffled my hair.
At that moment Vio entered the room, and she stayed still, stunned for a moment. Then it took her the blink of an eye to come and jump into my arms, and I twirled around twice, her legs flying around. The fastest child I ever saw. She may become even faster than me… “I know you from somewhere. A cherry tree?” I asked, and she nodded, smiling and raising her arms, mimicking how to pick fruits. “What can we find in the orchard now?”
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