Errant

by Armas, Florian

  “Any loyalty has limits. Self-interest is stronger in troubled times. We are living troubled times. Friends, relatives, it doesn’t matter. Power is all about foresight, control and balance. Rulers must ignore minor things just to preempt what may become dangerous. As before, the same thing may look different to Mohor and you,” Cernat underlined that everybody was seeing my problem in a different way, suddenly degraded to a minor thing with the unintended consequence of making me feel insignificant and annoyed. “You must learn to see through the eyes of others. What happens next might change your place. Would you join our army?” Cernat asked, before I could speak.

  “I can’t. Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with some minor … things,” I preempted his usual arguments with a hint of mockery. What do you see through my eyes? “You have big plans to unseat Orban, a powerful Grand Seigneur. Test your army. Test your commanders, before Orban tests them.” If they fail, I might be able to gain my Knighthood and Saliné. If they win… But I did not see Big Mouth being able to win a war. The other side may lose it.

  “We want to give you command of the left wing of the army,” Cernat insisted, and I had to recognize that this was both unexpected now and something I planned to get in proper time. Taken by surprise, my mind split between my strategy and the feeling that I should answer in an appropriate way to their overture. “Jara convinced Mohor.”

  “Give it to Bucur,” I said, slightly derisively – a reaction driven by my undecided will – still haunted by Saliné riding with him. Jara’s name brought back their outing to me, with a peculiar effect that I could not explain, as I already knew about them riding together in the past, a thing I considered just social interaction.

  “Not a bad idea,” Cernat said calmly, and I almost bit my lip; he was the better player in our game. “There was quite a strong competition for that position, it gives good status. Sometimes, one man can change the course of a battle. A battle may change one’s course, too,” he tried once more to sell the advantage, and he was correct, he just did not realize that Big Mouth would try to kill me again. Trying to look ‘through my eyes’, he thought I was too confident in my abilities and ready to extort a higher price from them, like getting Saliné –a sort of blackmail.

  “I don’t want to die,” I laid a trap for him.

  “Soldiers die in battles. Protectors die protecting caravans. What would be different now?” Cautiously, he fell just halfway into my trap; my statement was too obvious.

  “Big Mouth,” I said, and he stared at me, not understanding. “I am not afraid of the enemy in front, but of the ‘friend’ behind. An arrow or just a push from behind is more deadly than the sword in front. And it’s so clean; people die in battles, as you said.”

  “You think that Aron will...?”

  “He has already tried, and you know it.” I stared at him, to underline my words.

  “I don’t really know,” Cernat said, with a voice void of feelings, just to show that it was a neutral statement.

  As planned, I took Big Mouth’s letter paying a hundred galbeni for my head from my pocket. I have a certain value, the paid amount provoked some pride in me, and slowly, I pushed the letter to him, across the table. “Read it only if you will keep its content to yourself. Not even Jara should know.”

  “Why are you afraid of Jara?” he asked, slightly confused, but I only shrugged, and it took him a while to decide what to do with the letter. “I still don’t know why you are afraid of Jara,” he said, after he had finished reading. “But a deal is a deal. I remember when you got the letter, and we were not able to solve your riddle,” he said, thoughtfully. “While I don’t think that Aron will try again, it’s your life in the game.” He pushed the decision back to me, but this time he did not think again of blackmail.

  I shook my head, leaving the table, and he insisted no more.

  “Jara will still try to give you the chance to lead the left wing. She is well intentioned,” he said, before I could close the door, both a warning and push to make me reevaluate her.

  The next morning, I left early, to avoid more pressure to join their army, and went directly toward Mehadia, by the northern road, the shortest and most probable way to attack Severin. I met Mehadin’s army before it crossed into Mohor’s land. A fifty-strong contingent of riders from Arad had joined him. They had exchanged their banners for Mehadin’s. Orban wants to keep things hidden... I followed them for two days, riding in parallel over the hills; it was not easy, but they were not going fast, and Zor was a good horse. Midday, they stopped on a small plateau from where the road to Severin wound down a moderate slope, and I guessed that they were preparing for battle. Big Mouth’s army arrived a few turns later and attacked immediately. A decision born from too much confidence; he could never conceive of defeat when he was in command, especially when his army was larger. Stupid… His men are tired. The fight was short, less than a turn, and I returned home to give them the news; as always, information was my main ally in a game where I was just a small pawn. After a while, from a highest hill I saw Orban’s contingent moving away from Mehadin’s army, which was still camped on the battlefield. Two days later, at noon, I reached Cernat’s house.

  “Codrin,” he said, obviously surprised, not expecting me to come back so soon; I had left word that I would be gone for two weeks. “What happened?” he asked, when we were comfortably seated in the armchairs, guessing that I had important news.

  “Big Mouth lost the battle.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I was there.”

  “Rag tag army?” His voice was calm, and he avoided asking why I was there.

  “Rag tag command, too. The Mehadins were on higher ground; Big Mouth arrived in the afternoon and attacked them immediately, his people and their horses already tired. Fifty riders from Arad were hidden in the middle of Mehadin’s army, real soldiers who stopped the main attack. Vlaicu partially reversed things on the right wing, and the left one went well too, but then our center broke and ran. It ended with a complete rout.” Big Mouth was the first to run. His cowardly reaction made the defeat a fait accompli.

  “We need to tell Jara and Mohor.”

  “Yes, you have to warn them,” I told him indirectly that I did not want to go.

  “Codrin, you must come with me,” Cernat said in a commanding tone that I had never heard before, and in that moment, I fully recognized the Grand Seigneur, naturally accustomed to be listened to and obeyed, and I saw his real stature and value. A secondary result of my mental effort was that Jara too was enhanced by my reevaluation. Living with them in a small home that did not suggest anything seigniorial had altered my understanding.

  In the castle, I had to repeat the same story, and tried not to be too obvious about Big Mouth’s failure, and again I avoided telling them that the will of the army broke when Big Mouth turned and ran. You must learn that by yourself…

  “Orban interfered directly.” It was Mohor’s first comment after I finished my story, and he left the table, going to the window in rare a display of tension. “In plain view.”

  “His soldiers used Mehadin’s banners in the battle,” I reminded him that it was a covert action.

  “Then how do you know they were Orban’s?” he asked, calmly, hiding his real feelings.

  I glanced at him, sure that he would not like my answer, but anyway it would be better than leaving the impression of being in contact with Orban before the fight. After the episode with the letter, I supposed they suspected some links between me and Cantemir, but for some unknown reason, no one tried to clarify those things. Maybe to keep some pressure on me when needed? “I saw them when they joined Mehadin’s army in his land.”

  “You were there so early?” he asked, frowning at me, and I nodded in silence, yet he did not castigate me that I should have informed Big Mouth.

  No one spoke for a while, and I understood that my role had ended after providing the news, and I was no longer needed. “May I leave now?”

&nb
sp; Mohor did not answer, and I stayed because I did not know what to do. He was still at the window, looking out with a kind of detachment that I knew was not real. Jara was white, her face composed. Our eyes met for a second and I sensed the ghosts rising from another defeat where she almost everything. That left a sour touch of guilt in me, as I had bet on their defeat, but there was nothing I could have done when Big Mouth led the army.

  “You did what Aron should have done,” Mohor finally broke the silence, “gathering information. I wished for better collaboration, but you two are like oil and water, never able to come together. It appears that my army and commanders were finally tested.” Mohor stared at me, so Cernat had passed my words to him, as was expected. “Things are not looking good right now, but how bad they really are we will know only after our army returns. Anything else?” he asked.

  “Mehadin does not have enough soldiers to mount an attack on your castle,” I tried to give a more optimistic view.

  “That much I know,” Mohor said, dryly. “l look weak now, and this may have dire consequences. I would like Mehadin to come and attack Severin. Would Orban join him?” he stared at me.

  “Duke Stefan placed a small army at Orban’s northern border too.”

  “It seems that Orban is your confidant.” Mohor was suddenly annoyed, and let me know it in both words and tone.

  “It looks like it was not a good idea to inform you,” I said equally annoyed.

  “Codrin, there is a lot of tension right now,” Jara interjected, “and some sparks may fly, but we are thankful for the facts you provided. We need all the help we can get, and a different strategy. Would you join us now? We know your conditions for that,” she added quickly.

  “Yes.” Her statement meant that Big Mouth was out of the game, and Vlaicu will lead the army.

  “Thank you, Codrin. Would you stay here overnight?” she asked, apparently determined to be my host.

  Caught by surprise, all that I saw was the possibility to speak with Saliné. Staring, undecided, at Jara, doubt came back to me. She will not allow it. “Thank you, Jara, but it is not necessary. I will return tomorrow morning...”

  “Codrin,” Cernat interrupted me. “There are many things to plan, and time is short. I will sleep here too.”

  Cernat convinced me, but as expected, Jara sent me to the Guards Tower, outside their residence. It was almost deserted; half of the guards were with the army, others on duty at the gate and walls. Several turns later, the first soldiers appeared on the east road, a small number, led by Big Mouth. Another sign of disorganization; they arrived in batches, the latest in the afternoon of the next day – no one had tried to gather the army back into one force.

  In a surprising move, Cernat came to dine with me in the evening. He asked again what happened on the battlefield, and I repeated everything, with suppressed hostility, mostly because I was kept away from Saliné just when I could see my chance. I answered all his questions, but never initiated any conversation. Then his questions moved more into assessment, what was wrong, what I would have done myself in that particular case. He ignored my barely concealed resentment, and did not leave until fully satisfied by my torment.

  “Thank you, Codrin,” he said eventually. “With all that anger and pain in you, things went smoothly between us.”

  The next morning, Jara was the first person I met in their residence. “Some more soldiers came back. Bucur was wounded,” she informed me before anything else, as if that was the most important thing in the world. “We took into account your advice and made him a wing commander. He justified our confidence. Saliné is with him now,” she said, in a neutral tone.

  “People get wounded in battles,” I shrugged, annoyed. “And many lost their lives,” I pushed her, but she retained her neutral stance. You wanted me to know that Bucur justified your confidence, and that Saliné is with him. Because I refused your offer for the left wing... “How serious is it?” I tried to show a bit of humanity, and hide my real feelings.

  “A cut on his upper arm, not very deep. It will heal soon.”

  “Then his wound is more a problem for me than for him,” I said aloud what I was thinking, realizing that too late from Jara’s reaction. Saliné will spend even more time with him... A hero wounded in battle for her.

  I think Jara understood me, yet she was not sure how to react, her eyes staring heavily at me, and I was mute, too.

  “Codrin,” Saliné entered the room, and saved us from that brief moment of embarrassment. “I did not know you were here. Bucur was wounded.” Where Jara used an almost neutral tone, Saliné was worried, and that more than annoyed me.

  “Two angry women that want me wounded in his place,” I said, bitterly. “I’ll leave now. My own wound is waiting somewhere.” I stepped toward the door, but Saliné was there, and she blocked my way.

  “Mother, please let me speak with Codrin.”

  For the first time in months, Jara agreed to leave us alone. “We will meet in a few minutes in the council room,” she said from the door, to let us know that our time was limited.

  “Codrin, what did I do to deserve that?” Saliné asked, visibly upset.

  “And what I did to deserve everything that happened this year?”

  “None of us deserved or wanted it, but I thought that we had an agreement.”

  “Agreement,” I said, annoyed. “What if we forget about that agreement and live normally?”

  “This is ‘normally’, Codrin. Please understand, I am engaged. There is no other way.”

  “We can meet from time to time,” I pleaded. “You meet only Bucur. Worry only for Bucur.”

  “Bucur is my companion at the court and was wounded fighting for us, but he is not you, and will never be. Please don’t make things harder. I want to meet you every day, to read in your arms, to ride with you, to pick cherries together, but... Now, please leave me,” Saliné whispered, and I wanted to embrace her, there was so much desperation in her voice. I moved slowly toward her, when she spoke again: “Leave me alone.” Her voice carried a toughness that I had never heard before.

  “I will never leave you alone, Saliné,” I whispered, and went out.

  Jara, Mohor and Cernat were already present in the council room when I arrived. Big Mouth is not here, I thought, with the hope that he would stay away.

  “So, you will join us.” This was just a formal statement from Mohor to open the discussion.

  “If Vlaicu leads the army, yes,” I made it clear that I would never serve under Big Mouth’s command.

  “It will not be Vlaicu,” Mohor said, staring at me.

  With some effort, I was able to answer calmly. “I apologize, but if Aron leads…”

  “It will not be Aron,” Mohor said, his eyes not leaving me, and I started to feel more uncomfortable than I was prepared for. Any meeting with Mohor was generally uncomfortable for me and that gave me a certain degree of preparation.

  “Bucur,” I suddenly understood. “It may work,” I shrugged. “What do you want from me?”

  “To lead the army.” There was a sudden trace of amusement in his voice, not matching the seriousness of the situation.

  You caught me on the wrong foot. In a good way… “Mohor, I am honored by your proposal. I am a good fighter, but my battlefield experience is limited. Vlaicu is better…”

  “Codrin,” Cernat stopped me. “There was a long deliberation until we all agreed, Vlaicu included, with your nomination. It did not happen because you are the best swordsman we know. It happened because you have battlefield experience. You told me of being in war councils before battles when you were still too young to fight, but old enough to understand. They did not keep you there for nothing.”

  I never fought a war. “That doesn’t make me…” I tried to convince him.

  “If you would let me finish,” Cernat said, with a smile on his lips, just to appease me. “We discussed battle situations many times with a bottle of wine between us, including the long one we had yest
erday evening. You have the general understanding of an operational plan. Even better, you know how to put it into practice.” I’ve never put anything into practice, my mind protested, but this time I kept my mouth shut. “When you rescued Jara, you took advantage of everything around you. You were just a very young man alone against six tough soldiers and needed stealth. The moving horse hid your first kill. Your next hit was the leader, to disorganize them. That’s planning, done fast, on the ground, reacting to a specific situation, and you know how to surprise an enemy. Vlaicu described the ambush on the road to Deva, when you led our embassy. You explained the tactical reason for your decision. Your orders were brief and clear. The soldiers accepted them without question. It ended with ten dead enemies, and just some minor wounds on our side. You always manage to obtain things with scarce resources, our exact situation. And if you want, not jumping immediately to accept the command is a good recommendation too. So?” he asked me directly.

  There was no expression on his face when he asked; the other two were also motionless and featureless, as if we were discussing trivial things over a bottle of wine, to use his saying. It was like all my senses were betraying me, unable to feel a tension that was surely there. If I win, the reward will be greater. If I lose… Saliné, Vio, Jara…Saliné… I unconsciously repeated her name. They would lose everything. The room was still silent, and waiting for my answer. “I will try,” I tentatively agreed.

  “I am sure you will do more than that,” Mohor said. “Do you have a plan?”

  “I have some ideas,” I said, reluctantly. “I need to discuss them with Vlaicu first.”

  “Good. Vlaicu will second you in the army, and he will be here in a few minutes. The council starts soon.”

  Unprepared, I wanted a delay to put my disparate ideas in order, but no one asked about my wishes, and I was ashamed to request more time. The room filled up soon after, and this council was different, its configuration extended for various reasons: Vlaicu as my second in command, Veres and Saliné as future leaders, and Bucur, enjoying their confidence after the last battle, and whatever other confidence they had in him. Big Mouth came too, and he did not look much affected by his defeat. It’s just a mask, I realized. Without any formality, Mohor gestured to me to explain my battle plans.