The Bretwalda (The Casere Book 4) (11 page)

Conn had a selection of Ancuman women parade themselves wantonly in front of him during the night, and they stayed late into the evening as he drank with Kolbert.

‘The ladies of my court,’ Kolbert slurred, ‘seem very interested in you Marq… heck, I can’t call you Marquis – it’s against the law to even acknowledge your existence.’

‘Against whose law?’

‘Axum law.’ He paused and thought for a moment. ‘I just remembered that I don’t recognize Axum law anymore so I can call you whatever I damn like so I’ll call you “Marquis”. Anyway Marquis, I just remembered something that I heard today – a rumour that you have a child with a Twacuman. Is that true? We have always considered Twacuman impervious to the seed of both our tribes.’

Conn decided to be honest. ‘Yes, my eldest son – Jowan. His mother is a Twacuman from Halani.’

Kolbert was drunk but not excessively. He was enjoying the wines brought ashore from Conn’s boats. He was also saving himself for his third visit to his chambers today.

‘If I recall my history, told by my Saba relatives and not my Axum relatives, I hasten to add, is that it has happen before – once. There was a story that the Marquis of Kerch also had a child with a Twacuman.’

Conn looked at Kolbert intensely. ‘I know he had a daughter with a Twacuman and a son with a Priecuman – but there is nothing in Kerch about him having a son. I was there recently.’

Kolbert laughed. ‘I heard about your exploits ion Sytha. One upside of being a prisoner is that one does not have to fight the ridiculous wars that the Axum want to fight. They seem intent on self-destruction. Anyway, there is a reason you don’t know because the son was born here – in Saba.’

‘Now I’m confused.’ Conn had spent the last five years collecting all the stories both written and oral that anyone had in Sytha and had compiled them into a book. “The History of Sytha and the Casere” was the working title. ‘I know that after the defeat of the Ancuman by the Casere, all Twacuman in Sytha were freed, and they went to live in in a part of Sytha now called Iladion. I know of none that came back to Kishdah. Who is the mother?’

‘That I do not know anything about.’ Kolbert got up to leave. ‘Anyway, I have regained my energy. I need to go to my room and my very willing bedda. What I do know is that there are many Twacuman who say they are descendants of the Marquis. You need to speak to Saekell.’ He sent for Saekell, who returned promptly with Derryth in tow. They had been in discussion.

‘Saekell – tell the Marquis of the story of the clan that claim to be descendants of the Marquis of Kerch. He does not know it. Goodnight. Sleep well.’ With that he got up and trotted out of the room.

Derryth watched him go. ‘It seems that the Aebeling is intent on making up for lost time.’

Saekell agreed. ‘I hope it doesn’t kill him.’ He turned back to Conn. ‘Feorhhyrde, the mother of the child of the Marquis if Kerch was called Benelfa.’

The new surprised Conn. ‘Benelfa?’ Benelfa was a Twacuman woman who was the Marquis’ bedda, and mother of his daughter Ana, and she had “probably” died during or after the “Battle of the Plains”. What he could determine of the battle was that the result was total carnage on all sides. The losses were so great that the Casere, as the Marquis was then called, had been unable to properly bury the dead. Conn had read accounts of bones being seen spread over the highlands for many years after. Within that, Benelfa’s demise had proven to be a mystery he hadn’t uncovered.

‘Benelfa came back to Kishdah? She had a daughter to the Casere and then she disappeared. I presumed that she had died. How did she manage to make her way back here?’

Saekell smiled a thin smile. ‘It is a long story. Benelfa was born in Neritum and taken as a theow to serve the Healdend who commanded the fyrd that sought to conquer the land that we now call Sytha. I mentioned Kelwin il Neritum – Benelfa was his sister. The Healdend was from Himyar – before the great flooding, Himyar was the greatest of all the Healdend in Kishdah – it had large lands that produced great quantities of grains and supported vast herds. After the flooding, it was all gone – and it is now the poorest of all the nations. After the Ancuman were defeated in Sytha, Benelfa returned to Kishdah with the Healdend, and had her child here in Saba. Not long after she returned, she was sold to a Jarl in Axum. Her son became the father of his own clan – the ninth clan. His name was Ewan.’

‘Ewan?’ Conn looked at Derryth in confusion, but he was no help. Derryth had his own problems. ‘I have never heard of the ninth clan.’

Saekell nodded in understanding. ‘There were only eight names in Neritum – here there are nine.’

Conn now looked more confused, and Derryth explained. ‘It is said that the mother of all Twacuman had eight sons by eight different Gyden – when there were male Gyden – and each started his own house. In Meshech we no longer had all eight houses – we only have seven – and neither does Sytha. Did I not tell you that Kaltor belongs to the missing house?’

‘No, you did not.’

Derryth smiled sheepishly. ‘That was my oversight. Kaltor is from the first house – which is probably why Caewyn sent us looking for him.’

‘And in Sytha?’

‘The first house is also missing. Saekell is of the first house so we will need him to give us one of his sons to take back to Sytha.’

‘I’m guessing that it is important to have all the houses present?

‘Vital – and now I know why the world has been in flux for so long.’

Conn had always suspected it was because of him, but he asked anyway. ‘Why?’

‘Because of the ninth house – the one we didn’t even know about. We need the ninth house in Meshech and Sytha as well.’

‘All of that doesn’t explain why Benelfa came back. Surely she wasn’t kidnapped or attacked by an Ancuman patrol. The Casere would have protected her.’

Saekell looked at him curiously as if unable to answer. He then looked at Derryth before answering. ‘That is because she betrayed him. And she was not the only one who returned. Others returned to tell the story of Sytha – all knew that without the stories, we would not know the path forward
.
’

That information answered some questions, but created others. ‘I understand the others but why Benelfa?’

‘We do not know why she needed to return but she must have had great reason. It is spoken that when she left the Marquis, she took three things; his horse, his sword and his son. In exchange she left behind her daughter, her love and her soul. As to why, we can only guess because Benelfa, died soon after she arrived in Axum – so it is something that we do not understand.’ He smiled sadly. ‘To be separated from one’s soul is an indescribable tragedy. She was a Wothbora like her brother.’

That information certainly explained the buckskin horses that the Ancuman rode – as well as the longswords. Conn stood up – it was getting late and he was confused. He bid them good night and headed out of the room to the stairs to the third level of the castle. Two Ancuman women stood and waited near the stairway. They bowed as he drew close.

‘Master, we wonder if you would like to fornicate with either of us? The night is still young.’

Conn stopped and looked them over. Medium height with full bodies, they were both bedda of men who were away – he had checked.

‘I feel unable to make a choice – why don’t you both join me in my chambers.’

They smiled at each other. ‘It would be our pleasure.’

As he got to the top of the stairs, a Twacuman guard bowed as he passed. ‘Sleep well, Feorhhyrde.’

‘Sleep? – I don’t think so.’ Conn retorted as he went to his room with the women trailing along behind.

Chapter 8
Fridfina il Nobatia

It was five days before Kolbert marched alongside Farrun at the head of Conn’s fyrd; resplendent in his marshal’s uniform. Conn had given him a promotion. All the ships had been unloaded and whilst the junks and schooners would be around to transport Conn’s fyrd, the cogs had been released to pirate the oceans – the order was to destroy any Axum craft that tried to cross between the islands, and reports back indicated that the neighbouring islands knew nothing of what had happened in Saba.

Conn’s first objective was the Jarl demesne of Calpe, and the town of Calpe-jo. Not knowing what was going to happen next, he had directed Sir Njil to meet him there.

Kishdah had once been a great land – before the floods that destroyed most of the low lying ocean floodplains had reduced it to islands. What were now bays and inlets were once great farmlands – it was a quarter of the size that it once was – and where continents were joined; they were now separated into hundreds of islands.

One day from the town of Calpe, Derryth reported that an Axum fyrd was waiting over the next hill. The Twacuman had been scouting. The beacon system was an excellent warning system, and they had been unable to shut it down completely. After a while, Conn stopped trying.

‘So how are we going to deal with them’, Kolbert asked, ‘I defer to your greater knowledge as I have never been to war – thankfully.’

‘Straight on; I’m going to lead the cataphracts straight through the middle so I can get to the folgere – they will be at the back. These men have been marching towards us for five days – they are tired, probably hungry and thirsty. They will not withstand a charge. If need be, the Twacuman Sagittari will follow, and Farrun and you can come along behind to mop up – when they see you, most should surrender.’

‘You are going to take on two thousand infantry wiga with five hundred horses?’

‘You haven’t seen my cataphracts.’ The order was given for them to prepare and the five companies of Kerchians promptly dressed their horses and themselves in armour. The lances, bows and swords made ready, soon they were ready to depart. Conn’s great Elfina stallion was a formidable sight normally, but in armour, he was terrifying. He snorted and raked the ground with his front legs.

‘He hasn’t had a good gallop in two lunars. He’s looking forward to this.’

Derryth led the Sagittari; he hated dressing up in armour and wielding lances. He preferred the bow, and they would follow through the hole that Conn created in the wall of infantry. The Ancuman had little cavalry as most of their horses were in Meshech – which is where they needed them most.

On the trot, Conn led the troop out and they trotted up the hill. At the top, Conn looked down on the massed infantry – they were dishevelled and disorganized. It was clear that these were young troops. It could well be a massacre if they didn’t surrender quickly. He turned to Farrun; ‘This is a very lopsided battle.’

With that he issued the order, the great stallion broke into a trot and then a gallop; with five hundred heavily armoured horses behind him, they would have been a terrifying sight – a wall of huge horse coming at the gallop at a line of men with shields and axes.

In truth the battle lasted less than ten minutes; the wall caved at the impact of the horses and then collapsed. Wiga ran in all directions. Derryth didn’t even bother taking the Sagittari down the hill. He let Farrun take his troops down instead. It would have been a slaughter to have his bowmen ride against these troops.

After less than two minutes, Conn was through the wall and he headed directly to the group of black cloaked men yelling and screaming at the rear. Five fell from their horses with arrows before Conn got near enough to release his swords. A few valiantly tried to engage with him but they too died quickly.

Around them groups of men were being herded like sheep – their hands in the air. The carnage wasn’t as large as he had presumed; perhaps two hundred had died in the charge, with several hundred others injured. Most, very sensibly, surrendered.

Kolbert was being physically sick behind a tree. Farrun pointed him out to his father. ‘This is all new to him – the Aebeling are not even trained well as the folgere do not want to risk them dying accidently. They are very limited in number.’

‘Are these all Axum troops?’

‘No – a lot are from the other clans – most are from Himyar and Makurai. The Axum had us training and working way from our homes. I spent most of my time in Axum itself – they saw me as a troublemaker.’

‘So will they join your fyrd?’

He nodded. ‘Yes; our armies grow bigger by the day.’

Kolbert joined them. ‘My apologies, Conn – it must have been something I ate.’ He was ashamed at his weakness.

‘Very likely. You are probably not used to the Meshechian foods we have been cooking for you.’

‘I think that is it.’

It wasn’t long before they were on the road again; Kolbert left behind men to help take care of the wounded and to bring them to Calpe. Conn’s medics were still in charge, and a company of Kerchians ensured that everything stayed as Conn expected.

~oo0oo~

By evening they were outside the castle of Calpe, and with no sign of resistance, they just rode in. Because of the lack of Ashtoreth in his head, Conn knew that the folgere had deserted Calpe, and with no folgere, the Axum wiga would unlikely to stay. Other wiga were still in town, and they soon lined the streets in curiosity as Kolbert led the fyrd through the town and to the castle. They were met at the gate by a group of men and women on horseback. They didn’t look happy, and they inadvertently blocked entry. They were not, however, wiga.

They bowed as Kolbert rode up to them.

‘Hail Aebeling.’ The elder man said.’ He also acknowledged others he knew, including Agingur il Sinjar.

‘Hail Jarl.’ Kolbert responded; he then turned and looked at Conn and the riders behind him. ‘Conn il Taransay, Marquis of Kerch in Sytha, I’d like to introduce you to Bolger, Jarl of Calpe. The people behind him are his family.’ Ever direct, he continued, as he waved to a girl in the back row, ‘That beautiful girl over there is his daughter Vilotta – who I wanted to take as bedda except she is too closely related. Instead, I recommend her to Farrun. As well as beauty, she has wealth. A rare combination.’

Bolger, Jarl of Calpe, was reeling from the sight of all the Twacuman and Priecuman – including Conn, entering his town.

‘You have made some unusual friends, Kolbert. Is that wise? I also don’t think you should be offering my daughter away to… strangers.’

‘Do you mean “can I trust them”? I don’t know – but I hope so, Bolger, I really hope so. I really like my new uniform. Also Farrun is no stranger – he is my cousin. Now let us in and organize a meal for us or I’ll… I don’t know … hit you with a Bo or something. I’m in training.’

Reluctantly the Jarl turned and led the way into the castle. About four stories high, the stone town house was quiet large, and impressive as most castles were in Kishdah. They shared a lot of the design elements of the earliest castle built in Sytha.

Servants, Twacuman, came and collected their horses and were very surprised to see Derryth and the others who rode at Conn’s side. Strangely, they were even more surprised to see Saekell, and Conn noticed that they bowed to him ever so slightly. Conn had insisted that he ride with them.

Inside the great hall, Kolbert introduced the rest of Conn’s entourage. ‘Jarl, I’m sure you have heard of Farrun il Nobatia through the nonsensical raving of our lunatic folgere. He is famous for all the wrong reasons. That is his sister Asbera – I didn’t know he had a sister but then neither did he, and the boy is Sarun, Jarl in Alwa. The others are Eldarr il Tarsus, illegitimate son of Sigkarl il Makuria; Vigbert il Axum, Disetha il Axum, and her sister Albega. From the Twacuman nations in Meshech and Sytha we have Derryth and Wilric.’ He paused and looked around at the group. ‘Have I forgotten anyone? No?’ Good.’ He looked back at the uncomfortable Jarl. ‘Oh, did I mention that Farrun, Asbera and Sarun are the children of the Marquis of Kerch – which as you might imagine puts a whole new complexion on a whole range of things. I might also add that the Folctoga Farrun commands five thousand wiga – and they are all here in Saba.’

‘Is the Marquis of Kerch not the one they also call the Marquis of Subari?’ The Jarl asked with some disquiet.

Kolbert looked at Conn, who nodded,

‘I was the Marquis of Subari in Samria – now I am the Marquis of Caledonia in Samria.’

Shrugging, Kolbert looked back at the Jarl. ‘He seems to have a lot of titles. I don’t understand the relevance.’

The Jarl took a deep breath. ‘I was in Samria when he defeated our fyrd, thought I did not meet him at that time. I have to concede that we were treated very fairly despite our loss. If the position had been reversed… in that, I owe you hospitality, Marquis, and, truth be told, my life. Welcome to my home.’

He stood and introduced his bedda and his children. Poor Vilotta was now too embarrassed to look directly anywhere – and certainly not in Farrun’s direction. She had daggers in her eyes whenever she looked at Kolbert.

‘And of course we are grateful for the current situation, though it is unclear just what that is. Self-evident here already, but if the rumours are true, we are soon to be totally free of folgere and Axum wiga. For how long, I do not know. The Axum folgere who were here from Saba were so distraught when their brethren died that they just rushed out and on to ships. They are probably well on their way home now. It won’t be long before the Bretwalda returns with more men than your six thousand.’

Conn shook his head. ‘No – they will either be at the bottom of the ocean or on their way here. I have a fleet of ships out there ensuring that no one gets off this island. It will depend if they were prepared to surrender or not.’

Kolbert jumped up, interrupting. ‘I forgot something – the best news yet. I have three bedda from Nobatia. I will introduce them to you.’ He did so and then looked confused. ‘Where is Fridfina?’

Everyone looked around and suddenly they realized that she was not there. When Conn looked at Asbera, she wasn’t concerned. ‘She went for a walk.’

‘Why?’ It was not something she usually did as she never left Asbera’s side. Except when she was in Conn’s bed, and that was temporary.

‘She said she was looking for something.’

Conn understood immediately. Once he was in the castle, he felt something; it wasn’t Ashtoreth and it wasn’t a Gyden he knew. It was the feeling of sadness that hung over the castle.

Conn turned to the Jarl.

‘Does this castle have a cirice?’

The Jarl looked confused. ‘A cirice? What is that?’

‘A place of worship for Ishtar – who of course hasn’t been worshipped for hundreds of years. I understand your confusion.’ He turned instead to the Twacuman servants. ‘We need to find Fridfina.’

They soon returned. ‘We have found her, master. She requests assistance in breaking down a wall. Shall I organize some men?’

Bolger didn’t really understand the question but didn’t get a chance to answer. Conn did. ‘Yes, please.’

The servant raced off and Bolger looked distastefully at Kolbert. Kolbert was sympathetic. ‘You get used to it after a while. The Marquis is apparently the
Feorhhyrde so they do whatever he asks.’

‘The
Feorhhyrde
? The Feorhhyrde is a myth!’

‘You tell them then. They didn’t believe me.’

They all followed the servant down into the basement of the castle and found the girl sitting on the floor looking at a wall. Conn went to Fridfina and she reached up to him. He hugged her. She had been crying.

‘Behind this wall…’ was all she said.

‘I understand, I think.’ Conn studied the wall. It looked like an original stone wall – part of the foundations of the castle itself, and it was only when you looked at it extremely carefully that you realized that one wall was wider than the other. When the servants arrived with tools, Conn asked for a large hammer, and he went to the corner of the wall, stepped out a few strides and then turned and swung with all his might at the middle of the wall. The stone budged; he hit it again, and it budged further. On the third swing it fell inside and several hundred-year-old air escaped from the hidden room. Torches were brought and the workers went to work opening up the hole until they were able to walk inside. It was indeed a cirice; the torches revealed a circular room and a central rectangular stone altar.

Conn walked behind the altar and touched a wall. ‘This whole wall here is false; it needs to come down.’ The servants immediately started to chip away at the wall until the outline of a window could be seen, filled in. They tapped out the brickwork and a single ray of light filled the room.

With the light they were able to work faster and soon there were six windows letting in light. The cirice was in the corner of the castle and the windows had allowed direct light from midday to dusk. With the light, they found the folgere.

Fridfina was standing in the corner of the room overlooking a pile of bones, neatly laid out. The bones were also several hundred years old and the airtight room had kept them intact after everything else had been turned to dust.

Bolger and Kolbert joined Conn and as they looked at the remains. ‘I don’t understand.’