The Sword Brothers (100 page)

At long last Conrad’s
life seemed to make sense. He had seen his life and family ripped
apart, he and his sister being saved only when they had the good
fortune to literally run into Rudolf and Henke. He had never
questioned his fate in the intervening years, being resigned to
becoming a member of the Sword Brothers. But now he realised that
he had been brought to Livonia for a reason and that reason was to
marry Daina and raise a family with her. He counted himself truly
blessed that God had smiled on him and led him to the wonderful
life that he was now living.

Chapter 21

It was an old trick
but effective nevertheless. They had arrived two days before: four
Saccalians who sailed down the Gauja in a riverboat with a cargo of
grey squirrel pelts. They left their boat on the bank and walked
inland to Thalibald’s village, requesting an audience with the
chief. The peace between their people and the Christians meant that
trade could now be conducted along the Gauja and they told the
chief that they had access to furs from Novgorod. Most trade was
conducted along the Dvina but why not open an alternative route?
The wealthy who lived in the cities and towns of Germany had an
insatiable desire for furs and paid handsomely for those that came
from Novgorod. Why bother paying the taxes levied by Riga when
ships could pick up their valuable cargo at the mouth of the Gauja?
Thalibald listened to their words and was convinced.

He feasted them in his
hall and they told him that the furs they had brought with them
were a gift. But they represented only a fraction of what could be
purchased from Novgorod. Peace meant trade and trade meant riches.
Both Livs and Saccalians would grow rich together and their peoples
would prosper. Thalibald knew that Lembit had accepted baptism and
had returned to his land a follower of Christ. The priests and
missionaries of the bishop were now living among the Saccalians,
preaching the word of God and being unmolested. Surely, they
suggested, now was the time to put aside old grievances and embrace
the new future. After all, did not Christ himself preach
forgiveness?

Thalibald embraced
them, drank with them and saw a future of prosperity and peace.
While he, Waribule and his warriors got drunk with the traders he
sent Rameke to Wenden to inform Master Berthold of these
developments so he would not find out via a third party. Rameke was
unimpressed and asked to stay but his father reminded him that he
was a warrior and a warrior obeys his lord. And so, as Thalibald’s
hall echoed with the sound of drunken laughter, Rameke and a small
escort rode from the village and headed to Wenden. The gates were
shut behind him for although there was now peace with Lembit,
Thalibald was not so naïve to believe that a warlord should sleep
with the gates of his village open.

Henke began barking
when he heard the sounds of revelry coming from the hall. Conrad’s
hut was not next to the chief’s residence but the night was warm
and still and the noise of drunken voices and cheers carried
far.

‘Shut up, Henke,’
Conrad hissed, concerned that he would wake Dietmar in his cradle
at the foot of the bed.

Sure enough the babe
started grumbling and then crying as he heard the dog’s bark.
Conrad got out of bed and grabbed the mongrel by the scruff of the
neck.

‘You can sleep outside
tonight,’ he said irritably as he slid the bolt back, opened the
door with his other hand and turfed the mutt outside, closing the
door and slamming the bolt back into place. Daina, dressed in her
nightshirt, picked up Dietmar and cradled him in her arms to soothe
him. Outside Henke growled, snarled and scraped at the door.

‘You can sleep
outside, you bag of fleas,’ Conrad shouted.

Dietmar began crying
again.

‘Shush, Conrad,’
whispered Daina as she began walking up and down, rocking Dietmar
in her arms.

After a few minutes
she managed to quieten her son and laid him back in his cot. The
sounds of merriment continued to come from Thalibald’s hall. Daina
rested her head on Conrad’s chest.

‘Your father will have
a sore head in the morning,’ he said.

‘I think it is the
morning,’ she whispered.

Outside he heard a low
snarl.

‘I swear I’m going to
strangle that dog,’ he said in exasperation. ‘If he wakes Dietmar
again…’

There was a yelp and
then silence. A shiver ran down Conrad’s spine and the hairs on the
back of his neck stood up. He jumped out of bed and pulled on his
trousers, then his boots.

‘Get up,’ he ordered,
‘and get Dietmar.’

Bleary eyed, Daina sat
up in bed.

‘Hurry!’ he shouted,
causing Dietmar to start wailing.

He felt sick as he
heard screams and knew that the village was under attack.

They had sailed
downriver at night, hauling their boats from the water before the
dawn broke and concealing themselves and their vessels among the
trees. They were particularly careful to remain hidden when they
got to Wenden, knowing that the crusaders always sent men to the
river to keep an eye on what was happening on the Gauja, or so
their lord had told them. On the last night of their journey they
had beached their boats on a sandy strip on the northern bank and
pulled them into the dense forest that came almost to the water’s
edge. They had removed the telltale indentations caused by the
boats and the marks left by dozens of boots and then waited. Waited
until it was dark.

It was easy enough.
While Thalibald and his men filled their bellies with meat and beer
two of the merchants left the hall to take a piss. They quickly
made their way to the watchtower next to the closed village gates,
slit the throats of the guards before descending to the ground and
lifting the oak beam that secured the gates. In they flooded,
silent death dealers attired in mail armour, helmets and armed with
spears, axes and swords. They did not come to plunder or rape, only
kill. Kill quickly. Kill efficiently. Kill everyone.

Conrad tucked the axe
in his belt, gripped the handle in the shield boss and clutched his
sword.

‘Stay close behind
me,’ he said to Daina.

She was trying to calm
Dietmar but was herself in tears, frightened by the dreadful noises
outside. He held his shield slightly behind him to cover them both
as he edged towards the door. He saw the boar spear that Rameke had
given to him as a present, sheathed his sword and picked it up just
as the door was kicked in. Daina screamed as the snarling brute
with a thick beard heard her and was stopped in his tracks as the
blade of the spear was thrust into the nape of his neck. Daina
stared wild-eyed in terror as blood sheeted out onto the earth
floor of her hut and followed Conrad mutely as he held the spear in
place and pushed the dead warrior back out of the door into the
street. To witness chaos.

Some of the huts were
already alight, the flames illuminating the scene of panic as women
and children raced around in alarm before being cut down by
warriors. He saw the body of Henke in the dirt and kicked the dead
man off his spear, momentarily catching sight of the design on his
shield. He saw a leering wolf’s head and gritted his teeth. He had
to get to Thalibald’s hall. That was the place where the Liv
warriors would rally. If they were still alive. He heard Daina’s
voice.

‘Conrad!’

He turned to see
Elita, half naked, running towards them, and following her was a
wolf shield about to split open her skull with his axe. Elita’s
mouth opened in terror as Conrad threw the spear that missed her
head by inches and thudded into the chest of her pursuer. He pulled
the axe from his belt.

‘Move Elita,’ he
shouted.

She rushed to Daina’s
side and kissed Conrad’s wife.

‘We have to get to the
chief’s hall,’ he told them. ‘Stay close. Move.’

The warriors were
going into every hut and slaughtering all inside. Animals in pens
behind dwellings were squealing and screeching as the sounds and
smell of death reached their nostrils. Conrad’s hut was less than a
hundred paces from Thalibald’s hall but that short distance turned
into the longest journey of his life as he tried to be ahead of the
women, by their side and covering their backs. Two warriors came
from a hut, their axes bloody and leers on their faces. Conrad
swung the axe blade at one, cleaving his face in two, then whipped
back the weapon to send the spike into the other man’s eye. He
clutched his face, screaming in pain, as he fell to the ground.
Conrad bundled the women before him and shepherded them around a
pen full of squealing pigs. He opened the entrance and the animals
bolted into the street and into the path of a group of wolf shields
that had seen him kill two of their comrades.

On they went, skulking
by the sides of huts where women and children had been butchered.
The air was filled with screams, cries and the smell of smoke as
the village was torched. Conrad roughly shoved the two women into
the shadows of a hut as half a dozen enemy soldiers raced by,
heading towards the centre of the village. Daina was trying to hush
the howling Dietmar, but such was the din that his noise was barely
audible. Perhaps he should try to escape from the village and hide
in the woods. But what sort of man would he be to abandon his
wife’s family in their hour of need? So he followed the wolf
shields, herding the women between two animal pens and by the side
of a hut to come into the small piece of open ground in front of
Thalibald’s hall. Just in time to see Waribule scythed down by a
succession of axe blows.

‘Noooooooo!’ screamed
Daina as she beheld her brother’s death.

‘Move!’ screamed
Conrad as he bundled them both towards where Thalibald and half a
dozen of his men were still fighting, holding off an increasing
number of Estonians with difficulty.

Conrad tucked the axe
back in his belt, drew his sword and plunged it into the back of a
warrior who was fighting his father-in-law. Thalibald saw him and
then Daina and ran forward, grabbing his daughter and hauling her
into the middle of his small circle of fighters. He said nothing to
Conrad, merely nodding grimly and continuing the fight. Elita
tripped and fell, jumped up, smiled at Daina and was then
decapitated by an Estonian axe. Daina shook with horror as Conrad
ran the man through, deflected an axe with his shield and severed
its owner’s arm at the wrist with his sword.

Thalibald’s hall was
on fire now, the flames roaring as they engulfed the building,
sending sparks high into the night sky. The chief was wounded in
the arm and then a spear blade pierced one of his hamstrings. He
went down on one knee, holding his shield above his head to deflect
the rain of blows that was directed at him. Conrad fought off his
attackers and hauled him to his feet. Thalibald smiled at him and
his expression went blank as a spear was thrust into his spine.

‘Conrad.’

He heard the faint
whisper of his wife’s voice and turned to see her clutching
Dietmar, an arrow lodged in the cloth that held him and blood
staining the material. His eyes filled with tears as he witnessed
his son’s death but in his despair did not see another arrow lodged
in Daina’s stomach. She smiled weakly at him and collapsed to the
ground, still holding the infant to her chest.

Conrad screamed with
fury and helplessness as he hacked and thrust to keep the wolf
shields away, standing over his wife as he cut down three enemy
warriors. He saw Daina’s mother fall and die not six paces from
him, Thalibald’s other warriors also being slain near their lord’s
wife. He caught an axe blade on his shield, stooped and thrust his
sword under it to rip open the mail armour covering the belly of an
Estonian, the broken metal rings being soaked in blood as he
twisted the blade. Whipping it back he flicked the handle and
sliced open the nose of an opponent with the point. The flames
roared and he fought on, never moving from his wife and child. He
heard Lukas’ words.

‘Keep moving. If you
stand still you are dead.’

But he would not leave
them.

He felt a jolt and
looked down to see that a spear blade had been thrust through his
side. But he did not feel anything. He felt another jolt as a sword
point was thrust into the rear of his left shoulder blade. But he
did not feel anything as he fell to his knees and dropped his
shield as he still clutched his sword. He felt another jolt as an
axe blade gashed the side of his head and he was knocked to the
ground. He kept looking at the face of his beautiful wife as the
darkness enveloped him and he faded away. But he did not feel
anything.

*****

‘Will he live?’

Rudolf stared at the
unconscious, bandaged figure of Conrad on Ilona’s bed and shook his
head.

‘That is in God’s
hands,’ she said, tying off the dressing that covered that top half
of Conrad’s skull. ‘I have done what I can.’

The glow of the flames
of Thalibald’s village had been spotted from the gatehouse in
Wenden’s perimeter wall and Master Berthold had been notified. He
and Rudolf had been entertaining Rameke in the master’s hall and
were about to retire when they were informed that the Liv
settlement appeared to be burning. The alarm was sounded and
Rudolf, Lukas, Henke and a dozen sergeants rode south with Rameke
and his men. The five-mile journey took an hour because it was
pitch black and the riders had to take care lest their horses were
injured on the pot-holed track. In addition, though no one said the
words, the possibility that the village had been raided could not
been discounted.

That fear became a
reality when they reached the village, the paths choked with dead
and many of the huts on fire. Terrorised, injured animals raced
around, some on fire and others driven mad by the inferno. They
left the horses outside the gates in the care of two sergeants and
ventured inside with drawn swords but they saw no one alive.
Reaching what remained of Thalibald’s hall, Rameke held his head in
his hands and wept when he saw the bodies of his father, mother and
brother, surrounded by their faithful warriors. He did not see the
corpses of his sister and nephew but Rudolf did, and he also
recognised the figure lying beside them with a fine sword still in
his hands. He and Henke examined the bodies and found that Conrad
was still alive, though the ground around him was stained with his
blood from his wounds. As Rameke railed, wept and vowed vengeance
they bound the wounds and sent a sergeant back to Wenden to inform
Berthold of what had happened and to fetch a cart to carry Conrad
back to the castle.