Maroboodus: A Novel of Germania (The Goth Chronicles Book 1) (16 page)

‘I’m not surprised, Aldbert, not trying to make excuses—‘

He poked me. ‘You should be happy you are not being hung as we speak, like a grouse to make it ripe. Pissing your pants. Your face might be uglier than Maino’s, your broken skull nailed to a tree. I’d probably sing your death lament and then write my own before I joined you, stuffed and bound at your feet in a gravemound.’ He looked inspired by the vision and I knew he was adding them to some poem he had been making.

‘Stop being so dammed gloomy,’ I told him and poked him back. ‘I’m going to be an exile all right. But not the way they think. None of them.’ And saying that hurt painfully. How would Hulderic, Father ever think I was doing him any favor by running away, but I was. I fondled the sword hilt, and felt the hand of doom press down on my chest.

‘Really?’ he asked, looking suspiciously at the weapon. ‘Where did you get that? It’s a sword? How did you get it? Did you steal it? You didn’t?’

‘Shut up, no, not yet. I didn’t steal it yet. I was given it as a sign of …respect, and I suppose as a payment for an alliance. But I’m not taking that offer, either.’

‘Hughnot?’ he asked, suddenly very serious. ‘You telling your father?’

‘No,’ I said sternly and looked at him. ‘I’m not listening to him, either.’

Aldbert began to look very worried. ‘And you are telling me because I have another hole to dig for you?’

‘So to speak,’ I told him. ‘I need you to get me to the girl.’

‘
The
girl?’

His eyes thinned and he didn’t look like the usual fool. He was thinking hard, trying to decide how to get on with the discussion. He reminded me of a sneaking lynx. He smiled and waved towards the Bone-Hall. ‘So, you wish to speak with her?’

‘Not now, later,’ I said.

And you need a poet to get you to her and to win her heart for you. I am not well-liked with girls, my friend, as you know with Erse who doesn’t even look my way. You would do better to get your own lure, and I think she liked you already. I’d make her confused,’ he said. ‘And the guards—‘

‘The thing is I wish to take her for a ride,’ I told him.

His eyes went large as a boar’s balls and he gawked at me. ‘A
ride
?’

‘Yes, I’ll need her to take a ride with me,’ I told him bluntly, so bluntly he began rubbing his face as if physically struck.

He stared at me as if he had not heard what I said. In his eyes there was a look of bottomless sorrow. ‘So. You want me to steal a woman from Maino? Or help you do that. I will sing a song to her and she will doze off, and you will just haul her over your shoulder, place a meaty, greedy hand on her rump, and carry her off into the night. And where are
we
going with this woman? You realize I cannot stay behind. They’ll feed my guts to the seals while I watch from the beach. And, if I may ask, why her? There are a host of far better looking women out there. I know this, because I talk to traders. They wouldn’t lie. You would find a woman in the south, one that doesn’t smell of reindeer fat, and likely a woman that would make Woden touch himself. Please be patient. I knew a trader—’

‘Traders can take them for all I care. I want the one that smells of reindeer fat and looks beautiful as a winter storm.‘

He was shaking his head. ‘This one looks like a snowflake, but I doubt she will melt in your palm. Just—‘

‘She will be warm enough in my lap,’ I told him. ‘I don’t want her to melt. I like the thought of a woman with spirit, not some simpering, foolish thing that would nod away when I do something that would make an idiot cringe. And I will be a good man for her.’

He sneered. ‘Coming from a man who has never had a woman sit on his lap.’

‘You have sat in my lap,’ I told him helpfully. ‘Soft and good smelling you were, though drunk and insensible. And I never put a hand on your rump, though no doubt you would like me to.’

‘Now wait a moment!’

I put my hand across his mouth. I looked around and thought I saw Ingulf’s shadow flitting in the darkness, keeping an eye on me, and the man must have been worried Aldbert was reluctant to help me. ‘There will be no guards, only the old woman who looks after her. There will be a
fire
. That means a hall will burn, somewhere in Marka.’

‘You will burn a hall,’ he mumbled under my hand. ‘A hall. They will have a dozen feuds against you. You will ride away a fugitive. You’ll eat raw meat in some wooden hole in the woods. You’ll live in a cave, a hunted criminal and your father will be amongst those who send men to find you. I will be there, cooking squirrels for you, bearded, starving for mead, and smelling of shit.’

I ignored his babbling. ‘A hall will burn, or two, and all the women and men will rush to save it. Marka will stop at nothing to put out a hall-fire. Winter is coming and I bet it’s going to be an important hall.’

‘You bet? So you won’t burn it, but who?’

I pushed him to keep him quiet. ‘People will go that way to gawk at least, as they love chaos and bad news, love to gossip and no doubt they will think the master of the hall was a drunk deserving such a calamity, and that is our chance. You and I will fetch her. I’ll tell her she will be free and she’ll not scream, will she? Who would, if the alternative is a marriage to Maino? Anyone would rather choke on their tongue than risk that.’

He agreed. ‘A marriage to
any
Goth is not freedom, but slavery to a smelly damned animal. You are betraying our lord, are you not? Your Hulderic? Father? My lord? And now you are asking me to …‘ He shook his head. ‘Maino and Bero think I dug that pit. The slaves saw me doing it. Of course they did.’

‘Have they spoken?’ I asked, not really caring if they had. I was committed. I’d have to commit Aldbert as well.

‘I loaned the mattock from Bero’s slave,’ he said with a very small, apologetic voice. ‘I didn’t have a choice.’

‘You—‘

He sighed. ‘Yes. See what I do for you?’

‘You did well,’ I told him heavily. ‘Yes, I am changing loyalties. My father is my lord, lord of my heart, but he’s not the lord that respects me. If a lord is dishonorable and treats you like moose dung on the sole of their boot, who would not leave? I am joining—‘

‘Hughnot,’ he stated.

‘Hughnot,’ I said softly. ‘I should join him. He has vision and he is hungry to change things, to make a name for himself. He has lived in the backwoods of the Svea lands all his life, when he should be a boat lord, a Thiuda, and only because he was second to Friednot. I’ll not suffer that fate. I’ll not be second to Bero’s whelp. Nor shall I be second to Hughnot’s. And I do not trust him. I don’t. So here is what we will do after she is free—’

‘If she is free. We will do what?’

Wind was blowing and I lifted the cloak higher. I breathed and told him. ‘I’ll take her home. Then I’ll marry her and raise Svearna to help me. I’ll be a ring giver who shall decide which Goths will live, which shall die. And then I’ll do whatever I want.’

He listened and looked horrified. ‘You will … what?’

‘Just what I told you, friend. Are you with me? Lots of songs for you?’

‘Songs of lament! You will betray your people. Not only shall you run, but you plan to kill them. You will be reviled---‘

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘And I won’t be reviled, if my enemies are under grass. They will be very silent while rotting there.’

‘She
is
the daughter of Snowlake, is she not? This Gislin’s daughter?’ he asked, and the fact seemed to bother him.

‘She is. Why is that a problem? She has power. The Boat-Lord would not marry a lesser noble.’ He opened his mouth, but shut it so hard he winced. He looked supremely bothered, blushing, as he did when he was at a loss of words. He looked at me with begging eyes, but I didn’t let him look away when he tried. ‘Will you help me?’

He shook his head in terror, swallowing. ‘I suppose it will make a great song, or something to amuse men.’

‘Thank you. We will get her, then you shall take her to safety, while I do something.’

‘Where shall I take her?’

‘Saddle our horses. Take father’s horse as well, for her,’ I told him steadily. ‘We shall meet at the north end of the beach, under the trees. We will go fast, running and riding as fast as we can.’

He got up unsteadily. ‘Despite the friendship we share, this is terribly a lot to ask. Too much. You have no idea.’

‘Because of the friendship,’ I told him, ‘I trust you. Things will go very wrong for all of us under Bero’s rulership.’

He shook his head. ‘Yes, I’ll follow you. But one day you will learn patience, at a great price. Let’s hope your sons will have less prickly natures.’

‘They will be like I am,’ I said steadily, not knowing how right I’d be. ‘Get ready. Go in, and ask questions. Make sure there are no warriors guarding her. If so, tell me. Find rope, and an old tunic, and we will gag the woman guarding her. Or you will. You will take her to some empty room, where I’ll be waiting, and it will be easy, no? Before this, prepare the horses, pack up food, drink. Enough for many.’

‘Many?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Many.’

He fidgeted. ‘You think this guard, this woman will let me bind her?’ he growled. ‘Have you ever tried to gag anyone unwilling—‘

‘I just fought Maino,’ I told him steadily. ‘We will defeat one old lady, I am sure of it and I can be licked in the ass by Freya’s dogs for eternity if we fail. Later you will take her to cover, not the old one, but the prisoner. We will be in the cover of the woods, but you must be careful.’

‘I will be very careful. Where will you be?’

‘I have something to do after. Remember. When the fire starts, we shall meet here,’ I told him, and hoped things would go well. I left him and he disappeared inside the hall, where he spoke with someone, a slave, a warrior, trying to find out more about the girl and her imprisonment.

We would flee the land. I’d take her, but I’d not do it alone.

The Saxons would help us get away from the nation that would be my enemy.

They would be grateful and had they not visited her village before? And if things went to shit, they would give me a new home amongst my enemies. If she proved treacherous, they would help me.

Perhaps.

T
he fire started so suddenly I half wondered if I’d imagined it. I was lounging near the Bone-Hall, impatiently walking back and forth, and then people were yelling. There were panicked screams, animals were making a terrible racket and a yellow glow lit up the woods and fields. It was a sizable inferno, a hideously hot storm of fire that was devouring something precious and it interrupted the feast and the merrymaking, sucking in people from every hall. I waited under the shadows of the wall, and tried to see what would happen, but I had no reason to worry.

              Hughnot’s plan was perfect.

People were rushing about in utter panic, until there were screams by chiefs to organize a rescue of the horses in the stables of the unlucky hall, and others would bravely try to haul water to douse the flames. Men were rushing out of the halls nearby, women and children as well, some with their asses bare. The men and slaves of Bone-Hall followed suit. ‘The bastards really know how to torch a hall,’ I muttered to myself. ‘Probably had a lot experience up north.’

Aldbert appeared, uncertain, licking his lips. He looked pale as milk, and ashamed. I raised an eyebrow at him in an unaired question. ‘Yes, you are right. I wasn’t going to come. But you are my friend. And—‘

I frowned ‘Your only damned friend. You didn’t scout the place?’

‘I did.’

‘Did you go and prepare what I asked—‘

He rubbed his face and nodded. ‘I did everything you asked. Reluctantly, but I did. Maroboodus. Listen. If Hughnot gets caught, and speaks of our involvement—‘

I pushed him, partly to feel braver. ‘They won’t catch them. They are old rogues, well versed in mischief. How many halls have they burnt? Hundreds? They are long gone, and there is no such thing as
our
involvement with the fire.’ He raised an eyebrow at me and I waved him down. ‘Yet,’ I added. ‘But there will be. We will do this.’

‘Gods,’ he whispered.

I held his arm and looked at the Bone-Hall’s door. It was silent. Men were nearby, some leaving their halls still, but most were gone. The ones we saw were rushing with buckets of sloshing water and people we saw were mostly far, running, and some were trying to find gourds and water skins in huts and craftshops, and even drinking horns and mugs would be useful. I felt a stab of guilt at the chaos that was unfolding, but I was determined and breathed a prayer to the gods, like Aldbert had. I eyed the darkness, uncertain and raised my hand.

A shadow moved. I spotted Ingulf. The sturdy twin. He was frowning as he stared at us, trying to make sure Aldbert was going into the Bone-Hall and would help me, and not hinder. He had a hand on a huge two-handed ax. I waved at him and nodded vigorously and he stopped frowning as I gave him a small bow and an encouraging smile, hoping he would understand it was all going well. He hesitated, grinned savagely, and thumbed towards the conflagration, apparently going to help put out what they had started, waved at me and rushed to find Hughnot. ‘Ready?’ I asked Aldbert.

‘They saw me!’ he said, shaking so hard his teeth clattered. ‘They can—‘

‘Shut up,’ I said, grasped the sword hilt and considered the ax. I hesitated, and handed Hulderic’s weapon to Aldbert, who took it, wonder in his eyes. ‘I’ll hold it one day again, friend. You use it for now. I don’t wish to sully its fame. Father will have to understand what I’m doing before I’ll use it again.’

He raised a hurt eyebrow. ‘But it is fine if
I
sully its fame? A high opinion you have of me!’ He looked grateful, nonetheless. ‘I’ll use it well. I’ll defend your life with it. So I swear.’

I chuckled. ‘I doubt you will kill anyone with it. Just look menacing. It will do the job, often.’

‘I’m not happy with any of this,’ he said, holding the ax as if he was afraid of it. He pulled me around, looking at the darkness, as if to make sure no more of Hughnot’s dangerous men were lurking there, but of course he saw nothing and then pressed me to the wall with surprising strength. ‘Please
don’t
enter this hall. We cannot change anything after. We have a good life here. There are things about the Svea you don’t know.’

‘I
will
enter the hall, find out everything about the Svea, and so will
you
. In we go,’ I told him and pushed him heavily. ‘Let’s do this.’

We walked through the door. The acrid smell of smoke filled our nostrils. It was dark, though some fires were burning in the fire pit to keep the warmth in the hall. The walls were filled with antlers of many kinds, including great ones from a gigantic moose and there were wolf and bear jaws aplenty. Their shadows made the whole feast hall look very ominous, and if it had not been for the stable side of the hall and the whinnying of horses to our right, it would have been damned scary in the room. I pulled at Aldbert. ‘She somewhere in here?’

‘I asked the servant who guards the girl. She spoke with me in the main hall,’ he said. ‘She said she’s in the room down the hallway, but didn’t let me in.’

‘See, I told you you can charm a woman,’ I grinned.

He wasn’t convinced, and still white as milk. ‘She’s supposed to be through those doors,’ he answered, sounding resigned, and pointed a finger where a corridor led to shadows. ‘She called me a useless little sparrow. Don’t like poets, she told me. I charmed no one.’ His hands were shaking but I ignored his fear and sneaked to the end of the main hall, where the living and sleeping quarters began. I avoided benches, chairs, and a cat meowing in the corner under the shadow of some reindeer antlers. A massive barrel blocked the view to the door, and I sneaked a look past it to the dark corridor. Nothing, the door was clear, so was the corridor, with not a soul in sight. I pulled Aldbert with me.

‘But that woman stays with her?’ I asked him. ‘Did you ask her?’

‘No, I didn’t ask if she stays with the girl,’ he answered but raised his hands as I glowered at him. ‘She probably is, but I don’t know. I think the girl is living in an alcove to the right, beyond Maino’s room. Third? Yes, I think so. That’s where she went, at least, before they ushered me out.’

‘Maino is not there, is he?’ I asked, suddenly terrified.

He gave me a cold smile. ‘Gods, what skillful planning this must have taken. But you are lucky. He is with his father and a vitka. His ear is half missing and they are making a poultice for it, and the two vitka fuss over him while he drinks to his sorrow.’

‘I hope he chokes on a bone,’ I said, relieved. ‘Right. Let’s forget plots,’ I whispered. ‘We go in to the room, and gag and tie the servant there. If the girl screams, I’ll gag her, and we hurry up. Then we run like whipped hounds with the girl.’

‘Right,’ he answered, his voice dripping with terror and doubt. ‘Whipped hounds.’

I entered the hallway, and it was nearly dark. There were no shingles or fires at all in the empty rooms, and I frowned at the lack of light. Surely, the high Svea woman didn’t sit in the dark on a feast night? The flickering of light behind us in the main hall threw our shadows to the corridor and I noticed Aldbert was still standing in the doorway. I turned to look at him, gesturing with my sword. I whispered frantically. ‘Come, now.’

‘I’m sorry—‘ he began to say, his voice shaky and sorry indeed.

A shadow moved out of Maino’s room and a hand grabbed me and for a moment I thought the servant lady had unleashed an attack on me.

Then I realized it was not a hand of an old, frail servant, but the iron-hard hand of a warrior, and that hand pushed me to a wall, and for a moment I saw the snarling visage of Friednot’s champion, Ludovicus, his hair flying as he kept me still. ‘And here we are, master Maroboodus, a woman-stealing bastard, caught like a rat. You will not—‘

He had not seen the sword. And I didn’t think, but acted.

Despite its cumbersome make, the weapon pushed easily into his exposed throat. His eyes enlarged with pain and surprise, his hands clutched me, then his throat, and he gurgled, and spat blood and fell on his back with a clatter, inside Maino’s room and his feet thrummed the floorboards so hard hay and dust made a thick cloud in the air. I stared at the man, and I knew he was gone. He might have breathed still, terribly afraid and very much fighting for his life, but he was a dead one. I held my face with one hand, the sword with another and fought to get my thoughts under control.

Murderer
, a voice told me without pity.

Another fought it.
No, a warrior.
I tried to listen to the second one, but also knew I had done something that would haunt me forever. I kept reasoning with myself, though panic crept in.
Isn’t this what I had planned to do with the Svea?
To cull Goths who would stand against my father and me?
However, it was all much more real now.

I had killed a hero. A good man.

I turned to look at Aldbert, at his shocked face. ‘Aldbert?’ I said unsteadily. ’What is this?’

He shook his head and took a hesitant step forward. ‘I didn’t know …’ he began, but then kept his mouth shut as he tried to gauge my mood, which I didn’t know myself.

It took time, but I forced myself to move my feet.
Evil or necessary,
I thought,
it was now past time to hesitate.
I had killed a man in the Bone-Hall, and while I could be judged by the law-speakers, elders and condemned by the vitka and the völva for my schemes, a murder would be a hard matter to overcome in the minds of the people. Ludovicus had family. There would be a feud, no matter if Hulderic paid a hefty wergild and that wergild could be so high we could very well starve during the winter. He had been a great, famous man, no peasant, no slave, and I was in trouble. ‘You didn’t know?’ I asked Aldbert. ‘He said I’m woman-stealing—‘

He shook his head and waved his hands and I wanted to slap the truth out of him. He might be lying, but I had no time to force the issue. If I did, I felt I might murder him as well. He spoke so fast I could barely make out the words. ‘I … you should have guessed they’d have a guard here, one who doesn’t dash off to douse fires. I warned you. I knew this would go sour, and—’ he said, his voice rising to a pitch close to panic as he looked behind me.

There was light in the corridor.

The Svea woman, her thin eyebrows, smooth, pale skin, and well-proportioned face all betrayed shock at the sight of the twitching legs. She looked at me, then at my sword and I was sure she’d scream. She considered it, I saw it. She took a long breath, but let it go after all and took a step forward.

‘You are Maroboodus?’ she asked steadily.

‘Yes,’ I said huskily. ‘I came—‘

‘I know,’ she answered huskily, considering me. ‘You didn’t expect him?’

‘It was an accident. The dark, he lunged for me. I didn’t mean to—‘

She said nothing but I saw her face relaxing. ‘I can understand it. But it’s done. It’s his wyrd, and behind you. You must run. And I’ll go with you.’

‘Was there a woman guarding you?’ I asked her nervously, eyeing the dark rooms for a sign of danger.

‘Was,’ she said softly, and I noticed her fist was bruised. ‘I wasn’t going to get married to that ox of a relative of yours so I would have tried an escape on my own. She lives. I tied her down. I’m not sure I needed rescuing, but a generous heart should be rewarded. I can take you with me.’

‘Take me with you?’ I asked her, astonished. She had more balls than some men. ‘You are kind.’

‘Yes, I’ll save you,’ she said with a hint of humor, smiling like a wicked spirit and perhaps there was some truth to the stories of Svea and spirits mating in the night. Then her eyes turned to Aldbert.

She went still, silent, unsure.

It was an awkward silence, but she finally pointed a finger at Aldbert. ‘And him?’ she asked me. ‘There’s something seedy about him. Something familiar, but also hidden.’

I considered my friend. ‘He can stay if he wants to,’ I told her, and shrugged at Ludovicus. ‘This was an accident. He can explain it, when they come to ask about me.’ I said it harshly, for I didn’t believe it was an accident. He had tried to make me stay, had spoken to Father, perhaps to Bero and they had left the champion there to wait for me. I didn’t look at Aldbert, but I knew he was so rattled, he likely shook in his shoes.

‘They’ll geld him, Maroboodus,’ she said with a smirk. ‘It will be messy since he quakes so much.’

I felt disappointed and worried for him, but decided she could be right. ‘Are you coming?’ I asked him harshly. ‘Or shall you stay and explain why he died?’

‘I am coming,’ Aldbert answered softly. ‘You should come with me. I’ll take you to Timberscar—‘

‘
She
is taking
me
with her, Aldbert,’ I told him sarcastically. ‘We shall travel with her, and she’s not going to Timberscar.’

‘Very well, friend,’ Aldbert said and pointed at the man who had now stopped twitching. ‘I swear I didn’t know … I couldn’t have known—‘

‘Where are we going?’ the girl interrupted his futile explanations. ‘Since we travel together now.’

‘I’ll take you home,’ I told her, tearing my eyes off Aldbert, suspicious, angry, and guilty for the death of the great man. He had been there, hiding in Maino’s room. And Aldbert had hung back.