The Wanderer and the Way 17
Horsemen in the Trees
This is Chapter 17 of The Wanderer and the Way
The heat broke, and they resumed a normal schedule for the day’s travel. The land began to roll pleasantly and there were more trees to give shade while they rested. Everyone seemed to have been perked up by their meeting with Pelagius and by better weather and better country. The change in Agnes was particularly notable, for she began to express an interest in the country they were passing through, asking about various plants that were new to her eyes and exclaiming with pleasure when a new vista opened as they crested a rise. Her constant companion and interlocutor in these discoveries was still Hathus, however. And because Hathus treated her like a daughter, the other men of the party seemed to have reconciled themselves to regarding her as a sister, which made her much more at ease with them. Theodemir alone found it impossible to adopt this attitude towards her. She was his vocation, though he had no more notion now than he had ever had of what service he was called to provide for her. He hoped still that that vocation was marriage, but if it were, he had to wonder why God was being so mysterious about such a common and natural vocation and did not confirm it with a simple gesture of kindness or acceptance on Agnes’s part.
Theodemir wished now that he had thought to put the question to Pelagius, for the pilgrim had seemed a man very close to God, full of that spiritual joy that Theodemir had sought and been denied on his long trek from Rome. This question, after all, was no part of the secret of the King’s embassy to Aachen. He had been entirely free to speak of it, and God had provided him the perfect interlocutor, but he had been too consumed by his jealousy for Pelagius and the joy that had been granted to Pelagius and denied to himself for it to occur to him to seek his counsel.
The most perilous part of their journey now lay ahead of them. To reach the territory of the Franks, they had to pass through Vasconia, the dutchy lying across the Pyrenees, a rough border country occupied by an assortment of rough border tribes, which included the Vascons and the Basques as well as Franks. Pockets of paganism, Islam, and Christianity were all to be found, and there could be little certainty as to who might be friendly, or at least neutral, towards men of Asturias or whether a man who seemed a friend one day might not prove to be an enemy the next. Theodemir, a lone pilgrim armed only with a staff and free of any possessions worth stealing, had passed through the region unharmed, though unloved. But a caravan of twenty armed men and ten laden carts presented both threats and temptations that a lone pilgrim did not. The art of the thing, as Hathus explained to them, was to appear stout and resolute enough that they gave pause to anyone who might think to attack them on a whim but orderly and peaceable enough that no one thought it necessary to gather a large force to oppose them. It was also to travel swiftly enough that any who saw them would have little chance to prepare to oppose them before they were already out of the district. To this end, he abandoned the carts, whose loads were now considerably lighter, because of the supplies they had consumed crossing the empty lands of the Douro. Their remaining baggage, including the gifts they carried to the Frankish court, were then loaded on the backs of the mules, who thus became a pack train, more suited to moving quickly and to navigating the rough passages of the Pyrenees.
They had not even reached the territory of Vasconia, however, before trouble found them. They were riding up a gentle slope with trees about them on either side when a man from the van came galloping back to report to Hathus.
“We’ve seen a company of horsemen, off to the right, Captain, moving in the same direction on the other side of the stream.”
“Numbers?” Hathus asked.
“Hard to tell at this distance, Captain. There are trees over there and we see riders passing between them, but we can’t guess at their number. Many could be hidden from us.”
“Any sign of who they are?”
“Not for certain, Captain. But I’d say they looked to ride in Moorish fashion.”
“Did they see you, do you think?”
“There was one reined in, paused a moment, then turned and rode back. I waited until a patch of trees hid them, then came back to you so that they would not guess we were more than four.”
“So,” said Hathus meditatively, “We don’t know who they are or how many they are. But they don’t know how many we are either.”
“I’d say so, Captain. But I reckon we know there’s more of them than we’ve seen, and they don’t know that of us.”
“What do you think of the ground?”
“The stream itself is no obstacle, Captain, but the gully is steep, and the scrub around it is thick. And if they came at us that way, we would have the high ground. Of course, the same would favor them if we tried to attack them.”
“We’re not spoiling for a fight,” Hathus said. “Our business is to protect the ambassador. His embassy will do more good for Asturias than any small victory we might win here. And they may have their own mission to consider and no more relish a fight than we do. I’m not minded to stop. That only looks like we are afraid, or else that we are planning an attack. We will go on as we were and hope they choose to do the same.”
“Shall I go back to the van, then, Captain?”
“Aye, but at a gentle canter, this time, and the same if you need to come back to us again. Let us not appear as if we are at all alarmed or anxious.”
“Yes, Captain. Sorry, Captain. I did not think.”
“Boys cannot be men except by living, soldier. Go now.”
The soldier rode off at an easy canter.
Hathus then turned to Agnes and said, “Nothing to be alarmed about, lady. I am sorry you heard that. I should not like to worry you.”
“I am a thegn’s daughter, sir,” Agnes replied. “I have sat in the hall many times and heard men boast of their deeds in war.”
“Mostly lies, I assure you, lady,” the captain replied.
“I always thought so, sir,” Agnes said.
“You have a low opinion of us, lady,” Hathus said, laughing.
“I have a higher opinion of men’s deeds than of their words,” she replied.
Hathus laughed. “Well, I mean to be sure we gain no deeds to boast of this day,” he said.
“I’m quite certain you will not,” she replied, and Theodemir saw a smile spread across her face, which filled him with joy and came near to breaking his heart. And there was a brilliance to her, he saw, for by this gentle jibe she not only showed that she trusted Hathus completely but also assured him that there was no fear in her. And if fear there was, she kept it out of her face entirely.
They kept upon their course for a couple of minutes and then Hathus dropped back, letting Agnes go on ahead of him, and brought his horse up beside Theodemir’s mount.
“If they are Moors, as I fear, we must not let her fall into their hands,” Hathus said quietly.
“What would you have me do?” Theodemir asked.
“My first duty is to you,” Hathus replied guardedly.
“My first duty is to her,” Theodemir replied. “The king commands me to go to Aachen. But God commands me to serve Agnes. By your duty to me, tell me what I must do to serve her.”
“It is in my heart that they should not see her,” Hathus replied. “Among all women, her least of all.”
“Tell me what to do,” Theodemir replied. “Forget that I am the king's ambassador. I am her sworn protector. Whatever you tell me to do, I will do it.”
“For now, nothing. I do not want to alarm her. But if the time should come, get her away. Go by ways unseen if you can. We will stand between you and them, and if we triumph, we will find you again. I will give her an order, or she may hesitate to go with you. But I shall not give it until the moment comes so that I do not alarm her. When I tell you to go, go at once. Do not think her safety depends upon your valor. It lies in speed and in concealment. Do not fight. Run. Fight only if you cannot flee. Do you understand me?”
“I do, sir.”
“Will you act as I have instructed? It will not rob you of your honor to flee while we fight?”
“It is God’s command that I serve her. My honor is nothing next to God’s command.”
Hathus said no more but urged his horse forward until he rode by Agnes once again. Theodemir saw Agnes glance backward as he heard him approaching, and for a moment their eyes met, but he could not read her face.
Soon the main party reached the crest of the rise and could see across the small valley. They glimpsed a horseman in the trees, but as soon as he saw the company, he turned and was lost among the leaves and branches. Presently, Agnes checked her horse and waited until she was beside Theodemir. At first she did not speak but rode beside him in silence. At last he turned to her and said, “How can I serve you, lady?”
“I suppose he has told you to get me away if those horsemen draw near,” she said.
“He says there is little to fear from them, lady,” he said.
“That is kind of him,” she said. “But I am a soldier’s daughter, and I was a vikingr’s wife. I know how soldiers talk. He fears a fight, and you are to get me away if it happens.”
“Yes, lady,” he said. There was no deceiving her.
“I would not think of staying if there was a fight,” she said. “I would only be a danger to them. They cannot be looking back at me while the enemy is in front of them. I will go at once if I see there is to be a fight. But you could stay and fight with them.”
“I am the king’s ambassador, lady,” he said. “They are sworn to my protection.”
“But you are a man and a warrior. Would you shrink from the fight?”
“I am a man and a warrior, lady. Therefore I do what my Captain tells me.”
“So we flee together?” she asked.
“Lady,” he said. “No man in this company would feel his honor complete if he sent you off without an escort. Perhaps it is the lesser part. But a man must play the part his Captain gives to him. This too is a matter of honor.”
She rode on beside him in silence for a few minutes and then said. “I am sorry. That was unkind of me. I have no reason to doubt your honor.” And then she urged her horse forward and resumed her place at Hathus’s side.
Comments welcome. If you spot a mistake, please let me know by replying to this email or by sending an email to author@gmbaker.net. Thanks!