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"Anyone like a beer?" he asked.
"What if it's poisoned?" asked Vargas.
"It's warm, and it's weak, but it tastes delicious" commented
Klepto. Finishing the mug. He carefully refilled it. Spartak bent down to
receive it. He drank it all without a pause and handed it back. The birds in the
nearby woods noisily started their dawn chorus.
"My guess is, if they were going to poison us, they would have left us
whole barrel somewhere out of the fire. This looks to me like an unintentional
gift. "It tastes slightly off. It was cracked and that's probably why they
left it."
That was good enough for the other two who had been holding back. Within a
few short minutes, the remaining gallons of beer had been consumed and the
foursome were in a much better mood.
"I'm going to have a wash" said Spartak, and stripping off his
chain vest he filled his helmet with cool ash from the edge of the fire. He
rubbed this over his face and body. The others too followed his example. It was
good to remove the grime of blood and sweat and the ash might discourage
anything else from living on them. The beer had taken their thirst away, but
they hadn't eaten any fresh food for days. Swaying slightly they poked around
the embers of the fire, and found some partly burned canvas bags of carrots and
and apples, and nuts...
"I suppose these weren't considered good enough for the officers'
horses" said Spartak picking out some bits of white ash which could have
been burnt mould. "But if the smoked salami didn't kill us on the hill, and
if the beer doesn't give us a headache, then I don't think we need to worry
about a few cooked vegetables. Ah more garlic...."
The vegetables had been liberally spinkled with garlic, to stop the flies
getting into the canvas bags. Spartak's sense of smell had never been keen, and
now he chewed on what he thought were nuts, but were actually whole cloves of
partly roasted garlic.
"They didn't have horses where you came from, obviously" laughed
Vargas, taking one of the canvas bags. "Hm, a good mixture."
Three deer came running out of the woods. Then they turned and ran along the
edge of the woods, crashing noisily back again. Klepto came ambling back out of
the woods with his spear across his shoulders, and his arms hanging over them.
"No sign of them" he said. "They've buggered off that way"
he waved a wrist towards the North-East. "No sign of any loiterers, and no
sign that they're coming back. You can always hear the army's tramping feet from
miles away when they're on the move."
"That's strange because the city is over that way," Spartak signed
North-West. "And it was still mainly in one piece when we left it. So
that's where they should logically go, to keep an army between us and it."
"Maybe they aren't so worried about us any more."
"They were worried enough for the last few days. Admitedly they weren't
making any progress, but it would have made more sense for them to wait for
reinforcements."
"Unless something more important came up. Maybe some of our boys got
away, from the ambush last week and are giving them the jitters in the farms."
"If that happened they would have split their forces before."
"Maybe they did, but we didn't know. We were too busy hitting and
running for the first couple of days. We drifted over this way because the
ground was best for defence. There wasn't any kind of plan to it."
"You're right, and I suppose it's pointless to speculate about why this
lot have gone. But that still leaves us the question of where do we go from
here?"
It was quiet. The birds had stopped chirping. Spartak cupped his hands to
his ears.
"The beer's made me deaf" he thought. He listened for the
characteristic sound of a marching army. But there wasn't a sound.
A silent grey figure seemed to ghost out from the treeline to the
North-West. Then another, and another. In the space of a few seconds a line of
still silent phantoms formed along the edge of the trees.
Then a larger man appeared. He was taller than the others. Even at this
distance of maybe three hundred yards, he towered over them. From the sides of
his helmet two antlers sprouted making him seem unnatural. From this distance it
almost seemed like he might have two heads. He waved his arms and the line of
ghosts drifted back into the woods, but he advanced towards the remains of the
camp on his own. As he got closer it became clear that his second head was
actually a giant double headed axe which was slung across his left shoulder.
Throwing axes also hung from his belt. And smaller knives sprouted from the
outside of his thick leather boots.
There was something heavy dangling behind his back. When he got within
twenty feet, he slung a blanket from over his right shoulder and it fell in
front at his feet to show some leather drinking flagons, a cheese, some salami
and some bread.
"Hello the camp" he cried. "I've brought you some breakfast."
None of the four replied. As his gaze took in the random array of soot
covered grey blackened figures he looked from man to man to try and determine
who was their leader. All looked strong. All looked like fighters. All looked
deadly. When Spartak lowered his canvas sack, his second scabbard became
visible.
"Hello Spartak" he said "I didn't recognize you."
"Hello Axil" he nodded. "What brings you out of the
comfortable city?"
The Axe-killer showed his palms which were steady, but his voice quavered
just a little "I won't lie to you Spartak. You wouldn't believe me anyway.
We've all done a deal. If we kill you, we get our freedom. Then we can all go
home."
Barrak hissed in disgust. Spartak turned and glared him into silence. Then
he smiled grimly, walked forwards and gave the Axe-killer a hug.
"You always were too honest for your own good my friend."
They stood back and smiled at each other. "Just like the old days hey
Spartak? We eat together, we drink together and then we kill each other. They
would give a lot of money to see this, those rich bastards, hiding in their
city... Look, if you're worried about poison, just give me any piece to try. We
thought about it but that's not the way to do things."
Spartak didn't wait for for his food to be tested, he sliced a piece of
cheese and put it straight in his mouth.
"I've got red wine, white wine and water, and I can get more" said
Axil smiling. "Would it be OK if some of my boys joined us?"
"Just four of you, and four of us for breakfast" said Spartak "We'll
eat together and drink together and talk till noon when the sun will favour no
side. Then we'll make our farewells and you and all your men can come to fight
us. How many are you?"
"They didn't all show themselves just now. Some were a bit shy. I would
say sixty five in total who will fight. If I was betting, I would bet on us. The
odds are heavily on our side. "
"But we've been practising." Spartak laughed and waved at the
hill. "Just like the old days." |
