Stewart Binns - Anarchy

‘No, we were arguing about which direction to take.’

‘But you can’t leave your friends! Not for my sake.’

‘I can and I must–’

At that moment, two minutes of mayhem began. Arrows came cutting through the air, swords clashed and men shrieked and shouted. I looked up the path to see a melee of men fighting furiously. Eadmer had drawn his sword and was running towards us. I grabbed Livia and ran to meet him.

‘Go south, it’s a trap!’

We three ran and ran, until the sound of the ambush subsided. As soon as it did, we turned left and followed a path eastwards into the hills.

‘Let’s make for high ground – the higher the better.’

We ran for at least an hour, at which point Livia could run no more. The ground was getting steeper and Eadmer and I took it in turns to carry her over our shoulder. We climbed higher and higher. When the slope became too steep to run, Livia was able to walk.

We walked the rest of that day, until the coast became a distant ribbon of sand against the blue of the sea far below us. The air was much cooler now, and the trees started to disappear in exchange for barren crags and mountain meadows.

We made camp and gathered our thoughts. Eadmer was still brooding, as he had been all day.

‘Why have we come so high?’

‘I spoke to Andros, the Anatolian-born marine, about our position. We needed a reserve plan should it prove too difficult to reach Kalonoros, and he described the hinterland behind us. He also said that there could be more Seljuk bands further up the coast. We are heading into the Taurus Mountains. They rise thousands of feet, but there are several routes through them–’

Eadmer interrupted me.

‘You mean we’re leaving Wulfric and Toste and the others?’

‘Do you really think we have a choice?’

It was one of the most difficult decisions in my life – one that I thought about for many years afterwards – but Livia was my priority, and a soldier’s duty was what it was. Eadmer went quiet; he looked more disappointed than angry. It was Livia who asked the next question.

‘But where do the mountains lead us to? Anatolia is a huge place.’

‘Andros said that it was about sixty miles across this first range, but then there is a valley where we will find the main route from Iconium to Tarsus. He was certain that the road would be garrisoned and under Byzantine control, as would be the two cities. We will be able to find horses when we reach the road.’

‘So we’re going to walk the sixty miles across the mountains in the middle of summer?’

‘There’s no better time, it’s nice and cool up here.’

Livia looked at me as if I had lost my sense of reason. Perhaps she was right. Eadmer stirred himself and got to his feet.

‘Hal is right. There’ll be no Seljuks up here. If we stay high, we’ll be safe.’

Livia looked at Eadmer with the same expression of incredulity.

‘How long will it take?’

‘Five days, perhaps six. It depends how quickly you can walk, my Lady.’

Eadmer then set off at a fast pace, leaving Livia to stare after him.

‘You English are very strange. Only a minute ago, he wanted to go back.’

I just nodded and followed Eadmer.

A few moments later, Livia started to follow us.

It was unlikely we would ever see Wulfric and Toste or any of our Venetian comrades again. As we trudged across the rugged Anatolian landscape, I thought about the demise of our friends – two likely lads from Norwich, as honest as the day is long, meeting their end in a far off land. They had done their duty, and I had done mine. But their deaths were my responsibility, and my conscience would have to live with it for the rest of my life.

Andros had been very specific about a possible escape route: climb until you see a high limestone plateau, on the right of which will be a craggy peak, the Caga Tepesi. Keep it on your right, cross the plateau eastwards until you descend towards a valley where you will see a broad river below, the Göksu Nehri. Stay high, keeping the river on your left. Eventually you will come to Mut, a settlement above the valley where two broad rivers meet. There will be a Byzantine garrison there. There is also a ruined monastery at Alahan, which all the locals will know about, now the home to some famous mystics and hermits.

Andros was a good man and I had every confidence that his route was accurate and reliable. Besides which, it was the only viable option we had.

The following two days would prove to be a major challenge for Livia. Her life had been one of comfort and privilege, with every conceivable luxury to hand, lived within inches of the cool lapping waters of the Lagoon of Venice. Now she was high in the deserted Taurus Mountains, shorn of any feminine accoutrement, with a few berries and strips of dried meat to eat and only a meagre ration of water. She endured by sheer willpower, which was a great testament to her courage.

When we reached the top of the plateau, it was just as Andros had described it, a wide barren landscape with almost no shade. The winter’s snowfall had long since trickled away through the limestone; where occasional small pockets of water were to be found, they were green and brackish. We made most of our progress in the early morning and in the late afternoon. We walked slowly, resting in the middle of the day when the sun bounced off the white limestone like the blast from a blacksmith’s furnace. Little was said between us. Thankfully, Livia did not mention returning to Venice again, which was an issue I was relieved not to have to confront.

When we reached the eastern edge, late on the fourth day of our trek, we prepared to spend our last night on the plateau. The valley below was already in deep shadow, but we could see the murky green of acres of thick forest and the swirling shape of a wide river snaking its way along the valley bottom. By now we had run out of water and the last of our dried meat and berries had gone. Livia was looking quite frail, her lips were cracked and swollen, and her skin had lost its sheen. I wanted to make her well again. The first step was to get her down the valley to fresh water and food.

‘Fresh water by midday tomorrow,’ was Eadmer’s relieved comment.

Livia simply said, ‘And a cool bathe in fresh mountain water.’

The next day, we made good progress and reached a small stream in the middle of an open clearing amid the pine trees long before midday. I decided it was better to give Livia a chance to recover there before moving on to the unknown challenges of Mut.

We stayed for a week. In some ways it was idyllic. It seemed to be too high for snakes and scorpions, the game was plentiful and the water clean and refreshing. Livia would bathe in the stream in the heat of the day and then dry herself in the sun. I was so tempted to join her and relish the inevitable consequences.

Eadmer constantly goaded me to do so.

‘When are you going to take her and have done with it?’

‘I’d love to. But our duty is to deliver her to Roger of Salerno, at Antioch… and intact.’

‘Don’t let that stop you. You can still deliver her. Not quite as a virgin – but no one would know.’

‘She would. And besides, she would never allow–’

‘She’s desperate for you to forget about your “duty”. Why do you think she goes to the stream every day and then lies in the sun, naked?’

‘To get dry!’

It was difficult enough to keep my hands off Livia, even without Eadmer’s encouragement to act on my desires, so I moved away to spend some time alone. I chose a part of the stream further up the hillside, where I bathed in private and lay down to relax and close my eyes for a while. I fell soundly asleep. Sometime later, I woke with a jump. Livia was tugging my arm. I reached for my clothes.