Jack Whyte - The Lance Thrower

“So! Horses are looked after. Cato has his instructions. Now, I am assuming that you do not speak the Coastal Tongue, but does your friend, Ursus?”

“I am sorry, Father, I don’t know.”

“No matter, we will find out tomorrow morning, but it is important that you have someone with you who understands the language. Latin may serve you most of the time, but there are a multitude of tongues spoken in the world of mariners and the Coastal Tongue serves all of them.

“When you reach the seacoast, you will proceed to the town called Gesoriacum, which is the port closest to Britain, and ask there for one of three sea captains, all of whom know me and all of whom I trust. Find one of those three, it does not matter which one, but trust no others. Heed me in this, Clothar, for it is vital to your success. You may have to wait for several days, perhaps several weeks, but one of the three will arrive in the port sooner or later. It is home to all of them. You will give the one you meet a token from me, to prove you are who you claim to be. I have the three tokens, and the names of the three men and which token goes to whom. Put them in your saddlebags.”

He now opened the citrus wood chest and withdrew from it a small, slender handmade box of sandalwood that he opened to show three compartments. In each compartment was a small lozenge of leather with a man’s name burned into it, and a piece of jewelry. The first, named for Joachim, held a ring with a stone of lapis lazuli; the second, named for Sivio, contained a small silver pendant, looped to accept a chain; while the third, dedicated to Scapius, held a plain silver cross. Germanus read the names aloud, touched each of the tokens, and then closed the box carefully and handed it tome.

“Each of those men has an identical piece in his possession, given him by me. By giving him this one, you will have the absolute loyalty he would give to me. On the other hand, however, these men work hard to stay alive, so we cannot rely on their goodwill alone. That would be unjust. So …” He reached into the chest again, with both hands this time, and came out with both hands filled. “Here, open this up.”

I unrolled a long, supple money belt of soft black leather. It was slightly more than a handsbreadth deep and fastened with triple buckled straps, and the back of it was lined with finely woven wool so that it would not stick to the bare skin against which it would be worn. The main part—the back of the belt, assuming the buckles would be worn in front—was composed of three long lateral leather strips, each of them covering a narrow pocket the depth of the first joint of my thumb, and there were two rectangular areas at the sides, also containing pockets, although these were vertical and only half the width of the others. Germanus was pulling strips of black from a leather wallet.

“These are silver coins, ten to a strip, thirty in all. Tuck them into the three pockets. They’ll make a handy addition to your armor should anyone attempt to stab you in the back. These ones here, so much smaller, are of gold—thirty of these as well, in six sets of five. Tuck these carefully into the side pockets, and bear in mind that each of them is worth at least thirty and perhaps fifty of the silver coins. These are emergency funds only. Wear them against your skin at all times, Clothar, and let no one know you have them. You will be moving and living among men who would kill you without blinking for a single one of the silver coins, let alone the gold. For your expenses along the road, in mansios and taverns, use this.” He tossed me a small, heavy leather bag of coins. “Those are mostly copper, with only a few small silver pieces. It is the kind of money that will get you whatever you need without stirring anyone’s greed.” He dug again into the chest and tossed me yet another small leather bag, this one heavy beyond belief. “This you will use to pay for your passage to Britain, across the Narrow Seas. It is gold, but do not be afraid to use it.

“The route from Callis to Dubris is the shortest distance between the two shores, but there has been trouble in the southeast of Britain and the Saxon tribes there, particularly the ones who call themselves Danes, are moving to occupy the entire region and are notoriously unpredictable. Be guided by whoever is your captain, but be prepared to travel westward before you land. Ideally, if you have fair winds and the weather holds, you should round the peninsula called Cornwall and sail up the coastline as far as a place called Glastonbury. Camulod lies close by there. Again, your captain will know of Glastonbury.”

I wiggled my fingers.

“What? You have a question?”

“Aye, Father. How many coins should I pay the boatman? I have never handled gold before.”

Germanus smiled. “It is the same as lead, Clothar—heavy and cumbersome and valuable only to the extent it is coveted by others. Fall into the sea with bags of it on your belt and you will drown. But it has its uses, too. For a fair-weather crossing, say ten coins. Foul weather, half as much again. For outrageous risk, twenty coins, and for safe conduct all the way to Glastonbury in the west, thirty. That would be generous, but worthwhile.

“Now, what else is there?” He stood looking about him, his hands on his hips, then shook his head. “That’s it, I believe. I think we have covered everything. Now, another draft of grape juice, although I fear it will be warm by now.”

The fresh juice was warm but nonetheless delicious. As soon as I had drained my cup, however, Germanus rose.to his feet again.

“I would like to meet your friend Ursus, if it please you. Will you take me to him?”

“Yes, Father, of course, but he might be asleep.”

“He will be asleep—it is late. But this is a special night.” He turned and looked again at the magnificent armor on its tree. “We will leave this here for now, but all my people know it is now yours. You may collect it tomorrow or whenever you wish, but I would suggest you leave it until you have decided about young Bors. If he is to be your assistant, then he should begin with this. And he should learn everything from that point on—the care of your weapons, armor, and horses, the care and maintenance of your other clothing, the preparation of your food, and the prompt and exact execution of your wishes and commands. This is a learning process for the boy, to lead him into manhood. He has the makings of a splendid soldier, but he lacks this particular type of training, so I charge you to be conscientious in supervising and disciplining him. It will teach him obedience and humility, which is even more important. Now take me to your friend.”

We rousted a tousled and sleepy Ursus from his bed, and I introduced him to Germanus. Even under such imperfect and unexpected circumstances Ursus was honored to be meeting a man whose exploits and fame were legendary, and when Germanus invited him to walk with him for a while he accepted with alacrity, merely asking leave to throw some cold water over his head and pull on a warmer tunic. I was not allowed to accompany them, and so I went to my own quarters, where I sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall and going over the astonishing events of this amazing evening.

Perhaps an hour later, Ursus came into my room and shook my shoulder, startling me awake.

“You had better get into bed. You won’t sleep comfortably, propped up like that. I enjoyed talking with your friend Germanus … .” I peered up at him, hoping to hear what had happened between the two men. Ursus nodded. “I’ve never been to Britain. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

“You’re coming with me? I was going to ask you tomorrow.”

“Aye, Germanus told me. He questioned me very thoroughly. Got me to tell him things about myself I didn’t know I knew. Anyway, he ended up by telling me what you’re about to do and asked me if I would consider going with you. Naturally I had to say I would, because I couldn’t live with myself if you went poking about on your own and got yourself killed. Of course, he knows that I’m a mercenary and out of work at the moment, so he hired me. To keep me honest.”