04 Varanger by Cecelia Holland

Author:Cecelia Holland [Holland, Cecelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

C H A P T E R T W E L V E

Conn said, “I say we steal the ships. Why wait for them to convince all the rest of their men? Especially that one, that Blud, he’s never going along with this. What was the name of that place— Kersony?”

“Chersonese,” Raef said.

“Have you heard of it before?”

“No.”

They went through the courtyard, now empty of everybody but a few servants hurrying around; one carried a platter of cooked meat that left a mouthwatering trail in the air behind it. Conn looked back at the building they had just left.

“There’s your little black friend.”

Raef glanced around. Rashid was at the far end of the building, talking to a blue-coated guard.

“I’ll bet he knows all about Chersonese,” Raef said. “I’ll bet he knows a lot more about all this than we do.”

Conn followed him around the side of the great hall, looking around; he thought of the screen in the Knyaz’s palace, and the murmurs and giggles behind it. The glimpse of a bright eye looking through it. They had to wait, at the gate, for a pack train of goods coming in, three horses neck-roped together. Another crowd waited just beyond for the chance to enter. Conn got into the gate ahead of them and led the way out.

“Blud Sveneldsson. What kind of a name is that? They speak dansker but they don’t act like free men.” Conn glanced around to make sure nobody was listening. “They can’t sail anymore. If you ask me they’re all Sclava.”

Raef said, “They’ve been here awhile.”

They went across the flat ground by the row of Sclava gods and down the trail to their holding. The sun was midway down the western sky, shining into the ravine, gilding every leaf and flower. At the holding the rest of the Varanger were all crowded around the fire, passing a cup, and patting their stomachs. The food was gone. Janka sat in the doorway of the hut, and the hun woman was nowhere.

Leif was sitting alone on the big rock by the fire and Conn nudged him with his foot until he got up complaining and moved around to the ground. Conn took his place and moved over so that Raef could sit next to him; Raef craned his neck around toward Leif. “You said you’d been around here awhile. Who are these men in the blue coats?”

The cup came to Leif, who drank from it, wiped his mouth, and handed it up to Conn. “The Faithful Band. Volodymyr’s guards. Their fathers all rode with Sviatoslav against the Khazars and the Bulgars and anybody else stupid enough not to run when they saw them coming. They were a tough bunch:” Leif grinned. “What’s it like, up there? Pretty fancy, I’m guessing. See am women? Volodymyr has lots of women.”

“Sviatoslav followed Thor’s way.”

Leif grunted. “Who else? He was a viking, that one.” He made the sign for Thor with his thumb and forefinger. “A lot of good men came down the river to join him.

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