The Red Oath by Jerry Autieri

Author:Jerry Autieri [Autieri, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-30T04:00:00+00:00

17

Yngvar squared up to Captain Alexius’s challenge. The Byzantine officer’s brows drew together, creating heavy furrows down his forehead. Despite only having his veteran aide and a scout behind him, he radiated a solidity like a full shield wall of warriors. Yngvar wanted to shrink away. This was a power of these Byzantine leaders. They must have trained from birth to intimidate and shame a man with a mere gaze. Were Yngvar not hardened himself from years of battle on the waves of the northern seas, he might have faltered.

Instead, he let the rest of the world fall away from his care. The dark fortress wall and the soldiers staring down at him, his Wolves around him, the heavy gray clouds above, all dissolved. He focused exclusively on Captain Alexius’s hard eyes.

“It was me and Alasdair who killed your friend. We scaled these walls while my companions burned your ships at anchor. We brought fire and death with us. I threw your friend from the tower then cut off his head when I found him below. I carried it back to Licata and presented it to Kalim in trade for a sack of gold.”

Captain Alexius’s face turned ashen. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped wordlessly so that he seemed like a fish dying on the beach just beyond the surf.

“That is the truth you have asked for,” Yngvar said. “I served as a mercenary. I took no joy in what I did. I did it for gold. I was repaid with betrayal and enslavement. Does knowing this truth change anything I have done since I have come among you? Does it mean we must now fight amongst ourselves rather than the enemy we both detest?”

“You fucking bastard!” Alexius hauled back. Yngvar saw the punch and stood to accept it. The blow would not kill him. If it would diffuse the captain’s anger, he would endure it.

But Alexius stood with his fist cocked, hate shifting to confusion on his haggard face. At last, he dropped his arm and opened his fist.

“How can I trust that you are not conspiring with Kalim again?”

“Because he tried to kill me once. I served him for gold only, and then without even knowing what manner of man he was. Now I serve the Empire of my own desire. That is a difference, Captain. I will not lie to you. When Kalim is dead, my time here is done. I will not remain a day longer than I must. But until then, you can trust me to work against Kalim to the limit of my own life.”

“Sir, don’t listen to this.” The veteran behind Captain Alexius snarled at Yngvar. “Doesn’t matter why he did it, he admits he did it. The lot of them should be flogged to death.”

Yngvar was thankful the Franks and his Wolves could not understand the veteran’s threats. The one called Ragnar began to mumble a translation. Yngvar cut him off, speaking over him.

“Don’t be a fool,” Yngvar said. “This is war and men die.

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