Chapter IV
The Witch of Thebes
The day had been clearer and drier than what they were used to, a calming sapphire sky covered the horizon; it had been decided as soon as they reached a stream or river that a bath and wash was in order, and of course a bite to eat. Their stomachs had begun to rumble and the gnawing hunger aggravated them as much as the determined midges that hovered close by, that irritably snatched at them in their relentless search for a meal. Their clothes were already beginning to steam and the clammy rigid unwelcome tawdriness they felt was no friend to comfort.
The sun was low, drawing towards the horizon, its fiery gaze stretched into the distance disappearing beneath a shroud of evening dew. The surrounding countryside was covered in corn that had upon it a golden crown that was slowly changing hue; it was dissected by the weathered Roman road they travelled on. Adamous tugged on the reins and gestured for them to slow; if the Saracens were still after them they would have known it already, and since there appeared to be no pursuit he felt they could move at a less tiring pace. A layered mist began to rise above open fields as though mother earth were exhaling a breath of cool air.
Germanicus rose once more in his seat, his eyes scrutinising the horizon for any signs of the enemy, “We don’t know how infiltrated the land is with Saracens; so surely we should keep off the road.”
“From what I understand,” replied Merit, “the main army of the Saracens is located up at Constantinople; there are only small skirmish units here abouts.”
“What makes you think that?” asked Germanicus.
“I heard their guards talking when I was held captive, after all they believe once Byzantium's capital falls, so does Byzantium,” replied Merit, “and that’s not all, I heard that they would not enter Attica, something about not wanting to fight both the Emperor, and those of the Paristan alliance at the same time.”
“Paristan, who or what are they?” queried Adamous.
“I’m afraid I never heard the rest,” replied Merit, her face clouded over as she fought to remember her time with the Saracens; she slowly shook her head disappointed at her own vagueness to the question.
Adamous nodded thoughtfully, “Germanicus I've seen that look on your face before, what’s wrong?”
His friend looked pensive as he stroked his horses mane; when he finally looked up, his eyes were distant, “there’s something about the name Paristan that’s familiar, and yet I can’t quite recall it.”
Adamous tugged on the reins, “Well the map shows that we are entering Attica which means Thebes is not far, from there we can take a boat and make our way round the coast, stopping off on the way for provisions, until we reach the land of the Franks.”
“Thebes, there was a Thebes in Egypt,” said Merit recalling what she had heard as a child, “it was a mysterious magical place full of intrigue.”
“Well thankfully we are among the Hellenes, and not the Egyptians, so expect a more pragmatic scientific approach to life,” replied Adamous who yawning, turned his horse further inland.
According to the map they were heading along the ancient Theban road, which led from Larissa to Thebes. They struggled with tired horses that could not be persuaded to move faster than a slow trot, soon the sun had faded, and a cool dark enveloped them, the only sound to record their passing was the steady lolloping hoofs of the horses. Adamous asked them to look for a place where they could stop for the night, and it was not long before they found a small raised bluff that afforded some protection from the elements.
“Do we start a fire?” asked Merit clambering from her mount.
“Could be dangerous there may be brigand’s abroad tonight,” replied Adamous, who gingerly dismounted and stretched his stiff legs.
Germanicus lithely jumped down, took the reins from each of them and led the horses to pasture, he seemed none the worse for their long journey and seemed the most alert of the three. By the time he had returned dusk had past. He was about to speak when he was silenced by Adamous, the two stared into the deep velvet veil, there was something not quite right; a strange quiet surrounded them and the dark was so overpowering it was as though they were in a deep cavern.
“There’s something wrong with this place,” said Germanicus quietly; his blue eyes seemed sharpened by the firm grip of the night.
“Considering we are out in the wilds, the fact that we don’t hear anything is quite disturbing,” replied Adamous.
As he spoke those words, a loud harrowing howl shook the bowels of the void before falling silent.
“Now that’s what I call disturbing,” said Merit.
“That was a Wolf,” Adamous’s eyes pieced the night but could see nothing, his instinct was to draw his sword.
"No Wolf I know of makes such an unearthly sound as that," replied Merit.
The horses had been left to graze freely and at the sound of the Wolf had bolted. The three of them stood listening to the dark, Adamous and Germanicus swords at the ready, began to back away, when they heard moving close by, there was a creature, with its rasping chilling breath lingering in the air, pacing near, what was worse it seemed to be circling them.
“What is that?” asked Germanicus.
There was a sudden flash of light; Merit had reached from beneath her tunic and had drawn forth her amulet, apparently the Saracens had not searched her that thoroughly. She had muttered a few words and the light from it had blazed intensely.
The creature suddenly came into view, it was Garm; its thick matted coat was stained with blood, a foul cruel looking creature whose eyes were the very essence of savagery. Germanicus and Adamous had faced the beast once before, and recognised it instantly, still they could not hide their disbelief for the fact that it was there.
The creature took a step forward before rising on its hind legs to tower above them, it gave out another howling screech, that turned their bones to ice, then after another flash from Merits amulet it turned and fled into the night, in the deep abyss of the dark there was another chilling snarl, and then everything fell silent.
The trio stood frozen by the encounter, not quite trusting what had just happened, both Adamous and Germanicus were still clutching their swords tightly in their hands.
“Now that’s an encounter we really didn’t want,” said Germanicus.
"Interesting Merit that you have such powers," muttered Adamous.
Merit’s face was stoic: her eyes blazed with a fury previously unseen, her hand reassuringly clasped her amulet, unwilling to let it go, “What was that doing here?”
“You recognised it then?” asked Germanicus, his eyebrow arching curiously.
“Of course, who could not recognise what should not be walking these lands. That was Garm, the thing is, what is such a beast doing here?”
“Fascinating that you would know such a thing, it appears you are more than a physician. And your use of that amulet shows you know the subtle arts of the Elementals.”
Merit smiled softly, “An ancient art taught in Alexandria, there’s nothing sinister or unusual about that.”
Adamous turned to face her; their eyes collided steadfastly, “I didn't say there was, but why did you not tell us you knew such things?”
“Because my dear Adamous you Christians have a terrible habit of being intolerant towards people with certain unusual talents, in fact you Christians have a terrible habit of being intolerant towards everything that you don't agree with. I didn’t fancy being butchered for heresy, or whatever excuse you might have come up with.”
“We are not your ordinary Christians, and the Christians you’re thinking of are more like bandits and rogues, their acts of intolerance go against the actual message of Christ; having said that, these are not exactly civilised times we are living in, and the environment lends itself to people having blinkered views. Our enemy is cunning and we must match that cunning or lose the war.”
“I suppose the fact that you and the Saracens in principle believe in the same thing has
been lost on you. And the truth is the war you are fighting against them has been going on for thousands of years, it's just done in a different name that's all. Your enemy is the same, and your reasons for fighting are not too dissimilar to what they were ages ago. I’m surprised you have the energy for it, but then again there has to be a lot said for reinventing something, even war; it makes it seem as if by changing the idea of what you are fighting for, renews your efforts to fight on. And let’s be honest you Christians have burnt, destroyed or hidden all the knowledge and wisdom that would enable you to achieve greatness, claiming that such knowledge in the wrong hands would be dangerous. And you are so blind you have not realised that yours are the wrong hands, hence all the destruction. And the fact is that you don't just match the cunning of your enemy, you quite often surpass it.”
“Well perhaps there’s more going on than you realise?” said Adamous a little uncomfortable with Merits insights.
“I think I’ve realised enough,” said Merit sharply, “and as for that hound, it looked like it came straight from hell, and the problem you Christians have is that wherever you go, hell is never too far behind you. So the question still remains who have you upset enough to unleash such a beast on you? And another thing, I know people well enough to understand by their questioning and the looks on their faces, that they know more than they are letting on, isn't that right?”
The Angelos fell silent and ignored the question and the outburst for the time being, obviously Merit needed to let off a little steam; and it had been a long time since any mortal had questioned them so. She was clearly no longer the caged vulnerable woman they had first met, but someone who was showing her true self, her true power.
Adamous and Germanicus set to the task of retrieving their horses, which fortunately had not strayed far, and being recovered without too much effort, were sombrely mounted, once seated, they eased them forward. Merit sat rigidly on hers, as they passed, staring at her with such penetrating force that she recoiled a little, but they did not understand that it was more out of the guilt she felt for her outburst than anything else. Germanicus and Adamous studied her with renewed interest, there was certainly more to Merit than met the eye.
“Garm, the creature has other names too, it is akin to Fenrir, if you have heard of him, also it is known as Cerberus,” Adamous seemed to be nodding to himself as he remembered his last meeting with what was known as the Beast of Denim Four, “Garm is a changeling but no ordinary one.”
“What do you mean?” asked Merit her curiosity overcoming her anger.
“He does not change, just alters his body, but he has the ability to shift from realm to realm, he can quite literally come back from the dead being partly wraith like in nature. His true identity is not known and perhaps since he is an ancient creature, after all these ages, he does not know it himself. His presence here suggests we may have problems.”
“You don’t say,” said Merit rolling her eyes with incredulity.
“One thing’s for sure, if we were not treading carefully before, we certainly need to now,” said Adamous.
They rode on into the dark not desiring to rest in a place that Garm knew of. After going some leagues Germanicus discovered a quiet hollow by a stream, water flowed into a pool that was surrounded by trees and shrubs. He jumped off his horse and to Merits surprise began building a fire out of deadwood and dried shrubbery.
“I thought we were not building a fire just in case it invited danger?”
“Merit, invitation or no, danger has already found us, I would suggest having the protection of a fire here in this quiet place will prove to be a safer option than not having one, don’t you?”
A fire sprung to life in front of Germanicus, his face glowed eerily in the shadowed light as the flames crackled, quickly he added more kindling to burning woody embers, until the fire fully flared into life, they then began to rummage through their bags to find what morsels were available to eat. There was some mouldy bread and cheese and some dried meat which they shared out, and hungrily gobbled down.
“Hopefully tomorrow we’ll reach Thebes and without much further incident. Perhaps then we might get some answers as to why Garm is here. As it is Merit, we’ve got plenty of time now for you to tell us about your life in Alexandria. I understand it to be a bustling metropolis.”
A bustling metropolis, Merit seemed to mull those words over in her mind a moment, “well as you are aware the Emir Ibn Al-Asi leader of the Saracens took Alexandria from you Byzantines around thirty years ago.”
“It must have been terrible for the people, they must have suffered awfully,” said Germanicus as he stared into the flames and contemplated their fate.
“Not at all,” replied Merit with a smile, “you appear to have been misinformed, the Saracens are a more enlightened clique than you think. They leave us to practice our faiths, and our way of life has not altered much since their occupation. In fact something you don’t hear about is that the library has grown to surpass what it was like even in its heyday. I wouldn’t be surprised if it even now surpasses what you have got in Constantinople.”
“There are many centres of learning in Constantinople and I don’t think you can compare the two. It is not for religion alone that the Saracens wish to take the City. That is merely the smoke screen, it is because of the wealth of knowledge held there, and that goes back to antiquity and even before that.”
“Before antiquity, what was before antiquity,” Merits eyes narrowed inquisitively.
Adamous broke some more wood and placed it on the fire before continuing, “All you need to know is that there are older races than the Persians, the Babylonians even the Sumerians. Much older and we guard their history and their memory. That is probably what this war is really about. Or perhaps you actually believe that this war or any war would be fought over for a reason such as religion. Religion is an idea with which wars are fought over, but it’s not the reason for fighting those wars. It is however a useful tool, with which to explain to the masses, why wars are to be fought. You see it’s a cause they can fight for, that they understand. To engage the people to act, you must make them think they are personally threatened, and when you tell them that they are fighting to protect their faith, it becomes easier for them to do your bidding. If they were told the real reason they probably wouldn’t care enough to fight at all, because the real reason doesn’t concern them, or their way of life. And since people are naturally self-centred, and rarely see beyond the horizon of their own existence, you only need to give them a gentle nudge so that they behave in a certain way. They need to feel that they are self-important and that they act in the protection of their own interests, and believing that they are fighting for some greater purpose also purges them from the guilt of it. And in a world where they hear every day that they have no worth, and are convinced of this by those they trust the most. The authority figures in their families or elsewhere, they are more than willing to jump at the chance of killing themselves or even their brothers, if it makes them feel valued.”
Merit seemed stunned into silence by such revelations, “I’m sorry I was mistaken about you Christians. To be so merciless, so calculating, you Christians really do have the Devil in you.”
Adamous’s eyes glistened with an unabated fire, “Pragmatism my dear, we do not make the rules, and if you think I like them, you’d be wrong. Believe me when I say there are a lot better things I could be doing with my time than that of being here. And there are a lot older things in life that are more savage than you could possibly understand, to which Garm would seem nothing more than a kitten or a puppy. So before you go judging everyone remember that the means may not justify the ends but unfortunately the ends may promote the means. The Byzantines are fighting for their way of life, their very survival, and the only way they’ll do that is through their faith, which has bonded them together to fight for a common cause. Otherwise they wouldn’t have fought and the majority of them would have been dragged off into slavery b
y now. And that's notwithstanding how enlightened you believe the Saracens to be, there are forces at work here that are both dark and deadly and would like nothing more than to enslave Byzantium and see its fall, forces that are led by; you could say, the Devil himself. So I take umbrage with you comparing us to the enemy, we are doing this after all for the greater good.”
Merit was unwilling to let the subject lie, she felt that Adamous and Germanicus had not made a compelling enough argument to defend so much death and destruction, “Interesting but I’d like to know whether your greater good is nothing more than a greater evil. Perhaps these surfs or plebeians would be better off under the rule of the Saracens, than a Byzantine Emperor who hasn’t got their interests at heart.”
“My dear what world are you from. To live under the Emperors golden wreath is better than to live under the Caliphs Turban. Unfortunately that’s just the way things are at this time.”
“I see, better the Devil you know, so that’s what it comes down to,” Merit seemed disgusted by the answer but chose not to pursue the matter further, instead she turned away, slunk down and tried to get some sleep.
Her dreams were strange that night filled with dark visions of unimagined creatures from ancient mythology, winged serpents that would swoop down and take hold of her, and nightmarish savage looking dogs.
She woke slowly to find matted hair stuck to ruffled cloak, distantly someone tugged at her. Merit would have turned over and fallen back to sleep had she been allowed to but Germanicus was determined to see her rise, he shook her once again this time to the imperceptible sound of a groan, with satisfaction he released his hold. It was just before dawn, a hazy horizon suggested that it would not be long before the day woke. A cool gentle mist surrounded them adding a soft chill to the morning air.
“Merit we need to get going, and the sooner we start the better; I’m afraid the horses wandered off in the night. So it means we are walking the rest of the way, so our journey has just got more difficult.”
“Did no one think to tie them up properly,” Merit tried to wipe the tiredness from her eyes, “can we not try looking for them”
“No Merit,” Adamous was statuesque, his hand rested on the hilt of his sword, he peered through the mist as if searching for something, “I’m afraid it would take too long to find them and it would slow our approach to Thebes, and I'm not altogether sure they left of their own accord, its possible that your use of the amulet was not such a good idea.”
"Perhaps next time if you prefer," replied Merit. "I'll let us get eaten instead. And what about this for a thought, perhaps whoever chased the horses away did not try to attack us because of my charm."
The air was quickly broken by the sharp laughter of Germanicus, while Adamous just huffed, folded his arms and looked away.
"She's got a point," replied Germanicus with a shrug.
The three soon washed and ate before packing their loose belongings together and continuing their slow journey south. The sun beat upon the clear sky. They were passing through a low lying plateau surrounded by rugged mountains. Merit suspiciously looked around the jagged peaks that ominously stared down at them; her gaze could not breach the crags where she felt that cold eyes were watching them.
“You seem disturbed Merit,” said Germanicus, there was a comforting smile to his face.
“Aren’t you, I’m sure our meeting last night with Garm had nothing to do with another unfortunate accident, and then with the horses going missing…"
"You mean it's no coincidence that in all these lands he just happened to turn up at our camp," replied Adamous.
"I have a feeling something untoward is afoot and I feel an uneasy disquiet not knowing what it could be.”
“Did you worry this much back in Alexandria?” asked Adamous trying to establish whether there was anything in her intuition that they should be wary of.
"Life was a lot easier in Egypt, there were not so many people trying to kill me and there were even less creatures like Garm trying to eat me, for that matter."
They gazed long and hard at every rocky outcrop or shadowed wood and looked in all directions, to see if there was anything that might be of concern. Adamous slowly shook his head covered his eyes from the glare of the sun and took a deep breath; there were a thousand hiding places in the mountains and behind the trees, and Garm could have been using any of them.
Merit reached up, pulled back her hair and tied it back. The rough hewn Mountains stared back at her with a cold harshness. So much for the tranquil land of the Romans, that place was hostile unwavering, demonstrative, secretive, intimidating and above all wild; a foreign uncompromising land, that lay far from her civilised Alexandria.
The spindly grass caught at their boots, recent rains had pooled and mushy muddy ground to earthly broody mess. Adamous signalled to Germanicus to look ahead. As they stared across the plain there came into sight what appeared a group of men, they too were on foot, even from that distance they could see that their apparel was tardy, weather worn. Each drew in their breath, it appeared their fears were realised. The three pulled what belongings they had close, tightened their belts and made sure their weapons were accessible.
“We may have need of your tricks Merit,” said Adamous.
Merit nodded sullenly.
“What’s the plan?” asked Germanicus.
“They are no match for us, so try not to harm them,” replied Adamous.
“What do you mean,” Merit gasped, “there’s about ten of them, and they look fairly burly and battle worn and one or two are as big as houses,” she squinted to look closer, “you better make that three or four.”
Germanicus just shrugged.
Merit exasperated, mimicked his shrug. As the encounter drew ever closer instinctively her companions stepped out in front, shielding her in such a way that she could not see past them. It brought a smile to her face that they were so protective; even so she shuddered at the thought of another hostile encounter or perhaps she had felt a sudden chill in the air. The two groups stopped with a little ground between them.
A tall thickset man stepped forward; he was a Northman in appearance, wearing a wolf’s hide as a jerkin beneath which was a breast plate, Roman in origin. His light breeches were stained, bloodied as was his face. Not a promising start, and then surprisingly he saluted them.
“You seem to be far from home,” said Germanicus.
“We’re from the fourth auxiliary cohort of the guard of Constantinople, we were sent out by the Viglator to find out if the rumours were true regarding Thebes, and were making our way back to the City to report our findings, when we were set too by a savage ungodly beast, that we barely fought off.”
“We’re from Constantinople ourselves. I do not recall anything regarding Thebes. I am Germanicus and this is Adamous we were with the Viglator and he mentioned nothing of this.”
“Sir the reports came in after you had left, and we were dispatched immediately, we slipped out of the harbour passed the Saracens and stole into the night unnoticed.”
“Well, I don’t know why we didn’t do just that ourselves, what’s your report?” asked Germanicus quickly.
“Thebes has been taken by Charon.”
“By Charon,” exclaimed Adamous, “you believe that Charon is here, in Thebes, at this time. You are joking?”
By the sullied brooding expressions on their faces, they clearly were not.
“Is there a possibility you could be mistaken?” asked Germanicus with a roll of his eyes.
“We saw him squeeze the life out of the lector when he questioned him; it was grotesque to look upon.”
“Yes, that would certainly convince me,” Germanicus sighed and guardedly glanced at Adamous.
"And of course there is Garm," said another of the Romans.
“That is one of Charon's pets; our mission to get to the Merovingian will have to wait. He’s one person that can change the word vile, to evil, and he certainly doesn’t need magic for that. We
must stop him.”
"So that's what the Saracens meant by the Paristan alliance: Its Charon and company," remarked a doleful Germanicus.
“If you intend stopping him then good luck with that Sir; if it’s all the same to you, me and the boys thought we’d head back to Constantinople; fighting the most powerful Witch that has ever walked the earth is way out of our area of expertise, I think you’d need an army for that, so we’ll have a word with the Viglator when we get back and I'm sure he'll despatch one right away. And if that's all we'll be on our way.”
“I’m afraid that's not all, it’s going to take everyone here to take on Charon, and we won’t need an army, any questions.”
As one, the soldiers all raised their arms.
“Well that’s settled then, it’s onto Thebes,” said Germanicus.