The key to be being happy, is to savour the little moments
of absolute bliss that punctuate the whole sorry story that is human life, Varin
thought to himself.
He took a raspberry from his pocket and tossed it into his
mouth. As his teeth closed down on its soft exterior, he felt a wave of
tingling juice explode in his mouth. Blindingly sour at first, his face creased
in the mild discomfort he felt. His facial muscles relaxed as the sourness gave
way to a sweet sensation.
His dry lips and parched throat welcomed the moisture that
the fruit brought with it. Water was rationed, and Varin’s quota was not
adequate for this heat.
He had been marching for the past two days. Two days in this
godforsaken heat. His feet were sore from the constant effort, unused to it. His
back was killing him. The rucksack he carried on it was too heavy to be carried
over such a distance.
The road he marched on was the imperial highway. Near the
cities and towns it was truly imperial. Baked bricks and cobblestones lined the
highway. They were as wide as to accommodate four horse drawn carts side to
side. Rest stops, known as Jaegir, were built along the highway to provide
succor, food and shelter to the travelers.
Here, near the frontier, they were imperial only in name. The
imperial highway here, was a dirt road that was broken and strewn with weeds
and stones.
The country around him was pleasant though. You could see
farms all around the area. Crops were to be planted, but the farmers had all
run off for the fear of the approaching war. There had been no one to stop the
levymen from picking up berries and watermelons.
The raspberries were his moment of bliss amidst the sorry
turn his life had taken, he decided.
A week ago, a group of horsemen had descended upon his
village. With them, they brought royal summons for levies. War was on the
horizon , and the village of Elba was to send one hundred levymen to Fort
Rosenior.Elba was a big village, it had more than two score of thousand men
and women. The village folk regularly joined up for the militia, so a hundred
men ( and some boys) were quickly assembled and packed off to war.
To Varin, this was an opportunity not to be missed. He hated
the idea of sitting in his father’s shop and helping him keep accounts. He quickly
ran to the village centre and signed himself up.
He was given a spear, a shield , a helmet and the standard
levy issue leather jerkin. Once assembled, they had marched to the fishing
village of Rivain. A ship had picked them up from there and deposited them near
the frontier. From where they had commenced to walk for two days. Two tiring,
back breaking , will sapping days.
When the Knight serjeant ordered a halt and then an hour’s
worth of rest, Varin threw his rucksack and spear on the ground. He immediately
proceeded to lie down and close his eyes. A kick to his side made him open his
eyes.
“Stop fantasizing about Arya Michel you lovebird”, Balman
said and smiled in a teasing manner. Balman was a stupid cunt and Varin’s only
friend stupid enough to join the levy along with him.
“Leave me alone, man. I’m tired as hell.”, Varin said and
closed his eyes again.
“As you wish, I thought that as it is I’m lighting the pipe
up, maybe you would like to smoke up too.” Balman said.
Varin opened his eyes up and sat up.” You did’nt mention
that”, he said.
“Its’s ok if you don’t wana come along, you better rest”,
Balman teased him again.
Varin punched Balman on the arm. Balman said,” I thought you
had become too soft, being in love with Arya Mitchel and all.” He then proceeded
to make an ugly impression of a preening girl, all pouty lipped.
“Not too soft to kick your ass”, Varin punched him harder
this time. Balman acted as if he was hurt, and then the both of them burst out
laughing at the same time.
It’s good to have him along , Varin thought.
They walked upto a nearby hill and sat down at its summit.
Balman took out the smoking pipe and the tobacco powder, while Varin watched
him fill the pipe with anticipation. Finished, Balman lit the pipe up and took
a deep puff. His face seemed to light up as he exhaled the smoke. “ This one’s
smooth, here try it.”, Balman passed the pipe to Varin.
Varin placed the pipe to his lips and sucked in gently. The
warmth passed from his mouth to his lungs. He exhaled it after a while. The
smoke left a bitter taste in his mouth but to him it seemed pleasant. After a
while he began to feel lightheaded. I feel relaxed, Varin thought.
“So, how’s it?” Balman asked. “This one’s smooth brother”,
Varin said with a smile.
“I got it from Rivain , the merchant there said he got it
from a caravan of Indicus. It costs more than your average leaf, 4 denars to be
precise, but I thought, what hell. We deserve it for going to war don’t we.”,
Balman said while beaming proudly.
“I owe you one”, Varin said, still lightheaded and smiling,
incapable of adding more.
They were talking like used to in their village, any thoughts
of the upcoming war or the hard road banished from their minds.
Talk inevitably turned to Arya Mitchel.” You have to tell me
about you and her” Balman implored.
“She is pretty, she is nice and I really like her.”,Varin
colored while saying this.
Balman said” Oi fuck off Varin. Stop being such a priss and
tell us if you got to the good stuff? A bit of nookie in there?”
Varin controlled his temper and said through gritted teeth,”
It isn’t like that.”
Balman looked at him for one minute, and then burst out
laughing,” You are in looouve my friend. You won’t hear a thing against her. I better
start calling her sis-in-law the way things are going around here.”
Varin lightened up and said” Just shut up Balman”.
Balman had often told Varin (and the whole village if he
could help it), of the fun stuff he got around to. He was popular with the
village girls. His blond hair and grey eyes caught the fancy of many a maiden. Being
muscular and tall did’nt hurt either. On the top of that he was a great guy to
be around. Everybody liked Balman. Whenever he had told Varin of his time spent
with these female admirers, Varin used to be amazed and embarrassed, but he
continued to make mental notes, as if he would need them in the future.
Varin however, was not like Balman. He used to be overweight
and painfully shy. He was forever buried upto his nose in books. Unfortunately,
his father took that as a sign of a promising accountant. That had forced him
to join levy duty. Three years of intense training had ridden him of most of
the bulk.
He had always had a crush on Arya Mitchel. She was
beautiful. She had long black hair which usually was cut to frame her face. Some
wisps of it would dangle around her face occasionally. He had to resist the
urge to tuck those errant locks of hair behind her ear, in their rightful
place. She had big brown eyes which seemed to swallow him whole. They were deep
enough for a man to drown himself and never find himself again.
He had worked up the courage to ask her out a couple of
months ago. He was surprised to hear her say yes. They had gone to the village
fair. She had looked beautiful in a red and white dress. When he saw her, he
felt as if there was a halo of sunlight around her. She had been warm, funny
and talkative. He had loosened up around her. They spent the whole day talking,
laughing and being merry.
He kissed her on the way back. When her house was around the
corner, she had looked longingly into his eyes. He had held her waist and
brought her close and kissed her softly. Her lips were wet and trembled as he
brought his lips near her’s. When he tried to pull back, she pulled him towards
her and they kissed for what seemed like an eternity, or maybe a second. It was
a moment which had involved him to an extent which…
“Varin!” Balman exclaimed, “ there is something going on at
the camp.”
Varin heard it clearly. Men were shouting and the sound came
from the direction of the camp.
They picked up their weapons and ran towards the camp. On
the way they saw a corpse and some dying men, men from their levy and some men
as black as coal. Berber Horsemen, he realized.
When they reached their encampment, they were immediately
set upon by 5 berber. One with an axe tried to cleave Varin’s skull, but he had
underestimated the range of the spear which Varin held. Varin impaled him upon
the spear before he could strike the blow. It was a reflex action , learnt from
countless practice during his training. The man fell down, spouting blood from
his mouth and his gut.
This was the first man he had killed, and Varin felt
horrified. He had no time to think over it as another berber kicked him and Varin
tumbled over backwards.
Balman, on the other hand, gave an almighty yell and dove
upon the other 3 men. He kicked one, skewered another and started grappling
with the third.
The berber that had kicked Varin was armed with a sword. He pushed
Varin back with speed and power. Varin tried to keep up but the man was too
experienced for him. The berber scythed with an overhand sword attack. Varin
tried to block it with his spear , but to his horror, found his spear split
cleanly into two.
The berber raised his arm to strike again but Varin threw
himself upon him before he could land the blow. Varin’s iron helmet connected
with the berber’s chin, and the hilt of the berber’s sword hit Varin square in
the jaw. They both collapsed in a heap, and the last face Varin saw before
losing consciousness was that of the bleeding berber.
Varin awoke in a tent with other injured levymen. His jaw
hurt. Had it been broken?, He wondered.His back and arms hurt as well. There was
a mysterious pain on his chest, he surveyed it to see a gash half a foot long.
I don’t remember getting that, he thought.
He asked the doctor about Balman. The doctor said,” Balman,
the one who killed ten of them? He is well, and we are the better for it.”“Can you please ask someone to get him?”, he asked. The doctor
nodded in the affirmative.
After what seemed like an eternity, Balman walked in. Varin
noticed that apart from a purple spot on his face and a split lip, Balman
seemed to be well.
“How are you loverboy? When I found you unconscious, I thought
maybe you wouldn’t make it”, Balman said with concern on his face. Hiding his physical pain behind a grimace, Varin said” It
would take more than some berber to kill me.” He asked, “How did this attack
happen”?
“It was an ambush” Balman said, “they must have scouted our
position and waited for us to drop our guard. Thirty or more of us died, twice
of that we took from them. The cowards ran away when the battle started to go
our way.”He added, “The serjeant said that it is unusual for berber
patrols to be this deep within our territory. We will march to the Fort as soon
as the injured are able to walk.”
“Oh no! Not that god damned march again.” Varin shouted and
they both laughed again.
