Chapter 19

Jón listened to the accent as well as the intonation, then called, "Come in and be welcome. The fire is warm and I have put food on for you. It is almost cooked now."

This made the men stay because it was odd that the figure in the camp was awake and not scrambling for weapons. They talked among themselves and it was much later that one came forward and stood before Jón. "My name is Drudwyn. My brother Calder and our grown children and their families are trying to find a home for ourselves."

I could see the other men peering into the darkness. They had only spears but one head was of iron. They were not ready to throw but they were nervous. I heard them muttering about the great number of horses. The horses were still nervous from the wildlife that prowled around the camp and drawn by the smell of blood.

Jón said in a loud voice so his words would carry to everybody, "The Picts are welcome in this land provided they obey the laws; including their obligation to protect this land from invaders."

From the darkness came, "We are farmers and not as good at fighting as you Frisians but we can hold our own."

"The effort is what counts. Your children must be hungry. Have them come into the camp and have some of the pork."

"You said you were cooking the food for us?"

"Yes, you must have followed the smell of our cooking when the wind blew it to the road. You would only have followed it if you were hungry. You have already said that you are farmers. You have made a lot of noise stumbling toward our camp in the dark. I simply cut more meat and put it on the fire. When you got close I put it to one side so it would not burn as I talked to you."

"That's magic," Drudwyn said as his hand went to his waist.

"Is it magic to hear your children stumbling through the woods at night?"

It took a moment for him to think on this then Drudwyn said, "Perhaps not. I see that you have many horses. Ask your people to come out so we may meet them."

"I am the eldest person in the camp until you and your people came. In Hildestun we have a school to teach woodcraft. My students and I are out here to practice this and to look for invading armies To answer your question, our pickets heard you coming and we all got up. They are in a circle around us at the moment.

"I will call them in but I do not want you to get upset when they come into camp from behind you."

Jón paused and no reply came so he called, "White team. Return to camp. There are friends in the camp."

In a moment six cadets entered the camp and spread out behind Jón. He called out, "Red team return to camp." In a moment all twelve had returned. None of the bows were strung and their hands were well away from their swords. The metal of their gauntlets was heard though.

"You see all of my people. They are young. Please introduce your people to me and then I will do the same too you. The food has to be tended to and the best way is to eat it."

The man walked back and talked to the other three men then the four came into the camp. Calder was older than Drudwyn and favoured his left leg and the spear was more of a crutch. Sualtam was Drudwyn's oldest surviving boy and looked to be around eighteen. Powell was Calder's eldest and looked no older than sixteen.

The hand shaking was odd but they did this because they were guests and hungry. Jón brought the cadets over one at a time and introduced them so their features could be seen in the light. Since the man were still frightened Jón turned and picked up two metal skewers of meat and handed them to Drudwyn. "Take this to your family. You are in my camp as a guest and have guest rights. The only additional thing I insist on is that you use the latrine to shit and piss. It keeps our camp clean."

"What's a latrine?"

"Feed your family and I will show you." When Drudwyn turned to go, Jón picked up more meat and handed it to Calder then the two sons. Powell had to take a bite of the meat on the way to deliver it.

Jón said, "White and red team, stand down and get more wood. No picket duty until ordered. Dolf, when you are ready, cut more meat for our guests. As the hunter who brought this to us, then you have this honour."

All the metal skewers came back and Dolf put them to use. Some were just used to spear meat from the pan. The rest of our guests came into the camp and I saw twenty three more people. Drudwyn introduced his wife and at Jón's instance also his other eight children. The oldest of the group was Wynne the mother of the two brothers. Jón found a seat for the woman. She was about fifty but looked at least seventy from the hard life women had to endure.

She said, "What are you?"

"We are a school. I teach. We investigate things and try to find the reasons why they occur. The cadets look young and warlike because I taught them to be this way. We have good weapons that we have made ourselves. None of the cadets has had much chance to use them. They wrestle though and are quite good at it. They are all taught to treat those we meet as they treat us. You will have no problems in this camp though I may get angry if the children piss and shit around the tents."

"The babies are good. They won't displease you."

Calder introduced his family and then so did the two oldest boys.

Jón reintroduced all of the cadets again and gave a few comments that made them appear more like children. The rest of the tents were set up and the equipment in the hut was transferred except for the pads used to cushion the saddles on the horse's backs. These the cadets slept on. Smelling like a horse was not that bad.

Jón said, "You are welcome to the hut. Our saddles are on the walls so you will have all the floor space. There are mats there which you can sleep on if you wish. There may not be room for everybody but it is the best we can do in the dark. Drudwyn, will you stay up with me for a while as pickets? We can talk as the remainder get a rest. Later others will take up this duty."

"We can talk."

The camp settled down but the men didn't sleep right away. Jón and I learned that they had been pushed off their land to the east and had not been able to find a place to settle with their own people. Their ox died so they had been fairly wealthy people. Nobody wanted them in their communities because they were different.

Jón said, "We have some of your people and even some Romans living with us. Our borders are also open to the Franks though they are our brothers. Our city is getting rich because we are making glass, iron and then a special type of iron called steel. It is much stronger and harder. The hut has our saddles and you can see them in the morning. They are superior to anything yet made. We have made tools that cut stone and wood much better. I have wanted to make fertiliser for a while but have not got around to it yet."

"Fertiliser? What is that?"

"Like shit that is spread on the ground to nourish plants. Plants eat this and when it is all gone the farm has to be abandoned. If I can get the fertiliser made then you could use the same land for hundreds of generations not just three."

"That would be good. It's hard work to clear the land."

"We have cleared land that has gone fallow for a generation. We also have a new plough with an iron tip. It digs deep within the soil and cuts the soil easily to bring up the food for the plants. The farm only has small trees on it that are easily removed."

"The land is used up."

"The top layer has recovered a little but I said the plough will bring up the deeper food for the plants. It requires horses or a lot of people to pull a plough."

"We could still work the land if we are allowed to stay."

"I have a proposition for you and your group."

"What is it?"

"I have the plough and the animals to pull it. I will be making fertiliser soon and need a place to put it. My people accept the old ways and it is difficult to get them to see a different way of doing things. If you will farm my way then I will provide all that you need. You will get a share of what the land brings and if I am wrong then I will feed you myself."

Drudwyn was certainly interested and the details had to be hammered out. Jón was not that informed about farming and I had to take over to explain the fine points. The idea of a test farm was hard to comprehend but the thoughts of having a house with a stone foundation was like a dream come true. Having a wood floor was almost too much to grasp.

It was dawn by the time we had finished. He was all for Jón's proposition but his brother Calder had an equal vote if not a bit more.

The children got up with their mothers' and Jón showed them to the latrine and explained how to use it. The moss was quickly used up and the mothers had to find more.

The cadets got up too but Jón had let them sleep in as long as they wanted. The camp was, after all, a place for them to rest.

The washing of hands was introduced but the soap was a hard bar and smelled nice. The children didn't seem to mind.

Drudwyn and Jón cut up more of the meat. Damp wood was put high over a small fire to just dry out as if it were food. When the water vapour finally left it was used for fuel and the meat was cooked. Drudwyn studied the iron frypan. It was not cast but forged and didn't look as nice but it did do the same job.

The cadets took over the cooking details while Drudwyn talked to the adults about Jón's proposition. Forni coaxed the children over and fed them. The cadets followed his lead and fed the guests even before they ate themselves.

Everybody was feeling their way because this was an unusual meeting of cultures. Some of the cadets were asked to hunt after they had eaten which they were glad to do. The others started to enlarge the hut. We would be here for a while longer and needed the room.

Some of the children were the same age as the cadets and they were employed in helping to build the hut and to gather clay. Rocks were not as good as fired clay for an oven. The women were given the skin of the boar to tan and to keep. The skin had to be scraped and they marvelled at the tools they were loaned to do the job.

The oven/stove was fired slowly then much hotter to fuse it. The children and women found edible plants. When Jón did the same thing then the men did too. Some new plants were found to be edible by each group. They had different backgrounds and different sets of knowledge.

Klaasje came back with three piglets and said, "This was all I wanted to get. I didn't want to take the sow or any more of her brood."

Jón said, "That was a good idea. Do you think the boar Dorf took was the sire?"

"It could be but I got these miles from where he took the boar. They move around a lot. I ran across a lot of wolf sign."

Jón said, "They were all around the camp last night. The smell of the boar and blood drew them."

Calder had heard this and said, "Why didn't you warn us? We could have driven them away."

"You were in no danger. They were hungry like you were and came to see if we would help them. The horses were fidgety because they could smell them. They would not come into the camp because I made noise and they knew I was awake."

"Wolves are filthy animals. I wish they were all dead."

Jón said, "They have the same right to live as we do. Men fight each other and get strong. Without the animals we would all be poorer. A child taken by a wolf is bad but it teaches the surviving children to watch for predators and to protect themselves. The boar you are eating is a fierce predator too yet I didn't hear you wanting them to all die."

"We can eat them."

"You could eat a wolf too, though it may not taste that good to us. Wolves will die out where man tills the soil. With no forests they will leave. Over time the wolf will be a rare sight. Men have large families and their children have large families. This is what pushes us to find new land to farm. The world around us is dangerous but to make it safe is the same as making us all weak. It is better that a few fall so that the rest of us do not live a dull life."

"Dull life! One of my children was taken by a wolf."

"If the child was young then the child was not protected by his family. If the child was old then he was not trained in ways to kill the wolf instead. If he was a man then he was too drunk or too weak to warrant survival."

Calder was angry and his hand went to his knife under his clothes but it was not pulled. Jón didn't move at all and in a moment Calder pulled his hand away. "My daughter was only three summers when she was taken."

"She could not defend herself but she should have been kept closer to those that could." This left unsaid that he or his wife should have had weapons ready to defend themselves. The death of a child was tragic but so was the gentling of an entire race. The future had most men that were more like Hafgan than true men.

Calder left because he was still upset. Drudwyn, Sualtam and Powell came over though and wanted more information about the farm. Some of the tools we had made were discussed and they liked the idea of the scythe. The harrow and the disc were mentioned and how they worked but the reaper was not made yet and its construction was only alluded to. When they were told how much land they were to cultivate they almost choked.

"We cannot tend all that. We are few in number."

"The idea of using the machines is to allow everybody to do more. Even a woman can guide a plough if it is made properly. The disc, harrow and the reaper has a seat where the person sits to guide the horses. There is little work and a boy of twelve could do this. The seed is not cast on the ground, but falls from a container and the harrow will cover it. There is little need to bend over. Much of the difficult work is done because the land has been cleared of the large trees.

"Preparing the land and planting will take a lot of the time and if you find this too much work they we can have others work it for you."

Sualtam said, "We are to get a quarter of all that is harvested?"

"One quarter is a lot when you consider how much that will be harvested. During the times when you are not too busy I will show you how to make even more silver by cutting trees or manufacturing a lot of other tools or devices. One of the reasons I want to give you so much is because you are hungry enough to listen to my way of doing things. The Frisians want to do everything their way. Once they see that you become wealthy then they will change. Their heads are very thick and they have to be shown something a lot of times before they will accept it."

"Our own people are that way too."

"You are hungry and will listen better. Next year you will be tutors."

Jón answered questions almost all the time while the rest tended the camp or went hunting. The questions changed to what the men really wanted when they discussed the weapons. Jón let each of the men handle his weapons then study the construction of the armour. The boots had to be checked next along with the saddles. The axe and saw were studied because they did do the work faster and seemed to stay sharp.

The horses represented great wealth and the metal on their feet was checked. Horse shoes had to be discussed and what the portion sticking out in front of the shoe was really for.

Powell said, "You are all young and men could come and take what you have."

"Men would come and try to take what we have. You will find out when you get to Hildestun. Our academy is designed to teach many subjects. Children can be moulded to be adults that you would be proud to know. They will know what is right and then do it. Honour is not something that can be taught but I think it can be nourished. The cadets have this. I have told them that in two thousand years children will read paper books about them and marvel how they ever did what was in the pages."

"What have they done?"

"They make steel and forged the raw metal into their weapons and armour. They made the boots and saddles with men to show them how. We have made things that will change the world but as yet we have to keep the secret within our group."

"What secret?"

"If I told you then it would not be a secret." Jón changed the subject. "We are looking for invaders but also for minerals. Have you seen anything useful that you wish to share with me?"

Calder said, "Like what?"

"There is a black rock that will burn also a brown one. There is another black earth that sticks to iron. Iron ore itself is all over but I want to know where you have seen reddish brown earth where the iron is not seen very well. There are a lot of other minerals but most of them are too similar to each other that only a trained eye will distinguish them apart."

The men mentioned sulphur deposits and another that looked to be iron sulfite. Brown coal was seen and its location mentioned. Jón took out his map. The men marvelled at this because they had not seen one before. The location of the coal was placed on the map. Jón got into the subject of who had displaced the men and their families trying to get some intelligence on the Romans or their Pict brothers. Apparently it was not an army as such but they had seen Roman dispatch riders and small groups of Romans. All of these were far to the west.

The cadets saddled the pack animals and led the children around to teach them about a horse and especially a saddle. The parents didn't mind especially after they too had a chance.

Jón talked that night about the world to come. Flying for now was abandoned because it was too unbelievable. Railways and iron ships that burnt fuel to move were almost in the same category.

The cadets did picket duty while the rest slept. The next morning was different. Jón said, "We are leaving later. You will not be able to keep up with us so we are going hunting. You can stay and rest here and leave for Hildestun if that is your choice. If someone obstructs you then give my name and say that you want to taste Helga's cooking and see Rudi's wagons."

"We can keep up with you."

"For a mile or two and I do not want to be slowed down. Do you wish us to hunt for you? It means you have to stay here to dry the meat and rest a little more. You will have to set up pickets because of the smell of blood. You know by now that it would be hard to miss Hildestun if that is your wish."

There was some frightened looks since the women and children had found a measure of security. The same may have been from the men but they knew this could not last.

Most of the cadets donned their armour for hunting then saddled their horses. They left single file and would go our a few miles then spread out before coming back towards the camp while making a lot of noise.

In a few hours the forest was alive with movement. Boars and piglets rushed by but they were not funnelled toward the camp. Three deer went through but a buck was struck with Jón's bow while the rest were allowed to escape. Wolves hurried by but they avoided the humans. A bear didn't, but was allowed to go through the camp unmolested. A bear was a strong enemy that could be very dangerous, especially when wounded.

Lynx and other animals were seen by Jón but not the rest. They didn't have the trained eye to see. Three of the large wild cattle called aurochs pushed their way through the trees. Their wide horns made it difficult to get by in many places. Their size was so great that most things bowed to their strength.

A mother bear and two cubs were last and they too were not hindered. By now the sound of the horses coming were heard by everybody. It was only when the cadets had returned was the stag hung to be blooded. The butchering was quick and the internal organs divvied out to the cadets for cooking. In an hour they had eaten and the horses loaded once more for the remainder of their patrol.

Jón and the cadets shook hands with everybody including the infants. There were well wishes from both sides as the cadets went single file toward the road once more. Apart from a steel knife the only thing left behind was the toilet seat that the Picts had grown to love.

When the road joined another we found a great deal more tracks. None of the marks showed the hobnails of Roman feet, but many people had come by here in the last two days. I figured that they were just more refugees from the west. Germany in the future and many of the other powerful countries had accepted immigrants with open arms and in return they had got stronger and much more wealthy. Being tolerant of other beliefs had helped, though some countries were not as charitable as others.

Jón said to me, "Keep our eyes and ears open. I want to see who used this road."

"I will do my best but I am not infallible. I am only somewhat better than you, not perfect."

Jón took point and hurried down the road. They bunched up only infrequently to have a short discussion then separated again. Whoever had forced the people to move could still be right behind them.

Later that day they came upon damaged wagon and the people took up farm implements to protect themselves. Jón stopped and said, "My name is Jón. Where are you people from?"

It was actually two groups that had banded together and it turned out to be from the same general area as Calder and Drudwyn. It was a competing tribe of Picts apparently. Their numbers were estimated but refugees rarely knew anything for sure. Weapons though were what the Picts would usually have with them and not what the Romans would or could supply them with.

"Stay on this road and in a day you will come to a fork to the left. This will take you to Hildestun. We have need of good people to farm the land and to stand and protect it. The road to the right leads on for a week and will cross a river which is high at the moment."

One large man said, "Who are you to offer us land?"

"Jón the only son of Clovis, King of the Frisians. Come if you wish or go. Those that push you forward will not be able to get past us."

With nothing more said, Jón left again. In coming hours more people were seen and they immediately went into hiding or stayed to protect their valuables.

When dusk came the fork was seen and a few hundred people were camped here. It seemed that they had not made a decision yet or had sent people in both directions to find out what was ahead of them.

The group parted when the cadets approached. Jón said in a loud voice, "My name is Jón. I am the son of Clovis, King of the Frisians. One road leads to Hildestun. You may take this road and find farms that have remained dormant long enough. The price is your allegiance to our king and a willingness to fight for your land if the need arises. You will find our active help in getting you started with tools and seed.

"The other road leads east. A river is still in crest and you will have to wait for the water to drop before you can cross. Heading more south will bring you into the hill country. You may carve out a land for your people there but you will have to fight for it. The Frisians are extending a hand in friendship. Any enemy following you will not get by all of us."

There didn't seem to be a spokesman or he didn't want to speak up. Jón just looked around and headed through the crowd towards home.

Others had made a choice already and Jón just called out into the forest to where they were hiding, "You are on the road to Hildestun. Farmland is available as well as seed and tools. Your allegiance is required for you to stay."

They made camp well off the road to avoid visitors or thieves.

Forni asked, "Why are you telling everybody to come to our city? There are already a lot of people there. You said we may be attacked by the Romans and the Gauls."

"The people will be settled on the old farms not in the city. They will be busy building homes and tilling the soil. If enemies approach they will just fade into the forest.

"The reason I invited them is to increase our numbers. You heard me talk about a railroad, well I need to make track and the cars that will ride on it. The Frisians love to fight but they are hard to deal with. I know that after a war the people are desperate. They feel so hopeless that they will break out of their old ways and learn new ideas. Perhaps it will be the immigrants that will pull all of us forward."

"We can change."

"You are changing because you are with me almost all the time. Those that are like the bootmaker and the smith have to be convinced over and over again. What about those that I ask to do something only once? They will not change but may do something for the silver I offer. The word for this is complacent. They are happy in their ways and don't want to change what they do because they do not see a reason to do so."

The next day at noon they arrived back in Hildestun. Jón immediately sought out Grímkell. Jón found him in a guard room working on some armour.

"Hello Grímkell. I thought I should come and mention what I had seen."

"Romans or Gauls?"

"None that were fighting but there are a lot of refugees from the west. I am settling them into the old farms."

"Why do you want some filthy refugees?"

"They will farm for me. I will help them get started and the granary will fill this time. When you recruit, you will find some of the Picts joining our number."

"Who wants the Picts? We can't trust them."

"The Picts are not as good at fighting as we are but they can kill our enemies with some help. If you treat them as equals they will think they have found a home. They will protect this land because it will be theirs too."

"This is our land not theirs. Why should I give anything to them?"

"If they have the farm beside yours and help you when the need arises then how are they any different than other Frisians?"

"They don't look the same. They don't talk the same and they have odd customs."

"The Huns have so many people that you could not count them. They will be coming. They have so many differences that you will think the Picts as being your brothers. The Visigoths will come through this area and fight us even though we are much closer to them than to the Picts. There are so many Visigoths that they will defeat the Roman Empire. We will be defeated because we are so few. The Huns will so numerous that they will not even think that there was a war. We will just be swept aside. Again, we need more people to survive and the Picts will give their allegiance before they can get any land."

"You can't trust them. They will rob us."

"I invited them here. Treat them with some respect but teach them that we are not to be trifled with. Let them be the first to show disrespect. The Romans call us barbarians because they do not know us. I do not want to call my own people animals."

The horses were put in the stable and brushed. This was not left to the grooms. The cadets didn't have servants except when we ate at the castle kitchen.

Astrid and Dagmar were happy to see Jón. Astrid asked in a laughing voice, "Did you find any Romans?"

"Not yet but a tribe of Picts are pushing some of their brothers this way. I am going to settle them in the old farms."

"Those farms are useless. They will grow hardly enough to survive."

"There is food for the plants deeper in the soil. A larger plough will bring it up. We need a lot more food and we cannot get it with those that sit around this room drinking beer and swapping stories."

"We have enough to eat. More people mean more mouths to feed."

"My tools will make each person more productive. In a few years we will be selling our grain."

"Why work that hard just to sell it?"

"The work is less hard because of the machines. With the power to sell or not sell food we gain power."

"How? A king in many lands just lets his people die if they are foolish enough to not work hard enough."

"So we sell to those that will eat it. If they do not have silver then we will get them to do things for us. We need more iron, ashes and charcoal. If a king does not look after his people then his subjects are informed of this and perhaps the king is not a king anymore."

"You would preach insurrection?"

"Would you preach insurrection against the Romans? Would you do it against the Gauls? It had been done for a long time by the Romans. They don't think it is a bad idea."

"Someone may do the same to our king and your father."

"My father cares for his people. Only a professional agitator would do this and he would have to receive Roman gold to do this. Our own people honour Clovis and someone speaking ill of him would be killed."

"I still think what you were saying is wrong."

There was more talk about Clovis but none of it was recent. What Fálki was able to do or if he had even arrived was not known. Jón was a whirlwind as he checked on his assets in the city. When he decided to check the old farms. The cadets wanted to go even if they were tired and Jón allowed it.

The farms were not that far from the city and all of them were overgrown. There were dilapidated huts and of no use. I estimated that there was about three square kilometres of land making this three hundred hectares. Not all of it had been prime land even when just cleared but it could be very productive. A further area of land only two hundred hectares had remained follow for perhaps sixty years and had many larger trees.