Chapter 4

Jón was back in control of the body the next morning. Everything had gone dark when he awoke. It took a long time to push some tendrils of control to the major senses so I could share them. I had not slept during the night and didn't seem to have the need. The last sleep I remembered was when I had the magical draught.

Last night I just retreated somewhere inside the brain I was living in to study and think. After relishing some of this semi-freedom, I re-oriented to find that Jón was quite tired. In that we were both using the same body, it was not getting as much rest as it needed. That went double considering that the body and mind had so recently been in a coma. I wondered if my laying awake was the cause.

Jón was drinking some broth again. He didn't push himself to have a solid breakfast. Forni was against the wall. I could see that he was upset, but that was nothing new. If I had not arrived, he might still have found Jón's attentions acceptable by now.

I worked mentally on willing independent motion to the small finger of the right hand again. It separated from the other fingers and wiggled until it caught Forni's eye. Then, he smiled. I stopped soon enough to escape Jon's notice.

Forni was sent away with the empty bowl. He unexpectedly came back with the king. Smiling benevolently, Clovis said, "Good morning Jón. How did you sleep?"

"I'm always tired. The priest did something wrong."

"You are very weak still. You need to get some exercise."

"I need to rest first. I cannot walk yet. Somebody must carry me."

"That is not what I want for you in your recovery. I will send two men here to get you dressed. You will walk, or be carried, to the courtyard where you will walk. You need fresh air and some sun."

"Father, I'm tired. I don't want to go."

I said as my contribution as his tutor to his mind, "Your father has much more experience and has fought enemies. When you get older, you can make your own decisions. You need someone to make you to do what is needed." I felt significant resistance to my thought suggestion, but I kept hammering it to him, regardless.

The king said forcefully, "You will do as I say, Jón."

"I'm not going," retorted Jon. He was not happy, hating his father for making him do what was necessary. Again, I hammered him. This time I added mental pictures of his being a petulant baby in his mind. Soon, he put his hands to his ears and closed his eyes while mumbling, "No, no, no, no." When he opened his eyes, he found his father staring fixedly at him, but he said nothing.

Clovis had apparently changed his mind and said, "Forni, dress my son." I was happy to hear the name instead of the term, 'slave'.

Jón couldn't object much and didn't say anything. The clothing was already assembled from our walk yesterday. When the boy was dressed, the father simply picked up his thin son and carried him down the hallway and eventually out of the keep.

This short trip was very educational for me. I had been to some of the castles on the Rhine that were open to the public, but the earliest had been built some eight centuries in the future. This one was sturdy, alright. But, I could see many possible improvements. The castle was predominately wood with a facade of stone.

When Jón was put on his feet, he held onto his father. Part of the reason was that he was uncertain that he could walk. His father took one hand and Forni took the initiative in taking the other. Jón was in no position to exhibit false pride and accepted the help. For my part, I was able to wiggle my right hand in Forni's grip, but could not see his reaction.

My own personal education in Frisian martial architecture continued as we exercised Jón. The walls around us were only ten metres high. Above, I could make out a narrow wooden walkway just inside the walls at the top. That walkway was supported only by long poles going to the ground. There were four sheep feeding from a cartload of fodder, while the owner looked elsewhere. Four horses were tied in two pairings with the ground underneath covered in animal shit. A large-framed dog that appeared to be starving sniffed around one of the piles of refuse, probably looking to find something to eat.

When we came to the gate, Jón thankfully looked out. There were more walls and gates that had to be passed before an invader could get to the castle. The city extended perhaps a kilometre beyond us. I saw another wall in the distance protecting the town. It was difficult to judge the height or its condition, but the walls looked to be no higher than those of the castle. Some sentries were visible walking those walls too.

There were some meagre homes partially in view. Each had considerable space to itself. It was as though everyone wanted a bit more privacy than circumstances might easily permit. Here and there, people could be seen. Most wore cloaks and some looked to be naked under them, except that the women wore underclothes. It was rather cool. Despite this, many of the children, even the older ones could be seen running around naked. From this, as well as my previous observations in the castle, I had to assume that there was no nudity taboo.

We walked past some thick oaken gates and continued around the courtyard that was perhaps only four hundred square metres in extent. I saw some vets, or cripples with crutches, or stumps, where they had lost limbs. They were out basking in the sun. These men were mostly tall and large-boned, but some were much shorter and looked Italian to me. This group had no weapons but I saw the common knife used to eat with that everybody wore. They did seem to have a good deal of freedom to move around. Maybe these were some of the prisoners I had learned about earlier.

When we came by the door to the kitchen, the smell of food washed over us. Near the door was a large clay oven that must be for the castle's supply of bread. Excellent! Ovens much like that one could be put to use in my enterprises. No need to perfect that skill in the Frisians.

I heard Clovis say, "Would you like something to eat, Jón?"

"I already ate."

Now, it was my turn. I said to Jón, "You are being like a baby again. You are thin and need to put on some weight. Say that the bread smells good."

I got a distinct, "No," flung back, but it was not verbal.

"The baby is angry and wants to punish the father for making him walk? It was boring back in the bedchamber. It is so much better out here. So what, if it hurts. You will get over the pain sooner and begin to enjoy yourself."

"No." This time it was verbal.

"Fraud! You dream of being king and cannot even control your own body. You will kill yourself and all of your people."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do, but you're lazy. You are not fit to be this man's son. You should have been born to the Roman patricians. You could be pampered all the time much like a slut. Is that what you are? A slut that simply lays back and accepts what happens."

"No, no. I am not."

"You are a pampered baby that cries when he is hurt and blames all his faults on others."

"No, no."

"It is yes, yes. You will never be a man, if you continue the way you are. Nobody will respect you. You are no better than a slut."

"No, no. I can fight. I can be a king."

"You cannot fight. You cannot even walk by yourself. An old woman, using a crutch to walk can beat you to death. You would make so poor a king that none would help you even in a good cause."

"No, no, no."

Everything I saw was now at an angle. The only way for me to have that perspective would be to have Jón picked up bodily and carried-not that either of us had noticed in the heat of our argument. Moments later we found ourselves back in Jón's bedroom. Jón was still denying my accusations. I kept at him using logic to back up my assertions. The boy just refused to see even the most self-evident facts.

I watched as Forni undressed Jón and got him tucked into bed once more. Clovis said to Forni, "If things change, I want you to come to me. There is a lot to still discuss."

I wiggled my small right finger and both people looked at it. The king nodded.

For the next half hour I continued to harangue Jón. Eventually I saw to it that I worked in the correct way of responding to those around Jon. He at least had begun coming around in this respect. With no escape he more or less had to.

"What do you do when Astrid speaks to you?"

"I say, 'yes, my lady'."

"Good. Now, your sister asks if you want some of her bread."

"I say that the bread smells delicious and I would be happy to taste some."

"That's good too. You are learning, and may yet make a good king one day. Now, how do you treat Forni?"

"I treat him like a younger brother whom I love."

"That's right. Of course, I know you don't love him, but he loves you. You need all the friends you can get in life."

"But, he's a slave."

"Sure he is, but one day he will be a man. He may hold a sword to defend you against an enemy. If he remembers how you have treated him shabbily, then he may just stand aside leaving you to your fate. On the other hand, if you were to mend your ways to treat him as kindly as he deserves, he might die, if necessary, so that you may live. You have to help him make that decision. That is not done in the heat of battle one day in the future. It is done in small amounts every single day beginning today. You cannot order his love and respect, you will have to demonstrate those traits to him. Now you are tired and need a rest. Ask Forni nicely for some water and then use the pot and go to sleep."

I heard, "Forni, I need the pot. Will you help me?"

Forni looked at me probably wondering who was in command. When Jón was done and put back into bed, Jón said, "Thank you Forni. I would like some water in the jug."

"Yes, Master."

Jón slowly drifted off to sleep after the drink. When enough time had passed, I came to the forefront and said, "I'm back Sweetie. Help me get dressed please and we will go see the king."

Forni hurried, but when he got in front of me he said, "Can I suck you again?"

"Forni, you are forever horny. I am too in this body. I have a great many tasks to do. This may mean whether we survive or not. Maybe later we can some have fun."

"I loved it last night. Nobody ever did that to me before."

"It will happen a lot more now. I hope you see that I like women too. You are going to have to learn to share." He didn't look happy now and said nothing.

"Forni, you may only want men when you grow up, but that may change, or possibly you will want both. I want you to be happy as you grow and to do that you have to experiment."

"I don't want men, I only want you."

"You're young. In time you will grow to be a man one day. We all change as we get older. Sometimes it is for the better, and sometimes not. One new skill will have to be acquired by many. I will see that you learn how to read even if you are a slave. You will then teach others the same skill. One day in the year 2000, a child will pick up a book and read about you and what you did to improve the entire world."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I told you that I have the knowledge that could change the world. You will help me and your name will go into the books beside mine."

In moments Forni was assisting me down the hallway to the king's chambers. There were no guards, so Forni called, "My king, I have come."

I heard, "Come in."

Forni picked up the latch and then pushed the door open. The king was in the room talking to a dozen people including Fidelis.

The king ignored Forni and said, "Hello Jón. How are you?"

"Much better now father. I needed the exercise and a chance to learn what faces our people."

"Good." He turned to the men in general and said, "Find him a chair before the boy falls over."

One was quickly presented and I was assisted into it. My feet didn't reach the floor. The men were looking at Forni and I said in a whisper, "You will need to help me out. We have to clean up our room, since I cannot do my share yet, I will need you to do my part for now. Before you do that, would you fetch something for me to eat first, please?"

"Yes, Master," he said before leaving.

Clovis said to the group, "My son is acting more like a man now. It may be because of his wound but it may be that he is simply growing up."

Clovis went over what he was talking about previously, but did so in bullet form. Then he said, "Basically the Romans are acting out of character. They usually destroy the land and either kill or enslave all the peasants. In this campaign, that is not what they have done thus far. This likely means that they do not want to antagonise us so much as they may hope to provoke a change of leadership."

After a discussion where everyone had a say except for me, Clovis said, "What do you think, Jón?"

"I think that the agentes in rebus will soon send some assassins to kill you. We should send out some spies, to find if the legate has the Comes Disposionum as a long-term guest in camp." This shocked those in the room.

I added, "You just wear a sword and have no one at your door to screen those who enter. I would think that a Roman official would have bodyguards in the room with him, when he can be easily found by others. The Roman spies could also include the speculatores. Those soldiers will probably come here personally to take you.

Looking casually about the room, "I notice an open window behind you. A man could scale the castle wall even if he has to kill a guard or two. He could put an arrow through your heart." Everyone looked at the wall and some moved to see it and hear my words.

"Anything else?"

"You told me that you have made numerous treaties with other peoples. Rome is more afraid than ever because of all the new tribes and associated clans moving into the empire. They see their armies constantly being diluted with larger numbers of non-Romans. They are desperately trying to hold their present empire together. This very frontier they know to be their least defensible point. I do not know if you were planning any moves against the Gauls, but I think it was the Romans that instigated everything you have been discussing today.

"I suggest that you consider making peace with Rome on any terms possible in the short-term. This will give you time so that you can build more weapons and a far larger and better equipped army. Failing gaining that breathing space, you have no choice but to employ unconventional military practices to attack the Romans."

"What practices?" The king smiled now because he wanted to hear what I had to say.

"As you learned in your youth, a legion stands to fight in a field or in small patrols though they do have many small skirmishes between times. The Romans will eventually see that the calvary is their most valuable troop and begin to rely almost entirely on it. Strengthen your already formidable calvary and train them to operate in close cooperation with mobile infantry that will ride to the site of the battle. Training is just as important to us-maybe more so- as it is to the Romans.

"As you gain tactical expertise, begin to use the most highly trained in specialized tactics. One helpful practice is to teach your soldiers to impersonate the enemy. This will allow for operations close by enemy positions with less risk and also give you the ability to discredit your enemy with their own allies. You might attack some of the garrisons and make it look like it was a group of renegade Gauls. The reverse could be staged if you have some men pretend to be Roman Legionnaires who unaccountably attack the Gauls."

Clovis was quiet for a moment then said, "You have some interesting ideas. You must have more."

"Yes, I do. Among the new unconventional military operations will be more ambushes of your enemies. The problem with an ambush is that the Romans pickets or scouts will likely see you before you can inflict maximum damage. I think I know of a way that they will not see you even if they trip over you."

"That is impossible without magic."

"Not magic at all. We need only fashion a loose cotton garment for each warrior and sew various lengths of cotton strips to it. Cotton is preferred because it has little weight. Each strip is dyed a combination of brown, green, red and black, but not all one colour. Depending where you wish to stand and the season of the year, different colours may be required. That is another reason for the clothing to be light weight. Each soldier will require several different garments for situations that will arise quickly. You need a cloth hat of the same material and dyed the same way to match each different garment. A mask with holes only for the eyes to see out will blend in so well that the enemy will not distinguish you from the background unless you move. Your greatest relative strength is in your bows. They will be disguised the same way with cloth, dyes and pigments."

One older man said, "That hiding is the way of a coward. A man should stand up and fight his enemy face to face."

I waited for Clovis to answer for me, but he didn't reply. I said, "Often, the Roman Army will attack a farm. They kill the men, rape the women, and any survivors are sold as slaves. You are saying that the father and his sons should just stand against a hundred professional soldiers?"

"Not at a hundred to one, or a hundred to ten."

"Then a man who knows nothing but farming and his nine young sons should stand to face ten battle hardened Roman soldiers face-to-face?"

"He and his family can run honourably if the odds are too high," the man said.

I said, "That is the best thing to do for the family. But, the Romans steal everything useful and destroy what they cannot carry away. That is not so beneficial for the survival of the Frisian people."

I continued, "You know that archers have been part of the Frisian army for a long time. A Roman patrol is most often discovered when one of our people gets an arrow through their heart. If we become more active and happen to find a Roman patrol, are we to go to them and challenge their right to be on our land?"

The old man said, "You know better than that."

"So we hide behind trees along their probable line of march and wait to ambush the Romans."

"Yes, in that event, we do that."

"Then, what is so unacceptably horrible about wearing a piece of cloth that hides our armour and our bodies, provided that it allows us to kill more Romans while losing fewer warriors?"

The man was flustered and finally said, "You have to show the Romans that you stand up to them."

"I agree with you completely. Show me a thousand Frisian archers, then I could quickly dispatch all the Roman patrols sent out to harass our people. When the Roman patrols do not return, it will tell the Legatus Legionis that we are destroying his men. He will come out to fight, because he has no other alternative. We have to make him fight us on a battlefield of our choosing, not his. We can fight more efficiently by shooting our arrows into our enemies from behind carefully chosen trees.

"We can prepare make traps, so the enemy horses fall into the ground breaking their legs. Rope strung across a trail can trip a horse, or catch one of the eques by the neck as he gallops after our sagittarii or alarii. I want our archers and irregulars to be safe. To do that comes at some risk, we have to remove the Romans. The alternative is to send a delegation to the Romans now and sue for peace on unfavourable terms. Are you ready to do that?"

"I do not surrender to the enemy."

"You want to let a vastly superior enemy choose the battleground?"

"Never."

"Then fight the Romans where they are the weakest. I could talk to some of the women and get a dozen of these suits made. Give me a dozen good men and we can test if what I say is true. We will have an Olympic game of sorts with the Romans."

Clovis jumped in and said, "I like that. Fleinn, I want you to be one of those wearing the disguise. You are one of our best."

"Me!" the man said. "I think this is the wrong idea."

"Then test it. You are honest and a good fighter. If it is proven to you in the doing, then it must be good."

The meeting broke up soon after and the man that objected, Fleinn, left as well. With only Clovis and Fidelis now in the room I said, "Hello Sire, and Master Fidelis. I came as soon as I could. Jón is now talking to me, but he thinks that I am his conscience. He is acting better toward those around him. I just have to keep after him until he gets some rewards for his good behaviour."

"What rewards will he get?"

"When he is polite, people will be polite to him. I want to exercise more and he can do his share. I am going to give him the idea of making the ghillies suit."

"That is the name of the camouflage garment?"

"Yes it is, history well beyond this time has already proven that it is very effective. The name is from the Picts that inhabit the west of Britannia. The Gauls are of the same race. They are very good at hiding and you can be only a few feet away and not notice your enemy."

"When can you start on this?"

"Somebody else has to do the work, but I or your son can give the instructions."

"I will tell someone handy with thread and cloth to go to your bedchamber."

"That's fine, but might I suggest that it would be less boring for Jón if this were done in a more public area."

"The courtyard?"

"That's good. Roman spies may see and hear of this suit, but they will not see it as a threat. It will still be not seen in a forest even when they are looking for it."

"It is that good?"

"Yes, with the right colour dyes. It also must be worn in the right location and the person has to remain very still. To allow Jón to think he is doing this, it is best to just supply the tailor or seamstress and allow Jón to tell what is required."

Forni was outside the door and came to assist me back to the room. I ate some cold food. At least it was solid. After a good drink of water Forni helped remove my clothing. I laid down and allowed Jón to take over. Forni made some noise and the boy woke up.

There was pressure on our bladder and Jón sleepily said, "Slave, help me to the chamber pot."

I said to Jón, "You are still a foolish little boy. Do you feel superior when you can command a slave? Are you so small that you have to tell others what to do?"

"He's a slave."

"He's a boy much like you. He likes you, but you cannot see that. He is beginning to see that you are not a good person and will turn to others if he can. Fidelis will not allow him to be here always."

"I will buy him from Fidelis."

"Foolish boy. Can you not see that Fidelis loves the boy like a son. Are your eyes closed in sleep all the time? If you but look around, you will see many things you seem to have ignored. Now tell Forni that you are sorry for calling him a slave and use the word 'please'."

"I will not."

"Little boy, did you realise that you cannot shut me out? I can be your best friend or your very worst enemy. I am trying to keep you alive and prepare you to be a king one day."

"You are not the voice that talks to me all the time."

"I am that voice, but I have given up being coy. You need a great deal of help or you will die."

"I will not apologise to the slave."

With that provocation, I cut loose with a flurry of dire mental images. I had the benefit of watching some of 'movies' I had spawned from the standpoint of an adult. Pictures were shown of Jón being chased by a Roman soldier. The man caught Jón, then ripped his clothes off and raped him. When the soldier was done, he ran his sword through the boy spilling his bowels at his feet. Next, I had Jón running from a crowd until he fell and was beaten to death. The last was the picture of Clovis' dying and leaving the running of the empire to Astrid. Clovis' words of distain for his son ensured that he would never get the crown.

Jón was going catatonic and he was screaming out loud that he would do it. This was repeated over and over until I quit.

Jón continued his crying, but he did sob out, "I am sorry Forni for calling you a slave. Will you please help me to use the pot?"

"Yes, Master. I will."

Forni did his best, then got a cloth and washed Jón's face. When he was done Jón actually said, "Thank you, Forni."

"You are welcome, Master."

I said, "You did well. Now, I have an idea that will gain you respect from all the fighting men."

This was something the boy craved. "What is that?"

I showed the mental pictures of the different ghillies suits I had worn and explained the way they were made. I went into a great deal of detail, then did it all again so that Jón would remember. I listed the features that were needed and the method of construction along with the small loops that held branches or leaves to complement the suit's natural function. I knew all this because I had made these types of suits.

"Will this really work?"

"Of course, it will work. You have only to make sure it gets made."

"I cannot do this."

"Ask Forni to help you get dressed. You will walk to see your father and ask him. Since it is to save his soldiers, then he may task somebody to assist you."

We did get dressed. Clovis, quite the impromptu actor, pretended to be surprised when his son came into the room.

"Hello Jón. You did very well to walk here."

"Thank you Father. I have an idea that may save some of our men."

"Tell me about it." Jón did, though he only repeated my ideas. I didn't think he really expected this to work.

In moments, Forni was sent to bring an old woman to them and the king and his son talked on a more level plane and it looked like Jón liked this. When the woman came in she bowed to the king and Clovis said, "My son has come up with an idea to save the lives of our men. He wants to make a suit that blends in with the natural background in the forest and countryside. His idea has merit. I will let him tell you what it is about."

Jón was excited now and explained a lot more than what was needed, as he gave the construction details. I suggested that Forni be our manikin and hoped that he would be in on the testing.

We found some shirts made for a man that were basically rags now. The woman sewed the rips up quickly with no need for fine work. More rags were sewn at the bottom and more added as she went up. Loops were discussed and added. I commented to Jón and he transferred the information to the woman. It was good that he used his own words.

We stayed in the sun on the cool day and Forni brought us solid food and water. Jón exercised all through this time, though he had to stop frequently to rest. By the end of the day, we had the suit sewn and even the hat I wanted. Only dyeing was left to do. This could be expensive, if we didn't use local home made dyes.

Fidelis must have sent people by to ask questions and to compliment Jón on his initiative. The boy swelled with pride. Women and girls came around too and Jón got to be able to boast quite eloquently about what his idea would do against our enemies.

Jón was asked to tell Forni the names of everyone that passed and what was known about each of them. Jón believed it was to better notice what was around him, but it also gave me a way to learn people's names.

Later that afternoon, Jón's sisters, Brigitte and Gudrun happened by returning from their job tending to the harvest. Jón was given a chance to gain some of their esteem, but lost his opportunity as he was impolite to his sisters. After a little talk, he apologised and acted like a gentleman. Both of his sisters were blonde, just like Dagmar. All of them were pretty though Gudrun would probably be the prettiest in time.

Gudrun looked at the suit and said, "What is this for?" She didn't seem to be as attracted to Jón as her older sister was.

"If you wear this and stay still in the trees, the Romans or the Gauls will never see you."

"Is it magic?"

"No."

"It is easy to see."

"That is because we are in the courtyard. Wearing that suit in the forest, you would look like part of the ground, or an old tree trunk."

"It's not going to work."

"We are having a test. We will see what happens then."

Forni worked his way closer to Jon and he looked worried. I had to assume that he saw the two girls as possible competition.

We had our supper later with the family and I met the two little pixies, Elfrieda and Sieglinde. Jón had learned his lesson about the two older sisters and was polite. Astrid and Dagmar got the same treatment.

The latter two felt it odd to find that Jón was ignoring them when last night I had been much more friendly. They had said nothing though because Clovis was sitting with us. I had thought about them quite a bit. Jón's body wanted them, but to be truthful his yen was for any woman or good looking boy. If the information about the spell were true, then they would respect me. Since they were without men at the moment, they would be interested in me sexually, too.