Chapter 13

Elgor's death sealed it for me—I was now the undisputed warlord of the neighborhood. I just wished I knew where and when this neighborhood was. All I knew for sure was that I was as far east as it was possible to get and still be in Europe. I also knew that I was about as far south as I could get without getting my feet wet.

None of that, though, told me when I was. The fact was that everybody spoke some version of Byzantine Greek. That meant that the time was somewhere after the founding of the Byzantine Empire. From what the local people told me, the Mongols had not yet invaded, so I figured that we were living within a very long span of years, 500-900 AD, and I could not pin it down very close. Oh, well, it was not intrinsically important, so I didn't worry too much about it.

My immediate problems centered around whether to stay in our current location or to move on. The Olgars were basically a nomadic people, and the men, at least, tended to get kind of fractious if they were forced to stay in one place very long. I suspected that to be a spin off of their warrior culture—they needed new enemies to fight. On the other hand, I was sure that the women would be very happy to settle down in one place, provided the men would stay with them.

Personally, I wanted to stay where we were. Being warlord had never been one of my driving ambitions, but I liked the idea of keeping the peace and letting civilization grow. The nearby town of Oricantha was a fine example of a starter for civilization if it was given a chance. I wanted to give it that chance, so I decided to mount a campaign to convince the Olgars to stay at Johnshome, the castle.

I was going to need a "sign" from the gods that staying at Johnshome was what they wanted, but I had no idea what that sign would be for now. I hoped I got lucky before it was too late.

There was plenty of room within the castle for every family to have its own apartment, so there would not be a lot of crowding. The women would have plenty to do with simply keeping house and gossiping, but the men were the real problem. From top to bottom, there were 71 warriors I had to find employment for. This employment had to get them outside and on their horses for the majority of the time. Of course, some could be sent on hunting expeditions, but the rest would have to be employed in some job that at least looked important.

I consulted with Wogal about this, and he suggested that we form four squads of 12 men in each one and send them in the four cardinal directions to explore and maintain the peace. We could rotate the men through each job so that nobody got bored, and everybody would get an opportunity to hunt and to fight. Any that didn't find anybody to fight could be soothed with the thought that they were doing such a good job that enemies were afraid to show up.

Neither Wolgar nor I thought that there would be much of a problem for some time, since there were so many bandits running wild in the hinterlands. I wanted to get some commerce started among the neighboring towns, but that had been held up to date because it was too easy to attack an undefended caravan. I suggested that we, for a fee, would provide protection for caravans traveling through our area, and that would give our men something else to do.

Wolgar supported me, so we called for a general meeting of all of the Olgars, and I presented our plan to them. The women were happy to have such a fine home and the men were happy to have a novel employment offered to them, so we had no trouble getting a majority to agree to stay at the castle. The few dissenters were told that they could leave if they wanted to, but most of us were staying at the castle. Nobody left the group.

It took about two weeks for everybody to get settled in, and Sarafin was a great help in sorting it all out. She already knew all of the intimate details of running such a large undertaking, so she was the obvious choice to be the major domo for me. By being one of my now many wives, she carried my authority along with her acknowledged expertise. Nobody seriously argued with her decisions, though there was the expected grumbling when somebody lost a disagreement. It never amounted to more than a few unhappy words, so I didn't worry about it.

Homer was a very good negotiator, so he was put in charge of organizing the trading caravans and the guards for them. At first, Wolgar was dubious that there would be enough business to warrant a regular trading route, but he was pleasantly surprised when we broached the idea to the city fathers of Oricantha. Before the warlords had showed up, Oricantha had been involved in a prosperous trade of exported wine to all of the nearby cities. In exchange, they had imported textiles, fish, and some manufactured goods. When the word spread, there were a number of enthusiastic merchants who wanted a place in the caravan.

There was plenty of wine available in Oricantha to be traded, so we decided to make available most of the wagons we didn't need to the first caravan. Wagons were not unknown to the local people, but they mostly still used horses and camels to carry loads on their backs. A wagon was a much more efficient use of an animal, and the Olgars (me, as Warlord) could make a pretty penny renting space on a wagon.

Anyway, it took a month to get organized and to get the word spread to other towns that Oricantha was sending out a trading caravan. Homer went along as leader of the guards and my representative if any negotiations were needed. He took his crossbow with the explosive bolts and 20 hand grenades in case the caravan was attacked. Actually, the guards were hoping for an attack to justify their existence with the caravan, so that they would not be deemed surplus and their jobs eliminated. I wasn't worried—such a rich caravan was too tempting for any self-respecting bandit to ignore.

They left early one morning amid much ceremony. I was called upon to recite "Casey at the Bat" and to sing "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" (the original version) as a blessing from the gods before they set out. A man was leading the caravan while holding a large flag depicting an imposing stylized sun rising over the plains. I wanted this to symbolize the rebirth of civilization in this area. Along with everything else, the flag was a hit with the populace.

By now, Homer was comfortable on a horse and looked the part of a leader of men. I was as proud of him as were his birth parents, and I knew that he would eventually become a worthy successor to me, no matter what the future might hold.

The caravan made it to the next town before dark, and was joyously received. The merchants were very happy to see trading routes being re-established, and the whole population of the town was happy to see high quality wine returning to the market.

One wagon of wine was sold on the spot, and a load of fine quality wool cloth was purchased to replace it. Oricantha was not much of a market for wool cloth, but the town of Spalor, an important fishing village, was a big consumer of wool for clothes for the fishermen during the winter months. There, it would double in value.

The caravan spent the night in the town and left the next morning for the following town. This next town was too far away for the heavily loaded wagons to make the trip in one day, so they camped at a suitable spot along a river bank. That night, Homer set out guards in pairs to work in two-hour shifts. He was not expecting trouble, but he wanted to be ready for it.

Sometime about 3:00 AM, Homer and the rest of the camp were awakened by the sound of an explosive arrow doing its thing. Everybody in the camp woke up immediately and grabbed for his weapons. Naturally, there was a tendency for all of the men to rush to the scene of the first conflict, but Homer stopped that and sent men to cover the entire perimeter of the camp. That was a good thing, because the initial contact had been a diversion to draw guards to one place while the real attack was mounted at the opposite side of the camp.

Homer's quick thinking caused a guard to find nearly 20 men trying to sneak up on the camp from that direction. He shouted for help, and Homer came running with four of his security stalwarts. Homer reacted by heaving a hand grenade among the bunched attackers. The explosion was so unexpectedly loud and so effective that the attack was broken right then, though the other guards had a few targets for their crossbow bolts among the few men remaining standing. The explosive bolts were the last demoralizing straw, and the attackers who still could do so broke for parts unknown without further delay.