Chapter 3

The next several days saw us traveling through Dresden and then into Gorlitz late Saturday afternoon. We were making good time on what had once been yet another major Roman trade road. In Gorlitz, we again restocked our supplies. In the tavern, I heard my first story about the Mongols who had invaded here some fourteen years ago, wreaking havoc, and destroying cities. One of the men had been at the final battle with the Mongols before they suddenly left the area, having never been defeated. I also got details about where hunting and fishing were allowed, and what could be hunted.

I’d heard stories of the barbarian Mongols even in England, yet knew little about them. We spent Sunday attending church and resting after nearly two months on the road for many of us.

Dawn Monday found me near the river Neisse, upstream from the city. Two game trails converged at a nearby bend of the river and I waited in the light of the damp false dawn. Several deer made their way nervously down to drink and still I waited, allowing the first to drink safely and return to the others. Satisfied that it was safe, several more ventured to the water’s edge and drank their fill, their heads jerking upright at the slightest noise.

Only when the second group had safely returned did the larger deer venture forward to drink. I moved extremely slowly as I drew back the arrow I had held nocked for the last hour, sighting a large doe. My aim was true, and the doe staggered out of the water for several feet before collapsing.

Regaining my horse, I set out after my prey, using another arrow to make sure it was dead. My horse nickering alerted me of a problem. He’d never before made any noise while I hunted, or even when I battled the Earl. I smelled them before I saw them, releasing two arrows in the direction the wind came from and getting one yelp of pain. The yelp made my skin crawl; it had been a wolf. The other darted at me just after I nocked another arrow and my aim was true, right in the head. While he slid to a stop five feet from me, I nocked another arrow.

Two more attacked, one I shot in the chest. As the other veered around him, I managed an underhand throw of my knife, catching the attacker in the shoulder and causing him to stumble and slow. That extra moment gave me time to unsheathe my sword and I made quick work of him. When my horse again lowered his head to graze, I knew that was all of them and made sure the other three were dead. Afterwards, my horse pulled a very long and heavy travois back into town as I walked beside it.

Everyone in town exclaimed about the four wolves I returned with. Several of the town’s guardsmen caught up with me and directed me to the constable who cut off the wolves’ ears and then paid me for killing the four wolves. After questioning me about where I killed the deer and wolves he let me take the deer with me.

Everyone was happy to see me back. They had been concerned when it took me so long to return. As it was, we barely got in half a day of travel, part of that half-day made miserable by a cold rain that started late in the afternoon.

Fortunately, rain had little effect on the Roman road and we continued making good time despite the rain. Wednesday afternoon we neared Legnica, making camp just a mile from the city. In the evening, the women skinned the wolves and stretched the pelts.

Thursday we entered the walled city. After an hour in the marketplace, Hilda suggested selling some of our salt since it sold here for more than double what we paid for it. Farther east, there was another source of salt. For several days, the women operated a market stall selling salt. I spent the time talking with a few of the surviving veterans of the local battle against the Mongols fourteen years ago. Saturday, two of them even rode with me to the battle site and described the chaotic and confusing battle as they remembered it.

I quickly realized that the Mongols made full use of their rapid mobility, attacking and feinting a retreat to lure opposing forces into ambushes, even dividing the enemy forces and attacking them. The men went on and on about the Mongol archers and how they had easily outdistanced their own archers, even from horseback. For a week, I paid veterans of the battle to escort me to various sites from the battle as I tried to picture it in my mind and figure out how the battle had been lost against a lesser number of warriors, as well as what could have been done differently.

Despite the weather cooling off again, I rode back and forth across the entire area until I felt that I knew what had happened. Why and how it happened were still subject to speculation. The hill where the Mongol leader reportedly watched from was the highest vantage point in the area. The veterans spoke of the changing banners on the hill and I guessed the banners were a form of communication with the mounted Mongol warriors. It was brilliant. Even the blare of a ram’s horn could be missed in the heat of battle, but visible banners would be relatively simple to see--assuming that you remembered to look.

After spending most of a day traversing the battlefield again, trying to picture in my mind the events of the battle, I stopped along the Kaczawa River a few miles south of the city to let my horse drink. What I saw had me back out there the next morning with Draca. For eight hours, we panned various sites along the riverbank and pulled out nearly a pound of gold, some in the form of flakes, but most was nuggets. I made sure Draca knew not to tell ANYONE about this. I would tell Hilda and Ymma, but wanted everyone else kept in the dark. The next day I tried to buy the land, only to discover that the east side of the river was the High Duke’s private reserve and no hunting was allowed there. The west side was available to buy so I bought enough land to raise eyebrows.

I made sure the parcel was wide enough to give the appearance that I intended to farm it. I even put word out that I was looking for freemen who wanted to farm the rich soil along the river. I purposely set the percent of crops they were expected to pay me lower than normal, hoping to appear that I didn’t know what I was doing. Within a week, I had enough families who agreed to farm the land that it had all been leased. Hell, I even bought a bunch of tools for them to share.

With still more people arriving from other towns hoping to get in on the deal, I bought even more land. The city loved it as it meant more people to buy goods in town and to grow food to sell in town. It also strengthened the facade that I bought the land to farm. I was grateful that the women were doing so well selling the salt. It took half of my money to buy that much land, but I now owned a six-mile section of the river, stretching away from the river for nearly two miles. Aside from the church, I was now the largest landowner in the city. Suddenly, I was a big fish in a small pond.

I hired a reeve to manage the estate, growling a warning that I expected him to keep meticulous books, and I had better not hear any complaints from the tenants about unnecessary heavy-handed tactics or I would be using him as a target the next time I practiced with my bow. He was to keep my profit in gold, silver, or copper coins and bars if possible.

It was Tuesday, the first day of July before we set out again. I still hadn’t formulated a plan to mine the gold from the river, but at least I owned one of the riverbanks.

The weather was quite warm as we continued east. Each city and town we reached had a story to tell about the invading Mongols. Breslau had burned the city themselves to hasten the departure of the Mongols. The citizens took refuge farther west, many never returning to the city. Most of the city had been rebuilt by now and many of the new citizens were emigrants from Bavaria and Saxony. Spending several days there allowed me to conduct interviews with more veterans of the Mongol attacks. One man, Piotr, even had a Mongol bow he had found at Legnickie Pole, the battlefield southeast of Legnica. The bow had fallen into a thicket where it couldn’t easily be seen and wasn’t retrieved by the Mongols. He had also gathered three damaged Mongol bows.

While the captured bow was now old and in poor shape after so many years, he had learned how the Mongols made their bows and made several himself. The draw weight of the Mongol bow was even more than my longbow. He was impressed that I could even draw it, as most experienced archers could barely draw the bow halfway. He sold me three of the Mongol bows he made, as well as explaining the detailed and lengthy process used to make them.

The cities of Opole and Bytom had been sacked, but not destroyed by the Mongols. The trip from Legnica to Krakow should have taken eight to ten days. With all of the extra talking and touring I did, it took three weeks. The morning we arrived in Krakow, a horn sounded four short notes as we entered the city. “Someone will be with you shortly,” one of the guards at the gate told me politely, so we waited.

Ten minutes later, I recognized the beaming face coming towards us. “Sir Jedrick,” I exclaimed, recognizing one of the knights from our victorious team in Cologne.

“Sir Ed, your recent explorations, and questions have been noticed. The High Duke has hopes that you have come to help keep the Mongols from our door,” he answered excitedly.

“I will admit that their tactics have caught my attention,” I answered. “Any further discussion should be done privately and quietly,” I whispered quietly enough that nobody else could hear.

“Come, let us rest, and tell exaggerated stories about your triumphs at the Tourney in Cologne,” he replied boisterously.

Within half an hour, I had an audience with the High Duke. Taking heed of my whispered comment to Sir Jedrick, the two of us were ushered, alone, into his private chambers. He was intrigued by my detailed study of the Mongols, as well as my conclusions about their tactics. I had to explain the circumstances of my defection from England, and that I had felt empty and listless until hearing of the Mongol attacks and deciding to study them. I wasn’t willing to promise anything yet, but felt I had some potential ideas that I wanted to consider further.

When he asked if I was willing to swear my fealty to him, I agreed. Then, for the rest of the afternoon, we discussed the Mongols. He suggested that I travel to Chelm and talk with King Daniel of Galicia. Poland and Galicia had good relations, and Daniel had been asking for assistance to throw off the Mongol yoke that had been imposed on him. To this point, nobody else had been courageous enough to tempt angering the Mongols again.

I agreed, but asked for time to settle the people with me somewhere. When he asked about the property I bought outside of Legnica, I explained that I bought the land to mine, and all of the arable land had already been leased out. “Perhaps I should appoint you Baron of Zlotoryja,” he mused. Zlotoryja was the town at the southern end of the land I purchased. “If you manage to find a way to repel the Mongols, a higher title will follow,” he promised.

I was stunned, and quickly accepted his offer. The rest of my entourage would return to Zlotoryja to inhabit the Manor House that had been empty for fourteen years.

I asked about getting permission to mine along the east bank of the Kaczawa River, inside of his preserve. He quickly wrote out permission for me to mine anywhere in his preserve, deeded me all unowned land within a mile of the town, and affixed his seal. The land I bought would also become included in the boundary of my Barony. I knew that being a Baron would reduce the taxes I paid, and would provide me an income when the people in my lands paid their taxes to me.

I did suggest to the High Duke that they begin making their own Mongol style bows to assure equity in the range of the archers. I also suggested they begin making tens of thousands of caltrops. They didn’t need to be fancy, just two sturdy pieces of wire twisted into a tetrahedral shape with three points on the ground and the fourth straight up. An enemy who relied on the maneuverability and speed of their horses would be seriously hampered with thousands of horses coming up lame, especially if they threw their rider and he landed on one or more of the caltrops. The Duke loved both ideas, and I promised to show one of his bowyers how to make the Mongol bows tomorrow.

When he invited me to dinner, I politely suggested that he keep me at arm’s length and not appear to become too friendly. One thing I had figured out is that the Mongols had spies everywhere, enough to know the movement of bodies of enemy troops during their incursion. That was why I suggested a private meeting, one with a limited number of ears present.

Hilda and Ymma were stunned by the news--stunned and extremely proud. I told them everything that had been discussed, making them promise not to discuss it with the others. The rest of our group were excited that I was a Baron now. I wondered if I beat my brother to gaining a title, even though he would eventually become an Earl. Thinking of my family and knowing that I would never see them again saddened me, somewhat tempering the excitement of becoming a Baron.

We spent two more days together in Krakow before I sent them back to Zlotoryja. I thanked the High Duke for sending a company of ten troops along to protect them. The troops would also break the news to the Duke of Legnica that he had a new Baron. The women took one mastiff and I took the second and the lymer with me. The women were to stop and buy more salt outside of town, and then stop in Breslau and see if they could convince Piotr to move to Zlotoryja to make Mongol bows for me, and to teach others as well.

Sir Jedrick accompanied me on the trip to Chelm to meet King Daniel. We rode back along the route the Mongol army had taken from Chelm to Krakow, spending a full day studying the battlefield outside of Chmielnik where the Polish army met their first defeat at the hands of the Mongols.

Rather than spend a week interviewing veterans of the battle, and studying the battlefield, we continued on our way. I planned to take the time to allow a more detailed look on the return trip.

We made the trip to Chelm in eight days, including the extra day we spent in Chmielnik. Since Jedrick was an emissary from the High Duke, we were seen right away, and he asked for a private audience. When Jedrick quietly explained our reason for being there, the audience quickly became even more private, just his trusted commander joining the three of us.

He was surprised at how well I had figured everything out. He explained how the Mongols used flags to direct their troops, and what different flags and signals meant. He agreed with my conclusion that the Mongols loved to attack and retreat to draw an enemy into an ambush. He also warned that they were capable of building giant siege engines to attack walled cities, but that the knowledge to build those same siege engines was already widely known throughout Europe.

I was disturbed to learn that King Daniel had already thumbed his nose at the Mongols. He explained that he felt he would be safe since they had just elected a new Great Khan, and the newly appointed local Khan hadn’t arrived in his Capital yet. Besides, many of those Mongol troops were currently tied up fighting a different group of Mongols to the south. He felt the fight would weaken them enough that they wouldn’t be a problem for many years. I hoped he was right, but everything I’d learned led me to believe they wouldn’t let the challenge go unmet.

He also acknowledged that he was aware the Mongols had informants all over Eastern Europe. These informants kept the Mongols apprised of changes in leadership, troop strength of various countries and cities, and the main military commanders. When the Mongols attacked, they were also kept apprised of enemy troop movements.

For the next few days, the King’s commander led us southeast through the Kingdom of Galicia. Officially, we were visiting on a trade mission. Unofficially, we were backtracking along the route the Mongols followed when they invaded. Near Galicia’s southeastern border, I found the perfect spot. A valley about five hundred yards wide with a shallow, meandering river running through it was surrounded by fairly steep hills. The hills to the north were too steep to climb from the valley. You could ride a horse to the top of the hills to the south. The valley was five miles long, easily long enough for twenty thousand cavalry to enter. The valley wasn’t used for agriculture since it flooded almost every summer.

By closing off the west end of the valley and littering the slopes of the hills to the south with thousands of caltrops, the Mongols would be prevented from reaching thousands of archers atop those hills. By having troops ready to scatter more caltrops behind the Mongols once they entered the valley, the Mongols would be trapped long enough to be annihilated. The archers atop the hills would need to hide themselves initially beneath pavise shields decorated to blend into the surrounding landscape. The pavise shields would also help protect the hilltop archers from Mongol arrows once the attack began.

We reported our findings to King Daniel and I could tell that he intended to do as I had suggested. I asked that my involvement remain secret so as not to make us a target of the Mongols’ ire. Practically bubbling with enthusiasm, he promised to keep my involvement secret and proceeded to present me with five pounds of gold for my idea.

Partly to help with the ruse of being on a trade mission, but mainly because I realized we would need iron to make tens of thousands of our own caltrops, I used the gold King Daniel gave me to buy a two-wheeled wagon and sturdy horses to pull it, and then filled the wagon with ingots of iron.

In Chelm, the Mongols sold many of the slaves they captured during their forays into Eastern Europe so prices here for slaves were much lower than farther to the west. I was surprised at finding two grizzled men among the slaves for sale who had knowledge of mining. Managing to buy both men, as well as their wives and their remaining three children instantly earned me their loyalty. Fortunately, all seven of them knew how to ride. One would drive the wagon and I bought horses for the others to ride. By the time I was done buying iron, the slaves, warmer clothing, food, and blankets for the slaves, nearly half of the gold I’d been given was gone.

Thinking ahead, I also purchased two younger slaves who were apprentice blacksmiths. They wouldn’t need much expertise to make caltrops. They were also single.

With what I’d learned from King Daniel, as well as his confirmation of what I’d suspected about the Mongol battle tactics and strategies, there was no need for me to visit and study the old battle sites now, so we took a more direct route home. Still, the trip back took just as long as the trip to Chelm, mainly because the wagon traveled slower than horses and riders could.

The High Duke was both happy and bothered by our report. He, too, worried that King Daniel’s actions would bring the Mongols back. Their return would probably include attacks in Poland, both to gain plunder and to stop Poland from sending troops to aid King Daniel.

He again agreed with my suggestions to begin making caltrops and Mongol bows. He wanted me to begin training the commanders in each of the biggest cities once next year’s spring plantings were done. He hoped that having them understand Mongol battle tactics would help prevent the same confusion and mistakes that let the Mongols defeat them last time.

Taking the rest of the day to replenish our stores, we left in the morning. Sir Jedrick wished us well as we left. He handed me a purse the High Duke gave him to help reimburse me for some of my expenses on the trip to Chelm. The trip to Zlotoryja took another eight days.

One of those eight days was spent in Legnica where I presented myself to the Duke. Considering that the final battle against the Mongols had taken place just outside of town, he was happy to have my new expertise.

Hilda led the charge when we reached Zlotoryja, practically bowling me over. Ymma, Inga, Aebbe, Mildrith, and even Saehild all insisted on a hug. Inga and Mildrith both snuck a quick kiss. They showed me around the Manor House and I complimented them on how it had been cleaned, furnished, and supplied. They had a dozen servants already. Not sure how many I would want, they had limited the number to the bare minimum necessary to run the place. I also noticed that the female servants were young and pretty and seemed to be trying to catch my eye. Hilda confirmed later that all of the female servants had been warned ahead of time about my lusty appetite--and how well I treated the women in my bed.

Draca was extremely excited. Doing as I had directed him to do, he and Aebbe had gone out each day and panned gold from the river. They made sure the places they worked were hidden from view by brush or fallen trees. In just the time I had been gone, they had gathered over thirty pounds of gold for me.

The two miners were excited hearing how much gold was available. I told them that my initial plan was for them to locate the source of the gold. I knew there was no gold in the stream south of the city, but everything just north of the city had gold. While they looked for the source, and hopefully established a mine, their wives could set up households. Their three children would go with Draca each day to pan the river for gold.

After an extraordinary dinner that night, Hilda, Ymma, Inga, and Mildrith joined me in my bed. Hilda looked worried when she finally told me she thought she was pregnant. Her worry vanished when I picked her up and hugged her, swinging her around excitedly. Her announcement also reminded me about a promise I made.

I made sure all four women were happy before I went to sleep. Ymma, Inga, and Mildrith each coaxed me to make them pregnant, too, and I did my best.

In the morning, I sent four men to Cologne with a message for the Duke. In it, I explained about the treachery that had led to my trip through Cologne. As best I could, I explained the dichotomous feelings I had about doing my duty to my King while betraying the trust of my good friend.

Then I explained about my study of the Mongols, and my new title of Baron of Zlotoryja. I mentioned the death of my wife and son; as well as how soon after it happened that I had been in Cologne. I told him that I finally felt capable of again being a husband, and if he was still interested, I would gladly accept Matilda as my wife. I did warn that the Mongols might attack this winter, and that we weren’t ready for them yet.

Next, I found all the blacksmiths in town and had them work on caltrops whenever they had time to do so. Piotr already had a group of bowyers busy, and had several men gathering birch for him. The birch wood was used to make the bows, and the birch bark used to wrap the finished bows to help weatherproof them. I suggested that they collect seeds whenever possible and plant stands of birch along the banks of the river south of the city, and along the banks of any streams in the area. We would probably be using a lot of birch for many years to come. I knew how hard it was becoming to find yew in Britain to make longbows, and the quality of the bows was suffering as the quality of the wood declined. England was even importing yew bowstaves from the continent now.