Chapter 418: Song of a Varangian (1)

Upon hearing the deal, Fisnik instantly stopped whining and moved on towards his journey back towards Thessaloniki. Now Antonius can finally relax a bit on the couch trying to take a nap, but soon another two men came paying him a visit, that is Mikhail and his younger brother Nikolas. 

They came to appeal to Antonius saying that the younger brother, Nikolas, wants to go back to their home town to visit their parents whom they have not seen for an entire year. And considering the fact that the situation out there is still not safe enough for a junior to travel alone, Mikhail requested on behalf of his brother to join the next batch of troopers marching towards the borders, use them as an escort travelling on the same path and reaching home safely. 

But Antonius had some other thoughts, he mentioned that the next batch of recruited being posted to the borders shall only come half a year later, so it would be best if Nikolas is able to wait for another few more months. Hearing this Yuri opened his mouth, saying that his one hundred plus Varangian corps have nothing to do right now since the admiral is staying in the safe harbour. Thus, he could be the one leading a few brothers, and protect Nikolas all the way back to his home. 

Antonius knows that this man recommended himself just because Mikhail mentioned a couple of times that his family owns a wine yard that is the only existing yard able to produce wine in the area. If Yuri takes this job up, he can leave the watchful eyes of Antonius for a while and soak himself in the pools and barrels of wines. But certainly, Antonius is not that kind of boss who refuses to offer any form of luxury and comfort to his men, thus he approved Yuri's request pretending that he does not know any thing about that wine yard, ordering Yuri to come back as soon as possible with Nikolas to participate in the logistics preparations for the upcoming campaign. 

Yuri and Nikolas, accompanied by two other men set off the next day towards their destination. At this point of time most of the villains and rogues that used to scourge the lands of drama have already been either scourged in to ashes, or have returned to their normal lives as farmers. There are still some security concerns in the area but that certainly does not require a group of armoured Varangians. In fact, if the villagers and townsmen saw a group of giants carrying axes donned in full sets of armours, they shall not feel the sense of safety, instead they shall only be afraid. Thus before they set off Yuri reminded his men to stay as friendly as possible, and only wear inner armours hidden beneath the cloth serving a bare minimum protection. 

The four men team set off towards Skopia, which is not really far away from Drama, but what makes the trip troublesome is that there is quite a bit of curved mountain trails they need to go through. The trip in the end became like a tour, with Nikolas proudly introducing all the unique sceneries of the vast mountain ranges trying to impress his companions. But Yuri certainly did not appreciate the views as much as the others do, as he constantly retorted against Nikolas' ideas saying that the broad view of the Euxine Sea is much more spectacular than the mountains, leaving the poor boy with no more words only to remain quiet through out the rest of the journey. 

Yuri is no poet, nor is he a bard that is able to appreciate the views of the area composing it in to songs and poems, leaving a piece of art for the college youngsters of future generations to memorize in their text books. He is a simple man, when he smells wine, he is happy. 

Just as the Varangians are debating among themselves on whether the Black sea or the Nord sea is more breathtaking, Yuri felt some thing from the mountains; He felt that he is being watched by some one from his back. Yuri held tight his hand held cross bow, and turned back to look at the direction, but found no one over there. It might have just been a false alarm to Yuri, but his sharp senses built on the battle field tells Yuri that there might be danger lurking in the wild. Either be it some bandits hunting on passing merchants, or wild animals looking for preys, both would be a vicious threat for them as they have any three men who are able to fight. 

Yuri ceased his voice and commanded the crew to leave the area as quick as possible, clearing all trails behind them. 

According to the original plan they are supposed to take hospitality in a near by village marked on the map that night, but it is only when they reached there, then did they realise that the population of the village has already been shifted to some where else, leaving behind nothing but a ghost village. Yuri checked through the village finding out that the wells have been sealed, doors have been locked tight with wooden planks, and storage have been emptied. 

Nikolas is thrilled by this, saying that they do not need to beg people for hospitality, instead they can just take an empty house and enjoy it for the night. But Yuri turned serious for the first time telling the young fellow that one should never stay overnight in places like deserted villages, army camps, or any places with a shelter especially when they are carrying bulky and valuable items because of security concerns. Law abiding people will not travel in the darkness of the night, only those rogues will seeking for travellers will an ill amount of knowledge sleeping along in these places, kidnapping them or stripping them off of any wealth, then either disposing them or taking their lives.

The group of people moved on and finally, before the sky turns completely dark they managed to find a hidden valley and pitched their tents, preparing to take a rest for the night before reaching their destination the next day. Out of safety concerns, the team decided to stop lolly gagging and turned off all light source as quick as possible, keeping still with one Varangian constantly standing guard with out sleeping just in case any thing happens.

A few heads popped up behind a rock and constantly observed the four men from a distance away on the hills. A few minutes passed, and a bald bearded man finally could no longer urge his anxiety and questioned another man in a very heavy western Greek accent. "Boss, are you sure that we are going to do this raid? Those people down there do not look like they can be dealt with easily…"

"Shut your mouth!" The 'boss' hissed, with a gruesome looking scar caused by the blade of an axe, making the man even more spine thrilling under the shallow moon light. "That man below there, you remember, he killed our brothers in such a brutal way a few months ago, have you forgotten about it?? A giant riding on horse back wielding an axe, that got to be him! I can guarantee it with my very own eyes! Let me tell you what, no matter what happens today, what you folks say today, that man below there is γαμώ! No one can stop me today!"

"But those people are people from the government! You know the rules of our career, we cannot go against the state! If we are to go against them, we shall face the entire state as our enemy! You need to think about us! Boss!"

"This! Aint our state! This aint our country! Remember where we came from, we are sons of the mountains, get it? We are the proud servants of the despot; we serve only one lord which is our despot Λεονάρδος Τόκκος and killing this man before us shall only means that there shall be one lesser enemy our lord need to face next time! Those who are with me, prepare your gears! Those who wants to shamelessly pull back, retreat as you will!"

The crew looked at each other, most decided to stay with the boss who have led them in to countless treasures kindly gifted by merchants they have kidnapped, while there are some other people who think that it is too high of a risk and decided to take the leave. The boss nodded in approval, but as soon as the one who opposed the idea have his back facing the man, he felt a sharp thing piercing through their chests – he knows it, he has experienced the same kind of feeling before, that is the taste of a bolt coming right in to their chests, and it must have came from only one man.