Stories Thread

[00jebus]

Co-op with Ituralde


Trebizond, 1113

Lisas Attaliedas entered the castle through the west gate, and was uplifted by what he saw.
He had been granted the province just a few short years before, and thought it would be a backwater, but everywhere he looked there were workmen, building homes, carrying wood and just generally improving the town, as in the older part, Lisas saw dwelling that were little more than mud huts.
He’d been invited here by Pavlos Chrysovergos, his lord, who he would be meeting for the first time.
When he asked the sergeant in charge of the gate where he way, he pointed in the vague direction of the castle, grinning “just a little way up there sir”.
Lisas assumed the grin was this sergeant’s idea of friendliness and smiled back.

On the way to the keep, he got slightly distracted in the way of an arrow landing in front of him, kicking up some mud onto his boots, looking to the right he saw several wooden manikins with target rings on their chests, the worse part was that the targets were facing him.

Anger surged through him as he snatched the arrow up and marched, bodyguards in tow, into the building and behind the group of what he hoped were new recruits, who were all looking longingly at their targets, barely a single arrow disturbed the ground in the middle of the range and the targets stood in perfect condition, all less than 100 feet away.
The anger grew, he looked at the recruits, all had self bows, one had a bow that was far too big for him and only the welsh (whoever they are) are stupid enough to use, several more had what were clearly child’s toys (barely thicker than a finger) a few didn’t have strings, one or two hadn’t even bothered to bring arrows, their captain, a man whose face seemed to ask why he was being punished with this group, was praying or bargaining with God, Lisas caught the last few words
”….so please God, let them not have to do anything important or difficult, cause if they do they’ll all end up in your graces, and not even the most patient of saints could bear this lot for long, amen”
behind him, a man loosened an arrow and caught his cheek with the drawstring, he recoiled as though punched in the face as his arrow went flying over the back wall.
Lisas called for practise to stop
”May god have mercy on the empire, that was terrible, how many arrows have you released today?”
the captain stood up, tears in his eyes, as though his prayers had been answered.
”Sir, I apologise, these men have only had a weeks….”
”A weeks practise!, half of them don’t even have bow strings! No-one has hit the target! One of you almost hit me and I was behind the range! You act like that in battle with the Turks and they won’t even bother to fight! And they’ll still win! Your mothers must be ashamed and your fathers probably pretend you don’t belong to them! Christ almighty I don’t think I’ve ever seen something that bad! And I’ve seen what passes for an order of St. John drinking contest!”
”Which is why I’ve put in for transfer” muttered the captain
”this is how you do it” Lisas demonstrated with his own compound bow, putting an arrow clean through the neck of the furthest target….. Some 80ft away
”that’s barely over 60 feet, you all have one week to be able to do the same, or I’ll have you used as live targets for a group with some semblance of skill!...and I’ll have them use javelins! They can hit a target at 60 feet, you cannot hit a target!
John, stay behind and make sure that I don’t have to do that” The indicated man began unwrapping his own bow and looked at the group with disgust.

Lisas and the rest of his guards left the group with some very forlorn looking faces, one of his guards turned to him “Sir, are we in the right city?” two large Komnendoukai banners floated from the top of the keep mid way down it towers.
”what? Of course we are…why would you say that?”
”well sir its just, archers from trebizond are supposed to be amazing aren’t they? And they… looked like they’d never even seen a bow before.”
”well.. after manzikert most of the veterans and trainers spread out across the empire, the kingdom of Pontus that Domestikos Chrysovergos defeated barely had any skilled archers so I’m presuming they didn’t let the traditions carry on” Lisas gave his name to a guard who opened the keeps main door for him “that’s high on my list of stuff to do, get the traditions of archery and some trainers back”

Once inside the keep the castle steward greeted them, gave directions to Lisas’ room for his guards to take his baggage too, and the little assembly room (a passing maid grinned) where he would meet Domestikos Chrysovergos.

Lisas entered the room, took sight of Pavlos and bowed, whilst looking at the floor he smiled; the man was a head shorter than Lisas, who was just under average height himself.
”this explains a lot” he thought “people must respect him not to make jokes to his face, maybe I can learn from this guy”
but he said out loud, after rising from his bow, remembering to keep his face impassive.
”Sir, I am Comes Lisas Attaliedas, reporting as ordered.”
Pavlos was obviously expecting his guest. On the small table in front of him stood two wine goblets and an empty chair was set to face him. His gaze fell on Lisas shortly after he entered and his grim expression hasn't changed an inch since then.

"Comes Lisas Attelaiatas welcome to Trebizond! Welcome to the Pontic frontier! It is good to finally see you outside the bustle of the bloody Senate. You look young to me, what year where you born?"

Frowning slightly he turned his head to one side and looked the man up and down.

Lisas was slightly taken aback by the question, though he didn't show it

"I'm unsure sir, my mother says it was the 1060th year of our lord, and I was 11 when I heard the news of the disaster at Manzikert, though since then I seem to have aged most gracefully since I turned 16."

he took the seat that was offered, and noticed it was specially made so Lisas now sat below Pavlos.

"Ah, this particular vintage is from Caffa I think, I confess I'm impressed, it usually doesn't make it out of the crimea or Constantinople"

Lisas announced, gingerly sniffing the bottle.
"1060. You realize that the sum of those digits is Seven, which is considered by many to be a lucky number. Also just this morning a flock of raven circled the Castles Eastern wall three times." He looks long at Lisas as though this should mean something to him.

"It is indeed from Caffa, I don't know if you are familiar with the history of this place but Trebizond used to be an important trade hub. Many trade routes from the East ended here, from where goods of the known world were shipped on to Constantinople."

"I haven't sent for you to talk about the quality of wine though, however bloody fine it is. The internal structures of the Komnenodoukai have led to you swearing that Oath to me, let's be honest about that. You don't know me, I hardly know you yet between the two of us we find ourselves rulers of the once great Pontus!"

Taking the goblet in front of him, Pavlos takes a sip, a brief smile passing over his features, before he returns to watching Lisas with his usual grim expression.

"Tell me Lisas Attaleiatas, what kind of man are you?"
Lisas took a momment to compose himself, ravens and numerology? maybe, he thought, that this man waas just a weird old mountain man that paid too much attention to bird entrails, maybe he was testing him, he looked Pavlos straight in the eye, "A rational one." he took a sip of wine before continuing
"If you want me to sum up my political position, then I believe in a strong and clear constitution, with focus on maintaining the spirit of the law, instead of needlessly punishing people for accidents but definate punishment for deliberate breaks, like Hypathos at Iconium, other than that, I feel that so long as a senetor doesn't harm the empire, he should be able to do anything he likes, and should he need to break the law for the greater good of the empire, than he should without question"
he paused taking another sip,
"I also feel that every man has a vice, should it not be drinking" he lifted his goblet "or whoring, like half my retunie, than he's not to be trusted, cause then he either preferes the conpany of men, the taste of that muslim drink, sneaking around in the night with another mans wife, or some other odd vice" he finished, answering what he hoped pavlos was going to ask.

He finished his goblet, it was actually quite sweet, he could definantly taste a trace of honey in there, and poured himself another one, starting on it as soon as the bottle was set down.

"If your wondering about my military views, then consider myself a flanker, I'm the son of a cavalry officer, and I read some of my dad's books in my youth.
I think our current reliance on mercinaries is a mistake and the empire should invest more in producing its own troops, heavy cavalry deffinantly, when I eventially get my own army, I dont want to get stuck commanding a bunch of nomads for my cavalry arm, they smell funny
other than that, I think that discipline will eventually win out over disorganised troops and armies every time, provided even numbers.
I think all that, gives you a good enough summary of what I'm like"

He decided to leave out the part about shouting at the group of archers in training earlier, something told him Pavlos wouldn't have just let them get away with a telling off.
Pavlos had done little else but sip at his wine while listening to the exploits of the younger man in front of him. Once he has finished he nods slowly and then rises. He walks over to a small window through which the surrounding countryside can be seen. Clasping his hands behind his back and gazing out he starts to speak.

"Do you know about the history of Pontus? It was always considered to be a place apart. Since the earliest times this has been an outpost of Greek civilization, strong but far removed from the centers of power. Many historians referred to these parts as barbaric, their institutions to be outdated, their feudal structures to be the first sign of failure."

"My ancestors were born in these lands, they have lived in these lands, and they died for these lands! Imperial intrigue always happened, but Pontus was apart. Still it didn't help in the aftermath of the bloody desaster that was Manzikert. We were left without help and overrun. You know, our Emperor Aleksios Komnenos, he was a military leader from the Black Sea Coast. He has given much to the Empire, his reforms have made us strong again. We rule again what we are meant to rule!"

He turns fromt he window to look at Lisas.

"This is why I follow this man, why I am part of a House that bears his name. We have the support of Constantinople now and Pontus is secure. But we both know that this will not last forever. Politics will cost their toll again, already the Senate is place for bickering fools that are only concerned with themselves. There might come a time, when the support from Constantinople fails, and Pontus will once again be part of the Empire but apart. I am sure that when such a time comes you will know where your true loyalties lie?"
Lisas listened intently on the history of the province, history being one of his hobbies since childhood.

"Yes, loyalty and trust is such a precious thing these days, you may rest assured though, that my loyalty lies firstly with the empire and the emperor, then to my family, then to the other senetors.
I do hope such a time doesn't come, as I know full well that its likely the komnenodoukai that will be attacked, I wont shrink from my duty if that happens, thankfully it doesn't seem likely for a few years, we have more pressing problems than the danger of a civil war for now, the crusade has left the empire weakened and the turks, though broken, are not yet beaten"
Pavlos nods slowly once again, seeming to turn the word of the man over in his mind.

"These halls have been walked by Greeks for centuries and I intent to make sure it stays that way. I am loyal to the Empire and the Emperor, but my duty will always lie with my people first." With a gesture he encompasses the surroundings. "These people. I trust you will take care of them while I'm gone on campaign. You vowed to make this a great fortress and I trust you to keep your word. Between Sinops rich markets and Trebizonds secure walls many people can prosper and I will make sure they do."

His gaze lingers on the man in front of him for a moment. Could he trust the man in front of him should a second Manzikert occur or was he dragging himself deep into Imperial intrigues?

"I'm sure you will do well. You may go now Lisas Attelaiatas, Comes of Trebizond!"

”Thank you sir” Lisas drained his goblet, and left through the door he entered, one he way out he found the steward, “how was he?”, asked the steward
”Just a little drunk” replied Lisas, smiling
”I’m sure you’ll fit right in” grinned the steward.