Saxon: The Emperor's Elephant (15 page)

Gorm himself helped us carry the birds down to the cog where she lay against the jetty. Climbing down into the ship’s hold, we found two of Redwald’s sailors slinging a long wooden
bar by ropes from the deck beams. It was a travelling perch.

While Gorm and I looked on, Walo wrapped sacking around the wooden bar so that the falcons’ talons could get a firm grip.

‘Here, you can’t do that!’ shouted one of the sailors. Walo had picked up a length of light rope, and was hacking it into short lengths with the knife he used for cutting up
the ice bears’ food.

‘Let him be,’ said Gorm sharply. ‘He knows what he’s doing.’

Walo had begun rigging the lengths of cord so that they dangled beside the perch.

‘What are those for?’ I asked the bird dealer.

‘So the birds can reach out and get a grip on the cords with their beaks when the ship rolls,’ Gorm explained. He turned to Walo. ‘How about you staying on in Kaupang? I could
use a really good assistant.’

To my alarm Walo’s moon face went pale, and his half-closed eyes began to glisten with tears. He shook his head violently and looked at me pleadingly. He was frightened of being
abandoned.

‘That’s all right, Walo,’ I reassured him. ‘I need you to look after the ice bears. You can remain with Osric and me.’

Walo mumbled something, and I had to ask him to repeat what he had said. ‘The bears have no names,’ he muttered.

Gorm hastened to make up for his blunder. ‘Sigwulf, I think that Walo believes that you were going to leave the ice bears behind because you hadn’t given them any names.’

My mind went blank and I looked at the bird dealer. ‘What do you suggest?’

He chuckled. ‘My son has been calling them Modi and Madi these past few days. Maybe that fits.’

‘Why’s that?’ I had never heard either name.

‘They’re gods, sons of Thor. Modi means “angry”, Madi means “strong”.’

I looked across at Walo. ‘Will those names suit?’ I asked.

He brightened and gave me a shy nod.

‘Then it’s time we got Modi and Madi down to the ship,’ I told him.

He reached inside his shirt and pulled out his deerhorn pipe that hung on a leather thong around his neck. ‘They will follow me here,’ he said.

I was lost for words. The two animals were no longer the feeble, sickly creatures that had arrived in Kaupang. They were larger and heavier, active and quick, and they enjoyed mock fighting.
Rearing up on their hind legs, they battled and growled, seizing their opponent’s neck or limb in their formidable jaws and twisting and tugging. It required little imagination to picture the
danger if they ever got loose.

Gorm came to my rescue. ‘I’ve got a better idea, Walo. We’ll bring them to the ship on a sledge.’

And that was how it was accomplished. Redwald’s sailors built a double-size sledge on top of which they constructed a sturdy cage. It had to be large enough to contain both bears at the
same time because Walo assured us that the animals would become distressed and unpredictable if separated. He himself sat inside the cage with the bears while they were moved in case they needed
calming. After much coaxing we harnessed four terrified horses to the sledge. Then all of us – Gorm and his son, Redwald, Osric, Ingvar the bird catcher, Osric and myself – hauled on
drag ropes and we set out for the dock. Our progress along Kaupang’s rutted and pot-holed street, even with the bears securely caged, caused uproar. Merchants shuttered their shops while we
passed, stallholders evacuated their stands, and only the most curious of their customers remained to gawk at us. Every step of the way we were accompanied by a horde of wildly excited dogs,
snapping, snarling and barking.

We reached the jetty where Redwald’s crew waited until the top of the tide, then slid the entire contraption across and onto the cog’s deck where it was fastened down with strong
ropes. While this was being done, I was concluding a last-minute purchase with Ingvar’s help. Among the pack of curs attracted by the commotion of our departure were several dogs with short
fox-like faces beneath high-set triangular ears. Of medium size, they were stocky and active and had curly tails. They gave an impression of sharp intelligence and it occurred to me that if their
thick coats of short dense fur were washed and cleaned, they would be off-white. Like everything else in Kaupang, they were for sale.

Thus we loaded five dirty and quarrelsome dogs as extra cargo. The rest of the pack lined the beach in a noisy frenzy as the gap widened between ship and shore, and we left Kaupang to the same
sound as our arrival – the barking of dogs.

FRANKIA

*

F
REQUENT SWIGS OF
black horehound leaves steeped in hot water helped Walo find his sea legs on the southward voyage. Thanks to him, all our animals were
in good health when our ship turned into the estuary of the great river we had left three months before. From there, Redwald worked the tides, anchoring during the ebb and riding the flood to bring
us upriver by easy stages to Dorestad. In the last week of July, the cog tied up to a staithe in her homeport and I found a royal courier waiting for me as we docked. His instructions were to
escort me to Aachen with all speed. Any white animals we had collected were to be trans-shipped and to proceed upriver by barge on the first stage of their journey to distant Baghdad. It seemed
that the mission to the caliph was to go ahead.

Leaving Osric and Walo in charge of the animals, I said a hurried farewell to Redwald, interrupting him as he stood at the foot of the mast, supervising his crew unlace the great sail from its
spar, ready to carry it ashore. I had already offered to deliver the captive eagle to the palace mews master on his behalf. But he had declined gruffly, saying that I was not a Frisian so he could
not trust me to drive a hard enough bargain over the price.

‘I owe you an apology,’ I said.

He tilted his head to one side and gave me a knowing look. ‘You had your doubts about me, didn’t you?’ he said.

I felt my face go red. ‘That’s right. But you’ve done as you promised, and brought us back safe. I want to thank you.’

He clapped me on the shoulder. ‘That was just good business. I seem to remember that I was promised a bonus if you and all the animals got here in good condition. I’ll settle up with
Osric and he can pay me from the rest of your silver hoard.’

He reached into an inner pocket, produced a small coin, and held it out to me.

‘You’d forgotten about your share from the sale of the Rhenish wine,’ he said.

The coin was the dinar with Arab script and Offa’s name, the same gold coin that my attacker had asked Redwald to change for silver.

‘That’s too much,’ I said. ‘Besides, I bought the wine with funds from the royal treasury. You should credit them with any profit.’

‘I’ll haggle with the treasury in my own time.’ He pressed the coin into my hand.

I had no wish to be rude so I slipped the dinar into my money belt. ‘I’ll spend it in Baghdad when my mission is over,’ I told him.

‘That coin will be a useful reminder,’ he said.

‘A reminder of what?’

He made a wry face. ‘That money has a very long reach.’

*

Aachen had altered while I had been away. Summer was the building season, and the royal precinct resounded to the constant tapping of hammers as teams of tilers crawled over the
vast roof of the future banqueting hall. The web of scaffolding had been dismantled from the façade of the basilica and re-erected around the treasury. The arcade leading to Carolus’s
private quarters was no longer an untidy muddle of bricks and paving slabs. Several houses on the fringes of the precinct had been torn down to make extra space for the royal building programme,
and there was a new stable block I could not remember seeing previously. There was no time to take in any further details because my escort whisked me straight to the royal apartments and handed me
over to the major domo, a plump, watchful man whose sharp eyes immediately took in the suspicious-looking package in my hand. It was early afternoon, a time when I knew the king liked to take a
nap. Yet the major domo waved aside the guard who wished to check whether what I was holding was some sort of weapon and immediately brought me up the familiar broad staircase leading to the royal
apartments. Without knocking, he eased open the door to the king’s private audience room and slipped inside.

A few minutes later he reappeared and held the door ajar. ‘The king will see you now.’

It was the same audience chamber as before, though in daylight it seemed even more spacious and airy than when candle-lit. Carolus was alone in the room. His slightly dishevelled appearance
suggested that he had only just got up, and the silk cover of the couch he used as a day bed was rumpled. He yawned and stretched before addressing me, looking down from his great height.

‘I’m told that you’ve brought back two ice bears,’ he said.

I was reminded that the king’s long and successful reign depended partly on his excellent intelligence system that brought news from all parts of the kingdom.

‘Two ice bears, three gyrfalcons, five dogs, Your Majesty – and all of them white,’ I replied.

‘Dogs?’ Carolus grunted irritably. It seemed that being disturbed during his afternoon nap left him out of sorts. ‘I didn’t ask for dogs.’

‘They were available so I purchased them with surplus funds. I apologize if this went beyond my instructions,’ I said apologetically.

‘Any good for the chase?’ the king demanded.

He was passionate about his hunting, and I suspected that he was thinking of putting the dogs into the royal kennels.

‘I’ve been told that these dogs make excellent guard dogs and can pull sledges. But I heard nothing about hunting,’ I answered tactfully.

‘Not a lot of sledges in Baghdad,’ grumbled the king, ‘but I suppose we should add them to the list.’ Carolus’s gaze sharpened. ‘What about the unicorn? Did
you bring one back?’

I took a deep breath. ‘No, Your Majesty. There is no unicorn.’

His eyebrows came together in a scowl. ‘My Book of Beasts states otherwise. Last month I was unwise enough to mention my hopes for a unicorn to my councillors, and one of them failed to
hide his smirk. I dislike being thought a fool.’

Carolus’s ill-humour was making me nervous. ‘I meant only that there is no unicorn among the animals we brought back. The animal itself does exist of course.’

The shrewd grey eyes regarded me suspiciously. ‘Go on, but don’t try to hoodwink me.’

‘Your Majesty will recall you showed me the horn of an aurochs as proof that such an animal is real?’

‘Go on.’

‘Here is the proof that the unicorn exists.’ I held up the velvet-wrapped package. ‘I obtained this in the Northlands though no one could tell me where to find the living
creature.’

‘Show me,’ ordered the king.

With a showman’s flourish I whisked off the purple velvet cover and offered the unicorn’s horn to the king. He took it from me and stood for a long moment, grasping the horn in his
large, strong hand, turning it this way and that.

‘Remarkable,’ he said finally. A delighted smile replaced the scowl.

He whirled about, giving me a fright, and using the unicorn horn as a pointer, rested the tip on a deep-red gem set in the crosspiece of the great jewelled cross that dominated one side of the
room.

‘Know what this is, Sigwulf?’ he demanded.

‘No, Your Majesty.’

‘A precious carbuncle. It represents the blood of Christ.’

He lowered the unicorn horn and turned to face me. ‘And where has God hidden the precious carbuncle to demonstrate its great worth?’ he demanded.

I shifted my feet uncomfortably. ‘I do not know, Your Majesty.’

‘In the skull of the asp or within the head of a dragon. That is where you find the carbuncle.’ He looked triumphant. ‘There are those who question that fact, just as they
question the existence of the unicorn, but no more!’

He twirled the unicorn’s horn. ‘Sigwulf, you are to press ahead with the embassy to the caliph. You must cross the Alps before the snow closes the passes on your way
south.’

‘And the aurochs?’ I ventured to ask. I noticed that he used the word embassy rather than mission. It seemed that my task had acquired extra status.

‘I’m still sending the aurochs as my giant beast, though it can’t match his elephant in size. You’ll be taking just a single one. My verderers could not trace
another.’

He hefted the horn again. ‘But this I will keep with me. I will enjoy seeing the expression on the face of my doubting councillor.’

It was strange to see the king as elated as a child with a new toy. ‘Sigwulf, you’ve done well. I shall not forget the service you have rendered.’

I took it as a dismissal, bowed, and backed away towards the door.

‘Go and see Alcuin,’ were the royal parting words. ‘He will arrange all that is needed and can provide the necessary letters of introduction. And you’ll find he has an
additional gift for you to hand over to the caliph.’

*

Amid all the bustle and clatter of the building works it was reassuring to find that Alcuin was just as I remembered him – tall and spare, dressed in the same dark gown
and sandals, a calm, watchful expression on his intelligent face, and his same habit of coming straight to the point.