Blue arrow: Direction of westward travel of Nauca’s group towards the territory of the Bastarnae.
16:20 (Bosporus Time)
Tuesday, September 2, 60 B.C.E.
Western shore of the Borysthenes River
Sarmatian territory
‘’Nice work, men, and thank you for bringing us across the river.’’
Nauca then added to her thanks by giving a gold piece to each of the five ferryboat men who had just brought her group to the western shore of the Borysthenes River. The happy senior ferryboat man took the gold coin and bowed to her.
‘’It was a pleasure, Lady Nauca. I wish you and your friends a safe trip west.’’
The men then put back on their flat-bottomed ferry the wood planks used to let Nauca’s horses disembark and pushed their large embarkation away from the shore before starting to row, using their four big oars. Nauca, Igrid and Talya watched them row away before mounting back on their horses. Their group now had nine horses with them, thanks to the loot distribution that had followed the victory over the Romans. Their three new horses, while still wearing their original Roman saddles, were now used by Nauca as extra pack animals which carried extra fresh provisions as well as the girls’ portions of the Roman equipment, armor and weapons looted from the dead soldiers. Nauca had been more than happy to accept as part of that loot the field camping equipment taken from six of the killed Roman cavalrymen, on top of their weapons and their chainmail shirts and helmets. The metal objects in the lot, like cups, bowls, cooking pots and digging tools, were liable to tempt many of the people they were going to meet along the way to the Baltic and added nicely to the collection of trading goods she already had brought from Samarkand. The metallurgical arts practiced in Samarkand were rightly considered to be as good or superior to anything produced in other places and Nauca had made sure to bring with her good quantities of metal utility objects which could be easily traded for amber later on, like silver mirrors, fine steel sewing pins and scissors. Other items of good trading value taken from the Romans were their bedrolls, capes and shoes, as good quality cloth and footwear were always in demand and also fairly expensive, with a typical, simple tunic costing ten drachmas, the equivalent of ten days of salary for an unskilled worker, or, for a pair of leather sandals, up to twelve drachmas.
While riding side-by-side through a grassy field with dispersed clumps of trees, Nauca looked at Igrid, who was riding to her right.
‘’Tell me more about your old tribe, Igrid. Also, if you know anything about the people living nearer to the Baltic, that would also be useful for all of us to know.’’
‘’Well, since I was taken and enslaved by the Romans at age fourteen, I know only what the folk stories I heard said, plus of course the customs and traditions of the Bastarnae. I know that my people originally came down from the Northwest many decades ago, roughly traveling down the lands comprised between the Hypatis{24} and Porata{25} Rivers. We encountered and assimilated on the way other people who lived very simply among the forests in isolated small groups of farms. Because we frequently had to cross streams or traveled up and down rivers, some of us became boatmen and engaged in trade along the rivers of our territory.’’
‘’Now, that last part interests me, Igrid. Do you know if we could get all the way to the Baltic by boat, if we could find one similar to the ferryboat we just used?’’
‘’Uh, I am not sure, but we should be able to travel quite far towards the Northwest if we could navigate up the Tyras{26} River, situated between the Hypatis and Porata Rivers. However, I am not sure that we will find boats able to carry horses once there.’’
‘’What about traveling along the river banks? Are they steep or are they relatively easy to follow?’’
‘’They vary from place to place, so I can’t say for sure if we actually could travel alongside the rivers. However, the terrain gradually goes up as we will travel to the Northwest.’’
‘’I guess that we will have to wait until we are there to find out. Still, generally following the shorelines of rivers should make it easier to orient ourselves while traveling. What is also left to be seen is how we will be received by the people we will meet on our way.’’
‘’Don’t worry about our trip through Bastarnae territory, Nauca. I will handle the meetings with my fellow tribesmen.’’
Nauca was not sure that having a Bastarnae girl with her would always ensure a safe travel, as bandits and thieves existed everywhere, but she didn’t remark on that and kept riding mostly in silence while keeping a sharp look around for any potential danger.
19:05 (Bosporus Time)
Wednesday, September 3, 60 B.C.E.
200 kilometers east of the Hypatis River
Rain had been falling for the last two hours and night was approaching when Nauca spotted a sort of small settlement ahead, in a grassy field adjacent to a thick forest. This was the first sign of human presence they had seen since they had crossed the Borysthenes and a dry place to sleep would be a nice thing indeed. She thus decided to approach that settlement at a calm walking pace, in order not to scare those who lived in it. As she got closer, she was able to better detail it through the rain still falling: there were five round wooden huts with conical roofs and what looked like three small barns or storage huts, the lot surrounded by a low wooden palisade that was probably limited to keeping in domestic animals rather than being meant for defense. Smoke came from holes in the top of the huts’ roofs, indicating that they were occupied. Nauca looked at Igrid, who was riding close to her.
‘’Is this a Bastarnae settlement, Igrid?’’
‘’No! It looks more like an Antes settlement. The Antes are the original inhabitants of this region, whom we assimilated. Antes are typically farmers and cattle raisers who practice slash-and-burn agriculture. They are not war-like, contrary to us Bastarnae.’’
‘’Can you speak their language?’’
‘’Uh, I only know a few words, but many of the Antes can understand Germanic.’’
‘’Then, I will let you speak to them. Stay polite and friendly and let’s try not to scare them without reason. I fully intend to offer them things in exchange for their hospitality. Using a barn for the night would already be quite acceptable to me.’’
‘’Alright, I will thus play the ‘friendly Bastarnae’ with them.’’ said Igrid while smiling to Nauca.
As their group was about to enter the settlement via a rather narrow and crudely made wooden gate in the low palisade, a dog started barking furiously, soon joined by two more dogs. That didn’t surprise Nauca, as peasants and farmers often kept dogs as a way to give a warning of approaching predators…be they animal or human. In turn, the barking made heads appear at the doors of the huts.
‘’Well, at least somebody will be able to greet us now.’’ said philosophically Talya, quickly followed by Igrid.
‘’With smiles or with weapons?’’
‘’Come on, girls! Have some faith in human goodness. Not everybody in this world is mean or evil.’’
‘’Ha! Tell that to the Romans!’’
Shaking her head at that, Nauca walked to the door of the nearest hut while keeping her hands high and visible. She then tried to speak in Sarmatian with the bearded man standing in the half-opened door.
‘’Do not be afraid of us: we are only seeking shelter from the rain for the night.’’
As she had expected, the man didn’t seem to understand her but showed curiosity rather than fear as he stared at her and her two companions. Igrid then spoke to him in Bastarnae dialect, which the man nodded to, having obviously understood her. Satisfied by that, Igrid then asked the man a question.
‘’Do you have a barn where we could put our horse for the night? We could also sleep there tonight.’’
‘’I have a barn for my dairy cow and my chickens. Follow me!’’
As he led Igrid and her group towards one of the rectangular huts, a lit torch in one hand, the peasant smiled to her with malice.
‘’I also have a barn for my pigs, but I gather that you would not like to sleep in there.’’
‘’Uh, right! By the way, my name is Igrid and my friends are Nauca and Talya.’’
‘’And my name is Petr. I hope that my barn will be big enough for all your horses. Not too many people pass by our place.’’
‘’I am sure that it will do for us. Know that we are ready to pay for its use and for your hospitality tonight.’’
Petr, a tall and solidly-built man, nodded in approval at that before opening wide the large door of his stable. The light from his torch allowed Igrid to see that a single cow occupied a stall at one end of the stable, while wooden cages containing hens were piled near the stall. A big pile of hay half filled the rest of the small barn.
‘’It will be a tight fit but it will do. Thank you for receiving us. We will now unload our horses before going to visit your family. Could you in the meantime reassure the other inhabitants about our intentions? We are merchants on a long trip towards the Northwest.’’
The big peasant scratched his head at that last sentence.
‘’I must say that I never saw traveling female merchants before, especially ones that are as heavily armed as you and your friends are.’’
Igrid grinned to the man in return.
‘’We are Amazons and my leader, Nauca, is a Sarmatian.’’
‘’Aah, Sarmatians! I did meet a few of them some time ago, when they traveled past our settlement. They stayed correct with us.’’
‘Thank the gods for that!’ thought Igrid as she led her three horses to the big pile of hay. With their nine horses pressing against each other in order to fit inside the small barn, the three young women then took their packs and saddles off them, piling the lot against the wooden palisade of the cow’s stall before laying down their bedrolls. With Petr gone to pass the word around the other peasants, Nauca searched for a moment in the pile of effects taken off their horses, taking out an iron cooking pot, four small jute bags, a few bronze bowls, a Roman Army shovel, an axe and two wool blankets. Igrid looked on, wondering why she was doing that.
‘’What is all this for, Nauca?’’
‘’Our way to repay our hosts for their hospitality. You must have noticed that these people are dirt poor and their own supper was probably going to be a meager one, so we will cook our own food for tonight. It will also give me a chance to make our hosts taste new flavors and drink some hot tea. As for the tools, bowls and blankets, I intend to gift them to Petr and his family. We will take our own cups and bowls with us for the supper.’’
Igrid nodded in agreement at those generous intentions, which were typical of Nauca: she may be a fierce warrior when she needed to be one, but she always had a great heart. Igrid thus helped Nauca by grabbing the blankets and the tools after collecting her own cup and bowl.
Thankfully, the rain started to slow down as the three of them walked out of the barn and went to Petr’s hut, where the peasant was waiting for them at the door. Once inside, they saw that the hut was of the semi-subterranean type, with the dirt floor about one meter below the external ground level. A big central wooden pillar supported the conical wood and straw roof and an open stone fireplace was located about one pace from the central pillar. Hay piled in one corner of the hut probably acted as mattresses to sleep on, while a deep clay receptacle contained water. Igrid thought that Nauca had been right when saying that Petr and his family were dirt poor, as the scarcity of cooking tools and appliances proved. She smiled at the sight of the four young children sitting with a woman next to the fireplace: they had to be aged between two and eight years-old. Igrid had always loved small children and she knew that Nauca and Talya were also fond of them. In turn, the woman and the older child, a boy, stared at them with obvious curiosity mixed with surprise. Petr then pointed at the woman.
‘’This is my wife Rissa. My children are named Stan, Olya, Britta and Ulav.’’
‘’Pleased to meet you!’’ replied Igrid, who was basically acting as the go-between for her small group, before smiling at the young woman. ‘’I am Igrid, while my friends are named Nauca and Talya. We are merchants on a long trading trip towards the Northwest and we would like to express our gratitude for your kind hospitality tonight. Know that we have food with us for our supper, which we will now cook, plus have a few gifts for your family.’’
With Nauca passing to her the items meant as gifts, Igrid then put down in front of Petr and Rissa six bronze bowls, one shovel, one axe, two wool blankets and one tiny jute bag. While obviously delighted, the peasant couple looked with curiosity at the small jute bag, with Petr asking about it.
‘’What is in that bag, Igrid?’’
In response, Igrid untied the string closing the bag and opened it before pouring a few black grains in Petr’s hand.
‘’A spice called black pepper, from India. Once finely ground, you sprinkle some of it on meats or in stews, adding much extra flavor to the recipe. Pepper is rare and expensive, but we brought a good provision of it with us, along with other types of spices and herbs. Go ahead and taste one grain each.’’
Petr and Rissa did so, with their eyes lighting up nearly at once.
‘’I like it!’’ said Petr. ‘’You said ‘black pepper’?’’
‘’Correct! By trade, we specialize in procuring exotic items and spices in faraway countries and then bringing them back before selling them at a profit. Pepper is one of the items most in demand around. This bag is yours now. However, be careful not to sprinkle too much of it at a time: its taste is quite strong.’’
Rissa took hold of the bag and sniffed its content before smiling to Igrid.
‘’I was about to make a rabbit stew for my family. Do you think that this ‘pepper’ would do well in it?’’
‘’Very much so, especially if you also add a bit of salt in the stew. Do you have some salt?’’
‘’We do! Uh, I am afraid that we have only two rabbits for supper and…’’
‘’Don’t worry about that, Rissa: we have our own food with us. In fact, you will be able to taste something else new to you tonight: curried rice.’’
‘’Cured riss?’’ said Rissa, repeating the unfamiliar words.
‘’Curried rice. Curry is another spice from India and it gives a unique, strong spicy flavor to recipes. As for rice, it is a staple from the Far East used by a lot of people. It is a type of white grain that is boiled before eating it. I am sure that your family will like it. Finally, we will make you try a hot drink made from an herb called ‘tea’, also in widespread use in the Far East.’’
Petr and Rissa then exchanged a quick look, unable to believe their luck, before Petr bowed his head to Igrid.
‘’It is a pleasure to host such generous visitors as you and your friends, Igrid.’’
‘’You gave us a dry place to sleep tonight, Petr, and it would have been stingy on our part not to compensate you for that. Me and Nauca will now start cooking some rice.’’
As Rissa started to cook her own recipe of rabbit stew, adding some pepper and salt to it, Nauca and Igrid started cooking rice in their own cooking pot, eventually adding some curry powder in it, plus pieces of dried fish and two dried onions. As their rice was cooking, Igrid made Petr and Rissa taste a small pinch of curry powder, again making their eyes grow wide. Rissa did cough a bit, though, as she swallowed the strong spice.
‘’This spice is indeed quite strong and hot, I must say.’’
‘’That is actually considered a mild variant of curry, Rissa. What they consider a strong curry in India would probably burn your throat out and make you spit flames.’’
‘’Wow! Do these Indians have throats made of steel?’’
‘’Some think so. However, curry is the perfect spice to go with rice. We will also boil some tea, to make a hot beverage that will help you tone down the taste of curry.’’
About an hour later, both recipes and a pot of hot tea were ready to be served, with the family and their visitors sitting on the floor around the stone fireplace. To Nauca’s pleasure, who had made the curried rice recipe, Petr’s family wolfed down their portion of rice accompanying their rabbit stew and loved the taste of their cup of tea, in which a bit of honey had been poured. The three young women also took the time to play a bit with the four young children after the meal, something they too rarely could do during the last months. Nauca then added a tiny bag of curry powder to the gifts already given to the peasant family before leading her two friends to the barn, where they suspended their wet clothes to dry them out before lying on their bedrolls and fall asleep, tired by their long day of traveling.
The next morning, they woke up to a clear, sunny sky, with the temperature fresh but still well above freezing point. Reloading their things on their horses and then mounting them, the trio resumed its long trip, with Petr and his family warmly waving them goodbye. Nauca waved back at them before smiling to Igrid.
‘’You can always find good people around this tough world, Igrid. That alone makes life worth living.’’
‘’I must agree with you on that, Nauca. I just wish that there were more such good people around and less mean ones. So, we continue westward?’’
‘’Yes! Once we will hit the Hypatis River, we will see if we can ford it safely. If not, then we will swing northwest and follow its eastern shore all the way to its source. Then, we will be about halfway to the Baltic.’’
‘’And then?’’
‘’Then, we will see, in good time.’’
17:37 (Carpathians Time)
Sunday, September 7, 60 B.C.E.
Eastern shores of the Hypanis River (modern-day Southern Bug River)
It didn’t take long for Nauca to decide that trying to ford the Hypanis River at the point they were in this afternoon would simply be too dangerous and risky. While the river was not very wide, it was too deep to ford with horses and its shores and bottom were also covered with large rocks which made footing treacherous, especially with the present strong current.
‘’Alright, let’s forget about fording this river, girls. Until further notice, we will simply follow up its eastern shore. However, I believe that we should now stop for the night here: there is plenty of fresh water and grass for our horses, plus there are trees to both hide and protect our camp, next to the river.’’
‘’Hey, maybe we could take a bath in the river?’’ Said Talya in an enthusiastic tone. We haven’t been able to wash properly for days now.’’
Igrid gave her in turn a skeptical look.
‘’That water will be near freezing point. You really want to bathe in it?’’
‘’Why not? You’re a wimp or what?’’
‘’Ooh! A challenge!’’ said Nauca, amused. ‘’Well, if you want to do so, you are welcome to it, Talya, but not before we set our camp and cook our supper before darkness. Remember my instructions: no campfire after nightfall. I see what looks like a perfect spot over there, inside that clump of trees with a small clearing in the middle, next to the river. Let’s get to work, girls!’’
First cutting off the long grass and bushes growing in that clearing, they then raised their teepee-like conical tent and made a small fireplace inside with rocks collected around. Another, smaller and rectangular ‘A’-shaped tent was next erected just two steps in front of the entrance to their big tent, which then served to protect their packs, baggage and saddles away from any possible rainfall during the night. While Nauca started boiling water to prepare their supper inside the main tent, Igrid and Talya went down to the nearby shore, careful not to slip on the rocky slopes of the bank. With Igrid staying in overwatch with her bow at the ready, Talya then stripped naked and cautiously dipped a foot in the river.
‘’Ooh, it is cold! Still, I really need a bath.’’
Steeling herself, the teenage Dacian girl then entered the river, sinking up to her neck in the cold water while holding to a hanging tree branch. Despite the frigid water, she still managed to enjoy her bath, getting rid of days of dust and sweat covering her body. When she emerged from the water and climbed back to where Igrid stood guard, her nipples were puffy and pointing out, fully erect. Igrid smiled as she admired Talya’s young breasts and couldn’t help kissing and licking both of her nipples, making the teenager inhale with pleasure. Opening her legs and lying on the grass, she then guided Igrid’s hand to her crotch and let her fondle her as she also kept licking her erect nipples. She climaxed after a few minutes of fondling and kissed her friend on the mouth.
‘’Time for you to go bathe, Igrid. I will now keep watch over you.’’
‘’Aren’t you going to dress back first?’’
‘’Why? I can watch around while naked. Once you are back from the river, we could then have some more fun together.’’
‘’Sounds like a plan!’’ replied Igrid, grinning, before stripping off with the help of her friend. Going down to the river, she managed to endure the cold water long enough to thoroughly cleanse herself, then went back to Talya, whose turn it was to admire her puffy, erect nipples.
‘’Such nice, sweet nipples you have. Let’s honor them properly.’’
On the opposite shore, up the bank and standing behind large bushes where he had gone to urinate, a twelve-year-old shepherd boy couldn’t believe his luck as he avidly watched both naked girls go at it. Their sight then proved too much for him to resist and he dropped down his breaches to start masturbating himself while ogling the girls. He was about to return to his herd of sheep grazing nearby, after the two girls dressed back and left, when a third girl, apparently a bit older, also came to bathe in the river, giving him an extra show to watch. He still had the images of the naked girls in his head when he regretfully returned to his sheep. He toyed for a minute with the idea of bragging about this to his older brother but finally decided against it: maybe those girls would return to bathe in the river tomorrow and he certainly didn’t want to let his brother steal this viewing spot from him.