14:05 (Baltic Time)
Monday, October 13, 60 B.C.E.
Fifteen kilometers east of the Vistula River delta
Southern coast of the Baltic Sea
‘’THE SEA! I SEE THE SEA AHEAD!’’
The three of them cheered loudly from atop their horses before continuing forward with renewed vigor along the trail they were following. Up to now they had not had to bypass other large settlements on their way, as the population density of the whole region seemed to be quite low, and they had encountered only isolated farms or small groups of farms. After another hour of walking their horses, they finally arrived on a wave-beaten beach made of a mix of rocks and sand. Coming down from her horse and grabbing its reins with one hand, Nauca then walked to the waterline and crouched to scoop some seawater in her right hand.
‘’Three months to arrive to the Baltic Sea… And our trade journey is actually only beginning. Only the gods know what we will encounter next…or what kind of people we will have to deal with.’’
Straightening up, she examined the beach she was on, looking both to her left and her right. The shoreline was bordered by a thick forest as far as she could see, with small hills rising among the coastal plains. No human hut or house could be seen from her location, nor was there any sign of human activity. For a nomad like her, this place looked to be eminently habitable, yet appeared to be mostly empty of people. A yellow sunlight reflection on the beach, some forty meters away, then attracted her attention and made her walk towards it. Arriving next to it after a few seconds, Nauca looked down at what had been reflecting the sunrays and suddenly felt emotion surge inside her: she was now looking at a fairly large block of amber, sitting in the sand and apparently deposited there by the waves.
‘’IGRID, TALYA! COME HERE, QUICKLY!’’
Her two friends came at a near run, worried for a moment until they could look at the block of amber, which they stared at with disbelief.
‘’Amber?’’ said Talya. ‘’How did it get on this beach?’’
‘’Apparently, it was brought by the sea, Talya. Remember that amber is very light and can float in salt water.’’
‘’Then, this could mean that more pieces of amber could be on this beach, right?’’ asked Igrid, sounding incredulous.
‘’Correct! Let’s get a pair of empty jute bags and let’s start combing this beach for amber. I will continue down this way while you and Talya will comb the beach the other way.’’
Her two friends did not waste time in obeying her and the three of them soon were walking slowly along the beach, collecting the pieces of amber they found and putting them in their bags. That collect actually proved very fruitful, as the beach was sprinkled with pieces of amber of various sizes, from pebbles the size of beads to large blocks as big as one’s fist. When the trio reunited again after a good two hours spent combing the beach for amber, they had completely filled three large jute bags which had previously contained some of their reserve of rice, now eaten. Nauca could only stare and smile at the bags full of amber.
‘’Incredible! In mere hours, we collected enough amber to pay for our trip once we sell these back in Samarkand. If we could continue finding amber so easily along the beaches, we will be rich.’’
‘’Uh, what about the local leaders and chieftains, Nauca?’’ said Igrid. ‘’Won’t they consider all this amber as their rightful property? They would probably charge some kind of price or tax for the amber we picked up. If we are caught trying to leave with this amber without paying the local fee, we could end up in big trouble while being very far from any allies or friends.’’
‘’Hum, you are too right about that, Igrid. What would the Bastarnae’s rules be about foraging goods from an open field, for example?’’
‘’We would be asked to pay a fixed price according to the quantity of goods we picked, or we would have to trade things of equivalent value.’’
‘’A fairly common rule, I would say, but to whom will we pay such taxes of fees? I see nobody around for as far as we can look.’’
‘’How about continuing westward along the shoreline?’’ proposed Talya. ‘’We are liable to eventually encounter at least a fishing settlement or village. I can’t believe that nobody lives along this coast, which must be rich in fish and shellfish.’’
‘’A good idea indeed, Talya. Let’s walk westward along the shoreline while collecting the amber we can find, and this until we eventually get to a village or to a settlement. Once we will have found one, we will ask the locals to whom they pay taxes.’’
The three of them then continued to walk on foot on the beach, looking for and collecting the amber they found. They also collected for their supper a few dozen mussels found in the shallower waters of the beach. Night actually came without them seeing a single hut or house, so they retreated a short distance into the woods and built a lean-to shelter for themselves out of sight from the shore. After a quick meal, Igrid and Talya went to sleep, while Nauca took the first sentry duty tour.
As her friends slept and while she was mounting guard, Nauca had plenty of time to think about their journey and its possible outcomes. If the local rulers didn’t prove to be excessively greedy, they then should make a huge profit by selling their amber in Samarkand, or by using it as a trading item on their next voyage to either China or India. Then, a question that had been recurring in her mind came back to her: even if she became rich, then what was she going to do about her money? She had always lived simply up to now and felt no attraction towards luxury or an expensive lifestyle. Even the jewels she owned already and which were stored in a safe chest in Samarkand pleased her simply by their beauty and sentimental value as gifts, rather than for their social status symbol. She just could not picture herself as some sort of court lady or rich urban merchant woman. She had always been a simple girl from the steppes and always would be. Walking through the woods, she went to the treeline facing the sea and contemplated the scenery as small waves crashed regularly on the beaches. The noise from those waves actually soothed her and she smiled to herself while listening to them and looking around. Then, her piercing eyesight caught on a dim light visible in the distance, along the shore: a house or camp was there, about a mile away. That fire had probably just been lit, which would explain why they had not seen it before going into the woods to eat and then sleep. Now knowing where they would go in the morning, Nauca returned to their small camp to resume her sentry duty.
08:24 (Baltic Time)
Tuesday, October 14, 60 B.C.E.
Baltic coast, five kilometers east of the Vistula River Delta
After closing off their campsite, the trio had to ride their horses along the shore for only a few minutes before arriving at a tiny fishing village. ‘Tiny’ was the proper word, as it consisted in a mere seven poorly constructed wooden huts located along the tree line, near a fresh water stream that then ran into the sea. A total of three dugout canoes were beached on the sand, with a group of men and young boys working next to them, either preparing or repairing fishing nets. Those men and boys froze the moment they saw the three riders approach, with one teenage boy then running towards the huts while shouting in alarm in a language Igrid could barely understand.
‘’Gee! It will be really fun to try to speak with these locals, Nauca: this is not exactly Bastarnae, despite having some similarities with it.’’
‘’Just do your best and stay polite with them, Igrid: one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar.’’
‘’Right!’’
Nauca and Talya then stopped their horses while letting Igrid go forward alone, approaching the fishermen next to the canoes. Those men’s expressions changed from fearful to confused and surprised when they saw that she was a teenage girl.
‘’Hello! Don’t be afraid: we come in peace. We just want to ask for some information.’’ said Igrid in Bastarnae. The older man in the lot, who could be about forty years-old, seemed to understand at least parts of her words and answered her in an ancient dialect that forced Igrid to make him repeat himself. After a good four minutes of verbal exchange mixed with lots of hands gestures, Igrid looked back at Nauca and motioned to her and Talya to come closer, then spoke to the former.
‘’This man says that they periodically pay a tribute in fish to a local chieftain who lives in a fortified village about two hours walk from here. That village is on the coast.’’
‘’Excellent! We will thus go visit that chieftain right away. However, before leaving, I will give a couple of gifts to these fishermen. We might as well start to cultivate some local friendship right away.’’
Coming down from her horse, Nauca went to Minad, which carried two saddlebags filled with small trading items, on top of carrying her tent. She searched for a few seconds in one of the saddlebags, taking out of it three finely made steel sewing needles and two pairs of steel scissors, all produced in Samarkand. She then walked to the older man and bowed to him while presenting him the needles and scissors.
‘’Simple gifts from us, so that you could more easily repair your fishing nets and help your wife in making new clothes.’’
The man’s eyes grew wide as he took the needles and scissors and admired the quality of their manufacture. He in turn bowed to Nauca and asked her a question that Igrid had to translate for her.
‘’He wants to know who you are, as he has never seen an armed and armored woman like you before.’’
Nauca gently smiled at that and pointed at herself while saying three words.
‘’Nauca, Sarmatian Amazon.’’
For some reason, her last two words seemed to strike the mature man, who then spoke rapidly while looking up once at the sky.
‘’Uh, he says that you must have been sent by a goddess called ‘Frijjo’ and by a god called ‘Teiwaz’. They are respectively the goddess of family, women and revenge and the god of war.’’
‘’An envoy from the gods? I should be flattered by that. Tell him that we simply are traders from a far city to the Southeast.’’
Igrid translated that to the man before Nauca thought about another question she would have for the man.
‘’Can you ask him what is the name of that local chieftain we are going to visit?’’
After another gesticulating exchange, Igrid looked back at Nauca.
‘’That chieftain’s name is ‘Thorvald’.’’
‘’Good! Then let’s go visit this ‘Thorvald’.’’
10:51 (Baltic Time)
Private chamber, chieftain’s longhouse
Coastal village of the Cotini{28} Tribe, eastern shores of the Vistula delta.
‘’FRIYA! FRIYA! YOU MUST SEE THIS! THREE ARMED AND ARMORED WOMEN JUST ARRIVED TO PAY VISIT TO THORVALD.’’
The seeress{29} gave a stunned look to her servant on hearing those words.
‘’Armed and armored women? Valkyrjur{30} are here, visiting us?’’
‘’Actually, they say that they came from far to the Southeast.’’
‘’Whoever they are, I must go meet them. Thanks for warning me about this, Ruthveld. Where are they now?’’
‘’They are at the front entrance of the longhouse, waiting to be received by Thorvald in the great hall.’’
‘’Damn! Then I better hurry!’’
Grabbing her seeress’ wooden staff, Friya then nearly ran from her room to the great hall, where Thorvald and his wife Gudrin received visitors and presided over feasts and reunions. Once in the great hall, Friya saw that most of the servants of the longhouse, along with a few of the warriors in the village, were already there, waiting to see the visitors. Thorvald himself, accompanied by his wife Gudrin, then showed up and sat on his raised chair. Friya next went to stand to the right and back of Thorvald, as her position as the tribe’s seeress allowed her to do. While Thorvald gave the orders around the village and in the lands surrounding it, Friya was confident about her own authority as a seeress, an authority that even Thorvald would think twice before contradicting. Thorvald then clapped his hands together and spoke out in a strong, loud voice.
‘’LET THOSE VISITORS IN!’’
At that command, the head guard, a huge Germanic warrior armed with a long sword at his belt, then opened wide the double doors of the great hall. Two guards then walked in, preceding three young women, before pivoting and stepping out of the way to let the women approach Thorvald’s chair. Friya, like all the others present, held her breath at the sight of the three armed and armored women, two of which were mere teenagers, while the third one looked to be barely twenty-years-old. All three wore extensive sets of armor, with the older one covered nearly head to toe with metal and wearing a very impressive helmet which let only her eyes and mouth visible. She also wore a sword, a dagger, a battle-axe and a bow, on top of carrying in her hands an exquisitely engraved flat box made of bronze. One of the other two girls however spoke once the trio had stopped three paces from Thorvald’s chair, using a dialect Friya had some difficulty in understanding. However, the girl spoke slowly and chose her words carefully, something that helped Friya a lot.
‘’Thank you for receiving us, great chieftain. We are traders who came from distant Samarkand, with the goal of buying local amber. This is Nauca of Sarmatia, and my name is Igrid, from the Bastarnae, while my other companion is named Talya.’’
Seeing that Thorvald had problems understanding the girl, Friya approached him and whispered in his ear what she believed to have understood. Thorvald nodded his head but also asked her a question.
‘’This place called ‘Samark’ something, do you know about it?’’
‘’I once heard about Samarkand from a merchant from the South who came around a couple of years ago. It is a very ancient city far to the Southeast.’’
‘’And that city, is it a rich one?’’
‘’Samarkand is reputed to be one of the richest cities in the World and is the hub for commerce from everywhere, or so I was told.’’
‘’I see! Ask them what is the goal of their visit.’’
Friya did so, speaking slowly and choosing simple words. The reply she got made her nod her head with satisfaction before she whispered again in Thorvald’s ear.
‘’They appear to me to be profoundly honest, as they just told me that they saw and collected pieces of amber on the beaches to the east of the village, but then came to pay you a compensation for the amber they found. They could easily have left without ever showing up here but chose instead to come and pay tribute to you. I say that you should be confident and friendly with those girls.’’
‘’I will. Ask them as well, politely, why they are so heavily armed and armored if they are simple traders?’’
Passing that question on and getting an answer, Friya translated again for the chieftain.
‘’They say that the road from Samarkand to here is both long and dangerous, with bandits and hostile warriors along the way. They say that they had to fight while traveling.’’
‘’They fought? Who did they fight against?’’
‘’The Romans, whose empire is far to the South and who are presently trying to invade a number of Celtic tribes in the Gaul, far to the Southwest of us.’’
‘’They fought against an empire?’’ said Thorvald, evidently impressed by that. ‘’Can they prove that?’’
‘’Let me ask them.’’
Friya then looked back at the girl who had spoken for her group up to now.
‘’Can you show us something to prove that you fought against the Romans?’’
‘’Easily! Talya!’’
The youngest teenager then stepped forward and presented to Friya a sword in its scabbard. Friya, examining it quickly, was immediately impressed by its finish and expensive look. She then gave it to Thorvald, who took the sword out of its scabbard to examine it with admiring eyes.
‘’An exquisite-looking sword indeed, with an iron blade that looks of high quality. It must have cost a lot to produce.’’
‘’It certainly belonged to a high-ranking Roman officer, Thorvald. I would say that those women are telling the truth and are worthy of respect.’’
The teenage translator then repeated something said to her by the older girl.
‘’This sword now belongs to you, as a gift from them and as a partial payment for the amber we picked up on nearby beaches.’’
Thorvald nodded at that, pleased, and spoke to the girl who had been doing most of the talking to date.
‘’You are indeed honest people: most merchants I know would rather vanish without giving me anything in exchange for my amber.’’
‘’We are indeed honest merchants, even though that is a contradiction in terms, Chieftain Thorvald.’’
That joke actually brought laughter around the great hall, something that helped relax the atmosphere.
‘’So, what else do you ‘honest’ merchants propose to give to me in exchange for picking amber on my territory?’’
‘’We have both gold and silver, or would you prefer some items produced by the best artisans of Samarkand?’’
That was when Gudrin, Thorvald’s wife, hurried to whisper in his ear.
‘’I really would like to see what they brought from such a distant city.’’
‘’Your wishes are my commands, my dear wife.’’ said Thorvald to his wife before looking back at the teenager facing him.
‘’Show us what you brought from your city, girl.’’
That prompted the older girl to step forward and open her flat box to present its content to Thorvald, Gudrin and Friya.
‘’I will first start with items that could interest your wife, Great Chieftain. First, I have this polished silver mirror that your wife will be able to use to help comb her hair and make herself even more beautiful.’’
Gudrin took the mirror presented to her and held her breath as she looked at herself in it.
‘’This is the best mirror I ever saw, woman. I will definitely enjoy using it. What else do you have?’’
‘’a set of fine steel sewing needles, along with a pair of steel scissors, with which your servants can make new, elegant clothes for you.’’
Even Thorvald was impressed by the needles and scissors, made to incredibly high metallurgical standards and high finish. As Gudrin was swooning over them, Nauca presented to Thorvald a small jute bag of about half a liter of capacity.
‘’This bag of black pepper will help spice up the next feast you will give to your warriors. You just need a small quantity of it, finely ground, to add a great taste to venison. Don’t worry about this being a poison.’’
As she said that, Nauca took a grain out of the bag and put it in her mouth, then masticated it. Reassured, Thorvald took the bag and also tasted one grain, with her eyes lighting up as a result.
‘’By Thunaraz{31}! This spice truly fires up your blood!
‘’Finally, for your priestess, I have an herb from distant China which she will be able to boil to produce a hot, stimulating beverage that goes well with a little honey. It is called ‘tea’.’’
‘’Tea?! I heard of it many times but never had the chance to taste it. Thank you, young Nauca. But how did you figure that I was a priestess?’’ asked Friya.
‘’Because we have Shaman women similar to you in the steppes of Sarmatia, Priestess.’’
Thorvald, now in a very good mood, rose from his chair, imitated by his wife.
‘’Nauca of Sarmatia, you and your friends are welcome here and I gladly accept your gifts in exchange for the right for you to pick amber around my territory. You are invited as well to stay here for the coming night and to share my supper with me and my warriors.’’
Nauca, along with Igrid and Talya, bowed to him then, quite pleased and also reassured.
‘’You are too kind, great chieftain. We kindly accept your generous invitation.’’
‘’And I am anxious to hear the stories of your travels and of your fights, Nauca of Sarmatia. LISGARD! TAKE CARE THAT THESE WOMEN ARE WELL LODGED AND THEIR HORSES TAKEN CARE OF! ALSO, PASS THE WORD AROUND: THERE WILL BE A FEAST TONIGHT!’’
‘’It will be done at once.’’ replied his leading servant before inviting Nauca and her two companions to follow him.
As they disappeared towards the rooms situated in the back of the longhouse and as the assembled warriors dispersed, Thorvald looked at Friya and asked her a question in a low voice.
‘’So, what do you think of those women, Friya?’’
‘’That we could learn a lot from them about things that have been of concern to me for some time already. Disquieting stories have been going around about the greed and thirst for conquest of those Romans. Unfortunately, we heard only a few rare stories about the Romans from passing merchants coming from the West and the South. We really need to learn more about these Romans before they possibly push their way up to us. On the other hand, I am dying to learn more about those far-off lands of China and India. In a sense, I envy those young women for having been able to travel so widely.’’
‘’Their stories tonight will certainly be interesting ones. Too bad that they are so difficult to understand.’’
‘’Actually, if you ignore the different accent and some new words they use, I believe that both of our languages are related to a degree. The old legends say that our distant ancestors were nomads who came from far to the Southeast, like those women, settling our lands thousands of years ago. They are as if our own past is coming back to visit us.’’
19:06 (Baltic Time)
Great hall, chieftain’s longhouse
With Thorvald having asked Friya to sit between him and Igrid at the head table of the evening banquet, the seeress was now in the best position to discuss many things with the three female visitors and was fully profiting from that. While she translated many of the things said by the young women for the benefit of Thorvald, she was not shy about asking questions which were of personal interest to her, like learning more about the far-away places she had heard about in the past and also about other places she had never heard of before. In fact, the more she heard from Igrid and Nauca, the more envious of them she was. Friya had always been a curious person and one considered by her tribe to have an uncommonly open mind about new ideas and foreign concepts. One question she had just asked about the faraway lands to the Southeast then prompted Nauca in excusing herself for a moment. When she returned to her place at the head table, it was with a kind of bronze cylinder in one hand. Unscrewing the top cap of the cylinder, which seemed to be waterproof, she then extracted from it a large papyrus roll which she spread on the table in front of her after pushing away her plate and cup. Friya’s eyes opened up with intense curiosity on realizing that the papyrus roll was actually a map of some sort. The map also attracted the attention of Thorvald, who then paid close attention to what Nauca said, with Friya translating for him.
‘’This map of the known world was made in Samarkand by one of the greatest scholars there. It understandably still has gaps and approximations in it, as it is very hard to obtain precise information about faraway places. In this, Samarkand is the ideal place to gather that kind of information, as dozens of caravans from many places pass through it every year. That scholar, who is originally from China, has asked me to map as best I could the territories I was due to go through during my present journey, so that he could improve his map. Don’t be worried about the intents about doing such a map: the Sogdians have no intentions, desire or capabilities to invade other lands. Rather, it is meant to help and assist caravan masters during their long and often perilous trading trips. I have other papyrus rolls in this cylinder that have notes and sketches made by me as my friends and I traveled towards here. Any new information you could tell me about the lands to the West and North of here would thus be most welcome.’’
Nauca then pointed at where she was according to the map.
‘’This is the approximate point where I think I am now according to this map. As you can see, the contours and significant features of this region are still vague and lack precision, but I hope that my travel notes will help improve and update this part of the map. Could I bother you to help me doing this tomorrow, Friya?’’
‘’I would be most happy to do so for you, Nauca. The writing on your map is in Greek, no?’’
‘’Correct! Greek is used by many people in my part of the World. Even the Romans often study and use Greek, on top of using their own Latin.’’
‘’You can read and write?’’ asked Thorvald, curious, making Nauca nod her head.
‘’Yes! I can read and write in both Greek and Sogdian. As for Sarmatian, we don’t have a full writing system of our own and thus often use Greek instead.’’
‘’Can you show us where Samarkand is and which way you traveled during your last three months?’’ asked Friya. Nauca then slid her finger southeastward on the map, retracing her route, to finally stop on the dot marking Samarkand.
‘’This is the approximate route I followed and here is Samarkand, basically in the middle of the Known World. To the East of it is China; to the Southeast is India; to the South is Persia; to the Southwest is a large place called Africa; to the West is Greece, the Roman Empire and the Mediterranean Sea; to the Northwest are in succession the Black Sea, the steppes of Sarmatia, the forests of the Bastarnae and the Baltic region; while the immensity of the cold steppes and forests extend to the North. Hopefully, I will be able to gather more information and observations during my trip, thus improving on our knowledge about the Baltic region and the countries to the West.’’
Friya contemplated the map for long seconds, trying to memorize as much of it as she could. Nauca noticed that and said something that positively fired her up.
‘’If you wish so, I would be ready to let you copy this map tomorrow, Friya. However, my reserve of papyrus is strictly limited and I can’t spare any of it for your copy of this map.’’
‘’That’s alright, Nauca: I will use parchment, an animal skin that was scrapped and cleaned up. It is easy to write on parchment, using a piece of coal. From what I can see here, you traveled through enormous distances while coming our way. I now understand better the need for you to be well armed and armored during such a hazardous journey.’’
‘’About that Roman Empire you told us about, Nauca, what do you know of it?’’ asked Thorvald, understandably concentrating on something that could become a source of problems for him in the future. In response, Nauca put her finger on top of the boot-like peninsula where Rome was situated.
‘’According to what I learned from the Greeks in the Tanais Emporium, Rome started off centuries ago as a simple city-state, then gradually expanded both its territory and its military power. It has by now conquered about every territory surrounding it and the countries situated around the Mediterranean Sea, shown here. Presently, Roman armies are continuing to push eastward through Persia, northwestward and northward through the territories of the Celts in Gaul and will soon threaten the territories occupied by Germanic tribes like yours in Northern Europe. They even tried to push through Sarmatia but Sarmatians, of which I was part of, destroyed a Roman cavalry unit counting over 600 men, more soldiers than you have people in your fortified village. Hopefully, that will discourage them from trying to attack Sarmatia again.’’
‘’But, if those Romans are fighting against so many people and in so many different places at the same time, how come that they have not been defeated and pushed back when so outnumbered?’’
Nauca nodded her head, acknowledging the logic in Thorvald’s question.
‘’Oh, the Romans did suffer defeats in the past and still suffer defeats from time to time, but what makes the Roman war machine so powerful is not numbers, although it counts many tens of thousands of soldiers. What makes the Romans so dangerous are their iron discipline, their tactics and their training. While they are inherently inferior to a force of