10:39 (Paris Time)
Tuesday, September 27, 861 C.E.
Island of Jeufosse, on the River Seine
55 kilometers northwest of Paris, Western Francia
‘’GET READY TO JUMP OUT THE MOMENT WE BEACH, MEN!’’
The nine armed and armored Carolingian men-at-arms and knights occupying the rowboat with Robert Le Fort, Margrave{7} of Neustria{8}, tightened their grips on their swords and battleaxes at the command of their leader. The bottom of their rowboat soon scrapped against the silt and sand of the island of Jeufosse, a small island in the middle of the Seine River that covered maybe sixty hectares of surface. Robert Le Fort, a still vigorous man and an intrepid warrior at the age of 46, jumped first on the sand of the shallow beach and ran towards the interior of the island, closely followed by the nine armored men of his rowboat. The six unarmored men that had been rowing the boat also jumped out, short swords, javelins or bows in hand, and pulled their boat on the beach, securing it to a dead tree before also running towards the interior. Another 400 Carolingian knights and men-at-arms, all loyal followers of Robert Le Fort, did the same, disembarking from a flotilla of rowboats. They all could see clearly now the wooden palisade of the large Viking fortified camp that was their objective this morning. However, large, incinerated holes were visible along the palisade, while a multitude of crows were either turning over the camp or were perched on top of the palisade.
The Carolingians soon understood why so many crows were flying over the camp, as they found thousands of bodies rotting under the Sun inside the camp. All the bodies were those of Vikings and most of them were half incinerated, with whole parts burned away or with gaping, melted holes in their chainmail or scale mail armor. Other Vikings had been literally hacked to pieces by what had to have been very sharp blades swung by strong men. The first moment of exhilaration among the Carolingian warriors on seeing the bodies of the hated Vikings was soon replaced by utter stupor when they could find no bodies that could have been part of the attackers of this camp. This appeared to have been a straightforward massacre and not a real battle per say. The local peasants to whom Robert Le Fort had been able to speak with yesterday did talk of gigantic flying ships throwing lances of flames from the air, but Robert had mostly laughed off their stories then. Now, as he contemplated the field of burned down tents and rotting bodies, he didn’t know anymore what to think.
‘’By the Virgin Mary, this was nothing short of a one-sided massacre! I can see thousands of dead Vikings, but nobody else. Either those who attacked those Vikings collected their dead afterwards, or they simply walked all over these Danes as if they were mere sheep for the slaughter.’’
One of his knights who had knelt beside the decapitated body of a big Viking showed him the leather belt purse that had been carried by the dead man, shaking it and producing a metallic noise.
‘’Those attackers also didn’t seem to care about gold or silver, Your Excellency: they didn’t grab the purses of those Vikings afterwards. Yet, if I can judge by this purse, the Vikings had plenty of silver and gold with them.’’
Robert stared with disbelief at the purse for a long moment, both confused and disbelieving. For men-at-arms to kill opponents in battle and then not loot the dead was simply unheard of, as looting was the main way, often the only one even, to pay oneself while fighting a war. Why let gold and silver lay around for some peasant or camp follower to then grab it later on? Looking at the dead Vikings close to him, Robert was shocked to see that all of them still had their purse at their belt.
‘’There must be hundreds of livres{9} in silver and gold lying around this camp, asking to be taken, yet those who killed the Vikings seemed to have no interest for that fortune. Were those attackers this dumb, or were they already so rich that they didn’t care?’’
‘’Well, Your Excellency,’’ replied the now smiling knight, ‘’our men sure won’t complain about that.’’
That made the Margrave look sharply around him, seeing with some displeasure that his men were now busy looting the corpses instead of checking out the camp for any surviving Viking. The Caroligian noble then shouted out loud at his knights and men-at-arms.
‘’FORGET THE VIKINGS’ PURSES FOR THE TIME BEING, MEN! WE STILL HAVE TO CHECK OUT THE CAMP FOR SURVIVORS. ONCE THAT IS DONE, YOU WILL THEN BE FREE TO PICK UP THE VIKING SILVER AND GOLD TO YOUR CONTENT.’’
‘That’s going to make one insanely rich bunch of men-at-arms!’ Thought Robert to himself while resuming his walk around the camp. Even discounting the gold, silver and jewels lying around, just the abandoned armor and weapons on this field was worth a fortune, as equipping oneself for war was an expensive proposition for most but affluent nobles. His eyes were soon attracted by a still standing group of three tents in the middle of the camp that seemed to have miraculously escaped the wrath of whoever had massacred the Vikings. Intrigued, Robert went to those tents, stepping around the dense carpet of rotting corpses. He eyed critically a particularly thick carpet of corpses forming a kind of barrier just short of the entrance to the largest tent, a big affair with decorative Viking wood carvings flanking the entrance.
‘The Vikings must have tried to make a last stand to protect that tent, for the good it did them.’
Wondering about what the Vikings had tried so desperately to defend, Robert parted the canvas curtains of the tent’s entrance with the blade of his long sword and cautiously walked inside the semi-obscure tent. What he found was what seemed to have been the tent of a chieftain, with distinctly more comfortable and luxurious accommodations compared to that of the common man-at-arms. There were also a dozen large wooden coffers and chests piled around the central pole of the tent, with the body of a Viking next to them. Blood rushed to Robert’s brain when he saw that many of those coffers bore the royal markings of King Charles II, his own sovereign! Understanding then came to him like a lightning bolt, bringing both satisfaction and bitterness to Robert. Going to one of the coffers bearing Carolingian royal markings, he opened it and contemplated in silence the fortune in gold and silver coins filling it, his stomach turning acid. This had to be part of the huge ransom of 5,000 silver livres King Charles had paid to the Viking chieftain Weland for him to stop his depredations around the Somme area and to go attack instead the Viking army camped near Paris. Raising those 5,000 livres had meant imposing more extra taxes on the already struggling people of the kingdom, with the poorer ones paying the largest part of it. King Charles could have used that money to raise an army able to repulse that Viking force that had been burning and looting their way around Paris for years, but had instead sent most of his present army south in a foolish and pointless campaign supposedly meant to subdue his rebellious nephew, Charles de Provence. Robert had protested that questionable choice of priorities, in vain. Robert had then been sorely tempted to drop his support to that weak and versatile king, who had meekly paid ransom after ransom to the Vikings to keep them away from Western Francia, even though the Vikings kept breaking their word and returning to do more looting and killing. However, someone had to oppose somewhat those cursed Vikings. If not, there would soon be little left of the kingdom and its people but smoking ruins. Checking quickly the other coffers and chests, Robert found them also filled with silver and gold, plus some jewels, including gold chalices and crosses that had obviously been looted from some churches or monasteries by the Vikings. The total treasure he was looking at actually represented over double the ransom paid recently by King Charles: the rest must have constituted the loot amassed by the Viking army that had devastated the Seine region and Paris for years. For a moment, Robert was furiously tempted to simply grab that huge treasure and go his way with it. However, if he did that, who would be left to protect the kingdom from the Vikings? This army had not been the only one to roam around Europe, far from it. Maybe, if he could find who had massacred this Viking army, he could then ally himself with them and chase for good the Danes from the kingdom. In the meantime, as much as this riled him, his duty said that he would have to bring back that treasure to King Charles. Maybe then, with that gold and silver, he would be able to convince him to grow some backbone and to concentrate on the true problems of the kingdom, instead of fighting with his brothers for a vain imperial crown that was now next to meaningless.
His mind made, Robert knelt beside the dead Viking, whose gold rings and necklace suggested that he had been an important chieftain, and calmly looted the body, adding on his own belt the purse of the dead Dane and putting in it the rings and necklace. He then got out of the tent and shouted around at his men.
‘’YOU MAY NOW LOOT THE DEAD VIKINGS, MEN! CONCENTRATE ON THE GOLD AND SILVER AND FORGET THE ARMS AND ARMOR. HOWEVER, ANY RELIGIOUS ITEMS WILL BE ASSEMBLED HERE, TO BE RETURNED LATER TO THE CHURCH. I WANT EVERYBODY BACK AROUND THIS TENT IN ONE HOUR.’’
His happy men didn’t waste time in obeying him, grabbing Viking purses left and right and quickly becoming richer than they ever could have imagined before. Despite his order about the arms and armor, many of his less well equipped men, who had been unable up to now to afford armor, took as well the time to scavenge for still intact chainmail or scale mail vests and to grab better weapons than what they had been to afford to this day. Robert himself got in the looting as well: after all, he deserved even more than his men to profit from that Viking defeat. Just the pile of dead Vikings in front of the chieftain’s tent was enough to fill a leather bag with gold and silver. He smiled to himself on finding a really nice gold broche inlaid with large emeralds and rubies that had to be worth a good hundred livres by itself.
‘’Well, I think that Adelaide should like this as a little gift when I see her again.’’
Slipping the broche inside his already bulging belt purse, he then called to him one of his leading knights. The man, smiling and carrying a heavy saddle bag, came to him at once and bowed his head in respect.
‘’What are your orders, Your Excellency?’’
‘’Once our men are finished looting the dead Vikings, assemble them around this tent. Know that I found inside that tent the ransom paid recently by King Charles to the Vikings. We will bring back that treasure to the King, who should now be in Auxerre. Did you find anything that could tell us who massacred those Vikings?’’
‘’Nothing, Your Excellency, except that I wouldn’t want to oppose those who did this.’’
‘’Too true! However, men who kill Vikings wholesale can’t be really bad. Hopefully, we will be able to find them and then build a decent rapport with them.’’
‘’What about all those dead Vikings, Your Excellency? Should we bury them?’’
‘’Those pagans don’t deserve a Christian burial: let them feed the crows!’’
08:02 (Paris Time)
Thursday, September 29, 861 C.E.
Count Raymond’s manor, Toulouse
Raymond was awakened a bit rudely by someone shaking him in a progressively vigorous manner. Opening his eyes, he saw that it was Chilberic, one of his oldest and most faithful servants.
‘’Stop shaking me like this, Chilberic! What is it?’’
‘’The strangers from the stars: they built a huge building overnight just outside the city walls, milord!’’
That got Raymond out of bed and to the nearest window of his bedroom in a hurry, soon followed by his wife Berteiz. Both were left speechless at the sight of a huge building that had to reach over a good hundred paces in height. That building, seemingly made of steel and glass, was topped by a large kind of cupola covered by a glass dome. Dozens of the steel machines Ann’s people had accustomed the people of Toulouse to see during the last three days were at work around and over the new building, apparently busy putting some finishing touches to it. Even after seeing with incredulity and amazement how fast those machines worked during the last days, Raymond was still dumbfounded by what felt to him like a touch of magic.
‘’But…how could such a huge building be built overnight like this? This thing must be close to forty storey in height!’’
Berteiz suddenly pressed one hand over his right shoulder and spoke in a strangled voice.
‘’Raymond, look towards the island of Le Grand Ramier…above it.’’
Raymond did so and instantly felt blood rush to his head. Flying down from the sky towards the huge hole dug by the people from the future in the island was what looked like a gigantic flying spider made of iron. Held under its belly by eight flexible legs was a giant square box, also apparently made of iron. The box itself was about half as long per side as the island was wide! It had to weigh thousands of tons, yet the flying spider maneuvered with ease while holding it, floating to a stop over the pit that covered one third of the largest island on the Garonne. It then carefully adjusted its position over the hole before slowly coming down with its load. When it flew up about one minute later, it left the giant iron box inside the pit, its top level with the edge of the pit. Looking alternatively at the box in the pit and at the new building now standing just outside the walls of Toulouse, Raymond then swallowed hard as he understood that the flying spider now rising up and away in the sky was easily big enough to drop in place the new building in one single move, as the box in the ground was much bigger than the new building. His legs suddenly weak at witnessing such a feat, Raymond went to a nearby stool and sat on it, his eyes still staring at the building outside of the walls. With such prowess within their capabilities, no wonder that Ann Shelton’s people had been able to massacre the Vikings so easily. He then regretted the fact that his younger son, Foulques, had not been able to see this, as he had left with two men-at-arms for Auxerre four days ago, to carry his father’s letter to King Charles.
‘’By the Christ! The power of these people is simply incredible!’’
‘’What…what do we do now?’’ Asked Berteiz while she watched a multitude of iron machine now active around and over the pit containing the giant box on the island of Le Grand Ramier.
‘’What do we do now? We go examine that new building from up close, of course! CHILBERIC, MY CLOTHES!’’
‘’I’m coming too!’’ Replied Raymond’s wife while walking to the wooden chest containing her dresses.
The whole extended family, including Raymond’s daughters-in-law, ended up leaving the manor, riding on horses down the dung-covered streets of Toulouse to the nearby southern city gate. They found what had to be at least half of the population of Toulouse outside the gate, gawking from a respectable distance at the new building and at the working iron machines. Looking at their expression, Raymond saw mostly awed looks, but only a few truly fearful ones, except for some making the sign of the cross as a way to ward off magic and sorcery. On the whole, the few men and women from the future visible near the new building mostly ignored the crowd of onlookers staying a good fifty paces away, with only a handful of armed soldiers standing guard close to the building. Looking closely at the building from the top of his horse, stopped just ahead of the edge of the crowd of onlookers, Raymond saw that the foundations of the building, made of iron or steel, fitted quite snuggly inside a pit that was now being filled up with a kind of white mud by the machines working around it. Detailing the building itself, which ground section had an oval shape and which sides were covered with mirror-like windows tainted a sky blue color, Raymond could only wonder at the cost of it all. Glass was horribly expensive in Toulouse and in the rest of Francia, with only affluent nobles able to afford cups made of glass, while there was more steel in this building than what had ever been produced in the whole of the kingdom in the past centuries. Raymond finally made a sign to his family to advance towards the building, urging his own horse to a trot and taking the lead. One of the soldiers on guard then started to move, walking calmly towards the count while raising one arm in a friendly gesture. At no time did the soldier touch his disintegrator rifle, slung across his armored chest.
‘’Good morning, Count Raymond! What may we do for you today?’’
‘’Would you know if Lady Ann Shelton would be around by chance, my good man?’’
To Raymond’s surprise and shock, the soldier then opened the visor of his armored suit, revealing the face of a smiling young woman.
‘’She is due to arrive soon in Toulouse by air, Count Raymond. If you will give me a moment, I will confirm her time of arrival for you.’’
‘’Please do, uh, Lady.’’
‘’I am Private Diane Champagne, Count Raymond.’’ Replied the woman, amused, before speaking inside the helmet of her impressive armored suit. After a short moment, she looked back at Raymond, who was still on his horse.
‘’Doctor Shelton will be arriving in approximately three minutes and will land on the roof landing pad of the Novotel Inn. I will guide you and your family up to the landing pad.’’
‘’The Novotel Inn? This is an inn?’’
‘’It was designed and built for that purpose, Count Raymond. It will however be used as a temporary accommodation and headquarter for our work crews in Toulouse until our residential tower is up and ready for occupation on the island of Le Grand Ramier. Then, it will be used to lodge the visitors coming to our future market. If you will please follow me.’’
As Raymond followed the female soldier towards one end of the new building, his son Eudes made his horse come to one side of Raymond’s horse, then spoke in a low voice while smiling.
‘’This soldier from the future is a lot prettier than our own men-at-arms, wouldn’t you say, Father?’’
‘’She’s also a lot more polite than our guards, even if she doesn’t seem to be intimidated by titles of nobility.’’ Replied Raymond, also smiling. ‘’Damn, I envy the way they can communicate instantly through great distances, however they do it. It would make it so much easier for me to run the county.’’
Eudes bent sideways to get closer to Raymond’s ear and spoke in a near whisper.
‘’And you don’t think that they do it through magic or sorcery, Father?’’
Raymond shook firmly his head, now looking dead serious.
‘’No! Everything they do implies knowledge of things vastly superior to our own knowledge. Have you seen any of them do up to now incantations or gestures connected to magic or sorcery, Son?’’
‘’Uh, none, really.’’
‘’And what did you see up to now?’’
‘’Er, lots of fantastic machines and some truly terrifying weapons.’’
‘’Exactly! Machines, weapons, all made of metal, lots of metal, but no magic potions, powders, insects or serpents, which are reputed to be used by witches and sorcerers. Also, could you say in good faith that you have seen up to now anything with these people that looks likes signs or symbols of the Devil?’’
‘’No, I haven’t, Father.’’ Answered Eudes, now sounding convinced. ‘’Then, how do they do all that they do, particularly flying?’’
‘’We may learn that with time, Son.’’ Replied philosophically Raymond.
After trotting past most of the length of the huge building, the group arrived at one of the semi-circular extremities of the inn, which was a good fifty paces wide and had three widely spaced sets of short stairs and access ramps. Dismounting and leaving their horses in the care of one of his men-at-arms, Raymond and his family followed Private Champagne through a set of large, double doors made of some kind of glass, entering a large lobby with a graciously curved dome ceiling and a central fountain. The fountain was not working yet, but Raymond had to stop dead in his track as he stared around him. Everything in the lobby, including its architecture, spoke of unimaginable luxury and comfort, even for a high noble like him. The amount of glass, brass, polished metal and decorative artwork in this lobby alone made the royal palace in Aachen look like a pauper’s hut. The place was also well illuminated, thanks to both the large glass window surfaces and to the artificial lights peculiar to the people from the future, while the inside air was surprisingly fresh for this season.
‘’My God! Was this inn built for your leaders or are all your inns this luxurious, Private Champagne?’’
The young female soldier replied in a sober tone, understanding how this surrounding could be unsettling to the Carolingians.
‘’This is the normal standard for our inns and for our residential buildings as well, Count Raymond. All of our citizens are treated equally in terms of basic needs, be it food, lodging, education or health care. This way, please.’’
Raymond exchanged shocked glances with Berteiz and his sons before following Champagne to the nearest bank of elevators, at the back of the lobby. The female soldier gave them a few basic explanations after pushing a button beside a sliding steel door.
‘’We are now going to ride an elevator cabin up to the level of the roof landing pad, 28 storey above the lobby. Don’t worry: it is completely safe and also much faster than climbing stairs.’’
‘’Climbing 28 floors worth of stairs? I would probably die of a heart attack.’’ Quipped Raymond. The steel doors then slid open, showing the inside of a cabin made of glimmering steel, polished wood and decorative mirrors. Berteiz and her daughter Régilinde swooned at once as they looked at their reflections in the mirrors of the cabin.
‘’Look at those superb mirrors! They reflect images much better than the mirrors we have at the manor.’’
‘’That’s because your mirrors are made of polished metal, rather than glass, Countess.’’ Said Champagne as the doors of the cabin slid close. ‘’I heard that a variety of mirrors made of glass will be part of the wares we will offer at our future market.’’
‘’Then, I must visit that market as soon as it opens.’’ Promised out loud Berteiz, making Raymond wince.
‘’Ouch! Something tells me that my purse will take a big hit that day.’’
That made the whole group laugh briefly, with the Carolingians suddenly falling silent as the cabin started moving smoothly and silently, while they felt the sudden vertical acceleration. A few seconds later, the doors of the cabin slid open, showing the inside of some sort of waiting lounge furnished with very comfortable-looking padded sofas.
‘’We are already up at roof level?’’ Asked Raymond, incredulous.
‘’Yes, Count!’’ Replied Diane Champagne while leading the group out of the elevator cabin. ‘’We will now go outside to wait for Doctor Shelton’s shuttle.’’
Bernard, the oldest son of Raymond at the age of thirty, couldn’t help sit down briefly in one of the padded, leather-covered sofas to try it. He couldn’t help push a sigh of content as he sprawled himself on it.
‘’If only I could find furniture as comfortable as this for my room. I could just fall asleep in here right now.’’
‘’You better not, Son, or I will have to wake you up with a slap on the head.’’ Replied his father, smiling. ‘’Now, get up! We have some serious business to conduct soon.’’
Bernard regretfully got up from his sofa and followed the group outside on the wind-swept flat surface of the roof, with the huge covered cupola they had seen from the ground now hanging partly over their heads until they walked completely in the open. The panoramic view offered from a height of 130 meters made the Carolingians gawk around them in silence until Raymond spoke up.
‘’What a fantastic sight of Toulouse and its surroundings we have from here. Just for this view, visitors would flock to here from all around the kingdom.’’
‘’Well, we certainly hope that visitors and merchants will come to our future market in droves, Count Raymond.’’ Replied Diane Champagne as she scanned the sky with her eyes. She soon pointed at a growing dot in the sky, coming from the Southwest.
‘’Here’s Doctor Shelton’s shuttle, Count Raymond. I will ask all of you not to approach our shuttle until it has completely stopped moving, so that we could avoid accidents.’’
The shuttlecraft, measuring about eleven meters in length and four meters in width, soon landed silently on the roof landing pad of the Novotel Inn, watched by Raymond and his family. A few seconds more and the rear access ramp lowered open, with 23 persons soon coming out, all carrying or towing suitcases and bags. One of them was Ann Shelton, accompanied by Vyyn Drelan and the Tarang family. Ann beamed at the sight of Raymond and hurried to him, exchanging a friendly hug with the graying Carolingian noble.
‘’Count Raymond! I am really happy to see you here and now.’’
‘’The pleasure is mutual, my friend. I had brought out my family to have a look at your new inn and your woman-at-arms was nice enough to guide us to the roof.’’
Ann smiled and nodded then to Diane Champagne after stepping back from Raymond.
‘’Thank you for bringing Count Raymond here. You may return to your duties, Private Champagne.’’
‘’Yes, Doctor!’’
As the female commando walked away, Ann presented Vyyn to Raymond.
‘’Count, I would like to present you my friend and assistant, Doctor Vyyn Drelan. She is a historian and sociologist, like me, and will lead our food quest program.’’
Raymond smiled to Vyyn, attracted by her exotic beauty and slanted eyes.
‘’Welcome to Toulouse, Doctor Drelan.’’
Ann then pointed at the door of the arrival lounge, where a man in blue coveralls and hard hat was waiting.
‘’Let’s move inside if you don’t mind, Count: my group still has to go to its assigned rooms and make themselves at home, like myself.’’
‘’So, you will be staying in this inn from now on, my friend?’’
‘’Yes, until our main residential tower on the island of Le Grand Ramier is completed in a few days and is ready for occupation. By the way, I see that you have your whole family here, except for your son Foulques. Is he sick?’’
Raymond hesitated then, something that Ann noticed, but finally decided to be frank with her.
‘’Foulques actually left Toulouse four days ago with an escort of two sergeants-at-arms, on his way to Auxerre to bring a letter from me to King Charles. That letter is simply to announce the arrival of your people in Toulouse and the fact that you killed the Vikings near Agen.’’
Contrary to his fears, Ann took that information lightly, smiling and patting gently his shoulder.
‘’A most understandable and normal thing to do, Count Raymond. King Charles may be an incompetent weakling but he is still entitled to at least know what is happening inside his kingdom. You should have told me about your son traveling to Auxerre: I would have offered him the use of one of our flying craft. In fact, I still could offer him and his two men a ride by air for the rest of their trip. I suppose that they are riding horses? Where would they be by now, Count Raymond?’’
Raymond hesitated only for a second before answering her.
‘’Yes, my son and his two men are riding on horses and they should by now be on the old Roman road between Narbonne and Nîmes. They are due to go up the Rhône all the way to Chalon, then to follow the road to Auxerre.’’
‘’Then, I will be happy to arrange a pickup for them to fly them to Auxerre.’’
Something that Raymond had said then struck her and she looked at him with some misgiving.
‘’Uh, isn’t the Count of Narbonne a sworn enemy of yours, Count? Your son could have met trouble while passing through Narbonne.’’
‘’He would effectively have, but I told Foulques to skirt Narbonne from the North and cut through woods, then to rejoin the Roman road east of Narbonne. He should be safe enough, especially with his two men to escort him.’’
‘’Still, I will send a craft with a few of our commandos to make sure that he travels safely and quickly, that is if you don’t mind, Count.’’
‘’Go right ahead, my friend.’’ Said Raymond, secretly relieved by Ann’s offer. In truth, Count Humfrid of Narbonne wanted nothing better than his death, so that he could put his grubby hands on the county of Toulouse. Raymond watched, fascinated, while Ann used a small bracelet she wore around her left wrist to talk to someone for a few seconds. She finally looked up and smiled at Raymond.
‘’Well, a craft will soon depart to go meet with your son and his men and offer them an aerial ride to Auxerre. Let’s go inside now: we have many things to discuss together.’’
‘’That craft, will it be similar to the one you just arrived in? It looks too small to accommodate