A/N: Ta-da! After being in Japan for 12 days, I have returned!
I don't really have much to day as a preface now, so let me just send you on your way and I'll drop a few notes at the end.
Then Gunther told them he would be leaving for a few months. He had to go tell his father's contacts that he was dead. He asked for a few months leave so as to do so, and when King Caradoc opened and closed his mouth a few times in surprise, it was Sir Ivon who spoke.
"A year away from training? You would be knighted late," he said.
"A late knighting is better than leaving this task undone," was all Gunther said in reply.
"I am willing to grant you the leave, but could you not send some messenger?" asked the king.
"Unfortunately not. That would require someone fluent in French, Latin, and Greek. They would have to know where the contacts of my family live, as well as those I know personally who would very much like to know. Plus there are very few people I would trust with overseeing credit and monetary exchanges."
"Gunther, if I may," said Jane, stepping forward and turning attention to her. "Dragon and I could take you. It would not require months that way, you would not be a year behind in training." Her suggestion was accepted by the king, and though Gunther tried to protest that he would really rather not fly, that a holy war could descend upon them, etc., it was ignored and somehow he ended up bowing and accepting the month leave he was granted.
Part of him was secretly disappointed. He enjoyed the journey, the ship's lazy float down the Seine, exploring the secret corners of the cities, sitting in the sunbathed courtyards of Italy, wandering along the canals of Venice, and now he would be rushed along. But Jane was coming and that was a long imagined thing, so its reality was appreciated.
"You will leave at the end of the week," decided Caradoc, and as always, his word was law.
"Jane, may I speak to you?" said Queen Gwendolyn, and Jane went to her, following her as she walked through the halls of the castle. "Jane, have you ever left Kippernium?"
"I have flown with Dragon to a few of our neighbors, but no further than that," said Jane.
She nodded. "You will find, Jane, that the rest of the world is very different from Kippernium. Here we have little to fear, but you will find that not everyone is as merciful as those you live with."
"So…so what? I need protection?"
"No. No, Gunther will have contacts in neighborhoods where you will have nothing to fear, but you must understand that saying that you are a squire will result in intense backlash, and may cost Gunther his contacts." Jane nodded. It made sense and she knew that, but there was something about the Queen's calm voice explaining it that made it a reality.
She nodded quietly, just absorbing what the Queen had to say. Finally she let the squire go, and Jane immediately went to prepare for the journey. Meaning, she had to talk to Dragon about it.
The reptile was, at the moment, sunbathing on one of the castle walls, but he looked up when she approached. "Morning Jane," he greeted.
"Good morning, Greenlips," she replied, coming to a stop before him. She hadn't really thought of the correct way to tell Dragon of her suggestion to the king, and now she was regretting that. Dragon didn't have the smoothest history with Gunther, to put it lightly, past five years of friendship or otherwise. "I, uh, I might have made a promise to the king."
"And what does he want now?" he asked, eyes slipping shut. "A new field of cabbage?"
"No. He…well it is not even entirely him. But, well do you remember how Gunther and his father would go to the Continent?"
"I do not like where this is going."
"I volunteered us to take Gunther around the Continent so he can tell his contacts that his father is dead."
"Jane," said Dragon, his voice dangerous and quiet. "Do you remember where Saint George came from?"
"Rome. Eastern part."
"And where does Gunther's Gnostic friend come from?"
"…Same place."
"And do you remember what Saint George did?"
"He travelled to Silene and found Princess Sabra dressed as a bride and about to be fed to a dragon. And then he killed it in exchange of their conversion to Christianity. And where the dragon was killed grew a fount of magical water that cured all ills and a church was built around it dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to George."
"And do you know how many different pieces of art about that moment there are?"
"I am sorry! I just thought—"
"If you understand that, then you know how risky it will be getting the two of you around the Continent. You need to understand, if it comes down to it, I will take you to safety rather than land close to whatever cities you are going to. It may be a few days' walk there."
Jane blinked at him before asking, "So you…you will take us?"
"Of course."
"Thank you Dragon!" she cried, embracing his nose. She hadn't thought but he was going to look past that in favor of helping her and Gunther. It was a wonderful thing, having that good of a friend.
It turned out to be more difficult for her to explain to her friends.
"You are going to the Continent?" asked Jester, staring at her. The others fell silent. They had all wanted to ask, but none had worked up the courage. "You have never gone beyond our direct neighbors!"
"Perhaps, but Sir Theodore always says that he learned the most about life while he was in Baghdad. Travel is important for a knight."
"Petal," said Pepper gently. "Do you…do you even know where you are going?" Jane faltered at that. No, no she didn't. She had an idea, but she didn't quite know.
"I…I have not had a chance to ask. But I know we will be going to Rome at the very least. And Venice."
"I would rather stay here," said Smithy. He always had been a quiet voice of reason amongst them, and even as the hulking bear of a man he was becoming, he was still among the most gentle of anyone they knew, as careful of the horses as he had been when he was just starting and unable to pick up the heaviest hammers (ones he now tossed from hand to hand with ease).
"Well then you can keep Rake and me company," said Pepper. "If everyone else will be running across borders!" Jester was frowning, and Jane was well aware of the questions he would ask. They were best friends, but sometimes Jane wondered if Jester ever did grow out of that love for her.
"Do you even speak French?" he asked.
"No. But Gunther does and that will have to be enough. Besides, we are going to Italy and I speak Latin."
"You are very casual about this."
"You are overreacting about this, Jester. I appreciate your concern, but I am a squire, I will be travelling with a squire, we are both approaching knighthood, and we will have a dragon. And unless Saint George rises from the dead, we will not have much to worry about."
"Can I not worry about my best friend?"
"Please do. Pray for our safe return. But do not prevent me from going. I will return." She clasped his hand and fixed him with a look until he sighed and said,
"Very well. I will pray every day for you, though."
"I appreciate that."
"You will be flying?" asked Mary, staring at the youth who sat in her kitchen with a map, reading by the bright fire. "Have you lost your sanity?"
"Thank you, Mary. No, King Caradoc took Jane up on her offer to fly me. It seems dangerous, we could have a holy war falling on our heads, but we will be flying all the same. Dragon has travelled and avoided too much notice before, presumably he can do it again."
"If a holy war is declared, you run away to Paris."
"I will see if that is possible."
Mary smiled, fond of him, and asked, "Have you told Jane where you will be going?"
"Not yet. Do not look at me like that! I will tell her tomorrow. But I need to figure what order we go in."
"I trust your judgment." And they fell to silence. Gunther had always spent time in her kitchen, mostly when he had been a little boy, and as he grew, he grew out of her kitchen. But times like this, when he sat at the stool near the fire, occupied with some small task, it was as if he was a child of four years again. Mary had been younger then, and far more able to pick him up and set him down away from knives and hot water.
She had started working for the Breech Family when Gunther was just four, she herself just twelve. It had been far from her first choice, working for the family that "had evil in their blood" but she grew fond of the son if not the father, and now she could not imagine a life working anywhere else.
"I am going home," she said after a long while, now that the kitchen was clean and prepared for work in the morning. "Go to bed, Gunther. Soon."
"Goodnight, Mary," he merely said in return, focused on his map and his plans. She smiled at him one last time before leaving the Breech home and leaving the young man to his work.
Jane bounded down the path to the village, the sun bright above her, warming the earth slowly as it climbed and warmed. She needed to ask Gunther about a lot of aspects of this journey they would be taking, especially where they would be going.
As she made her way past the church, she saw a familiar face going towards the building. "Peter!" she called, waving to the man. The servant turned to her, and smiled a greeting.
"Good morning, Jane," he said when she grew near. "Would you come with me a moment? There is something I want to show you."
"I am to meet Gunther…"
"Did you give him a time?" she laughed and followed him into the churchyard. It was a familiar grave they stopped at, one of Magnus Breech.
"Is there…" but she fell quiet as Peter dropped to a crouch in front of it.
"I cannot read, you know," he said conversationally. "This old man would give me papers to deliver because he knew I cannot read them. I was trusted because of my ignorance. But I was smarter than he ever gave me credit for. See, I knew some of his secrets."
Jane nodded. "That is quite the feat."
"Do not scoff. It was impossible to get anything out of him, it took weeks of subtle hinting to get any amount of information. Oh he loved his secrets all right.
"No one really knows what happened to Gunther's mother, you know. She was just gone one day. He never said a word. Then he got sick. Every day Gunther went and asked after his mother, but he just refused to say. Then the day before he died Gunther left his side in a right temper, slamming all the doors." Peter stood, and said, "I still have no idea what Magnus said to him, but it was enough to set that boy to a temper like I have never seen him in before."
"Gunther mentioned once that his father got angry whenever he asked about her."
"Well he could not go anywhere while dying. Still a manipulative old man, but in one place."
"Did you ever learn what happened to Gunther's mother?" asked Jane, a little hopeful.
"If I did, I would have told that boy years ago. No, the secrets I weaseled out of him were more where he hid his money. Gunther knows now, but it was still an accomplishment at the time." Jane smiled. "One day all our questions will be answered, that I know. But when…that is what we do not."
They stood in silence a long time, looking at the cross that marked Magnus' final resting place, before Jane said, "Should we be going to the house?"
"Indeed we should," agreed Peter. "You must have questions."
"Yes, I would like to know where I agreed to go." The two of them made their way to the large house, walking in silence. Jane was thinking long and hard about what Peter said. Secrets that Magnus had kept from everyone, that horrible mood that took Gunther the day before his father died. It was something she would like to explore.
"Where will we be going?" asked Jane, finding Gunther tucked by a window looking over the garden that Magnus insisted was kept, slowly becoming overrun when the plants were left alone to their own devices. Rake would cry, but whether from joy or sorrow was unknown.
He looked up at her from where he was looking at a pile of papers in his lap. "Nine cities," he answered. "Possibly ten but I hope it will not come to that." And he unfolded from his sunny spot, taking her to where a map lay. "We will start in Harfleur, and then head south." He drew his finger along the river, tracing down to Paris. "We will stay in Paris for about three or four days, and from there we will come here, to Lyons. We will be there maybe a day, and then to Turin. From Turin we will head east to Milan, here. We will stay in Milan a few days before going to Venice. And from there to Rome. We will stay in Rome the longest, but from there we will go west, to Córdoba."
"Córdoba?" asked Jane.
"It is an Emirate in the Moslem empire. Two cities there, Madrid and Córdoba itself."
"You honestly have connections there?"
"Yes. You remember how my father convinced all of us that the dragon egg was real and came from there."
"I thought he was lying."
"Ordinarily he was lying. But he had indeed heard stories of camels dragging ships and such. He lied about the truth." And he turned back to the map. "It will be a long flight, but from Cordoba we will head east, up to Hammaburg, here by the Danish kingdom. From there we will return home."
"You have thought this through."
"Of course. We only have a month."
"I do not think that any of us realized how far we would be travelling."
"Unless you want to appeal for more time, we will have to rush along."
"Then I will ask for two months. Gunther, you said possibly ten cities. What would be the tenth?"
"Constantinople. There are traders we do business with, but I cannot say with any certainty that they will be in Venice. If they are not, we will have to fly to Constantinople before going to Rome."
Jane looked at the map, at where Gunther's finger had drawn a line from the city labeled Veneto to Constantinople, across the Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean seas, and the Sea of Marmara. The only quicker way would be to cross the land, through the Slavic, Avarian, and Bulgarian lands.
"Have you ever been there?" she asked, looking at the stretches of land that they might have to cross and thinking of the dangers of landing, or the seas they would have to cross, and wondering just how long Dragon could fly.
"No. But I have heard about it. I would like to see it someday, but perhaps not now."
Jane nodded, and then suddenly began to giggle. Gunther looked at her with confusion. "I apologize," she said, snorting with her laughter. "But it just feels like we are planning a battle!"
"A battle?" he asked.
"I know, it is silly but—"
"Jane, if we were planning a battle, would we not have to ask for the acorns Sir Ivon and Sir Theodore use?" She looked at him a moment before bursting out laughing again. If she had looked, she would have seen the edges of Gunther's lips turn up in a smile. But as it was, she just laughed until she could laugh no more.
Sir Theodore was old. There was no two ways around it, he was old. And when Jane came to him informing him that they would be gone two months now, he simply nodded.
"But we both promise to do our best with training as soon as we get back. Gunther especially," she was saying.
"Jane," he said gently."I am not worried about you or Gunther falling behind in training. What you are going to do is something most knights do not have a chance to see. You are seeing the world inside Gunther's mind."
"The world…?" asked Jane, confused. Sir Theodore was fond of riddling answers to questions, and over the years Jane had grown very good at deciphering him, yet this made no sense.
"Gunther has lived in a very different world from you, Jane. He has seen those places, he knows those languages. It is important to learn about the world before you go about fighting the people in it on the battlefield."
"You have grown cynical."
"Far from it. Just old."
"You are very dignified for your age." Sir Theodore laughed. Jane was honest and good and kind, but she could flatter every so often.
"Has Gunther told you where you will be going?"
"Yes, and that is why we had to ask for a second month. We will be travelling through Frankia towards Rome, but if some of his contacts are not in Venice then we will have to fly to Constantinople. But then we will go to Madrid and Córdoba and then to Hammaburg and home."
"Those are all very far apart from each other. Still, it will be a good experience for you. You should talk to your parents about this."
"I already have, I told them we were leaving for two months before I came to tell you. Mother was not happy."
"She is worried about you. And your father?"
"Not much better. But as long as I have Dragon with me, they know he will keep me safe."
"It is good they realize that. You leave in two days, do you not?"
"Yes I do."
"Then fair winds to Dragon's wings. I will pray for your safe return."
"Thank you, sir."
A/N: And they're nearly off! A few notes. Well, when I say a few...
Saint George and the Dragon: While the story itself is pretty much common folklore, the details are what is lost. George was alive in the 3rd/4th century in what is now Israel, he was born in Lydda (now Lod). The story of the Dragon is disjointed through the years, but I went with the oldest incarnation, the Golden Legend. Though the Golden Legend took stories from two other sources, Jean de Mailly's "Abbreviato in gestis miraculis sanctorum" (Summary of the Deed and Miracles of the Saints) and Bartholomew of Trent's "Epilogum in gesta sanctorum" (Afterword on the Deeds of the Saints), and the Golden Legend was probably written in the 13th century.
In the Golden Legend's version, George traveled to what is now Libya, to a kingdom called Silene, which had a lake right beside it, with a plague bearing dragon living in it, making everyone sick. so they sent their children as meals for the dragon by lottery, and once Princess Sabra was chosen. She was sent as a bride to be eaten, George saved her, they tied her girdle around the dragon's neck and it followed demurely back to the city. Jane explains the rest.
Okay, so technically, to Jane and Gunther, the Roman Empire still exists. What we call Byzantine is still Rome to them. The center is just in Constantinople now, not Rome. But it would just get really confusing if we had two Romes, so for the sake of this story, it's Byzantine. I'm sorry, but I had to choose something to make everything clear, and Rome became Byzantine for the sake of the story. But the citizens will probably still be called Romans for the sake of accuracy.
As for the idea of a holy war Gunther keeps mentioning, let's just remember. A dragon.
And now, the map. If you look on a map, to sail from Venice to Constantinople would require the crossing of the four seas mentioned. The Adriatic sea is the immediate sea you would enter, sailing south would take you into a corner of the Ionian before going into the Aegean Sea (probably the most well known, considering how often it's talked about in the Odyssey) by Greece. The Sea of Marmara is the last body of water before reaching what is now Istanbul.
If you were crossing the land, you would probably sail from Venice to Umag, a Croatian sea town which was once a Roman settlement for the rich, a sort of vacation city. You would then have to cross Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and/or Bulgaria, and then just along the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul. However, in the 9th century, this was extremely dangerous, as those lands had a bit of shaky Byzantine control, and belonged firmly to the Slav, Avarian, and Bulgar people, mostly nomadic tribes. The tribes in those areas were, however, famous for the brutality. The Pechenegs, who lived in that same area, if a little north, are famous for having killed a Grand Prince of Kievan Rus and used his skull as a drinking cup.
Sir Theodore is, at this time, 71 years old. Impressive, but not impossible. Charlemagne managed to live to that same age, but that was the year he died. Theodore unfortunately does not have much time left in him, but he is still alive.
And that's that!
