CHAPTER VI
MYSTACON
Mystacon was the principal trader between Gaul and the northerncountries on the one hand, and Italy and the East on the other, duringthe latter part of the sixth century. He was a Greek, a native ofCrete, brought up by a merchant at Massilia, and his life had beendevoted to mercantile pursuits, in which his cunning, ability, andabsence of all scruples had enabled him to amass wealth, which hesought by every means to increase. In those days Brunehaud, a Gothicprincess from Spain, was Regent of the eastern part of France, calledAustrasia, her husband, King Sigebert, having been assassinated in 575.Neustria, which included northern and central France, was governed byQueen Fredegonda as Regent to her little son Clotaire II. A handsomewoman of low extraction, she had waded through murders and other evildeeds to her lofty position, in which she maintained herself by herstrong will. Capable of any crime to gain her objects, courageous andunscrupulous, she must have possessed great ability and astuteness tohave been successful in maintaining her power so long in that turbulentage. Her husband, Chilperic I., died by poison administered by his wifein 584, and Fredegonda was Regent from that year until 596. Gontran,the brother of Sigebert and Chilperic, was King of Burgundy. A fourthbrother, Charibert, King of Paris, who was father of Bertha, the wifeof Ethelbert, King of Kent, died without male issue in 570. These fourbrothers were the grandsons of Clovis.
The Greek trader, when he found that the fierce nation of the Frankswas ruled over by the Queen-Regents, Brunehaud and Fredegonda, hastenedto propitiate them by presents, and to secure their patronage. Asregards Fredegonda he had been successful. He consulted her wishes, andbrought her the luxuries she required both from the north and south,always as free offerings. In return he was under her protection, hisgoods were to pass unmolested through her dominions, and he was to beassisted by her officers. He had been granted similar privileges byKing Gontran of Burgundy, whose country included the shores of theRhone from Lyons to the sea.
In his northern trade Mystacon employed agents to bring him valuablefurs and amber, and even unicorns' horns, from the countries borderingon the Baltic, tin from Cornwall, and occasionally he paid sea-thievesto kidnap young children from the north, who fetched high prices in themarkets of Rome and Constantinople. He had a shed at Ambleteuse wherehe received his northern merchandise, preferring that little port tothe neighbouring harbour of Gessoriacum (Boulogne), because a Frankishofficer, from whom his gifts had secured him favour and protection, wasstationed there with a strong body of disciplined followers.
Mystacon had been several days at Ambleteuse, his merchandise wasstored in the shed, and his servants had pack-horses ready to conveyit southward along the old Roman road, when the vessel from the Humberanchored off the port and landed its cargo. The crew was composed ofsuch dangerous villains that the merchant induced the Queen-Regent'sofficer to post armed men behind his shed, before he ventured to conferwith them. Besides a pile of beaver skins and other commodities,seven boys were put on shore. They stood on the sandy beach closetogether, the little ones clinging to the three bigger lads. All werewet through, and looked half-starved and miserable. Porlor and littleGodric were clinging to Coelred. Sivel had his arms round Forthere, andHereric nestled under the sheltering arm of the son of Guthlaf. Oswiththe fearless, who was nearly naked, with only a bit of sackcloth roundhis loins, alone maintained a defiant look. There was no longer anysign or token of Berserker rage among the rest.
The wily Greek came forward to look at them. He saw their greatbeauty and their value, but he also saw from their appearance that theyhad been cruelly treated. The sea-thieves demanded the payment he hadpromised, so much for each. "But they are not in good condition," heremonstrated; "the price must be reduced." A livid mark on Porlor'sneck caught his quick, searching eye. He pulled down the boy's shirt,and saw that his back was covered with weals, the effect of the cruelflogging he had received. "Damaged goods," he said. Then, turning tohis servants, he told them to take the boys into the shed, and toclothe and feed them. "I will only pay half-price for damaged goods,"he repeated, turning to the spokesman of the sea-thieves. "That littlewild-cat used his knife on one of us," the man answered, "and theflogging served him right." "What is that to me, my friend?" rejoinedMystacon, in a low but irritating voice. "You can please yourselvesabout damaging your goods, that is your business, but you cannot expectto get the same price as if they were not damaged. If a heavy bale wasto fall and hurt one of you, of course it is open to you to cut andslash it if you please, and it may serve the bale right. That I do notdispute. But you must not expect the same price in the market as if thebale had not been cut and slashed. I can only pay you half-price forthe boys." The kidnappers could not follow the subtle argument of theGreek, but they began to look dangerous. The merchant retreated backa few paces. "Pay us what you promised, thou cursed cheat, or we willkill thee and the boys too." He retreated rapidly back and cried outfor help, as the villains drew their long knives and rushed towardshim. In another minute they were all overpowered and thrown on theground by the Frankish guard. The officer came forward and suggestedcapital punishment, offering to hang them in a row. "It is the justand proper treatment," said Mystacon, "of those who try to extortfull price for damaged goods from unwary traders. As soon as yourlaudable proposal has been carried into effect, I shall have pleasurein requesting your lordship to accept the large sum which the criminalsrefused." Another hour had not passed before twenty bodies were hangingfrom the branches of the stunted pines round Ambleteuse, and before theFrankish officer had an additional reason for extending his protectionto the wily merchant.
Mystacon set out with his train of laden horses and attendants earlynext morning, following the old Roman road by Amiens, Soissons, andAutun to Lyons. The boys had been warmly clothed and fed, and hadslept well, nor were they prevented from having a morning bath in thesea. Two pack-horses were allowed them, so that they could ride byturns, while the rest trotted along on the road-side. They found thatthey could understand much that was said to them by the servants, andwhen Mystacon spoke the Frank dialect slowly and clearly, they couldcomprehend the meaning of nearly every word. For in those days therewas little difference between the Frankish and other Teutonic dialects.
The journey across Picardy restored the health and strength, andrevived the spirits, of the English lads. This limestone tract, withits keen fresh air, arable surface, and well-watered meadows, remindedthem of the country round Calcaria. At Samarobriva, or Amiens, theyrested, and Mystacon was allowed to store his goods against the wallof the town, and to encamp there by the Roman gate of the Twins,whereon was carved Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf. This was thefirst opportunity the boys had found of collecting their thoughts,and holding a serious consultation. Even now they scarcely understoodwhat had happened or where they were. Their first words, as they satamong the bales, were words of grief at the sorrow and anxiety of theirrelations, who would search high and low through the woods, until atlast they gave them up as dead. "Alca will give them hope and courage,"said Coelred. "She will know that we are together, and she knows thatwe shall return. For we are to die in battle fighting for a righteouscause, and that cannot be anywhere but in England. She is praying nowthat the gods will watch over us, and her prayers are ever answered."These words, spoken with an air of conviction, comforted the rest. "Wemust suffer," said Oswith, "but that does not signify when we have suchgood reason for hope. Porlor has already suffered more than the restof us." "At that I rejoice," said Porlor, whose little head had beenteeming with ideas suggested by Mithras and the bull, ever since he hadgazed on the sculpture at York. "Through suffering we shall all win therewards prepared for the true and brave; and the thong those niddringthieves called _lorum_ is no word of bane to me, but of good luck.""Nay, then," said Hereric, smiling, "we must fasten it to thy name andcall thee Porlorlorum." "Let it be so," answered the imaginative child;"it will remind me, and all of us, in the happy years that will surelycome when this darkness has been turned to ligh
t, that we had to passthrough suffering to happiness and home."
They then began to wonder what their position really was, and whitherMystacon was taking them. They had already discovered that he was acunning liar, and they believed nothing he told them, although he haduniformly treated them with kindness. Forthere proposed to run away,and both Coelred and Oswith were inclined to some plan of making theirway across country to the coast, and seizing a boat. But they would notattempt it unarmed. Alca had told them that little Porlor should givethem counsel, and they all turned to him. "My rede is that we wait tolearn more, and to see what will happen," he said. "I do not fear thedistance this man is taking us from home, if we have knowledge. A shortdistance with ignorance means disaster, perhaps death. A very greatdistance is easy to go over with knowledge of all the obstacles, and ofthe way to overcome or avoid them. The wisdom of Alca and her insightwill bring comfort to our parents. It is for us to remember her words,to follow them, to wait and watch until the time comes for us to gohome. I know the time will come, and the gods will watch over us." "Wewill wait and watch," they all said. It was now dark. They laid theirweary heads down side by side, and passed into a happy sleep. Theirdreams were of home and kindred.
The boys had their morning bath in one of the numerous bright littletrout streams, bordered by aspen and willow, which flow down to thesands of St. Valery. Later in the morning, as they sat talking near theGate of the Twins, a monk came out in a long dark-coloured cassock,with a rope round his waist. He was a young man, with a patient lookin his grey eyes, and a circlet of thick fair hair round his tonsure.When he saw the lads, he stopped to improve the occasion. He asked themif they knew what had happened at that Gate of the Twins, and he toldthem the story of St. Martin. "Out of this gate," he said, "long, longago, a brave and virtuous Roman soldier named Martin rode, on a veryfrosty winter's day. He had a cloak wrapped closely round him, and ashe passed along the causeway he saw a poor man shivering with cold.Martin drew his sword and, cutting his cloak in two, he gave half tothe beggar. This was charity, the greatest of all virtues, which coversa multitude of sins. Martin was afterwards baptized in the half cloak,and became a Christian and a Saint." After a pause he asked, "Are youChristians?" Coelred answered that they did not so much as know thatthere were such people as Christians. "But," he added, "we know verywell that it is good to give to those who are in need; for the PrincessAlca has taught us." "We know it," said Hereric, "and we try toremember to act as she has taught us, but we are not always able to doright." The hearts of all the boys were warming towards the young monk.
There was a longer pause, and then the monk told them that they mustbe baptized into the fold of Christ. He raised his voice. "The Son ofGod went down into hell, but now He has risen from the dead." The boysstarted to their feet with looks of astonishment and deep interest.These were almost the very words spoken by the Princess Alca, underthe ash tree at the foot of Garraby Hill. "Then Alca is right!" theyexclaimed. "She is always right. The Son of God has risen." Porlorwent on to ask about baptism, when Mystacon came forward. He had beenlistening to the latter part of the conversation, and did not like it.Concealing his displeasure by a forced smile, he invented a lie onthe spur of the moment. "By the order of the Bishop of Noviodunum,"he said, addressing the monk, "these Pagan youths are being conductedto his city to be duly instructed and baptized. I thank you for theinterest you have taken in them, but your help is not needed." Therewas nothing more to be said. The good monk gave his blessing to theboys, and went on his way, while Mystacon issued hurried orders for thepack-horses to be loaded, and in another hour he and his merchandisewere again journeying southward; but he kept well clear of the city ofNoviodunum (Soissons).
The most anxious part of the journey for the merchant wasapproaching. He was bound to visit the Queen, wherever she might be,both on the way north and south, and she took whatever she fanciedwithout paying. Even this heavy and uncertain tax generally left awide margin of profit, but it was a source of anxiety, and he nowfeared that she might take a fancy to the beautiful English boys.Fortune, however, favoured him. Fredegonda was, he had ascertained, atthe manor of Braine-sur-la-Vesle, between Soissons and Rheims, but hehad also learned that she was on the point of departure. He cunninglytimed his arrival on the day that she was to begin her journey, in thehope that she would accept a present, and, in the hurry of starting,forgo her usual practice of rummaging through the whole contents ofhis caravan. Late on the third evening after leaving Amiens, Mystaconencamped outside the gates of Braine-sur-la-Vesle. This Merovingianpalace was an immense farm, with large unfortified wooden houses,stables, barns, and cow-sheds. In the morning the Franks in attendanceon the royal family began to march out of the great enclosure. Theyhad a fierce air, with large and vigorous bodies, inured to cold andhunger. Their favourite weapon, the battle-axe with a short handle,rested on their shoulders, and they wore their long hair tied up overtheir foreheads, forming a kind of aigrette, then falling behind likea horse's tail. The long line of the escort of warriors was followedby several waggons drawn by oxen. In the first sat Fredegonda, withthe little King Clotaire, then only four years of age. She was a mostformidable-looking woman, with a fierce, cruel glance in her largeblack eyes, and a haughty bearing. Mystacon advanced in a cringingattitude, offering a valuable present, which she accepted, as he hadhoped, without stopping, ordering it to be put into one of the waggons.As the royal train passed out of sight, the merchant gave orders tocontinue the journey to Lyons, by way of Bibracte or Augustodunum(Autun). The boys had seen the warriors, and the great lady in herwaggon. But they had been told nothing. If Porlor had known that itwas the Queen of the Franks, his rede would probably have been to rushforward, tell her that Hereric was an Atheling of Deira, and claim herprotection. But they knew nothing, were kept behind, and were onlyallowed to peep between the bales.
At Lyons the merchant embarked his goods in a large boat, went downthe Rhone to its mouth, and then sailed in a vessel from Massilia tothe mouth of the Tiber. Before embarking, the boys again had a long andanxious talk over their position. Mystacon had told them lie after lieabout their destination, and they were in great perplexity. He saidthat he had saved them from death at the hands of the sea-thieves, thathe was their saviour and benefactor, and that the journey was for theirgood. They had thought of telling their captor that Hereric was anAtheling, but on the whole it seemed to them that the knowledge mightincrease the danger, if it existed, and that their wisest course wasto keep silence about themselves. They had enjoyed the journey throughFrance. The sight of a strange country and of many things that were newto them had amused and interested them, and they now looked as brightand fresh as on the morning when the Berserker rage so unfortunatelyseized upon gentle Hereric, and led to such an unlooked-forcatastrophe. Their fate was now sealed. After their embarkation in theboat on the river Rhone, it would not be many days before they wouldenter the imperial city and become the victims of Mystacon's greed.
PART II
EXILE
Go forth, bright youths, nor any danger shun, Go forth to brave whatever may betide; Your country needs your knowledge hardly won, Your heads to counsel and your hearts to guide.
But let fond memory turn again to home, Come back enriched with stores of foreign lore, Return to gladden hearts that long bemoan Loved kinsmen's absence from their native shore.