chapter VII. A Day Well Spent

[helgi]

Macrominus conducted Oliver closely, and they arrived once more to stand under the she-wolf, attended by a small company of slaves who loitered about on the lower steps which met the thoroughfare. The house of Macrominus held high upon a hill, nestled among ten like houses of wealth. Oliver looked down upon the very huts and hovels they had passed in arriving. Macrominus pointed from his vantage, indicating the routes by which the lords and their attendance could be expected to arrive, and it was not long before he and Oliver caught their first fleeting glimpses of a distant train of litters that wended steadily from the north, touting merry drums and pipes that could already be heard.

Macrominus laughed. “Here they come. But when the time comes for them to stumble homewards the playing of pipes will no longer edify them, and they shall sneak off into the night by separate parties, sick to death if they should cross paths on the way home. They shall bundle up their tambours in wrappings of wool, while now their wives beat them so proudly upon the curves of their bellies!”

Oliver could see that the procession that approached was one of great wealth and color, with even a train of torches that followed among the litters. Macrominus whispered, “Now their torches burn, but come nightfall they will not light them. For as I have said, they will depart from my house as if they were tarred and not wanting the feathers; a thought which has tempted me from time to time!”

Now the procession had made its course, and it seemed as if a small army had arrived to occupy the thoroughfare, for if the masters and their ladies did not make up such a number, it was the slaves and the hounds who made the difference.

Macrominus sniggered as he saw this, for among the procession had arrived a pair of litters drawn by slaves wearing clever masks made from the hollowed out heads of rams. Oliver was bewildered by this strange sight, for even the master and his wife had come wearing masks, and they peeked out from their litters with bestial vigilance, hailing to Macrominus as they passed.

“Hail Macrominus!”
Macrominus hailed in return. Then he pulled Oliver aside and whispered to him, “Many of my invited will be wanting for masks on the morrow, and they will send their slaves unattended to purchase them, not wanting to be spied negotiating for a mask. And rather than show their faces in public, this lord and his wife have concealed themselves behind the snouts of rams! They have even concealed their slaves, lest we should know them by their servants. But they should not be applauded for this. I remember how once a beautiful young maiden had arrived at one of my feasts accompanied by her family and all of their slaves. But later, after her family and my other guests had departed she remained behind, and I found her sniveling in my atrium. She wept and protested that one of her father’s slaves had tricked her and pulled her into one of my bedchambers, robbing her there of her flower. She begged me for a mask, and said that she could not bear to return home otherwise. As I had nothing at hand with which to help her, I grabbed hold upon her stole and lifted it highly, wrapping her arms and head soundly. I sent her off naked into the darkened thoroughfare, continuing to watch her from my threshold. I looked to see if she would remove the stole, but her shame was such that she could not bear to show her face, and she let herself remain in that way as she stumbled blindly homeward.”

Verily, a new litter approached the steps of the threshold, carrying within it a duke of goodly strength and bearing who held out his arm to Macrominus, that it might be grasped in brotherhood. Macrominus reached down in good faith to take the duke’s arm in friendship, but was nearly toppled from his vantage, for in plain view and for all to see did the duke make use of the arm of Macrominus, pulling himself spryly up and out of his litter and onto the steps. The duke’s wife, who still remained sweating within her litter, let forth with a shrewish gale. A flash of distemper darkened upon the face of Macrominus, and he nearly went for Oliver’s sword to have done with both the duke and his wife. But Oliver, upon seeing the sudden mood of his host, became most diplomatic and hailed towards the noble duke, bringing forth his own arm to be taken in brotherhood. And yet, while the duke was so preoccupied, Macrominus cleverly crept himself down from the steps and over to the litter of the duke’s wife. Unseen to anyone, Macrominus stepped with all his strength upon the foot of one of the slaves who held up the litter. The slave let forth in a strange tongue, and in plain view and for all to see the duke’s wife toppled out and fell from the litter. Macrominus, with the look of service and empathy, soon gathered up the duke’s wife and helped her to her feet as she grudgingly allowed herself to be lifted by her sport.

Macrominus addressed the duke for all to hear. “Titubear, your wife has fallen from her perch! The doctor must look upon her, for I think there is little good that can come from ourselves looking upon her!”

Macrominus consigned the woman to his slaves and they brought her up and through the threshold. Titubear remained outside, confused and infuriated by the laughter of the witnessing lords and ladies. Even their attendants found pleasure to laugh, which Macrominus regarded as a particular triumph as he returned back up the steps to where stood the duke. It was now the duke who eyed the sword which rested in Oliver’s sheath, and he considered the crowd carefully, hopeful that they could be swayed by the gravity of the indignation, granting him the right to demand a duel. But verily, he could not move himself to address the crowd, and so he held an ungainly peace on the matter, clenching his fist.

Once more had Macrominus taken his place upon the landing, standing at a higher vantage than that of his rival Titubear, and even above the formidable knight. In truth, however, had Oliver forgotten his own modesty and chosen to stand at his fullest he would surely have towered a nose above his wicked host, even from a step below. But Oliver remained stooped in his stance, as was his nature, for his modesty and his manners were like a monkey upon his back.

Macrominus drew Oliver close to him and whispered. “I stuck out my arm in good faith and humility, seeking to lend the strength of my arm to diplomacy and brotherhood, and yet that blagart so publicly abused me, making me out to be like a servant! Now he clenches his fists, for happenstance has brought his wife to fall from her perch, and he was forced to observe how my good will and hospitality towards him still remained when I lifted her up and consigned her to the physician.”

Oliver answered with service and empathy. “Tread more carefully in these matters, for though my eyes may be tired from after a long journey I do protest that I did see you stamp upon the foot of the slave to bring down the mistress.”

Macrominus admired the keen eyes of his beholden. “Aha! You peeked over the shoulder of Titubear as you checked him with formal embrace, gaining witness into my methods. From now on look over your own shoulder to witness me!”

Oliver smiled kindly at the frightening jest. “Pray! Be kind and tell me that you are jesting.”

Macrominus laughed dismissively. “I am kind enough if I jest.”

Verily, a new pair of litters burrowed forth from the gathering to be hailed by Macrominus. Titubear sneered at the diplomacy of his rival who reached down with a widened gesture to take the arm of the approaching lord in firm brotherhood, daring the man to try the same trick as Titubear, but also allowing him the chance to show good form by declining such a tasteless opportunity. And as the embrace of Macrominus was accepted in good faith, Titubear was left doubly and triply slighted in the eyes of all who possessed the understanding of prowess.

Macrominus turned to Oliver and confided. “Some of the most profitable alliances last as long as the coupling of arms!”

Oliver spoke aside and exclaimed to himself in a hushed whisper, “Gad! If I witness much more of this cheap diplomacy I shall be robbed of the will to eat!”

 

[helgi]

Verily came forth Sigmuntod in a litter of fine making, proudly adorned by his wife Drusilla who followed on foot, beating a tambour upon her naked belly.

Macrominus hailed eagerly. “Hail and long live you, Sigmuntod! And good health to you and your wife and may fledgling gods come forth every fortnight from her womb! But I am perplexed that such a worthy and loyal wife as Drusilla arrives on foot! What cause?”

Sigmuntod hailed and leaned forth to grasp the arm of Macrominus. “I arrive bearing the spoils of a war well won. Even my strongest and most stern slaves could scarcely maintain the weight, and I was forced to bury many of the spoils in the hills between here and the walled city of Horgus. But hold, the remaining spoils arrive in my wife’s litter behind me!”

Sigmuntod leapt forth from his litter and joyfully pulled away the covers from a five-hold of elephant tusks. The face of Macrominus lit with admiration as he beheld the tusks and he came down from the steps to better look at them.

“Behold! Five tusks wrested from the elephants that carried our enemies upon their backs. They were cut from the flesh not five days ago, and two of my slaves are prisoners from the very army that let forth so many vain arrows upon the good city of Horgus.”

Macrominus looked over the tusks from one side of the litter and to the other. And after he had had a good look at them he called forth Sigmuntod to his side and he conducted him closely. “I am well pleased by the sight of these tusks, for it seems that the blood that remains upon them accounts for a hundred of men! Rarely have I caught but a fleeting glimpse of elephants laden for war, and I have often wished that our own great city would be attacked by such beasts so that I could witness them pounding upon the gates with their trunks! But you not only had the pleasure to see and to hear them, but to slay them down as good Horgus shook!”

Sigmuntod laughed proudly and with the good health of a man unscathed in battle. “Horgus shook for ten days under the trunks of twenty beasts, and our arrows prevailed little upon them. Another fifteen of elephants arrived on the seventh day, and their faces were stained and blackened with musk. The stench was hellish and carried far within our walls! It was only by dropping hot oil that we could save our city, and the elephants let forth with great trumpeting as they fell and cracked their tusks!”

Macrominus applauded Sigmuntod and embraced him.
Soon after came forth the reputed hounds of Tauberlinus, and they scurried forth from under the bustling litters of the procession to arrive at the steps where stood Macrominus. Macrominus rejoiced as the four hounds gathered around his feet, and they were most eager as they leapt upon their hind legs in hopes of toppling him down or licking him upon the face. Titubear and Sigmuntod each held forth a hand, each expecting that a hound would soon take leave of Macrominus and come over to them, but the hounds remained there yelping and woofing around the joyful host, paying no heed to anyone else. Verily the hounds calmed and became obedient, and Macrominus sat down among them there on the steps as he awaited the arrival of Tauberlinus.

Soon Tauberlinus arrived, and he looked down from his litter, smiling to see Macrominus so familiar with his hounds. Tauberlinus held forth his arm to halt his slaves, and then he turned in his litter to hail Macrominus.

“Hail and long live you, Macrominus. I arrive this day from Horgus, and my hounds have run down a boar along the way. I had my attendants fasten the boar and pulley it up into a high tree, but I’ve brought you the head to convince you of its ugliness!”

Tauberlinus waved his will and a slave brought forth the head. Macrominus rose and held out his arms as if to accept the weight of the great head, but he only brought his fingers to run through the coarse mane as he admired the gruesome frown of the beast.

Macrominus exclaimed. “Magnificent! Daunting! Unrivaled and without ally! Indeed you were right to bring me this head, for I could not have believed in such a creature from only hearing tell of him, and I could not have pictured his formidable face so vividly as it appears before me now. It is a testament to the strength of your hounds that they ran this boar down without aid, for there is no hunting party among your procession.”

Tauberlinus laughed. “I did not even will the hunt, for my hounds spied the boar before we did, and they could not be restrained as they took off into the hills after the beast. And afterwards they had to be made to wash off in a nearby stream, for their yellow coats had been soaked with blood from their struggle with the boar!”

Macrominus laughed. “Then I am the one who most profits from their bath, for when they came up to me they were most familiar and they leapt upon me, and I should have been smeared with a boar’s blood without having had the pleasure to murder it!”

Tauberlinus laughed. “They fawn on you because you are a good and decent minded man, and everyone knows or has heard that dogs can tell apart good men from bad. That is why all good men travel with dogs, so that if they meet strangers along the way they shall be warned of any evil intentions that they keep.”

Macrominus reflected upon this as he returned to the steps, and two of the hounds followed him up to the landing while the other two remained with Tauberlinus below. Verily, Macrominus found pleasure to continue his dialogue with Tauberlinus from the landing so that the space between them would warrant they be heard by the entire arriving procession, and Macrominus raised his voice and made resonant his words to linger like notes but not be guilty of song. Macrominus spoke. “It is known by some who study histories that in Horgus there was a wise judge who heard the case of an accused man for whom he could not reach a decision. The judge thought for days upon the trial, and he wandered through his garden, calling upon the advocates to come and wander with him and to recant all of their best arguments concerning the accused. One day, while the judge was wandering with his advocates, a messenger arrived informing him that the detained man had escaped and fled well from the city walls and into the wilderness. The judge became most thoughtful, as indeed he had been for those past many days, and he resolved before the advocates and the messenger that in the space of a few minutes, if left to his own devices and if left undisturbed, he could find a satisfactory solution to the problem at hand. When the judge returned from his short departure, he proposed that hounds be sent after the escaped man, unaccompanied by any soldiers or guards, reasoning that if the man was guilty the dogs would kill him, and that if the man was innocent the hounds would befriend him there in the wilderness, making a proper restitution for one so wrongfully accused.”

And so Macrominus was admired greatly for his ready knowledge of history and his fair way of telling it, and though many lords and ladies would not get out from their litters they found pleasure to prop themselves up more highly to applaud Macrominus.

 

[helgi]

Soon came forth Caemberlychas and his fair wife Helgasoth, arriving to give hail to Macrominus from their litters. Macrominus reached down from the landing to grasp the arm of Caemberlychas in good friendship, and in good faith did Caemberlychas return the gesture. And as the lord and his wife passed Macrominus praised the merits of Caemberlychas before Tauberlinus, and then whispered the merits of Helgasoth into Oliver’s own ear, chancing to wet a few of Oliver’s hairs with his tongue as he let pass forth a great many damnating secrets.

Next came forth Tigorus and his wife Verucasoth, and Macrominus stood well and ready to meet hands. But verily did he see from the corner of his eye that a skeleton had come to stand in the shadow of his threshold. Macrominus let forth a shameful howl from his mouth as he tumbled down from the landing and onto the steps, for he believed himself to have looked upon the very creature of Death itself!

As the lords came to lift up Macrominus he let forth with exclamations and raised up his arm, pointing squarely at the starving vagabond who stood witlessly underneath of the stone likeness of the she-wolf. Macrominus shouted, “It is Death! There he stands in wait for me at my own threshold!”

Verily Titubear came forth and beheld that there was none to be found but a wretched vagabond, and that no creature of death was hiding there in the shadows. Titubear found pleasure to laugh and brought forward the starving vagabond for all to see plainly, saying, “Behold! This is the manner of man that Macrominus finds pleasure to keep under his roof. A beggar of scraps! Or if not a beggar of scraps then a slave that has never been fed since his mother’s breast ran dry!”

Macrominus rose at the insult with a start, though minding to hold his fury. Still it was with a modicum of temper that he accounted for the vagabond. “My feast lacks for nothing, and I have enlisted this man’s presence here for his disposition which will be of pleasure to us all. But hear it from his own mouth and not mine what are his talents, for my jaw grows tired from speaking, and I must allow for it to straighten upon its hinges.”

The vagabond came forth, stooping slightly in his stance and keeping hold upon the arm of Titubear to pardon his legs. “I have partaken of nothing to eat for the passing of two years, and it is for the very sake of penance and remorse that I have done this, and I am no maltreated slave but a religious who has found kindness to be sheltered. And even though I was offered food I would not partake of it for my penance.”

Macrominus came forth happily and embraced the vagabond as if it were his own father, if ever he did have one. Verily he turned back to address the lords and Titubear equally. “There you have it! You see? I have not maltreated any slave but have procured a curiosity for our own disfruition.”

Tauberlinus came forth and embraced the arm of Macrominus. “You have done well for us to enlist this man, and I commend you. But I have been even more impressed by this young knight who keeps your threshold. I have been watching his manner, and he seems like no man I have ever seen. For his strength I would say that I could break a spear across his back, and for his modest eyes I would say that he would move to consol me for the lost weapon.”

Macrominus smiled. “You have measured him well, my good friend, for he is indeed so modest. And what is more, he cannot bear to have his merits praised without their immediate display, lest he should gain of our praise without worthy demonstration.”

Tauberlinus was most intrigued by this, for he had kept no previous intention of putting this young knight to the test. But Macrominus insisted that Tauberlinus call forth a footman with a spear to arrive at the steps. Tauberlinus assented and waved his will before the procession, and a lone spearman broke rank from the escort to join them there on the steps.

Oliver saw what was surely about to transpire, but he made no move to escape the demonstration, and he left his sword to remain soundly within its scabbard.

Tauberlinus, of a softer nature perhaps than Macrominus, held slightly upon his own toga as he witnessed the footman searching upon Oliver’s back to find the proper place to strike. Oliver kindly removed his cloak and smiled sadly as he awaited the injurious blow. He took pain to stand more highly than before so that the strike would land well and do him the most injury if he was not able enough to sustain the thwack.

The footman let forth without ceremony, and he swung the spear with such vigor that his own body was racked by the effort, so that both he and the knight tumbled half dead from the steps to land at the feet of the confused gathering that stood there. A great uproar of admiration and pity sounded from the lords and their ladies, and the slaves let forth in many strange tongues. Macrominus was inwardly pleased by the outcome, and yet more than anyone else he demonstrated the signs of great pity and concern. And although he himself had been the cause of the entire mishap he shook his head sadly, much like a great general looking down upon two of his soldiers slain.

Soon after the demonstration Oliver rose himself up by his own strength and he staggered about dismissively, trying to regain his balance. Verily he saw his cloak laying there upon the steps, and he retrieved it with great industry as he robed himself before the gathering. But then, as he brushed the dirt from his shoulders, Oliver caught sight of the broken spear upon the ground and gathered it up.

At the bottom of the steps the footman did not stir, but laid there strewn upon the ground. The fall had killed him, and of the many lords, those who were not familiar with death looked on with great fear at the whitened face that stared up at them. Tauberlinus began to feel a guilt stirring within him, and he kept his distance from the body and stood among his fellows. He began to worry that the others there may have taken his well meant praise towards the knight as the instigation that brought on the footman’s death, and he searched the faces of the many lords to see if they accused him. And yet the lords themselves remained looking down upon the corpse, all except for Macrominus, who kept his eyes fixed squarely upon the face of Tauberlinus.

As the lords made their signs of lament, Oliver took up the broken spear and came forth with ceremony to graciously concede the remains to Tauberlinus. And as Oliver moved to consol him for the lost weapon, Tauberlinus was indeed surprised that Oliver was for every modicum as gracious as his manner had suggested. Tauberlinus looked upon the very hands of the knight and saw them to be kindly and of perfect making.

After the spear had been well received, Tauberlinus stood there with the two pieces in his hands, reflecting upon the good make of the spear that had shattered so readily upon the strong back of the knight. Macrominus looked also upon the spear, and he came forth cunningly down from the steps to take the weapon from Tauberlinus.

“Let me hang these breakings high upon my house so that any who pass through this thoroughfare will witness that a gracious manner endured and that a great man proved his worth before a hundred.”

Tauberlinus assented, and Macrominus consigned the breakings to a pair of slaves who hung the spear over the threshold. And so began the great feast as Macrominus bade the lords and their ladies to enter his great house and to pass under the likeness of the she-wolf.

 

[helgi]

for understanding chapter VIII.

the sands before Prunella's chamber are mentioned earlier in the novel. They are a measure to protect her chastity

Macrominus darkens his eyes with leeches before the feast, keeping an ahistorical custom put forth in the fiction. several ahistorical customs are mentioned in the book, and Macrominus even invents false customs to recieve the wandering knights with guile

 

[helgi]

I;m sure my book is filled with inconsistencies. Like where elephant tusks are mentioned above. I have no idea how much they weigh