So time passed, and the Emperor Basil, who is the greatest warlord who has ever ruled in Miklagard, began a new campaign against the Bulgars. These people are bold warriors and terrible bandits, and plague their neighbors fearfully, so that they have excited the wrath of many emperors; and now the Emperor Basil had sworn an oath to destroy their kingdom and every man of them and hang their King in chains above his own city gate. He invaded their land with a mighty army, and his red fleet sailed up into the Black Sea to harry their coasts.
But twelve of the best ships were detailed upon a special mission, and mine was among them. We took soldiers from the army aboard, as many as the ships could hold, and sailed northwards along the coast till we reached the mouth of a river called Danube, which is the greatest of all rivers. The commander of our flotilla was named Bardas; he was in the biggest of our ships, and I heard, as we rowed up the river three abreast, that the naval treasurer was on board with him. At this I rejoiced, hoping to see my son again, if he was still alive. But why the treasurer should be accompanying us, none could say.
We heard the trump of war-horns ahead and, rounding a bend in the river, sighted a great fortress. It stood behind dikes and stockades on a hill not far from the river. All around was marsh and wilderness, with nothing to be seen but reeds and birds. We all marveled that our Emperor had sent us to so desolate a place as this. We put soldiers and archers ashore to storm the fortress. The Bulgars fought valiantly on their ramparts, and it was not until the second day that we gained the upper hand. I was wounded in my shoulder by an arrow and went back to my ship. There they drew out the arrow and dressed the wound; and as night fell, I sat on the deck and saw the fortress burn and the treasurer’s men come back with prisoners, who staggered beneath the weight of the booty they were carrying. The ship that had carried Bardas and the treasurer lay at the end of our line, nearest to the fortress; then came two other ships, then mine, and then the rest in a line up the river. A short while after darkness had fallen, we heard shouts and alarums from one of the ships below us, and men cried from other ships to ask what might be afoot. I thought some of the men had probably been trying to steal the booty, and that Bardas was teaching them a lesson. But soon the noise ceased and everything became quiet, save for the baying of wolves who had scented meat. So I sat there, sleepless because of the pain in my arm.
Then a man came swimming toward my ship. I could hear him in the water, but could see nothing. I took a spear and bade him say who he was, for I feared the Bulgars might be upon us, but when I heard him reply, my heart leaped, for the voice was that of my son. When I had pulled him aboard, he sat there panting. I said: “It is good to see your face. I had small hope that we should meet again.” He replied in a low voice: “Bardas has been murdered in his ship, and many others with him. The treasurer and his father have fled with the gold—more gold than anyone has ever seen. We must go after them and take it from them. Have you archers aboard?”
I gave him drink to calm him, and answered that I had some fifteen archers left aboard, the rest being ashore, but that I wished to know more about this gold, for this was the first I had heard of it.
Eagerly he replied: “The gold belonged to the Bulgar King, who kept it hidden here. The Emperor learned of this and sent us here with his treasurer, whom he trusted. I saw the gold as they were carrying it aboard, and helped to seal it with the Emperor’s seal. But the treasurer hates the Emperor for what he did to his father. The old man is here with him, and they planned this together. All his men were bribed to help him, and when darkness fell they killed Bardas and his officers and the archers of his bodyguard. It was easy, for the others suspected nothing. But I thought to myself: ‘This was lately the Emperor’s gold, and while it was his it was a crime for any man to touch it. Now it is the treasurer’s; but if it should be taken from him, whose will it be then?’ I reasoned thus; then, when no one was looking, I slipped overboard into the river and swam here to you. They will not miss me, for they will think I have been killed in the fighting. But now answer me this question: whose shall the gold be if it is taken from them?”
I said: “This must be the reason that the treasurer anchored his ship farthest downstream, so that they might more easily escape in the darkness. If they have already fled, the gold will belong to whoever can take it from them and keep it; for such is the unwritten law of the sea. First they will float silently downstream in silence; then, when they are out of earshot, they will unship their oars. When it begins to grow light, they will set sail, and with this wind they will soon be well out to sea. It would be good to know where they are making for. There is much here that requires thought, and I do not want to do anything before I am sure which is the wisest course to follow.”
Halvdan said: “The treasurer told me that we should flee to Tmutorokan, beyond Krim, where we would divide up the treasure, and then proceed to the country of the Khazars, to be safe from the Emperor’s wrath; after which, he said, we might go where we pleased. He said this to the others also; so it is certain he does not intend to go there. But a short while before we started on this voyage, I heard him sitting mumbling with his father, just after some message had reached them, and I heard the old man say it was a good thing for them that the great Prince of Kiev had begun again to beget children upon his concubines and no longer honored his High Princess, our Emperor’s sister, so that there was small friendship between him and the Emperor. I therefore think that they intend to flee to Kiev with the gold.”
I said: “Halvdan, you are a wise boy, and I think you have guessed rightly. If they are heading for Kiev, they are sailing in a direction that suits us well, for they are taking it halfway home for us. If we let them reach Kiev, we shall find good men there willing to help us take it from them, if we find we cannot do so ourselves unaided. There is no need for us to start yet, for we must not let them see us following them over the sea, lest they should grow suspicious and alter their course. But a short while before it is light, when even the best ship’s watchmen are asleep, let us leave this place silently. I have grieved much that you left me, Halvdan, but perhaps what happened was for the best, for this affair looks as if it may prove most luck for us both.”
Thus spake I, foolishly; for what known god likes to hear men praise their luck before it has come to them?
I asked him about the woman who had seduced him. He replied that the treasurer had wearied of her and imprisoned her in a nunnery, because she had taken to defending herself when he tried to birch her. “And,” he said, “when I found that she was lusting after other young men besides me, I, too, wearied of her.”
This pleased me, and I promised him far finer women when we should bring the gold home to the north.
As the first gray appeared in the sky, we weighed anchor and swung out into the river, with our oars shipped and our rowers asleep on their benches, and glided downstream without anyone crying to ask whither we were going. When the crew and the archers awoke, I gave them better food than that to which they were accustomed, and stronger drink; then I told them that we were pursuing thieves who had fled with the Emperor’s booty. More than that I did not tell them. It was not my intention to act dishonorably and steal one of the Emperor’s ships, for I wished but to borrow it until I had achieved my purpose. I thought this not unjust, seeing that he owed me a year’s pay.
We came out of the river and sailed across the sea, uncertain whether we had guessed rightly; but when we reached the mouth of the river Dnieper, we saw fishermen there and learned from them that one of the Emperor’s red ships had entered the river the day before. My ship was smaller than the treasurer’s, but I was not afraid, for I had Lezghian and Khazar archers aboard, good men for a fight, while he had only men of his own household.