Then there was heavy rowing with few intervals for resting, but whenever the rowers began to complain, I gave them a double measure of wine and comforted myself with the thought that the treasurer, with his heavier ship, must be in a worse plight. I saw no horse-herds on the banks, and no Patzinaks, at which we were glad; for when the Patzinaks are on the warpath, or are pasturing their horses on the riverbanks, they regard the river and all that moves on its surface as their own, so that no sailor dares land to cook his food. They are the most arrogant of peoples, and the worst robbers, and the Emperor himself pays them friendship-money every year.
On the fourth day the bodies of three men floated down the river. By the marks on their backs it could be seen that they were oarsmen of the treasurer who had grown tired. This I took as an encouraging sign, and I now began to hope we might overtake him at the weirs. On the next day more bodies floated downstream, but they did not belong to the treasurer’s men. Then we found his ship, stranded on a tongue of land and empty. I realized from this that he had encountered a river ship and captured it, that he might proceed more swiftly and take his treasure more easily across the portage when he came to the weirs. For a keeled warship is no easy thing to drag overland.
Toward the evening of the eighth day we heard the splash of the weirs and reached the portage. There was nothing to be seen there save two oarsmen who had been left because they were too weak to row farther. We gave them wine, which revived them, and they told us that the treasurer had put his new ship on rollers that very day. But he had been unable to find either horses or oxen to harness to it, for the riverbanks were deserted, so that he had only his oarsmen to pull it, and they were all exceedingly weary. They could not, therefore, have got far.
Halvdan and I rejoiced when we heard this. We took archers with us and followed the tracks of the ship. Between the second and third weir, we sighted them. Then we turned inland and crept swiftly forward behind the burial mound of the Patzinak chieftains, which stands on a rise there, surmounted by skulls, and waited beside it with arrows in our bows until they had almost reached the spot where we were hiding. I saw the treasurer and his father walking beside the ship in full armor, with swords in their hands. I ordered four archers to mark them, and the others to kill the men who were in charge of the harnessed rowers.
The bows sang, men fell to the ground, and we all drew our swords and charged, whooping our battle-cry. The rowers dropped their ropes and fled, and all was confusion; but the treasurer and his father fell not, because the Devil and their good armor protected them. Zacharias the sword-bearer, who had been grazed by several arrows, fled quicker than anyone else, running like a youth. But I gave most of my attention to the treasurer. I saw him turn in astonishment, his face a sickly white above his black beard, as our arrows and war-whoops reached him. He gathered his men about him, roaring at them in a terrible voice, being pained at the prospect of being parted from so much gold. I wish he had stood his ground there longer.
Halvdan and I and the master of the archers, a Lezghian man named Abchar, were the first to reach them, and we fought with the men who stood protecting the treasurer. I saw him bare his teeth as he recognized Halvdan; but we could not get at him, for his men fought bravely, even though their leader was cowering behind them. Then the archers joined us, and we forced the treasurer’s men back toward their ship; but when at last we broke their resistance, we found him fled and several of his men with him.
It was by now almost dusk, and I was uncertain what to do. The master of the archers was a man who always did as he was bidden without asking questions; I bade him take his men and pursue the enemy up the river as swiftly as he could, not pausing until darkness fell. I told him that the Emperor had put a price of a hundred pieces of silver on the treasurer’s head, and a like sum on his father’s, and that this would be paid in full to whoever brought me their heads. So he hastened away with his men.
So soon as Halvdan and I were left alone, we climbed up into the ship. There, in the cabin, hidden behind sacks and casks, lay the treasure, in four small chests and seven skin sacks, all sealed with the Emperor’s seal. But sight of so much wealth caused me less joy than concern as to what we should do next, and how we should succeed in bringing it home without anyone else learning of its existence. Halvdan said: “We must hide this before the archers return.” I said: “Where can we find a place large enough to hide so much?” He said: “Perhaps in the river.” “You are right,” I said; “wait here while I investigate.”
I went to the river, and there found the place of which I have spoken, with the river frothing as it coursed over it. Together we carried the treasure there and hid it well, save two sacks of silver which, after much thought, I left in the ship.
Abchar and his men now returned. They carried three heads, but not those I most wished to see. Together we ate and drank food and wine that we found in the ship. Then I said to him: “Here, Abchar, you see these two sacks, sealed with the Emperor’s seal. This is the treasure that the treasurer Theofilus and his father stole from the Emperor. Whether it is silver or gold I know not, for none may break the Emperor’s seal. Now we are in a sore plight, for all this must speedily be brought intact to the Emperor; but I was commanded by him not to return without the treasurer’s head. This, therefore, is what we must do. I and my son will go up the river to search for the treasurer, as far as Kiev; and two of your men, volunteers, shall go with us. But you and the rest of your men shall return to our ship with this treasure and bid the helmsman convey you to Miklagard. We four shall find our own way back, when our task has been accomplished.”
Those were my words, and Abchar nodded and felt the weight of the sacks. He spoke to his men, and two Khazars volunteered to come with us. Abchar and the others departed with the silversacks, and I was glad that thus far all had gone well. I needed the two archers to help me in my quest for a boat, lest we should encounter robbers, or perhaps the treasurer himself, if he had managed to rally his men. I thought he would probably continue his flight from us, but in that I was wrong.
We were tired, and that night I took the first watch myself. Then I bade one of the Khazars replace me; but he must have slept, in order, perhaps, that our fatal destiny might be fulfilled. For during the night, while we were all asleep in the ship, the treasurer, with his father and four men whom he still had, fell upon us unawares. I was awakened by the clatter of stones as someone stumbled, and sprang to my feet with my sword drawn. Two men leaped at me and as I met them, I saw the treasurer fell one of the Khazars and charge at Halvdan, whirling his sword above his head. Halvdan must have been sleeping deeply, for he had barely managed to draw his sword; I would have given my life and all the gold to have come between them. The men who had engaged me fell dead, but I scarcely noticed them go down, for as I turned upon the treasurer, Halvdan was already lying at his feet. I hewed with both hands; it was my last blow, and my best. It cleft his helmet and chain hood, and split his skull so deeply that I saw his teeth fall out through his throat. But as death bit him, his sword entered my eye. I fell to the ground and knew that I was about to die; but the thought of that did not trouble me, for I thought: “Halvdan is dead, and I have avenged him, and everything is now finished.”
This story wearies me, and there is little more to tell. The next I knew was that I was lying bound, and that sword-bearer Zacharias was sitting beside me, laughing, with a laugh that was not that of a man. He told me how I was to be maimed, and croaked much about the gold. I spat in his face and bade him show me his ears. He had one man left, and between them they chopped off my hand and heated oil from the ship to dip the stump in, so that I should not die too quickly. But he promised me a quick death if I would tell him where the gold was. I did not oblige him, fearing no pain, for my soul was dead. I told him the gold was on its way to the Emperor, and he believed me. We spoke no more.