Arden by: dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)
55 Invasion Threat
1319, 11th month, day 4:
After our classes today the four of us went to the plaza. It was an unusually hot day for this time of year and we sought shade as we sat near the statue. Kastor remarked that he was in need to water but the nearest public fountain was some distance away. When he returned he suggested we consider placing a public fountain in the plaza garden. We all agreed it was a good idea.
Soon I became the object of teasing, as Iason suggested I pose again but this time holding my penis and water could run from it. I retorted Panther should be the model, given his prodigiousness the stream would be useful, not decorative. Captain Darkon laughed so hard he was forced to sit. Damao suggested it have all of our heads with open mouths, for the water to flow from and that raised almost a much mirth. We were making so much noise that several Argoanuts and citizens passing by came over to us.
We encountered several sailors from Rhodes. These men were Greeks. It was obvious they had little love for the Knights of Rhodes that now ruled the place, as the Byzantines had lost it to them in 1309. Two of them asked directions to the Eastern Christine Church and the third gave us the secret sign and inquired about the statue. Once his comrades were out of hearing range he made a very brief report. The Catalan Company was attempting to enhance its power and would be attacking Parga during our soloists celebrations. His code name was Teiresias. He hurried off to join his friends and we resumed our seats in the shade for some time. They continued to chid me about modeling for the fountain.
Iason summoned a secret war council, in the king's quarters. Hesiodos confirmed that Teiresias was one of his spies and his information had always been reliable in the past. Tertius was firm in saying this was not the Despot or Byzantium. In fact these Company mercenaries had given Byzantium difficulty and they would be ride of them. In the process they wound up with Athens. These people are supposed to be our allies and friends. Obviously they can not be trusted." (TN: The Catalan Company of the East, aka the Catalan Company, Great Company, Grand Company)
They can only attack us by sea. We know their navy is no match for us, in quality but much greater in quantity. On the ground they are formidable but again we will hold our own having both superior weapons, the high ground and the will.
The Prince Justus and Prince Joulous can be commissioned in the next two weeks if needed and they will be needed. The Sicilians are of no help with these people, they could not control them in the past and can not help us as before. Florence is no friend to them but does not have the navel power to help close enough. Venice will help us but I do not want Venetian solders in Parga. The Venetian navy is dependable but I am not sure if they can mobilize fast enough, unless the threat can be confirmed very real.
"They must come on ships and from the south. I am sure the Admiral would choose to meet them north of Levkas Island but that risks some of them getting past the fleet. Some of their officers are Florentine, they will not make the mistake of a head on attack. They will try and land large quantities of foot solders and knights on horse back," Iason offered.
Kastor thought we should abandon our fishing villages as quickly as possible. In those villages we should station rocket launching groups and place our catapults and more rockets on the cliffs and make the cost of landing very expensive. Uncle thought not, "we should abandon them but not until the 20th day, let them think we are all celebrating."
Karyakos thought we should make every appearance of all being normal. "The element of surprise will be ours not theirs. We should keep most of our Prince Class ships in port until the last moment. Let them think we are defended by only the small, apparently unarmed Princess Class vessels."
Poly suggested we have about 40 days to prepare, so we need make sure all is ready in 30. Since the crews for the two new ships are not ready, we should take a few marines from each of the others to be temporary sailors.
"That we will do," said Tertius. "I think we need look at preempting this venture if possible. Why not seek the good offices of the Sicilian King?"
"Would that not take surprise away from us? What is their strength and their weakness," Karyakos asked.
Hesiodos answered, "The Catalan Company is reported to have 30 galleys with 2500 fighting men, giving 1 knight for every 4 foot solders, horses and so on. They would be foolish to deploy all of them against us. I would think they will send perhaps 20 galleys. They may send as many as 1600 fighting men. I doubt they will risk greater."
"If they realize we know they intend to invade and that the element of surprise is taken from them, perhaps they will back down," Kastor suggested.
This went on for some time. We examined every aspect of this threat even its' voracity. We have no reason to doubt it but we also need to confirm it. They must have spies here and one would think people that have at least visited. Could it be they lack good information? Perhaps they feel we are not strong without the navies of Venice and Sicily to defend us. If they have spies here we are not aware of them. It is always possible. Perhaps our information is the poorer and they are using this as a way to identify our spies in their midst. If we run to our allies for help that is not needed, we loose credibility. If we admit knowledge of this plot, which is not, it may identify our people. We have fed false information to others by this method, many times.
The consensus was: If they are to invade, they will group up on the north end of Levkas Island. We will incase our patrol of this area. We should increase production of arrows, rockets and gunpowder. We should set maneuvers for the period just before the Soloists and announce that. We will gather all intelligence possible. We will ask our ambassador to make a call on the Catalans in Athens, on his way home and we will ask Dario and others for any hint of knowledge of this in other capitals. The Admiral should up date his battle plans as should the armey.
I thought and said, that the plan to attack Bejaia, which was never used, should be revised to defend against this invasion, should it come about. If they stop or gather near Levkas, our Princess Class ships could devastate them while they lie at anchor. This would also minimize the loss of life as we need only damage a large number of them. Our friendly Despot would not be to troubled by this, even if that is his domain. He is not all that pleased with them as we know. They are to his east and he does not want them on his west as well. Even if it is a small enclave.
Everyone thought that was also reasonable and we will meet again with the military leaders.
1319, 11th month, day 5:
We have been spending much time of late in our philosophy studies, examining this seemingly universal urge of men to seek immortality. This had been going on for some months now. It would seem that men have thought and written endlessly on the subject.
Some believe men have a sole that transcends death and others not. I do not know yet what I believe. I can and do argue both sides of the question. As if only two sides exists. It seems to me truly great leaders achieve immortality, like the Great Alexander. Who does not know his name? Truly great minds and teachers also. Of course all those of gods and heroes of mythology are immortal, because they are remembered.
If that be the situation, that we are immortal as long as we are remembered, we cease being so when forgotten. Those that believe men's soles are immortal and they go to some place after death my be so but I am not so sure of this. Some of the far eastern beliefs talk of soles coming back being reincarnated. Every living thing has a sole and they are continuously being recycled. I am not fond of this idea either. It seems to me these are nothing more than stories designed to control men and hold the society in some kind of order.
Many feel that they must leave monuments behind. Others feel their reputation is their monument. They must then feel they are immortal as they are remembered for good or ill, it matters not. I have come to a slightly different conclusion. It is not yet fully fixed and I am sure will take me much thought, for years to come, before it is. I have written my first poem to express my non rational self. I ask Odo to help me. He is now working up the music to make it a song.
The sea sings waves roll onward over the waters
Explanation of our lives Lay in our children We look upon them for answers
Children can not tell us with words We see the answer in their faces
Sure as the sun rises Sure as the sea Sure as the wind
We will rise again In the faces of our children We will rise again In voices of song We will rise again In the waves on the sea We will rise again
We look to reincarnation We look to resurrection We look to salvation For explanation of our lives
A child can not tell us why We will rise again We see the answer in their faces
Sure as the sun rises Sure as the sea Sure as the wind
We will rise again In the faces of our children We will rise again In voices of song We will rise again In the waves on the sea We will rise again
We see the answer in their faces In the faces of our children We will rise again
[based on the song lyrics "We Rise Again" by Aselin Debison. A young, born in 1990, Canadian pop and Celtic music singer.]
(TN: I hope Odo can fix this up for Arden. In Greek it does scan better. In English it lacks musicality because many articles and preparations are English not Greek. A good illustration is from Schiller's Ode to Joy. The German reads: "Freude, schoner Gottefunken" (both o's have umlauts), the English reads: Joy, beautiful spark of the gods. I think Odo's job as family poet is secure.)
I was not sure how philosophy would translate to poetry, I think rather well. Behind this elementary idea is much rich thought and discussion. Odo assured me he could make a song of it. He may need change some of the phrasing but he would keep my ideas. He does like my reference to answers in the faces of our children. Like Helladios' resemblance to his grand father or Kass and Poly's resemblance to Father, he understands my thinking.
I wonder if I should keep a philosophical journal as well as a scientific one. I have been keeping copious notes on all the projects in science, mathematics and engineering, in that volume. So much so that I have started to lock it away, as I do this one. As tempting as this may be I should not. It is a matter of time. My days are now filled and to take more time from my brothers and boys would be most undesirable.
1319, 11th month, day 7
Water is an important symbol in every faith I am aware of. It is essential for life, all life needs water, be it plant or animal. While we made light of the fountain's form, few others did. The idea was accepted by all but the design caused much discussion and acrimony. So much so that I became prepared to abandon the entire idea. Since water holds this aura for so many they all descended on the King. Each wanted his symbols incorporated into the design. Uncle listened to each but when they started squabbling among themselves he grew angry. "The only thing this king must and should do is his duty to the people of Parga. The only honor we must all pay is to Mother Parga, who nurtures and sustains us. Parga was here before men walked on the earth and will be here long after we are gone.
Since I am paying for the instillation, I will make the artistic decisions. This fountain will be highly functional and completely utilitarian. It will have no symbols or decoration save the Crown of Parga. (TN: Arden has refereed to the Crown of Parga several times. He has not described it. I think we can interpret this to mean the Coat of Arms of Parga. We know from earlier entries Parga's symbol was an Eagle in flight, clutching the Greek letter ∏ (Pi), with a Laurel wreath underneath it.)
Should any of you wish to establish public fountains at your houses of worship, that incorporate your symbols, you are free to do so, at your own expense. I would think the Mayor would be most pleased. Our public spaces should be adorned by our historic symbols, not those of any specific group."
He then commissioned the ingegneres, sculptors and stone cutters to present designs to him in one week's time.
That settled that. I was glad none of us even suggested our faces or any of our bodies with water spewing from any orifice. I think he might have ceased on the thought to spite the religious.
Odo brought in his revisions of my poem. I was most surprised that they were so minor. The song required some reorganization. I think it will be most powerful even though the melody is quite simple. He made it into three verse with the refrain after each. It is not to long and can be easily remembered. I have copied the lyrics and music into my music book. (TN: Arden's music book or books have been lost.) When Father heard us practicing, he came in and inquired; giving both of us much praise. He thinks the boy's choir should perform it with the Argoanuts in the plaza on the 21st. It will need to be properly arranged. "Like the ode this song touches the hearts of all who hear it. If the boys sing the verses and the choir as a whole the refrain, it will be most powerful."
Iason will make good theater of it I am sure. He is planning to have the Argoanuts lead the procession from the castle to the statue. They will sing their marching song as we go. This became an annual event since the first but moved to just at sunset three years ago. Now that the plaza has these new lamps more citizens will come. The mayor is planning several large fires on the beach. Every day from the 20th through the 26th, plays and music are offered in the afternoon at the citiy's theater. A number of parade permits have been issued to different religious groups and several guilds. Iason told me at the annual art festival Justus and Joulous will unveil the figure heads for their ships. Iason's and Alexandros' wedding portraits and a new family portrait will also be unveiled. I think my beloved is holding something back from me but I do not yet know what. If he is, it will be at the expense of my modesty, I am sure of it. I saw that Polydeukus had approved some special expenditure but when my official saw that I was looking at it, he suddenly found something to draw my attention away and when I looked back it had disappeared. The Prince Helladios is being rushed into construction.
Today the lamp group, that is what I now call them, reported progress. Helo had redrawn several lamps of different shapes for different purposes and the lamp maker placed dimensions on them. Mohammed found that a lamp that gave as much light as 20 candles was the most cost effective. Lamps that produce less light than 5 candles or small oil lamps were slightly more expensive, unless those candles and lamps were to burn all night. Then they became cheeper. Lamps that replaced more then 25 candles with a single flame, were not yet practical to manufacture. The first experiments to improve the efficiency of the koallime water reaction are promising. It appears that the reaction chambers of existing lamps need not be replaced, a small piece added and better control of the koallime granular size will do much.
I have adjusted to not sleeping with Iason on a frequent basis. Nikias has been a great help as have all the others. I no long miss him so terribly when I sleep, just during the day. Now that his is returned to us I am much more happy. Klass, Poly and our boys have made sure I do not want, nor Dios either. Father and Uncle have made much extra time for the three of us and for that we are thankful.
Without Iason my lust has become so intense I am having sex, it seems almost continuously. I do not complain nor have any of my companions. All of the younger boys seem to line up for my penis. I must admit that when it is being driven deep into one of their bodies I do not miss him. It is only after I have spent and the blush of climax has passed that his absence become so pressing.
1319, 11th month, day 9:
Yesterday and today we attended classes and the council as well as our administrative work. In the afternoons we were all on the sports field with all the coaches.
Inventing a new game over several mugs of wine is quite easy. The details of rules, size of the pitch, shape of the goal, even the correct number of players is hard work. Parga Football does not require to many skills to begin. It will take some practice to get good at this. Iason has taken this as his sport. He and I began by passing the ball between and moving it from one end of the pitch to the other. He soon sent me to the side as my superior running ability was not being helpful. After trying several distances between the goals and different boundary widths, we settled on 2 stadia in length and 1 in width, with 12 players on each side and one goal keeper. The goal keeper will be the only one permitted to handle the ball with his hands, others must not touch it, except with feet. We quickly learned that players must often contact the ball with parts of their bodies so we allowed that but not with the hands.
After playing for some time the ball came apart. That will need some changes in construction. The test players all liked the game. The younger boys thought the pitch size should be smaller for them. Probably the ball as well. We can use our normal timers to control game length as they can be stopped and started and if not set back to zero will accumulate time. The length of the match is yet to be set. Mohammed should be interested in this use of the zero. Now that we use it in real life I see most of what he is talking about.
Parga Polo is being looked after by Kastor. He has produced a number of sticks, they still need a name. Some suggested bat, others club, still others, stick. I like Polo Stick. Again they did not let me play very long, none could keep up with me, as we ran up and down the field or pitch. They would call it field. Passing the ball to another player is much fun and with only a little practice Kass and I were completing most of our passes between. We will try playing this on the same size field as football. With the same number of players on each side.
The younger boys found the sticks to long for them to control easily. Also the field to large for their little legs. It would appear that the field size need be reduced for those less than 12 for both the boys and girls. I also found the sticks a little to short for me. I think the stick length needs to be relative to the player's stature. Kastor agrees with this.
Polydeukus had charge of the Parga Ball testing. He did what research he could and found some ancient references but none very specific in details of how it was played. He reasoned this game could also be played on the same size field as the others. He began experimenting with the same size teams. Each of these games has a different size goal. Two posts with a cross bar and a fishing net to catch the ball. We found the net important as it kept the ball from being sent off the field of play and made it simpler to judge if a point had been scored or not.
He experimented with a small ball, leather covered cork with a weighted center. Also a ball made of wood. For his stick he settled on an upside down and more open shepherd's crook or a Latin alphabet J. The shaft was shorter and the crook end more open and shorter. I think the J is a better description. He found as long as sheep were allowed to eat the grass short the ball would roll well. The wooden ball required strong arms and a very strong stick. He settled on the leather.
The goal keepers for Parga Polo and Parga Ball will need to ware leather pads, like old fashioned military armor, as the ball when hit or thrown hard will really hurt. In Parga Polo and Parga Ball the keepers will also have sticks. They are not allowed to handle the ball with their hands either. For these games that means throw it. They can catch it but it must then be dropped to the ground.
It will take some weeks to settle on the rules and order of play. We decided if the ball goes off the field of play the clock should be stopped until it is returned. We also determined that for Parga Polo and Parga Ball the boys will need to have hard leather braces to protect their manhood. Since we need tunics of different colors to distinguish the teams, we boys will not play naked. The girls would bind the breasts anyway and ware short kilts and tunics.
We would also need strict rules so players did not strike each other with the sticks. These games will need judges. (TN: Arden obviously means referees or umpires. He clearly uses the word judge without any qualifier, as he does in reference to his foot races', place judges. I will translate this position as referee.) the referee will need a signal to stop and start the play. One of the coaches suggested they use a whistle made from a willow twig. If we specify the diameter and length of the twig all the whistles will sound alike.
Our boys were having fun learning new skills as were we. I am sure when it comes to developing rules for play they will be less interested. Iason wants to demonstrate these new games at the soloists sports competitions. Thoren was interested in learning about the stick games as well as football. He still could not understand how anyone could catch the polo ball but he did get the idea of stopping or trapping the ball with the stick and sending it to another player. If that player made a noise, such as striking his stick on the ground, he found it possible but we had no good way to alerting him of a ball sent to him.
The same for football. Not seeing the ball he had no good way of knowing how close it was or from exactly what direction it was coming. In the bath Thoren knew exactly what direction Nikias and I were coming from and he was soon in our bed with him and Nikias giving each other oral pleasure while I filled his anus with my penis. Thoren's mentor keeps his body free of all hair and his skin is as smooth as Nikias'.
1319, 11th month, day 10:
Some reports are beginning to arrive on the activities of the Company. It would appear they are getting ready for some kind of military adventure but if Parga is the target or not, is still unknown. One thing we have learned is they do have several spies here. One of Hesiodos' special people has infiltrated a group that is planning another assignation attempt.
These spies are headed by a monk at the monastery. His group of assassins are young zealots. It is obvious the Heguman (TN: Abbot) is not aware of this activity as it is in contravention of his order's rules. I am also sure the Patriarch is not aware of it either.
Apparently they have already killed the local sheriff and two knights, in the past six months. These were attacks with Greek Bows. They are planning to strike us during the Christmas celebrations. This monk has at least one group of 12 that has been infiltrated. We think they have a second group of the same number but nothing is known of it. Hesiodos has this monk, the monastery and local community, being closely watched.
Iason has ordered all of our mountain fighters to travel only in groups of 6 and to look for evidence of any infiltration, winter snows or not. He does not want the infiltrators killed if it can be avoided. Followed if possible. Messages should be sent as soon as any sign to them, even if unconfirmed, is noticed.
My beloved is so cleaver when it involves the theater. He has proposed that we do two things to draw these assassins out. First the Heguman is to forbid any of his monks from travel between the 19th day of next month and the 1st day of the new year. He need not be told why, just that the king as asked the Patriarch to convey this. It is a matter of safety for his monks.
Second we must announce a royal visit to a place near the monastery on the 18th day. We must do this now. In place of the King and Consort, Arden and I will suddenly and unannounced take their places. Our places will be taken by Elite Marines dressed like us. "Only if Kastor and I can go along dressed as marines."
"I think your plan has merit but don't be surprised if the King and Consort refuse to stay home," Hesiodos commented.
"You must convince them so, Hesiodos and if that fails at least convince them to dress as marines or guards. Arden and I have little choice as he is far to tall for anyone to impersonate him and I have much to distinctive a voice."
I think Iason is correct about my height but his voice, sweet as it is, the distinctiveness is in his mind alone. Me thinks he desires the adventure and would share mine in real, not from afar.