Alyna's use of French had distracted Jean for a moment but when Gultunga walked over his mind came back to business.

"No horse will carry a man your size double mounted Iverson."

He lead over one of the mounts which formerly belonged to an Orc.

"This one is strong. It should serve you well."

The exchanges between the newcomers and the 'veterans' bring a smile to Conn's face, but he decides not to speak himself, whether to add fuel to the fire or to douse it. Besides, they will be off soon enough, and there will be more riding to do, and a backside to suffer further! Neither the Picts, nor the sons of Alba nor the Vikings were much for riding horses, and the man of Skye was finding it hard going, though he took to it easily enough. Come the assault on the city, he would do no charging of the gates, for he much favoured his role as a warrior and skirmisher - the nobles could lead that errand.

Miroslav notices that Zmija has taken a silent role in the discussions and raises an eyebrow and a quick scowl towards the holy man of the Rus.

He first looks to Alyna..."I appreciate your offer but we here are just soldiers in the army of Sviatoslav, it is not for us to hold a war council of to negotiate with the enemy. We cannot know what is going on in the city. Form his wishes to sever the water supply it is clear the Knyaz wishes to take this city without a pitched battle but this cannot be a sure thing so he is sending us to the gates. If the city does surrender then we will be needed their regardless if they do not then it is up to Sviatoslav to plan how we take the gates.

The holy man steps forward and addresses all in particular Roderychus and any who seem to be concerned with the civilians...WHat what we have learned from Miroslav and out own encounter, it seems that the Orc and Pechenegs are heavily used as mercenaries here in and around the city. I think this is an important point for us to consider. These creatures are not of the empire and fight for little coin or what they can grab. Do not be surprised if they are used heavily in defense of the city."

To Balthazar..."While we were waiting to head out the next morning a smaller fleet seemingly coming in aid of the city was spotted. We quickly and violently engaged them and they were overcome. Dyanna and Pyotr we on the ship we did battle with, they aided us in victory,m Dyanna with her bow and Pyotr with some sort of magic...you may want to talk to him about it, it is all beyond my ken. Alyna was flotsam we picked up along with her seachest.

During the battle with the other ship we did come upon some loot, gems and gold and a few interesting items but nothing too powerful except for one small metal cube. Pyotr wished to keep it on him but talk of doorways to hell and such convinced me that it was best safely locked in my sea chest. I would like you to take a look at this as well and give me your opinion. Personally if it is what the lad described I would see it destroyed or resting at the bottom of the ocean.

"Thanks for the update.  Did we lose anybody in the fight on the other ship?  As for the cube, that does sound very interesting.  I will need to spend some time with it; if we are in a hurry to make the gates it will have to wait for later."

        Upon hearing Sir Jeans advice, Gultunga goes to the aforementioned
horse and mounts it as best he can.  He places his foot into the stirrup
and brings his other leg up and over the back of the horse.

Dyanna makes her way to the smallest of the captured mounts, and climbs up.  Sitting up, she holds the reins and steadies the creature, no expert, yet no novice either of riding.

"Pyotr, will you join me or continue your petulent charade?" she laughs at the boyish figure.

A brilliant smile is the little jugglers only response to Dyanna's comments.

The balls pick up speed, and begin to weave in and out in irregular patterns.

Suddenly a thin slice of the grassy hill he is sitting on separates from mother earth, lifting the lad up into the air, until he hovers about a foot off the ground. Slowly it rotates, then begins heading slowly towards the city.

"Hurry up, you slow pokes, last one there has an Orc for a mommy!"

The big Rus looks on as Pyotr seemingly floats in mid air and shakes his head..."I will never get used to seeing such things."

To the others..."Let us head out, there is no need to hurry though as the aqueduct is already destroyed. I imagine troops will land on the morrow. It is a good idea to have everything scouted beforehand though. If we can get some scouting in before making camp I think that we will be much better prepared for the morning. Some may wish to stay here with the ship on the beach."

He then goes over to Zmija and they exchange words. It is fairly clear from Miroslav's actions that he does not like the holy man very much or at least that he does not fully trust him.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:19, Wed 27 Jan 2010.

Ulfr finally drags himself off his bench and over the rail, onto the beach. "If it would not upset you captain, I would have one more day to recover before jaunting off on a horse. I will stay here with the ship and Oleg."

He finds a large rock or log on which to rest himself and relax on dry land again.

"As your captian has suggested to me. I will wait here on the beach form the others to arrive. i will bring them along in the morning. If you stick to the roads you should be near the gates within the hour."

Alyna is not happy that her offer for using diplomacy instead of violence was turned down, and she has a hard time hiding it. Also, the newly arrived woman makes her soul shiver. And her offer to treat wounds was ignored. So she keeps quiet for a while.

And she is still wondering what these people are thinking. A Roman city of course has cisterns, for the case that an enemy cuts the water supply. Constantinople for example can keep it's citizens supplied with water for years during a siege.

The boy-magician was obviously misunderstanding Dyanna's intentions, but it is not Alyna's place to correct him. He is a strange little fellow, and who knows what he had to go through in the past.

After these thoughts have mulled through her mind, she nods at Balthazar, the man with the strange title. "Greetings to you too, Balthazar." When Miroslav speaks to her, Alyna turns towards him and answers: "You do not think the city has cisterns? A single Aqueduct would be a terrible weakness in my point of view." She could say more, but many of the men seem so eager to throw themselves against the walls, that it would not make sense. Maybe the survivors are more reasonable. After the captain has updated the others on the recent developments, she adds: "I will stay here with the ship if you don't mind." She goes off the ship and walks over to where Ulfr is resting, puts a hand on his shoulder and asks: "How are you feeling? Still a bit dizzy?"

        The Stridesman attempts to guide his newly acquired horse over to
Balthazar for a brief word . . .
This message was last edited by the player at 03:36, Thu 28 Jan 2010.

The Rus captain answers the dancer..."Yes, the city would have cisterns but evidently the Knyaz has received intelligence that there has been a problem with the water supply as of late and that the city was operating on rationed water until the aqueduct could be repaired. Perhaps the region has been hit by a drought...I cannot say other than the Knyaz feels this is the best course of action."

He then approaches Alyna and talks in a low voice.

Unconcerned by the slow pace of the others, the little juggler entertains himself by floating in circles, and even adds a fourth ball into the rotation.

Barmak, at long last finished with aiding the other sailors in securing the sails, climbs over the gunwale and strides through the surf up the beach to join the others.

"My pardon," he offers quietly, seeing that the others are in council and mounting horses.  He seeks Gultunga to hear a recap of what has been spoken thus far, nodding slowly as he takes in their plan.  He makes certain his scimitar is secure at his side and follows the gestures of the others to find a suitable horse to carry him.

"A weak aqueduct, drought...It sounds as though Allah has favored the Kynaz to carry victory over the Romans thus far," he says in a tone somewhere between optimism and resignation.  "I should not be surprised if this is judgment for the Basileus's treachery, for the pagans to conquer his territory."

Barmak mounts and nods to Jean and A'kos.  "I am glad to see you have all survived," he says with a wry smile.

Jean responds to Barmak, "Though I have been distracted from saying so it gladdens my heart to see all of the crew are well. Yourself included."

He looked around at the newcomers.

"Though it is an odd harvest indeed that you have brought in from the sea."

"Anything else was never a worry," A'kos grins back at Barmak.  "Though there was one ugly toadie that gave a bit of a scrap...I'll let the Frank tell the story as he had a front row seat."

Zmija perks up and looks offended at the Magyars words but then realizes what he is talking about and settles back down.

Miroslav slings himself up onto the back of one of the horses. He looks just as at home there as he did on the deck of the dragon ship. Some of you who have traveled all the way from the Emperors court with him have noticed a change in him...he seems a bit more wild and at ease as of late. He is still polite and a good soldier but his disposition is a bit more ruthless, almost feral.

"Enough talk, let us ride. Balthazar, I have the chest with the cube with me. We can inspect it after we make camp. Zmija, I will see you and the others in the morn."

With that the wide shouldered Rus leads the others int he direction of the gate along the Roman road. They will remain on the road as long as it does not bring them too close to the city wall.
I am assuming all on the expedition besides Zmija are coming along and those on the ship are staying on the ship except for Barmak, Dyanna, Pyotr and Gultunga.

A new thread..."To the gates" for those on the road with Miroslav...the rest can still post in this thread.

When Alyna lays he small hand on Ulfr he jumps up and stammers..."I f-f-feel b-b-better, thank you."

His cheeks glow red through his heavy beard. He is like a huge boy taken in by the dancers beauty.

Radvila comes back from answering natures call in the nearby forest and is surprised to see he was left behind. He says to Zmija "Eh, I had planned on going with them but the sea rations have finally taken their toll on my digestive system. I guess It is a trip int he morning for me then."

Alyna smiles as she sees Ulfr's reaction to her. She was used to men reacting to her, but this bear of a man seemed to see a woman for the first time. "Please, sit with me", she sais, sitting down beside the spot where he just jumped up from. "Maybe you can tell me about your adventures before you were poisoned on the ship? I would like to know more about you and your comrades."