‘When the camp was awakened half were already dead. The rest gave chase. We led them back to the Ros; and them hounding us, eager to catch us at the river, all of them shouting and screaming their warcries! But we shouted and screamed not at all. At the river, on the Pechenegi side, my second hundred lay in waiting. They were daubed in mud. They struck not at their silent, muddy brothers but trapped the howling pursuers. Then we rose up, turned in upon the Pechenegi, slew them to a man. And we cut off their thumbs . . .’ He paused.
‘Bravo!’ said Vladimir the prince, faintly.
‘Another time,’ Thibor continued, ‘we went to Kamenets which was under siege. Again I had half my men with me. The Pechenegi about the town saw us, gave chase. We led them into a steep-sided gulley where, after we had scrambled through, my other half rained down an avalanche upon them. I lost many thumbs that time, buried under the boulders – else I would have brought you back another sackful!’
Now there was almost total silence about the table. It was not so much the reporting of these deeds that impressed but the stony delivery, which lacked all emotion. When the Pechenegi had raided, raped and razed this man’s Ungar settlement, they had turned him into an utterly pitiless killer.
‘I’ve had reports, of course,’ Svyatoslavich broke the silence, ‘if somewhat vague until now and few and far between. But this is something to chew on. And so my Boyars have driven the Pechenegi back, you say? A recent turn of events? Perhaps they learned something from you, eh?’
‘They learned that standing guard behind high walls achieves nothing!’ said Thibor. ‘I spoke to them and said: “Summer is at an end. The Pechenegi far to the south are grown fat and idle from the little work they’ve had to do; they do not think we’ll come against them. They are building permanent settlements, winter homes for them-selves. Like the Khazars before them, they are putting aside the sword in favour of the plough. If we strike now they’ll fall like grass beneath the scythe!” Then, all the Boyars banded together, crossed the river, struck deep into the southern steppes. We killed the Pechenegi wherever we found them.
‘But by then I had heard rumours of a greater peril in the making: to the east the Polovtsy are rising up! They spill over from the great steppes and deserts, expand westward – soon they’ll be at our doors. When the Khazars fell they left the way open for the Pechenegi. And after the Pechenegi? Which is why I thought – why I dared to think – that perhaps the Vlad would give me an army and send me east, to put down our enemies before they wax too strong . . .’
For long moments Prince Vladimir simply sat and stared at him from eyes half-lidded. Then he quietly said, ‘You’ve come a long way in a year and a month, Wallach . . .’ And out loud, to his guests: ‘Eat, drink, talk! Honour this man. We owe him that much.’ But as the feasting continued he got up, indicating that Thibor should walk with him. They went out into the grounds, into the cool autumn evening. The wood smoke was fragrant under the trees.
A little way from the palace, the prince paused. Thibor, we’ll have to see about this idea of yours – this eastward invasion, for that’s what it would be – for I’m not sure we’re ready for that. It’s been tried before, you know.’ He nodded bitterly. ‘The Grand Prince himself tried it. First he tackled the Khazars – Svyatoslav ground them down and the Byzantines swept up their pieces -and then he had a go at Bulgaria and Macedonia. And while he was at it the nomads laid siege to Kiev itself! And did he pay for his zeal? Aye, however many sagas are written about him. Nomads sank him in the river rapids and made his skull into a drinking cup! He was hasty, you see? Oh, he got rid of the Khazars, all right, but only to let in the damned Pechenegi! And shall I be hasty too?’