Rhode woke up stiff and with a headache. Sleeping on the ground with no pillow clearly wasn’t her thing, she thought as she cranked her neck painfully. On the positive side, she was still dry and warm under her covers, despite the mild chill coming from the entrance of the cave. This realization cheered her up considerably.

She lay on her bed, covered with three warm blankets, and waited for the pounding feeling in her temples to die down. The fire was almost out, but the embers were still hot and glowed pleasantly. That rosy glow of dying embers was one which she always enjoyed watching in the evening, back when things were still normal. Staring at it now, she began to sort through the mess in her head that were the memories of the events of the night before. That she was lying in a cave on a bed of blankets dressed in men’s clothing way too big for her was proof enough that they WERE memories, not some crazy dream.

Rhode realized she must have been in a state of shock most of yesterday. That was the only explanation of how calm she had been throughout it all, and for her insane decision to travel alone with an armed soldier she knew nothing about. Thinking about it now it seemed like complete folly. Like asking for trouble. But the boldness was worth it, she thought, looking at the large bag of books near her bed.

No sooner had she felt the pride and happiness at having saved the books however, a wave of guilt washed over her. She had gotten out of the siege with relative ease thanks to the mercenaries and whomever it was that hired them. But the city was full of people who had had no such luck. Who suffered and who would keep on suffering under the yoke of those crazed Normans.

Of course, no one could blame her for taking the opportunity to flee the horrors of the siege. She was no soldier whose duty it was to defend the city to the last breath. But she felt guilty nonetheless. What bothered her particularly was that there was no specific reason why she should be saved when others suffered. She was no more deserving, no more valuable or full of merit than any other woman of the city. Yet she was safe, while they suffered. As she began to imagine the various terrible things that were probably happening to the inhabitants of Thessalonike, her hands began to shake and her headache started returning.

These dark thoughts were interrupted by one of the dogs. The big, slobbering animal got up from where it had slept beside Chlodvig, stretching its paws and back. Then it wagged its tail at her a couple of times. She watched it fearfully. Rhode was scared of dogs. She was scared of animals in general. And this dog was much bigger than the little pet dogs that some of her aunt’s friends kept for company. She wouldn’t be surprised if the massive creature turned out to weigh more than she did. Luckily, the dog ignored her. Instead it walked to the entrance of the cave and looked out. It gave a single, loud howl which had an almost ghostly air to it. Then it turned around and walked back into the cave. Rhode kept watching it curiously. Her curiosity turned into horror as the dog trotted towards the bag of books. In an instant, Rhode was up on her feet, the thought of the dog’s slobber all over the books giving her a burst of energy. Without a thought she grabbed the dog by the rope collar around its thick neck and pulled. She might have as well tried to get a tree to move.Realizing that there was no chance of her actually pulling the dog away, she changed strategy. “Shoo!” Go away!” she hissed at it angrily, letting go of the collar and stepping in front of the dog to block his way to the books, her fear of dogs forgotten. The dog sat down and cocked it head, watching her curiously.

“Here Follis!” came Chlodvig’s voice from the other side of the cave. He was sitting up with his back against the rock. He had been asleep when Rhode woke up. It was the dog’s behavior that woke him. The large creature trotted up to him happily and slumped down at his feet. The other dog was lying sprawled over his knees.

“Follis?” Rhode asked curiously.

“Yes. That’s what I paid for him*. This one is Ango**,” he indicated the yellow dog with wolf-like ears. “The one which stayed with the horses is Sarkel***.”

Rhode sat down next to the fire. She didn’t know what to say, so she just watched the mercenary and the dogs. He was feeding them dried meat which he kept in a large canvas bag.

“You want some?” he asked offering the bag to her.

Rhode stared dumbfounded. He had just offered her dog food. She wasn’t sure if it wasn’t some joke.

“It’s jerky. It’s good,” he said encouragingly. He himself wasn’t eating it though.

“I don’t eat meat…” said Rhode slowly. She didn’t want to be impolite. But she also really didn’t want to eat the dried meat.

“Really?” Chlodvig looked up from the dogs for the first time, “why?”

“It’s bad for your mind! At least that’s what Pythagoras said…”

Chlodvig stared and Rhode realized that she doesn’t find his eyes unpleasant. The realization was a surprising one. She had always disliked making eye contact with people. Especially with strangers. Though even with family it often made her feel uncomfortable. But strangely, there was something rather calming about his even, slightly curious gaze.

“Pythagoreans?” he asked.

“It was a…religion. Well, in a sense. It was created by the followers of Pythagoras, a philosopher and mathematician. And numerologist. The ancients did not look at mathematics and philosophy simply as areas of inquiry…they treated them as a…way of life. A religion. But without a deity. It entailed rules and study and things to avoid. A bit like a monastery but not dedicated to any god.”

Chlodvig looked bemused. For a few moments he didn’t say anything. Then he asked:

“Rhode? How many years of formal education did you have?”

“Four years with a tutor. After that I kept learning on my own. I was fortunate to have met Loukos in Thessalonike. He helped me with a lot of stuff when I felt that I was missing something in my reading. Learning alone is not perfect. One needs someone to bounce ideas off. Someone to look through your work. To criticize your reasoning, even for sport. To suggest a new way of looking at things or to recommend something else to read. I am always skeptical of people who claim that they learned everything by themselves.”

Rhode shut her mouth with a snap. Talking too much had been another habit of hers that she was embarrassed of. Kale had once pointed out that Rhode either said nothing at all, or delivered a speech. There was no in between. As much as it hurt to admit it, Rhode worried that Kale had been right about that. Worse still, she had heard people say of her that when she did speak, she sounded arrogant and overconfident. That she acted as if she were smarter than the great masters themselves. Even Loukos had said that once. This hurt because obviously she did not think herself smarter than the ancients. She didn’t even think herself close to any of the modern commentators – the Rabbi, the Teacher. Even the thought of comparing herself to them was laughable. Let alone to the Philosopher and his like. But people still said she’s arrogant.

“You worry too much!”

Rhode looked up to see Chlodvig was standing next to her. She jumped. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed him come near.

“You worry too much,” he repeated again, in a light, offhand tone. “Here, if you don’t want to eat the meat, you can have these. Dried fruit and soldier’s bread. It’s disgusting. Or so I hear. But better than you fainting of hunger!”

He offered her another leather bag, filled with the food he mentioned. Rhode nodded gratefully. She was hungry. Not hungry enough to eat meat. But hungry. As she reached for the bag she noticed that the mercenary’s arm, which had been raked and bleeding heavily yesterday night, was almost healed. In place of the deep wounds of yesterday were three long, but shallow cuts. Rhode bit her lip and said nothing. The mercenary sat back down, avoiding the streak of dim light coming from outside. He rested his back against the wall and closed his eyes.

Rhode munched on the dry bread and the fruit, thinking about the events of yesterday. Finally she cleared her throat and, without looking up, said:

“Chlodvig? What are you?”

Chlodvig, who was just taking a sip out of a leather wineskin, choked. He started coughing loudly, and splattered his shirt with what Rhode hoped was wine. Finally, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand he said:

“What?”

“Well, you’re not a regular human right? What are you?”

“You’re…really direct, aren’t you?” Chlodvig asked.

Rhode shrugged. Chlodvig sighed a bit. Then he said quietly:

“I’m a vampire.”

Whatever the reaction he had expected, it was certainly not Rhode’s. She just nodded her head thoughtfully and asked:

“Well what does that mean? Specifically?”

“Wait, you believe me?” Chlodvig asked incredulous.

“Why not? I saw you do all sorts of unusual things yesterday. You mentioned you can’t go into the sunlight. Your wounds from yesterday are almost healed. You see in the dark. None of this is regular. I assumed you must be something unhuman. I’ve read of people like that. Loukos once told me he worked with a man who did not age a single day for the 20 years he had known him. Believing superstition and hearsay is silly of course, but I SAW you do all these unusual things. There must be AN explanation of all of this. To me ‘vampire’ sounds more convincing than ‘miracle’. And certainly much more convincing than: ‘I don’t know,’ or ‘it’s nothing’. So…what does it mean that you are a vampire? I mean, to me it’s just a word referring to some sort of mythical monster. What does it refer to, actually?”

Chlodvig stared and stared. He seemed completely taken aback. Slowly though he smiled, somewhat awkwardly, but genuinely.

“Well, alright then…I drink blood to live because normal food can’t sustain me. I can’t go out into the sunlight because it kills me. I don’t age. Technically, if something or someone doesn’t kill me, I will live till judgment day…Um…that’s the basics.”

“Oh.”

“You’re…not scared?”

“Not really. You were hired by someone to save me and my family. Going through all that effort to kill me later…that’s irrational. And you don’t seem irrational. I was more scared in the city. I’m not an idiot – I know you could hurt me if you wanted to. But you could even if you weren’t a…a vampire. You’re an armed soldier. I’m pretty sure that overall, soldiers have hurt more people, especially women, than vampires have. In terms of sheer numbers at least…”

Chlodvig burst out laughing.

“You’re astonishing, you know that?” he asked, voice full of mirth but, at the same time, strangely serious. Rhode looked away. It sounded like a compliment and she never knew how to react to those. 

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*Follis - a bronze coin used in the Eastern Roman Empire. It was the smallest monetary unit. 

** Ango - a type of spear commonly used in the migration period by the Germanic peoples

*** Sarkel - a city built in the Pontic steppe by the Khazars (with Byzantine help).  

______________________

People

Pythagoras: Ancient Greek philosopher and Mathematician. He was credited with numerous mathematical and scientific discoveries, though this is questioned by many modern historians. 

The Rabbi: Moses Maimonides - one of the great philosophers of the Medieval period. Author of 'The Guide for the Perplexed' a philosophical work on Aristotle and the relation between reason and religion. 

The Commentator: Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd, one of the great philosophers of the Medieval period. Author of numerous commentaries on Aristotle as well as stand alone philosophical works. 

The Philosopher: Aristotle. One of the most important philosophers in the Western tradition. Commented on extensively by Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars of the Middle Ages.