Shadow of a Hero

LEGEND

The Hermit of Lapiri

NOW THE PASHAS of Falje, of Slot, of Aloxha and of Jirin said in their hearts, ‘There is no Pasha in Potok to oversee the taxes, and to leave to the people enough for next year’s seed to be sown, so that next year’s harvest may be taxed in its turn. Soon the Sultan will send a new Pasha to Potok, so let us at once strip from the town all that we can, and carry it to our own Pashaliks. But let us do it under pretext of law.’

They summoned the aldermen of Potok and said, ‘By your treachery was your Pasha slain, for you warned Restaur Vax of his going to Riqui. Therefore you must pay the blood-price of a Pasha, and that is seventeen thousand kronin.’

Then the aldermen implored them and said, ‘How shall we find such a sum, when the yearly tax of Potok is but seven hundred kronin?’

The Pashas said, ‘It is for you to answer your own question. You have treasure, all of you, hidden below your stair. Your wives wear gold pins in their shawls. And take heed to gather the blood-price by St Axun’s Day, for should you fail we will take the blood-price in blood. Every fifth man we will slay with the sword, and your sons we shall take for slaves, and your sisters and daughters for our own uses, and your roof-trees we will burn with fire. See to it.’

At that the aldermen of Potok despaired, and took counsel. And one said, ‘Let us send to Restaur Vax to come to our rescue, saying that it is he who has brought this vengeance on us by slaying our Pasha.’

So they agreed, though some thought in their hearts that they would betray Restaur Vax to the Pashas, and so save their town.

When the message was brought to Restaur Vax he said, ‘We must go to the aid of Potok.’

His chieftains answered, ‘What are these townsmen to us? They are Greeks and Magyars and Croats.¹ They buy for three stija and sell for ten. They have treasure of their own below their stairs. Let them pay their own price.’

Then Restaur Vax spoke strongly with them, saying, ‘Potok is the heart of Varina, as the mountains are its soul. How can the soul live without the body, and how can the body live without its heart?’

But they would not hear him.

Then Restaur Vax said, ‘Your choice is your choice, but I will go. Alone I will go, if need be.’

Lash the Golden said, ‘Body, heart and soul are all one to me, and mine are sworn to you. I will come also.’

And the Kas Kalaz, not to be shamed by Lash, said he would go with them, and so said some few others, but with doubting hearts, for they were not enough to fight the Pashas on a level plain.

But Restaur Vax cheered them and said, ‘What we cannot win with our swords we must win with our wits. Moreover we must bind these merchants to us with ties of blood and of gold, or when the chance comes they will think to betray us. Gather therefore with your best men into the wood above St Valia, and I will come to you there on the Eve of St Axun.’

Then he took his horse and rode to Lapiri, where lived a hermit who had been once sub-Prior of St Valia’s, and knew all its secret ways, but now was of great age and blind, and to him he told what was in his heart.

Then the hermit said, ‘For what they have done to St Valia’s, and what they will do to our sacred land, I will help you as I can. But even to the Turk I will tell no lie, lest I peril my soul.’²

To that Restaur Vax agreed. He put the hermit on his horse and led him by goat-paths and the paths of the hunter until, on the Eve of St Axun’s, they came to the wood above St Valia. Thence a boy led the hermit down into the town and took him to the aldermen. To them he spoke thus:

‘I am the Hermit of Lapiri, who in former days was sub-Prior of St Valia’s. I have heard of your need, and I will go to the Pashas tomorrow and tell them of a secret place where they will find a treasure of seventeen thousand kronin, and that they may take as the blood-price for the Pasha of Potok. But hear me, these Pashas are men of insatiate greed, and they will ask me if there is any other treasure in Potok.’

‘To that you must answer that there is none,’ said the aldermen.

‘That cannot be while you have treasure, each of you, below your stair. For I will tell no lie, even to the Turk, lest I peril my soul.’

‘Then what can we do?’ asked the aldermen.

‘You must send it out of Potok to a safe keeper,’ said the hermit, ‘and by the will of God Restaur Vax is even now in the wood above St Valia. Send it to him this very night, and I swear to you that he will return to you, when the Pashas have taken their blood-price, all that is yours.’

Then they said, ‘This Restaur Vax is a brigand and the friend of brigands. He will steal our gold.’

The hermit answered, ‘I am the Hermit of Lapiri and I do not lie. All that is rightly yours will be returned. Do as I tell you, or I will go back this night to Lapiri.’

Seeing no help, the aldermen then took up their treasure from under their stairs, and the gold pins from the shawls of their wives, and sent them to Restaur Vax in the wood above St Valia’s.

On the morning of St Axun’s the aldermen came to the Pashas and said, ‘There is no treasure below our stairs to pay the blood-price. But look, this old man who is now blind was once sub-Prior of St Valia’s, and he will show you a place where is hidden a treasure of seventeen thousand kronin, and that will be your blood-price.’

Then the Pashas questioned the hermit, and he told them that it was as the aldermen said, so they carried him to St Valia’s and there, feeling the ground with his staff, he led them to a place in the vineyard and said, ‘Dig here. At a shin-bone’s depth is a great stone in which is an iron ring. Lift it up and you will see a stair. Let torches be brought and lit, for it is very dark below.’

So it was done, and they found the stone and heaved it aside and saw the stair leading down into the dark. Then they sent down a bazouk carrying a torch, and called to him, ‘What do you see?’ And he cried out, ‘I see boxes of gold, and many gold pins, spread about the floor.’

Hearing that, the Pashas rushed down the stair, each fearing that the others might cheat him of his share. As they knelt to gather up the gold, Restaur Vax and Lash the Golden fell upon them from behind and slew them. For the hermit had told them of a secret passage which led from St Valia’s Chapel in the wood into that place, and there they had lain hidden in the shadows until the Pashas came. And the Kas Kalaz and the rest came out of the wood and slew those who were above ground, all but three bazouks who escaped back into the town.

When these three told their fellows what had happened at St Valia, and that all four Pashas were slain, the bazouks were afraid, and fled from Potok, and from all Varina north of the Danube.

Then Restaur Vax told the aldermen to come to St Valia’s, and gather up the treasure, which was the same treasure as that which had lain below their stairs. And they counted it and said, ‘One tenth is not here.’

Then Restaur Vax said to them, ‘All that is rightly yours is here, as the hermit promised. But I have taken a tenth by way of taxes, for I am now master of Potok and Varina. Moreover, think in your hearts. The Turks will know that it was you who told the Pashas to come to St Valia where I slew them. That blood is on you, as on me. Therefore you have need that I should be strong, with cannon, and food to feed my army, so that I may defend you when the Turk comes to take vengeance. We are now bound each to the other with ties of blood and of gold.’

The aldermen wept and said, ‘The tax upon Potok is seven hundred kronin only, and you have taken seventeen hundred.’

Restaur Vax laughed and said, ‘If I had not come to your help you would have paid the Pashas seventeen thousand, and still you would not have been ruined.’

¹ Potok has always held a number of non-Varinian citizens, many of whom were successful merchants. There have been frequent episodes of friction and some bloodshed as a result.

² The trickster who has to deceive without actually telling a lie is a popular motif in Varinian folklore.