by Griff Hosker
When Myrddyn left for Aelle and his stronghold I felt a strange loss. I had grown close to the young healer and I missed him and our conversations in the solar. Garth and I concentrated on forging the warriors into a tightly knit group. It was difficult because of the Bernician, Llofan who was like a piece of grit in the eye; it was always there irritating. The others worked well together but he was the one out of step and yet, I agreed with Garth, he was the best warrior amongst the recruits. The problem was solved when Prince Ywain arrived for our meeting. King Urien had come with him and the warrior hall was full for the first time. It was a bustling and busy place filled with warriors. Bladud had to be polite to me as it was my home but I saw him and three of his warriors scowling at me every time I passed by.
I took my two distinguished guests to my solar to enjoy some privacy.
“You have some fine warriors Lord Lann.”
I shrugged. I am generally happy but…”
King Urien looked troubled. “This is not like you, Lord Lann. We cannot afford any weakness in the man who will lead our warriors against the Saxons.” I reluctantly explained about Llofan Lilo. “He is a good warrior?”
“He is the best I have but he is also from Bernicia and I do not wish to offend our ally by returning him to his homeland.”
King Urien beamed. “Then I can solve the problem. Bladud has been faithfully gathering warriors for my bodyguards. We have ten Bernicians amongst our ranks and I am sure one more will not come amiss.”
I brightened. It would solve my problem. “I would not wish to weaken your bodyguard.”
“Do not worry about that. The bodyguard will be the core of my army. They will all be heavily armed equites and they do not need to fight as your warriors do in a shield wall. I will speak with Bladud.”
Garth was also relieved at the possibility of a solution. “I still feel as though I have failed my lord. I should have been able to train him.”
“Do not worry Garth. I saw that there was something different about him. There is a hidden story there.”
When I entered the warrior hall I could see King Urien deep in conversation with Bladud and Prince Ywain. Two of Bladud’s men stood nearby. I was waved over. “Which is the warrior you spoke of?”
“Llofan!”
The Bernician warrior strode over. He had an arrogant walk and, that too, had annoyed me. “Yes my lord.” He managed to say ‘my lord’ and make it sound as though it was an insult.
Bladud looked at King Urien, smiled and nodded his approval. I wondered about that because Bladud never smiled. “Would you like to join my bodyguards? I have other Bernician warriors and Lord Lann has given me permission to ask you.”
I saw Llofan also smile for the first time. “I would be delighted my lord.”
“Good then you will now join my guards. Bladud will explain your duties.” From the expressions and embraces I realised that Llofan knew the two warriors standing beside Bladud already. It confirmed my dislike of both men.
Later Garth came to me, his face filled with anger. He held in his hand a black leather cloak. “I was thrown this by Llofan who said that now that he was serving with real warriors he did not need your wife’s needlework!”
I could feel myself becoming as angry as Garth but over the years I had learned caution. I suspected that Bladud had something to do with this and I would not cause offence to King Urien in my own home. Aideen was not insulted because she had not heard the words. “We will let it go for now Garth but, fear not, the dishonour will be remedied one day.”
Once I had met with Prince Ywain and his father all thoughts of Bladud left me for we had much to plan. I could see a change in Ywain already. He was a little thinner and looked as though he had been exercising. Some of his old enthusiasm and confidence had also come back to him. “I am training my archers to be horsemen and I hope that the others are doing the same. I know that Raibeart is. When the warriors are gathered we will work with them whilst marching to make them one.” I explained our idea of keeping the allies as a reserve at the rear of the wedge.
King Urien frowned, “I would not have our allies insulted.”
I shrugged. “There are but one hundred and fifty of them and we do not know how they are armed; at least the warriors of Rheged fight in the same style with the same weapons. But I promise you that I will do what I need to diplomatically. I have also begun to train some of my boys as scouts. We need eyes out there and scouts who can move swiftly. We need to be one step ahead of the cunning Aella at all times. I have armed my men so that they can fight any foe we meet. I too will work with the allied horse but the majority will know our tactics for I have one hundred and fifty with me now.”
The king smiled. “This is excellent and I am pleased that we made the right choice; you two are a formidable force. You will gather in eight weeks and get to the Roman Bridge and I will bring the rest of the army when we are mustered but that will not be until after Easter.”
“We will use my horsemen to keep you informed, father. We will set up relay stations with horses to enable you to get messages quickly.”
“You could use homing pigeons.”
“Homing pigeons?”
“Brother Oswald mentioned them to me. You have pigeons at Civitas Carvetiorum and that becomes their home. Then you put some in cages and they go with us. We attach messages to their legs and they fly home to their roost. They could do the journey which would take a horseman a day and a half at least in half a day.”
“I will see Brother Osric when I return. It would be an advantage to have two methods of communication.”
When they had left us I felt happier that the prince looked more like the old Prince Ywain who had valiantly fought at my side and we had solved a number of problems. The first heavy snow in a few weeks fell the day after they left. I took Garth to one side. “Now would be a good opportunity to see if we have had any visitors to the wood again. We can see their tracks in the snow.”
When we reached the glade there was no sign of any human visitors and the fire which had been there before was long dead. I did not trust to chance and for the next twenty days either Garth or I visited the site but we saw no sign of clandestine meetings. If anything that made me even more worried. At least if they were meeting we knew they were still planning. The fact that they had, apparently, stopped meeting did not bode well and I found myself scrutinising the recruits, who now seemed like all the other warriors, very closely. I wondered what they thought.
By the time Myrddyn returned the snow had gone, the arrows and arms were ready and my contingent of warriors was as ready as they ever would be. We had made enough spare arms, albeit of a lesser quality, for the ordinary warriors who would be joining us with the king when the army of Rheged was mustered in spring.
My main problem was Aideen who had become increasingly fretful and fussy as the weather had improved. It was almost as though she was willing the snow to return for it would stop me leaving. I had not confided in her the plans we had made. It was not that I didn’t trust her; I just did not want her worrying unnecessarily. Eventually, a week before we were to depart I had to tell her. We were in bed, and it was a cold night. I would miss the cuddles and the comfort of her warm body over the next weeks. She lay in the crook of my arm. “I will be leaving with my men soon.” I felt her stiffen in my arms but she said not a word. “We will be but two day’s ride from home and, hopefully, we will not have to do any fighting.”
There was a pause and I felt moisture dripping down my arm. He voice was thick and deep when she spoke. “But you will be facing the Saxons?”
“Until they are destroyed by the gods or pestilence before I reach them then yes I will.”
“I want to lose no more men to those sea devils.” She remembered the men she had already lost; she hated the Saxons but not enough to lose me too.
“And I promise you that I will not die.”
She sat upright in bed and I could see her eyes flashing with anger. “You ca
nnot promise that! It is a hurtful thing to say for it is a lie.”
“No it is not. I will be leading and I will put neither myself nor my men in harm’s way. This time I am to watch. Fighting will be a last resort. I will have to order the men and be as a general. I will not be in the shield wall.” I was not sure that would always be the case, but my intentions were good.” I now have a daughter as well as a son and I want to see them both grow up.”
She seemed mollified and cuddled in again.”Will we ever have a peaceful world again?”
“I hope so. I would dearly love to leave Saxon Slayer in its scabbard but, for the present, it must be unsheathed.”
As the days grew longer and the earth warmed up Garth and I began to spar every day with the wooden swords and heavy shields we used. Then we began to spar together against four or five other warriors. It developed quick reflexes but, more importantly it helped the two of us to fight as one. We then spent a whole week with the thirty five warriors I would be taking with me practising the wedge and shield wall formations. With so many new warriors in its ranks it was vital that they worked as one. Garth had performed wonders over the winter and it was hard to discern any difference between the recruits and those who had fought Aella the last time.
When Myrddyn returned he was escorted by Aelle’s contingent. Although they had fought in fewer battles than my men I knew that they would be well trained and their early arrival meant that we could train with those. Raibeart brought his own men down and I could see that he was longing to be part of it but he was loyal and the king wanted him in command of the army’s archers. Of course I took the opportunity of some expert tuition for my men while I used the time with the one hundred and five warriors who would be the nucleus of our attack.
Myrddyn spent but a short time with us for he rode away east to find the Saxons and become our spy. I had said all the words I needed to and the confident young man gave me a cheerful wave as he rode east towards the Roman Road. When he left then I knew that our undertaking had begun in earnest. We had finished training and we would now begin the business of war.
Finally, and on time, Prince Ywain brought the rest of the Rheged vanguard four days later along with the Strathclyde contingent. We had no opportunity for training these men as we had to prepare for our journey the following day. The archers were assigned horses while the rest of us sharpened weapons and checked that we had all the arms we would need. We would not be taking wagons for we were to move swiftly and could not be encumbered by lumbering vehicles. The archers would carry their own quivers of arrows on their horses. As the warriors feasted and bantered in the warrior hall I took the five scouts I had chosen to lead our expedition. “You will leave tonight. I want you to find the Saxons but not to let them see you. Do not return to the Roman Bridge until you are sure that you have found the main force. I would begin at the Dunum; they will want to be close to their ships. Adair this is your command.”The young man nodded seriously. “Next year, if you continue to grow you will begin your training as an equite but for now there is no more vital task in the whole army than this one. If they see us before we see them then we will lose.” I could see from their faces that they would not deliberately let me down. May Vindonnus guide you and help you, for today you hunt Saxons.”
I felt sad as they slipped through the gate and into the night. They were not much older than I had been when I had first fought the Saxons but I knew that I had been lucky. I wished for some of that luck for them.
I was leaving more of my warriors guarding Castle Perilous than I was taking with me. Some of those I left behind would join the king later but I wanted my family protected while we were absent. Brother Oswald gave me a reassuring smile as he stood next to Aideen, casting a paternal eye over her and my children. I was happy that my home was in safe hands and we rode east to find our allies.
The weather was an ally as we rode the road for it rained hard. It made it difficult to see a long way ahead but, as we had more of our scouts out before us, I thought it unlikely that we would be spotted first. Of course it made for uncomfortable travelling and the men grumbled about their armour becoming rusty. My men were the exception as they wore the leather cloaks about them; tightly fastened and covering both their head and bodies. Apart from keeping them protected during combat it also shielded both them and their armour from the rain and I saw some of the other warriors looking enviously in their direction.
The first night we camped just east of the high moors. There were wooded areas on either side of the road and it gave us some shelter. Those warriors who had not been training as hard as my men suffered from the inevitable blisters but it was not as bad as it could have been. We had fresh meat and foods with us and our supplies would last until we reached the Roman Bridge. After that it would be dried meat and whatever we could forage. I smiled as Ywain looked ruefully at the rain coming down like arrows and the meagre rations his servant brought to him. He would fit into his armour a little easier within a few days, that was glaringly obvious.
The rain relented by dawn but it was still both grey and overcast. There was a damp smell as we trudged towards the Roman Bridge. Although the Bernicians held the vital river crossing until we were safely there we all worried that we might run into the enemy and we wanted to do that on our terms not theirs. Our advance scouts had not returned. That could be good news; the Saxons might be many miles away, or it could be disastrous and they had been killed or worse, captured.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the road dropped down towards the old Roman fort on the Dunum. I smiled to myself as I remembered gathering my cache of treasure when I was a boy: armour, swords, caligae and nails. How long ago that seemed now. I rode with Prince Ywain into the fort while Garth organised a camp close to the walls. We would have more shelter this night than the previous ones. Some of the warriors recognised me from my time at Din Guardi and they called out a welcome. I waved back at them. I wondered who Morcant Bulc had put in command. Some of his leaders were even less keen to fight than their king and the Bernician in charge of this outpost was keystone to our success. When Riderch strolled to meet us his arms outstretched in welcome I felt hope course through my veins. He was the best of the Bernicians and would be the most solid of commanders but I had thought he was still the leader of the bodyguard.
He took us into what had been the Praetorium in the old fort. It had been made water tight and warm with a cosy fire burning; my old friend had learned the lessons of campaign well. There was hot food and wine on the table and Ywain looked happy for the first time in days. “My men saw your scouts and I thought hot food would be appreciated.” It was. A soldier learns to eat as much as he can when he can for he never knows when he will be on half rations. We both finished two bowlfuls and drank the jug of wine before we spoke.
“Riderch, I thought that you were the leader of the king’s bodyguard.”
“I was,” he said cheerfully, “but I upset the king by not being one of the yes men who fill his court these days. I pointed out that we should have our army closer to the Dunum and not have to rely so much on our allies. This is a punishment. I am the commander of the advance guard.”
“You do not look unhappy about it.”
“And I am not. I do not want to wait behind the walls of Din Guardi while you do the fighting and get the glory. I want to be a part of it.”
“We may not be fighting and I think there will be little glory. We are here to stop the Saxons from moving through our land with a free hand. We need to tie them down,” I pointed towards our camp. “It is why we have so many mounted men. We will always be able to move faster than they do.”
“I know but where Wolf Warrior goes there is bound to be fighting and booty. All the men here are volunteers. They all want to fight with the man who freed northern Bernicia from the Saxons. I am leaving just fifty men to guard the fort. You will have me and another one hundred and fifty warriors when you leave.”
“Isn’t that dangerous? Disobeying the
king? He said to leave a hundred here.”
“He never told me how many men to leave here and he did put me in command.” He had such a look of happiness on his face that it was hard to believe he was talking about going to war with an enemy who outnumbered us many times over.
Prince Ywain and I had decided that there was little point in trying to find the enemy. That was the job of the scouts. However we could be prepared. We had the warriors dig double ditches to the south of the river. I was not convinced that they would approach from that direction but it paid to be prepared. Aella was too crafty a leader and he knew that the bottle neck of the bridge would play into our hands as a smaller army could hold his up. He had, I suspect, respect for the qualities of my warriors who had repulsed him before and killed his son.
While my warriors were digging, Prince Ywain took a small patrol in a circuit covering the land five miles ahead of us. It was a precaution only. I also sent out more of our scouts to travel further afield. We had been there for a week and were well prepared when the advance scouts under Adair finally returned. They all looked dirty and tired but all of them had returned and I was pleased about that. Adair showed great skills as a leader by telling his scouts to rest and he joined Prince Ywain, Garth, Riderch and myself in the fort.
“They are many miles to the east my lord. They have made their camp below the bluffs where the old hill fort lies. Their fleet is anchored in the Dunum and they are encamped between there and the bluffs and out towards the mouth of the river.”
Prince Ywain was nervous and he blurted out, “How many men are there?”
Adair gave him a very serious look, his young face filled with frowns. “From the hills to the river their tents fill the valley bottom. We could not count them all but there have to be more than five thousand. We counted the boats and there were more than five hundred of them.”