Warlord of the North

by Griff Hosker

  "And you may well be right. It is why I have yet to unpack the wagons. I have plans for them but only when I know for certain that they will come this way."

  We spent a nervous night awaiting news from our scouts. I was awake before dawn. It had been a bitterly cold night and, despite our fires and our furs, we had not been warm. Up here, in the uplands, the covering of frozen snow was thicker than at Stockton. It would affect the battle. Gilles helped me to dress. "Will we fight this day, Earl?"

  "Perhaps but we must be ready to in any case. Remember to keep lances and spears ready for me in case we do charge."

  "Against so many knights? Would that not be suicide?"

  "It depends upon the worth of our enemies. If they are as good as we are then yes but if they are not then their superior numbers will mean nothing. At least here, if we lose, our people at home will be able to prepare their defence."

  "You think we may lose?"

  "No but we have rarely fought against such great odds. Perhaps I should have stayed behind my walls."

  I had not heard him approach and almost jumped when Edward spoke, "Had you done that, Earl, then the door to Yorkshire would have been open. All your work and that of King Henry would have been undone. We are outnumbered but yours is the right decision, as ever!"

  An hour or so later, when the sun was already up, Edgar the falconer galloped across the beck. His horse was lathered. "They come this way, lord. Aiden found one of their scouts. Before he died Aiden persuaded him to divulge their route. They march here and intend to camp in the village this night. They will reach here in four or five hours. Aiden and Edward follow them still."

  I clapped my hand against my sword and turned to Edward, "Good! Then I want the wagons emptying. Take one to your men at the ford. It can become a wall behind which they can fight. The other should be placed across the bridge in Wolsingham. The servants and grooms can hold that. Gilles tell Sir Edward's squires to gather their squires. The squires can defend the bridge and deny the enemy the crossing."

  "Aye lord."

  Sir Harold said, "And us lord?"

  "We make the ford a death trap. Philip, Dick, I want your archers to bury spears in the bank of the ford and use that as a barrier. Your task is to hold it as long as you can. Wulfric. I want a second barrier close to the bridge. You and your men will prepare that. When all is done and we have eaten I will give you my plan." As they hurried off I turned to my former squires. "And we will create a little mischief at the ford."

  After finding my saddlebags I led the three knights down to the ford. The water was knee deep. When winter took hold and the rains came then it would be much deeper; passable but deeper. I took out the caltrops I had brought. "Spread them out across the ford. Put some under the water at the far side, Sir Harold and Sir Tristan. Sir John and I will do this side."

  I had had Alf make me fifty of these deadly weapons. My horse would be glad that he no longer had to carry them. They were heavy. They were so designed that they always landed with one painful spike sticking up. They would maim a man or lame a horse. Whatever the result it would slow down our enemies as they crossed the ford and it would cause a bottle neck. I took the last ten or so and spread them on either side of the ford in case any knight thought to go around the trap. When we had finished we returned to our horses.

  Fires were burning and the meat which our archers had hunted was being cooked. As the outside was cooked men sliced hunks from it. A man with a full stomach who was rested was more alert and better equipped to fight than a man who had marched in the cold all day and eaten oats. Not long after noon my scouts rode in. Luckily we were at the ford and I shouted. "Ride down the beck a hundred paces and cross there. We have seeded the river with caltrops."

  Soon they joined us. "They are five miles down the road. They are not turning at the crossroads. They come here to Wolsingham."

  "You have done well, the three of you. Eat for we shall need your bows!"

  With the squires guarding the bridge we had just sixty five of us guarding the ford. We were forty paces back. The hard frozen ground meant that the enemy horses would not sink into the mud but if they were the slightest bit careless they might slip. Our sixty six archers were spread out on the flanks using whatever cover they could manage to find. With their horses nearby they would be able to flee quickly enough and take up their position on the other side of the wagon and the River Wear. The mounted men in the middle were in three ranks of twenty men. As we knights were in the front rank as well as Wulfric and my most experienced men at arms, that was the force which would do the most damage.

  We saw their scouts appear. They appeared over the brow of the road and skittered to a halt when they saw our spears and horses. Two watched us while the other two hurtled back down the road. It was tempting to loose arrows at them but it would have been a waste. My archers could be seen but not their true numbers.

  We saw the banners appear over the skyline. It was now heading towards dusk and the light was fading. I wondered if they would camp and attack in the morning or risk an immediate attack. Their leaders gathered and then I saw their army fill the horizon behind them. There was a debate going on. It became heated for I saw arms waved and fingers pointed.

  Wulfric laughed, "My lord, they have been beaten by you too many times. They are looking for the trap."

  Eventually two knights peeled off and led men to the east. They would try the other ford. While their leaders waited for the report they formed four lines of warriors. It looked like they had eighty mounted men there. Thirty others had headed east. That meant that the great mass of warriors whom we faced were on foot. From our right we heard the whinnies of horses and the shouts as men died at the ford. There was a clash of steel. The skirmish lasted no more than the time it takes to ride around my castle and then twenty two riders and two riderless horses came back.

  Another debate ensued. This time is was brief and, with the sound of a trumpet, the six leaders pulled their horses to one side and the lines advanced. They had learned their lessons and they kept a healthy gap between the lines. Dick and Philip of Selby had measured the range. As soon as the first line trotted down the bank to the ford and were twenty paces from the water their sixty arrows, augmented by my three scouts, were released. They did not release high in the air to create a deadly arc; instead they used a flat trajectory. They had more chance of a hit for the helmets were all open faced. Eight men fell, mortally stricken, but horses were also struck. An arrow in the centre of a horse's head kills immediately and three riders were flung over the heads of their mounts.

  The charging riders pulled up their shields to protect their faces. They could not see the water. As they splashed across some lost their footing on the loose and slippery stones and then others found the caltrops. Horses reared and as they did so their riders became easy targets. Arrows found parts of the body not protected by mail and they also struck the chests of rearing, wounded horses. Had we had more archers we would have slaughtered them all but, even so none of their front rank made our shore. The second rank fared little better but the third made the other side having only lost eight men.

  We were a hundred paces from them. They began to spread out into a longer line, "Charge!"

  We hurtled at them. It was not a gallop but a canter and we stayed together. They had lost their unity when they spread out and we were a solid mass of horseflesh and metal. I pulled back my spear and, as we met their disordered line, I punched forward. The knight I hit was struck just over his sword hand. It tore through the metal of his armour and then through the soft gambeson. He was already falling over the back of his horse when the tip found flesh and I pushed a little harder and then twisted and pulled. The tip came away bloody.

  Sir Edward on one side of me and Wulfric on the other had no enemies to fight for the archers had cleared the knights on either side of the one I had slain. I did not want to risk the water and I yelled, "Wheel!" We were just twenty paces from the beck. The second line moved a
part to allow us to move through them and then they struck the remnants of the second and third lines. When the Scottish trumpet sounded the retreat we knew we had won the first part of this battle.

  The Scots withdrew to the brow of the hill. The light was fading. Would they risk another attack? They turned and disappeared out of sight.

  "Do you think they are going home, lord?"

  "No, John. That would be a good ending but they have many more men than we do. They will camp. Wulfric, I want sentries watching the ford. Sir Tristan take your conroi and reinforce the ford on the Wear. They might try something there."

  They both left. "Sir Harold and Sir John have your men strip their dead of anything of value, mail and weapons. Have the dead horses butchered and then place the Scottish dead by the beck. It will be another obstacle for them and it will remind them of their losses."

  I dismounted and took off my helmet. It was not over but we had seeded their minds with doubts. I looked at the dead as they were piled by the river. Over twenty men at arms and knights had fallen I knew there were others dead in the river and on the other side. I was in no doubt that others had made it back but were wounded. One of Harold's men at arms had a bad wound and four others needed attention. It was a small loss. My archers combed the field seeking unbroken arrows. They would only be used when all the good arrows had been released. We wasted nothing.

  We returned to the village. We had not bothered the people but now, as the smell of roasting horseflesh filled the air, a few of them ventured out. I called to them. "Come and join us. There is plenty of meat. It is Scottish horse meat."

  The smell was too tempting even for the most timid and they sat around our fires sharing the bounty.

  I sought out the headman. "Do you hear much from the Bishop, headman?"

  "No lord. At least not directly. His steward sends to us for timber and his hunters use the forests but we rarely see him."

  "And are you bothered much by the Scots?"

  "Aye lord. Never an army such as you faced today but there are thieves and robbers who try to take what we have." He smacked the sword at his side. "We defend what is ours."

  I nodded, "They will come again tomorrow."

  He smiled, "And you will send them packing for you are the Wolf of the North. Every Scot knows and fears your banner. Travellers who ply this road tell tales of your deeds. When we saw your banner we knew that we would be safe for we are English. The ones who need fear your ferocity are the Scots."

  "Well, tomorrow, my friend, have your people keep indoors until it is over. It may not be quite as easy on the morrow."

  I had each of my knights take a watch that night as did I. Perhaps I gave this Baron of Skipton too much credit. I had thought, with his superior numbers, he would have tried a night attack. He did not.

  I had the last watch, the one before dawn, and I watched snow as it slowly fell. Within a short time everything was covered in a thin blanket of white. I knew that the snow meant it would be warmer and the ground, which had been frozen hard, would now be thawed. It would not be the same when they attacked us this day. I began to change my plans. I smiled to myself as I walked our lines. In times past I would have had to ask the Earl of Gloucester, the King or the Count for permission to do so. Now I was Warlord I answered to no one.

  By the time it was dawn and my men were roused, fed and armed I had my new plan. "Move all of the horses save Sir Harold's men at arms. I want the horses south of the river." While we ate I told my knights and leaders what I intended. I sent Edgar the falconer to keep Sir Tristan informed. My falconer would wait with Sir Tristan as a messenger. We woke the villagers and sent them across the river to safety. They offered to fight alongside us but it would not be right. They were not warriors. They were farmers.

  I walked with Sir Edward and Wulfric to the beck. Some of our archers had stood guard there all night. I sniffed the air for the wind was, as it had been for some days, from the north east. "Do you smell that?"

  They both looked at me as though I was mad and Sir Edward said, "Wood smoke?"

  "Aye and that is all. If you stood downwind of our camp you would smell horsemeat and venison. They have had cold rations. From what Aiden said they have been using the villages they have taken to supply them. We denied them Wolsingham. We have a hungry army. They will be keen to get at us. They saw us butchering their horses. Forget their leaders and the knights; the ordinary warrior will try to cover this slippery morass of snow covered mud to get at us. That is why we use Harold and his men to draw them on to us. When they cross the beck they will be desperate to get into the village and we use it as a castle. We have our men at arms between the huts with archers behind." I turned. "Come let us walk back and see what they shall see."

  It became obvious which places would be attacked first and the three of us decided which men would go where. With Sir Tristan's men at the ford along with many of Sir Edward's we were down, largely to the men of Stockton, those I led and Sir John. They would have to do. The weapon which would break the Scots would be the war bow. The archers would be our third rank and they would kill as the Scots struggled to get at us.

  Sir Harold mounted his men. He had fourteen and a squire. "Remember Harold that you flee as soon as the Scots leave the beck. Your purpose is twofold. To prevent them seeing our defences and to draw them on. You ride towards the village and then along the river. Cross at the ford and then join us in the village on foot."

  "Aye lord. I will not let you down."

  They headed to the beck while we planted the broken spears we had collected from the battlefield as a barrier before us. I had all of the spears we had brought and we each had three of them. There were no squires to pass them forward. I had had to spread my knights out. We had used the ashes from the fires and reeds from the river bank to make a firmer footing for us. Whilst not dry it was not slippery. In a hand to hand combat that might make all the difference. Between each hut was a strongpoint held by one of my knights or a sergeant at arms. With me I had ten of my men at arms for I had the road to defend. Philip of Selby and fourteen of his archers were behind us.

  As we waited I knew the weakness of my strategy. If they ignored the wall of spears and attacked the huts they could hack their way through them and make our defence irrelevant. I counted on the fact that they would be angry at their treatment the day before and be keen to get at us. Rage which was blind often hid simple solutions.

  All that we could see were the rumps of the fifteen horses before us. There were no archers in the woods although the Scots would be expecting them. There were no caltrops in the river. All that they saw was a thin line of men at arms. Suddenly I heard Sir Harold shout something and the line wheeled and came directly towards us. He did as I had asked and kept a straight line to keep our defences hidden. When they were twenty paces from us they wheeled. Even though they were not travelling quickly and all obeyed their orders one horse slipped and skidded a little. The hooves of the horses had transformed the white sheet of snow into a grey sloppy, slippery ice swamp.

  As Sir Harold and his men headed east I saw the Scots. I frowned. There were no horsemen. This was just foot soldiers. I saw that they were led by a knight. I did not recognise his banner which was blue with a diagonal red cross. The Scots had interspersed their men at arms amongst the lightly armed Galwegians and mercenaries. I would have to worry about their horsemen later.

  The conditions underfoot became apparent when the knight tried to run. He slipped. His men, many of whom were barefoot, fared a little better but, even so their charge was little more than a fast walk. When they became unbalanced I watched as they waved their arms to recover. Philip of Selby said, "Now then lads, watch for targets. There will be plenty. If the Earl has no one to fight then we have done our job!"

  We held the section across the road and this would be the point of their attack. It was also the closest to the Scots and we would be the first to engage. Philip of Selby launched the first arrow which whizzed over my head
and plunged into the face of a man at arms. The man at arms was before the knight and he had slipped, as his arms had flailed his shield had dropped. Soon our archers were targeting individual Scots. Each one they aimed at was hit. Not one arrow was wasted. Of course the men that they felled were a drop in the ocean. Philip and his men had hit but thirty out of the hundreds who came. The knight shouted, "Halt!" Followed by, "Shield wall!"

  In the time it took to form the wall another twenty men had died or been wounded and I noticed arrows coming from our flanks. Soon our entire force of archers would be releasing arrows.

  The Scots eventually had a wall of shields protecting those behind who had none. Philip said, "Right lads, release high in the sky. On my command! Now!"

  This time fifteen arrows went straight up followed by another fifteen and then another. After five such showers I saw that the heart had gone from the wedge. I could see gaps behind as the Scots closed with us. Philip and his archers would now concentrate on those behind the front ranks and it would be up to me and my men to hold the wall of shields until my archers had won the battle for us.

  I held my first spear high for, as the Scots came close, they had to negotiate the planted spears. They watched their footing and the path they had to follow. A man at arms was ahead of the knight once more. He stared at me and I held his eyes. The moment they flicked to the ground to see where the next spear was my right hand darted out and the spear head entered his eye. I pushed hard. Even had it not been a mortal wound he would have fallen. As he did so an arrow sped from behind me and, as it was at a range of less than ten feet, embedded itself in the right shoulder of the knight.

  I pulled back my spear and hurled it over hand. It embedded itself in the knight's chest for his shield had fallen to the side. I picked up another and braced it against the ground as enraged men at arms and wild Galwegians ran at us. It was a costly mistake. Those who avoided the spears were struck by arrows released at a ridiculously close range. Even mail would not stand against them. When my last spear was shattered I drew my sword. We had been pushed back a little and I stepped forward into the gap which appeared. My men followed me. As I stepped forward I held up my shield to take the blow from the war hammer wielded in two hands by a huge warrior. I had taken such a blow before. It could break an arm and the secret was to angle the shield so that the force of the hammer was deflected. As it slid down the face of my shield my sword stabbed into his unprotected middle. I felt it grate along his spine as it came out of his back. The huge warrior fell backwards.