Shadow Lands Trilogy

by Simon Lister

  Below the wall stood the reserve force, itself tired and bloody, and a constant trickle of warriors scrambled up the ladders to join in the fighting on the parapet as wounded or exhausted warriors stumbled away from the immediate battle.

  Just behind the reserve force and in the shelter of the inner wall Ceinwen worked almost alone in tending to the wounded. There was no more time or facility available other than to cauterise wounds with a searing iron and the smell of blood and burnt flesh hung sickeningly in the air. The screaming of the wounded was lost in the hammering roar of the battle. Those who were too badly injured to be helped were given vials of liquid to quell the pain and left to die while Ceinwen loaded carts with those not fatally maimed and directed those who were still capable to lead the carts back towards the cliffs. She kept a constant eye on the raging battle and saw Arthur leap down from the wall and start to shout orders to the reserve group. Almost as one they raced back towards her and the inner wall where spare longbows and bags of arrows awaited them. She watched as Arthur turned back to the wall and saw Gereint racing across to him.

  Arthur saw him too and turned to cut the distance between them.

  ‘Arthur! We have to pull back to the cliffs! There’s too many of them and we can’t fight them here! We have to abandon the Gates now!’

  Arthur’s hand shot out and grabbed the collar of Gereint’s battle jerkin and he almost lifted him off the ground as he hauled him closer.

  ‘You will stand your ground along with your warriors and defend this fort until I tell you otherwise!’ Arthur dragged him closer until their faces were only inches apart. ‘Is that clear?’

  Gereint looked up into Arthur’s eyes and his protest fell immediately silent. Arthur still held his sword in his other hand and for a moment Gereint thought he was going to use it. Suddenly the East Gates shuddered under a tremendous blow. The Adren had built a hinged doorway in the centre of their wooden shield so that they could access the gates and they were attempting to batter down the iron-bound wood with a massive tree trunk.

  Arthur turned back to Gereint, ‘Get you bowmen back to the inner wall now then wait for my next orders!’

  Gereint sprinted back to the ladders to get word to his bowmen who were strung out along the North end of the wall. Arthur looked from the jarring gates back to the furious melee on the wall above and knew that if the Adren broke through the gates then his warriors would be slaughtered quickly. He too sprinted to his bowmen lined on the parapet over to his right. As he passed behind his warriors he roared above the din of the battle for them to prepare to fall back to the inner wall.

  When he reached the far end of the wall beyond the section under direct Adren attack he saw Morveren among the bowmen and yelled out to her.

  ‘Fall back to the inner wall! As the others disengage by section from right to left cover the wall with as many volleys as can! Do you understand?’

  She nodded vigorously and picking up her arrow bag informed the others of the plan. They left their positions and raced back to the second wall.

  Once Arthur could see that his and Gereint’s bowmen had reached their place he strode back to the desperate fighting along the wall. He broke into a run as he approached them.

  ‘Back! Back to the second wall! Now!’

  He repeated the orders as he ran behind the struggling line and behind him the Wessex and Anglian warriors leapt from the parapet in a rolling wave and ran for the next line of defence. As they dropped from the wall flights of arrows sped over their heads and into the Adren who were at last claiming the ramparts.

  Arthur continued running along the line, leaping over the strewn bodies and swerving to avoid those locked in combat. He was roaring out the same instruction and all along the wall behind him the Mercian warriors were peeling off and racing for the safety of the second wall. The volleys of arrows swept the wall behind the departing warriors but the Adren were too great in number and many were already jumping down into the compound.

  Finally Arthur reached the end of the Mercian line and he leapt down along with the last of the warriors and once again the arrows flew in a flat trajectory over their heads and into the Adren ranks clambering over the wall and onto the parapet. Dozens were plucked from the wall and sent flying backwards by the force of the arrows that were being fired from less than fifty yards away but the Adren were determined to get to their enemy and the longbows could not cover the entire wall and nor could they hope to match the numbers that were spilling from the ramparts and into the compound.

  As Arthur leapt to the ground and rolled forward to lessen the impact of the jump the East Gate finally splintered and broke inwards. Arthur scrambled to his feet and quickly looked around. Adren were pouring through the shattered gates and scores were now jumping down from the breached East Wall. The last of his warriors were trying to reach the second wall but they were already intermixed with the Adren and there were chaotic running battles everywhere.

  In that moment Arthur knew the battle for the Causeway was lost. The Gates would fall to the Adren just like everything else that had tried to stand in the way of their inevitable tide. He could hold the second wall for a while longer but it was now a question of reaching the cliffs with as many warriors as could be saved from the doomed fort. A bitter rage gripped him at the thought that he could no longer keep the Adren hordes from reaching Britain and he sought out each running battle between him and the second wall and flung himself in a hacking fury at the Adren as he pushed his isolated warriors to the safety of the forming line at the inner wall.

  He reached the second line as the last of the warriors he could not reach were cut down by the Adren. Two Anglians reached over the five-foot high wall and helped to haul him over the top. He recognised Hengest as one of them.

  ‘Destroy the catapult by the West Gate. Completely!’ he shouted as he regained his feet and looked around to assess the shield wall which was already coming under attack from the advancing Adren. About a third of his force stood some way behind the front line and they continued to fire devastating volleys into the Adren as they poured through the East Gate. One of the Adren captains was trying to group some of his own archers on the wall from where they could fire down into the southern warriors. Arthur saw what he was doing and shouted commands to his bowmen to kill him and those he already had around him. The next storm of arrows tore through them and left no one standing and their aim returned to the breached gate, but for every fifty that fell to the longbows twenty more surged through the gate and raced to join the attack on the inner wall.

  Arthur could see that it was only a matter of time before the second line would be overwhelmed and knew that he had to start the retreat now if anyone was to be saved from the ruin of the Causeway Gates.

  He glanced towards the empty flats where the mist was already in tattered retreat before the North wind and then joined the surging struggle around the inner wall and fought once again along the line of defence.

  Even as he fought, Arthur was recalling the defensive constructions between the Gates and the cliffs, and planning how best to get to the sanctuary of the higher ground.

  Beyond the West Gate the Causeway stretched for half a mile before it reached another ramped wall. Between the Gates and the ramped wall another bridged gap had been cut in the Causeway and beyond the last wall lay the flats below the cliffs with interspersed firing walls to cover any retreat.

  Arthur sought behind the shield wall for the Mercian Warlord, Gereint. He saw the shorter figure with his close-cropped grey hair further along and line and he ran towards him.

  ‘Gereint! Get your warriors on the West Wall with longbows! I’m going to retreat the shield wall back through the West Gate and then back down the Causeway. Cover us from the wall until we near the gate then use the ladders to get down the other side ahead of us and prepare to defend the next gap!’

  Gereint raised his sword in understanding and began shouting orders to his men until those covering the broken East Gate were all
Mercian bowmen and then he pulled them back to the West Wall. Once on top they hauled up the ladders and placed them on the other side of the wall. Gereint looked around for his brother Glore and was relieved to see him still amongst his warriors then he cast a glance back towards the flats below the cliffs. He stopped breathing as he stared out across the flats and gripped the edge of the wall with his free hand. There were three or four hundred Adren on the flats behind them making for the Causeway and more seemed to be joining them as he watched.

  ‘Glore!’

  Glore turned to see his brother shouting at him and lowered his longbow as he made his way across to him. Gereint just pointed to the West and Glore looked out towards the flats.

  ‘Oh gods, how did they get behind us?’

  Gereint just shook his head by way of an answer then said, ‘Get Arthur. Quickly.’

  Glore squatted down at the edge of the parapet and gripped the edge as he swung himself off and dropped to the ground below. He sprinted to Arthur who still stood behind the shield wall.

  ‘Arthur! Arthur, you need to see this!’

  Arthur turned at the shout and joined Glore as he began running back to the West Gate. A ladder was lowered for them and they both quickly climbed to the top.

  ‘What is it?’ Arthur asked.

  ‘The Adren are on the flats. Gods know how they got there but they’re behind us now.’

  Arthur looked out beyond the Causeway and could see the figures making for the last wall but he could not tell how many of them there were. He asked Glore.

  ‘Four, five hundred. There seem to be more each time I look.’

  ‘Can we make it to the gap before they do?’

  ‘Yes. I think so.’

  Arthur wondered if Gwyna had made it to the cliffs in time. He looked around the fortification and weighed up what options remained to him. If they made their stand here then the Adren would eventually line the walls and finish them off with arrows. If they could make the far side of the gap and take down the bridge behind them then that would buy them time to deal with the new threat and they might yet be able to fight their way across the flats.

  ‘Take your warriors and hold the far side of the gap. Wait for us there and once we’re across the bridge we’ll hold the last wall against the bastards on the flats. Then it’ll be a charge for the cliffs before the others bridge the gap again!’

  Gereint shouted out his orders to his warriors and they prepared for the race to the gap.

  ‘And Gereint?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Hold that bridge for us.’

  ‘We will, Arthur.’

  They looked at each other for a second and Gereint held out his hand. Arthur gripped his shoulder instead, ‘I’ll shake your hand when we’re on the cliffs. Leave the ladders in place for my bowmen, now go!’

  Arthur returned to the growing battle at the inner wall while Gereint led his exhausted warriors down the Causeway at a stumbling run. Arthur sought out Morveren among the bowmen and told her to get them all up on the West Wall to cover his retreat towards the gate.

  Once she and the others were on the way to replace Gereint’s bowmen Arthur stalked behind the two-deep shield wall shouting for them to prepare to give way holding the line. On his order the warriors began to retreat yard by yard towards the West Gate. The funnelling inner wall narrowed as it approached the gate and the shield wall grew in depth until it was five deep and the first of the warriors began to back out through the open gate. The longbows on the wall fired their last volley and the bowmen scrambled back over the wall and cast aside the ladders before regrouping on the Causeway to cover the wall they had just left. The Adren had no immediate way of accessing the West Wall and by the time they had found a way Arthur planned to have his warriors well beyond their bow range.

  The Adren tore through the fort searching for any Britons that had been left behind and looking for any plunder that they could lay their hands on while their captains bellowed orders at them to join those who had continued the attack upon the retreating Britons. By the time their captains had organised archers to get up onto the West Wall the fighting around the rearguard was already three hundred yards away and well beyond the effective range of their less powerful bows.

  The Mercian warriors had gone on ahead to secure the last bridge on the Causeway against the Adren emerging on the flats, which left the rearguard entirely composed of the remaining Wessex and Anglian warriors. They formed a double line, shield to shield, across the breadth of the Causeway with only five groups of four interspersed behind them ready to plug any breach that the Adren made in the line. The ragged line was continually giving ground against the Adren that were swarming from the abandoned Gates. Those who fell injured or exhausted before the advancing Adren were left behind by the retreating shield wall and were either trampled to death or butchered in a frenzied hacking.

  As they neared the bridge Arthur’s commands brought the two sides of the shield wall swinging back so that they were fighting on three sides as group by group they sprinted across the bridge to the side held by the Mercians. Gereint had placed half his own warriors in a line fifty yards from the bridge and facing towards the threat from the Adren on the flats. The other half were lined to either side of the bridge and were now firing volleys into the exposed Adren as more and more of Arthur’s warriors raced back across the narrow bridge. Those who still had their longbows joined the Mercians and the hail of arrows flying into the Adren ranks doubled.

  Arthur was one of the last across and he cast around for the wheel mechanism to draw the bridge back to their side. He found it but saw that they were unlikely to be able to haul the bridge back with so many still on it and without sacrificing the last few warriors who were holding back the unrelenting Adren. He was about to order its withdrawal nonetheless when he saw the rope lying coiled to one side of the wheel. He started to pay it out and cut four lengths off with his bloody sword. Seeing Morgund nearby with Balor and Cael he called them over.

  ‘Tie one end around your waists, the other to the wheel! We’re going to clear the bridge!’

  As they started to do so he looked around for Hengest.

  ‘Hengest! Over here! We’re going to clear the bridge then I want you to drag it away from the far bank and haul us back in! We’ll use the bridge as a wall to cover this side from their arrows. Can you do it?’

  Hengest saw what they were doing and understood Arthur’s plan immediately. He nodded but said, ‘It shouldn’t be you. Send another instead.’

  Arthur just carried on and said, ‘Get ready.’ He looked at the others who had finished their preparations. ‘Charge into them. Don’t stop. Once we’ve cleared enough Hengest will pull the bridge and haul us back up the slope.’

  With that he turned and sprinted to where the last of the rearguard were still holding the Adren at bay. The others followed trailing the ropes behind them.

  As Arthur reached the line of defenders on the bridge he yelled for them to retreat then flung himself into the Adren ranks. He heaved two of them aside with his shield and swung his sword into those to his right. Balor was cutting a swathe through the enemy with his axe as he swept it from side to side while Morgund and Cael were charging into the Adren on the right of the bridge cutting, pulling and pushing as many of them off the edge as they could.

  Suddenly the bridge jerked backwards and dipped before crashing off the edge of the far bank. Arthur and the others were pitched forwards as the far end of the bridge crashed into the marsh water. Morgund managed to clamber up the forty-five degree angle as the bridge was gradually reeled backwards and sprinted back to the Briton line as the bridge tilted back to its former level. The few Adren who had managed to stay on it were immediately picked off by the Mercian longbows. The gap in the Causeway had taken the Adren by surprise and their own archers were still well behind the point of battle.

  Arthur and the other two were piled in with a mass of struggling Adren as they all flayed about in the sucking ma
rsh water still desperately locked in combat. Arthur felt the rope tighten around his waist then suddenly he was torn backwards through the mud and away from the enemy. He thrashed about trying to keep his head above the putrid water and saw Balor being likewise dragged backwards. The next moment they were both being tugged up the earth bank. He looked back at the chaos below the far bank and briefly glimpsed two Adren clasped around Cael as his rope stretched out taut behind him. One of the Adren managed to free his knife hand and slash at the rope which sprang away and fell slackly into the water. Cael was thrashing around in the water and trying to free himself from the two Adren’s grasp when he realised his rope had been cut. He threw his sword away and locked both arms around his attackers’ necks and kicked away from the treacherous bank. He slipped under the swirling muddy water and took the two Adren with him as he disappeared into the blackness.

  Cael went under as Arthur and Balor scrabbled up the last of the slope. Arthur knelt on all fours besides Balor coughing out the stinking water he had swallowed and wiping the thick mud from his eyes. He looked up at Hengest, ‘Cael?’

  Hengest shook his head.

  ‘Morgund?’

  Hengest pointed to Morgund who had already recovered his longbow and was firing into the Adren ranks. He helped Arthur to his feet and they both heard Gereint’s shouting at the same time. The Adren from the flats had reached his line of defence.

  ‘Prop this bridge up as a shield!’ Arthur shouted.

  Hengest immediately set about organising those warriors nearby to help him stand the bridge length ways on their side of the gap while Arthur dragged the still spluttering Balor to his feet and propelled him towards the next source of battle before rushing to Gereint’s side.