by Griff Hosker
We waited until we saw the first glimmer of grey in the eastern sky and then the warriors, archers and slingers slipped out of the gate. Pol and I barred it and then stood at the top of the main gate. In the middle of the compound lay the five torches burning fiercely. They would ignite the inferno which would protect our backs and deny the Saxons Aelle’s hard work.
Pol’s eyes were slight with excitement. “Thank you for choosing me my lord.”
“Who else would I choose? You are the standard bearer and besides, without Ridwyn or Garth, who else will watch my back?”
From my standpoint I could see the fires from the Saxon camp in the distance and the shapes of the Saxon guards as they moved around. The line of warriors led by my brothers moved slowly forwards, slightly hidden by the early morning mist. Behind them the line of archers stood, drawing their bows back. It was strange watching without any control in my hands. It would be Miach, Aelle and Raibeart who would begin the attack. I notched an arrow; it gave me something to do and I aimed at a shape moving to the right of the camp.
Suddenly I heard the noise of eighty bows releasing arrows and I released mine. I notched and released a second. Then the line of warriors hit the sleeping camp. When I heard the buccina call three times I knew that soon the camp would be filled with the sound of battle and death. The initial surprise of the attack would only last for a short time and then the weight of numbers of the enemy would take over. I heard the clash as the horsemen over ran the outer defences and then I heard Miach’s orders, “Retreat!”
With the warriors in the front and the horsemen as a rearguard my small army headed towards the western edge of the lake. Soon the remnants of the Saxons and the men they had left to the north would arrive and it would be up to me to attract and hold their attention. I wondered how the ships were progressing as they edged south. As soon as the Saxons on the eastern shore saw them then it would be as though a wasp’s nest had been disturbed. Now that the sun had risen I could see the dead and dying, both Rheged and Saxon, although there appeared to be more dead Saxons than our own warriors. I heard a roar and saw a warband emerge from the north.
“Stand by Pol. As soon as the banner is unfurled then go and light the first fires. I will follow soon.”
He hesitated, “Should I not wait a while my lord?”
“No. They will only have eyes for me anyway.” I took off my helmet and held it in my right hand. I had my wolf shield in my left and my wolf cloak around my shoulders. I was ready. I saw a chief organising his men. There were some wounded Rheged warriors for I saw them have their throats slit. “Now Pol!” He unfurled the banner and gave it to me and, as he leapt down the steps I shouted, “I am Lord Lann, Warlord of Rheged, the Wolf Warrior and I have returned to punish you for your treachery. Behold the Wolf Standard!” It was wyrd, but a sudden breeze made the banner flutter and stand erect. The effect was instantaneous. The Saxons hurled themselves at the walls. They were desperate to get their hands on me, their enemy. I barely managed to deflect the axe thrown at me and then, as smoke and flames began to lick at the walls, I fled the battlements.
Pol had two torches left in his blackened hands. His face was alight with excitement. “There is just the last wall my lord.”
“Good, then light the fires.“ I went through the gate which had been left open by Myrddyn when he had left and threw the standard into the bottom of the small boat we had stolen from the Saxons. The flames from the front wall of the fort rose high into the sky as Pol jumped into the boat, threatening to capsize it. “Steady Pol. It would not do to drown here in plain sight of the Saxons.”
He gripped the thwarts tightly, “Sorry my lord.”
“Now let us row! “
We were gambling that their desire to get their hands on me would allow the soldiers of my small army to escape unseen south towards the ships. We seemed to move slowly across the water although with the sunlight shining from the east it was quite pleasant. I kept glancing to my left. Aedh would, hopefully appear with our horses. Until I saw him we had to keep rowing down the lake to fix the Saxon’s attention on us.
“How many men do you think were killed back there my lord?”
“It looked to me as though more than a hundred had fallen.” I shook my head. “I could not count them all but the important part is that it has weakened them. We have a long way to go and this time the Saxons know where we are going.” When my people had made the exodus we had done so in secret. It was now obvious, from the dead Saxon chief, that they knew where we were and King Aethelfrith had shown himself to be as cunning as Aella had been. I would have to use more cunning; the cunning of the wolf!
The stronghold of Aelle was now a blazing pyre. The Saxons had warriors on both sides of the conflagration and they pointed towards our lonely little boat in the middle of the lake. They began to head south along the shore in pursuit. There was still no sign of Aedh. I peered to my right and saw that the ships were a dot on the far horizon. The families, at least, would soon be beyond the Saxon’s grasp; at least for the time being. “Pull harder Pol. Now that they have seen us they will be able to move quicker than we. We began to move faster but I could see the Saxons were still gaining. We appeared to have moved some distance and I began to worry that something had happened to Aedh. Perhaps the other band of Saxons had ambushed my whole force. That would be a disaster not to be countenanced.
“Lord Lann! Over here!”
I looked to my left and saw Aedh and three of the scouts with two horses. “You keep rowing. It will edge us closer in to the shore.” I stopped rowing and the boat headed directly west. There were Saxons less than six hundred paces from us and the shore was still twenty paces away. Boats were so slow. I began to row and breathed a sigh of relief as the bottom ground on the gravel. “Thank the Allfather.”
We leapt out and Pol grabbed the precious standard. The Saxons were now a hundred and fifty paces away. The scouts took out their slings and began to hurl shot at the approaching warriors. By the time we had mounted the slings had slowed down their advance.
“Captain Miach is over there.” Aedh pointed to the south east.
“And the other Saxons, the ones from the ridge?”
He grinned, “They are following the boats.”
That was a relief. I knew, as we all did, that we would need to fight them but this way we would be surprising them some way down the lake from their main army. “Did we lose many?”
“Tuanthal said there were fifteen. The captain is with the rearguard, watching the main band.”
“Good. You find the southern band and I will join Tuanthal.” We headed south and soon reached Tuanthal. I saw four empty saddles. Equites were our most valuable resource and we could ill afford any losses. I knew that my captain of horse would have done all that he could to mitigate the losses but the sixty of us were all that stood between a couple of hundred Saxons and our army.
He smiled with relief when he saw me. “The southern band is just three hundred strong. Miach and Lord Raibeart think they can defeat them.”
“Good, but we must discourage these Saxons and slow them down.” Fortunately the chase and hunt to capture the Wolf Warrior had meant that they had not reached us in large numbers. The fastest and the fittest had arrived first. We waited. The rest would help the horses in the long run. We needed then to be as fresh as possible. It would be a long chase. And then the Saxons began to appear from the lakeside. They had followed our trail. As soon as they saw our serried ranks they halted and formed a shield wall. They expected us to attack. There were just thirty of them and we could have sent them packing but there was no need, as yet. We needed to halt the whole of their warband. Every moment spent here gave the rest of the refugees time to get beyond their grasp.
I unslung my bow. “I think I can discourage them a little.”
Although loosing arrows from the back of a horse was not as accurate as from the ground, my horse was still and the Saxons were just a hundred paces away. I drew back and sighted on the mid
dle of their line. My arrow soared upwards and I loosed a second and a third. I could see that some of the men had fought against archers before as they held their shields up but others made the mistake of looking upwards. Two men fell, one wounded and one, from the arrow in his head, dead. I loosed three more and wounded a second man. They began to pull back, northwards.
“Edge north.” The whole line moved forwards and the Saxons began to move quicker. Suddenly they stopped as they ran into their main band. “Good. At least we know where they are!” I glanced down the line. The equites looked confident. “Pol. The standard!”
He unfurled the banner and the whole line of my warriors saw it and roared their cheers. They began to bang their shields with their javelins chanting, “Wolf Warrior!” over and over. I slung my bow.
“How many javelins do your men have left?”
“Most have two but some only have one.”
“Then on my command we charge and hurl one javelin and then retreat a mile down the road.”
“Right my lord. Equites! Ready with a javelin!”
He glanced at me, “Charge!” I drew my sword, “Saxon Slayer!” The sun from the east glinted off its blade and the jewels on the handles. I knew from the Saxon prisoners we had captured the effect the blade had. They thought it made me invincible and, much as they wanted it they all believed that they would die if they tried to take it from my living hand. When we were thirty paces from them the men hurled their javelins. Two axes flew back in return but most of the shields rose up. However three warriors burst from the line and raced towards me. A javelin from Tuanthal took one in the throat and hurled him back to the line. Pol was still moving forwards and he jabbed the end of the standard, like a lance and it punched a warrior in the eye knocking him unconscious. From the mess I suspect he had lost the orb. The last man had a helmet like mine and he ran at my horse with his axe raised. I jerked my horse’s head around and the axe swung into empty air. I slashed down with the blade and it ripped his neck at the shoulders. The Saxons deigned to wear mail coifs beneath their helmets and this brave warrior had paid the price.
“Back” We wheeled into a column of twos and galloped along the track. I heard the roar as the Saxons lurched after us but they had no chance of making up the ground between us. We were mounted and they were on foot. They only succeeded in making their warriors more tired.
The trail rose above the trees and Pol pointed to the western shore. “My lord. The warband to the west is moving south.”
I looked and saw that the other Saxon army was also moving south to cut us off. I had expected it. If they did reach us then it would have meant the plan, Myrddyn and I had concocted, had failed. “Keep an eye on them.”
After a mile we halted and turned to face the Saxons we knew would be following. We waited longer than I thought and I wondered if they were trying to outflank us. The thick woods to the east did not favour large numbers and so I was not particularly worried. They must have been more tired than I had expected. When they did arrive they came in a wedge formation with shields bristling with spears. They had learned their lesson. “I want them to think we are charging. On my command ride ten paces, wheel and retreat a mile down the trail.” The Saxons pulled their shields up as we charged. They would have anticipated the thud of javelins on shields but there were none. By the time they peered from behind their defences we had disappeared.
Tuanthal pointed to the south. “The end of the lake is just a mile away.”
“Then it is time to rejoin my brothers.” We now had the most difficult aspect of the fight. We had to destroy one Saxon band before the second struck us. The second warband would be fresher and would not have suffered any casualties. I hoped that the men of Raibeart and Aelle still had fight left in them.
We found the army just a half mile along the lake. Aedh took us to them. When we arrived he pointed to the distant masts of the ships. “The Saxons have moved swiftly,” he grinned, “and they are tired. They are a mile from the boats but Myrddyn still has them moving, somehow, down the river.” I knew not how he had done that as the river was neither wide nor deep. Perhaps the recent rains had swollen it or perhaps it was wyrd! “Their attention is on the boats and they have no men facing north. They are not expecting us. They must think we are all on board their boats.”
“Tuanthal, get more javelins from the pack animals. Miach, Raibeart, Aelle, this is the plan. Five flights from the archers and the equites charge under the arrows.”
Aelle said, “Isn’t that dangerous?”
Miach snorted, “If the archers are under my command then no!”
I waved an irritated hand to silence them. We had no time for this. “Raibeart you and Aelle will follow up. I want the Saxons split so that Raibeart and Aelle can get to the boats, along with the scouts and the pack animals, and form a defensive position around them.”
“Where will you be brother?”
“I will be with Tuanthal and Pol. We will be the arrow head!”
I took two javelins. I would not need any more. We moved forwards. Aedh had brought us to a small hill which overlooked the rear of the marching warband. They were Saxons and there was no order. I nodded at Miach. “Ready! Loose!”
The rest of his commands were lost as I led the sixty riders at the rear of the line. I watched as each successive flight thumped home. Some struck helmets, knocking their owners to the ground, some struck shields, making them unwieldy but most struck flesh and the Saxons fell. Someone took charge and turned just when we were forty paces away. We all hurled our javelins. Most of Tuanthal’s men had three but I wanted Saxon Slayer unsheathed ready to inflict even more damage.
“Saxon Slayer!” With the banner bravely flying we struck the disordered and disorganised line. I hacked down to the left and right of my horse’s head. The only way to stand up to a charge of horse is to have an unbroken line of shields. They had not formed such a line and they paid the price. We struck individual men and they fell or they fled. The arrows and the javelins had accounted for half of their number and we were cleaving our way through the rest. Tuanthal pushed to the right and I pushed to the left towards the lake. Pol was laying about him with his sword, the standard still showing those behind the way to go. The Saxons before us fled into the water. We had the advantage of height and it was a slaughter. Some attempted to escape in the lake but the weight of their armour and their exhaustion did our work for us. The mud at the bottom of the lake sucked them to their death. Soon we were facing an empty lake, save for the bodies.
“Turn and form line.”
The thirty warriors with me turned and straightened our rank. I could see Tuanthal and his men pursuing the last remnants up the hillside. “Raibeart, Aelle, get to the boats. We will watch the enemy. Miach join them.” Miach and his men, being mounted would reach the boats first and they would provide a defence until the rest of us reached them. We waited until Tuanthal and Aedh had rejoined us. “Aedh, send a rider across the lake. I need to know how far the other Saxon band is away from the boats.” He whipped his horse round to find a rider with the freshest horse.
“The horses cannot charge again, Lord Lann. They have done too much already.”
“I know Tuanthal. We are here to watch only. When we leave here we walk to the boats.” I held my hand up to shield my eyes. It looked to be well into the afternoon. If we could hold them until dark then we stood a chance. The Saxon line marched along the track. This band still outnumbered us and we were tired. The next few hours would determine if we lived or died.
Chapter 4
Myrddyn was waiting for me some way from the boats. “We have got as far as we can, my lord. There are rocks which will tear out the bottoms. I have those skilled in such things making wagons from the wood of the last ship.” We had brought the few wheels left from the stronghold with us. The horses we had taken from Aelle’s home could pull the wagons with the old and the infirm. “I have put kindling in the others.”
“Do not fire them yet. T
here is still an army yonder.” I pointed to the western shore.
“We have been watching them. There are over three hundred in the band.”
“And with about the same number on this side we do not want to be caught between those two rocks. I peered to the north. We must defeat these before the others join them.”
“That, my lord, is out of our hands. They know you lead us and there is nought else to draw them on.”
“Then we shall have to defend as best we can.”
My two brothers’ wives had organised hot food and the men greedily devoured the hot sustenance. Raibeart and Aelle had begun to build defences from masts and trees. We would ensure that the Saxons could not use their preciously built ships again! I chewed on some mutton. I stood on the deck of the last ship and I began to count the n we had left. There were, give or take, sixty horsemen, not counting the scouts. There were over seventy archers. The slingers remained untouched and there were twenty of them but there were but seventy warriors. If we used every horse we had then there would just be the slingers and warriors afoot but that would not aid us. We would still have the lumbering mass that was the people of Rheged. We had to fight and win.
I jumped down from the boat and gathered my leaders and Pol around me. “Until Aedh reaches us with news of the western army we will concentrate upon defeating this one.” I pointed up the lake where the Saxons were forming a shield wall in preparation for an attack. “Pol, make sure the Wolf Banner flies. I want them hungry for my blood. Myrddyn, as soon as the wagons are ready then begin to move the families south and get as far as we can before dark. Take half of the warriors, the ones who are weakest, with you for protection.” He threw me a questioning look. “The families have had the day to rest. They do not need to march far. The land flattens out four miles to the south and we can make a camp there. Tuanthal and his horsemen can escort you.”
“Is that wise brother? The equites are feared by the Saxons. And you leave yourself with few men for the shield wall.”