by Griff Hosker
“There is a plan then?”
“Of course, Prince Pasgen.”
Myrddyn stepped forwards and I nodded at him to explain. “If we assume the worst and that the Saxons will attack us tomorrow then we just firstly ensure that they do not see any horsemen, just the handful of warriors who will be standing here with Captain Miach’s dismounted archers behind. We want them over confident and to make a shield wall.” The wagons will already be rolling south with an escort of a few equites and half of the warriors. When the archers have loosed all of their flights then they will mount their horses and flee because they are afraid of the mighty Saxons.“ Miach snorted but I could see that he enjoyed the humour. The warriors will also rush through the fort after their comrades. The Saxons cannot climb the walls and the defences in a line and they will race over piece meal. On the other side they will see the fleeing warriors and they will race after them and then, Prince Pasgen, you and Captain Tuanthal will attack from two sides and slaughter the Saxons.”
“It sounds good when you say it wizard but the Saxons may not dance to your particular tune.”
I stepped forwards. “And that does not matter so long as the wagons get away and head towards the monastery. By now I hope that there will be at least a hundred men of my shield wall marching to our aid. All we need to do is slow down the Saxons until we can reach our men.”
“And if they do not come?”
“Then little brother, the gods will not be smiling upon us but we will have a glorious end!”
When the equite woke me then I knew that the gods were not with us. “Warlord. The small band entered the hill fort and they left again an hour ago.” He pointed to the distant ridge. “They were joined by five hundred Saxons. My companion is watching them and he will tell us when they are a mile away.”
“You have done well. Pol, rouse the camp!”
Aelle led the wagons away with forty warriors while thirty of Tuanthal’s equites escorted them. It made our numbers seem quite small. Raibeart and his men threw caltrops in front of the hill and spread themselves in an invitingly shallow line. Pasgen and Tuanthal each took half of the horsemen and they rode to two spots half a mile away where they would be hidden from view by folds in the land and bushes. Their signal to attack would be the buccina, held proudly by Pol. Finally the archers of Miach and the slingers were hidden behind the crumbling walls of the fort. The horses of the archers were tethered to logs at the bottom of the southern side of the hill. Pol and I stood, with the Wolf Banner in the centre of the line next to Raibeart. “Like old times!”
We clasped hands and chewed on some dried venison. It gave us something to do and stopped us filling the silence with useless chatter. I suppose the warriors of Glanibanta who stood with us would have taken our behaviour as bravely stoical but we were as worried and nervous as they were. We just hid it better.
The equite whipped his horse out of the lightening early morning sky and reined in next to me. “They are a mile away, Warlord!”
“Good. Follow the wagons and join the escort.” I saw the disappointment on his face. “You have done well but you have been awake all night. I need warriors who are fresh. Your turn will come again, fear not.”
The Saxons formed two confident wedges and came at us at an easy pace. It was light enough to see each other but no more than that. I was confident that the archers behind the walls were well hidden. Miach did not need superfluous orders and, just before the Saxons reached the bed of caltrops we had laid, he loosed his first arrows. Many of the warriors were taken unawares and they halted while their chiefs organised the shield wall. Miach continued to rain arrows on the stationary target then they ordered a charge, faster this time. When they struck the caltrops their line became totally disordered and Miach’s arrows found more victims. My archer captain shouted down. “I have left the last three flights, Warlord.”
“Hold them until we run.”
I glanced at Raibeart and grinned. “Let us show them we have filled our breeks eh?”
The Saxons were less than thirty paces away and Raibeart shouted. “Run!” The men had been awaiting the order and they ran back towards the walls and the defences. Pol and I galloped to the east. The Saxons were momentarily confused and they reformed, ready for another attack. Raibeart and his men were now almost at the top of the hill and the Saxons decided it was not a trap and they ran towards the walls. As they climbed the slope Miach’s last arrows struck them. Pol and I had ridden around the hill and watched as Raibeart and his grinning men trotted down the other side. Miach and his archers were already mounted and I waved them away. We would need them later on. Pol and I joined the ‘fleeing’ warriors. It took some time for the Saxons to emerge. The sun was now shining- it would be a glorious day- and they saw the pathetic handful of warriors running away. They surged down the hill in pursuit. All order had gone and they were just running to be the ones to slaughter these strangers who had dared to camp in their land.
Pol and I found it easy to both watch the Saxons and keep pace with the last of the warriors. Until the Saxons entered the killing zone then we were their only frail protection. Raibeart’s men had not marched for hours, nor had they had to fight their way through the fort and, as a consequence they were finding it easy. I could see that some of the eager Saxons were already blowing hard.
“Warlord! The trees!”
I glanced in the direction Pol had pointed. It was the ambush site. “Almost there Raibeart!”
”About time! It is all right for you, you are on a horse!”
I laughed. The fact that he could talk while running in armour told me that he was not in danger. “Another hundred paces and you can stop and kill some Saxons!”
We had marked the place where they would halt with two piles of whitish stones. When I saw them I wheeled my horse around, as did Pol. “Raise the standard!”
Pol unfurled the banner and shouted, “Behold, the Warlord of Rheged and the Wolf Standard!”
Raibeart and his men turned and formed a wedge and the two parties of equites launched their attack. The Saxons saw the banner and kept on coming, seemingly oblivious to the danger from their flanks. The first warrior actually reached me and raised his axe to hack at my horse’s head. He was tired and he badly misjudged his swing. As I jinked my mount’s head around his axe struck just air. Saxon Slayer did not and hacked down between his shoulder and his head. The equites struck the Saxons when the enemy had no order while the equites were a solid line of metal and horseflesh. None made the shield wall. It was as though someone had squeezed an over ripe apple and it just disintegrated into nothing. The warriors to the rear just fled the field and the equites despatched the wounded.
Raibeart shook his head. “Perhaps we should have stayed in Rheged, brother. How could the Saxons stand against us?”
“Remember, Aethelfrith has fought us for some years and knows our ways. He would not have fallen for such an obvious trap. Our problem now is that there were survivors and they will tell of the Wolf Warrior and word will get back to Aethelfrith and he will know that I survived.” I saw that the riders were now stripping the bodies. “Raibeart get your men to dig a pit. There.”I gestured to Pasgen and Tuanthal and they rode over. “Have your men only carry what they can comfortably. All the rest will be buried in a pit which Raibeart is digging. When the soil is down we will burn the bodies on the top.” I grimaced. “It should make it easy to find when we need the iron and the armour!”
The burning pyre marked the site of the battle for all to see. I do not doubt that those in Deva saw it and wondered what it meant. I was not worried any longer. We were beyond the Dee and now we could push on to Bishop Asaph’s monastery and safety- if Garth had received my message. Myrddyn had pushed hard and we only caught up with the column five miles from the monastery. The rider we had sent to bring help was riding along the track. He spurred his horse on when he saw us.
He leapt from the saddle and bowed, “My lord. I did as you asked and Captain Gar
th is almost at the monastery with two hundred men!”
So my captain had doubled the number. I hoped it would not return to haunt us. “Good, you have done well. You may rejoin your comrades.”
Aedh had been off scouting with his indispensable men. He rode in. “Warlord, the Saxons of Deva have sallied forth. There are a thousand of them heading in this direction.”
“How long?”
“They should reach the monastery or the coast by morning. It depends on us I think.”
Garth had arrived just in time. “Have some men watch them and their movements.”
I rode, with Pol to the monastery. I was now feeling guilty. The peaceful monks had, so far, avoided the attentions of the predatory Saxons. This might be the undoing of the community and I had to speak with Bishop Asaph himself. I passed the head of the column and waved at a bemused Myrddyn.
When I saw the bishop again I realised how old he had grown. He was resting on the arm of a younger monk. It made my news even more important. I feared it might cause him distress if his precious monastery and its peaceful inmates came under threat.
He smiled as he greeted me. “I take it your efforts were not in vain? You have your family?”
The bishop was like Myrddyn; he knew things no other man did. The secrecy of the mission did not matter now. “Yes thank you bishop but I fear it may be bringing trouble your way.”
“Trouble has a way of finding all men sooner or later. What is it you pagans say? Wyrd? Perhaps this is wyrd too.”
“An army has left Deva to pursue us.”
“And you fear that, when they discover us they will want our treasures?”
Once again he had read my mind. “Yes Bishop Asaph. Are you not afraid?”
“When you reach my age then the fears are different ones such as how many times will I need to get up in the night? Is the food soft enough for my teeth to chew? Besides I assume you will fight them?”
I nodded, “Of course.”
“Then I have nothing to fear.” I frowned; I did not understand. “The Wolf Warrior does not lose and certainly not to Saxons. Besides if you do lose,” he shook his head rapidly and I thought it might fall off, “a highly unlikely occurrence I must confess. But if you do then they will ignore us and take Mona. However I will send a message to King Iago asking for aid against the Saxons. He is not happy about their incursions and the death of his father. I think that he is spoiling for a fight.”
I struggled for a reply, “I just didn’t want you or your people hurt.”
“And that alone marks you as a Christian. I thank you for your thoughts now I had better prepare for I assume you have the families of your people?” I nodded. “Then their needs will be seen to.” He turned to the monk, “Come Brother Stephen let us seek shelter and say some prayers for our friends.”
By the time the column had entered the monastery, Garth and my warriors reached us too. They showed the effects of the forced march but they tripled my shield wall and I knew then that we had a chance. The women especially were pleased to be in buildings with clean water and hot food. The monks smiled as they tended to the children. For Myrddyn, myself and my leaders it was far from peaceful. We had plans to make.
“While the men eat and drink we will plan. Aedh will let us know of the approach of the Saxons. We have some time. As we sat in one of the quiet places in the monastery I patted Garth on the back. “Thank you for bringing my men. It might just save us all.”
“I did as I was asked and I also brought five thousand arrows.” He shrugged, “I was at the Narrows anyway anticipating your return. We did not have far to come. Brother Oswald continued to make them after you had left. He thought they might come in handy.”
“That priest might be the one to make me a Christian,” said Miach with an uncharacteristic smile upon his grizzled face.
“They will have reports which tell them we have only a hundred warriors. Your men, Captain Garth, will be our secret weapon. They know about the arrows and they know about the equites. I suspect their leader will have planned accordingly and that may be his downfall.”
All of them, the ones who had marched from Rheged and those who had trudged from Mona, were exhausted. The tension of the chase and the lack of food as well as sleep had taken much from them. Their men would be just as tired but we had one more battle to fight and I needed every man to fight as though it was his first. “Make sure your men have enough food and sleep tonight. We will use the scouts and the boys to keep watch.” I saw them exchange looks. “I know what you are thinking, they are all just boys, but we will need neither scouts nor horse guards tomorrow. We will need warriors and the boys have shown that they can be men when called upon.” I pointed to the valley a mile away, now darkened and empty in the east. “We will hold them there where they cannot flank us. The equites will be on the flanks to stop them gaining the high ground. The archers will be behind Raibeart’s men and behind them will be Garth and the shield wall, lying down.” There was an audible gasp. “They will be a hundred paces behind Raibeart’s men. Raibeart, you and I will retreat slowly before the Saxons drawing them onto Miach’s arrows and destroying their finest warriors and, when we are close only then Garth and his men will stand. They will march forwards to destroy the enemy. Myrddyn will remain at the monastery and we can send any wounded to him.”
Aelle was not convinced, “Is that not the plan we used before? At the Roman fort? They will expect it.”
“No brother, they will see the horsemen and not know that we have the extra men. They will not expect two hundred of the finest warriors in the world to be attacking them. They will think we are road weary warriors who have fled their comrades in the north!”
Myrddyn nodded. “The Warlord is correct and, tomorrow, we will end this pursuit.” He paused. “I have dreamed it.”
Miach looked sceptically at the wizard but the others took it as though it was already done. They would pass that confidence on to their men on the morrow.
Chapter 7
The Saxons who came down the valley did not look like Saxons we had fought before. Firstly they had long spears and secondly they had archers. They intended to fight our two powerful weapons with their own versions. They outnumbered us, as usual. We were used to that. They would be fresher; they had only come from Deva and they knew how we fought. These Saxons from Deva had ousted my men of Strathclyde who had held the fort for me. It would not do to underestimate them.
When the Saxon horde saw the forces arrayed on the ridges and in the middle they halted. The warriors with the spears formed a wedge which preceded half of the main warband as they advanced towards Tuanthal on the ridge. Between the spears and the warband were fifty or so archers. They were doing something the Saxons had never done before; they were attacking horses! I was confident that my young captain would be able to deal with the advancing men. The second wedge turned to climb the ridge towards Prince Pasgen and his equites. There were fewer spears on that flank but they prevented Pasgen from charging. Already our well laid plans had faltered.
“Raibeart, let us advance towards Prince Pasgen.” He nodded, like me, he worried about Prince Pasgen’s state of mind. While Tuanthal would handle his own situation calmly, Prince Pasgen might just order a reckless and potentially suicidal charge. There was little point in hiding Garth and his men now. “Captain Garth, follow Lord Raibeart.”
Our small army echeloned to the right and suddenly one of our scouts galloped in. “Warlord! There is another army approaching from the north and they are attacking Captain Tuanthal!”
Even as I wondered who it might be I was calculating how best to minimise our losses. “Ride back to the captain and tell him to withdraw down the valley and guard our left flank.”
It was about this time that I wished I was mounted. “Pol, get to Garth and explain that we have another army to contend with. We have to destroy this warband and then try to hold the rest off!”
He ran to Garth while I hurried to join Raibeart at the
front of his wedge. “Captain Miach, I want you to attack the warband and then retire behind the shield wall. Aelle, order the slingers forward to take out the handful of archers they have with them.” The only factor in our favour was that they had counted on destroying Tuanthal and the majority of their spears and their archers were on that flank.
I glanced to the left and sighed with relief. Tuanthal had disengaged, although I saw empty saddles as he galloped across the front of the warband. Prince Pasgen and his men were still on top of the ridge as the wall of spears advanced. I hoped that he would withdraw a little but he did not. Pol returned and said, “The captain is taking the men at a run!”
Although it would tire them a little I knew that they were the fittest warriors I had. They ate up the ground and soon were arrayed next to Raibeart’s men.
“Pol, signal the Prince to withdraw to our right.”
The front of the wedge was now less than forty paces from the top of the ridge and their archers were sending sporadic arrows at the equites. I was relieved to see that their bows were not of the same quality as ours. They did not penetrate the armour. Pasgen seemed to take an age but, eventually his men retired towards our right flank. He had followed orders! As Tuanthal and his men rode alongside us to our left, we had cohesion again but we were well outnumbered. Aided by the slope the two warbands had merged and were coming swiftly towards us.
Pol pointed, “Sir, it is King Aethelfrith himself. There is his Raven Banner.”
At least that problem had been solved. It did not change what we had to do but it made it more urgent that we defeat this smaller warband first. “Double wedge!”
Garth and my men formed one huge wedge while Raibeart and I led the smaller wedge of the men from Glanibanta. Miach and Aelle were now raining death upon the warband. Like a wounded and angry beast the leader tried to turn it to face its tormentors. We were forty paces away and I roared, “Charge!”
The two wedges picked up speed. Although we were slightly down hill we were tightly packed and I led with the Wolf Standard fluttering behind me. The archers and slingers were still firing over us and the lead warrior of the Saxon wedge suddenly fell with an arrow in his shoulder. I threw Saxon Slayer into the gap and smashed it into the shoulder of the next man just as Raibeart killed his companion. Their wedge disintegrated as Garth and his men charged into the weakened side of the wedge. “Pol, order Pasgen to charge them!”