Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 03] Saxon England

by Griff Hosker

  “And?”

  “And that is all.”

  “How peculiar.”

  I headed for the largest building. The men who lived there appeared to wear just a plain woollen shift and they did not appear to be bothered by such a large number of mailed warriors riding into their home. An older man came out of a small building attached to the main hall and walked boldly up to me. He peered at the Wolf Standard held aloft by Pol.

  He smiled. “You must be Lord Lann, the Warlord of Rheged. Please dismount and we will take refreshments. Your men and horses will be cared for.” He glanced at Myrddyn, “Bring your wizard too.”

  Although I was dumbstruck I had never before seen Myrddyn stuck for words but he was. As I dismounted I turned to Tuanthal. “Just keep a sharp eye eh?”

  The old man took us into a plainly furnished room. The table and chairs had obviously been made locally. There were pots of honey and bread on the table and some ale. “You were seen when you crested the rise and we prepared this for you.”

  “I am sorry but you are?”

  “I am Asaph the bishop of the monastery of St.Kentigern. It was rude of me not to introduce myself.”

  “And how do you know me?”

  “Why Brother Osric wrote of you of course; did you not know? He knew St. Kentigern and he wrote to me of you and your exploits.” He pointed a piece of honey smothered bread at Myrddyn. “He was particularly impressed by this young man. Even though he is a pagan, as are you, Lord Lann.”

  I shook my head. It was typical of Osric to have kept this information from us. We would have bombarded him with questions and he liked his secrets.

  “As his letters stopped I assume that the dear man is dead?”

  He said it so calmly that I almost shuddered. “Yes he fell ill. It was a black day for Rheged when he died.”

  “We all die, Warlord. It is how we live that people remember and they will think well of Osric. Did he finish his book?”

  I shook my head, “My priest Brother Oswald toils at it still.”

  “Then tell your priest we would happily continue the work of the good brother.”

  “We have much to record about Rheged first but when it is complete then Brother Oswald will return it here for you to make a copy.”

  He suddenly laughed, “You may be a pagan but I can see Brother Osric’s influence. You, too, value the written word. Excellent! Have you had an eventful journey so far?”

  Whilst eating we filled the old Bishop in on the exodus of the last free men of Rheged. He was particularly interested in Deva. “I am pleased that you have rid us of that nest of vipers. They preyed on the innocent. They even tried to raid us once.”

  I looked around, “I am surprised you survived. There are no defences.”

  “The people who live close by are very protective of us and they drove them away.”

  “We had seen none.”

  “No they are a careful people and your arms and weapons would have intimidated them. I take it you are not staying close by.”

  I smiled, “Would that worry you Bishop Asaph?”

  “No, Osric spoke highly of you despite your pagan beliefs. He said you were a good man and you had a Christian heart.”

  “I am not sure about that. No, we will be heading for Mona.”

  “Ah the centre of the Druidic cult.” He gestured towards Myrddyn. “Where your wizard’s power will increase eh?” Myrddyn blushed. I wondered then at the monk’s words. “You will need to beware of the people at the edge of the mainland. They are a violent clan. When they are not slaving they are fighting amongst themselves.”

  “And Mona?”

  “We hear little.” He shrugged. “If there are any peoples living there then they are few in number. The Irish use it to gather slaves.”

  “Well when we reach it that practice will stop.”

  Asaph looked searchingly into my eyes. “Osric was right. You do have a Christian soul. You have just to find it.”

  “What of the king of this land?”

  “King Beli ap Rhun. He lives south of the mountain. He largely ignores this part of his land as it is not very productive.” He smiled “St. Kentigern and the other priests spread the word of Christ and King Beli is only a recent convert.”

  “Will he object to our settlement?”

  “That I do not know but your motives are honourable and he is, by all accounts, a reasonable man.”

  I stood. “We must leave and rejoin our people.”

  “If you head towards the sea then you will meet them. The road passes the end of this valley. May God be with you Wolf Warrior.”

  Myrddyn kept looking over his shoulder as we headed for the column. “You think that you know someone and then something like this happens and you see how little you really know.”

  “I am just pleased that we have friends here. They may not be an army but they are reassuring.” I waved at the men toiling in the fields. “They are brave men, foolish but brave. They defend themselves with nothing more than their beliefs.”

  “As you do, my lord.”

  I clapped my hand on my sword. “Aye but I have a little help from this eh? I think it is better than relying on a God who wishes you to turn the other cheek.”

  The closer we came to the coast then the closer the mountains came to the sea and we were forced to travel along the road with no room for the flanking archers. Garth was not happy. “This is not good my lord. If we were ambushed here then we would not be able to defend ourselves.”

  Myrddyn cocked his head towards the slopes. “Unless the enemies are mountain goats I think we are safe.”

  “Wizard, stick to your healing! Look at the slopes they are littered with rocks. All it needs is one boy to start them rolling and we will all be swept into the sea.”

  I held up my hands. “Peace! You are both right. Garth, send the despatch riders ahead on their ponies. They can watch ahead for any movement. Myrddyn let us slow down the column so that there are bigger gaps between the carts.”

  “But that means it will take us longer to reach Mona!”

  “And is this a race? We now have three places to delay pursuit, Raibeart, Aelle and now Mungo. Do you think they could get by those three in a short time?”

  Myrddyn was an honest fellow and he knew he was wrong. He beamed a smile at me. “Sorry Lord Lann. I know you are right it is just that we are so close now that we can almost touch it.” He pointed to the headland which jutted out to sea. “When we pass that headland then we will see it. That is how close we are.”

  “And we will continue to do as we have done hitherto. We will be measured and cautious and we will reach this promised land of yours safely with no losses.”

  That day was a hard one. The road actually twisted a little when the Romans had encountered the rocky peninsula jutting into the sea. We covered but twelve miles and the campsite was a bare rocky platform without ditch and without a hot meal. It was our most miserable night as a storm blew in from the sea and we all had a salty soaking which did nothing to mend ill tempers. The warriors, in particular, became annoyed as mail showed signs of rust and the long journey stretched to a second week.

  When we awoke we were all in a better humour for we could clearly see the isle of Mona. It looked close enough to touch. Myrddyn almost danced with glee and told us that we were now less than fifty miles from our final destination. The road, however, was just as narrow and the mountains were just as close as they had been before the peninsula. My military mind told me that this would be a good place to halt any invader. A shield wall of twenty warriors with archers behind could hold off an army. There was no way they could be outflanked.

  After the hardest six miles we had walked in the entire journey the road finally had space on both sides. It was not a huge space but it felt less claustrophobic. It was as though you could breathe again. I could see that there were no obstacles in our way save the sea crossing and we would face that soon enough. We were less than five miles from our last c
amp before Mona when Tuanthal brought bad news. The clan we had been warned of lived in a place called Llanrug. Although it was further away than our crossing place we would be in plain sight and if the Bishop was to be believed then these carrion folk would fall upon us.

  “Miach, go with Tuanthal and begin to build the camp at the narrows. Keep a good watch on the hillsides. I fear this may be a harder night than the one at Deva.” As they rode away I summoned Garth. We rode to the side to allow the column to pass us. “We will need at least one whole day to get across the narrows, probably two. I cannot see this clan being benign enough to allow that.”

  Myrddyn suggested, “Talking?”

  “I think I believe the Bishop. He had no reason to lie. Let us act as though we are going to be attacked. How should we defend?”

  Myrddyn looked at Garth, “I think Garth may have been right. They will try to use the mountain against us and roll rocks down the hillsides.”

  “Then we dig ditches and fell trees to make barricades. Anything else?”

  “They will probably be lightly armed and have no armour. Our archers and slingers would be more use than the shield wall. I fear that the horses may not be much use because of the slope.”

  “I think you are right Garth. Myrddyn, how do we cross the sea?”

  “We steal a Saxon idea. We build a huge raft. If we tie two strong ropes from shore to shore then the men can pull the raft across. We should be able to fashion something to tie to the end of the raft to help us to pull it back and forth.”

  “Good, then the warriors first job tonight is to cut down many trees; the longer ones for the raft and the shorter ones for the barricades.”

  My men had worked wonders and the camp was ready when we reached it. I sent the two men with their archers and horsemen as a skirmish line a mile from the camp while Garth and Myrddyn organised the cutting down of the trees. Myrddyn’s comments had made peace between them and they happily worked together again. Brother Oswald organised the food and there was a happy air about the camp as they could see their new home across the water. Most did not realise that it was the sea. It was no wider than a river at home but Myrddyn had told me it was deep and had dangerous currents.

  We had to stop work for food, the warriors were exhausted but the wood was cut and the ditches partly dug. Tuanthal and Miach’s men ate in shifts and then Garth’s men began to build the crude barricades which would, hopefully stop the rocks. As an added precaution we placed the carts all along the landward side of the defensive wall; better to lose transport than lose a life. As night fell, I sent half the warriors to sleep and pulled back all of the skirmishers. They would need sleep and they could do nothing at night anyway. I stayed awake until after midnight and then handed over to Ridwyn. I had an uneasy night’s sleep which I put down to the sound of the sea in the narrows and… I had a dream.

  My mother came to me and she looked like Aideen, but she spoke with my mother’s voice. She appeared to be running, I thought it was towards me but, although she spoke to me she carried on running towards the sea. She spoke in the same way she always had, soothing and reassuring but her words were ominous. ‘Beware the men from the sea. Beware the smiling Irish. Build on rock and trust not to sand. Awake my son. Danger is near.’

  I awoke and felt nervous. When I saw Myrddyn staring at me I knew he had heard the same dream. “Stand to!” In the still of the false dawn, hidden behind Wyddfa’s bulk, the men awoke instantly and grabbed weapons. I heard a rumble like thunder and Myrddyn said, “Avalanche!”

  “Protect yourselves, flying rocks!”

  We threw ourselves beneath the carts and pushed our backs against the wood for protection. I just had time to put on my helmet and hold my shield above my head. Hogan looked anxiously at me as he, too, sheltered beneath my solid shield. The first few rocks were held by the ditches and traps. Some others, sent from higher up the slopes, bounced up and over and crashed into the cart reinforced wall. I saw one old woman panic and leave her place of safety to run towards the narrows. A rock struck her head with such force that her head disappeared in a mass of red and grey ooze. After a few moments it became silent and I saw relief on faces. I knew that it was not over. The avalanche was the prelude to the real attack. “Face the enemy. We are under attack!”

  As we turned with weapons drawn we saw the screaming, half dressed savages who hurtled down the slope towards us. Their hair was stuck up with lime and their faces were painted with blues and whites as were their bodies. They all carried wicked looking curved blades with long handles which they wielded with two hands. Their technique of clearing the walls was astounding they ran to the fallen rocks and threw themselves in the air, some of them managed to land behind my men. They made prodigious leaps. I swung at one who soared above me and took his right leg off in one blow. The ones who landed safely swung their blades around. I saw one of the Bernicians lose his head before Ridwyn stabbed him. It was a terrifying ordeal. A shield wall was useless and we had to try to kill them in the air or get in as soon as they landed. They were reckless but after a fierce and bloody battle they lay dead. It had been costly for us and fifteen warriors, archers and slingers lay dead.

  We threw their bodies into the sea. Their vicious and random attack deserved no honour and we disposed of them like discarded bones from a meal. As we began to see to the wounded I sent Tuanthal on a mission. “Find this Llanrug and destroy it. Kill any you find there. Miach go with him.”

  Brother Oswald came to me. “Warlord this is not like you. Are you wounded?”

  “No Oswald, I am angry.” I pointed to the headless corpse of the old woman. “She was no warrior; she was a frightened old woman. These savages will prey on no more travellers.” Garth and the warriors busied themselves building the raft. Like me, they wanted to be away from this place of death.

  Tuanthal and Miach returned with grim faces. “What a living shithole that was, my lord. They had skulls decorating their walls and some of them were from children. We found a few of them and they fought like cornered rats.” Tuanthal pointed to Miach. “The Captain here stopped them getting close.”

  “Aye my lord but my lads wouldn’t collect the arrows. They reckoned they were cursed.” Over their heads I could see the smoke rising. “We burned it.” He spat. “Good riddance. Give me the Saxons any day. It was like fighting animals and not humans.”

  I turned to Myrddyn who had just come from the wounded. “We owe the Bishop a great deal.” I saw Hogan’s frightened face and I ruffled his hair. “And now let us get this raft built eh?”

  While the raft was being built I took the saddle off Raven and then my own armour. Garth looked at me curiously. “What are you doing Warlord?”

  “We need ropes taking across the narrows. Raven is the best horse and I have swum rivers before. I will ask for another four volunteers.”

  “But you are Warlord!”

  “All the more reason then. I should not ask a man to do something I will not do.” There were more volunteers than we needed and the five of us each took a rope. We had had to join together some lengths. The narrows were about four hundred paces wide. We needed the rafts securing on the other which meant longer rope than carried. One end was secured to a tree on the mainland and we carried the other over our shoulders. It was comforting to think that, so long as we held on to the rope, we could be rescued, but not so our horses. I kicked Raven on and he entered the water. He was fearless. The current was strong and I turned his head against the current. Unlike the rivers I had crossed this deepened very quickly. I had no time to look for my companions; I was fighting the sea. Raven was a powerful swimmer and soon I could see that I was less than fifty paces from the shore. I turned his head slightly so that the current took us towards the beach and when I felt his feet strike the sea bottom I breathed a sigh of relief. I had paid out the rope as I crossed and, as we rode up the beach I looked for a mooring point. I saw a huge rock as high as a man and I leapt from Raven and began to tighten the rope by walkin
g around the rock. Fortunately the action of the sea had made it smooth.

  As I walked around the rock I saw three of my companions also struggling ashore but of the fourth I saw nothing. I tied my rope off and then ran to help the next man. We needed the ropes to be parallel to help the raft to sail safely. We found a second rock and, as we tightened that rope I shouted to the other two. “Take your ropes and attach them to trees there!” I pointed to two small trees at the edge of the beach. By the time we had all four secured I was exhausted but pleased. “Where is Cimri?”

  “I saw him come from his horse. The horse is ashore, there it is.”

  “Get his horse.”

  I ran to the beach and saw the end of the rope carried by Cimri floating free. The crossing had already cost us a warrior. We never found his body. “Keep watch on the beach. I am going ashore to scout.” As I mounted Raven and rode off I knew that my officers would have tried to dissuade me but the warriors were in awe of Warlord. They might disapprove but they would say nothing. I was pleasantly surprised as I crested the small rise. This was nothing like the mainland. It was flat and verdantly wooded. Riding along the ridgeline I could see that it would make perfect farmland. My only worry, at that point was that it would not stop an invader and yet Myrddyn had assured me that it would. Perhaps there was something I was missing. I rode for a mile or so and saw no sign of human habitation and I rode back towards the beach.

  It was a busy scene I saw as we dropped from the ridge to the beach. The first journey of the raft was about to take place. Miach and his mounted archers were the first. Miach showed no emotion but I saw a few fearful glances at the bubbling water. On the shore the people also watched, knowing that their turn would come. The archers themselves pulled this cargo across with my three swimmers aiding on our side. It seemed to take a long time but I knew that the next journeys would, perforce, be quicker. As soon as the raft beached the horses were quickly disembarked and the archers led them to a picket line which had been hastily assembled. Even as I watched the raft returned, quite swiftly now that it was empty and hauled by my warriors.