Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 03] Saxon England

by Griff Hosker

  The archers, lighter armoured than we, kicked on and soon they were just a dark shadow racing west. Hogan glanced over his shoulder, “I think they are gaining.”

  Diarmid, the last warrior in the column shouted, “Don’t worry young master, I’ll let you know when they are close.”

  My men were all confident; it came from being undefeated. We were depleted but, as yet, undefeated. I turned and saw that they were less than half a mile back which was a safe distance but Hogan was right they had closed. I suspected now that they had not scouted out our base and only had Felan’s description of the port. They must have assumed we would be heading to that side of the island. When they saw the fort they would receive a serious shock. The sun was setting rapidly and I saw the stark outline of the small fort loom up. Miach had warned the guards and the drawbridge was down. As we clattered over it I felt a sense of relief that we had made our sanctuary. As Diarmid trotted over the sentries raised and secured the drawbridge and then shut and barred the gate. It would be interesting to see how they fashioned a ram on this island of stunted trees. Once again we were besieged but this time there was no-one to come to our aid. We were alone and outnumbered by more than two to one.

  Chapter 19

  Garth and Myrddyn greeted me as I entered. My wizard handed me a water skin. “I think all of our people made the fort, my lord, and we moved two of the onagers. They are on the two corner towers and the others are facing the sea.”

  I looked at Garth, “The sea?”

  “One of the sentries thinks he saw sails to the south but in the darkening sky he couldn’t be sure.”

  “I am. It would make sense. They can move men around or they can take them off. I am afraid they are not just going to lie down and die.” I ran up the steps to the walls and peered out. It was too dark to see anything. “Have we sown caltrops? Put traps in the ditches?”

  “Yes Warlord. There is just the road free of caltrops but the onagers have the road covered.”

  “Good but they can advance down the road quietly if they wish.”

  I could see Myrddyn trying to come up with a solution. “Seaweed!”

  “What?”

  Before he could answer he had raced down the steps and crossed the bridge. I looked at Garth in amazement. “Do not ask me my lord, he is your wizard, but I suspect it will be a novel approach to defence.”

  We could hear the Saxons moving around but we could not see them. They would need to rest, eat and drink before they tried anything. Perhaps they wouldn’t try anything in the night and wait for day. We could not take the chance and we would be the ones losing sleep. An hour later Myrddyn raced up with ten of the boys from the main fort. In their hands they held armfuls of seaweed. My incredulous face asked the question of Myrddyn. “The seaweed is slippery but it also has large bubbles in it. When it is stepped on it pops. It also stinks so it will annoy them and they cannot harm us if they throw it back.”

  Garth looked sceptical. “And how do we get it on the road?”

  “I am sure that a huge warrior such as you can throw it the five paces to the other side of the drawbridge and your onagers can do the rest.” He handed his bunch of slippery weed to Garth.

  I grinned at my captain of warriors. “Well go on. Throw it.”

  I know he felt foolish but he did it. The solid plop told us that it had landed on the road we had built. Then we heard the whoosh of the Roman war machines as they hurled their cargo. It was maddening. We would not be able to see the results until the morning. Garth pointed to Miach and me. “And now, Warlord. You have been riding all day. You sleep and we will awake you when, and if they come.”

  I might have argued but when I reached my hall Myfanwy was waiting for Hogan and me with arms folded. “Fancy keeping a young growing boy out all day without any food.” She wagged an admonishing finger at me. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Now there is food on the table. I want it eaten and you two in bed as soon as the food is gone.”

  Hogan’s mouth opened and closed and Pol chuckled. “I think I would sooner face the Saxons than get on the wrong side of that one!”

  The food made me sleepy and, as soon as my head hit the bed, I was dead to the world. It seemed but a moment before I heard Myrddyn’s voice. “Come my lord. They are trying something.”

  “How long?”

  “You have been asleep for a few hours. I have risked Myfanwy’s wrath to wake you. We heard noises a short while ago. It was the sound of the seaweed plopping which alerted us.”

  I sensed the smug satisfaction in his voice, “Yes Myrddyn, you are a clever wizard.”

  We reached the gatehouse and Garth pointed. “There is some movement out there but I can’t see what.

  Suddenly there was a bright light as the Saxons launched some fire arrows at us. Miach snorted. “Well that is a bit rich; pinching our idea.” Even as he was complaining he was taking aim. “Right lads, let’s show them how real archers do it.”

  Garth had his men pour buckets of seawater on to the fire. We had them close by the onagers in case we needed to use fire ourselves. Miach’s men did their job well and the incoming arrows stopped. “I could see what they intend my lord. When they launched their arrows I could see that they have faggots of wood to throw into the ditches.”

  “Then they will get a real surprise when they find the caltrops.”

  We heard the screams from the men as they stepped on the deadly weapon, designed to be used against horses but equally effective against Saxons. The rest of the night was a game of cat and mouse, as they tried every possible attack which did not involve a charge. We saw the dawn rise behind them and they were still in the same position.

  “Ships! To the south!”

  I ran to the southern wall and there were twenty Saxon ships. The two warbands had been landed to pin us down but my people were now safe inside our wooden walls. The Saxons would find that I could defeat them, even with a tiny army. I looked around at the small fort. We had sixty warriors within while the other one hundred and the villagers were in the main fort. My archers were split between the two with plenty of arrows. The handful of slingers who remained was also equally split. Every man on the walls had a helmet and either mail or leather. The main problem we would have would be if they fired the walls. To counter that we had every container we could with sea water. It was easy to replenish.

  “Garth you take command here. Do not risk your men. Fall back and destroy the bridge when all is lost. I will watch those ships.”

  “Very well my lord.”

  I hurried across the bridge to the second gate. The two guards there were more than enough. Their main task was to watch for those who might try to climb the cliffs. Once through there we ran the mile to the main fort. “Myrddyn, we will need fire before this day is out. When those ships close to land I want them set afire.” When my two engineers had built the onagers they had fashioned the containers for the stones out of thin iron. It would not burn.

  “Here Fa… er Warlord. Here is your helmet.” I smiled at Hogan who gave me my helmet and the gleaming, freshly sharpened Saxon Slayer. Finally he gave me my wolf shield and I was ready.

  I walked to the southern wall. The ships were closing in a line. The only place they could land was on the beach at Porthdafarch and that would aid us. They would have to bring in the ships just three at a time as the bay was narrow with high rocks on both sides. Once ashore they would have the rocks to climb. There were not especially high but they were jagged and irregular. A warrior would struggle to defend himself and climb at the same time.

  “Onager crews prepare your weapons.” Myrddyn had taken charge of the crews; Brother Oswald felt it went against his beliefs to cause death with his cleverly constructed weapons. Myrddyn had no such compunction.

  I could hear the sound of battle from across the bridge. It had begun. The sound of the crack as the onagers loosed their rocks and the flights of the arrows contrasted with the screams and cries of the dying Saxons.

&nbs
p; The ships were within range of the onagers but Myrddyn did not order the onagers to fire. The ships were fifty paces from the beach when he ordered them to begin their assault. There were only two onagers facing the sea but they were on the two corner towers and their strikes converged. The middle boat erupted in flames as the first two missiles struck. The Saxons threw themselves over the side of the ship as its bone dry timbers and sail became an inferno. The burnt timbers settled on the bottom as the two machines shifted their aim to new targets. The men who struggled ashore had to avoid the arrows and lead balls from the ramparts. Two more ships came in before the bay was filled with burning and sinking ships and the survivors were huddled amongst the rocks with their shields over their heads.

  It looked like we had thwarted their first attempt at landing. One of the men from Caergybi was standing nearby and heard the men on the walls cheering as though we had won.”There is another bay just a mile away my lord. There are no cliffs and they can land there. It is this side of the bridge. Captain Garth will be cut off.”

  I suddenly saw that I had been outwitted. They had scouted out the island and my best warriors were in grave danger. “Send a rider to the bridge. Tell Captain Garth to destroy the onagers and bridge and get back here.” I could rebuild the bridge; I could never replace Garth. “Miach, get rid of those men on the beach. We will have more at the front gate soon and we will need to move men around.”

  “You heard the Warlord. Aim well and kill every bastard Saxon who still breathes!”

  The despatch rider would not take long to reach our bridge; I just hoped that Garth and his men could make it back on foot. “Adair. Mount ten men and cover Garth’s retreat.” My young horseman leapt down from the wall and raced to the stables. He might be young but he had a wealth of experience.

  I had to hope that it would take time for the ships to sail down the coast and then land. “Myrddyn get the other two onagers moved to this wall and then bring the ones covering the beach. They can do no more good there. “

  It felt eerily silent as the last of the men on the beach was killed. I sent down some men to bring back any wounded and weapons and stared out in the direction of the bridge just a couple of miles away. I wondered if I had doomed my warriors to a grisly death by trying to hold on to the bridge. I watched Adair and his horsemen gallop out of the gate. With luck they might just make the difference between life and death for Garth and his men.

  “My lord! Smoke!”

  I looked east and saw the smoke rising in the distance. I prayed it was the bridge. “Be ready. When Captain Garth reaches us there will be Saxons all over him. Archers I want you to aim like you have never aimed before. Hogan, my bow.” Today I would need to fight alongside my archers. And then I saw the despatch rider waving his arms. “Open the gate.”

  He slid to a halt beneath us.”Captain Garth is coming. He set fire to the fort, the onagers and the bridge but there are Saxons coming from the south.”

  They had landed! I prayed that the gods of these lands who had been so kind to us would continue to do so. Myrddyn seemed to read my mind. “Do not worry my lord. The spirits of this holy place will aid us this day.”

  Suddenly our men appeared over the low rise to the south of us and Garth was leading them. “Get that gate open. I could see Adair and his horsemen behind but they appeared not to be under attack. I grinned at my deputy as he entered the gate. “I think we burned more than a few of them my lord. Thank you for sending Adair. The Saxons thought it was a larger force and went into shield wall. It bought us time.”

  Adair and his men trotted calmly through the gate, as though they had been for a pleasant morning’s ride. “Well done Adair.”

  “Piece of piss my lord!” His little victory had made him cocky. I didn’t mind, he deserved his moment of glory

  I counted Garth’s men and he had lost a third of his defenders. We now had a greater perimeter to defend but they could only attack from one side. The rest were protected by rocks and cliffs. The onagers had plenty of stones and Myrddyn smiled as he checked the tension on each machine. The three hundred Saxons formed a shield wall and marched resolutely towards us. Their comrades from beyond the bridge would take time to join them and the rest of the boats would not have had time to land yet. If I had been their leader I would have waited until I had all my men but he was eager to capture the Wolf Warrior.

  “Myrddyn.”

  “Just a few more moments, my lord. There is a small rise and our stones will kill more this way.”

  He lowered his hand and four stones flew through the air. They struck four warriors and then continued to strike others. One of the stones struck a man’s head and it disappeared but the stone went off at an angle and continued to fell men. Huge gaps appeared in their ranks. Myrddyn reloaded and launched again. The Saxons rushed forwards. All attempts at cohesion had gone as they ran to avoid the deadly rain. Then they came in range of my archers who did not miss the opportunity to strike at men who were no longer in a shield wall. The stones continued to strike although they were less effective now that the Saxons had split up into smaller groups. They fell into the ditch, lined with spikes without even seeing it and they lay writhing at the bottom. The archers slaughtered them and soon the Saxons were fleeing backwards towards the safety of the ridge. They left most of the warband dead before our walls.

  While Myrddyn attended to the machines which already showed signs of wear and tear. My warriors went to empty the ditches. “I want two prisoners. Kill the rest.” We needed the ditches clearing and the weapons would be useful. The onager crews reclaimed their best stones and when the Saxons, now reinforced, formed up again the ditches were clear and my men back in the fort. They came on in the same style and we struck them again in the same style. This time they filled their front ranks with other warriors who wore better armour and my archers did not have such easy targets. When they reached the ditch men from the rear began throwing flaming brands at the walls. Some of them were hit by arrows but others succeeded and we had to put the fires out. They also used their own archers to target the onager crews and I sent Pol with a shield to cover the brave Myrddyn. By the time they retreated they had lost many men but we had taken casualties too and one of the onagers was broken and would need repairs. Although the Saxons had lost many more than we they had more men to lose. In a war of attrition they would win. As the day ended the Saxons retreated to lick their wounds. I held a meeting with my captains.

  “We did well today, my lord.”

  “Yes but we did not defeat the enemy, Ridwyn. Our archers killed many but each attack they made was more successful. We will be down to three onagers tomorrow.”

  “And they could easily break. They are a little fragile. If we had time we could make them more robust…” Myrddyn’s voice tailed off.

  “And remember they will be reinforced tomorrow by the men from the bridge. They will be eager to fight after they were singed by Captain Garth.”

  “That is it! The Dunum all over again.” Myrddyn’s face showed the excitement his idea had aroused.

  “The Dunum?”

  “Yes my lord, fire ships. We have the fishermen of Caergybi. They know these waters. They could sail around the headland and launch fire ships at the Saxon fleet. They will not wish to be stranded here without boats will they?”

  I could see that it would work but I need Gwynfor to be willing to proceed with the plan. “Myrddyn come with me. Garth, Miach and Ridwyn you take charge here. If they break through the first wall then destroy the onagers and move back to the stronghold. Hopefully we will succeed but…”

  “You my lord? There was shock in Ridwyn’s voice and I could see that Miach and Garth were unhappy about my decision.

  “Yes me, Ridwyn. If we have to improvise then Myrddyn and I are the most adept at that. I will leave Pol here and Hogan to give the illusion that I am still here. They will have watchers and if they see the banner then they will think I am here.”

  Pol and Hogan were equally
unhappy but I was determined. Perhaps it was an arrogance bred from success. I do not know but each time I made a decision like this it normally worked. When we reach the port Gareth and Gwynfor were keen to know what had happened. Many refugees had made it to Caergybi, the Christians amongst them taking shelter in the small church of St. Cybi. I took the two men to one side. “I plan on setting fire to the Saxon ships but I will need your help. I need some boats we can set on fire.”

  Gwynfor looked alarmed. “The fishing boats are our livelihood!”

  Gareth snorted, “If the Saxons come there will be no livelihood.”

  “Gwynfor is right. Tell me then, is there any way you can think of that we can float something close enough to the Saxon ships to fire them?”

  “Coracles!”

  Gareth and I did not understand the word but Myrddyn looked excited. “Of course. Have you any?”

  “Aye my lord. Every hut has at least one and some have more. We use them to go out into the bay and collect crab pots and cross the water. We only use them rarely and we can easily build more.”

  Myrddyn turned to me. “Imagine an upturned bowl big enough for one man. You paddle with your hands. We can fill them with wood and straw and tow them.” He turned to Gwynfor. “We would need to use your boats to tow them into position.”

  “Aye my lord,“ he grinned. “It means we keep our boats and that is good enough for me.”

  “Let us get started then. We have to sail around the headland be there before dawn or this will not work.”

  “Where are they my lord?”

  “I think someone said the Bay of Trearrdur.”

  “Then we can sail between the islands. It is narrow but my boat can make it. It will make for a much shorter journey.”

  “That will mean we will have to sail through their lines.”