Henry II (The Anarchy Book 13)

by Griff Hosker

  I heard the sound of the stone on metal and my squires sharpening their own swords. Beyond that I heard some of my men praying while others were throwing bone dice. My men at arms liked to gamble before a battle. I never understood it but some liked the thought of having lost money it would somehow bring them luck. They had done it before every battle and now was not the time to change it. I knew that the battles we were about to fight would not win the war for Henry but they would bring his coronation just a little bit closer. Then there was silence as they tried to get some sleep.

  When I deemed it right I roused my squires, “Come, it is time to dress for war.” While they gathered my mail and weapons I knelt and prayed. I did so silently. It had been the way I had been brought up. They then helped me to don my mail. I combed my hair and ate some bread and practised a few strokes with my sword while they dressed for war. I sheathed my sword and picked up my helmet. James brought Badger to me and Robert helped me to mount. Robert handed me my spear. I waited while they mounted and then the three of us rode through the dark to where the rest of my men waited.

  We would move away from the camp first for we had further to travel. We would attack just before dawn. The night guards would be more likely to be careless. They would be anticipating food and ale. Some would be ready to empty their bowels and bladders. Such irritations made you less likely to be alert. We were more than a mile from the two counter castles. We had to be ready to attack the moment the Earl of Leicester led his men across the bridge. We walked along the greenway. Dick and his archers led the way and their horses made not a sound. We reached the trees which lay some hundred and fifty paces from the earthworks.

  We waited in the dark. The sky was slowly lightening to the east but it was a slow process. It allowed our eyes to become accustomed to the dark and I saw that, now that we were closer, this counter castle was more substantial. They had had time to deepen the ditch and raise the bank. Our horses would struggle up the bank and be vulnerable to attack. I took a decision. Without saying a word, I dismounted and took my cloak off to lay it over my saddle. I handed my reins to Robert. He nodded. Even in the dark I could see the disappointment on his face. He knew his sword would stay sheathed that day. He would be with the slingers and he would watch the horses. My knights and men at arms emulated me. We would leave our horses and attack on foot.

  I waved my hand and we left the woods. Now that we were no longer mounted we could move closer. We were harder to see. Dick and his archers would remain in the woods. The sky was a little lighter and I wondered why we had not attacked the bridge castle yet. Suddenly I was answered by a single cry from our left. It pierced the night like the call of a hunting bird. There were voices from the counter castle but their attention was not to the south but to the west. The silence was savagely ended by the sound of metal on metal and the screams of men as they fought. Wulfric and the earls were attacking. Horse’s hooves sounded as Wulfric led my men to charge the bridge defences.

  We had reached the ditch. I stepped into it carefully. I sought traps. I saw none. Each moment made it lighter and when I heard the hiss of the arrow above my head then I knew that Dick and his men had enough light to loose their flights. A defender tumbled from the walls and rolled down the slope and landed at my feet. Stepping over him I began to ascend the steep slope on the other side. I took out my dagger and used that to dig into the earth and pull myself up. The silence of not long ago was now replaced with the sound of alarm, battle and death. Inside the counter castle I heard commands as someone tried to get reinforcements into the works. Dick and his archers kept us safe from sight. Every whitened face which appeared drew a flurry of arrows.

  I reached the base of the low palisade. It was my height. I sheathed my dagger. Davy of Ingleby and Günter of Swabia appeared next to me. Davy cupped his hands and, after stepping into them, I was thrust upwards. I seemed to fly over the palisade. As I began to descend I saw men running towards me. I landed and realised that I was no longer a young man. I did not land as lightly as I once had.

  In one movement, I drew my sword and pulled my shield around to my front. I did not wait to be attacked I ran at those within. I saw the greatest danger to me; one of them had a double handed axe which he swung in a wide arc towards me. I braced my left leg and took the blow on my shield while swinging my own sword in an equally wide arc. The axeman had no shield. My sword bit into his side and tore him open. Günter of Swabia raced to my side and took the sword blow intended for my head on his own sword.

  I drew my sword from the body and backhanded it into the side of the next defender. He blocked the blow with his shield. I swung my shield sideways into his shield. The two blows made him stagger backwards and he lost his balance, tripping over the body of the man Günter had slain. Davy appeared from behind us and skewered his body to the ground.

  The light was now good enough for me to see the layout of the counter castle. They had one gate and that was to the east. I saw that our sudden attack and Dick’s arrows had killed most of the garrison.

  “Knights to me!” I turned to Davy and Günter. “Have some men begin to destroy the war machines. Use the remains of the fires.”

  “Lord?”

  I turned and saw Sir Harold, Sir John and Sir Gilles, along with James and my squires. They stood behind me. “We go to the gate and hold it!”

  We moved as a wedge. Sir Harold and Sir John flanked me. James was behind me. With our shields and swords before us we ploughed through the garrison of the counter castle. It had been almost too easy. The men we had fought had not worn armour. Even now I knew that, in the main camp, half a mile away, the knights would be arming themselves and soon they would come to the aid of their beleaguered garrison. We had to hold until Wulfric and Duke Henry could lead the rest of my army from the bridge to help us.

  We reached the open gate. Sir Richard ran from behind. “Sorry, lord. I was slow.”

  “The men can clear the mound and destroy the machines. We wait here for the enemy attack. We fill the gateway with our bodies. James make sure my banner is planted firmly. I would draw them to us.”

  Behind us the sounds of death and the dying faded as my men ended the lives of the last of the defenders. The smell of burning and black smoke filled the air as they burned the machines which had threatened Wallingford. I knew that now Wallingford could be resupplied and would not fall. Whatever sacrifices had been made in the two attacks then that, at least, had been a success.

  “I see them, lord. They come.”

  Sir Harold pointed and I saw the knights as they prepared their own wedge. It was larger than ours but they would have to ascend their own ramp. It was only as wide as the gate and no matter how many men they had we would be fighting one to one.

  I stepped to the last flat part of the entrance. The gate was three paces behind us but our squires and men at arms would fill that. I wanted the enemy to struggle on the slippery slope. The dew still hung there. I turned to speak with my handful of knights. “You are Stockton knights! All of you have been my squires and there are no finer knights in the land. Today the five of us and our squires will hold this gate and deny the enemy entry! We are like brothers and we fight for each other! I could not be prouder of all of you even if you were my own blood.”

  They banged their shields and began a chant:

  ‘Men of Stockton made of steel

  Make the enemy rock and reel

  Show them iron by Alf well made

  Show them we are not afraid

  Men of Stockton fear no foe

  Victory is all we know

  Men of Stockton made of steel

  Make the enemy rock and reel’

  It was a song which Sir Gilles had made up when we had campaigned close to Osmotherley. My men had sung it around the camp fires. Now it seemed like an old-fashioned war cry. Athelstan had told me of warriors who had sung this way when he had been in the Varangian Guard. Sometimes it had been a death song, at others a paean of victory. We would see w
hich soon for the enemy were closing with us.

  I swung my sword before me in time to the chant. I did not recognise any of the knights who marched resolutely towards us. That was not a surprise. The war had gone on so long that some of those who now approached had not even been born when first I had drawn sword to defend England for the Empress. I did not think this would be the day which decided England’s fate but if we could defeat Stephen’s forces then that day would be within our grasp.

  “We fight hard and we die hard! Make them bleed for every piece of grass on which we stand.”

  From our right came a flurry of arrows. It was Dick and his archers. The effect was not as great as we might have hoped for the arrows fell on the shield side of the knights. Even so, some, who were a little tardy in raising their shields fell, and the wedge rippled as the knights and men at arms stepped over the bodies. It was little enough but it had an effect. They were not as tight as they might have been. In addition, as they approached they had to keep their shields to their left. Dick and his men were good enough to be able to discriminate between friend and foe. Until they were beard to beard they would have to fear the feathered flights of death.

  “Present!”

  We turned our shields as one to face the enemy. I braced my left shoulder against it and held my sword behind me. The knight who approached me had a yellow diagonal cross on a green background. It seemed unduly bright. His shield was still held to the left and above him. I lunged forward and down as he swung his sword over hand. My shield blocked it and my sword struck him in the middle of the cross. It was like a huge target. I felt the tip strike metal and I pushed and twisted. I wormed the sharpened tip between the links and saw his eyes widen as he felt the steel enter his body. I pushed harder and his feet began to slip. One last push helped my blade slip deeper within him and I pulled its bloody point out. He fell and, in doing so, tripped the knight behind. As he overbalanced I brought my sword over and smashed it into the back of the helmet of the falling knight. The two bodies were now a barrier. As men tried to negotiate the corpses of their friends Dick’s arrows began to find more targets. My knights had also slain their enemy and the top of the ramp was filled with dead and dying knights. As the rest raised their shields to protect themselves from the arrows I heard a horn.

  James shouted, “There, lord! It is Duke Henry. He leads Wulfric and the earls!”

  I glanced to my left and saw, thundering down the road from the bridge, a column of knights and men at arms eight men wide. The knights before us saw that they would be cut off and so they turned.

  “Men of Stockton! Now is your time! Let us end this here this day! Forward!”

  It was tempting to run after the fleeing enemy knights but the ramp was covered in bodies. We picked our way down. I saw Henry lead Wulfric and the others. They scythed through the disordered and disorganized men at arms and knights. I was a proud father in that moment. Henry was no longer the squire aspiring to be a knight. He was now a true warrior and leader. It was he at the fore with Wulfric on one side and Sir Hugh on the other. He was the knight at the tip of the column which tore the heart from our enemies.

  We had no enemies to slay for the knights we met were wounded or disheartened. They surrendered. Duke Henry waved his men into a large circle. The enemy still held their camp which was protected by a ditch and a palisade but we held the counter castles and all that lay before Wallingford. It would be the enemy who would now be besieged.

  Henry reined in before me, “A great victory, Warlord!”

  “Aye, my lord but we need to contain the enemy! We should plan our assault.”

  “You and your men have done enough, “My Earl of Leicester. Have your men prepare a defence before their camp. Tomorrow we assault it!” He looked at the dead. Men lay in untidy huddles. Although the majority were the enemy we both recognised men we had fought alongside. “Today we honour our own dead for they died well.”

  Chapter 21

  We cleared the counter castle of the burned machines and the dead. We garrisoned it as a strong point. Roger of Hereford came from the castle. He looked thin and gaunt. He bowed, “I am pleased you came when you did, Duke Henry. We were about to capitulate. We had almost run out of supplies.”

  Henry had grown over the last four years. He was no longer the young man who would ignore dangers. He shook his head as he said, “I fear it is not over, my lord. Have your women and children taken to Bristol and send for supplies.” He waved a hand around. “This is my whole army! I have four earls and their retinues. That is all. You will have to continue to hold Wallingford.”

  I saw the disappointment on Roger’s face, “Aye, my lord. I thought it over now. You are returned.”

  “Returned; yes. There is hope now; yes, but Stephen still has more men than we do. Tomorrow when we attack their camp our numbers will be equal. I would use your men but it would be a waste if they are hungry. Be resolute. We shall prevail but it will not be for some time.”

  “I will do as my father did, my lord, and hold this land for you.”

  Henry took me to one side, “I do not like to be so pessimistic, Earl, but you know better than any our parlous position.”

  I nodded, “You spoke aright. I was proud of you. You sounded like your grandfather. He was a realist too. Stephen will regret his absence. I know he was at his son’s side but if he had been here then he would have counterattacked and I confess I am not certain that the result would have been the same. He has his best knights with him.”

  “We have many who will bring a fine ransom.”

  “Duke, I would like to plant a seed in your mind. Ask how many wish to support your claim to be king. Ask those that do to swear allegiance to you.”

  “Could we trust them? Others swore to put my mother on the throne and did not honour their word.”

  “Have your priests fetch forth Bibles. Have them swear before your assembled knights. If they are then foresworn, then it is their peers who will end their treachery.”

  The captured knights and men at arms were brought forth. There were over eighty of them. Henry wisely sat on his horse with both his royal and ducal standards fluttering behind him. It was an astute move. His squires had burnished his mail and his helmet. When they were assembled, he took off his helmet and spoke to them. He had his grandfather’s voice. It was not haughty but spoke to them as equals yet his bearing was noble and kingly. It was an irresistible combination.

  “I am Henry FitzEmpress; I am the rightful king of England and you have all chosen to oppose me.” He paused for his words to take effect. “I am descended from William, known as the Conqueror, and he was not a man who suffered treachery. He dealt with it and insurrection harshly. I am of his blood. My grandfather was Henry who also dealt harshly with those who fought him. I could have every man at arms blinded or hanged. I could have every knight imprisoned.” He allowed another pause and then smiled, “But I am not my grandfather and I am not my great grandfather. I will make an offer. If you swear to follow me then you shall live and join my army. If not…” he allowed the words to hang menacingly in the air.

  I waved the four priests forward. Each held a Bible.

  “Those who would swear come forward and do so before my whole army. These are the men with whom you will be fighting and, if you break your oath, the ones who will hunt you down and slay you.”

  First one and then another stood and came to swear. The group who did not became smaller and smaller until there were just twenty knights left.

  “My Lord Hereford, take these prisoners to Cloere Brien." I watched their faces fall. The prison in Wallingford Castle had seen many prisoners and most had not lived. Those who had sworn an oath now saw the wisdom of their decision. “Warlord, give them back their weapons so that you know their faces, their livery and their hearts.”

  Henry’s words were carefully chosen. He was letting them know that if they betrayed him I would be their hunter.

  It was a martial camp. The enemy were too cl
ose for us to relax too much. The guards for the night were from the Earl of Chester’s retinue. I sat with Henry and the Earls. Wulfric and Dick, as well as Roger of Hereford were also afforded the privilege of the Duke’s table.

  Henry turned to me. He had grown but he still sought my advice. “Earl, do we lay siege to the men in this camp or assault them?”

  I had just cut myself a large slice of ham. I pointed my dagger at the knights who had just defected to us and were seated apart from the other retinue. “I would use those to lead the assault. It will be a test of their loyalty. A siege would take too long. Stephen has many more men at Oxford. I know that it is fifteen miles away but if we besiege them we risk being caught between the siege works and Stephen’s army. Better to defeat these and then face Stephen.”

  “I like that plan. We can use your archers to form a barrier between us and Stephen. They can give advance warning. He could come tomorrow.”

  “I doubt it. If word has reached him of our attack it will take at least half a day to prepare and he will not wish a night march. He knows that my men are deadly in the dark.”

  “If he comes it will be tomorrow and late on at that. He will want to ensure that this is neither a trick nor a trap.”

  “Trick?”

  Wulfric laughed, “My lord you of all people should know that the Earl of Cleveland has used many tricks over the years. An attack here and then another conroi riding around his flanks to take Oxford while he was away would be one such trick.”