by Griff Hosker
"Yet I do not seek fame."
"It follows you, Aelfraed."
"What I meant was the comment about ideas above my station. He looked at you."
She flushed, "He suspects a liaison between us."
Margaret burst out, "Not a word has passed my lips, my lady!"
"I know. I think it is because Henry looks more like your son, my lord. He has little in common with his brothers. My husband does not see it but the Earl... well he has sharp eyes and a suspicious nature."
"Then when Hereford is taken I shall winter in Stockton. There must be no hint of scandal or we will lose support for your cause. I will leave now and return to the siege."
"But you have just arrived."
"Your honour is more important than my discomfort. I will leave. I must give no cause for gossip."
I stood and the Empress impulsively stood as well and, throwing her arms around me, kissed me passionately. Margaret discreetly looked the other way, "Life is so unfair, Aelfraed."
"I know. Fate plays tricks with us. We can do nothing about it and must bear our burden." I held her tightly and then, reluctantly, pulled away, "And now I must leave."
"I would that you would stay. Always."
"As would I but that cannot be."
I found Richard and Gilles in the guard room tucking into hot stew and warmed ale. I smiled, "When you have finished that then we return to the siege."
"But we have just got here, my lord!"
"I know Richard and now we leave!" I smiled, "Finish your food first, though. I will meet you in the stables." I headed towards the stables. They were guarded. Horses had been stolen before now and in the present circumstances horses were worth more than gold. I recognised the guard.
"I am going to saddle Rolf, Alan."
He cocked his head to one side, "Leaving, my lord? It seems you have just arrived."
"I was a mere messenger this day and now I return to my men. Hereford is about to fall and I would like to be there to see it."
"I will help you to saddle your horse, lord."
"Thank you for the offer but I can manage. Besides my squires are still eating." I found Rolf eating grain. These were the Empress' stables and her horses had the best. If I took things easy on the way back to Hereford, Rolf would not suffer too much. I spoke to him as I saddled him. It was the way a father spoke to a baby. It was not the words which mattered but the tone of voice. I had just finished and was leading Rolf out when Gilles and Richard arrived. Gilles handed me a fresh loaf. "Margaret said you had not eaten, lord. She said to make sure you ate this. I have a skin of wine too."
"Thank you Gilles, Margaret is thoughtful." I put my shield over my back and donned my cloak.
"She is, lord." He looked at the sentry and then began to saddle his horse. We were half a mile from the stables and I had finished the deliciously warm wheaten bread when he said, "Lord I did not want to say anything in the stables but Margaret said to take care and to watch for knives in the night."
"Alan is a good man. I trust him." However as I washed down the bread with wine from the skin I wondered at her words. There were others who might wish me harm. I reined in Rolf and handed the skin back to Gilles. "Margaret does not worry over gossip. She fears for us. Eyes and ears open. The road is straight but it is night. If you suspect anything then tell me."
"Aye lord."
Gilles said, "Before you came some of the Earl's men stormed through the guard room. They looked angry. Could they be the ones Margaret means?"
"They could be. Where did they go?"
"Out, lord. Perhaps to the stables. I know not."
"From now on we use no words. Just signals."
They both nodded. I slid my sword in and out of my scabbard and then pulled my cloak tightly about me. The night was cold and there would be a frost soon. I wondered, as we rode the old Roman Road, if I should have taken the quieter, though longer, Tewkesbury road. If someone wished me harm they would not follow but lay an ambush. It was too late to worry about that now. Like my squires I listened. There was little to see save blackness. It was our ears and noses which would alert us.
We were ten miles from Hereford and I had begun to wonder if Margaret had been wrong and my suspicions unfounded when we heard, in the distance, the sound of hooves. They were behind us and they were riding hard. We had walked our horses to save them. In normal circumstance I would have slowed to speak with fellow travellers but I feared whoever this was meant us harm. I drew my sword and said, quietly, "Gilles, lead. Richard, in the middle."
We passed a track which crossed the road and I smelled the wood smoke of the hut which lay there. In more peaceful times I might have considered asking for help but who knew, in these parlous times who was friend and who was foe. We passed on.
We did not speak but Gilles spurred his horse and we began to trot down the road. Rolf was a mighty horse with a big heart but the mounts of Gilles and Richard were not. We had to take it steadily. The sound of the hooves behind us grew closer. It was fortunate that we were not going fast for Gilles' nose and ears picked something out. He reined in and Richard almost ran into the back of his horse. "Lord," he whispered. "There are men ahead."
I trusted Gilles. I looked for another way out and there was none. There was, however, a second deserted woodman's hut just off the road. I rode Rolf towards it and we dismounted behind it. The hooves continued to thunder up the road. There were four riders. In the dark I did not recognise them but I saw their mail. Richard looked at me but I pressed my finger to my lips. The hooves receded as they moved toward Hereford and then they stopped. The silence intensified the suspense. I guessed the four riders had stopped because they had met up with the ones Gilles had detected.
It was faint but I heard the sound of voices and then I heard hooves as horses came back down the road towards us. They halted close to the hut and looked around them.
"We cannot have passed them. They must have taken the Tewkesbury road."
"No, Ralph, they are on this road. We passed that pile of fresh horse shit two miles past. They have hidden somewhere."
They drew closer. I did not move. If we stayed still then they might not see us.
"There is that track we passed and that hut. They may have taken shelter there. If not we will return to the place we last knew they passed and search."
They began to trot back down the road. There were four men there and I knew not how many lay ahead but if we waited then those four would find us. I did not risk speech. Gilles knew me well enough to copy my actions and not to panic. I now regretted bringing Richard. He was new and I did not know how he would handle the situation. I mounted and started to move along the verge at the side of the road. Our progress would be slow but we would be silent. We now knew that, ahead of us, were men waiting in ambush. I did not know the numbers. Their smell gave them away. I had no doubt that my squires and I smelled too but these men smelled differently.
I slowed Rolf down and peered ahead. The men were there. I spied two horses. They waited not in the woods but on the road. They were forty paces from us. I had to resist the urge to risk the two horses and gallop past them. I was rewarded when a third led his horse from the woods. He spoke. "Any sign of them?"
"Nothing. Sir William blames us! We left as soon as we were ordered and we rode as hard as we could."
"I still think this is a mistake. Just because the Earl is annoyed with the Empress' lackey is no reason to kill him."
"This is our best chance. He has two boys with him. Would you wish to try to kill him when he is surrounded by the outlaws he uses?"
"I would not take on the Wolf of the North. It is a good job we are being paid well."
Now that I knew their numbers I could plan. We had to eliminate these three first and then try to outrun the other four. I dismounted and handed my reins to Richard. I pointed to Gilles to follow me. He nodded, handed his reins to Richard too, and stepped carefully into the woods. I took out my dagger. I would need two weap
ons. We moved towards the men who continued to grumble and moan. They held their horse's reins. One sat astride his horse. I would have to stop him but the other two were easier targets. The one on the horse was in the middle of the road and the other two were on our side. I pointed to the man on the right and Gilles nodded. I knew I was asking a great deal but Gilles had done this before.
We took steps to close with them. I could see them clearly now. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness. They were men of the retinue of Sir William de Villiers. He was one of the Earl's men. I thought I had recognised his voice. I glanced at Gilles. We were close enough now to strike. I nodded. Running forward I thrust my sword into the throat of the nearest man at arms. His horse reared as he fell. The one sitting astride his horse had to use two hands to control his own horse which also became skittish at the smell of blood. I brought my sword over and hacked into the thigh of the man. He fell from his horse, screaming.
"Lord!"
I turned and saw that the third had managed to cut Gilles' arm and he was about to finish him off. I dived towards him with the dagger in my left hand. I manage to hit him under his raised arm and we fell in a tumble on the ground. He was dead but the shout would have alerted the other four. Gilles was bleeding. After sheathing my sword and my dagger I took a piece of cloth from the dead man and tied it around his upper arm. Richard had brought the horses and I helped Gilles to mount. I clambered on Rolf's back and heard, in the distance, the sound of horses.
"Ride." I grabbed the reins of one of the dead men's horses and followed my two squires up the road. "Richard, watch out for Gilles, he is wounded."
"Aye lord."
"Do not stop even if I drop back. I will be safe!"
"Aye lord."
We had ten miles to go. Our horses had had a short rest but we were outnumbered. Gilles could not fight and Richard would be outmatched. Sir William was a knight and I had no doubt that the other three were killers all. All we could do was to run for as long as we could and then turn and make a last stand. Wulfstan had always told me that a true warrior never gave up until his enemy was prising his sword from his dead fingers. Where there was life there was hope. I had to believe that my fate was not to die on the road from Gloucester to Hereford.
I knew that I had some little time. They would halt at their comrades. I scanned both sides of the road anything which would help me. Half a mile up the road, by a Roman mile marker I saw a track crossing the road. I stopped. There was a holly tree and I cut a branch. I went to the left side of the road and tied the reins of the captured horse around the cantle. I could hear the approach of the hooves. I jammed the holly under the saddle of the horse and clapped its rump. The pain and the prickles were enough to make it start. It leapt across the road and its hooves clattered on the cobbles. A heartbeat later the four riders galloped up in time to hear the riderless horse as it raced, in panic and pain, away up the track to the north.
"There lord! They are heading off the road."
"John you wait here in case they double back. You two come with me."
I watched as three of them raced down the trail. The man at arms they left behind watched the trail to the north. I waited until the other three had ridden into the woods. I had my sword out and I burst out of the undergrowth swinging my sword as I went. The man was so surprised that he did not shout. My sword smashed into the side of his helmet and he fell, stunned, to the side of the road. I grabbed the reins of his horse and hurried up the road after my squires. The odds were now a little more even. I was another mile down the road, having seen another mile marker, when I heard the shout from the road behind. It was followed by the sound of hooves. There was no sign of my squires and I took that to be a good omen. It meant they might reach my men.
The sound of the hooves drew closer. They were gaining. I let go of the reins of the second horse when I came to a clearing. As soon as the reins touched the ground it stopped and began to graze. I spurred Rolf. When the three saw the horse they would slow. They would expect a trick like the other one. Following someone at night was difficult. I had a reputation as a trickster. I would play upon that. Inevitably, however, they began to gain. As I passed the marker showing just three miles to Hereford I glanced over my shoulder and saw them hurrying after me. It was a man at arms leading; he had a helmet but no mail. The knight was behind him.
I drew my sword and leaned forward, "Come on Rolf. Just a little further!"
I did not risk turning again. I kept myself low to help Rolf travel faster. I could hear the rider behind and he was gaining. I could hear his horse snorting and then I felt a huge blow as he hit my back. Had I not had my shield there it would have done for me. The blow hurt but did no harm. Turning I swung my sword horizontally. He was raising his sword for a second strike. My sword smashed into his hand, making him drop his sword and then it continued across his front, just above his cantle. It bit into his reins and the palm of his hand. The sword was sharp and cut through to the bone. His horse stopped and he fell from its back.
The two mailed men had taken their chance and now rode at me. They started to overtake me One was to my left and one to my right. Rolf had given his all and could go no further. I slowed down and prepared to sell my life dearly. I had two men to fight. I wheeled around Rolf's head and the manoeuvre took the man at arms by surprise. He thundered past me. I went directly for the knight. I had met Sir William de Villiers before. He was not known as a great leader but I knew him to be ambitious. Perhaps he thought to end my life and gain favour with the Earl. I brought my sword around and he blocked it with his own.
I heard the hooves of the man at arms behind me. I needed to defeat the knight and hope that would discourage his man at arms. Rolf was too weary to be used as a weapon and so I drew my dagger. As Sir William swung at me I blocked his blow with my dagger and thrust at him. Hooves thundered behind me and as my sword struck Sir William's mail his man at arms swung his sword at my back. It was a powerful blow. Rolf's legs gave way and I found myself tumbling to the ground.
I tucked my head and rolled with my arms held before me. I knew that I had to hang on to the sword and dagger. It would be bad enough being afoot against two horsemen without being defenceless too.
Sir William saw his chance and he galloped at me. Rolf staggered to his feet as the knight neared me. It made Sir William's horse veer to the side. As the killer knight tried to control his horse I swung my sword at Sir William's leg. I found flesh and the edge of my sword ripped into bone. I barely had time to spin around and deflect the man at arms' sword as it swung at me. I made a cross of my dagger and my sword.
Sir William managed to control his horse and he whipped the head around to run me down. This time there was no Rolf to help me. I gambled that the horse, despite the knight's urging would not trample me. I could also hear the man at arms as he turned to charge my back again. This time he would strike, not at my back, but my head and I would die. Sir William's horse veered at the last moment. I saw a gap above the cantle and, even as I was knocked over I stabbed forward with my sword. It was torn from my body and I turned, with just a dagger to face the man at arms.
The rider had a look of joy on his face as he leaded forward to take off my head. He was but three paces from me and if I dropped to the ground I would be trodden on and killed by his horse. I would die as I had fought, on my feet. Even as the sword was raised I saw his face contort in pain and he threw his arms in the air. His body tumbled from his horse and I saw Richard with his bloody sword in his hand.
"Gilles said you needed help, my lord!"
I laughed, "And he was right. I turned and saw that Sir William's horse had stopped. My sword was still stuck in his middle. He was dead but I think it was my blow to the knee which had caused it. I had severed an artery.
Hooves clattered down the road and I saw Dick and Sir Harold with half a dozen of my men. "Gilles found us my lord! What happened?"
I walked over to pat Richard on the back. "My new squire became a warrior
today and saved his lord and master. Come. When this siege is over we will quit the west and head home. I grow tired of this treacherous war."
Epilogue
Stockton Christmas 1139
We stayed in Hereford just long enough for the siege to be ended. I wrote two letters: one to the Empress and one to the Earl. I told them of Sir William's treachery and attempt on my life. I cared not if I offended the Earl. If it had not been for my squires then I might be dead on the Gloucester Road. We went home richer for Hereford was filled with all kinds of treasures. Our journey had, perforce, been slower than normal. We travelled in winter through the lands of the Earl of Chester. He was still Stephen's man.
My castle looked solid and welcoming as I rode through its gates. My mason and my men had not been idle and it was improved. I also saw that Henry of Brotton and his family had made it safely to my castle. For some reason that gave me more hope than anything. He would know soon enough that his former lord was a traitor but the family had found sanctuary and that made me happy. Gilles' wound healed and Rolf recovered from his exertions. The year ended well.
As I sat in my west tower I pondered on the year. We could have had victory but the defection of the Earl of Chester and the arrogance of the Earl of Gloucester had stopped that. Sir Miles and Sir Brian had shown me that I was not alone. I was not the only knight who fought for the Empress but I also realised that this war was far from over. The Anarchy had just begun and the enemy were still at the gates.
The End
Glossary
Allaghia- a subdivision of a Bandon-about 400 hundred men (Byzantium)
Akolouthos - The commander of the Varangian Guard (Byzantium)
Al-Andalus- Spain
Angevin- the people of Anjou, mainly the ruling family
Bandon- Byzantine regiment of cavalry -normally 1500 men (Byzantium)