WARRIORS OF THE NORTH: Kings of Northumbria Book 2

by H A CULLEY

  ‘Has your mother explained what happens now?’ he asked after the silence between them had become uncomfortably long.

  ‘Yes,’ she whispered back. ‘Please be gentle with me.’

  He smiled and was about to reassure her that he would be but then realised that the time had come to be honest with her.

  ‘I have something to tell you. I should have said something earlier, but there was never the right opportunity. You needn’t worry about me having sex with you yet; you’re too young.’

  Before he could continue she sat up in bed and turned to him in agitation.

  ‘But you’re a man. My mother told me that you need regular sexual release.’

  ‘Sexual release?’ He laughed at the quaint phrase. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed. It was just the way you phrased it. I hadn’t heard it called that before.’

  Her face had crumpled when she thought he was laughing at her but now she grinned at him.

  ‘Well, it’s what she called it.’

  ‘I’m sure she did. But you don’t need to worry about my brutish masculine needs.’

  ‘But I do, I want to be a good wife to you.’

  ‘And you will be. I like you a lot, I admire your wit and your knowledge and I enjoy your company. I’m just not ready to have sex with you.’

  ‘Oh, but isn’t that a wife’s first duty? Don’t you want children?’

  ‘I already have one son and, harsh as it may sound, I would rather not have had him. Œthelwald has few admirable qualities and he’s inordinately jealous of his uncle, Oswiu, who has all the flair and personality that my son lacks.’

  ‘Oh! But our children may be more like your brother than your son.’

  ‘True, but I still think you are too young for me to ravage you just yet.’

  She giggled when he said ravage but they grew serious again when she saw how sombre he now looked.

  ‘Besides,’ he sighed, ‘I already have someone who I love and who provides me with all the sexual release, as your mother calls it, that I need.’

  ‘Oh, you mean you have a paramour?’

  ‘A paramour? Where did you hear a word like that?’

  ‘It’s what my mother calls my father’s lover. He is very discreet about her, of course, but he spends most nights with her. Mother says that it’s a great relief.’

  Oswald was reminded how young she was. All her education about sex between men and women seemed to have come from her mother, who Oswald thought of a something of a prude.

  ‘Then do you mind that I too have a lover?’

  ‘No, not in the least if it means I don’t have to put up with you humping me every night. To be honest, I’ve been dreading it. The thought of submitting to a man’s lust made me want to become a nun at first, but then I met you and I thought that sex might not be too bad with you. I’m pleased you don’t want to yet, but does that mean that you will never make love to me?’

  ‘No, but not until you are a woman. I mean until your body has finished developing.’ He paused. ‘So you wouldn’t mind me visiting Keeva at night?’

  ‘Keeva? Is that he name? Will I like her?’

  ‘You’d want to meet her?’

  ‘Of course. We have you in common and, if I like her, we may become good friends.’

  Oswald started to laugh and Cyneburga looked at him as if he was mad.

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘You are, you’re priceless. I was so concerned about your reaction to my relationship with Keeva and here you are telling me you want to make a friend of her.’

  ‘Only if I like her; and stop laughing.’

  He didn’t and she started to giggle. On the other side of the door her mother, who was trying to hear what was happening couldn’t make anything out until the sounds of merriment reached her ears.

  ‘Well,’ she said to herself. ‘That’s not how I remember my wedding night. All I remember is pain and indignity.’ She walked away feeling jealous of her daughter.

  ~~~

  Jarlath was equally worried about his marriage to Fianna. At first the girl had been heart-broken when Oswiu told her that their relationship was over. Unlike his brother, he had no wish to keep both a wife and a mistress. His conscience wouldn’t have allowed it. Furthermore, he knew that if Rhieinmelth failed to conceive reasonably quickly, the fact that Fianna had already presented him with a son would have been a reproach to her.

  It was Keeva that came up with the solution. She let sufficient time pass so that Fianna had moved on from grief over Oswiu to concern about the future, then she went to see her.

  ‘What will you do now?’

  ‘I don’t know. Oswiu said he would provide for me somehow but he has gone off to marry his bloody princess without doing anything. How could he do that?’

  ‘Perhaps he means to do something when he gets back.’

  ‘Huh! He won’t want me around like a ghost at the feast.’

  For a moment her eyes flashed and Keeva realised that the fiery little spitfire that Oswiu had found on Bute was still there under the surface.

  ‘Perhaps if you resolved your own future it might make him regret not helping you himself?’

  ‘You think so? Perhaps; but how do I do that? Who’d take in Oswiu’s cast-off and his bastard?’

  ‘Well, my brother is still unmarried and he was only saying the other day that it was time he settled down and found a woman to look after him. I think he’s beginning to find all the lads in the warrior’s hall a little infantile.’

  ‘Jarlath?’ Fianna said in surprise. ‘I hadn’t thought of him. He’s a good looking lad and he’s a member of the king’s gesith. But would he have me?’

  ‘I don’t know but I can ask him. Of course he’s in Wessex with the king at the moment but I can write to him and ask. He knows you well, after all.’

  ‘Yes, would you? You are a true friend Keeva.’

  Now Jarlath was back, as were Oswald and his new wife and Oswiu with his. As it was early April, everyone was getting ready for the move to Yeavering. Keeva had told Oswiu that Fianna was now engaged to her brother and, such was his relief, he had rewarded her with a new necklace that he had intended to give to Rhieinmelth. She was pleased, but not as delighted as she was when, much to her surprise, she was introduced to Cynaburga and was told by her that she wanted her to be one of the women who looked after her.

  ‘It’s alright,’ the girl told her. ‘You can carry on having sex with Oswald so I don’t have to.’

  She couldn’t make up her mind whether the young queen was incredibly naïve or was just teasing her. Either way, if it meant that Oswald could keep her as his lover she didn’t mind.

  Jarlath made his way over to the new church that had just been built at Yeavering and saw a radiant Fianna coming to meet him. She was attended by her five year old son and Keeva. For the first time he saw that her head was encased in cloth, hiding her abundant brown hair, framing her face. It made her look even prettier than she did with her hair unbound as it enhanced her oval face, small button nose and full lips. As she joined him at the altar, her pale blue eyes glanced at him briefly before she lowered them demurely. A second later she looked up again and brazenly made eyes at him before grinning. Whatever the future held for him, Jarlath had a feeling it wouldn’t be boring.

  CHAPTER SEVEN – THE RISE AND FALL OF KINGDOMS

  637 AD

  Eochaid sat on his horse beside Congal Claen. Since Congal had recovered his strength in the latter half of the previous year Eochaid had found his nephew more and more difficult to deal with. He was capricious, illogical and prevaricated over every decision. It was a wonder that he had stayed on his throne as long as he had if he was like this before his illness.

  Eochaid had roundly defeated the northern branch of the enemy clan and for the moment they had retired to western Ulster to lick their wounds. Instead of consolidating his position in the north of Ireland, Congal had foolishly decided to invade the Kingdom of Meath and confront
the High King of Ireland, Dòmhnall mac Áedo, a member of the southern branch of the Uí Néill. There was nothing Eochaid could say to dissuade him.

  They had swept into Meath and had nearly reached Tara, the traditional seat of the high kings, before Dòmhnall had mustered sufficient forces to oppose them. Congal had taken fright and had withdrawn until his army was joined by five hundred warriors led by Domnall Brecc, the King of Dalriada and Congal’s overlord. They found what both Congal and Domnall Brecc considered a suitable defensive position in the very south of Ulster near a settlement called Moira. They placed their right flank to the east of the boggy ground around Lough Neagh, a large lake, and the left was protected by the extensive woods to the west of Moira.

  What neither king had appreciated was the number of cavalry that Dòmhnall mac Áedo had included in his army. Battles were fought on foot; horsemen were only used in the pursuit of a routed foe. However, the high king didn’t play by the rules.

  Congal had managed to muster four hundred men but, apart from his own bodyguard and a few chieftains, they wore little protection and were poorly armed. Furthermore, they were ill-disciplined. Eochaid had his battle-hardened warriors, many of whom had been with him for years. They were the crew from his birlinn and numbered around fifty. Domnall Brecc’s Dalriadans were better armed and disciplined than the Ulstermen, but that wasn’t saying much. They were a mixture of trained warriors who at least had a helmet of some sort, a leather jerkin or a byrnie – often much patched – and sword and shield. Some had a seax as well and others carried a spear or an axe. Of the total host of nearly a thousand, just over a hundred were archers.

  The army of the high king was as numerous but, in addition to those on foot, Dòmhnall had two hundred horsemen. Eochaid was worried about these and advised the two kings to dig concealed pits in front of their position, but both assured him that they had nothing to fear from the horsemen; they would doubtless dismount and fight on foot as usual.

  ‘Besides,’ Congal pointed out, ‘very few of the Uí Néill have any armour. Our archers will slaughter them before they get anywhere near us.’

  ‘I hope you’re right, nephew.’

  There was nothing Eochaid could do but he made sure that his men knew that, even if the rest were routed, they would fight a rear guard action to delay the pursuit for as long as possible.

  The battle started when the Uí Néill and their allies moved forwards. For August the day was far from seasonal; it was dull and cold and Eochaid shivered despite his thick padded linen tunic under his byrnie. Sixty yards from the Ulaidh and the other Dalriadans they halted and their archers ran forward. There were only about a hundred of them but suddenly boys appeared from behind the ranks of spearmen with slingshots. Whilst the archers shot their arrows at high trajectory to make the waiting warriors raise their shields, the boys sent pebble after pebble at them, hitting their unprotected bodies. Those wearing armour and helmets escaped largely unscathed - though a few stones broke arms and legs - but the unarmoured majority suffered much worse. Many were incapacitated and quite a few were killed. This enraged them and the whole line was about to charge their tormentors when a roar from Eochaid stopped them.

  Ignoring the two kings, who didn’t seem to know what to do, Eochaid ordered their archers forward. They concentrated on the slingers, most of whom wore little more than a ragged woollen tunic, and forty or more boys were killed or wounded by the first volley. The rest went to sling another load of pebbles at the enemy archers but the second volley hit them first. Only about thirty boys were left and they rapidly fled, dismayed by the massacre of their fellows. The Ulaidh archers now concentrated on their counterparts on the opposing side. The latter had stupidly continued to send high trajectory volleys at the enemy foot, who could now use their uplifted shields to protect themselves. The first volley from the Ulaidh hit a third of them and they became aware of the danger. Firing one last volley at the opposing archers, they retreated behind the lines of their infantry.

  It was only then that Eochaid noticed that the mounted contingent of the Uí Néill had moved over to the left flank where Congal was in command. Either his nephew didn’t know what to do or he didn‘t think they posed a threat. However, they moved into a wedge formation with the point aimed at the extreme left of the line. When they charged they rolled that flank up as more and more of them got between the warriors and the trees.

  Congal had grabbed a spear from one of the young warriors standing near him and had tried to spear the horseman charging directly at him. He’d have done better to have stabbed the horse in its chest. The man riding it pulled savagely on his reins and the horse tuned so that he could take Congal’s thrust on his shield. Then, sawing on the reins to move his mount the other way, he chopped down at the Ulaidh king, striking him a heavy blow on his shoulder.

  The links of his chain mail byrnie parted but the padded leather jerkin he wore underneath prevented the blade from cutting into him. However, it did break his collar bone. He dropped his sword to clutch at his shoulder, letting go of his shield in the process. The horseman grinned ferociously and swung his sword at his neck. Blunted as it was by cutting through the links of chain mail, it was more of a metal bar than a sharp blade. However, the blow to Congal’s neck was sufficient to break it and he dropped to the ground unable to move. The damage to his spinal cord was such that, had he survived, he would have been paralysed from the neck down. Although his body guard now clustered around him, it was too late. They were cut down or impaled one by one until one of the mounted spearmen was able to thrust the point of his spear into Congal’s eye socket and thence into his brain.

  As soon as the cry went up that Congal had fallen, Domnall Brecc and Eochaid knew that the battle was lost. Domnall and his men fled back to Larne as quickly as possible where their fleet of birlinns, currachs, merchant ships and fishing boats waited. He had rounded up every means of sea transport he could find to convey his five hundred men over to Ulster. However, it didn’t look as he would need all of them to carry the survivors home.

  In contrast, Eochaid did what he had planned and conducted a fighting withdrawal. Much to his surprise, most of the victorious Uí Néill left him alone. Many were engaged in looting the dead on the battlefield and the rest found it less hazardous to chase down the routed Ulaidh and Dalriadans instead of tackling the well-armed and disciplined warriors with Eochaid. Much to his surprise he reached the fortified town of Larne three days later having lost no more than eight men. A few more were wounded, but none too seriously.

  He immediately set about the defence of the place whilst Domnall Brecc left him to it, setting sail back across the sea to Dalriada. Unfortunately for him the high king had anticipated this and a small flotilla of birlinns and currachs full of his warriors were waiting for them. The crews of the fighting ships were Irish pirates that called no king master, but Dòmhnall mac Áedo had paid them well to ambush the Dalriadans. Scarcely two hundred of Domnall Brecc’s original army of five hundred made it back home again. Not only had he been severely weakened militarily, which left him exposed to attack from Strathclyde, but the reign of the kings of Dalriada over the Ulaidh in Ulster was also at an end.

  ~~~

  To Oswald, King of Northumbria, greetings from Eochaid, King of the Ulaidh,

  Oswald sat up with a start when he read the opening line of the latest letter from his friend. He had heard that the headstrong Congal had decided to invade the southern Uí Néill lands but word of the decisive Battle of Moira hadn’t yet reached Yeavering.

  ‘What is it, my love? You look surprised,’ Cyneburga said as she joined him.

  Keeva had walked over with her and went to sit on his other side. The two had liked each other from the start and they, with Oswald, now formed an unconventional trio. In all respects except one the girl from Wessex was his wife and Queen of Northumbria. Oswald had yet to have sex with her, though he slept with her often enough. However, he spent more time in Keeva’s bed than Cyneburga’s and
their relationship was anything but platonic. They were discreet about it and, as Keeva was the queen’s constant companion, the situation now caused little gossip. Only Acha openly disapproved. Even Bishop Aidan seemed to have accepted it.

  ‘I’ve had a letter from Eochaid.’

  ‘What does it say?’ Cyneburga asked.

  She took a keen interest in what was happening in the world; Keeva was only interested in domestic matters.

  ‘I don’t know yet,’ he laughed. ‘You haven’t given me a chance to read it; but the opening line is interesting. It seems that he is now king of the Ulaidh.’

  He decided to read it aloud to both of them and even Keeva started to take an interest.

  First of all I have to tell you that my nephew is dead. His decision to attack Dòmhnall mac Áedo did not end well. We were defeated at a place called Moira and Congal was killed. If it wasn’t for the discipline of my warriors I suspect that I too would now be dead. As it was, we reached Largs safely and we were besieged by the Uí Néill. Domnall Brecc managed to escape but the rumour is that his fleet was attacked on the way back to Dalriada and it is said that he lost over half his army. However, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports. I do know that he lost a lot of men during the battle and afterwards during the pursuit. I suspect that Dalriada has been severely weakened and there must be a danger that Owain of Strathclyde will seek to take advantage of this.

  You may be surprised to see that I am now King of the Ulaidh having always said that I had no desire to occupy this, or any other, throne. However, the elders implored me to accept the crown. There is Congal’s son, of course, but he is too young and is the son of an unpopular father whereas everyone regards my father’s reign as something of a golden era. I felt that I had to accept in order to try and save my clan.

  I have decided to try and negotiate a truce with the High King. I hope that by acknowledging him as my overlord I can save the Ulaidh without having to give up too much territory. However, and this is my primary reason for writing, it would strengthen my hand if you could threaten Dòmhnall mac Áedo by giving me your support. I’m not asking you to send me any warriors, just the threat of doing so will give him a reason for agreeing to a reasonable compromise.