by James Wilde
‘And now?’
‘Now we begin the negotiations for surrender with Harald’s son Olaf. We will bury our dead, like good Englishmen, but we will leave the Vikings unburied. Their bones will be a warning to all who dare covet English soil.’
‘And then rest,’ Redwald croaked, overcome by weariness.
‘And feasting and drinking,’ Harold roared, grinning, ‘for we have earned it.’
The negotiations ended two days later and Redwald recovered his strength in Eoferwic with the king and the remnants of the army. Five days after that a mounted messenger thundered through the gates. Scared witless, the man struggled for long moments before he could babble his message to the monarch: the omens and portents had all come true. Two days gone, William the Bastard and his army had landed at Pevensey on the south coast. Villages were burning. Men and women lay slaughtered in their homes. The end was near.
CHAPTER THIRTY — NINE
14 October 1066
England was dying. Silhouetted against the blood-red setting sun, the tattered remnants of Harold Godwinson’s army clustered on the hilltop around the fierce Golden Dragon of Wessex. Beside the king’s once majestic gilded leather standard, a banner depicting the Trojan hero Ajax fluttered limply in a chill north breeze. Silence hung over all for the first time that day. A lull, not peace. Falling away below the warriors, butchered bodies obscured the hillside turf. Red streams bubbled down towards the foot where the vast Norman army washed all around like an iron sea. Beyond the invaders, shadows marched across the wooded slopes and lush valleys of southern England.
The eyes of the gore-spattered huscarls turned towards the king. Cuts slashed his cheeks and blood dripped from his right brow. He stood proudly, looking into the growing gloom, but his hand shook where it gripped his spear for support. In the exhausted warriors’ drawn faces, Redwald saw a pitiful acceptance. One by one, they raised their axes for their final stand.
And then the quiet of the late afternoon was shattered. The clatter of iron upon iron, a susurration of voices, low at first but growing louder. Norman nobles, troops from Normandy, Flanders, Brittany and France. Mercenaries from as far away as Rome. All of them joining together. Swords clashed against mail-covered chests, beating out the rhythm of their war chant.
‘What are they singing?’ Redwald asked, not really caring.
‘They are singing open the gates of hell.’ Harold’s voice cracked with weariness, his bravado disappearing into the wind.
Redwald felt bitter and fearful. How had it come to this, when only days before victory had seemed assured and all his careful planning was about to bring him his just rewards? Racing from Eoferwic after the messenger had delivered his disturbing news of William the Bastard’s incursion, the elite force of huscarls and mercenaries had attempted to raise a new fyrd along the way. But so many men had been lost at Stamford Bridge. Some villages in the east were near deserted, an entire generation lost. In London, Harold had attempted to rebuild his army, but old King Edward’s prophecy clung to every lip. As the coming battle neared, a steady stream of deserters fled the already depleted ranks. No support came from the Mercians or the Northumbrians. The Godwins had long since burned their bridges. And as the small army rode south to where William the Bastard’s men were stockaded, Redwald had sensed a draining of power from the once great king, a man now seemingly crippled and making one last desperate attempt to cling to the throne. But still Redwald hoped, for where else could he turn?
The king had arranged a Sussex levy to bolster his ranks, but the meeting place was the hoar-apple tree at the crossing of the old tracks where the London road emerged from the dense forest of the Weald north of Hastings. It was too close to the Norman encampment, and the noisy gathering of straw-hatted, terrified men had alerted William the Bastard’s scouts. The king’s plan to repeat his strategy from Stamford Bridge, of a last-minute race to a dawn raid, had to be abandoned. Redwald had cursed under his breath. Harold would never have made such an error before. But the long struggle to the throne and the months of battle to hold on to it had taken their toll. Now Redwald glanced down the steep slope at the chilling array of power and his heart fell: cavalry, the best in Europe, armed with lance and sword; missile-troops, swaths of archers and others armed with something he had heard tell of but never seen, the fearsome crossbow; troops carrying shield, spear, axe and sword, all of them heavily armoured in long ring-mail shirts and thick helms. Eyes like a winter heath, and hearts too.
Redwald gripped his spear more tightly and tried to drive that unsettling chanting from his head. The English had been too slow-witted, too lead-footed, and in their weakness they had sold England like a goose at the market, ready for the slaughter.
But still he hoped. Harold had never let him down before.
And yet why had the king not responded faster when he saw William’s scouts thundering back towards the palisade? Had he really expected the devious Normans to wait until the full English army had arrived and all their troops were in battle order? The Bastard’s rapid attack with his eight-thousand-strong army had devastated the ragged English ranks when they had barely reached half that number. Most of the levied English men had still been straggling along the London road. Harold had responded with the only tactic open to him, ordering his bloodied troops up to the high ridge and leaving the Normans to occupy the swampy lowlands. When the shield wall had locked into place, the king knew he had bought himself some time. Redwald cast his mind back to the Norman archers racing up to the English line and loosing flight after flight of arrows. The shafts had rattled into the huscarls’ shields, and been met with a hail of rocks, javelins and maces that stunned the enemy. And when the two sides had clashed together, the Normans had soon found their mail was no match for the huscarls’ axes. Yet this advantage had only been short-lived.
Less disciplined than the elite force, the fyrdmen and the levied troops broke ranks to pursue the Normans, and William the Bastard saw his opening. When he ordered in his cavalry, the men had been slaughtered, the ranks fragmented, and Harold’s own brothers Gyrth and Leofwine left lying among the dismembered corpses.
Redwald thought back to the shattered look that had flashed across the king’s face. Did Harold realize then that the age of the Godwins was truly over? No longer able to hold the ridge, he had withdrawn the standards to the top of the hill.
The harsh beat of iron and the full-throated singing ebbed away. Only the moan of the wind with its whispers of the coming winter drifted through the stillness.
Harold peered down to the long Norman line without expression. ‘We are English,’ he called in an unsettlingly calm voice. ‘When death looks in our face, we kick it in the balls. Come then, Norman bastards. Run up this hill in your heavy armour and meet our axes.’ The king looked round at his huscarls. ‘For every whoreson you slaughter this day, you will be rewarded with gold. We have the high ground. The Normans must come to us… to die. Kill well, my men, and by the end of the night we will be raising our mead-cups to victory.’
Redwald felt his heart stir. Was there yet a chance? When he glanced around the English, he saw there was no shield wall left. No defence. Harold was right; killing was all they had.
The red sun edged towards the horizon, the shadows pooling around the huscarls. The Norman horn sounded, low and mournful.
Harold turned to Redwald, clapped a hand on the young man’s neck and pulled him in close to whisper in his ear. ‘You have been more son to me than adviser,’ he said, ‘and you have made me proud. This day make me prouder still, and if die you must, do it with honour.’ He looked Redwald deep in the eye with an unflinching gaze, and for the first time the younger man thought he saw a hint of tears there. But then the king snapped back to the Normans and the final battle began.
The cavalry charged. Behind them, the archers raced in waves. The sky blackened with arrows.
‘Shields up,’ Harold bellowed.
Driven to his knees by the thunder of shafts, Redwald s
aw a score of tips bursting through the splintered wood. Fear gushed through him. With so many Norman archers, the high ground meant nothing. The realization had only a moment to sink in, and then the storm broke upon them. Redwald glimpsed mere flashes in the whirl of his panic. The huscarls stood their ground, swinging their axes in furious rhythm. But the arrows flooded down upon their heads as the Norman archers fired over the top of their own cavalry.
Madness, madness, Redwald thought.
Shafts burst through faces, rammed into chests and shoulders. Heads leapt from necks. Arms fell still twitching. Grey chunks of brain sprayed from split skulls. A mist of blood descended on them all.
Redwald realized he was rooted with dread and tried to jab with his spear, but his hand shook too much. Never had he expected such horror. Through the whirl of axes and streams of arrows, he glimpsed the faces of the Normans, and thought they all looked like death’s heads, hollow-eyed, pearly teeth grinning with insane delight. No men these! Things from the night, or devils from hell.
Tears flooded down his cheeks.
Beside him, Harold threw his head back and cried out, clutching his face. Sickened, Redwald saw a wooden shaft protruding from the king’s right eye. Yet still the monarch fought on as if he could feel no pain, the arrow flashing back and forth with every movement of Harold’s head.
The sky was darkening. Redwald glimpsed the ghost of the moon, and a thought skittered through his head that he had black wings, like a raven, and could fly away.
Madness.
Gripped by the horrific sight of that arrow in Harold’s eye, Redwald only sensed the Normans were attacking from two flanks until it was too late to shout a warning. Torn apart as if by a winter gale, the huscarls could offer little resistance. Six knights on horseback rammed through the crumbling defensive line and thundered towards the king.
Redwald saw his duty flash before his eyes: with spear in hand, he should defend the king to the last, even though his master’s death was inevitable. He hesitated. What good would it do to give up his own life? Harold looked from the attacking knights to Redwald, and in the moment their eyes locked the young man saw the king’s shocked dismay at the final betrayal. Redwald cared little. He threw himself backwards, away from the line of pounding hooves. Rolling down the hill, he caught flashes of swords slashing down on the man who had raised him up to such great heights. A blade stabbed through his master’s chest. The king’s head flew from his shoulders and bounced across the sticky grass. A knight swung his axe down, rending open Harold’s mail shirt and the flesh beneath. Guts tumbled out to glisten in the fading light. And still the Normans hacked and slashed.
Dazed, Redwald came to a halt. Run, he told himself. Do not look back. But a grim fascination dragged his gaze back to the hilltop. The Normans were cheering around his fallen master. One knight stooped down with his knife and sawed at the king’s corpse. Jumping to his feet, the man waved his trophy over his head and the others roared with laughter. Sickened, Redwald realized the knight had cut off Harold’s cock.
Hot tears came for the failure of all his dreams. Turning, he careered down the hillside into the growing night.
CHAPTER FORTY
Still and silent under sable skies, London held its breath. Moonbeams limned the glistening roofs of the cramped houses, casting long shadows across the rutted streets. A dog barked; a cow lowed. The insistent clatter of hoofbeats broke the quiet as Redwald rode hard from the direction of the river crossing towards the Palace of Westminster. Snorts of hot breath clouded in the chill air. Digging his heels into the flanks of his foaming horse, the young man urged the last vestige of strength from its weary limbs. Sweat dripped from his brow. Hot despite the cold, he had taken no chances, swaddling himself in a stolen cloak with the hood pulled low to hide his identity.
He could almost sense the apprehension leaking from the dark houses on either side. He pictured the men sitting by the hearths, unable to sleep, the women anxiously tossing and turning in their beds. If they only knew the horror that would soon be marching towards their doors. Stifling his own desperation, he guided his mount towards the barred gates in the high enclosure fence. Above the palisade, cold lamps of faces glowed in the moonlight, each one filled with trepidation. The guards called for news of the battle. They looked pitifully hopeful when he said he had an urgent message from the king and could not be delayed.
Leaping from his horse, he glanced once over his shoulder to ensure he was not being watched, and then raced for the abbey church. A full day and more had passed since he had seen Harold butchered, the most dismal day he could recall. A dark night of running and hiding from Norman troops scouring the countryside for escaping English soldiers to slaughter gave way to a red dawn, a near-bungled attempt to steal a horse, and the long flight home. Ahead stretched grey days of worry. All his plans had turned to ashes, all the long years of scheming wasted. He had less now than when Asketil had taken him in after his parents’ death. And if William the Bastard’s men recognized him, his life would be lost too, his head planted on a pole beside the Thames, food for the crows.
Consumed by despair, the young man crashed through the heavy oak door into the echoing vault of the church. Candles guttered along the far wall, left by the monks for sinners desperate to pray for their souls in the long dark of the night. The dancing flames sent jewels of light shimmering across the stained-glass windows. Above the altar, the Christ glared down at the young man. Redwald saw angels too, but no devils. They already walked the earth.
His leather shoes echoed on the stone flags. Redwald snatched one of the candles and hurried to the reliquary containing the shankbone of St John the Baptist. He thought back to that frozen night when he had retrieved the relic for the old queen, Edith, Harold Godwinson’s sister. How long ago it seemed. With that simple act, he had earned the first step of his advancement. Power had felt within his grasp.
Fighting back tears of frustration, he placed his hands upon the casket, almost afraid that it would burn him, and then flipped open the iron-banded lid. With the candle held in a trembling hand, he pushed aside the brown bone to find what he had hidden beneath.
‘It is you.’
Redwald almost cried out in shock. Clutching a hand to his mouth, he whirled in fear of his life only to see Hild standing in the doorway. Hild, his wife of four months, already with child, whom he had kissed goodbye barely a week ago. He hadn’t even remembered she was at the palace.
‘Leave me,’ he snapped, the thump of his heart returning to normal. ‘I have business.’
‘Here? Do you pray for divine help?’ She crossed the nave, the embroidered hem of her yellow dress swishing across the flagstones. Her hands fluttered in front of her, her voice rising. ‘Why have you returned alone? What of the battle? Where is the king?’
‘The king is dead.’ Turning his back on his wife, Redwald delved into the reliquary once more.
Only silence followed. He glanced back to see Hild’s face frozen, tears springing to the corners of her eyes.
Forcing himself to soften his tone, he continued, ‘England is done. You would do well to flee before the Normans come. Their soldiers will not treat women kindly.’ He stifled a bitter laugh at his understatement. The Normans’ reputation for rape, cruelty and brutality was unparalleled.
‘You wish me to travel alone? But you are my husband… you should protect me,’ his wife said, aghast.
Wearied by the exchange, Redwald shook his head and returned his attention to the casket. ‘Go.’
‘How can your heart be so cold? Do you not love me?’
‘I never loved you. You were… necessary.’
Hild gulped like a codfish.
‘You look foolish like that. Leave now.’ Redwald’s voice hardened.
‘No.’ Her cheeks flushed with indignation. ‘You will protect me, as you promised my father. The Witan will find a new king. We will stay here, safe within the palace. And if the Norman is to be king, so be it. We will throw ourselves
upon his mercy. You served one monarch, you can serve another.’
Angry, Hild grabbed her husband’s arm to drag his attention from the reliquary. Redwald snapped round, eyes blazing. ‘There is nothing for me here. Nothing.’ He felt a spiralling rage at so many wasted years. Every moment in that place only added to the miserable total. Lowering his voice, he threatened, ‘You will not hold me back.’
‘And you will not abandon me.’ Hild’s eyes flashed. Redwald could see she would not be deterred. ‘You are a coward,’ she spat. ‘A weak child of a man. Come with me now, or I will tell all how you fled from the battle, abandoning the defence of England.’
‘Lies!’
Hild smirked. ‘Is it? You think yourself so clever, moving everyone like chess pieces to win your game. But in the night when you lie with me I see the true you.’ Redwald coloured at her mocking laughter. His fingers fumbled in the bottom of the reliquary. Lost to the rush of things she had kept unspoken for so long, Hild thrust her face into his and hissed, ‘And I used you.’
Redwald stiffened. His ears burned, his hand shook.
With a cruel look of triumph in her face, Hild twirled away. ‘Now follow me back to the house and all this will be forgotten.’
‘No.’ The word whispered away like candle-smoke in the vast belly of the great stone church.
Hild spun back, her small teeth clenched. ‘Then I will hail the king’s men and make my claim.’