Hoodsman: Ely Wakes

by Smith, Skye

The spy left quickly through the doorway. Raynar turned his head just slightly so he could see the front of the alehouse through the corner of his eye. There was a shadow there, so the spy was being cagey. The maid came by and he pulled her into his lap.

  "He paid for ale for thee, and nothing more," she said but she lingered a few moments. He was a good looking man and his hair did not have that smell of old wool like the other men who pulled at her.

  The shadow moved along the wall and disappeared away from the inn. He played with the woman a little more and sipped at his ale just to be sure the spy was gone. She was quite a large woman and he found himself hoping that she would stand up soon while he still had feeling in his legs.

  When she did, one of the carters at the next bench touched his nose meaningfully so Pip leaned closer. "If you are heading out of the village, you could take some road messages with you. Listen close, and tell them to any bowmen that stop you. It will gain you free passage. Tostig is to meet his wife in Clophill. Both Wulfrics are waiting for a load at Royston. Raynar's mother is sick in Huntingdon. Got it."

  Raynar repeated the messages, "Free passage past any bowmen. Worth remembering." Pip gave the jug and the pot to the carters and walked out to his cart. Messages like those spread quickly along the roads and allowed the bowmen to set up meetings and join forces. It sounded like John needed him in Huntingdon. Minutes later he was through the guarded gates and urging the cart nag towards Sandieg.

  Halfway to Sandieg from Bedford there is an ancient wood. Raynar rode completely through it and then pulled the cart to a halt. The owner of the cart came out of the shadows with a bowman. Each led a horse. He gave the owner back his cart and the carter was whistling as he continued down the track towards home with the value of the turnips and then some in his purse.

  Leofwine the Sickle handed him his horse. Leofwine was his most recent second. Raynar's thirty had split so many times and had added so many new men that he no longer knew the names of all of them, but Leofwine did. He had a keen mind and Raynar wished the man knew rudimentary letters. Most of his seconds had shared the same flaw. Orders all had to be oral.

  "Did they take the bait?" asked Leo.

  "I hope so. My head is still fuzzy from the ale I had to drink."

  "Oh aye, its a bad day when someone buys you too much ale," replied Leo, licking his lips.

  "Well, if they took the bait they won't be long behind me. We'd better hurry to the site of the ambush." He mounted his latest horse and rode back down the highway towards the thick of the woods. "It used to be that all you needed to bait a Norman trap was some men dressed in skirts and wigs to run away from them. Now you have to promise bows. What next. A cartload of gold?"

  "Well that is the problem ain't it. If you make the bait too good, then they are suspicious. The bow bait has worked before and it will work again. The Normans hate our lovely bows and they would much rather capture a cart load of them, than have'm delivered to us."

  They hid their horses and stood in the deep shadows but with a clear shot at the highway. There were twenty men on this side of the road and ten on the other. Those men on the other side would not be using their bows today. They would be tucked behind stumps and logs to make sure they didn't get hit by an overshot from the men on this side.

  There was thunder in the distance. Not the cloud type, but the hoof type. The line of bowmen in the woods each had ten arrows stuck in the soft loam in front of them. Most of them men were displaced Yorkies and so they had many lives to avenge. The most vengeful will have searched for shit on the game paths and would have soiled the points with it, thus creating a poisoned arrow. If they even wounded a man then he would not escape his fate. Instead of a quick death on this highway, he would suffer the slow and agonizing death where after a week his jaw would lock tight and his bones would feel like they were snapping and his brain would boil with the fever.

  The patrol was close now. The men working the Sherwood fence would be getting ready to spring the trap. The patrol thundered past. There was a whipping noise as a ships line snapped up from the dust on the road and was drawn tight around a tree. The sticks tied to it dangled like a fence.

  The effect on the horses was always the same. The lead men tried for the jump, but the horses balked at the height. To the horses the dangling sticks looked like a solid barrier even though it was only light rope. The result today was typical. The lead riders were thrown over the necks of the horses and landed hard on the ground. The horses behind them crashed into the lead horses and a wild kicking match ensued while the riders fought to keep their saddles. The rest of the patrol reined hard and were hit with twenty arrows, then twenty more, then twenty more.

  Those still mounted turned to run for home, but another Sherwood fence snapped up behind them. The least wounded had slid to the ground and hid behind their flailing horses. They were telling each other that all the bowmen were on the south side of the road, so they tried to escape by running into the bush on the north side of the road.

  Raynar shouted the order to hold the arrows, and on that order the ten men on the other side of the road stepped out of their hides with short swords and savaged the running Normans. This was usually done by slashing their ankles or leg muscles so they couldn't run away, and then jumping back from them so that the Normans couldn't hurt them with their superior sword skills.

  Those ten had the most dangerous job because they were in a hand to hand fight, but they had the advantage of surprise and the Normans were already staggering from wounds and from falling from horses. The Normans usually gave up. Otherwise the bowmen that were now walking towards them with arrows nocked would kill them, quickly and from well out of reach of a sword.

  Three years ago, Raynar would have had the men shoot the horses first and then the men, but now horses were very valuable and the ambushes more polished. All twenty five Normans died in that ambush in the ancient woods, but only two horses. Four horses were injured but not beyond healing.

  Raynar was yelling orders, "Tie up the horses, gather the arrows, and leave the armour. The carter said he would send the axemen on from Sandieg to mop up." Raynar walked over to the body of the knight commander with his plumed helmet and splendid armour. Leo brought the knight's horse close and they loaded the body onto it. "Come on you lot. We're for Bedford. We've more work to do at the bailey before we sleep." He mounted his horse and grabbed the reins of the knight's horse to lead it with.

  Leo mounted up and caught up the Raynar. "Well they can't say we didn't warn them. That bugger that runs Bedford thinks too much of hisself. I can't believe he didn't load up and leave for London when we promised him two days peace to do it in."

  "They don't believe our word is good enough, not since those knights in Huntingdon," replied Raynar. "They ignored our order to stop work on the motte as well. They think we wanted them to stop work because the motte is their best defense. It would never occur to them that we wanted it stopped so the shovel slaves and the sex slaves could be sent back to their villages."

  "Well, with the loss of these men, their garrison is down by half. They don't 'av enough men to guard the walls any more."

  "That is nothing to us. We can't allow ourselves to be slowed down and pinned down for weeks while we lay siege to a bailey. If it comes to that, let the axemen do it." Raynar himself was no longer attacking knights in fortified manors. He left that to the less experienced wolfpacks. His own wolfpack was now concentrating on the baileys that were still holding out. The baileys where the bailiff was too frightened to make a run for London. Like this one in Bedford.

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  The Hoodsman - Ely Wakes by Skye Smith

  Chapter 10 - The taking of Bedford Bailey in June 1070

  After about an hour they entered the village of Bedford. The main road led to the bailey. While playing the role of Pip Carter, he had scouted the village and the bailey. The bailey had a blind spot caused by the largest building in the village, the inn with the
alehouse.

  Everyone except for Raynar, one young bowman and the dead knight, dismounted at the edge of the village, well out of sight of the bailey, and left the horses with a two man guard. Leo led the others the back way to the inn while Raynar and the young bowman who was leading the dead knight's horse, rode boldly up the main road to the gate of the bailey.

  At the sight of Raynar, extra guards appeared at the gate and on the wall beside the gate, but they did not close the gate for just two men. The lord bailiff was sent for and he arrived quickly and watched the two bowmen stop in front of his gate and twist their horses around so that the corpse of the knight on the battle horse was facing the gate.

  At the sight of the bowmen, the entire village ran to hide in their houses and barred their doors. The normally busy village now looked empty. Raynar yelled up to the lord, "We told you to leave, yet you are still here. We told you to stop work on the motte, yet the slaves still toil. Are you hard of hearing, that you ignore our orders."

  The lord looked hard at the man speaking. It was him. The one with the huge reward on his head. Raynar the Wolfshead. The leader of all the wolfpacks. With a hand signal hidden by the wall, he motioned his reserves to move forward closer to the gate and to get ready to charge out. He did the same to ten men readying their horses for a cavalry charge.

  Raynar whispered to the young bowman, "Get ready to drop the reins of the knights horse and to race me back to the highway." He could see that the lad was very nervous. "It is going to take something outrageous to get these cowards to charge us. Hold that horse steady."

  He reached into his food bag and pulled out one of the lovely sausages that a cheeky farm wife had sold to him in the market in Sandieg. "Let's see if they believe all the stories about us." He swung his horse closer to the head of the knight and lifted the knights head so that his jaw, not yet stiff, fell loosely open. He held up the sausage and showed it to the Lord on the wall, and made sex movements with it, then he shoved it into the knight's mouth.

  The Lord was incensed and gave the order for everyone to charge, to kill those bowmen, to bring him their bodies, dead or alive.

  Raynar gave the lad the nod and they kicked their horses up to speed, and aimed them down the main road towards the alehouse and away from the gate.

  Through the gate poured infantry and crossbowmen and cavalry all at a full run. On Leo's word, twenty five bowmen stepped out of the shadow of the inn and loosed as one. After the first arrows, the men loosed individually in their own time, with their own aim. The slaughter in front of the gate was frightening. The power of the bows, the weight of the arrows, the unforgiving aim of the bowmen created a death storm amongst the Normans.

  At Leo's shout they all began to run towards the gate. Four of horsemen were still mounted and were trying to turn their mounts back to the gate. Two infantry men were bent low and running zigzag towards the gate. Six targets left for twenty five expert bowmen. They did not stand a chance. The Lord was helping his few remaining men by pushing the gate closed but it was too late. The lord's helpers were hit repeatedly with arrows. The lord stopped pushing on the gate and threw down his sword and held his hands away from his body. He was told not to move.

  Raynar and the lad trotted back to the gate and looked down at the lord bailiff of Bedford. He would hold a commission from King William himself. Most of the bowmen were inside the bailey covering each other while they poked around looking for hidden men. There were none.

  Raynar walked passed the bailiff and as he passed said coldly, "You, that armour is now mine. Take it off." The bailiff gave him a rebellious look but then realized that his armour was indeed forfeit and began to unhook it. One of the bowmen stepped behind him to help with the hooks.

  Raynar did a slow turn in the center of the bailey to have a good look at it all. He raised his voice so his next orders would carry to all. "Please go in fours around the village. I want all the slaves freed. Kill the watchers if you wish. I want all the folk to know that Hereward now controls Bedford and that they are to assemble for a moot court here in the bailey. Men and women. Leave the children home."

  He motioned to the closest bowmen. "Please assemble the women and other helpers from the bailey. Have them line up in front of the kitchen shed." He motioned to the man pulling the armour off the bailiff. "Just dump it on the ground and take him up to the kitchen."

  He and Leo walked slowly up to the kitchen. There was a joint on a spit and they carved some sizzling skin and savoured the salt and the flavour. Camping out without fires each night meant that their food was most often cold, greasy, and tasteless.

  A tall and homely woman walked out from the main hall towards them. She was carrying an infant in one arm and leading a young woman still in her teens with the other.

  "Are you the wife?" asked Raynar and pointed to the bailiff.

  "He says so," she replied, "but I still haven't seen proof that my true husband is dead." There was a bitterness that soured her words. "He married me by rape in front of witnesses to gain my manor. This is the child of the rape," she said holding the child up to her face. She smiled at the babe, and her whole face softened.

  "And the girl, she is his mistress?" asked Raynar.

  "She is my daughter, and yes he has made her his mistress."

  The bailiff shrugged knowingly at Raynar as if to say, "Women, this is normal, why does she complain."

  Raynar signaled to the bowman behind the bailiff and the bowman pushed a dagger tight against the bailiffs back. "Norman, you will tell me where you have hidden the garrison's pay chest."

  "No I won't," he replied.

  "It's buried under his bed," said the girl. "He trusts no one but himself with his coins."

  Raynar ordered two of his bowmen to go with the girl and find the chest. The mother made to protest but he stopped her with a wave of his hand. "My men don't take advantage of girls."

  The kitchen staff were standing about, so Raynar asked them politely to prepare a meal for his men. "Good cuts and fresh. We've lived on cold gruel for too long."

  The slaves were being trooped through the gates, men and women. The bowmen had kept them tied so that none would try a runner. Once they were well inside the bailey, they cut them free. The older women were as dirty as the men from hauling the layers of soil and rocks that formed the motte. The younger women were scantily clothed and clean and were accompanied by a Norman priest.

  "Who's the priest?" he asked of one of the bowmen.

  "He owns the brothel. He was there taking free samples and picking up the earnings to take to the church."

  "Strip him and lock him in the pillory until sunset. Blindfold him and put a slave whip on the ground behind him. Let any who have suffered by him be allowed to use the whip on him," Raynar told them without emotion. He looked at the villagers who were gathering near the slaves. "If the priest is loved by his flock he should suffer no more than boredom and embarrassment. What do you think, lads."

  It took four laughing bowmen to drag the terrified priest to the village pillory.

  There were yells from the slaves and the villagers to put the bailiff in the pillory too. Raynar held up his hand and asked for a dozen ealders to come forward and form a moot. "This is your village, not mine. Your ealders must decide the fate of this bailey, and the fate of the bailiff."

  "No," interrupted the bailiff's wife. She handed her baby to another woman and walked up close the bailiff. "The fate of this bastard is in my hands." She spat into his face and before even he realized what she was about, she drew a dagger from her clothes and slammed it into his heart. He crumpled to the ground and she started screaming obscenities at him and kicking him until he stopped moving. No one pulled her away. It was her due.

  "Well," Leo whispered in Raynar's ear, "I certainly hope that girl does know where the chest is, else we could be doing a lot of digging searching for it."

  Raynar reached to the wife and gently took the dagger from her hand. "It is done. Now give yourself a sh
ake and get on with your life. We need someone to be bailiff until the ealders make some decisions. You are my first choice. Will you?"

  She looked into his eyes and blinked a few times and then she got her focus back. "Yes, but I am a woman."

  "Very much a woman. Leofric will help you. He is a good man, and has skills in commanding men."

  She nodded slowly, still in a daze from her own violence. She took a deep breath, then turned and began yelling orders to the kitchen. A few moments later she was striding towards the village ealders who were dithering to each other just inside the gate.

  Raynar called his wolfpack towards him. "I must leave you. There is trouble in Huntingdon, and they need me. You must elect a new leader. I suggest Leo. " He pushed his second forward. "Show your hands for Leo." Well over half showed their hands. "Now you need a new second. The men who did not choose Leo must choose the second."

  "Duti" yelled his brother Outi. The other men picked up the call. Duti was elected as second.

  Leo passed his red scarf to Duti, and Raynar passed his white one to Leofric. "Take care of them Leo, they are all good men."

  "Take care of yourself Raynar. There is many a greedy bugger hunting for you. Do you want an escort to Huntingdon?"

  "No, I ride a nag of a horse and I dress in homespun. I will be fine. They will be looking for someone who looks like a leader. To them that means a fine horse and fine clothes."

  One of the maids had overheard that he was leaving and ran to the kitchen and returned with a bag of food. He thanked her for her kindness, and then walked with Leo to his horse. "Keep some of the pay chest for the men and for running the wolfpack. Give the rest to the wife, and then protect her until she doles it out." He mounted his horse and looked down at Leo. "See if the wife will ride with you to show you the manors that are still in Norman hands. Most of those west of here probably are." He turned his horse and walked it slowly through the villagers and slaves and out of the gate.

  Leo waded into the crowd towards the wife. The ealders were gossiping with each other and nothing was being decided. Leo barked out some orders. "You need to choose a reeve, and be quick about it. Those slaves need to be fed, paid, and sent home, the Normans must be buried, and this bailey wall has to come down. Your town will know no peace so long as that bailey attracts garrisons."