Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 06] Saxon Slaughter

by Griff Hosker

  “Begin rebuilding the gate. Collect the weapons from the dead.”

  Daffydd looked at me and asked, “What about the fire?”

  “Feed it. It will prevent an attack and we can still collect the weapons. Have half the men sleep and then change over half way through the night. If the smell of burning flesh hasn’t put them off then feed the men too.”

  We had a half finished hall and I led my five companions to rest there. “I will bring some food.”

  “Thank you Einar.”

  He nodded seriously and then said, “I have learned much from watching you, Warlord. I had heard the stories of Myrddyn and thought that they were made up.”

  His comment took Myrddyn by surprise, “But you saw how it was done! You saw it was a trick.”

  “No, that was magic. You made it burn with many colours; you made it burn even when men tried to put it out. And the disguise; that was clever too. No, it was magic. When I have my own men to lead I will have my own wizard.”

  Gawan became animated, “I will be your wizard, Einar. Myrddyn has promised to teach me.”

  As Einar and Gawan went to get food I asked the wizard, “Have you?”

  “He has ability Warlord. I think he could be both a warrior and a wizard. Think how powerful he would be.”

  I knew he was right but I still worried about my son. Magic and wizardry were the dark arts. How would it change my son? It might make him forget his responsibilities as a leader.

  Myrddyn sensed my dilemma. “Remember who I talk to in the Otherworld.”

  “My mother.”

  “Would she allow your son to turn to evil? Her grandson?”

  He was right. “I am sorry Myrddyn. Perhaps I am tired.”

  Cadwallon just watched us mesmerised. I think I was doing more for him as a leader than even his father would have expected. Lann Aelle helped me off with my mail. “What will they do next, Warlord?”

  “If I was Edwin I would attack now while we are resting.”

  “But you think not.”

  “I think not. Aella was the fighting leader and his charred body lies before my walls. Myrddyn’s magic has put doubts in his men’s minds. It will be hard to motivate them again. Had Aella lived then they might haves risked it. As it is I suspect they will be gone by morning.”

  Einar and Gawan appeared with the food. “Warlord, Daffydd has a gate in place and the weapons and arms are collected. The fire still burns.”

  “Thank you Einar.” We devoured the food and ignored the smell of human roast wafting over to us. I watched them all fall asleep and then I donned my wolf cloak and ascended the gate. “Daffydd, get some rest. I cannot sleep. I will watch for you.”

  “Thank you Warlord.”

  As I watched, I reflected that I could see nothing beyond the fire. But at least we would see any attack. The sentries looked tired but they all peered into the darkness watching for the movements of a shadow.

  I had wanted to know about this King Edwin and now I had learned what he was like. He was careful. He did not waste his warrior’s lives but most importantly, he was clever. He was what the Greeks called a strategos. He planned and he plotted. I had almost underestimated him. Had we not built the fort at Penrhyd then we would have lost Rheged for a second time. I should not have gone home. I knew now that I had a job to do here. I might miss my family but an oath was more important than a family and I would keep my word.

  The fire slowly died and then, behind me, I felt dawn’s early light. It flickered over the dying fire and the bones of the dead and then it revealed an empty camp beyond. King Edwin had fled. He had returned to Dunelm to plot and plan once more.

  Chapter 8

  We had the unpleasant task of removing the burned bodies and making a pyre of the others. We were not doing so out of kindness; we did not want a plague of foxes and rats feasting on the bodies. I sent a patrol of ten squires to shadow the Saxons. I was not taking it for granted that they would just go home. There was an unpleasant thought lurking in the recesses of my mind that they might go to Wide Water to cause some mischief there. As much as I was desperate to learn what had transpired at Civitas Carvetiorum; I had to make sure that my new fort was stronger. I set the equites and the levy to work deepening the ditch and building a better gatehouse. The men who had fought in the battle were all rewarded with arms and armour from the dead Saxons. We found some better mail for Einar and the boys gained good Saxon swords.

  It was Gawan who came up with the idea which we incorporated into every fort we had. “We could have a continuous ditch and a bridge which we lowered across the ditch to allow us into the fort. We would then have a double door. If we use the Warlord’s idea of a room behind the gate and another gate, it would make the gatehouse the strongest place in the fort.”

  Myrddyn was impressed. I think Gawan expected derision or some flaw identified but it was a good idea.

  “Perhaps I will have you for my wizard, my lord. Should I take the boys and cut some trees for the gate.” Einar pointed to the ridge a few hundred paces away which had a fine stand of trees.

  “Aye. Lann Aelle, take the Roman Horn and signal if you see aught.”

  By the time evening came the fort had a better gate but still lacked our new gatehouse and a rider had returned from the east. The Saxons had retreated to the high ridge and had made a defensive camp. They had not gone home. I had done the right thing by working on the fort. I still wondered why Hogan Lann had not returned. This Edwin was a clever man.

  “I think they are waiting for word from the west.”

  “So do I Myrddyn. Tomorrow I will take Lann Aelle and the boys and we will ride to the fortress.”

  In the event it proved unnecessary. Aedh, Tuanthal and his riders rode in early the next day. He looked admiringly at the blackened earth. “I see you survived. We thought that, perhaps, it had ended badly.”

  “As did we. I wondered why it took two days to return.” I tried to keep the criticism out of my voice but I failed.

  “I am sorry, Warlord. We found the warband. They had not breached the walls but they were prepared for us and had the long spears Edwin’s men had had. They had built boats to cross the river and they fled north. By the time we had crossed they were ravaging the country side just north of the wall. They used the Roman wall as a defence against our horsemen. The prince and your son were frustrated that they could not use their heavy horses against the men in the rocks and on the wall. It was left to my men to winkle them out.”

  “Did you account for them all?”

  He shook his head. “Most of them were killed but we had to sleep and some slipped away during the night. We returned directly here and your son is following. The prince is returning to his fort to repair the damage.”

  “I must ask you to choose your best men and go with Aedh. King Edwin is fleeing east. He is waiting for those you routed. Make them pay for every inch of land. Do not risk your men but make sudden attacks with javelins. I want them to remember the day they came to Rheged. I want them to count the miles home by the bleached bones of their dead. Take fifty of the squires with you. Their horses will be fresh.”

  “Aye my lord and I am sorry that we let you down.”

  “You did not. I was outwitted. It will not happen again.”

  My son and his equites arrived at noon. I could see the frustration on his face and in the way he rode. His shoulders sagged and he looked as though he had had the life sucked out of him. He did not take failure well. Even before we had time to speak Gawan had proudly told his elder brother of the new gatehouse. His enthusiasm was such that Hogan Lann brightened visibly. Eventually Myrddyn had to order him back to work on the gatehouse just so that I could speak with Hogan.

  I told him of the battle and Myrddyn’s trick. He chuckled, “I can hear that tale being told and retold. How the Warlord was turned into a dragon and flew across the battlefield consuming all in his path.”

  “That was not how it happened.”

  “No b
ut it is how they will report it. I wish I had seen it.”

  “I hear that your attempts to bring the Saxons to fight were thwarted.”

  “Aye. I will make sure the men have their bows the next time we ride. And the horses tired. We had no squires and no remounts.”

  “If we had not had the squires then we would have lost.” I had already reached my decision and now it was time to tell my son. “We will go on the defensive for the rest of the year. I want our defences building up and I want you and Prince Pasgen each to have an army of your own. You will need foot as well as archers and light horse. I intend to ride with Tuanthal and Aedh and act as early warning for the Saxons. He will come again. He nearly succeeded this time and, but for a trick, he would have done.”

  “Does he know that it was a trick?”

  “You spoke with him. He is a very clever man. He might not know how we did it but he will know.”

  “And how did the boys do?”

  “Well. Prince Cadwallon killed his first warrior and your brother has a desire to be a wizard.”

  Hogan was taken aback. For him there had only ever been one course he wished to sail and that was the course of a warrior. “Really?”

  “He has aptitude. He will still continue to train as a warrior but we might have an assistant to Myrddyn and that is no bad thing is it?”

  “No. Two Myrddyns, that would worry some of our enemies. It is good that my little brother chooses his own course.”

  “Come, my son, let us walk together. We need to talk.”

  We left the fort and headed along the Roman Road towards Castle Perilous. I had loved my first command. It was where Hogan had been born and his mother and sister had died. I had faced the Saxons here many times and it felt right to speak with my son there. I also wished to be away from prying ears. I needed his honest opinion.

  “I said to you before that I wished you to form an army. That was presumptuous of me. You may well wish to take your men back to Mona. I would not blame you.”

  “But you will stay?”

  “I gave my word.”

  “What do you expect of me, father?”

  “Expect of you?” The question was so unexpected that I did not know what to say. I repeated the question to give me time to think.

  “When you are in the Otherworld, what will I be?”

  I felt better now that I understood the question. “Why, you will be Warlord of course.”

  “But I did not take the oath.”

  I was taken aback. Was my son about to desert me? I had given him the opportunity. “The Warlord is not just about an oath to the King of Rheged. I promised the Emperor I would be Dux Britannica.”

  “But I did not.”

  This was depressing me. “So what would you have for your future?”

  “I would be Warlord but I would need others to know that I was chosen. I would want them to know that it was not an accident of birth. I would swear an oath.”

  I felt relieved and terrified at the same time. My son was willing to take on an awesome responsibility with little or no reward for himself. “You know that you would have to fight for another man’s land. You would have to fight for Prince Pasgen.”

  “I know but I also know that I would be fighting for all the other people as you do. The Kays of this world and the Aedhs.”

  “You would have to put your family second.” I looked at the ground. The grass suddenly seemed interesting. “As I had to.”

  “My son will realise, as I did, that you can still have the best father in the world even if he is not wiping your nose all the time. Lann Aelle had such a father and yet he chose you to follow. Does that not tell you something?”

  I nodded. “Well we will arrange the ceremony then.”

  “What ceremony?” We had reached the ruins of my castle. “I will swear now on Saxon Slayer, here where my mother is buried and so many others who fought for you. I need not an audience to witness my oath. This will be my oath and I am the one who will have to keep it.”

  He was right, of course and we made our way to his mother’s grave. I took out Saxon Slayer and gave it to him. “It is your oath and should be your words.”

  He nodded and took the sword. Kneeling, he bowed his head, “I swear to protect Rheged and Mona and to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. I will not betray my word nor my friends, and I will give my life for those that I love.”

  He gave me the sword and rose to his feet. “You said nothing about Saxons.”

  “And that was deliberate. There may come a time when I will have to fight alongside the Saxons if it means protecting Rheged.”

  I saw then that this was wyrd. I was the past and Hogan Lann was the future. This was good. My mother’s words were coming true.

  I sheathed the sword and we headed back. I felt a relief as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I was no longer Rheged’s only hope. There would be a Warlord to follow me.

  By the time Tuanthal and Aedh returned from their hunt the gatehouse was finished. I was proud of my son, Gawan, and his clever idea. It was simple and yet it would make every fort we had better protected. Myrddyn took some of the squires to improve every fort we had. Time was of the essence. Pasgen and Hogan Lann took to heart my comments about their own armies and went to building them up. Daffydd went back to training archers but I stayed with Lann Aelle at Penrhyd waiting for my captain of horse. I was anxious to discover what my foe had done. Einar took the boys hunting as often as he could. We both agreed that it would make them both better warriors and, without Myrddyn. Gawan seemed a little lost.

  Tuanthal had lost only three men which I viewed as a miracle. “We did as you asked, Warlord, and we killed as many of them as we could.” He smiled grimly. “They could not leave the camp for a pee without expecting to be ambushed. Barely two hundred and fifty made it home. We halted a few miles from Dunelm.”

  “You have done well. Now you and Aedh will be based here. You need to keep patrols out watching for the Saxons. I do not think they will come soon but we must be vigilant. You can use those men who are rested to begin the patrols. And I want you two to stay here for at least two days. I cannot do my work without you two.”

  They both seemed touched, I do not know why but I valued both of them as much as my sons Hogan and Gawan.

  Hogan Lann used Penrhyd as his base. He used the levy from the surrounding area for his warriors. They were hardy folk. They toiled in the harshest of lands and they survived. What they lacked were the skills in arms. Pol was, like Lann Aelle, a tough task master and they soon showed rapid improvement. In any battle they would not be the deciding factor but they would fix the enemy and allow Hogan Lann’s horsemen to use their immense power and destroy them. The archers were more difficult. We had the bow and we had the arrows. In some cases we had strong men but they did not have the skill which came from using a bow from an early age. We would have to wait four or five years until the young boys matured into young warriors.

  In the long summer’s evenings we had taken to walking to the small hill which overlooked the ford. It was not high but it allowed us to watch the sunset over the land of the lakes stretching to the west of us. Those were pleasant times. The two boys would join us. It was Myrddyn, Lann Aelle, Pol and Hogan Lann who formed the nucleus of the group. Of course Einar and the two boys would be there and, if they were not on patrol Aedh and Tuanthal would join us. It was good for my son and Prince Cadwallon to hear us debate our strategy and form our opinions. This was not the way of most leaders who made their own choices and their men followed. I always wanted my captains to feel part of the decision making.

  We did not always talk of war and the Saxons. Sometimes the conversation came down to more mundane matters but the two boys were still learning. I say boys but the recent months had seen them sprout into young men. Hogan and Pol had had a particularly hard day and were full of aches and pains.

  “Wizard, why cannot we have a bath house and a heated floor for this f
ort as Prince Pasgen has at Carvetiorum?”

  “Alas, we know how they work but we have neither the skills nor the materials to build them. When we built the ones at home we had the parts from Byzantium. We can build a bath house but it would not be the same.”

  “Besides, my son, if we built one then it would mean the defences of the fort would not be improved.” I pointed behind us to the silhouette of the fort. Already we had added two towers at the corner and a second gate at the rear. The deeper ditch at the rear would allow us to sortie and use our cavalry.

  “I suppose you are right. Do you think we will ever have peace for a time to allow us to become more civilised?”

  I laughed, “It was not long since you were moaning about the lack of action.”

  “You are right but I do miss the comforts of our fortress.”

  As we watched the sky turning redder in the west I wondered about the future. Hogan Lann had made it clear that he was willing to compromise with the Saxons. Was I wasting my time fighting them? Suddenly Myrddyn looked at me and I felt a shiver run down my spine. He was reading my thoughts once more. I went back to watching the reddening sky become blue, then purple and, finally black. We headed back across the ford.

  “Warlord, a word if you please.” I slowed down and walked with Myrddyn. “When your son is Warlord he will not do things the way that you do. No son follows his father exactly. Look at Ywain and Urien; Iago and Cadfan. Your lot in life is to be the sword which the Saxon fears. You, alone, have turned the tide of Saxon expansion and you have reclaimed Rheged. Your son will do things his way and that is as it should be. It may not be your way but it might be just as successful.”

  “Thank you old friend but I find it disconcerting the way that you can read my mind.”

  “I have told you before that I read your face and your body. And I know you as well as any man.”