Saxon Fall

by Griff Hosker

  That evening, as we ate, Gawan concurred with my ideas. We had met all of his captains before; there were six of them: Miach, Llewellyn ap Daffydd, Afron ap Dai, Terif the Bald, Garth ap Llewellyn and Griffith ap Daffydd. They all looked like experienced warriors. Each had scars and battle rings. I had fought with Miach and Garth before but the others were new to me. I had always found that it was hard to judge a warrior until you had fought alongside him. My father may have fought with some but I had spent my formative years with my equites in the borderlands.

  Gawan studied them from across the table and spoke quietly with the king. “I have not looked into their hearts yet but looking at them now I do not feel a sense of confidence amongst them.”

  King Cadwallon looked a little worried, “You doubt them?”

  “No but the spirits do not sing to me.” He smiled at the King’s puzzled expression, “When I look at my brother’s captains I hear singing in my head. The spirits of our father and our dead comrades know their hearts and they sing. When Dai sings then I will be happier.”

  “Dai speaks with you?”

  “He has spoken with me although not often. Since we have camped here in his land I have heard his voice more.”

  “Then tomorrow will be an interesting day for I will watch my captains even more closely than I might have done before.”

  “And we will also take our warriors out of camp and we will watch your northern flank. It will do my men good to manoeuvre on the plains before us.”

  Penda arrived as we were finishing. The King looked up in surprise. “Is there a problem, Penda?”

  “There may be, King Cadwallon. My sentries spotted some movement on the ridge after dark this night. It may be nothing but this is the first sign of movement.”

  They both looked at me. “I would suggest, King Cadwallon, that you do as I have done. Have twenty or so of your equites patrol the land between us and Northumbria; just in case there is an attempt to take us at night by surprise.”

  The king nodded and waved over one of his captains. Penda took the beaker of beer offered by Gawan. He smiled, “I can see the benefit of horsemen. By the time my men reach anywhere the enemy could have gone.”

  “True but an army made up of horsemen is expensive to maintain. I hear that the Norse ride to battle and then fight on foot.”

  Penda nodded, “That would suit. I do not know how you can fight on the back of a horse. It takes me all my time just to sit safely!”

  “It is practice only.”

  When the king returned we talked of the upcoming war and our strategies. I thought it strange that I could talk with Penda, even though he was a Saxon. He should have been an enemy but he never felt like one.

  When we were returning to our camp Gawan said, “I have feelings of disquiet, brother.” He shrugged, “I cannot be more specific. It is just that something does not feel right.”

  “Then we will heed them. Penda’s words were a warning too. King Edwin has the initiative and we must be ready to react. The army has had plenty of rest. We will ride before dawn. We shall be the early bird.”

  Chapter 14

  We would be much a smaller and compact army than that of King Cadwallon. The two hundred and ten men under my command all rode out whilst it was still dark. We had all loose tack wrapped so that we could ride silently and the dragon banner remained furled. Twenty squires and foot soldiers were left to guard the camp. My six scouts were spread out far ahead of us and we moved northwards towards the ridge and King Edwin’s new burghs.

  A faint sliver of light appeared in the east and we heard the hooves of two horses approaching. My men were too well trained to need a command and spears were pointed towards the approaching sounds and arrows were notched. It was Aed and Felan. I saw that they had something over the saddle of Aed’s horse.

  “We have caught a Saxon scout.” He threw the unfortunate warrior to the floor. Gawan and I dismounted and lifted the semi-conscious youth to his feet. He looked terrified.

  “You know who I am?”

  “You are the Warlord.”

  “Good then you know my reputation. Speak truthfully and you might live. Lie and you will die piece by piece.” I pointed to Gawan, “This is my brother Gawan, like Myrddyn, who trained him, he is a wizard and he can see into your heart, Northumbrian.” He was almost shaking. Had I not been Warlord I might have felt pity for him but I was Warlord and I owed a duty to my people. “Where is your king?”

  He pointed not to the north but to the east. “He is there; with his army.”

  “How many men does he have?”

  He began to shake and to weep, “I am sorry Warlord, I do not know.”

  I understood. Counting was a skill which came naturally to me. This youth had never learned. “And which way does he come?”

  “He comes west. He comes to attack King Cadwallon.”

  “You were sent to find us and report back.” He nodded. I turned to Pelas, “Find two squires and have this youth taken to our camp. Bind him but do not harm him. He has spoken the truth.” I could see that the boy had not understood a word. I smiled and said, in Saxon, “You will be bound and taken to my camp. If you do not try to escape you will live and I will release you later.”

  As he was taken off Llenlleog said, “You did not kill him. Why not?”

  “I had no need. The Allfather does not demand that we kill all of our enemies. He might have been Pelas here. Perhaps this act of kindness may make him less likely to fight us. It is worth the risk.”

  Llenlleog nodded as he considered my words.

  “We will ride to King Cadwallon. He may need our help.”

  Riding now to the east Pol asked, “Why does King Edwin attack today of all days? Today King Cadwallon exercises his men and Edwin attacks? This seems strange.”

  “I thought so too Pol. I think that not all of King Cadwallon’s men are as loyal as the king believes. The captains were told that King Cadwallon would be advancing this morning. By marching early King Edwin can strike before the Cymri are prepared. Felan, ride to King Cadwallon and warn him that the Northumbrians are advancing towards him.”

  “Felan will not reach him in time, brother.”

  “I know and we must ride hard to reach him before he is slaughtered.”

  As we rode Llenlleog asked, “How do you know that the Northumbrians will outnumber the Cymri?”

  “We do not know the number of King Edwin’s army but if there is a spy then we know that King Edwin will have the precise numbers of the Cymri. He will only attack if he knows he has superior numbers.”

  “This is not the way that we make war. My people have much to learn from you, Warlord.”

  Dawn broke brightly from the east. It promised to be a clear day. My archers would not have to worry about wet bow strings. We hurried through the lightening morning. Dai was the scout who found the Northumbrians.

  “Warlord, the Saxons are five miles to the south. There are four warbands and each looks to be five hundred men strong. They are less than a mile from King Cadwallon. They will be there even now.”

  They would outnumber the Cymri by at least two to one. Even if Penda could bring his forces to their aid they would be at a disadvantage. The only hope was that the king’s equites could keep the Northumbrians at bay until we reached them.

  “Daffydd, take your archers and harry the rear of the Northumbrians. Approach from the north; it may throw them off. We will attack their flank. Do not risk your archers.”

  He grinned, “I will not.”

  The fifty or so archers could not hope to stop the warband but they could slow them up and make them look over their shoulders. As I raised my sword to lead my equites and squires forward I saw that although the land was flat it was dotted with streams and woods. We would have to wait until we were closer to the enemy to form lines. We cantered forward. It would not do to overtire the horses. I peered into the bright blue sky ahead. The battle, which I knew was underway, was hidden behind shallow folds in
the land and the hedges and woods which abounded. When I heard the first clash of metal on wood I turned to Llewellyn. “Unfurl the banner. Let us give hope to our friends and bring fear to our foes!”

  As soon as it was unfurled and the wind passed through it we heard the eerie wail which so terrified enemy warriors. If we could not see them then they could not see us but they could hear, on the breeze, the sound of their doom approaching. In their shield wall they would wonder when the Warlord would strike. Soon they would hear the thunder of our hooves and that would be like a death knell to them. Nor would they know our numbers; they would just know that we approached.

  We crossed a shallow valley and the ground began to rise. I could hear the cries of the wounded and the dying. The battle was close. “Saxon Slayer!” My war cry was the signal for the equites to prepare their weapons. Spears were lowered, swords and maces readied. My captains began to spread the warriors out as we began to canter up the slope. As we crested the rise there were sixty equites in the front rank and seventy equites and squires in the second rank.

  I saw the battle less than four hundred paces from us. I took the scene in quickly and assessed it. King Cadwallon had been caught. I could see to the north the bodies of horses and riders, showing where his men had bought him time. It had allowed him to form up on a slope. It meant the Saxons had to attack up hill. The glint of the morning light on mail told me that King Edwin had been busy over the winter and his men were well prepared.

  I raised my sword. “Charge, for Rheged and for Cymru!” We hurtled forward. The gentle slope helped my horses to gather speed. I saw the shields ahead of me lock as the Saxons prepared to receive the charge. Arrows fell from the north as Daffydd and his archers caused small holes to appear. There were gaps which were filled from behind but, inevitably, they were not as tightly locked as they had been. I was the only one in the front rank without a spear and the equite to my side took out the warrior who faced Star. I crashed through the gap and brought Saxon Slayer down on the man to my left. His helmet crumpled as though it was piece of freshly baked pastry. His blood and his brains showered the man behind. Star was snapping his might jaws at the faces of the Saxons before him. His hooves flailed like war hammers and the Saxons fell back.

  I was aware of Pelas to one side of me and Llenlleog to the other. Both had lost their spears but their swords carved a path of death into the centre of the warband. The deeper we went the more chaos we caused for the ones in the middle were pressed by their fellows and could not bring their weapons to bear. I slashed to the left and right of Star’s head. I had practised the move until I could do it with my eyes closed. My long reach and my sharp blade brought death to the ones before us. The war band was like a bow pulled too tightly. The stress was too much and, as my second line struck, the warband disintegrated. The arrows from their rear and the relentless charge of our horses broke their spirit. It brought no relief for, as they turned their backs to flee, my men’s maces and swords rained down on unprotected backs and skulls. Men who fell to the floor were trampled for the horses could not avoid stepping on them there were so many.

  We were through and I yelled, “Reform!” The horses had ridden hard. They were blown and I needed to assess the situation. There were still three Northumbrian warbands ahead of us. I could see that King Edwin had halted his attack and turned one of them to face us. We had bought King Cadwallon time and I could see his men forming their own shield wall. We were still outnumbered but we had thwarted King Edwin’s attempt at a surprise attack and victory.

  When I heard the horn of Penda and his men approaching from the south east I knew that this battle was over. The Northumbrian horns sounded too and the warbands began the tricky task of marching backwards.

  “Pelas, tell Daffydd to continue to harass the Saxons until he runs out of arrows.”

  My squire rode off and I hoped that King Cadwallon would do the same with his foot archers. I shouted to Pol and then Lann Aelle, “Keep your spears at them but no more charges. Let our archers whittle them down!” My two lieutenants waved their acknowledgement.

  Gawan appeared at my side, “Did you lose many, brother?”

  He shook his head. “Two men were wounded but we lost three horses. The Saxons have learned that they are as valuable as warriors.”

  I nodded, “What of our losses Llewellyn?”

  I saw Luagh fall and we lost two horses,“ he grinned, “but I was too busy trying to keep up with you Warlord to pay too much attention.”

  We spent a long day pushing them back to their burghs. Their trail was marked by their dead. Their shields were covered in arrows showing that they had defended themselves but many had fallen to my bowmen. Had they not emptied their quivers then more would have joined them. As we marched wearily back to King Cadwallon my men stripped the bodies of weapons, helmets and booty. I saw that few of the warriors wearing mail had fallen. It had been the ones without armour who had died. We counted two hundred bodies as we headed south.

  Sadly we saw that the Northumbrians had done great damage to the men of Cymru. Over two hundred lay dead and many more were wounded. Some of them would never fight again. Had Penda not arrived when he did then it would have been much worse. Our timely arrival too had helped.

  King Cadwallon had been in the forefront of the fighting and he had suffered wounds. They were not life threatening but Gawan saw to them as Penda and I surveyed the field.

  “We were lucky, Penda.”

  “I know. If you had not charged when you did then King Cadwallon would have been overrun.” I had left Star with Pelas and I led Penda away from inquisitive ears. “There is a traitor amongst King Cadwallon’s captains.”

  “Does he know yet?”

  “No, I am letting Gawan heal him first. Find a prisoner, preferably one of rank and we will question him with the king present. Only your men and mine are above suspicion I will have my equites watch the captains. You are Saxon and they may tell you more than they tell me.”

  Nodding he left and I waved over my own leaders. I spoke quietly to them as though we were discussing the battle but I made my instructions clear. The traitor would not escape. We had dismounted to lead our horses back to the camp the king had made. It would only be temporary. Wrecsam was a safer place to rest. King Edwin still outnumbered us. Surprise had won the day for us and not for him.

  Llenlleog was full of questions. He seemed filled with the joy of war. “Do your enemies always fight thus? They have neither horse nor bow?”

  “Generally they do not use them.”

  “I can see why you win so often.”

  Pol snorted, “But did you not see the numbers that we fought?”

  “Aye but you killed many.”

  “And the handful that we lost had taken us all winter to train. We cannot afford to lose any. I am just grateful that we lost none of the Warlord’s archers.”

  Llenlleog was puzzled, “Then hire more. You must have gold for you paid Caradog in good coin.”

  I shook my head, “We fight with men whose hearts we know. We have used Hibernians before now but they fight like the Saxons. I think that our peoples are the only ones who use the horse and the bow.”

  He nodded. “Our enemies are harder to defeat for the Franks and Merovingians we fight ride their horses to battle and half of the warriors fight on them. We can never hope to defeat them. The best that we can do is to hold them at bay.”

  “You have seen our island home of Mona. It is vulnerable to attack from the sea. We can hold the land around Wyddfa for that is like your home but the rest….”

  Some of the elation of battle was sucked from Llenlleog. I think he thought that we would ride gloriously through the Northumbrians and conquer the whole land.

  “But you did well today young Llenlleog. My equites spoke of your skill. Had you used stirrups as we did then perhaps you could have used the lance.”

  “I will try them but I will need to practise for you use a different saddle.”

  �
��It makes it easier to fight on horseback and is essential if you are to use a spear.”

  When we reached the camp we saw just how many of the king’s warriors had been wounded. They had been caught by the Saxons before they could form lines. Edwin’s mailed warriors had caused devastating wounds in warriors wearing only leather armour.

  King Cadwallon had had his wounds dressed and he greeted us. I pointed behind at the mail which we had collected. “I would use the mail you recover, your majesty, to protect the warriors in the front rank. It would save many casualties.”

  “You are right Warlord.” He stood and clasped my arm. “Once again I am indebted to you. Penda and you saved the day.” He looked around. “Where is my ally? He has not been injured has he?”

  I took his arm, “No, King Cadwallon. He is on an errand for me. Come and I will tell you all.” As we left I nodded to Pol. He and my equites were in position. If the traitor tried to flee then he would be stopped.

  When we were out of earshot I said, “Do not look around and show nothing.” He nodded. “You have a traitor amongst your captains. King Edwin was told that you were advancing today. He thought you meant to attack and did not know that you were merely manoeuvring.”

  He had his back to his captains which was just as well for his face paled, “Which one?”

  “I know not but Penda is questioning a prisoner.” Penda had done this for us before and he could be quite persuasive. Most of the warriors had returned from the battlefield and we were about to start back to nearby Wrecsam when we saw Penda and his oathsworn approach. They had a Northumbrian chief tethered and were leading him along. He had fine mail and a full face helmet. Penda had managed to persuade a high status captive to tell us all.

  Miach attracted my attention, “Warlord, see yonder Penda brings a prisoner.”

  “Aye, Miach, I asked him to secure one who could tell us of Edwin and his plans. He has found a good one.” I spoke loudly enough for the captains to hear me.