by Griff Hosker
“There is water there. A small stream pours into the sea. There is grazing and the dunes give shelter. They must know the area to have chosen it. We cannot easily get to them because of the harbour. They can raid north, head through the woods and reach the west and the south.”
“As you say, well planned out.”
I was summoned to the north gate towards dusk. The sentry pointed to the west, “Lord, we have seen men returning from the south west for the last hour or so.”
I peered and saw that they were the survivors of our attack. They must have feared pursuit and headed as far west as they could get. “How many others have returned?”
“I saw ten or so and there are another fifteen there, lord. Four were knights.”
“Thank you.”
I peered towards the distance camp. It was protected on one side by the sea and on another by the steep slope which led from the harbour. There was a way to attack them. It would involve a night time manoeuvre. We would have to leave the castle after dark and head west before turning north. We would be attacking from the woods to the west and the north. It was clear that I could not use the knights of Durham. They were unreliable. Samuel came to join me.
“You are planning an attack, father?”
“I am. I would weaken them before they begin to raid. When we rode north I saw that most of the farmers had their animals close to home. That is why they have chosen now. They are able to collect a large number of animals and slaves without travelling too far. If we can thin their numbers in a swift attack then we can use our horses to prevent them raiding. They will grow hungry and return home. Then we can relieve Norham.”
“And you have a plan?”
“We use the night to aid us. Tomorrow we will ride forth with our knights. It may be that they try to challenge us and we can fight them. If they do not then when it is dark we take our archers, men at arms and the knights from the valley. We ride west to those woods you can see. We will leave the horses with horse holders and then close with their camp. We use the knights and men at arms to form a human shield and the archers send arrows blindly into the camp. Then we withdraw.”
“That sounds like a hazardous plan.”
“If we were using the knights of Durham it would be but I plan on just using our men. The knights of Durham will be satisfactory when it comes to riding down their raiders but night work and knife work require skills which I know my men have.” I saw doubt on his face. “If you think you do not have the skills then there is no shame in saying so.”
He coloured, “No, I am ready. I think I have the skills but I have never had to use them yet.”
“We do not wear helmets nor do we carry shields. We wear no surcoats and we oil our leather and mail so that it makes no sound. The archers and our two scouts will be ahead and they can move like ghosts. All that we need to do is to follow.”
I told my knights what I intended knowing that they would tell the men at arms and archers. I gathered the knights and the constable in the Great Hall and told them there. “Remember to listen for my squire and the horns. If it sounds three times then we ride back to the castle. There is nothing to be gained from throwing lives away. We are outnumbered. We deal with the Scots in the best way that we can.”
“And in the night? What then? You said that you had plans. What are they?”
I smiled, “The men who are involved know the plans. That is enough.”
“You do not trust us?”
“Sir Walther, of course I do but what I do not trust is that if one of you is captured tomorrow when we go to antagonise the Scots then they may inadvertently give something away.”
When the knights had gone to speak with their men I sat with Richard of Bayeux. He smiled as he poured me some wine, “You are right, Earl. The fewer who know your plans the better. You could send to the lords further south for more men and knights, lord.”
“I know but this is not the real attack. We will know when that comes for King William will lead it. I will use cunning and not numbers to defeat this Scottish raider.”
I sounded more confident than I was. The truth was that I now knew that my father would no longer lead the knights of the north. It looked like it would be my lot to do so. I needed to get to know my knights better and that would be easier with a smaller number of knights. Robert of Howden seemed solid enough. I also found that I liked James de Puiset. He came to see me as I headed for my chamber, “Lord, I beg you to take me with you tomorrow night.”
“You know not what I plan.”
“No but I have sat at Norham for two years and seen no action. I volunteered to bring you the message for I want to serve with you.” He paused and took a breath. “Do not judge me by my uncle. My father was a good knight and died bravely. The Bishop took me in but I have been kept cooling my heels in Norham and other castles of the Palatinate. What is the use of being a knight if I cannot use the skills I have learned.”
“Do you have a squire?”
He shook his head, “The Constable of Norham has a number of young men who serve him.”
“Then get yourself a squire and I will consider taking you on. As for tomorrow…I will put you with my son. You will obey every instruction he gives you.”
“And what do we do tomorrow?”
“You will see. Now get some rest for tomorrow you will need all your wits about you.”
Samuel and Alf were in the chamber next to mine. “Tomorrow night we take James de Puiset with us. I put him in your charge, Samuel.”
“Do you trust him father?”
“I think so but I rely upon you to discover the truth.” It was time for my son to develop new skills too.
There was no point in riding before dawn. My men and I would be losing sleep the next night anyway. We ate heartily and then mounted. I kept the archers on the walls and half of the men at arms. We had just forty knights and forty men at arms. I hoped that we would give the Scots the impression that we had few men. Dunbar would have reported large numbers and dissension in the Scottish camp could only aid our cause. We took spears and headed out of the south gate and then travelled along the road to the Scottish camp. We heard their horns when their sentries spied us. We had travelled two hundred paces before they did so and that told me much about their discipline. The road followed the harbour. There was neither quay nor jetty. The boats were either drawn up on the beach or moored. The ground rose steeply. We passed through a small stand of trees and I led the column west, off the road. The road passed within a hundred paces of the camp and the last thing I wanted was for them to gain an advantage by using their bows and their slings. We halted three hundred paces from their camp and we faced them in four lines. My knights and the ones I had chosen especially were in the front rank. Our squires had our banners. Some, like Morgan’s, Samuel’s, Padraig’s and Richard’s were small but they told the Scots that they were knights. I saw James de Puiset looking uncomfortable. He had neither banner nor squire.
Our arrival had certainly discomfited the Scots. Many of the ordinary warriors, the men from the north and the east stood shouting belligerently at us. The knights and their mounted men quickly mounted their horses and were hurriedly heading towards the mob who chanted and cursed us. Some turned around and lowered their breeks. It was their way of insulting us. I saw the knights of Durham look towards me for a signal. None was forthcoming. My men at arms had seen and heard this sort of behaviour before. It was sound and fury. It meant nothing. I saw Scottish leaders, that was a guess for I only recognised Dunbar’s livery, gather around the main standard and hold a mounted discussion. They must have decided to attack us for horns sounded. I had not donned my helmet. I turned and shouted, “Front rank only will charge with me! Second rank you will receive the Scots charge and let us pass through when we return.”
I did not wait for an answer as the Scots were moving. I donned my helmet and shouted, “Charge.”
It must have looked like madness for there were just twenty of us and a hundre
d Scottish knights but it was a cold and calculated move. I intended to hit and then run. The press of men on foot forced the Scottish horses into an even narrow frontage; there were just fourteen knights and the ones behind were not in ordered lines. They were just joining the mob of horses which galloped towards this impudent island of English men. Their archers and slingers could not get close for the bigger, burlier men on foot had been at the fore. Timing would be everything.
I held my spear behind me. Many of the Scots charged with just a sword or an axe. Our spears would strike them first. When we collided, the sound was like thunder and hailstones mixed as spears shattered and splintered and swords cracked on shields. My spear went into the chest of a knight. His falling body dragged his horse down and crashed into the horses following.
I drew my sword and shouted, “Fall back!” as Samuel and Sir Morgan despatched their foes. My men wheeled their horses. The Scots we had struck lay dead and dying. I saw Robert of Potto fall from his horse but he was the only casualty. Our second rank had opened up to allow us through as had the men at arms behind. The Scots had to negotiate dead knights and horses. Their men on foot also got in the way. As they hit our second line more of their men were unhorsed. Now was the time to withdraw. We had done that which I had wanted. We had hurt their knights.
I shouted, “Fall back!” As the knights withdrew to join us Roger of Bath led the men at arms to smash into the disordered knights, men at arms and foot.
“Ralph sound the horn three times!”
My men at arms were well trained and they wheeled and followed us as we galloped back towards the castle. We rode down the road through the stand of trees. The slope was with us this time. The trees afforded us cover but the Scots were angry at their losses and they hurtled after us. We rode, in good order, along the castle walls to the south gate. The Scots discovered my archers. Aelric waited until the majority of the Scots were within range of his bows and then unleashed a most terrible arrow storm. Men and horses fell. A Scottish horn soon sounded and they headed back to their camp. They left behind at least fifteen dead and wounded warriors. There were dead and dying horses too. We would eat well that night.
I reined in. “Roger search the dead and despatch the wounded. Robert of Howden, have your men butcher the horses. We might as well eat fresh meat!”
Chapter 11
We were all in good humour as we rode through the gates. Our losses had been light and the enemy had lost more than thirty men. The majority of the men we had killed and wounded had been knights. Ralph took my horse to the stables and I waited for Roger of Bath to return. Edward and Edgar were already in the stables. It was where they had slept. Like Aiden they were comfortable around animals and preferred the stables to a strange warrior hall. I waved them over. “I want the two of you to leave at dusk. You will scout out the woods to the west of the road. We will join you when it is dark.”
“Yes lord.”
Roger of Bath was checking the hooves on one of the horses, “Roger, I want us to be as dark as an African at midnight.”
He grinned, “Aye lord. We will oil the mail and the leather. The men will leave their shields and helmets behind. When we have eaten we will get our heads down.”
I went to the walls where Aelric and his archers still watched. “Have your men rest. Tonight, we will leave as soon as it is dark. I want us in those woods. Edgar and Edward will scout them out so that we are not surprised. When it is clear we slip across the road and you will send as many arrows into their camp as you can.”
He nodded and pointed to their camp, “Although we hit them hard lord I have been watching their camp and they still have many men. We have not begun to hurt them yet. Twenty of them rode west while you were crossing the inner ward.”
“They are raiding.” He nodded. “Then we hurt them tonight and tomorrow we make certain that they cannot raid more.”
The Constable was also in a good humour until I told him about the twenty men who had gone raiding. “That is not good, lord. The people hereabouts are hardy and hardworking but they have few animals. The sheep and the cows give them milk for cheese and their fowl eggs. If the Scots take what little they have then they may starve.”
“Then it is up to me to ensure that they do not suffer. Tonight, I will take my men out. Tomorrow we will rest and we will see what the men of Durham can do.”
Thomas of Piercebridge and Ralph of Sadberge met me in my chamber and I took off my mail and arming hood. “You know what you must do?”
“Aye lord.”
“And then you will rest. That is a command. Tonight, will be hard.”
By the time I reached the Great Hall the majority of the Durham knights were there and eating the fresh bread and hot meat. It was a rowdy atmosphere. Their nerves had been calmed by our apparently easy victory. They did not know that it had only seemed easy because we had caught the Scots unawares. I waved over Fitzwilliam and Howden. They had emerged as two leaders.
“Robert, I need your ten best men at arms to go out with us tonight and act as horse holders. I will go out with my men.”
“Should we come with you, lord?”
I shook my head. “Tomorrow my men will need rest. You two will need to lead your men and stop the Scots from raiding. Twenty men left this morning. Tomorrow you will be where you can be seen to deter the Scots from leaving their camp. Your knights and men at arms must prevent any of the people hereabouts from suffering.”
“You will not be with us, lord?”
I laughed, “Am I your mother teaching you how to tie your breeks? You are knights. You will learn how to do this.”
I did not heed my own advice. I did not rest. I ate, at noon, with the Constable and then he and I walked the walls. This was a royal residence and the Constable had improved the defences year on year. It was an ancient fortress. It had been a hill fort in the time before the Romans. The ones who had fought the Saxons had called it Din Guardi and they had held off those raiders for many years. The Kings of Northumbria had made it their refuge but it was William and his Norman knights who had made it impregnable.
Richard of Bayeux pointed to the southern gate. “We have plans to make that gate even stronger, lord. We are going to make a wall which abuts the gate so that men can sally forth and attack men who bring a ram.”
“Do you not have another sally port? I saw none when we rode around the walls.”
He smiled, “We have a hidden one.” I was intrigued. “There is a well in the castle. If you climb down it then there is a tunnel which leads under the rocks and emerges at the beach. At high tide it is flooded but it is a useful way to get messages in and out.”
I stored that information although I did not see why we would need to get to the beach. “I hope to drive the Scots hence. It will be within the next ten days. The speed of their departure will depend upon how much we can hurt them. A harder task will be to relieve the siege of Norham. I will write a letter for the Sheriff. Have a rider take it to him. I do not have enough men here to relieve the siege.”
“Norham is a Palatinate castle lord.”
I nodded, “And I am Earl of the North. He will obey my command.”
I went to the Great Hall and wrote the letter. I made it quite clear what I wanted and when. After sealing it I gave it to Ralph to hand to the Constable. Samuel came to me. He had just risen, “Father, it is time you rested. You have often told me that a tired man makes mistakes. We cannot afford to have our leader make a mistake, can we?”
I laughed, “The cub chastises the wolf!”
He laughed, “As I believe you did with your father. It must be something to do with the blood. It is not just me who wishes this, your knights, men at arms and archers are also concerned.”
He was right. “Very well but I want to be wakened before dusk.”
“I will send Thomas of Piercebridge to wake you.”
I was weary and I slept well. My head seemed to have barely touched the bed when Thomas of Piercebridge shook me
awake. “Lord, Edgar and Edward are about to leave.”
I washed, mainly to refresh myself, and Thomas helped me to don my oiled mail. With a sharpened sword and dagger in my baldric I went to the hall where my knights awaited. Ralph had food ready for me. I was hungry. The horsemeat had been freshly cooked and the Constable ensured that I had a good wine to drink. The knights of Durham looked at us curiously. There was no bravado amongst my young knights. They chatted easily with each other and their squires. My knights’ squires were the only ones in the hall who were eating with their knights. The rest were just acting as servants.
Richard of Bayeux leaned over, “They are confused, lord. They wonder why your squires are accorded such honour.”
I laughed, “It is simple. All of my knights were squires for me or my father. They are merely doing what we did. I cannot understand knights treating squires like servants. Will it make them better warriors? I do not think so. When we go amongst the Scots this night then my men will know that the squires will behave and perform as well as any.”
“You go amongst them then?”
“We do. My plan is to cause as many casualties as we can without losing too many men. When the knights of Durham harry them tomorrow they may grow tired of this and return home.”
“You do not desire one great battle?”
“That rarely happens, Constable. I would take one but with barely a handful of knights on whom I can rely and not enough archers then I will take the Scots running home with their tails between their legs. When we have marched to Norham and relieved that siege then I will return to my valley.”
Richard of Bayeux lowered his voice, “We are remote here, lord. Little news reaches us but I have had visitors who have asked me if I think King Henry should abdicate in favour of his son.”
“That is treason!”
“Perhaps but if I was asked that, up here in the wilds of the north of England then what questions are being asked further south? You are close to the king or rather, your father is. He needs to speak with the King and alert him to the danger.”