by Griff Hosker
The Scots stayed where they were, as did we. Robert of Howden rode along to me. He had been sent to the rear with his squires for he was wounded. “Why do we wait, Earl?”
“This is what I wished you to do yesterday.”
“Wait? That is all?”
“Can they raid?” He shook his head. “Then we have won. When the men of the New Castle come then we can be more aggressive. For now, this suits us. Our horses are grazing. It is a pleasant day for it is not raining. We wait. Let us see who becomes bored first.” I was confident that it would be the Scots. My banner intimidated them. When they had sent this army south the King of Scotland, and I had no doubt that he was behind it, would have assumed that he would be fighting the men of Northumbria and not the son of the bane of the Scots, the Warlord!
They were close enough for us to see a heated debate. The hot heads won. As the sun reached its zenith they formed battle lines. Their handful of archers and slingers moved closer to the stakes. They had hunting bows and not war bows. They would have to endure the arrows from my archers before they could send a missile in reply. Aelric and his archers were hidden behind my two ranks of horsemen and could not see their target. It did not matter for they knew the range. “They advance, Aelric.”
“Just give the word, lord and they will die.”
The men on foot, the highland and island warriors had their shields ready. In the main they wore leather caps but a few had helmets. The horsemen, the knights, men at arms and hobelars were wary of attacking us. We were a mailed wall. A horn sounded and the men on foot, the highland and island warriors, along with the bow men and slingers advanced. I let them cover fifty paces and, as the Scottish bowmen nocked an arrow I shouted, “Now Aelric!”
“Draw!”
“Shields!” My knights and men at arms swung their shields around.
Aelric’s archers were in two blocks. Their arrows soared and even when the first flight reached their apex then the second flight followed. The lines stopped. The highland and island warriors held shields up or sheltered beneath a neighbour’s shield. Arrows cracked and thudded into willow. The Scottish slingers and bow men had no protection. Two arrows and a stone thudded into my shield. I heard a stone ping off Samuel’s helmet but none was hurt.
Samuel said, “They should have aimed at the horses. They would have had more success.”
Five further flights followed and then I heard a Scottish horn and they pulled back out of range of our archers.
“They fall back!” I saw that there was a line of dying and dead. Wounded men crawled or were helped back to the stakes. The knights had not come forward. They had lost enough already to us and were saving what remained.
“Aye lord! Change bow strings.”
James asked, “And now we wait?”
“It is neither exciting nor glorious but they cannot raid. Had your uncle sent more knights and men at arms then this might have been easier. We could have charged them and ended this. I dare not risk the handful of men we have. Robert of Howden hurt us yesterday.”
I decided to have the men dismount. The archers were our guarantee that they could not catch us unawares. Our squires brought us food and water for our horses. The stream the Scots were using was not large. I spied it as it left the woods. We could have fouled it but that would be unnecessary. It was not large enough to keep them supplied for long. I now knew why they had been so keen to raid. They needed ale as well as food. I spied, on the headland, twenty cattle they had taken and a dozen sheep. They would feed upon the sheep. I also saw a huddle of women and children; slaves.
Leaving my horse with Thomas of Piercebridge I walked to Aelric. “Let us see if we can spur them to a fight and hurt them a little more. When we mount, advance your archers and send ten flights into their ranks. We will open lines and allow you through. If they do not attack then we will wait until dark and then return to the castle.”
“Aye lord.”
He went to his archers and I walked down my knights and men at arms giving them the same message. “When Aelric and his men fall back then open our lines.”
We mounted and Aelric and his men walked fifty paces in front of us. The Scots who had shields raised them. My archers could, with a following wind and fresh strings, send an arrow more than three hundred paces. The wind was not that strong but I watched as they pulled back and each archer sent ten arrows so quickly that the Scots must have thought they were bewitched. The arrows reached further into the camp. There men walked around thinking they were safe from attack. They wore neither helmet not arming cap. I watched as one knight, racing to get his shield was struck in the neck with an arrow. Horses were hit. Two became so maddened that they galloped through the camp tearing tents from the ground. Even as the horns in the camp sounded my archers were racing back. Their faces reflected their joy. We moved our horses apart and the archers scurried through. We closed ranks as the Scots, enraged and angered, ran at us.
I pulled up my spear and lowered my spear, “Charge!”
Aelric and his archers were already sending arrows overhead. They were no danger to us but they caused confusion amongst those trying to get to grips with us. I spied a French man at arms. He and his comrades were protecting the knight who charged at James de Puiset. The French man at arms was good but I was better. I flicked his shield away and rammed my spear into his thigh. I tore the head out sideways and so much blood spewed that I knew it was a mortal wound. A Scottish knight suddenly found himself face to face with me and he rammed his spear at my head. A head inside a helmet is the smallest of targets. As I punched with my shield I ducked my head and the spear head scraped and rasped off my helmet. My spear, thrust almost blindly, took him in the chest. His dying hands clasped the spear and his body took it from my hands. Drawing my sword, I hacked at the back of a man at arms who was fleeing the battle. I saw that it was a Frenchman and that he was following his knight. The arrows continued to rain upon the Scots. I knew that we could not continue this for too long. I was about to sound withdraw when the Scottish horn sounded three times and they fell back.
“Pull back.”
As we walked our horses backwards, keeping our shields towards our foes I saw that there were empty saddles. We had lost men. One of the horses belonged to James de Puiset. When we reached the place where we had first fought I saw one of the healers kneeling next to him.
“How is he?”
“Lucky, Earl. The axe which hit him struck his helmet first and then his shoulder. He will recover but it will be some days until he can ride and fight again.”
I turned Goldie and looked at the Scottish camp. They were pulling back to the headland. They now respected the skill of my archers. The wounded and dead were taken back to the castle. Our numbers were depleted. Jean of Angers would never see his home in Anjou again. We waited and, as the sun dropped lower in the sky I decided that we could return to Bamburgh. With our archers before us we headed home.
Robert of Howden came to me, as we ate in the Great Hall. “Now I see what you meant, Earl. I misunderstood your commands.”
“Then the next time ask for clarification.”
As we were discussing our plans for the next day a dusty messenger burst in. “Earl William, I come from the Sheriff. He will be with you in the mid-morning tomorrow.”
I banged the table in delight. “Then we have them. We will rise early and, when the Sheriff arrives we will end this and then relieve Norham.
When I was woken, by Ralph, before dawn it was with the news that the Scots had decamped. They were heading north. They would escape us!
“The sentries heard movement, lord, but when it did not draw close to the walls then they thought it was just preparations for the day.”
I gave him a wry smile, “Our sentries would have woken us.” He nodded. “Are our preparations made? Is the war gear packed?”
“Aye lord but we are down to one spear for each of us.”
“Then I will have to use it well!”
Chapter 12
/> De Vesci was most apologetic when he arrived. “We came as quickly as we could but the coast road is not made for such traffic.”
“I fear that the delay may have helped our enemies. I will take my men and the men of Durham. I would keep our swords in their backs.”
The Sheriff did not look happy. “We will follow but we have men on foot.”
“Just so long as you are behind us then we will try to discomfit the Scots as much as possible.” I turned, “Edward and Edgar, ride directly to Norham. Let me know what awaits us.”
“Aye lord.”
“Can I come with you, lord?”
“No, James. You are wounded and would slow us up.” The Bishop’s nephew looked unhappy to be left behind.
Once again, my men, more experienced than the men of Durham, were ready to move first. We had spears already and each of us rode our best horses. I did not wait. The knights of the Palatinate could catch us up. I had the squires and our servants bring the horses and the baggage at the rear. I left our three wounded men at arms and two of Aelric’s archers as guards. The rest of us rode hard. The Scots had a start. They would be slowed by the men on foot but the Scottish men of the highlands and the islands could move almost as quickly as horses. The difference would be that when we caught them they would be tired and we would not.
We found the first Scots just ten miles up the road at West Kyloe. They had been carrying wounds and could not continue. One was dead and the other two would not last long. Their fellows had not given them a warrior’s death and neither would we. Having caught up with the rear I was anxious to make them aware that they were being followed. We hurried north knowing that Norham was less than fourteen miles away. There was flatter ground towards Duddo and we saw the tail end of their army. As I had expected it was their men on foot. The knights and horsemen could be seen further north. We would not catch them before Norham but we would catch those on foot.
Duddo was a small settlement with, perhaps six houses and farms. It was uninhabited. The Scots had seen to that. The rear guard must have realised that we would catch them and they began to deploy in the huts. If they could hold us off until nightfall then there was a chance that they could escape in the darkness. They had more chance of that than being caught in the open by horsemen. Even as we approached them I saw them building barricades between the houses. We could have delayed but that would only have enabled them to make their defences even stronger.
“Samuel, take Padraig, Richard and half of the men at arms ride to the west of the huts and attack there. Aelric close to within bowshot. The rest of you with me.” I knew it meant I only had one knight for support, Sir Morgan, but I had John of Chester, Henry son of Will and my best men at arms. Even as we headed east I saw the knights of Durham labouring down the road. They had almost caught up with my squires and their horses.
We cantered to the east. We had to cross fields which had already been cleared of crops. The ridge and furrow made for an unpleasant motion. I headed for the trees I had spied from the road. They would, briefly, mask our intentions. As we passed the trees and turned to face west I saw that we were riding across common grazing land between two stands of trees. Even as we turned to form line I saw faces in the woods. The villagers of Duddo were taking shelter there until the Scots had gone.
The Scottish warriors had managed to build barriers facing south but they were improving them to the east and west. I led my line of twenty men across the grazing land. Our hooves thundered. Once we cleared the woods to our left I saw Aelric and his archers begin to send arrows into the cluster of huts. There was no point in riding boot to boot. Alf was to my right and John of Chester to my left. Next to him was my wild man, Henry son of Will. When we were forty paces from the huts I lowered my spear. Those on the far right of our line would be able to attack behind the defences. The Scots had kept the northern exit clear. I saw that one of the barriers they had constructed was made of three wicker baskets. Four men with swords sheltered behind them. Goldie was a better jumper than any other horse I had ever owned. I spurred her and we leapt in the air. As I soared above the men who were trying to avoid Goldie’s hooves I stabbed down with my spear and hit one of the Scots in the back. Goldie’s trailing leg clattered into a Scot and smashed his head to a pulp. As we landed I pulled back my spear and rode at a Scot sheltering behind a shield which was too small to be effective. He punched it at my spear. He deflected the spear head into his shoulder. He fell clutching the spear which had caused the mortal wound.
Ahead of me I saw Samuel and my other men. They had not jumped the barrier. They were spearing the men sheltering behind. I saw that Sir Morgan had also failed to jump the barrier but he was spearing men like fish in a barrel. Roger of Bath had led men from the north and, as I turned I saw Henry son of Will. “Henry, with me!”
“Aye lord.” He rammed his spear through a Scot who was trying to hamstring his horse. Drawing his sword my wild man gave a feral scream and we rode at the Scots holding off my son. Hearing our hooves some men turned. Samuel and his horsemen were beyond the barrier but we were within. Some tried to run. Four tried to face Henry and me. I rode Goldie at one and leaned to strike at the one to his left. I felt a blow on my shield and then my sword first bent and then broke a Scottish sword. When the blade broke my sword bit into his neck. I wheeled Goldie around as wild Henry swung his sword and took first one Scottish head and then a second. He did not even seem to notice that he had been wounded in the leg. The last of the four was caught out by my manoeuvre and my sword bit into the back of his skull and took off the top of his head.
It was the last act for my archers and my men at arms had slain so many that the few survivors who fled across the fields would not be a threat. I reined in. “Henry, you are wounded. Get it seen to!”
“It is nothing lord!”
“Get it seen to! The healers are with the squires!”
Robert of Howden rode in with the knights of Durham. “We seem fated to be late.” I said nothing for he was right. “Do we carry on the pursuit while you see to your men?”
I shook my head. “The horsemen will be at Norham now. We have done what I intended. There were two hundred men here. That is two hundred less for us to fight. The ones we did not kill or wound will flee across the Tweed and head home. They will have no heart left for a fight. We await William de Vesci. Our horses have done well. They need to rest.”
We had our wounded tended to by the healers. We had lost another man at arms. Red John would be a hard man to replace. His horse had done for him when he had tried to jump the barrier. A Scot had hewn the horse’s legs. Red John had broken his neck but his dying horse had broken through the barricade and the rest of my men had avenged him.
By the time the Sheriff and his forty knights had arrived we had food and we had shelter and Edgar and Edward returned from Norham. “We are less than four miles from Norham lord. There were another two hundred warriors on foot who escaped you. They have joined those besieging the castle.” Edgar was good with numbers. “Some of the knights did not stay at the siege lines. They rode to Berwick. We did not follow.”
“You have done well. What are the siege works?”
“They have dug a ditch around the castle. It looks to us as though they have attempted to divert the river.”
“It failed?”
He nodded, “It is a damp ditch. Before you ask lord, there are no defences facing south.”
That was all I needed to know. “Then go and eat. I have plans to make.”
I had worked with William de Vesci before. He was a good knight and knew his business. As the King’s representative in the north east of the land he had a large area to control. I saw that he had brought another twenty archers. They were not mounted but would be a welcome addition. Even better were the five thousand arrows he had brought on wagons. He had fifty men at arms. I saw that he had brought half of his garrison from the New Castle. He was taking the threat seriously.
“I would have come soone
r had you asked, Earl.”
“Until I reached Bamburgh then I did not know the size of the threat. I sent as soon as I did.”
He seemed happy with my explanation, “And so our plan; what is it?”
“Simple; we have thinned their ranks of knights and men at arms. Some have gone to Berwick. I have no doubt that they will bring reinforcements but they do not know about you and your men. We strike in the morning before their reinforcements can reach Norham. My scouts report no defences to the south.”
He nodded, “You did not bring many knights when you came north, Earl William.”
“No, for I did not wish to leave the valley unguarded. We have, in times past ridden north and my people have suffered.” I lowered my voice, “We are doing the Bishop a favour and I know not why. He sends less than sixty knights north yet it is his castle we save!”
He laughed, “Aye I noticed that and yet his nephew is here.”
“His nephew is nothing like him and I suspect that he has been dumped at Norham to keep him out of the Bishop’s way!” We sat and looked at the camp fire for a while. “There is something else, Sheriff. The French are involved. We have found evidence of French knights. That is more sinister than a chevauchée across the Tweed.”
“Then how about this as a strategy, Earl. The next time you suspect there is a raid you send a rider to me. It is but thirty-five miles to my castle. With a change of horses, a rider would be there in less than half a day. Like you I am not worried about the Scots but the French are something else.” We spent some time working out how we might work together. When we were agreed he said, “Yet, Earl, it still comes down to Hugh de Puiset and his lack of backbone.”
“I think I have the solution to that problem. He has set a precedent, albeit without his knowledge for he is in London; he has allowed me to lead his knights. They are like rough clay and need work but the ones I have here might be moulded into an army which could aid your knights and mine. If he chooses to delegate then I will use that delegation to our advantage.”