by Griff Hosker
“Their ships are still downstream.”
“True but, as we know, there are only enough to ferry them across the river not to go further afield.”
Raibeart smacked his hand on the pommel of his sword.”I would hazard a guess that he has taken all his troops north of the river and is heading for Bernicia.”
“You may be right brother. I should have thought of that before and put scouts to the north.”
Garth laughed. “With the small number of warriors we had I am not sure we would have had sufficient to do that.”
Ridwyn suddenly appeared like a wraith from the early foggy valley. “They have gone, my lord. There is no sign of any of them.”
“We will have to wait until the sun rises to investigate further. Ridwyn go and wake Tuanthal and ask him to mount a patrol. We will see what they can discover.”
See we could that Ridwyn was correct. I sent Tuanthal off to the east to track them while I led Angus, Miach and their men across the river. We climbed over the barricade. I did not want it dismantled only to have to rebuild it again; this could be a trick. We marched in a shield wall warily watching for ambush but, as with the other camp, it was deserted. I began to fear that Raibeart was right. They had stolen a march on us and headed north. They would be able to destroy King Morcant Bulc and his men and then defend the impregnable fortresses of Bernicia. I had been outwitted. “We can dismantle the barrier now. Miach keep the archers on the ridge to watch for the Saxons in case this is a trick to lure us away.”
By noon the villagers were back in their homes, weapons had been sharpened and the army waited for an order. The prince, King Gwalliog and I had spent some time with Myrddyn debating our course of action. King Urien was coming to our aid and we could wait a day. That still left the problem of the Bernician army which could, even now, be lying slaughtered just north of us. It was with some relief that we saw a jubilant Tuanthal and his patrol return to Dunelm.
“Great news! It is the Bernicians; they are half a day away, coming along the river.”
Prince Ywain asked the question which was on all of our minds. “And the Saxons are they north or south of the river?”
“King Morcant Bulc had not seen them but he had seen their ships sailing down the river. They looked to be empty and the land across from the camp was very muddy.” He hesitated. “If I were to make a guess I would say they have crossed the river.”
We had been outwitted again and Aella had gained at least half a day on us. “Tuanthal send another patrol on the road south and tell them to find the Saxons. They could head west and take the Roman Bridge or travel to Elmet and devastate that land. We must know where he is.” I could see the fear in Gwalliog’s eyes as I suggested the unthinkable. His army was here and his land was defenceless. “Do not worry King Gwalliog. His army is on foot. You can have all of our horses to pursue him if we discover that he is south of the Dunum.”
The Bernicians arrived in the late afternoon. He had brought just a thousand warriors and fifty horses. Aella must have feared he was being caught in a trap but had he stayed he would still have outnumbered us. Wyrd! The camp cheered Morcant Bulc and his men as though they were heroes. I still did not like the man and I did not see him as a hero. Had he come quicker then Adair and many others would be alive. But he was here and he revelled in his moment of glory. He looked as happy as I had ever seen him and he embraced first his brother king, then Ywain and finally me. “I want to thank you for helping me to drive the Saxons from my land.” I threw a look of disbelief at Raibeart who gave a slight shake of the head; the effrontery of the man. It was us who had fought, bled and died while he had vacillated his way south.
“And now we just wait for my father and we can finish this job once and for all.”
King Morcant Bulc laughed and shook his head. “Aella and his men are a finished force. He will crawl back to the lands of the Saxons beyond the seas.”
It was obvious that they had not seen the Saxons. “Does your majesty know how many men Aella has?”
Morcant Bulc pointed at the dead fires. “We passed through their camp and counted the fires. If there were two thousand I would be surprised.”
I had to hold in my anger at both the arrogance and the incompetence of the man. “On the other side of the river there were more than three thousand men. He has five thousand and he has lost very few. He will not return home just yet.”
I saw him start and his face drained of colour. He looked around at the camp. “But we have less than two thousand men here. We cannot defeat him.”
Prince Ywain showed that he was his father’s son. “We could give a good account of ourselves as we have for the last six days but it would be wiser to wait a couple more days and await the men of Rheged and Strathclyde. Lord Lann and I achieved what we were ordered to do; we denied the Saxons the crossing of this river which would have allowed them to devastate the whole of Bernicia.”
He gave a weak smile, “And I am grateful. Where shall I camp my men?”
I pointed across the river. There is a huge area on the ridge over the river. As you can see we are somewhat crowded on this side.”
As he led his men away Raibeart and Ywain joined me. “I see he has not changed Lann.”
“No Prince Ywain and I wonder if he thought we had defeated them and that is why he joined us.”
Raibeart laughed. “I like the way you let him have the shithole that is the Saxon camp.”
I shrugged but I could not keep the smile from my face. The Saxons were not known for their clean camps. My men dug latrines daily but the Saxons just did it where they would. We had watched them. The Bernicians would be paddling through excrement to try to find a clean part. I suddenly saw Riderch and the remaining Bernicians. “Are you not going with your king?”
He gave me a feigned look of innocence. “I thought I was still attached to Lord Lann’s vanguard; as did my men.” It is truly said that you cannot buy loyalty, you earn it. The king of the Bernicians had yet to learn that lesson.
The second patrol returned just after dark. Tuanthal looked exhausted. Rather than delegate he had led the patrol himself. “They left the Roman Road about twelve miles south of here. They headed for the Dunum.”
Prince Ywain asked eagerly, “Are they leaving by ship?”
Tuanthal shook his head. “We saw their fleet. It is much smaller now. I do not think he has enough ships to return home. He has occupied a hill and ridge which is surrounded on all sides by tidal marches, bogs and swamps. There is a causeway to reach it. One of the men I took with me knows the area. Sometimes the river and the tide combine to make the hill accessible from the sea.”
The two kings were not battle hardened enough to understand what Aella was about but the rest of us could. Their puzzled looks were testament to their lack of experience, despite their age. “He means to do as we did here and break our armies upon his defences. We will not be able to use our horses and, by the time we reach his sanctuary, he will have made defences against out archers. He means to make us fight warrior to warrior for he will then outnumber us and defeat us and he can always escape with his fleet. It may not be large enough at the moment to take off his army but with losses he would be able to do so. Why he could even embark and return here or at Metcauld. The battle we will have to fight is bound to result in a weaker allied army. He is clever and I am just glad that soon we will have a mind which is superior to Aella, King Urien.” With the exception of King Morcant Bulc everyone looked pleased about that.
King Urien and King Rhydderch Hael arrived in the middle of the next afternoon. They had with them two and a half thousand men including two hundred horses and a hundred archers. We now had a chance, however slim, to catch Aella and end this war.
The king of Rheged knew that he had a role to play and he went first to his brother kings despite the fact that I knew he would have been desperate to see his son and his injuries. He nodded to me as he greeted King Gwalliog and I could see a message in the eyes. We
had assembled the last of the edible food and augmented it with some of the fresh supplies brought from Rheged. We had a feast for the kings and lords and one for the warriors. The warriors who had fought alone for so long were feted by their brothers who recognised their achievement for what it was… a miracle.
King Urien sat close by Prince Ywain and I could see the concern on his face as his son told him of our campaign. I knew whenever my name was mentioned, which was often, for the king would turn to look at me. I was seated betwixt Raibeart and Myrddyn and I enjoyed the feast for they were both the most interesting and witty men that I knew. Aelle would have made the night perfection.
When the men all relaxed with the ale brought from Strathclyde King Urien sought Myrddyn and me out. He took us to one side. “I am indebted to both of you.” He looked at Myrddyn, “You for saving my son’s life and you for saving the campaign. I know from speaking with my son that both of your actions were instrumental in the success we have had.”
I shook my head and gave a snort of derision, “Success? I have lost most of the men. That is not a success in my world.”
“Do not put yourself down. You were outnumbered but you did as I asked. I should have left sooner. Any blame is attached to me but enough of blame let us look to the future. How do we defeat this Aella?”
I looked at Myrddyn, I knew that he would have ideas but he inclined his head for me to speak. “From Tuanthal we have learned that it will be a well defended site. He will have had at least two days to improve the defences and he has seen how we do it. I expect to be facing the same defences we built.”
“It will be bloody.”
“At the very least.”
“However your majesty, my lord, he does have one weakness; his fleet. If we can threaten his fleet he may have to withdraw and return home. He does not want, nor do his warriors, to be stuck in this land without the means to escape.”
There was a pause and I asked the obvious question, “How do we threaten his fleet? We have no ships.”
“I am working on that but as far as attacking a defending hill then you use Angus and his hammers.”
I grinned and the king looked puzzled. When I explained he nodded. Perhaps King Rhydderch Hael has more of these weapons amongst his other warriors.”
“It seems to be a specialised field but we do have the option of fire arrows which have worked before.”
“And we can negate the effect of the marsh and the bogs by extending the causeway with faggots of wood. We know that they cannot dig pits such as we had and their ditches would fill with water.”
“It is not all bad then?” The king gave us both a wry smile. “But tell me, Lann; are you and the vanguard ready to fight again?”
“We will be, if only to avenge the dead.”I know my voice sounded cold and hard but I meant every word. It would be for the Adairs and Tadghs that I would be fighting not for King Morcant Bulc and his ambition.
We left the following morning. Tuanthal and my remaining horses and scouts formed the screen we spread out ahead. The remaining equites were detailed to guard the wagons. We did not want an ambush to rob us of our valuable supplies. The archers and slingers walked parallel to the road and guarded our flanks and the middle was the domain of the heavily armed and armoured warriors. The wounded travelled in the wagons for we would need every warrior we could lay our hands on.
Tuanthal had left a patrol to guide us from the road across country to the newly fortified ride of Aella. When we reached the ridge opposite I could see it had been chosen well. It looked like an island and the causeway was clearly visible. It was five paces wide and was a killing ground. I could also see, in the distance, the masts of his fleet. I hoped that Myrddyn had come up with a solution to our problem. King Urien halted us at the ridge. It was the driest ground around and we could camp there. We were less than a mile from the Saxon lines and we were higher which, this time, gave us the advantage of height. He sent his own equites, under Bladud’s leadership to reconnoitre the fleet and the other side of the ridge. We spent the afternoon building our own defensive camp. There were almost ten thousand men within a mile of each other. The green land before us would soon turn red.
We had over two thousand warriors who could assault the stronghold but only nine hundred of them were armed and armoured as the Saxons were. The rest of our men were half trained farmers. The raiders from the sea would outnumber us, again, and we would need to find some way to equalise the numbers. This time we would be attacking uphill and they would have the advantage of just waiting for us. We issued those who had no armour and no helmet, with the ones we had captured from the Saxons. We also distributed better weapons for the men of Strathclyde who came keen and enthusiastic, but poorly armed. Garth and Riderch then drilled the men so that they could form lines when appropriate and knew when to use their weight. The men of Rheged found this easy but those from the other kingdoms found it strange. So long as the sea levels remained where they were the enemy were trapped but we had no doubts that they were well provisioned. Those who knew the area spoke of a well and streams running to the Dunum. We would not defeat them with a siege; we would need to beat them with force of arms and any deception Myrddyn could concoct.
Bladud reported back to the king although we were all present. King Urien would not divide us; we were all in the same army and we shared everything. “They have the ships moored close to the shore and they have many armed guards close to them. There is a barrier of logs between the river and the ships and it is secured on both banks.” They had taken our idea of a boom and turned it against us. “The only place we can attack is here, across the causeway.”
An air of depression descended over the meeting. Suddenly Myrddyn asked, “Are there guards around the whole of the stronghold?”
Bladud gave my healer a dismissive look. “They do not need to. They have warriors in their thousands near to the causeway and others near to the boats. There is nowhere else we can attack them.”
“A strange and long winded way to answer me. I assume then that the rest of the perimeter is unguarded?”
I thought that Bladud’s head would explode he became so red. I intervened. “What idea is fermenting in your fertile mind?”
“I can see what Bladud means but men could cross the swamps and the waters and they could climb the small fences and walls they have built. If they did so at night then they would be unseen. If we combined that with an attack on their ships and on the front gate then a small force might break in and create so much damage that an attack might be successful.”
There was a brief moment of silence and then everyone began talking at once. I could see that Bladud was not happy but King Urien had the hint of a smile on his face as though he had seen a way out of this impasse. I leaned in to Myrddyn. “How many men?”
“One hundred climbing and entering over a two hundred paces section of the wall should ensure success.”
“Mailed men?”
He shook his head. “I would recommend archers or scouts. You need men who can sneak rather than battle. I, of course, will be one of them.”
I shook my head. The one thing Myrddyn did not lack was confidence. The king stood and we all became silent. “I think that Myrddyn has a good plan but we first need to widen the causeway and that will mean archers protecting warriors as they build it. The equites, under my son Ywain and Bladud, will place themselves close to the ships to threaten them and prevent any warriors escaping. When the causeway is enlarged then we will consider how to gain access.” He looked over at me and gave me a slight nod of the head. As he left I followed him. He gave me a shrewd look. “I saw you speaking with Myrddyn. Do you have a plan?”
“I have the beginnings of one. I will need to speak with Raibeart and Miach first. If we use archers then we can cover the walls with half of the men while the other half climb the walls and gain access. They can then demolish that section of wall and allow the archers to enter.”
“You would not attack straight aw
ay?”
“We would not need to. If Bladud is right then there will be no-one guarding the wall and we will have time to make a fort within the fort. Then if we attack the main gate and the fleet at the same time the Saxons will have to decide which the most important area to defend is. The archers have already shown their skill and I have no doubt that they could keep the enemy occupied for some time.”
“But how do we hurt the fleet?”
I smiled. “Angus and his men from Strathclyde. They have these hammers, huge stones and metal balls which they can hurl thirty of forty paces. If they were to hurl lighted logs then the ships would burn or have to cut their cables and flee. A few archers supporting them would create havoc. We use a three pronged attack at exactly the same moment.”
I could see that he liked the idea already. “And how do we make sure they are timed correctly?”
“Garth could take one of those Roman horns we used and sound three blasts while an archer looses fire arrow into the air.”
“You would be with the archers and not the warriors?”
“Riderch and Garth have shown that they are great leaders and they could force the gates. I am an archer and a swordsman as is my brother. It makes sense.”
“Keep these plans to yourself. I am still aware that we did not find your spy and he may well be here with us.”
“That has weighed heavily on my mind too. I will only speak of it with my brother.”
The next day we began the causeway from just below our ridge. At first it was easy work. The faggots were dropped in the mud and the pools and logs dropped on top. I worked out that we would have three hundred paces before they could interfere with the work. Half way through the first morning Bladud decided that he did not want to go on patrol. He phrased it nicely and explained that his task was to guard the kings; he had suddenly become the guardian of all of them. Kling Urien acquiesced to his complaint but it suited me for it was left to Tuanthal to replace him and I wanted Miach and Tuanthal to put in place my plan to make it easier for us to sink their fleet.
