by Griff Hosker
Bladud did not look so confident and I caught him flick a glance in the direction of Morcant Bulc. It confirmed my suspicions. I met Bladud’s next blow with Saxon Slayer and I saw chips of metal fly from his blade. He saw it too and knew that mine was the superior weapon. My left hand was wet with the blood from my wound and I held it behind me. As Bladud swung again I pirouetted around so that he struck fresh air and Saxon Slayer hacked through the mail protecting his back. I heard the crack as bones were broken and saw blood once again. This time he gave a scream of pain and when he faced me, for the first time he looked afraid. “It will not be swift, believe me Bladud. You are going to pay for your treachery!” He was moving slowly now and when his next clumsy attempt at a blow slid harmlessly off my sword I hacked at the leg I had not stuck. It sliced through the muscle and the bone and he collapsed in a heap, his weapon falling harmlessly from his hand.
I stood over him. “Who paid you for this?”
I heard Morcant Bulc shout, “Kill the murderer!” I did not know if he meant me or Bladud but I shouted, “Pol! My bow!”
The bow was in my hand almost instantly and I notched an arrow and aimed it at King Morcant Bulc. “If any of your men move a muscle then you will die.” I grinned; it was not a happy grin but the grin of a wolf about to devour his prey. “And you know I never miss!”
“You would threaten a king?” His voice sounded shocked.
I laughed a cold heartless laugh which echoed above the stunned silence of the moment. “No, I would kill a king and a piss poor one at that.” I did not look down but said, “Tell me who paid you Bladud and I will end your life swiftly otherwise you will die slowly.”
He spat blood at me. “Fuck you!”
I could see that he would not speak and I went over to Llofan. “You have the same choice traitor.”
His words sounded strong but there was no conviction. “Do your worst.”
Still aiming my arrow at Morcant Bulc I said. “Garth, take down his breeks and castrate him. Let us see how he faces the next world without balls.”
“No, please, you wouldn’t!”
“Garth!”
Garth and Tuanthal pulled down his breeks and Garth grabbed his knife. “It was King Morcant Bulc. He paid us to kill the king.”
I drew the arrow back further and saw the terror in the Bernician’s face. I was a heartbeat from releasing when Myrddyn shouted, “The king says there must be no more blood. He commands you to let him live.”
I saw that Myrddyn did not agree with the order but I was oathsworn. “Leave now Bernician but this is not over. Watch for me in the night. There will come a reckoning for this!” The cowardly king ran as fast as he could with his bodyguards retreating slowly. “Garth, find out all you can about the plot.”
“And then?”
“End it!”
I dropped my bow and talking my sword I cut Bladud’s hamstrings. I peered into his eyes. “You will lie here and die and I will watch you die and then we will strip your body, remove you dick and your heart and leave your body for the birds, the rats and the vermin.”
I saw terror in his eyes. “Kill me now. Let me die like a warrior.”
I laughed. “You were never a warrior and you can now think of what you could have done as your life seeps into the ground.” I turned and dropped to King Urien’s side. Myrddyn gave me a slight shake of the head, but I could see from the blood that it was a mortal wound. The king gave me a weak smile. “We must not do the Saxon’s work for them. Lann, watch over my son and my kingdom and…” and then the last great king of Britain died, cradled in his weeping son’s arms. It was the end of any hope we had of defeating the Saxons and all of Morcant Bulc’s treachery brought him naught.
Prince Ywain looked as though it was he who had been wounded and not his father. He was covered in blood. Myrddyn took off my gauntlet and began to dress the wound which I had forgotten. I heard the sound of Llofan’s throat being cut and then Garth stood next to me. “He confirmed what we thought my lord. It was he who met with Bladud in the woods. They had planned on killing you but the opportunity never arose.”
It was cold comfort to know that we had been right but at least we had Myrddyn’s warning which had saved the prince. “Let us take the king home to his queen. The king is dead. Long live King Ywain.”
It was a solemn and yet angry band of warriors who escorted the dead King Urien back to Civitas Carvetiorum. We all knew, at that moment that the Saxons had won. What irked and galled the most was that they had won through a king of Britain. King Morcant Bulc would pay for his treachery just as the poor land that had been Roman Britannia would pay for his perfidy as they succumbed to waves of Saxons who would claim the land for their own.
The End
Coming in Summer 2013- Part 3 Saxon Rule
Glossary
Characters in italics are fictional
Name
Explanation
Adair
Despatch rider and scout
Aedh
Despatch rider and scout, Adair’s brother
Aelfere
Northallerton
Aella
King of Deira
Aelle
Monca’s son and Lann’s step brother
Aethelric
King of Deira (The land to the south of the Tees)
Aidan
Priest from Metcauld
Alavna
Maryport
Ambrosius
Headman at Brocavum
Artorius
King Arthur
Banna
Birdoswald
Belatu-Cadros
God of war
Bladud
Urien’s standard bearer
Blatobulgium
Birrens (Scotland)
Brocavum
Brougham
Civitas Carvetiorum
Carlisle
Cynfarch Oer
Descendant of Coel Hen (King Cole)
Din Guardi
Bamburgh Castle
Dunum
River Tees
Dux Britannica
The Roman British leader after the Romans left (King Arthur)
Erecura
Goddess of the earth
Fanum Cocidii
Bewcastle
Freja
Saxon captive
Garth
Lann’s lieutenant
Gildas
Urien’s nephew
Glanibanta
Ambleside
Hen Ogledd
Northern England and Southern Scotland
Hogan
Father of Lann and Raibeart
Icaunus
River god
King Gwalliog
King of Elmet
Lann
A young Brythonic warrior (Lann means sword in Celtic)
Llofan Llaf Difo
Bernician warrior
Loidis
Leeds
Maiwen
The daughter of the King of Elmet
Metcauld
Lindisfarne
Miach
Leader of Lann’s archers
Monca
An escaped Briton and mother of Aelle
Morcant Bulc
King of Bryneich (Northumberland)
Myrddyn
Welsh warrior fighting for Rheged
Niamh
Queen of Rheged
Nodens
God of hunting
Osric
Irish priest
Oswald
Priest at Castle Perilous
Pasgen
Youngest son of Urien
Pol
Slinger and Lann’s squire
Radha
Mother of Lann and Raibeart
Raibeart
Lann’s brother
Rhiwallon
Son of Urien
Rhun
Son of Urien
Rhydderch Hael
The king of Strathclyde
Bernician warrior fighting for Rheged
Roman Bridge
Piercebridge (Durham)
Sucellos
God of love and time
Tuanthal
Leader of Lann’s horse warriors
Urien Rheged
King of Rheged
Vindonnus
God of hunting
Wachanglen
Wakefield
wapentake
Muster of an army
Wide Water
Windermere
Wyrd
Fate
Ywain Rheged
Eldest son of Urien
Historical note
All the kings named and used in this book were real figures, although the actual events are less well documented. Most of the information comes from the Welsh writers who were used to create the Arthurian legends. It was of course, The Dark Ages, and, although historians now dispute this, the lack of hard evidence is a boon to a writer of fiction. Ida, who was either a lord or a king, was ousted from Lindisfarne by the alliance of the three kings. King Urien was deemed to be the greatest Brythionic king of this period.
While researching I discovered that 30-35 was considered old age in this period. The kings obviously lived longer but that meant that a fifteen year old would be considered a fighting man. If the brothers appear young then I suspect it is because most of the armies would have been made up of the younger men without ties.
The Angles and the Saxons did invade towards the end of the Roman occupation and afterwards. There appear to be a number of reasons for this: firstly the sea levels rose in their land inundating it and secondly there were a series of plagues in Central Europe. This caused a mass movement towards the rich and peaceful lands of Britannia. Their invasion was also prefaced by the last Roman leaders using Saxon mercenaries to fight the barbarians to the north and the west. At the same the time Irish and the Scots took advantage of the departure of the Romans and engaged in slave raids and cattle raids. It was not a good time to live in the borders. Carlisle, by all accounts, was a rich fortress and had baths and fine buildings. It exceeded York at this period. Rheged stretched all the way from Strathclyde down to what is now northern Lancashire. Northumbria did not exist but it grew from two British kingdoms which became Saxon, Bernicia and Deira and eventually became the most powerful kingdom until the rise of Alfred’s Wessex. Who knows what might have happened had Rheged survived?
Morcant Bulc was king of Bernicia and he was jealous of King Urien who was considered the last hope of Romano-Britain. All of the writings we have from this period come from Wales which is some way from Rheged and perhaps they were jaundiced opinions. In the years at the end of the Sixth century the kingdoms all fell one by one. Rheged was one of the last to fall.
I do not subscribe to Brian Sykes’ theory that the Saxons merely assimilated into the existing people. One only has to look at the place names and listen to the language of the north and north western part of England. You can still hear anomalies. Perhaps that is because I come from the north but all of my reading leads me to believe that the Anglo-Saxons were intent upon conquest. The Norse invaders were different and they did assimilate but the Saxons were fighting for their lives and it did not pay to be kind. The people of Rheged were the last survivors if Roman Britain and I have given them all of the characteristics they would have had. This period was also the time when the old ways changed and Britain became Christina but I have not used this as a source of conflict but rather growth. I mainly used two books to research the material. The first was the excellent Michael Wood’s book “In Search of the Dark Ages” and the second was “The Middle Ages” Edited by Robert Fossier. I also used Brian Sykes book, “Blood of the Isles” for reference. In addition I searched on line for more obscure information. All the place names are accurate, as far as I know and I have researched the names of the characters. My apologies if I have made a mistake.
The story will continue as the Saxons inexorably take over what was Britannia and make it, what became England.
Griff Hosker May 2013
Other books by
Griff Hosker
If you enjoyed reading this book then why not read another one by the author?
The Sword of Cartimandua Series (Germania and Britannia 50A.D. – 128 A.D.)
Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior
Book 1 The Sword of Cartimandua
Book 2 The Horse Warriors
Book 3 Invasion Caledonia
Book 4 Roman Retreat
Book 5 Revolt of the Red Witch
Book 6 Druid’s Gold
Book 7 Trajan’s Hunters
Book 8 The Last Frontier
Book 9 Hero of Rome
Book 10 Roman Hawk
Book 11 Roman Treachery
They are all available in the Kindle format.
The Aelfraed Series (Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D.- 1085 A.D.)
Book 1 Housecarl
Book 2 Outlaw
Book 3 Varangian
These are available in the Kindle format.
The Wolf Warrior series (Britain in the late 6th Century)
Book 1 Saxon Dawn
Book 2 Saxon Revenge
Also available in paperback and Kindle is the book aimed at 12-15 years olds, Great Granny’s Ghost
Carnage at Cannes is a modern thriller and is available in the Kindle format.
Travel
Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul
Coming in Summer 2013
Saxon Rule (Book Three in the Wolf Warrior Trilogy)
Coming in Autumn 2013 (Working titles)
The Irishman in the grey - a trilogy set in the American Civil War
For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at http://www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him.
Table of Contents
Published by Griff Hosker 2013Copyright © Griff Hosker First Edition
Dedication
Table of contentsMap &n...
B
Chapter 1Hen Ogledd 587 A.D.
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Glossary
Historical note
Other books by Griff Hosker
