Conquest 03 - Knights of the Hawk

by James Aitcheson

  ‘Godric?’ he asked, frowning. ‘You mean Morcar’s nephew?’

  ‘Didn’t you know?’

  I called the boy’s name and he came forward, tentatively at first, but I jerked my head and he quickened his pace.

  ‘Were it not for him, we might never have taken Elyg,’ I said. ‘This is the one who brought about your downfall, who brought an end to your rebellion.’

  ‘You were the one who betrayed us?’ Hereward asked Godric. His eyes were colder than steel on a winter’s morning. ‘I always knew that your uncle had the tongue of a serpent. I ought to have guessed you would be no different.’ He sneered as he gestured at the scabbard that hung from the boy’s belt. Godric had come from Alrehetha without a weapon, and so I’d given him the sword with the emerald in the pommel that had belonged to Thurcytel. ‘That’s a big blade for a child to carry. You’d best take care that you don’t cut yourself.’

  The boy’s cheeks reddened, but he said nothing.

  ‘You always were a worthless turd in my eyes,’ Hereward went on. ‘How can you call yourself a thegn when you don’t even know how to wield the weapons with which to defend your lands?’

  ‘Enough of your squawking,’ I said to Hereward.

  He ignored me. ‘Even now you cower behind the protection of these Frenchmen. Why do you let him speak for you? Have you lost your voice, or just your wits?’ He spat. ‘Your mother was a whore, and the daughter of a whore besides, but even so she would have drowned you at birth had she known the disgrace you’d bring upon your kin and your countrymen. Because of you, our one last chance to regain our birthright is lost. This once-proud kingdom has fallen, we find ourselves ruled by foreign tyrants, and it is your fault. Do you hear me? You did this, Godric of Corbei!’

  ‘No!’ the boy cried, and before I could do anything he spurred his palfrey forward, at the same time drawing his sword.

  ‘Godric!’ I shouted, but it was too late. The boy had allowed the elder Englishman to goad him to anger, and now he would suffer.

  Some of Hereward’s men started forward, but he raised his shield-hand to forestall them, while with the other he let his helmet fall and drew his seax. A smile spread across his face as he took his stance, lowering his blade-point towards the ground, leaving the upper half of his body open as an invitation to attack. Godric accepted without hesitation, roaring with rage as he swung at Hereward’s head, but his foe had been anticipating such a move. He ducked beneath Godric’s blade, at the same time whipping his own up and flashing the edge across the palfrey’s hindquarters, tearing through flesh and sinew. The animal buckled and the boy fell, and he was still clinging desperately with one hand to the reins when he hit the ground.

  ‘Stop this,’ I shouted above the horse’s screams. Hereward stood over the boy with his seax pointed at the skin beneath his chin. Godric’s sword lay just a little beyond grasp, but the fall must have knocked the wind out of him, or else hurt him worse than I had thought, since he seemed unable to reach it – for all the good that it would have done him at that moment.

  ‘Stop?’ Hereward asked, although he did not take his eyes from the boy. ‘Why should I stop? Not only has he betrayed us, he’s tried to kill me too.’

  ‘He couldn’t kill you if you were weaponless and missing both your legs,’ I said. ‘You’ve had your fun, so now let him go. He’s worth nothing to you.’

  ‘Please,’ Godric said weakly, and let out a cough. ‘Spare me, p-please, I beg of you.’

  Hereward kicked him in the ribs. It didn’t seem to me an especially hard kick, but it was enough to make the boy cry out in agony and bend double as he rolled over, clutched at his side and cursed all at the same time.

  ‘I hardly touched you, weakling,’ Hereward growled. Disdainfully he spat at Godric before at last he turned to face me. ‘Are you so scared to fight me that you have to send whelps like him to do your work? Don’t insult—’

  He didn’t get the chance to finish. In one movement Godric’s hand had found the hilt of his weapon and brought the blade around, aiming at the back of his opponent’s legs, and I saw that all that howling and swearing and writhing had been but a ruse.

  Hereward gave a yell as the point slashed across his ankle. A glancing blow, it seemed, but the lank-haired Englishman fell to his knees. Straightaway his retainers started forward. Godric scrambled to his feet, took one glance at them and another at Hereward, perhaps thinking to finish him, but instead he froze. For, despite his injured leg, Hereward was struggling to his feet, his teeth clenched and his eyes wild.

  ‘Bastard,’ Hereward said, and swung at the boy, but it was a wild stroke that missed by a hand’s breadth, and suddenly he was off balance, staggering, hobbling, sliding on the mud. ‘Bastard!’

  And I saw a chance to end this.

  Summoning all the breath in my chest, I gave a wordless roar, and in that roar was all the anger and frustration of the last few weeks. I charged forward, trusting that the others would be behind me. Hereward heard me coming, and despite his injured ankle managed to turn just in time to fend off my strike. Steel shrieked against steel as our blades met, but then I was riding on, leaving him for those behind me to finish. I crashed into the first of Hereward’s men before he could so much as level his spear. Iron clattered upon limewood as he fell beneath Fyrheard’s hooves. Like a river the battle-joy was flowing, carrying me with it as I struck out on both sides with shield-boss and sword-point. Men must have been shouting, screaming, yelping in pain, howling in anguish as their friends fell before their eyes, but all I remember hearing is the sound of my own breathing and the beating of my heart in my breast and the blood pounding behind my eyes. I rammed the steel home into the throat of the next man and then battered the flat of the blade across the nasal-guard of the one after him, slicing his cheek open, biting into his skull, sending teeth and fragments of bloodied bone flying.

  ‘No mercy!’ I shouted.

  I heard a rush of air and glanced up to see a volley of goose-feathered shafts arcing high into the blue sky, but thankfully they were headed in the direction of the enemy and not for me. Hamo’s archers had not entirely exhausted their arrow-bags, then. It was quick thinking on their part, too, for it happened that at the same moment as Hereward’s retainers raised their shields, to protect themselves from the approaching storm, we were upon them, cutting beneath the iron-reinforced rims into their unprotected thighs, driving into their midst, forcing them back. The ploy was one that we had used at Haestinges five long years ago; it had worked then and it was working now, and the enemy did not know what to do. Behind me I heard Serlo and Pons and the others bellowing as they cut down some of the wounded we left in our wake. The enemy were falling before our fury, and in that instant I felt as if nothing in the world could harm me.

  Confidence is a strange thing. It can arrive unexpectedly as if from nowhere, for no apparent reason, and inspire men to do things that in their right mind they would never dream of undertaking; and it can desert a man just as quickly, even on the point of victory. And so it was then, for even though they still just about outnumbered us, the enemy broke. A couple threw down their weapons, obviously hoping that we would spare them if they gave themselves up, but those hopes were in vain, and they had barely a chance to open their mouths in protest before we cut them down.

  Breathing hard, I found myself with space around me. The rest of the Englishmen were fleeing northwards along the track, following their womenfolk, abandoning the fight.

  I checked Fyrheard by the path’s edge. ‘Go,’ I yelled to the others, my voice hoarse and hurting. ‘After them!’

  ‘With me,’ said Wace. ‘Conroi with me!’

  He and Pons and Serlo and Tor and the Gascon flashed past, and they were followed by Hamo and half a dozen of his men, who had cast aside their bows and drawn swords and axes and knives. Cries of delight went up as they sensed plunder at hand.

  But I had more important things in mind. I glanced about, searching for Hereward. For his c
orpse was not among those strewn along the path.

  And then I saw him, striking out from the path across the mud, crashing through the sedge and the reeds towards a stand of alders an arrow’s flight away, hobbling as he went owing to his injured ankle. Godric was pursuing him, swearing as he struggled over the soft ground, while by the willow trees on the island one of the remaining archers – a squat, square-faced lad – had an arrow upon his bow. Already he had drawn the string back and his eyes were narrowed as he took his aim.

  ‘Leave him,’ I called, and thankfully the lad heard me and lowered his bow. ‘He’s mine!’

  If ever there was one kill I wanted, it was this one. I would not let Hereward escape my sword, as Eadgar Ætheling and Wild Eadric and Bleddyn ap Cynfyn had done. I wanted to be known as the man who had slain the scourge of the fens, who had gone toe to toe with him in single combat and had bested him. His death would be just reward for all the hardships we had suffered, on this campaign and in the past five years.

  Freeing my shield-arm from the leather brases and leaving Fyrheard behind, I headed off in pursuit of the Englishman, charging across the quagmire as best I could manage. The ground sucked at my boots; before long my trews were soaked and clinging to my legs as high as my knee, weighing my tired legs down further, but I clenched my teeth and kept going, hacking at the reeds with my sword as I desperately tried to clear a way through.

  I saw Godric ahead of me and called to him. Mud caked his clothes, his tunic was torn, his arms were cut and his cheek was grazed where he had fallen, and all he had with which to defend himself was his sword.

  ‘Go back,’ I told him. ‘This isn’t your fight.’

  ‘Lord—’

  ‘You’ve done enough,’ I said, more forcefully this time. ‘Now, go.’

  His face fell, but I didn’t have time to argue with him as I crashed on, further into the bog.

  ‘Hereward,’ I yelled. ‘Come and fight me!’

  Soon I was wading through water that was knee-deep, and I was wet up to my chest from the splashing, but still I pressed on in the direction he’d been heading, until I found myself gazing out across a sun-sparkling mere, some fifty paces wide and more.

  I’d lost him.

  ‘Hereward!’

  No reply came. I swore violently, and again, and again. All that could be heard was the swish of the breeze amongst the reeds, and the gentle, rhythmic whistle of a heron’s wings as it flew overhead, and the distant cries of alarm as my sword-brothers chased the enemy down.

  He was gone.

  The bloodlust faded and I was standing alone, panting, feeling the cold waters swirl around my toes and sweat trickle down from my brow. Marsh-grime covered my hauberk and chausses and there were strands of weed tangled around my sword-hand and around my blade. There would be no glory. Not this time.

  I was returning my sword to its scabbard when behind me there was a sudden splash, and I half turned, thinking that Godric had decided to follow me after all—

  Not a moment too soon. Hereward, his damp hair flailing, heaved his seax around, aiming for my head. Instinctively I ducked, but in doing so I found myself struggling for balance. My foot had become trapped in the mud and I couldn’t move it quickly enough. With a crash of spray I toppled backwards, plunging into the marsh, my mail dragging me down, and there was water in my mouth and in my nose and in my throat, and I was choking and swallowing and gasping for breath all at the same time, trying somehow to raise my head above the surface, but there was a weight on my chest, holding me under, and my limbs were flailing and my lungs burning, and I could see nothing except white stars dancing in my eyes.

  Then there was a hand on my collar, pulling me free of the marsh’s grasp. I inhaled deeply, thankful to find air at last even if only for a moment, and I saw my enemy standing over me, his yellow teeth bared, and in his stone-grey eyes was hatred such as I had never seen.

  ‘You Frenchmen stole my lands,’ he said, and he was sobbing as he spoke. Tears streamed down his face. ‘You killed my men. Now I’ll kill you!’

  I tried to struggle, but couldn’t find the strength. I had just enough presence of mind to take another breath before Hereward let go of my collar and stamped down upon my chest. I could make out his shadowy form standing over me, and the bright spot of the sun behind him, but all my kicking and waving was to no avail, and that was when the fear took me.

  Fear, because I knew that this was it. My time had come, and all I could think was how stupid I had been, and how for that stupidity I would now pay with my life.

  My mind began to cloud. With every last beat of my heart I could feel my strength failing, the darkness encircling me, closing in—

  When suddenly the weight on my chest was no more. Summoning every last ounce of will that was left to me, I raised myself up, struggling against the weight of my hauberk, gasping desperately for air that at first would not come, but which, when it did, was as sweet as heaven. I blinked as I inhaled, scarcely believing that I was still alive.

  Sunlight pained my eyes, making it difficult to see, but as the brightness faded I saw Hereward. He staggered a couple of paces backwards, staring stupidly down at me as if in surprise, his jaw hanging open as if he were about to say something. Whatever that might have been, though, he never had a chance to utter. His legs gave way; he toppled forwards, and I caught a glimpse of the gash decorating the back of his skull as his limp corpse fell with a crash into the water.

  And I found myself looking upon the face of the man to whom I owed my life.

  Godric.

  Thirteen

  HE STOOD, BREATHLESS, his eyes wide and his face deathly pale as he gazed down at Hereward’s body. His hand and the fuller of his weapon were running with his foe’s glistening blood, while the swirled waters around his feet were stained a brownish-crimson. He gave a moment’s shudder, then his sword slipped from his hand and he began to spew.

  Still coughing up water, I hauled myself to my feet. Godric was shivering, though the day was far from cold. He had tasted the battle-rage for the first time, had taken his first steps upon the sword-path, and was not sure if he liked it. I understood the feeling well. It didn’t seem so long ago that I had been in his place, claiming my first kill. In fact twelve years had passed since then, but it could have been yesterday, so clearly was it fixed in my memory.

  ‘I’m sorry, lord,’ he said. ‘I should have listened—’

  ‘You don’t have to apologise,’ I assured him. ‘You did well. I owe you my life.’

  At last a smile broke out across his face. A man always remembers his first kill, but few had such a glorious tale to tell as young Godric now did.

  Some way along the marsh-passage to the north our war-horn sounded out: two short blasts that I recognised at once as the signal to fall back. Probably that meant Hereward’s men were at last beginning to rally. Of course they couldn’t know that it was too late to save their lord, but the last thing I wanted was to embroil myself in another mêlée.

  ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘We have to go while we still can.’

  Godric did not move. He stared, transfixed, at Hereward’s body lying face-down and motionless as his lifeblood seeped away into the fen, as if still not quite believing what he had done.

  ‘Now!’

  At last he did as he was told, following me as I made back in the direction of the path, crashing through the reeds, trying to remember the way. I would have liked to bring Hereward’s corpse with us, or at least cut off his head so that we could take it back as our trophy, but we had no time, not if we wanted to be sure of getting away from this place with our lives. And so we left him. Perhaps his followers would find him in time and haul his bloated form from the bog, or perhaps his flesh would provide a feast for the eels and the worms. That would be no better a fate than he deserved.

  Before long we found the path again, and Fyrheard, and the others, who were riding back from their pursuit of the rebels.

  ‘There are more of them
up ahead,’ Wace said when he saw us. ‘Fifty, sixty, possibly more. They’re coming this way, but we can’t fight them all.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said as I let Godric take the saddle, whilst I sat behind him.

  ‘What happened?’ asked Pons, glancing first at me and then at the Englishman. I wondered what he must be thinking as he saw me drenched from brow to feet, with my hair clinging to my head and neck and tendrils of weed draped across my shoulders, clinging to my hauberk. ‘Where’s Hereward? Is he dead? Did you kill him?’

  ‘No,’ I replied, and grinned because it was the truth.

  ‘He got away?’

  I shook my head, and suddenly, for the first time in what seemed like months, I found myself laughing.

  ‘What, lord?’ Serlo frowned.

  ‘First let’s leave this place. Maybe then Godric will tell you.’

  ‘Godric?’ Hamo asked. ‘The English runt? What do you mean?’

  But we were already on our way, and I was whooping with delight, for the Isle was ours, England was ours, the sun was shining and all was well with the world. For the first time in longer than I could remember, I was happy, and in all the hours that it took us to journey back to Elyg, not once did I stop smiling.

  Thus the Isle of Elyg fell.

  I am far from the first to tell the tale, and doubtless many others will follow my example in the years to come, filling sheet after sheet of fresh-cut parchment with their delicate script, much more refined than my own scribbles, which are wiry and poorly formed as a result of my fading eyesight. They may compare the siege of the Isle to that of ancient Troy, and lavish praise upon King Guillaume for his strength of will, or else upon the rebels for having the courage to defy him for so long. And, as is the way of things, with every retelling some details of the story change.

  Nowadays I often hear it said that Hereward escaped, that he and his loyal followers managed to flee uninjured from the Isle into the swamps, and from the swamps into the woods, and from there continued to harass his enemies for many summers to come. Wandering poets sing songs of his deeds, claiming that, were it not for the treachery of his own countrymen at Elyg, he would have driven us Frenchmen from England within another year. Across the marsh country of East Anglia, folk still revere him as a hero and a great war leader, even though he was no such thing. Children wield sticks in the manner of swords and make hiding places in the birch copses and the willow groves, and in that way relive some of those battles that we fought, as well as others that happened only in the imagination of certain chroniclers.