Shadow Lands Trilogy

by Simon Lister

  ‘Here they come,’ Leah said and secured her skullcap back on.

  ‘Good hunting,’ Trevenna said and put a hand on Leah’s shoulder before she and Cei ran back to the centre of the wall, still crouching over to stay under cover.

  As they passed along the Breton line the catapulted rocks sailed out of the darkness and over their heads trailing the chain links behind them before smashing against the inside of the wall and snapping taut as the counter-balanced ladders slapped into place all along the high wall. Immediately axes and hammers rang out as the defenders tried to cut through the chains.

  They could hear the battle cries of the Adren as they started to climb the ladders and the Bretons tried to hurl stones, rocks and boulders down the length of the ladders without being hit by the hail of Adren arrows that filled the air above the lip of the protecting masonry. One of the Bretons managed to drop a heavy rock that crashed straight down one of the scaling ladders, clearing it entirely but as he did so he was hit by three arrows and flung from the parapet.

  Each defender knew what they had to do and already some were trying to crack the chains that held the ladders in place. Others crouched waiting for the first Adren to appear over the wall, ready to thrust with spears or loose their arrows at the attackers. Others waited with hooked poles so that as soon as the links were broken they could haul the ladders sideways to crash back down to the ground or into adjacent ladders packed with the assailants.

  Trevenna knelt and fitted an arrow to her bow that she held sideways and pointing at the top of the ladder only ten-feet away. To one side a heavyset Breton was swinging an axe down on the thick chain that effectively held the ladder in place. Cei stood opposite him alternately striking at the chain with his own war axe.

  A shield appeared first and Trevenna held her aim, waiting for the right moment. As the Adren cleared the wall and leapt to the parapet he was hurled backwards by the force of the arrow that buried itself instantly in his chest. Another appeared and Cei, leaving the chain to the Breton, swung his axe into the Adren’s shield and sent him flailing off the top of the wall. Trevenna sprung to her feet and brought her bow to the vertical as she loosed another arrow point-blank into the face of an attacker as he scrambled over the edge. Behind her sparks were flying from the chain as the Breton frantically hammered at it. Two girls, no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, crouched to one side waiting with the hooked poles.

  Two Adren hoisted themselves over and onto the parapet. Cei rammed his axe head into the face of one and kicked out at the other. Trevenna dropped her bow and in one movement pulled her sword free and ran it through the Adren that Cei had stunned with his axe. As she did so Cei bodily threw the other off the parapet. Behind her the chain finally snapped apart sending its attached boulder to crash down to the ground on the Breton side of the wall. The two girls immediately hooked the ladder and hauled it to one side. Cei joined them and the ladder slid sideways to crash into the next one in line.

  All along the wall the same frantic battle raged as the Adren fought to gain the parapet. Cei took a second to scan the battle to see where they might be losing ground. The Breton and the two girls ran straight to the skirmish by the next ladder where the chain still held. Trevenna was shouting and Cei looked to where she was pointing. Further along the wall to their left ten Adren had gained the ledge and more were pouring up the ladder behind them.

  Aelfhelm had seen the danger too and they both fought their way through the individual battles raging along the parapet to attack the Adren from either side. Trevenna had picked up her longbow and was following Cei. She did not have a clear line of fire into the Adren already on the ledge so she shot her arrows at those reaching the top of the ladder behind them in an effort to stop their numbers swelling.

  She could see that Aelfhelm had reached the other side of the attackers and had halted their advance along his side of the wall but she was still unable to shoot directly at them. Cei was ahead of her. He knew that if the Adren could secure the parapet around three or four of the ladders then they would be in real danger of losing the wall.

  He did not hesitate. Casting aside his shield he charged straight into them, swinging his war axe in a wide ferocious arc before him. Two of the Adren were cut down instantly and a third was knocked from the wall. At last Trevenna had a clear line of fire and without considering the danger of hitting Cei she sent four lightning fast arrows scything into the enemy midst.

  Two Bretons, encouraged by Aelfhelm’s attack, charged into the Adren with their shields held before them forcing the Adren backwards as they all stumbled over in an entangled mess. Their charge had taken them beyond Aelfhelm and he launched himself bodily into the confusion causing more of the close packed enemy to falter and fall. Cei swooped into the chaos with his axe hacking down with manic energy and brutal violence.

  Trevenna shifted her aim back to the top of the ladder and more Bretons joined in the melee, wielding hand sickles and long knives. Suddenly she was out of arrows but Aelfhelm was already at the ladder and swinging at any Adren that gained the top. Behind him the last of the enemy was hacked to death and hurled from the wall. Cei was driving his axe through the chains and as they finally split apart the ladder was hauled sideways to crash to the ground.

  Another assault had been repelled but as Trevenna looked along the length of the wall she could see that it had been dearly won. She walked back towards Leah as the dead and wounded Adren were stripped of their swords and shields and then thrown back over the wall. Their own wounded were carried back down the steps to the main hall where their injuries were treated as quickly as possible.

  ‘Close this time,’ Trevenna said and grimaced as she clasped Leah’s hand.

  ‘What’s wrong? Are you hurt?’

  ‘No. Just my shoulder, from the first Adren attack ages ago. I hadn’t noticed it during the last one, yet just shaking your hand...’ she shrugged.

  ‘You’ve got time to notice it now.’

  They made their way to the central stair and waited as the Bretons wearily climbed down in front of them. Others who had not been involved in the last defence immediately took their place on the wall as lookouts for the next attack.

  When they descended the steps they both sat down heavily in the snow with their backs against the cold stone.

  ‘They aren’t going to stop are they?’ Leah sat with her long legs stretched out before her and her bloody sword lying across her thighs. She looked exhausted. Her pale blue eyes were reddened and the skin below them was shadowed grey.

  ‘Merdynn’s back with us again now, perhaps he can come up with a plan,’ Trevenna offered then added, ‘Do I look as tired as you do?’

  Leah smiled and studied Trevenna’s face, ‘Well, I don’t know how I look but you certainly look as tired as I feel.’

  ‘I’m too tired to work that out.’

  Someone passed in front of them with a bucket of drinking water and they helped themselves to several cupfuls of the ice cold, refreshing water.

  ‘Where’s Ethain?’

  Leah shrugged. Cei and Aelfhelm walked up to them and Cei gave Trevenna a gentle nudge with his foot, ‘Come on you two, let’s get some food before the bastards return for more.’

  Trevenna accepted the offered hand and Cei hauled her to her feet with a grunt.

  ‘You three did well to stop that breach. I thought it might have been over then,’ Leah said as they made their way to the huts of the village.

  The others did not reply, they knew how close it had been and they knew it was only a matter of time before there was a breach that they could not stop.

  Two of the huts had been designated as food points and cauldrons of hot broth simmered constantly over low fires as bowlfuls were ladled out and more ingredients continuously added. Bran was standing by one of the fires with his feet planted firmly apart and doling out various orders to those around him. He spotted Cei and his companions and called them over. They were all taller than he was and he look
ed up at each of them in turn.

  ‘You’re all exhausted. Take a hut and sleep for six hours.’

  Cei shrugged and leant wearily on the keel of an upturned boat. They all knew what the shrug meant. If they left the wall and slept for six hours the Adren would take the fortress. If they did not sleep, then sooner or later, they would die on the wall. They reasoned it was better to die on your feet and make it later rather than sooner. Bran nodded, understanding and reluctantly agreeing.

  ‘I hear Merdynn’s recovered and is awake. Let’s see what he has to say.’ Bran turned and led the way to the hut that Merdynn was lying in. The others took their hot meals with them and ate as they walked.

  *

  Ethain was standing at the end of the headland looking out through the winter darkness across the ice and to the open seas that led to Wessex. He shivered in the cold and wrapped his thick cloak tighter around himself. He too was exhausted; exhausted by the fear that constantly threatened to snap his brittle self-discipline. So far he had managed to avoid the worst of the fighting but not all of it by any means.

  For some time now he had felt trapped and not just in the sense that they were all trapped on the headland. He felt trapped inside as he relentlessly fought against the urgent pressing of panic that continuously threatened to wash over him. He felt as if he was on the verge of drowning and had been for weeks now, thrashing in desperation to keep his mouth above the water. He was not sure how long he could retain the vestiges of control that stopped him from just curling up in a corner, sleeping and waiting for death.

  To avoid the pitched battles he had worked tirelessly carrying and tending to the wounded and he had spent long hours walking the cliffs or standing on the wall peering into the darkness to give warning of the approaching enemy. In the rare quiet moments he had turned his gaze inward, to the darkness within himself and it never took long for the image of Cerdic to surface accusingly. He could still see the shocked disbelief and bewildered despair etched clearly on Cerdic’s face as he had deserted the young Anglian warrior to certain death at the hands of the Adren.

  It was almost more than Ethain could bear. Only one thought kept him within the bounds of sanity. He was alive and Cerdic was dead. No matter how guilty he felt, he was alive to feel it and Cerdic would never feel anything ever again. During the lulls in the Adren attacks the others, particularly Leah, had asked him what had happened on the cliff tops of the headland across the bay. Ethain had told them that he had taken a blow to the head and stumbled to his knees. Roswitha had already fallen with a spear skewed through her stomach. Cerdic had shouted for him to escape down the cliff path while he held the Adren off. The others had believed it readily enough as it fitted with their image of the brave young warrior and they pictured his last stand as a suitably heroic one. Only Ethain knew that Cerdic had died in despair, betrayed by a friend, but even he found he was beginning to half believe his own false version of events and he withdrew more and more from his companions.

  The attacks on the Breton fortress had been incessant and there had been no time for him to spend with Leah. He was surprised to find that her absence did not bother him in the least. It seemed his infatuation and lust ranked a long way below his own survival and yet he remembered how in the ruined city he had stood and fought by her side when he could have left her. As his mind teetered on the deep abyss of his guilt he thought his memory must be playing him false. Why would he do such a thing? How could he? He wondered if it was just another lie that he had told himself and which he now believed to be true. He began to worry that his reality was diverging from that of those around him.

  He was still shivering and he started to walk along the trampled snow of the cliff edge, looking down and scanning the sea ice for danger. He saw the Adren snaking down from the mainland and onto the sea ice and he knew that another attack on the cliff paths was imminent. He hurried his pace and told a group of Bretons he passed that he thought he had seen Adren on the ice and to keep a sharp lookout. He made his way towards the main wall and away from the cliffs, gambling that they would not attack both at the same time and hating himself for being so craven.

  *

  When Cei and the others arrived at Merdynn’s hut they crowded in and stood as near to the fire as possible. The sweat from the battle had dried on them and the cold air of the winter night had quickly settled into their bones once more.

  Merdynn was sitting on the edge on the low bed, wrapped in his familiar brown cloak and looking more like his old self with each passing hour.

  ‘How goes the defence then?’ he asked, looking up at the figures crowding into the small home.

  ‘Each attack brings them closer to breaking through. I don’t think it will be long now,’ Aelfhelm replied.

  ‘Cheerful as ever I see, always managing to find the bright side. Something of a miracle you’ve lived to be so old really.’

  Aelfhelm did not have the energy to defend himself even though he felt affronted at being labelled as defeatist. He also thought it was a bit rich that Merdynn of all people should call him old, but he just stood there, his lean frame stooped with weariness, determined to save his energy for fighting the enemy. His lack of response stopped Merdynn’s levity instantly.

  Cei squatted down by the fire and looked levelly at Merdynn, ‘We’re running out of time, Merdynn.’

  Merdynn sighed, ‘How are the supplies of food?’

  ‘At the rate we’re dying we’ll run out of mouths to feed before we run out of food,’ Bran stated.

  ‘The dawn is not far away. The sea ice will break up. You have fishing boats drawn up beyond the storm line?’

  ‘Yes,’ Bran answered.

  ‘Then we must wait for the ice to break then abandon the fortress and sail for Britain. I, at least, must do this for Arthur needs to be told the quest east failed.’

  The others nodded. They had already agreed it was the only plan available to them but they had forgotten that Bran did not know the full reason behind their journey eastwards.

  ‘What quest east?’

  Merdynn looked up at him frowning, ‘Arthur had sent us to destroy the Adren food supplies. We failed.’

  Bran grunted, accepting the brief explanation for now but knowing there was a greater tale behind it. If they found themselves in a time and place safe enough for questions then he would seek out the truth of the matter but other more serious concerns occupied him now.

  ‘How long until the sea ice breaks up?’ Trevenna asked.

  Bran shrugged, ‘Perhaps a week, maybe longer if the storms come out of the East.’

  Leah rubbed a hand across her cracked lips, thinking the same thoughts as the others. She noticed her hand was trembling from the fatigue of the muscles in her sword arm and she stared at the shaking hand in surprise. She did not think they could keep the Adren at bay for another week or two but she left it unsaid. There was no need to say it. Then in the heavy silence they all heard the frantic baying of the dogs. The Adren were attacking along the cliff paths.

  They spilled out of the hut quickly and Bran started to shout to the lookouts to find out where the attack was coming from. Trevenna saw Charljenka and Nialgrada, the two young goat herders they had rescued from an abandoned Breton village, as they ran past. They were carrying quivers of collected arrows. She called out to them and she and Aelfhelm exchanged their empty quivers for full ones.

  Bran had ascertained that the Adren were attacking at four points around the headland and he started to bark out orders to those around him. Someone shouted out that Ethain had already taken a few others and gone to the wall to keep watch for an attack there. Bran grunted his approval and struck out for the nearest attack.

  Cei was told that Cuthwin had a group of Bretons covering one of the other attacks so he sent Aelfhelm to defend the fourth point and led the other two to the far end of the promontory. It was here that the stone steps led up from the Bretons’ summer harbour and Cei knew the Adren attack would be fiercest at that poi
nt.

  They sprinted through the snow to reach the Bretons who were already positioned on the headland overlooking the stone steps. Through the darkness they could see a hundred Adren or more gathered on the ice and quay at the foot of the cliff. The Bretons had a stockpile of rocks and boulders ready to be hurled down on the assailants once they started the climb. These missiles were more effective at first than arrows. The Adren would advance with their shields raised to protect them from the bowmen above and the force of a rock crashing down on them had a more damaging effect.

  The Adren began the climb and immediately a spate of missiles rained down on them. As soon as a shield was turned or one of them stumbled an arrow would fly down from the headland to find its exposed target. The Adren pressed on upwards and the furious hail of rocks intensified as they passed the halfway point. Cei was watching nervously in case they went for the fishing boats but they were intent upon reaching the top and passed them by.

  One by one they tumbled off the steep path as arrows or rocks found their mark but on they came, regardless of losses or life, until they were within twenty-feet of the top of the headland. Trevenna and Leah took wider positions now firing a constant stream of arrows into the single file below them. If any of the Adren dropped a shield to bring their bows to bear then they immediately became a target for the longbows above.

  The Bretons had cut away the last five steps so that the Adren had to scramble over the steep, snow-covered grass to reach the top. Cei and the Bretons around him steadied themselves as the Adren finally made it to the ledge and began scrabbling to the top. Cei strode forward wielding his war axe double-handed as he swung it over his head and down onto the lead Adren. It hammered into the upraised shield and smashed the attacker into the ground. As the Adren raised himself Cei kicked him in the face and he fell backwards, his wheeling arms knocking aside another’s shield and an arrow instantly buried itself in the suddenly exposed chest.