Hoodsman: Forest Law

by Smith, Skye

  Raynar and his three wolfpacks arrived in Montreuil to find the exiles already organized and ready to ride. He deviated from the plan slightly in Montreuil because he found two wolfpacks worth of English bowmen already there. These were the bowmen who regularly patrolled the border in groups of three and four. They had been recalled to Montreuil to keep them out of Robert's path.

  The border patrol already knew the territory and the language, so Raynar decided to take them with him south. He left two of the Oudenburg wolfpacks in their place to hold the fortress walls while all the exiled English lords from Montreuil were away raiding Normandy. Robert was launching his raids into the Vexin from Corbie, while the English exiles were launching from Montreuil. It could be that they would never see each other. That suited Raynar just fine. He did not wish to be remembered by Judith's Robert.

  The bowmen were organized into three wolfpack bands of thirty, a size of force which had been proven again and again during the Ely rebellion. Each man had a full longbow, but also a shorter bow that could be wielded from a saddle. Most of the men had at sometime made their living on the oars of ships, which kept their shoulders strong enough to draw a full longbow.

  As men of the sea, they wore a Norse style brynja, which was a leather jerking with a felted sheepskin lining and with metal rings sewn in place to thwart blade cuts. In the way of Hoodsmen, the metal rings were hidden, sewn between the leather and the sheepskin. The felted sheepskin had saved many a man from drowning, for it would float for the precious minutes that it took to cast off anything that was pulling him down.

  A few of them carried small axes, but most were satisfied with carrying two knives. The very long, thin dagger that could be poked through the eyeholes of a knight's visor, and the razor sharp blade of a fish filleting knife that they used for everything else. By tradition, the filleting knife was to have been given to them by a woman, to remind them to protect women, not prey on them.

  The Ely packs which were tied across the back of their saddles were like a porter's triangle pack frame from the Peaks but with a tough, flat wicker basket attached to it. The triangle shape did not hamper the shoulders from the free movement that bowmen required, and took the weight of what was carried to the man's hips.

  The basket was useful for carrying anything a skirmisher may need during the day, but more important, it covered the back and the neck with a double layer of tough reeds. They were the man's back shield for if he was ever caught in close quarters with swordsmen or cavalry, and could be whipped off and held up as a shield against arrows.

  If you saw these men dismounted, they looked like any peasant hunter, except for their helmets. When fighting they favoured the simple steel skull cap helmet lined with fur. Though they were steel, they did not look like steel, because the men would glue homespun to the outside so they would not reflect light.

  Raynar was dressed like the rest except for his white silk scarf, the sign that he was a wolveshead. The seconds also wore scarves, but they were yellow. In battle the wolfpacks worked like infantry irregulars, skirmishers. They were masters of ambush, of fast attacks and fast retreats, and of finding safe cover. They shot individually aimed arrows rather than volley arrows, and their heavy points could pierce mail at a hundred paces.

  As skermishers they used the range of their longbows for major effect by first targeting the key men of the opposition. Without leadership and champion warriors, their opponents quickly saw the sense in retreating. A man aiming at an important target could relax and make good the shot, because he knew that his brothers-in-arms would be covering his back.

  Once over the border and into the Vexin, the three mounted wolfpacks split up. The English exiles also split up to follow them. The plan was to move swiftly south towards the Seine, but to kill all Norman warriors in their path. This was to stop the Normans from sending warnings south ahead of them, and also to keep open a path of retreat behind them.

  The three packs attacked fortified manor after fortified manor in a sweep south. Norman manors were always fortified, because the manor lords were so hated by the locals. After the arrows had made short work of the Norman warriors, then bands of mounted English exiles with shields, swords, and axes would take control of the estates. While the exiles did the cleanup, the bowmen pushed quickly on to the next manor.

  The manor raids had a familiar rhythm for any of the men who had ridden with Raynar in the Ely rebellion. They would keep to cover as they approached a manor. The manor's armed men would be tricked into riding forth from the manor walls through some ruse, such as sending a few of the lads ahead to pretend to be horse thieves working the paddocks. The Normans would race out to stop the horse thieves and be ambushed by the heavy arrows of the rest of the pack.

  No warrior from a manor was allowed to escape to carry the alarm to the next manor. No roofs were burned, no stock or peasants were slaughtered, no women were raped, and no manor was looted. At least not by the bowmen. For sure, a lot of Norman land lords and knights and men-at-arms were killed, but there were few other casualties.

  The only theft that was done was to steal all the horses, not because they needed the horses, but so they could not be used to carry messages or warriors. Patrols of exiles were assigned the task of assembling the stolen horses into herds and then taking the herds back north along the cleared path and to the French garrisons along the border.

  Even the aftermath of an attack was similar to that of the Ely rebellion. The peasants hated their Norman lords. Once the Norman warriors were killed, the next job always seemed to be to protect the families of the Normans from the immediate and vicious vengeance of the peasants. Luckily for the bowmen their role was to quickly move on to the next manor, so it was the exiled shieldmen who were left with the problem of calming the peasants and protecting the families.

  The first days raids took longer than they should have. The packs were finding their rhythm, pairing with mates, and feeling their way. Besides, the wolveshead were suspicious of the shieldmen so they purposefully held back, and waited for trouble. Sure enough, the shieldmen were quick to begin looting and raping.

  More than a few of the looters suffered arrow wounds while it was made clear to them that King Philippe expressly forbid such activities. This mission was to keep to the Edits of Cluny. Non combatants were not to be robbed or injured. If you wanted to be fed by the locals, then you must pay in coin. The same was true if you wanted to be fucked.

  Raynar wondered if the lesson that the bowmen meted out to the shieldmen was worth the price. He suspected that as soon as the shieldmen moved on to the next manor, the local peasants would begin the looting and raping for themselves.

  The three wolfpacks and their trailing bands of exiles hopped about ever more deeply into the hills of the Vexin and ever southward towards the Seine. Behind them they left lordless serfs who had been told that Robert of Normandy was the new Duke and that he had come to save them from their life of endless toil.

  Late on the fourth day, the scouts reported that the Seine was over the next ridge. Messengers were sent back north along their path for all the men to come south, meanwhile the pack in the lead made camp and waited for them to catch up.

  * * * * *

  From the ridge, the leaders looked down on a complete S bend in the River Seine. Most of the heavy ships on the river were barges under tow from the far bank going up stream, or guided with sweeps floating down stream and staying to the close bank. There was a village with a small bailey on the other side of the river, which one of their French guides told them was Gaillard. This meant that there were only three looping bends in the river between them and the city of Rouen.

  The leaders dropped down behind the ridge again and discussed their options. The bowmen were happy to let Raynar speak for them, but the various leaders of the exiles all seemed to have much to say, including some with grand plans of attacking Rouen. The French guides were horrified at the idea.

  "Rouen has a fortress with a huge garrison, for
it controls the Seine,” said one guide.

  "No, attacking Rouen is impossible. We shall all be killed,” said another.

  Raynar and the knight commander of the exiles waited to speak until the shieldmen and the guides were simply repeating themselves. Then Raynar said, "Philippe sent us here to scare the Normans into drawing their army north. Not to die, not to plunder, and not to take hostages. Can anyone of you name a man in this company who is so useless that he does not deserve to return the Montreuil to spend the winter getting fat on ale and pork and fucking his woman?"

  A number of names were yelled out causing much laughter, but silence came quickly. "So you all agree. We want all here to enjoy their winter. The plan I wish to hear is the one where we can scare these buggers without risking our own lives.” He waved to the scouts to come over and join the discussion.

  Many of the bowmen were seamen and knew ships. One of them called out, "Burn and sink the barges to block the channel. Nothing is as frightening as a ship on fire."

  "Aye” another called out "you saw them down there. There was no guard on them, just the hands. The river is high for this time of year 'cause of all that rain. Set one alight and let the current take it down stream into other barges, or into bridges, or into towns. Nothing is as frightening as a ship on fire."

  One of the guides spoke up. "The docks in Rouen are very busy at this time of year because of the harvest. There are too many barges for the docks so many tie up after the last bend and wait their turn."

  A bowman waved for the guides attention. "Which barges have the most valuable cargo? Upstream or downstream."

  "The barges earn in both directions,” replied the guide, "those going downstream are important to Normandy, those going up are important to Paris."

  "Excellent,” said Raynar, "that is important to know. Leave the upstream barges alone. Concentrate on the downstream barges. Anything else?"

  The other guide did not want to be out done, "The Normans love everything Roman. One of the most valuable cargos on the Seine is olive oil bound for Normandy. It burns like a bugger."

  "Good,” said Raynar, "So if we can find an oil barge, then we can use the oil to burn the barges and keep them burning."

  "The upstream docks in Rouen are used for offloading building materials like timber, thatch, and stone. If one of those docks catches fire then a strong wind could spread the flames into the town."

  The knight commander spoke up, "Whatever we do, we should do it quickly and get back north. There is no way that this many men can stay hidden for more than a day. Once we are found out the garrison will be called out from Rouen and this mission will be over."

  "Whatever we are going to do, it is obvious we will be doing it closer to Rouen than here. How far are we from Rouen if we keep to the high trails on the north bank and cut across the bends?"

  The guides discussed it. "Fifteen miles, but the problem is the big valley that we must cross. The valley of the Andelle. On these hillsides the only folk are the occasional shepherds. In the valley there are farms and villages."

  "And on the other side of the Andelle. Is it high land like here?” asked the knight commander.

  "Not so high until you are closer to Rouen. To the north of Rouen is an escarpment.” replied a guide.

  "No,” the other guide warned. "We do not want to use the escarpment. It is steep and when we come down we will make much noise and be seen. Once we are that close to Rouen, it will be better for us to keep to the woods near to the river."

  "Anything else?” the knight commander asked. "No, then lets break camp and get closer to Rouen tonight so we can scare the shit out them tomorrow."

  The scouts and the guides left first and gave the commander a series of filthy looks. This was rough country for exploring in the dark, and with the heavy cloud cover there would be no moon tonight. Raynar chose not to question the commander's order. The days were now shorter than the nights, so they would have to do some of the fifteen miles in the dark no matter when they moved.

  It was a long dark night. The scouts decided to back track north for a mile to gain a cartway that ran west which stayed to the high lands. After about three miles they were on the ridge above the river, but now it was so dark that they couldn't be seen from the valley. The escarpment here was naturally terraced and the cartway ran along the middle terrace all the way to the valley of the Andelle. They stopped out of sight above the valley and waited for two hours until the scouts had found a way across the valley that passed the fewest farm houses and therefore the fewest watch dogs.

  Once across the River Andelle they again found the cartway they had been following and kept to it until they could see the Seine again. They were forced to stop again for two hours to wait for the guides and scouts to explore and to make a decision. One of the guides eventually returned saying he had found a dense wood that would serve them well as a camp. Less than three hours before dawn, they finally made it to the woods and with relief, laid themselves down to sleep.

  One of the guides woke Raynar at first light and they crept together to the banks of the Seine. The cover of the woods stopped fifty yards short of the bank and there was a cartway between the woods and the river. And there were barges. Lots of barges. All tied up for the night and each with one watcher.

  It was important to gauge the strength of the current, and they were in luck. A log floated passed and they used it to estimate the current. It was slower than it looked. By the time they had crept back to the camp, the others were just stirring. A group of seamen wolves were asked if anyone knew the times of the tides on this coast. No one did. The French guides knew even less. They did not even know what a tide was.

  Disgruntled, Raynar walked over to the knight commander and said. "We have a problem. The river is sluggish, very sluggish. That is why it serves barges so well. It could take a few hours for a barge to drift from here to Rouen."

  "What do you suggest then?"

  "That we attack after dark so that the city is asleep and any defense will be confused. That gives us another problem. How can we stay hidden for that long? I suppose we could move away from the river towards the escarpment"

  A scout had overheard the talk. "These woods are dense here, but we do not know how they are closer to the escarpment. The cartway along the river was the only cartway we found through it, but that was last night in the dark and we just wanted to stop. I'll go and look again."

  There was nothing to do but wait, so Raynar bedded down again and passed the word out to everyone to stay still until the scouts returned. When they returned they had bad news.

  "This wood does stay thick all the way to the escarpment and is not crossed by a cartway, but the escarpment is false. North of Rouen it is not a high escarpment like here. It is lower and to the north of it is a highway. Probably the main road to Paris."

  "Is there a track up the false escarpment that we can use to reach the highway?"

  "Yes, we used it to do our scouting. It has good cover until you crest the ridge."

  "So are we safe here for the day?” asked the knight commander.

  "For today yes, because it is Sunday and it looks like rain, so the folk that work this wood will stay away.” replied the scout, "It would be safer if we were a bit further from the river, but then the movement of so many men and horses may give us away."

  "Then we will move the horses a few at a time,” said the knight commander. "The further they are from the river the better. Perhaps we can find them some marshy ground so that they can drink and graze. That will put them along our escape route, the best place for them since we will not need them to attack the barges. Have the men muffle the horses hoofs before they move them."

  Raynar nodded his agreement and closed his eyes again. When he woke again he realized how noisy the river was in the daylight hours due to the number of men doing the back breaking work of the bargemen. He motioned the leaders to have another planning session.

  "This morning there were twenty barges ti
ed up within easy reach of these woods. The ones on our bank all had their bows pointed downstream, which means the easiest barges to attack are the ones important to Normandy. I suggest we attack them in masse all at once with every man save those watching the horses. The bargemen will have cooking fires on the banks for two hours after dark, and we can use the cooking logs to fire the barges. That also means that there will be lads searching this woods for firewood just before sunset. We mustn't be seen by them, so we must pull back further from the river before sunset and then approach again when we can smell their fires."

  No one added anything to this, so Raynar continued.

  "Each barge has four targets. The gang plank, the bow lines, the stern lines, and the closest fire. We will split into groups of eight or nine per barge. First take the gang plank and disarm any men close to the barges. Then take the fire aboard from the cooking fire on the bank, then cut the bow line on the barge deck so no line reaches the waterline, then the stern line on the barge deck, then get off the barge and go to the bow and push the bugger away from the bank. Once the barges are drifting, then we must guard the bank so that any well meaning crew can't save the barge.” Raynar looked around the group. "Anyone see any problems?"

  "There may be men sleeping onboard. They will put the fires out." A wolveshead pointed out.

  "Our arrows will stop that kind of nonsense. We will tell them to jump off or be shot,” replied another of the wolvesheads.

  "Yesterday we talked of using oil to spread the flame,” one of the scouts piped up.

  "That only works if one of the barges carries oil. We can't count on it,” replied the knight commander.

  "Not quite,” Raynar broke in. "The barges all carry a navigation oil lamp both fore and aft. Smash the lamps into a fire and the fire will spread more quickly."

  The knight commander spoke again, "Once the barges are burning and well on their way, we make for our horses and escape over the false escarpment to the Paris highway and then ride quickly back to the Andelle valley. There was a good cartway that followed the river up the Andelle valley. We must travel fast away from Rouen, and that will be the fastest way. We don't want to be anywhere near that garrison by first light."