by Smith, Skye
Ranulf was a burly man who looked like he would be quite at home in an alehouse brawl. He was using a monk to interpret English to French for him, and Raynar did not give him reason to know of his own skills as an interpreter. Through the interpreter, Ranulf asked, "I expect you will need me to supply carts and food, but why should I agree? If the sheriff asks, I will need a good reason to be spending his coin."
Rodor answered, "I had heard that the sheriff was complaining that he had not enough hands in the north to both rebuild York and to plant the fields. This would give him the hands. It would also remove their threat from the highways through Sherwood and from the fields surrounding the forest. Without their bellies to fill, the venison may recover, and there would be less chance of a famine here this winter."
"Enough. I know all this. Much the same plan was proposed to me a month back by the old Shirereeve of Lincolnshire, but our peace was in its infancy then. The sheriff Baldric is in Pontefract at the moment. I was on my way to discuss other things with him when I got your message. By myself I can only vouchsafe the folk as far as the River Aire. Baldric will be able to vouchsafe at least as far as York. I will return a day hence with an answer. If it is yay, then I will expect your men to spread the word and give help to the south and to the west of Nottingham, not just here in the north."
Rodor agreed willingly, "But we will need horses if we are to widen the effect. They need not be good horses."
Ranulf at first shook his head but after thinking for a minute he said. "Yes, that is reasonable, but two of my own guard must be with each string of horses. Horses have become valuable as of late."
"Agreed, but they must not be dressed as men at arms. Mail tends to scare the villagers."
They escorted the sheriff's men north through Sherwood and then turned back towards camp. There was nothing to do now but wait two days to find out if the plan was to be used. Meanwhile they sent word up and down and across the forest telling Yorkies that they may soon have their best chance to return to their homes in safety.
At Ravenshead, two days later, they met again and began more detailed planning. There was a logical sequence to moving so many folk along the highway north. The first group to be moved would be from the northern most areas of Sherwood. The next group from further south, and so on. In this way, the groups would not get in each other's way, and overnight camps could be used again and again without the delays of continuously setting them up and taking them down.
The first group of wild folk that they escorted had the most help and was accompanied by many carts. At each overnight camp, carts of food and helpers and guards would stay behind and await the arrival of the next group. Within the week, Rodor's men were spread up and down the highway from Melton to Pontefract keeping processions of peasants and carts walking north.
Meanwhile, Rodor’s men had been replaced in their duty of protecting the villages and farmers around Sherwood by the sheriff's men, who had been told to guard and to keep the peace and to do no violence.
Well over a thousand folk left the Sherwood lands. At least that again was moving towards Sherwood from further south. This was all taking a lot longer than Raynar expected, but as he told Alan and Anske, it was his best chance of freeing up bowmen to come with him to Peterburgh.
By the second week word had spread of the migration north and people waited alongside the highways to join the next protected and fed group heading north. Finally after two weeks the volume of moving peasants decreased, and the number of food carts starting out from Nottingham diminished, and Rodor reported that his men were hardly required as guards any more.
"Most of the guard work my men did was guarding the villages along the highway from being looted by the refugees," Rodor added solemnly. "I hope we did right by them. We were not allowed to cross the River Aire, so I don't really know what happened to them in Yorkshire. I hope they make it back to their homes, and if they don't, I hope it is because they found a place nicer than their homes. I can't help but fear, though, that we have just turned the lot of them over to Norman slave masters."
"Then you have traded their freedom for yours," Anske said, glad that she could again be a woman amongst men. "If they hadn't left Nottinghamshire then all of you would have become slaves this winter."
Raynar looked at her with love. She had been hanging about capable women like Beatrice, and capable men like Thorold for years, so it was no wonder that she could speak with authority in this group of wild men. "Besides," added Raynar, "there is a shortage of workers in Yorkshire, so they will make better bargains for their labour there than here. Who knows, perhaps they will take root in York."
Once the migration had thinned, Ranulf's horse guards headed back to Nottingham with a few strings of horses. Rodor promised the return of the rest of Ranulf's horses once the migration was complete.
Over the next few days, bowmen replaced Ranulf's guards in the fields and villages around Sherwood, and the guards returned to Nottingham. There had been few violent incidents.
Empty carts made their way south through Sherwood in safety.
Deer were seen drinking at a favoured water hole for the first time in two months.
Three days later, thirty mounted bowmen and one bowwoman started out from Sherwood for the Fens.
Anske rode beside Raynar and pointed out that they had helped perhaps thirty thousand starving souls cross the Ouse river at Selby when they were fleeing south, and now they had helped send less than five thousand of them back north. "What has happened to the rest?" she wondered aloud, but she did not press Raynar for an answer.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Hoodsman - Blackstone Edge by Skye Smith
Chapter 21 - Too many axemen in Burna, Lincolnshire in May 1070
When they rode into Burna, Hereward's brother met them and offered them the roof of his great hall and a feast. Normally Burna was a sleepy place barely larger than a village, but now it was bustling with activity. Because it was on a Roman street, but not the main north south street that was patrolled by Normans, it had become a way station for that springs movement of peoples around Lincolnshire.
There were axemen moving south to join Hereward and Sweyn at Ely. There were displaced villagers moving north to repopulate their villages before the Normans could claim them. There were carters and their armed escorts carrying seed from the south to the farms of the north, or to the east coast. There were herds of sheep, cattle and farm horses from the south sharing the carter's escorts northward. Mingled with each group were Klaes and Thorold's sworn men, Frisians for the most part, keeping the traffic flowing and making sure that only acceptable levels of pilferage was happening.
The unannounced arrival of thirty mounted archers each carrying short and long Welsh bows, and led by Hereward's good friend Raynar, was a god send for Burna and its lord, who was Hereward’s half brother.
The Danelaw axemen who were on their way to Ely had been eyeing the wealth of seed and animals on the move and were laying over in Burna beyond their overnight welcome. The sight of such dangerous looking mounted bowmen arriving to the open welcome of the lord, calmed the greed of the axemen, and therefore, the worries of the towns folk.
As soon as they reached the manor Raynar, Rodor, and Alan were taken aside by the lord who told them the news. "Thorold gained the support of the sheriff and the bishop in Lincoln to move the displaced Lindseys back to their lands in the north of Lincolnshire, you know, along the Humber and along the coastline. Thorold agreed to supply the guards as far a Lincoln and then men in the sheriff's pay take over. Thorold is to be repaid for any carter fees, supplies, seed, or animals that continue further than Lincoln. Needless to say that there are few fighting men with the Lindseys. They are all with Hereward."
"And Hereward is in Ely?"
"No, Sweyn is in Ely. Hereward is roaming Cambridgeshire collecting outlaws and horses as he goes. He now controls the rural parts of Ermine street, which is why so many animals have made it this fa
r north with Klaes's men. The street is open and safe to all, save Normans. He ambushed enough Norman patrols from the baileys of Cambridge and Huntingdon that the Normans have wisely decided to stay off the street and in their baileys for now.
Sweyn has at least thirty ships in the rivers around Ely and so the Fens between Ely and the Wash are totally his. His men are busy cutting all highways, fords, causeways and bridges between Ely and the south. He has chosen his cuts wisely. The water is wide and deep at each, so boats are needed to cross. He has boats on the Ely side of each cut, and friends of his may freely use them to cross the cuts."
Raynar slapped his thigh and laughed with approval, "So those with Sweyn can still use the streets and cartways into Cambridgeshire, while those with William cannot. So that means that the abbot at Peterburgh cannot move his carts."
"Exactly. More to the point, Sweyn can attack Normans at his leisure and they cannot attack him in Ely. Now that Hereward has made the streets safe for moving our stock, Sweyn's next step will be to take Huntingdon. That will give him control of all of the streets leading north to Lincoln."
Raynar rolled out his map of the Fens. He pointed out Huntingdon, the streets, and the rivers out to the other men. "Huntingdon is on the same river as Ely. Sweyn can use his ships to position his men." He looked again at the map. "With Huntingdon blocked, then Peterburgh is cut off from the South."
"Peterburgh is the reason we have so many axemen laying over in Burna," said the lord. "Abbot Turauld has ordered his men-at-arms to block Ermine street so as to stop more axemen from joining with Sweyn at Huntingdon. They mauled the last group that tried to go through."
"Yet," queried Raynar, "he does not stop the carters and the herds heading north."
"They are coming here from the South West. That cartway joins Ermine street north of Peterburgh. See, here on your map."
"I have business with the Abbot," Raynar pointed out. "It is the reason I brought the archers."
"Hereward told me to expect you on the way to Peterburgh. Do us a favour. Take the axemen with you."
"How many are there."
"More than a hundred. More every day. If I run out of food there will be hell to pay."
"Have your men pass the word around," said Raynar. "Tomorrow we will clear the street through to Sweyn. Every axeman is expected to come."
* * * * *
The next morning, Rodor strode through the axemen's camps and told them to organize themselves into groups of twenty and for each group to choose a leader. They were to march to Peterburgh today, and then on to meet King Sweyn. The mounted archers would go as advance scouts to discover any ambushes.
The archers rode for three hours down Kings Street before the lead scouts spotted the abbot's men. They had created a pale defensive wall and a barricade where Kings Street joined Ermine Street and crossed the most eastward ford of the River Nene. The wall was well made of stout poles, and could be used to defend in either direction.
"The abbot is a fool," Raynar laughed. "He has built the defense on the north side of the Nene so that his men are on the same side of the river as the abbey and the burgh. Rodor, please stay here on King Street with ten of your men and keep out of sight. When the axemen arrive, keep them here with you.
Alan and I will take the other twenty and follow the river towards the burgh until we come to the first narrow spot that we can swim across. Then we will find Ermine street on the other side and attack this ford from the other side. The Normans will hide behind the wall with their backs to you. When they do so, that is your signal to attack."
He let the orders sink in, then added, "Tell your archers not to overshoot. Aim low else you'll be killing us. And for Woden's sake, don't unleash the axemen unless the battle turns against us. I expect the abbots buggers to surrender as soon as you loose your arrows."
"That should work, though I don't know if I will be able to control the axemen if they have already lost kin to that lot," Rodor replied.
"Tell them that they can only lay claim to armour if they take the man alive and able to walk. I am hoping to use the prisoners to bargain with the abbot."
Rodor nodded and smiled at him. "You've been spending too much time with Hereward. You've become to canny by half."
It took Raynar's patrol over an hour to find a crossing, swim the horses, and make their way to Ermine street south of the River Nene. Part of the delay was having to hide from a squad of reinforcements for the abbots barricade at the ford. Word must have reached Peterburgh of the force moving down King Street. "Good," Raynar told Alan, "that means fewer men on the walls of the burgh."
With much noise and yelling to make their presence known to both the abbots men and to Rodor, they charged up to the edge of the ford and then retreated only as far as the closest cover. They still had not shown their bows. The abbots men started across the ford towards them in force. All wore mail of some form, and most carried pole axes and a short throwing spear. They had obviously fought cavalry before.
But Raynar's men were not cavalry. They tied the horses and prepared their bows before walking out onto the open street to face the abbots men, who were now struggling in the deepest part of the ford, up to their chests. Luckily for them there was no current to speak of.
Unluckily for them the first loose of arrows killed or badly wounded eight or nine of them. As one, they turned and tried to hurry their sodden and heavily weighted bodies back to the safety of the barricade. They weren't fast enough. A dozen more were dropped by arrows, before they made the safety of the other shore.
The river here was much shallower and twice as wide as where they had swum it. It was perhaps sixty paces from bank to bank, and perhaps eighty paces from where they stood in a line with their bows, to the pale wall that hid the abbots men from them. There were some crossbows at the wall, but their bolts skittered and bounced harmlessly along the street. Just to prove that their wall was still within killing range of the Welsh bows, they killed the next two men who stood up with their crossbows.
Now it was Rodor's turn. They knew the moment Rodor gave the order by the thunder clapping of the forest axes on the wooden shields of the axemen as they approached the barricade. Rodor’s first loose of arrows must have killed many, because the cry came up immediately asking for terms.
Raynar's bowmen stood their ground to make sure none tried to escape across the ford, while the axemen stripped the abbots men of everything. Weapons, armour, clothing, boots, purses, and when everything was taken they were bound together in groups of four so that they could walk so long as they kept pace with the other three. Only then did Raynar's group mounted up and cross the ford.
They swung down from their saddles and took each others arms in congratulations. The only injury on their side was a young axeman who had been downed by a pole axe that was carelessly taken from a surrendering man. The body count of the abbots men was severe. Those that had been wounded in the ford had drowned before they could be dragged out by the axemen eager for their mail. There had been thirty men stationed at the barricade and the relief column included another thirty. Of these twenty eight were dead or near enough to dead.
Most of the rest were in fine health save for some bruises and minor cuts and the embarrassment of their nakedness, however four had deep arrow punctures that they may survive but only if someone with Raynar's skill was available to treat them. For now, Raynar's plan was to have the shafts cut short and the badly wounded loaded on horses for the five mile walk to the burgh. It was not to be.
He had two problems to solve first. The one that caused the most delay was the division of the sixty sets of mail. Every axeman was in the process of arguing and bargaining for armour. He told the men that they had an hour to rest and sort the division, and then they would press on to the burgh.
The second was the presence of Anske, still mounted and dressed as a boy. She had come with the axemen. The axemen did not know who the lad was, but his arrival had started much mirth with the bowmen on the north si
de of the river, and even more mirth when the bowmen were reunited.
Raynar did not want the axemen to know that this lad was in reality a lovely woman, so he had to play along with the charade for now. This meant that he could not hug her, or kiss her, which is what he longed to do, or scold her, which was what she deserved. He could not even clout her as if she were a disobeying lad, for he was suspicious that she was with child, and not telling him. Rodor made it worse, much to the amusement of Alan, by pointing out that one of the suits of mail was hers by rights.
He couldn't let the wounded men wait an extra hour in agony, so he began extracting the points and dressing the wounds. Anske, as she had so many times in the past, stayed at his shoulder being an extra hand. When extra strength was required to hold a wounded man still, the other archers jumped at her commands.
Raynar cursed mightily when he lost the last man he treated. The very man he had left for last because he had the least dangerous looking wound. No matter how carefully he extracted the point, he could not have foreseen that the point was blocking the hole it had punctured in the large blood vessel in the leg. Once the blood began to pump, they could not stop the bleeding. All he could do was comfort the man in French, and make sure that he had a sword in his hand when he finally stopped breathing.
Meanwhile some of the archers searched out the spent arrows, collected them and shared them out. The axemen dragged all the now naked corpses into the bushes and hid them well under a thin covering of soil and leaves, and then cleaned up all signs of battle.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Hoodsman - Blackstone Edge by Skye Smith
Chapter 22 - The surrender of Peterburgh, Huntingdonshire in May 1070
The porter from the abbey gate skipped with unseemly haste through the abbey to find the abbot. He even interrupted the abbot's midday meal, which was unprecedented. The abbot always took his meals made by his own cook from his personal larder in his chambers where he could enjoy the company of his latest bed warmers as he ate.
