Varangian

by Griff Hosker

  I shrugged, “I will still be fighting in the front line so for myself, there is no difference.”

  I would have spent another couple of hours chatting with Isaac and drinking the Lusitanian wine were it not for the sudden entrance of one of my men. Karl burst in, grinning, “It is the Tourmache, and he is a father. He has a daughter!”

  “Thank you I will follow behind. Well that will make a difference, a girl. I wonder if Ridley will try to teach her to stand in a shield wall.”

  “Farewell my friend.”

  The palace was filled with excited people. Anna was popular for she was a happy young woman. Her ordeal at the hands of the Normans and her rescue by Ridley had brought to mind the story of St. George and the two of them had attained a fairy tale quality about their life. It also seemed to mark the beginning of Alexios’ reign with a propitious event and Anna, the baby, was always seen as a symbol of good luck and good fortune. The mother of the Emperor was flattered that it was named after her although I know that Ridley named her after her mother but it did not hurt to flatter those who had power. The new Varangians, now resplendent in their magnificent uniforms, needed no urging to follow the Saxon tradition of wetting the baby’s head. What it really meant was drinking until you became unconscious. I did not begrudge it them for they had been loyal and fought hard to get us where we were. I remained sober knowing that it was I who was in charge of the Hetaireia who would have to guard the Emperor while the Varangians drank.

  Andronikos left with his army the following day. His faithful horse archers and cataphracts followed him and he sailed for Asia where he would command the Asian Themata. He would have his work cut out for they had largely been neglected by the last two Emperors but he had learned much from Alexios and I knew he would cope. What it did do was to make me more aware that I needed to grab the army and whip it into shape. It was sad for that was the last time I ever saw him and he had been a good friend. Alexios was still Commander of the Western Army but he was busy organising his government and it was left to me as senior strategos to ensure that we were ready. John proved to be a valuable help and never seemed to need sleep. He was always bright and cheerful no mater how large the problems appeared to be.

  “I have arranged a baggage train and guards. The soldiers are not he best but they will be enough to make sure that your baggage train is not robbed before it reaches you. I understand that it is archers and arrows which you will need against the Normans?”

  “It is.”

  “Good I have begun the production of many arrows but you will need to find your archers. However we have an ancient device from the time of the Caesars which we can manufacture. It is a Scorpion or bolt thrower. I guarantee that, no matter how well armoured a Norman Knight is, the missile will pierce him. We have ten of these.” I had heard of them and Aethelward had told me of their power. It might make up for the lack of bows and good archers.

  “What about caltrops?”

  “They are being produced even as we speak. Now I have set the cartographers to making maps of the area for you. I could never understand how you could fight in a strange place and not have a map. I have remedied that oversight. Now anything I have omitted?”

  It was comprehensive but I still had requests. “We need more men to fill the ranks of the Varangians.”

  “Sadly we cannot make those in the numbers we make arrows. It depends upon volunteers.”

  “I have spread the word and you may find new recruits beginning to arrive. I do not know when we leave but I shall leave the wounded Varangians here to recover and they can train up the new men. It will speed up the process and then, when the wounded are healed they can bring the recruits to us. You will need to keep up a good supply.”

  “So I take it you will be not be as Olef was, and avoiding a fight?”

  “We protect the Emperor and he is going to war; it is a perfect solution.”

  It suited me to be busy for Ridley was preoccupied with his daughter and the next couple of months flew by as I arranged for men to be trained and weapons ordered. The Jarl had returned once during this time and he promised more men. It had been funny to watch Stig, torn between his desire to lead his band and his dream of fighting alongside the Varangians. They also brought news, how they got it I do not know, that Olef had fled to Italy and joined Robert Guiscard. Wyrd.

  I had been with Cnut and Sweyn going over the lists of men when the messengers came. “My lord you are required by the Emperor.”

  The court was subdued and I could see the other Strategoi and Tourmache there. Alexios looked up at me. “It is the Normans. They have landed in Illyria, Dyrrhachium is rumoured to have fallen and he and his sons are heading for Thessaly. Are you and the men ready?”

  I grinned, “We are ready and that old man had better watch out for I have eight hundred Varangians who have a few scores to settle.”

  We went to war!

  Chapter 15

  I felt sorry for Ridley to be leaving his child so soon after its birth for that had been my lot and I had lost my son as a result. I did not think that would happen to my friend but I worried for him; not that I had time to worry. Being in command of the five thousand men of the Hetaireia was a big enough headache but at least we had John’s baggage train. What we did not have were the promised Scorpions. Priority had been given to the wagons which meant the Scorpions were not finished. Men would pay for that oversight with their lives. The Norman army and its allies were heading towards Thessaly which was on the western side of Greece. It was as close as they could get to Byzantium without actually attacking the city. More bad news was heaped upon us as news of a defeat for Andronikos in Asia reached the city. It was not the best of conditions in which to march. The only bright spot was my Varangians who marched cheerfully along the summer roads. The baggage train carried their armour and, for them it was a pleasant stroll. We had light cavalry scouts and a Thema in addition to a Bandon of cavalry. We hoped to pick up a Thema once we reached Thessaly. We had no ideas of numbers apart from the knights. It was rumoured that there were at least a thousand knights. It meant Alexios could not throw his cataphracts against the knights for they would be outnumbered five to one; not good odds even for those magnificent horsemen. When we heard that Corfu and Kefalonia had fallen our spirits sagged.

  Our first good news was that the news that Dyrrhachium had fallen had been exaggerated. It still held and we headed north west to try to relieve the siege of that most valuable and important city. When we camped that night I was invited to a private meeting with Alexios. I nodded to the two guards at the entrance to the tent and said quietly but forcefully, “No one within ten paces and your ears hear nothing.”

  They saluted their agreement. I had a fearsome reputation and I knew that they would not cross me. Once inside I joined Alexios at his map table. “There are things you need to know as my deputy. Should I fall during the battle you will need to pick up the pieces.”

  In many this would have seemed morbid but not to soldiers and I did not use false flattery. “If you fall then it means my men will not have done their job.”

  “I have persuaded the Venetians to attack the Norman fleet. They have little reason to love the voracious Normans and it will prevent his army being reinforced. I have also sent three hundred thousand gold pieces to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry. He should be attacking the Pope in Italy in the next few weeks. They are allies of the Normans and Robert will have to return to defend his ally. We just need to buy time. We will need to strike quickly and decisively.”

  I looked at the map of the city and the countryside. I remembered it from the last battle we had fought there. “We cannot defeat him unless we first defeat the knights. If we put the cataphracts on one wing and the light horse on the other then he will have to split his own cavalry and that means we might be able to defeat one wing and the switch to the other.”

  “There is only one Bandon of cataphracts.”

  “But we now have two Droungoi of Varangians. If
we place one behind the cataphracts and one behind the light horse then the Hetaireia can still guard you and we have two Thema to hold the centre.”

  “We still do not know his numbers.”

  “We need horse archers for they make the best scouts and they are a deterrent. When this is over we will need to raise some more.”

  “If we get through this.”

  “We will Emperor, we will.”

  The day of the battle was a cool one, for summer was well over and autumn upon us. I gave Ridley the place of honour on the right behind the cataphracts. He was reliable and would be a rock against which the Normans would flounder. The Thema were in front of the Imperial Guards and I took the left with the rest of the Varangians. Robert Guiscard had a solid line of Knights spread before us with infantry behind. I could see none of the dreaded crossbows and took this to be a good sign. The enemy were in three wings and the one facing the cataphracts was but three hundred strong which was the same number as those on my flank. Alexios had the four hundred elite warriors of the Byzantine army, the Hetaireia, protecting him.

  We began to advance. I was not sure if Robert Guiscard, the mighty Norman, had fought the heavy cataphracts before; they could only gallop quickly for a short distance but they were almost impossible to kill unless outnumbered. Their commander was a sound warrior who would judge his charge well. I had more of a problem with my one thousand light horses. Only one hundred had bows and the rest had javelins and shields. They would need to be used subtly.

  The Normans began to trot. I yelled to the Droungarios. “Charge, throw a volley of javelins and then retreat behind me.” At the same time I saw the cataphracts thunder into action. The two hundred gleaming soldiers kept a solid line and they crashed into and through the Norman lines. I had little time to watch for the light cavalry had hurled their missiles and were racing back pursued by angry Normans. “Shield wall.” I had Boar Splitter, for some of the men with me were new men and I was not confident about their ability to swing an axe in a shield wall. The Normans eagerly raced forwards and then the arrows began to fall, creating gaps in their lines. They did not reach us in a solid line but piecemeal and we dealt with them as such. I thrust my spear at the head of an approaching horse but the wily warrior jinked the head around. Unfortunately for him it left a gap in his armour and I thrust my spear into his unprotected groin. As it entered I twisted and quickly pulled. He looked down as his entrails were ripped from his dying body. A shield wall is no place for complacency and I thrust again at the knight to my right who was trying to spear Edward. My spear went into the gap under his arm and as he died he fell to the left and dislodged another knight.

  I heard a trumpet and the knights withdrew. My men cheered and some of them began to go forwards. “Back in line or I’ll have your ears!” They all shuffled back into line. I could see on the right that the cataphracts had, indeed broken through and the Normans were routed. Our plan was working and then, to my horror, I saw Ridley and other Droungos charging after the fleeing Normans. I yelled a futile, “No!” but it would not have been heard, Ridley and half of the best troops we had raced off to their doom.

  The knights in the centre had not been committed and they wheeled and charged my poor Varangians who were caught in the open. Here and there small groups tried to form a shield wall but it was in vain. At that point the knights from the Norman right and the infantry launched themselves, not at us but Alexios in the middle. I turned to the light horse. “Get to the right flank and try to cover their retreat. Hit and run! Hit and run!” I turned to the men around me. Plunging Boar Splitter into the ground I drew my axe, “Wedge!”

  Alexios was struggling to maintain his line as the knights who had hacked Ridley and his men to pieces now joined the others. It was too much for the men of the Thema and they fled the field. Alexios and the Hetaireia would have all been slaughtered were it not for two things; the Normans had forgotten my four hundred men and the light horse were disrupting the Norman knights on the right.

  My wedge plunged into the side of the Norman knights. We were on their right and there were no shields to stop us causing them serious wounds. We carved a bloody path through horse and knight relentlessly making our way to Alexios and their fellow Imperial Guard. Inexorably we slowed down their advance and I saw that Alexios was moving them backwards. We had killed so many that we were exhausted and we were the ones at risk.

  “Shield wall!” The men halted instantly, probably with exhaustion. “Retreat!” My men performed this difficult manoeuvre well turning from an arrow to a line and then walking backwards. The Norman horses were blown and, when the cataphracts reformed the Normans allowed us to leave the field, fearing even more casualties. They had won the battle but we had saved the army.

  The baggage train was a mile behind the battlefield and we found that the Kentarches, the backbone of the army had rallied many of the Thema and they had made a crude fort from the wagons. It was little enough but it saved the army. As soon as we reached it, the doctors began to deal with the wounds. I had the Imperial Guard form a perimeter while we assessed the disaster. I had seen Alexios during the retreat and knew that he had survived. I would speak to him later but my first worry was that the Norman Knights would attack us. “Make sure the wagons are tied together and the horses are in the middle!”

  “Horsemen!”

  Our nervous warriors immediately presented a wall of shields and spears but I was relieved to see that it was Basil, the Tourmache, and the light horse. They had been knocked about by the Normans but they had survived. Basil had received a blow to his head and had a dented helmet. A tendril of blood trickled down his cheek. “The city has fallen and the Normans have retired within its walls.” His shoulders sagged with exhaustion, “They are not following.” He waved with his arm and one of his men brought a horse with a body draped over it. “This is one of your Varangians, lord, he is wounded but alive.”

  I raced to the horse and saw, to my delight that it was Ridley.”Thank you Basil, I am in your debt! Doctors!”

  The doctors raced up and grabbed the limp, almost lifeless body. They waved my arms away, “This is healing business, not killing business, strategos!”

  I did not mind their impertinence for they were right. Alexios took my arm, “At least he lives and now my friend we need to work out what we must do. This Robert, he has out foxed us. Where to go?”

  I thought of this Norman as a chess player. We had been playing a game of chess and we had been bloodied but how did we end up in this trap? Ridley’s recklessness did not cost us the battle, it was our haste to get to the city which had done that but poor Ridley had denied us the warriors we would need... “Tell me Emperor, why did we think that Robert was in Thessaly?”

  “We had reports of Normans in the region.”

  “But it was not the army of Robert Guiscard. He has been one step away from us each time. First we think he has already captured the city and we moved south. Our distraction and the Venetians at Dyrrhachium meant he could take Corfu unopposed and that means he controls the whole of the west coast of the Empire.”

  “We know that Aelfraed but it doesn’t tell us where he will be going.”

  “It does. Thessaly. The place we started for. We can beat him to Thessaly and defend that land.” I waved my arm around the camp. We are in no position to attack but we can hold until your plan for the Holy Roman Emperor comes to fruition. We can build up our armies and John can produce the Scorpions. It takes time to take a city, and we can bolster the garrisons with the Thema.”

  “It is a plan and, at the moment, the only one we have. I will send the Thema ahead to Larissa and my guards and the cavalry will escort the wounded there.”

  As he left to give his orders I hurried to the tents of the surgeons to see how Ridley and my other wounded warriors were. Edward was there already. He had suffered a slash to the arm and was bandaged. He approached me, “He is badly wounded my lord, he took a spear through his knee and he was hamstrung in
the other. He will never stand in a shield wall again. His left arm was badly cut and his has a bad wound to the face.” My face must have displayed my feelings for he added, “But he will live.”

  “Thank you Edward. How many of our men survive?”

  “We have three Kentarchia. Until Cnut and Sweyn return, I am the only officer.” That was a measure of the bravery of my men and officers. They had not fled but stood their ground and died, they were warriors.

  “You have done well. We escort the wounded to Larissa in the morning. Prepare the men and watch over Lord Ridley. I will see how many others are left.”

  A depressing walk around the camp revealed that there were only two thousand of the Hetaireia left alive and barely a Droungos of cavalry. We had been soundly beaten. The only force which had emerged almost intact was the one hundred and fifty cataphracts although, a quarter of their men as losses, was still too high a number. They too would remain with the column and they were the only threat we had against the Norman cavalry should they approach.

  The Thema left as soon as they had rested, marching through the night to gain as much ground as they could. The surgeons reported that Ridley would live but it would be a long time before he would be able to walk again. I fell asleep as depressed as any time since before Fulford. Would I never get the better of the hated Normans? It was galling to win my own part of the battle but to see our army lose. I knew we could beat them but only if we fought them my way. I suddenly heard Aethelward laugh in my head at my arrogance but, in my head, I answered him. ‘I am a strategos now uncle and I play the game.’

  I rode my horse next to Ridley’s wagon which he shared with three other wounded warriors. He had been heavily drugged and did not awake. I took that as a good sign for it meant his body could rest. I also knew that the surgeons had used the pastes similar to the ones Reuben of Jorvik had given me and that my friend would heal and he would keep his limbs. He would become a cripple like Aethelward; but he would live!