by Griff Hosker
"I will and we would have you return safe and whole!"
Arturus did not know but his wife, father and uncle did; we would not be coming back. This would be the last time I would see my family. I drank them in like a heady wine. I burned their faces in my mind.
I rode Star. Copper was getting old and it was still winter here in the north. We left and headed along the Roman road which ran by the wall. We knew that we had destroyed our enemies at Hagustaldes-ham. There were none at Roman Bridge, Morbium. We could approach Stanwyck from the one direction they would not expect it; the north!
This time we were not a handful of men. I had every equite save Arturus and most of my archers. We numbered more than two hundred and fifty warriors. We also had twenty servants with the tents and the spare weapons. We were travelling in winter and we would not fight nature as well as our enemies. I noticed Gawan looking around him as we headed east.
"You seem interested in the land, brother. At this time of year, it is but a bleak white world."
Enigmatically he said, "And that is why I stare for I have never travelled it as this time of year. It is beautiful is it not? The animals and the trees all sleep beneath the icy white blanket and that I find remarkable. The Mother will wake them all and within a few moons it will be green and full of life. We need it to be bleak so that it can be reborn. Out of the dead white land comes life." He waved a hand behind us, "The same will be true of Rheged. When we are gone the land will die but it is an illusion. Out of that death a seed will grow."
I lowered my voice, "You speak of Myfanwy."
He smiled, "Arturus' wife is powerful. She is, perhaps, as powerful, in her own way as Myrddyn. She is stronger than Arturus and yet it is he who will be remembered. I have spent many hours with Gwenhwyfar and even now she is here." He tapped his head.
I felt a little betrayed. I had thought that I had been the only one with whom she had confided.
Gawan reached over and put a gloved hand on mine, "Brother do not be angry. I spoke to her as one mystic to another. She spoke to you as the defender of Rheged. What you do will echo through eternity."
We camped at Hagustaldes-ham. There was no one to stop us. The monks in the monastery kept their doors barred but we left them alone. I wondered if they would send a message to King Oswiu and then I realised that he and his family were at Iedeu in secret. As we sat around a fire warming ourselves I asked, "Why has King Oswiu gone to Iedeu?"
"I have heard that there is a monastery there. The messenger from King Penda seemed to think that the Angle was trying to prepare for war through contemplation."
Kay snorted, "A waste of time. The only way to prepare for war is to practise war!"
Perhaps he was right. Had the spirits lured King Oswiu north to enable us to have the final victory? If King Oswiu was dead then the Mercians would rule the land. The White Christ would be finally defeated.
Chapter 12
Geraint and my scouts reported that the garrison at Stanwyck were within their walls. They had seen little sign that they had left during the last month or so. There was hardened virgin snow. It boded well.
I sent Bors and ten archers to cut the hill fort off from the south. They would light no fires despite the cold for, when we attacked I wanted it to be a surprise.
We camped to the north of the hill fort deep in the trees. The servants used the tents to mask the fires that we would use. We needed hot food for we would be attacking. The days were still short and when we rose, the next day, I wasted no time in scouting out the ramparts. I went with Tadgh, Llenlleog and Gawan. We wore no mail but had, instead our wolf cloaks. This was the time of wolves. As we had rode along the wall we had heard their howling. This was a wolf winter. It was harsh and the wolves were desperate for food. They would risk their greatest enemy-man. If a sentry did see us he would take us for prowling wolves. I did not intend to be seen.
The tree line ended just two hundred paces from the first of the ramparts. There were two sets of ramparts and three ditches. When the hill fort had been repaired they had not built two sets of palisades as the builders had originally intended. They had just used the inner one. It meant they needed fewer sentries. It was a mistake. Tadgh pointed down to the stream which ran along the eastern side of the fort. It was frozen and would not be a barrier. We would be able to cross it easily. We could hide in the ditches and rise to scale the walls. The wooden walls were as high as a man on the back of a horse. We would not need ladders. We could use our shields to boost warriors over the top. It would be a task for our squires. Once they were over the top then they could open the gates and we would flood in.
We headed back to our camp and I spoke to the equites and Daffydd. "We rest during the day and we leave just before dusk. As soon as it is dark I would have us move towards the ditches. When we get back to the camp I will tell all what they need to do."
Daffydd ap Miach was unhappy that it was the squires who would be risking their lives. "Warlord, my archers are good with knives! Let us do this."
"This war will need your archers later. The squires must become warriors sooner rather than later. This is wyrd. Let the squires become blooded."
We had servants to watch the horses and the camps. We headed south, through the woods to the ramparts. There was a moon, if was a wolf moon. It seemed as though it burned in the sky. As we peered to the ramparts Daffydd said, "The light is good enough for our archers. They will see us if we move in large numbers."
I nodded, "We have time. Let us see their routine."
We saw that they had six sentries and they patrolled a section some hundred paces long. They had a fire burning at each corner of the wall. It must have been in a brazier and set upon the earth rather than the fighting platform.
Daffydd said, "I have seen enough, Warlord. Let me go and clear one section. Then the squires can come. They will have an easier task."
"Very well." Twenty of my archers scurried down the slippery slope. I turned to Pelas, "Take the squires. We will follow."
The archers and the squires were lighter on their feet than we were and they were faster. They reached the outer rampart before the sentries had returned from the warmth of the brazier. Inevitably it was our weight which was our undoing. We had armour. The squires and Archers did not. Bors and Kay crashed through the ice. As the four sentries on our side of the walls turned Daffydd's archers sent their deadly arrows into them. One cried out as he fell.
"Bors, Kay and Pol, take half the equites and help the squires. The rest of you with me. We shall take the gates!"
Inside I could hear the sounds of alarm. The other sentries ran around the ramparts to see what was amiss and three of them died by arrows for their trouble. I ignored the wall and ran over the rampart and down into the ditch. It was slippery at the bottom for the water there had frozen. Llewellyn slipped over. I just ran and, mercifully, did not fall. I knew that the men inside would have to get from the hall to the walls. They would either have to waste time grabbing a shield, helmet and weapon or come as they were.
When we reached the gate, there was no one above us. I turned. "Form a shield wall. We will batter this gate down." The bridge which led to the gate was four men wide. Llenlleog, Griflet and Llewellyn flanked me. Others formed behind. I shouted, "One, two, three!" We ran at the gate. There were twelve of us and we were mailed. The gate creaked and cracked. "Once more and it will fall!"
I heard the sound of combat as my squires scaled the walls and began to fight the defenders. This would be a test of their skills!
"One, two, three!" We ran and when we hit it this time it shattered and cracked open wide. Running into the flat area where my great grandparents had lived I looked for Angles. I saw men fighting on the ramparts but there were none close to us. I spied the warrior hall. Raising my sword, I ran towards it. The thegn and his warriors burst out. They had donned helmets and leather armour. They hefted shields and swords. We were together and, as they came out of the hall piecemeal, they were not. I held my
shield before me and raised Saxon Slayer. I did not pause for an instant. I ran at the thegn who emerged exhorting his men to kill the pagans. He had leather armour and I had mail. His sword smashed into my shield and mine swung down to hack across his shoulder, into his collar bone and then his neck. I pushed his body away and turned to slash the next Angle in the back. My back handed stroke shattered his spine. The Angles were desperate to hurt us. They poured from the hall and the buildings. They had a bigger garrison than I had expected.
Three of them ran at Kay as he descended the rampart. The dunking in the cold water must have slowed him. Even as he slew one the other two hacked at his legs. He killed a second but the third rammed his sword up into his middle. Kay brought his sword around and took the Angle's head but the damage had been done. Kay sank to his knees and I could see that he was mortally wounded. I had not time to look longer for six Angles burst out of the hall. Llenlleog ran to my side and Agramaine hurried to help me. I had a cold anger within me. Kay was one of my oldest equites. He needed vengeance. I blocked an axe on my shield and, dropping to one knee, rammed my sword into the guts of one Bernician. As I flicked it out I sliced into the side of a second who thought I had not seen him. I stood and punched my shield into the face of a third. As he reeled backwards I swung my sword to take his head. The six were all despatched and I ran to the hall. Inside were merely women and slaves.
I turned and shouted, "Rheged!"
From around the ramparts came answering shouts. Daffydd and his archers were now on the inner rampart and the wolf moon helped them to pick off the isolated Angles who fought on. It was a large hillfort and it took us until dawn to ensure that it was clear of enemies.
I saw Bors lead ten equites towards a shield wall of Bernicians. The thegn knew his business. Bors and the equites smashed into them. The spear which stabbed into Bors' side was not meant for him. It was just unlucky. The wound half turned him as he slowed. The thegn saw his chance and he swung his sword at Bors' shield. Bors was slow, thanks to the wound, and the blade bit into his shoulder. The warrior next to the thegn rammed his sword into Bors' middle. It was a mortal wound but Bors just roared. He smashed his shield into the face of the thegn and then took the head of the man who had stabbed him. As the thegn tried to rise Bors took his sword in two hands and fell, dying, into the chest of the thegn. Their resistance crumbled and my men fell upon them.
There had been more then one hundred and fifty defenders. King Oswiu intended this to be a bastion. We had lost Kay and Bors. The dousing in the frozen stream had been their undoing. Four squires had died but we had the fort and we had their food. After repairing the gate, we piled the enemy in a pyre beyond the ramparts and burned them. Our dead we buried, with honour in the centre of the hill fort. When we left we would burn the halls as a memorial to our brave dead. Llenlleog, Gawan and I stood by the two graves. "I shall miss those too, Warlord."
"As shall I, Llenlleog, but I shall see them sooner than you!"
Gawan said, "And now we wait for King Penda."
Llenlleog nodded, "Fear not Gawan. We can defend this better than the Angles did and besides they do not know we have taken it!"
This was the first time Gawan and I had been in the hill fort. I knew that he was sensing the spirits of our grandparents. Our father had told us that the boys had buried them close by their hut. With no marker there was no way of finding them. While our men made the hill fort safe, secure and comfortable Gawan and I walked around it. This was too far from our land to make it our own but I admired its construction. When first built it would have been impregnable. The three ditches and two rows of palisades with offset entrances would have been a death trap for any attacker.
Gawan was in reflective mood. He had been quiet since we had left our home. "It is strange that we should begin this campaign here. It is where our father started his war against the Angles."
I shook my head, "When he led his two younger brothers and killed those who slew our grandparents he would have been little more than a youth with neither training nor skill. How did they survive?"
Gawan and I had reached the westernmost part of the walls and he looked towards Rheged, hidden behind the great divide. "They were chosen; the Warlord was selected by the spirits to hold back the tide. The knife in his back ended that dream. We had a brief moment when a golden world returned and then..."
"Yet Myrddyn seemed hopeful."
Gawan turned, "What I have learned in my dealings with Myrddyn is that he sees beyond time. We see each battle, victory and defeat as important. He saw them as interesting moments in time which would shape the future. He saw the future." He smiled, "I was wrong about Gwenhwyfar. Myrddyn was right because he saw the future. When I dream I dream a world half seen through a thick fog. I believe that Gwenhwyfar has far more powers than I." He looked at me sadly, "Her words, when we left were goodbye. It was not a farewell it was an ending."
I had sensed it. "I know but we are men and we are warriors. Whatsoever happens is wyrd. I have come to learn that. We walk in footsteps laid down by others. We have to follow them where they take us; even if we like not the destination."
Llenlleog and the others could not understand our sombre mood. They put it down to the deaths of Bors and Kay. "They died as warriors. They were happy in their deaths."
"And what of their sons? Ban son of Kay and Geraint son of Bors are both in Civitas Carvetiorum. When we return with the news of their father's death, what will they think? I know that when the Warlord fell I took little comfort in the fact that he knew he was going to die and that he had sacrificed himself for Rheged. I just saw my father lying murdered."
My words set men to thinking and the hillfort was a quiet place for six days as we awaited King Penda. When he arrived, he brought a mighty host. He had Welsh allies but neither king had come with him. He had a warband from the East Angles. In all he brought thirty warbands. With our men we had more warriors than when we had fought at Oswald's Tree.
King Penda took me to one side as soon as he arrived. "I thank you for your news. Had you not sent it then I would not have been able to put this plan into action. Knowing that the majority of the Angles were gathering at Eoforwic meant I could catch King Oswiu unawares."
"You are fortunate that he went to this Iedeu."
"I have known of this for years. He and his brother used to go the monastery for two moons, after Yule. They spoke with their God. I knew that they kept their army close by. This time he has mustered his army at Eoforwic. All that Oswiu has is his personal guards. He has but one warband. We can defeat him and make this land ours! Your scouring of the north and the fact that you took this one obstacle to us has given us this victory. You are, truly, the Warlord!"
His confidence and optimism were infectious. I could not see how we could lose. My horsemen would ensure that he did not escape north. Yet Gwenhwyfar's farewell still brooded in my mind.
Before we left we pulled down the palisades and, placing them on the hall, made a pyre. Our men who had been killed had been buried close to the hall. Their graves would not be despoiled. We had lain them in their armour with their weapons and they would enter the Otherworld as warriors.
It would be a two-day ride to Iedeu. King Penda's route had meant that the army gathered at Eoforwic had no idea that they had been outwitted. The empty land to the north of us allowed us to move freely. We camped at Hagustaldes-ham.
King Penda came to me, "Now is when we need you and your mobile warband. I need you to ride north of Iedeu and prevent any from fleeing. You need not attack. Just ensure that they cannot flee. There are woods to the north of Iedeu and the road passes through them. You will be able to observe their hall from there. I need Oswiu and his family alive."
I looked at him in surprise. "Why not just kill him?"
He shook his head, "Then another could become King of Northumbria. This way I make him swear allegiance to me. I will be High King. The East Angles and the Welsh have agreed to that already!"
"Is that why they did not send their kings?"
He frowned. He had thought of almost everything but not that, "We do not need their kings. We have their men. They follow me."
As we headed north I thought of the weakness in King Penda's plan. Less than half of the army was Mercian. He had fifteen warbands and mine on whom he could rely. We still did not know the make-up of the Anglo-Saxon army. The rumour was that there were mercenaries as well as warbands. I regretted not sending Geraint and Tadgh to scout out the enemy. We could have done so while we had waited for King Penda. Such oversights can often be fatal.
It was a long hard ride on frozen roads. We crossed the river which ran by Iedeu south of the hall at a small ford. Tadgh had found the hall and we skirted it at dusk. We would be hidden but even if we were not then they could do little about it. We reached the woods just after dark and we made our camp. We could, had we wished, have attacked and captured the hall. There was not an enormous camp of men. I spied but twenty horses and the camp fires of a single warband. This was not my war, this was King Penda's war. I would follow my orders.
King Penda would come the next morning. He wanted King Oswiu to see the thirty warbands he had brought. He wished a bloodless victory. We had a hard, cold night. We rose at dawn and mounted. The archers would be used if we needed them. I hoped that the sight of our banners, horses and mail would deter any escape north. King Penda came with a flurry of horns and drums. His banners and standards hung stiffly in the cold, early spring sky.
The Bernicians reacted quickly. I saw over a hundred men march from the hall and array themselves before the monastery. They were going to sacrifice themselves to allow their king and his family to escape. Horses burst from the small palisade. There were forty warriors and another twenty who looked to be the King, his family and his priests.
"Forward!"
We emerged from the woods and the Bernicians slowed down. I waved my sword to the right and left. My men spread out to form a huge circle. There was no way out. The forty warriors rode at us. They had ordinary saddles and spears. More importantly these housecarls of the King were used to fighting with the earth beneath their feet. The thegn who rode at me tried to use his spear as a lance and he punched it at me. It hit my shield and he fell backwards. I swung my sword at the Angle behind him. His spear wavered over my head as he tried to thrust and keep his saddle. My sword hacked into his shoulder. Then I was through the warriors and I found myself facing King Oswiu, his queen and his son, Ecgfrith.
