WARRIORS OF THE NORTH: Kings of Northumbria Book 2

by H A CULLEY

  Whilst the wolves milled around in confusion Ròidh sent another arrow winging towards them. This one hit the young challenger just behind the ribs and tore into the animal’s small intestine. It yelped in pain and tried to tear the arrow out with its teeth. Being barbed, this just made the wound worse and, after a minute or so, it collapsed onto its side.

  The rest of the pack had had enough and, led by the alpha female, they disappeared back into the trees.

  ‘That was close. Thank you for saving my life Aidan.’

  Aidan sat down heavily on the ground as the energy imparted by the adrenalin that had been coursing through his veins left him weak and light headed. He shook his head to clear it, then smiled.

  ‘I wonder what wolf meat tastes like?’ he mused. ‘The skins will be useful too. Come, let’s get them inside and skin and butcher them. You can take the offal well into the woods and leave it there for the pack. Perhaps that’ll keep them from our door until this cold spell ends.’

  By mid-March the weather had improved sufficiently for them to continue their cautious journey north-east up the rest of Nithsdale until they reached a series of small lochs that marked the end of the river and the beginning of Glen Ken. But then Aidan contracted a fever. Ròidh was at his wit’s end; Aidan was rambling and was very hot to the touch and then, just as the monk had just about given up on finding shelter, he came across a cave for them to shelter in.

  When Ròidh returned with the hare Aidan was sleeping soundly. He skinned and gutted it before chopping up the meat to add to a stew of wild herbs such as yarrow, black elder and meadowsweet to reduce his fever, and wild garlic, bulrushes and wild asparagus to bulk it out.

  It took him a long time to feed the stew to his fellow monk but in the end he managed to get quite a lot of it into him. He ate half of the rest himself, leaving the remainder until the morrow. Later he made Aidan some herbal tea and then lay down on one of the wolf skins to sleep.

  The next day Aidan’s fever broke and he was lucid, at least part of the time. It took a long time for the monk to recover and it was the middle of April before he was fit enough to walk any distance. That first day they covered less than five miles but the next morning Aidan awoke feeling stronger and had more colour in his face. Even so it was a struggle for him to make eight miles. By now they were following a stream up into the hills and they could see Loch Doon below them to the east. Aidan thought that they probably had around twenty five miles to go to reach Ayr.

  They had reached another small loch, no more than a tarn in a hollow fed by several small streams, when they found the going too boggy to continue, so they climbed up the side of a large hill. From the summit they followed a small stream that seemed to be heading in the right direction. That night it rained heavily and Ròidh was worried that Aidan’s fever might return. Thankfully he seemed alright the following morning and they set off into the mist that covered the land like a blanket.

  As the morning wore on the mist dispersed and the sun emerged to dry out their sodden clothing. They made good progress that day and were now walking downhill. It was mid-afternoon by the time that they crested a ridge and came face to face with a party of hunters. There were about ten of them and they were accompanied by four deer hounds.

  Aidan and Ròidh still wore their habits, though they were rather ragged by then, but what gave them away as Christians were the wooden crosses hanging from the ropes around their waists and their tonsures. Over the months hair had started to grow again on their tonsures but Aidan had insisted on using the sharp skinning knife to shave it off every week. Although they now exhibited four days’ worth of stubble instead of smooth skin above their foreheads, there was no mistaking what they were.

  ~~~

  Eochaid decided to take two of the three pontos with him. Each required sixteen rowers and there would normally be a few more men on board to steer and handle the small mainsail. However, he wanted to take as many men as possible in case they ran into trouble, so he added a few more warriors and a couple of ship’s boys to each crew, leaving the remainder behind with the wounded to guard the two birlinns.

  At first the Nith was navigable without any problems but as they ventured further upstream they encountered a few shallows, the odd weir and even an area of rapids. To get through them they disembarked and hauled the pontos over the obstacle one at a time. It took time but it was a lot faster than walking along Nithsdale.

  After leaving the settlement behind they saw few other signs of habitation. There was the occasional shepherd with his flock high on the hillside and some isolated huts with a few animals and small cultivated areas, but they were few and far between. After passing through three small lochs on the fourth day they found the river impassable by boat and they continued on foot leaving just six boys and two warriors to guard the pontos.

  ‘Are you certain that Aidan will have got this far?’ Godwine asked him.

  ‘No, I’ve only got the vague intention he mentioned to Aderyn’s daughter to go on, but if he was making for Ayr he must have come this way,’

  Godwine nodded and ran off with another warrior to scout the path ahead. Eochaid looked at the hills looming above them on either side of the glen and sent out two more pairs of scouts to watch their flanks.

  The sun was at its zenith and Eochaid was feeling more than a little warm when Godwine came running back to say that he had found a cave which showed signs of recent habitation. There was nothing to indicate that the people sheltering there were the two monks but, nevertheless, Eochaid felt that it was an encouraging sign.

  By dark they had covered another fifteen miles. They had encountered the boggy area around the source of the river and made their way higher up the hillside and camped in a hollow beside a small stream. That night the nice weather broke and it rained heavily. Eochaid and his men huddled under their cloaks, shivering and wet; no one was sorry when dawn arrived.

  At first they couldn’t see much around them because of the thick mist but gradually the sun burned it off and by mid-afternoon their clothing had mostly dried out again. Eochaid looked at the rusty state of his byrnie and helmet and wished he’d thought to bring a boy with him to clean it. He was just wondering if there was any sand nearby with which to scour the rust off when Godwine came running back to him.

  ‘There are two monks below us surrounded by a group of Britons on mountain ponies.’

  ‘How far away are they?’

  ‘No more than a quarter of a mile, but they’re prodding the two prisoners along with their spears. If we attack they could well kill the monks before we can reach them.’

  ~~~

  As they stumbled along prodded in the back by the huntsmen’s spears Aidan kept mumbling prayers whilst Ròidh was desperately trying to think of ways to escape. In the end he thought that their best chance would come that night. He just prayed that they would be camping in the open and wouldn’t reach their destination before dark.

  The two men riding in front of him spoke quietly to one another, but not so quietly that Ròidh, who spoke their Brythonic language better than Aidan, couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  ‘Why don’t you just kill them now, lord, rather than go to all the trouble of taking them to Dùn Breatainn. I’m sure that King Oswain would be just as happy with their heads.’

  ‘Well, I’m not. He is likely to give me a greater reward for giving him Aidan, who has caused him so much trouble with the thousands of our people he has tricked into becoming believers of the false god, Jesus Christ, than he is for some head who could be anybody.’

  ‘What about the other one? We don’t need him do we? He’s just a waste of food.’

  The leader of the hunting party thought about that for a moment.

  ‘Perhaps you’re right. But we can have some sport with him tonight before we kill him.’

  Ròidh sobbed when he heard that but he tried to be brave for Aidan’s sake. The two had become extremely close during the decade that they had been together and
Ròidh would have given his life to save Aidan. Now he desperately tried to think of a way to protect him, which might cost him his own life, but which might give his mentor a chance. He had almost given up in despair when suddenly half a dozen armoured warriors appeared from behind some rocks ahead and stood across the track, barring their way.

  Almost instantaneously several arrows thrummed through the air and several of the Britons and their ponies were hit. Chaos reigned as the warriors ran forward and either speared the chests of the ponies in front of the two monks or slit their throats with their swords. As the riders tumbled to the ground they were quickly dispatched. In less than a minute eight of the ten huntsmen were dead.

  However, as one of the dog handlers dropped to the ground his two deerhounds attacked Eochaid’s men and it took them a minute of two to dispatch the hounds. The other handler released his dogs and tried to escape. Unlike the other hunters he was on foot and hadn’t gone more than a few paces when he dropped with several arrows protruding from his back. His two dogs did manage to escape and Eochaid let them go.

  The remaining mounted Briton was the one who had wanted to kill both Aidan and Ròidh. With a roar he thrust his spear at Aidan intent on killing him before he died, but Ròidh saw what he intended and stepped in front of his mentor intending to take the spear in his own chest instead. Just as he was about to deliver the fatal thrust the Briton jerked backwards in the saddle with a spear implanted in his chest. Godwine had seen what was happening, picked up a discarded spear, and threw it with all his considerable might at the Briton. Such was the force of his throw that the man was catapulted over the rear of his pony, but not before his own spear had hit his intended target and Ròidh fell to the ground with blood pouring out of his chest.

  ~~~

  ‘Just supposing that Eochaid is successful in finding this particular needle in the haystack that is Strathclyde, where do you intend Aidan to establish his monastery.’

  Oswald looked at Acha with annoyance.

  ‘You seem to have little faith, mother, either in Eochaid’s abilities or in Brother Aidan.’

  ‘I don’t understand why you need to make this Aidan Bishop of Northumbria instead of giving the honour to your brother Oslac.’

  ‘Because Aidan is a successful missionary and Oslac has no experience in converting pagans. Besides, he doesn’t want to become a bishop, he’s perfectly content being my chaplain and the priest for the vill of Bebbanburg.’

  ‘But -’

  ‘No mother. We’ve had this conversation before and I’m tired of you trying to tell me what to do. I appreciate your help in making me King of Deira as well as Bernicia but I’m not a little boy. I don’t need your help anymore and I won’t put up with your interference.’

  He stopped and then held his hand up when his mother was about to respond, her eyes flashing dangerously.

  ‘Not another word before we both say something we might regret.’

  He took a deep breath whilst he tried to calm himself down. Thankfully his mother bit her tongue, but she kept glaring at him.

  ‘To answer your question, I’ve looked for somewhere like Iona, a small island where the monks can be secluded; where they can concentrate on a life of prayer and devotion to God. I think I’ve found one not far from here. It’s one of the Farne Islands.’

  Acha frowned. ‘But I thought that they are all too small to support a community who will need to be self-sufficient?’

  ‘Most of them are, but the largest island in the north seems to me to be ideal. It’s called Lindisfarne.’

  ‘That isn’t a true island though. It is at high tide but at low tide you can walk across the sands to it.’

  ‘That’s true, but it’s the best site that there is on the east coast. Furthermore the thegn has just died without an heir so I can appoint the abbot as the new thegn without upsetting anyone.’

  ‘Have you visited the place to see if it’s as suitable as you say?’

  He drew his breath in sharply and bit back an angry retort.

  ‘No, I’m going to visit it shortly.’

  ‘I’ll come with you just to…’

  She got no further, halted by her son’s abrupt departure from the room. He turned when he reached the doorway.

  ‘You don’t listen do you? You will not accompany me and you will not try to advise me. It’s time for you to devote the rest of your life to contemplation and prayer. I’m grateful for your help in the past but I am king and I have other advisors now, if I need them. Men who don’t try and control me.’

  With that he left leaving behind a furious Acha. She paced up and down trying to think of ways to prevent Aidan becoming bishop, and presumably abbot of this new monastery on Lindisfarne, so that Oslac could take his place. Her best hope was that the wretched monk had died in Strathclyde.

  ~~~

  Aidan was alive and well, however the same could not be said of Ròidh. The spear thrust hadn’t penetrated the monk’s chest far enough to kill him but it had scored along his rib cage slicing his flesh open for some eight inches. Not only did he lose a lot of blood before the wound could be stitched closed with catgut but it had subsequently become infected.

  This put Eochaid in something of a dilemma. He really needed to get back to the boats and sail downriver to Dùn Phris before Owain had the chance to send a sizeable force against him. Those who had escaped from the place would have spread the story of the fortress’ destruction and although King Owain’s capital, Dùn Breatainn, lay two or three days march to the north and across the other side of the Forth of Clyde, there had to be enough warriors at Ayr and at other settlements along the west coast to give him a problem; and they were less than a day away.

  As they hurried back to where they had left the two pontos Ròidh’s fever grew worse and the wound turned an angry red and became puffy. It was then that what Aidan always described as a miracle happened. They had camped for the night back at the place where they had left the boats, ready to make a start south at dawn, when an old woman walked into the camp. Eochaid later questioned the sentries as she should never have been able to get past them but they denied having seen anyone until she appeared well within the perimeter of the camp.

  She had knelt down beside the delirious Ròidh and Aidan went to remonstrate with her but something told him that she was there to help, not harm, his companion. She had produced a box containing maggots and placed them on the suppurating wound before handing Aidan a small pouch full of herbs.

  ‘Leave the maggots on the wound until they have eaten all the rotten flesh,’ she croaked. ‘Then bind it with freshly washed bandages each day until it has healed. Make a tisane with these herbs and give it to him every few hours until the fever breaks. You can’t move him until then.’

  She rose to her feet with difficulty and made her way slowly out of camp. Again the sentries said that she hadn’t passed any of them.

  Eochaid had said nothing but once she’d gone he told Aidan that they couldn’t stay there. It was too dangerous.

  ‘You heard what the wise woman said,’ Aidan replied. ‘He can’t be moved until the fever breaks. God willing that will be soon. Now I must boil some water to make the tisane.’

  Eochaid was in a quandary. Aidan wouldn’t leave Ròidh and he knew that every day that they delayed made it more certain that they would be trapped there. In the end he decided to stay there for one day and sent for Godwine.

  ‘I want you to send out scouts back the way we have just come and the other way downriver to warn us if any sizeable body of armed men appears.’

  ‘And if they do, as they surely must if we sit here like rats in a trap?’

  Godwine wouldn’t normally have spoken so bluntly to the Irish prince but he and the men thought it was extreme folly to delay. If Ròidh died, then so be it. They weren’t prepared to put all their lives at risk for one monk. The general feeling was that they had come for Aidan and, if necessary, he should be taken with them by force.

  ‘Then I
will decide whether to ambush them or flee. Now do as I bid you.’

  Eochaid wasn’t a fool. He knew how the men felt and he shared their fears. However, he wanted to save Ròidh’s life if possible and he certainly didn’t want to have to force Aidan to come with them.

  ‘We’ll wait one more day, Brother Aidan, but at dawn the next day we will have to depart, whatever condition Ròidh is in, so you’d better pray for a swift recovery.’

  Aidan was about to protest but one look at Eochaid’s determined face told him that it would be a waste of time. He nodded.

  ‘I understand. But I won’t leave him here all alone. We have been through too much together for me to abandon him now.’

  Eochaid knew that Godwine was right. If it came to it they would have to take Aidan with them by force, but he said nothing yet.

  ~~~

  Oswald rode across the flat sands that separated Lindisfarne from the mainland. The tide was on its way out so he knew that he had several hours before they’d have to return, unless they wanted to have to spend the night there. The locals had told him that there was normally a window of at least seven hours when it was safe to cross the sands, but the tide came in very quickly once the sea started to return.

  He had taken Oswiu and Oslac with him, together with Sherwyn, the thegn of the vill on the mainland opposite the island, and his gesith. There was only one settlement on Lindisfarne and that was the small fishing village on the east coast; the rest of the inhabitants lived in huts dotted about, or so he was told.

  The island was shaped like a short axe with the handle pointing due west towards the mainland. Oswald quickly dismissed the handle part as it was essentially sand dunes with marram grass growing on them. It wasn’t until they reached the axe head that they saw signs of habitation. Initially there were a few isolated huts surrounded by grazing land and a few small areas which were cultivated. At the eastern end of the island there was a small settlement with a few fishing boats drawn up onto the sand. It stood on the southern side of a small cove which formed a natural harbour.