Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 05] Saxon Slayer

by Griff Hosker

  “I do not know. Our tower can see far and we saw you when you crossed the river but upstream is more difficult. We did see warriors but I know not if the king was with them.”

  Myrddyn and I told him of the battle and how King Iago had retreated. “You had better make sure you keep your defences up. They may come back here for some retribution.”

  Tomas laughed, “Aye well we have a little surprise for anyone foolish enough to attack us.” He led us along a path which descended from the mine. There we saw all the waste from the workings. It was held in place by a log. “When we finish digging we put the spoil here. If anyone comes we release the log and all this lovely rock sweeps them into the Mawddach.”

  Myrddyn laughed, “Oh how sweet! That is the trick that Iago played on us. “He looked at me and nodded. “It will work Warlord and it is so simple.”

  “I have to say that I am relieved I did not like the idea of you being so isolated here with the gold and the copper. It is a tempting target for our enemy.”

  “And not just gold and copper. Come with me.” He took us into the stone building they had constructed as a place to sleep and work. He took down a leather bag and removed some blue looking rocks. “We have these too.”

  “What are they?”

  Myrddyn picked one up. “This is an amethyst. It is a precious stone, not as valuable as rubies, emeralds or diamonds but valuable nonetheless. The Romans believed that a ring or bracelet using these would stop a person becoming drunk. Nonsense of course but polished up they would easily decorate a sword hilt or a necklace. Well done Tomas.”

  He counted out five of them and placed them in my palm. “I would like you to have them Warlord, they are from my share, not the king’s and they are a thank you for your aid.”

  “I cannot accept these Tomas.”

  “I have no family my lord and I would be honoured if you would take them.”

  Myrddyn inclined his head. “These are taken from the Mother and, while they might not stop someone becoming drunk, they have an innate power. Five is a mystical number; you must take them my lord. It is wyrd.”

  When Myrddyn spoke like that you had to obey. He understood the earth and the way it worked far better than I did. “Then I thank you for the gift Tomas and I shall cherish them.”

  We returned down the mountain and I felt strangely at peace. When we reached the river I took out the stones again and rinsed them in the icy waters of the Mawddach. As I did so I could see the blue sparkling beneath the rough stone and I suddenly saw the beauty in them.

  “Do we have someone who can make them as beautiful as they should be?”

  “Yes Warlord! Me!”

  Chapter 12

  Myrddyn’s new task had to wait until I had met with all of my leaders. We sent ‘The Wolf’ back to Caer Gybi for Ridwyn and Brother Oswald. The rest of the garrison was experienced enough to manage without them for a day. ‘The Dragon’ was still waiting for Hogan. If he did not arrive then he would miss out on the planning and the decision making. I sent for Prince Cadfan as he was vital to my plans. I left Aidan at Ruthin. I could not afford for the commander of such a valuable fort to be away for any length of time.

  While I waited I listened to the leaders who were there. Mungo appeared to be a little bored with the lack of activity. “You mean you wish for war? I thought you brought your people here for peace?”

  He laughed, “Aye Warlord, peace for them but not for me. I was made for war.”

  “I think I can promise you that. And you Prince Pasgen, what have you to report?”

  “I have come to see that we are not as swift as we might be. When we travelled to Ceredigion we spent most of the journey without armour and yet our heavier horses were still not swift enough.”

  I had thought of that myself. “I think I have a solution to that problem but it will not be cheap.”

  “I am intrigued. Can you not tell me more?”

  “No I will wait until Tuanthal and Pol arrive. I would like Hogan to be here but that depends upon other things.”

  He gave me a puzzled look. “Warlord?”

  I held my hand up. “When he arrives then we can speak. It is nothing of a military nature; I can tell you that.”

  Myrddyn was by my side the whole time but he kept rolling something around in his hands. “What are you doing wizard?”

  “Until we have held the meeting I cannot start work on the stones and so I am rolling them around in my hand and allowing them to rub the rough surfaces away.” He smiled, “It is strangely therapeutic. A little like when we were being massaged in the Emperor Phocas’ baths. And it makes the stones become jewels.” He could be enigmatic when he chose to be.

  It was dusk when ‘The Wolf’ reached us. It arrived shortly after Pol and Tuanthal and their men had finally arrived. Ridwyn looked nonplussed. “Brother Oswald and I wondered why we were deserting your wife and family, Warlord. This seems so unusual.”

  “It is Ridwyn but I believe that it is necessary and besides are you worried that the men you trained and you lead cannot look after my castle?”

  He grinned. “If you put it that way Warlord then they are safe as anywhere.”

  Pasgen had had a table which was round and enabled us all to speak with each other. It seated twenty one. When I had asked him about that he said that he had consulted Myrddyn about numbers. He had been told that seven and three were magical. By multiplying them together he had arrived at a number which should have been even more powerful. I could not argue with the logic. He said he had the idea from the oval table I used at Castle Cam. Here he had plenty of timber and plenty of room.

  I first brought them all up to date with what had happened. Myrddyn said nothing and just rolled his stones together. “This has made me realise a number of things. Mungo’s Burg and this fort have too many men. We now have frontiers at Nefyn and Ruthin. We will move some of the excess troops there. They will give us warning of any attack. We can use this fort to act as a garrison. We can train new troops here and have a strike force to get to any part of the frontier where there will be an emergency. We do need, however, another fort. I have spoken with Bishop Stephen and Myrddyn. There is a good site at Rhuddlan. It is a mile from the sea and from the monastery. It is on the Clwyd and there is a hill ready made for a fort. It means that we could control the whole of the Clwyd. As we know from Ruthin, warriors can get over the passes but it is a long and dangerous journey and we would have warning. Prince Cadfan’s scouts know the land well and are an excellent early warning for us. With Nefyn controlling the Llŷn and two forts on the Clwyd then the rest of our castles are safe.”

  I paused, partly to take a drink from my beaker and partly to look at their reactions. So far there appeared to be no negative looks or comments. Myrddyn gave me a subtle nod of approval. He was not divining any negativity either. “Now let us move on to specifics. It has become obvious to me and to Prince Pasgen that the equites are not as effective as they might be. “I saw Pol begin to rise and Tuanthal, smiling, restrained him gently. “Even my son Hogan has seen weakness. We cannot use them as cavalry. They are too heavy we need them as a shock force and for that we have enough of them. We will never have more than sixty from now on.” That was a shock for them and there was much restless movement. “Allow me to elaborate and then criticise, you know I welcome open discussions.” They relaxed and sat back. “Every equite is to be given another, lighter horse and a squire who will be mounted too. This effectively doubles our horsemen. The lighter horse would enable them to travel much faster than on the heavier mounts and Cataphractoi mounts would last longer in battle. The squires would be as Lann Aelle is and Pol was. Not boys but young men who wish to be equites. The equite will train them and the scout will aid them. When we fight the squires will be armed with a spear and a shield. They will wear a helmet but that is all. We have seen the enemy’s attempts at horsemen and they are poor. They will improve. I believe that our new system will be more effective.”

  I pa
used again and this time Pol asked, “Could the squires be given bows? It would make them even more effective.”

  “You think the idea would work then?”

  “I think the idea is genius.” He nodded towards Myrddyn.

  Myrddyn smiled, “Thank you for the compliment Pol but the idea was the Warlord’s.”

  “It means that if we keep the idea of three columns we would have forty in each rather than twenty and we could cover a greater range.”

  “Yes, Tuanthal, and they would be based here. This would be where we house all of our horsemen. Garth, you will command here with my fifty best warriors. You would train new warriors and decide where the warriors and the equites needed to be sent. I envisage that two of the three columns will patrol for seven days at a time. One would leave and travel north to Rhuddlan and then Ruthin. After three days the second one would travel south to Nefyn and the Mawddach. When the first patrol returned the second would patrol Rhuddlan and Ruthin when the second returned… well you get the idea.”

  “I like that. It would stop the equites becoming bored with the same patrol and we would all have one week rest.”

  “Yes Tuanthal but I foresee a problem. What happens if they do find trouble? One patrol will be too far away to help and the second will have just returned from a patrol and be tired.”

  “That Prince Pasgen is a problem that you, Tuanthal, Pol and my son will need to work out. I am no equite. If this was Garth who was talking I would tell him that his warriors would have to suffer and get on with it. I realise that equites and their horses are different from my warriors.” There was sarcasm and a rebuke in my tone and it had the desired effect.

  Pasgen blushed, “Sorry, Warlord, you are quite right, we will solve the problem.”

  “Now as to Rhuddlan; we will take every warrior we have available there in the next couple of days and begin the building. It will take that long to reorganise the garrisons. Mungo you will command there.”

  “What of Mungo Burg and Castle Cam, Warlord? Will we strip them of all warriors?”

  “No, we will only be taking the best fifty warriors. I want a garrison of forty warriors and ten archers in each of the three forts we have. With the fifty warriors of my oathsworn here it gives us a total of one hundred and fiftyy men who can go to Ruthin, or Nefyn or Rhuddlan if needs be.”

  “I wondered when you would get around to the archers.”

  “Yes Miach, I want your son to command the archers at Rhuddlan and you will be here with Garth training the new archers and slingers. Once we have moved the excess warriors from the forts then we will know how many can man Rhuddlan and Ruthin. If a man has a family I would prefer he stay at Mungo Burg or castle Cam. A man fights harder for his family. Use the single men for the frontier forts.”

  There was silence as they took it all in. We all became aware of the rocks rolling in Myrddyn’s hand. “What in the name of the Allfather are you doing wizard?”

  He smiled enigmatically, “I am making precious stones for the Warlord.”

  I almost laughed as they all nodded. It was as though the wizard could do anything that he desired.

  Aedh asked, “And my scouts? What of them?”

  “You have twenty now?” He nodded, “You need forty. Ten will operate from the three frontier forts and you will have ten here for you to use as you see fit. We will call each ten a contubernium; the Romans used that as an idea and I like it. We read about it when we were at Constantinopolis. Promote your best scouts to lead each contubernium for they will be the eyes and the ears of the army.”

  “And my army Warlord? You have barely mentioned my men.”

  “That is, because, Prince Cadfan, I do not command your men. When you become king you will be an ally but I can only advise.”

  He smiled, “Then what would you advise?”

  “I think you concentrate on training men who can fight in the mountains. You will need some mailed warriors like my oathsworn but not many as yet. It will be through others that you gain the throne unless we have many desertions from the enemy. I would urge all of you to take prisoners from the men of Gwynedd. They can be offered service with the prince or slavery. You will also need archers but they can be trained here. Any of your warriors can be trained here.”

  “Are you bearing the expense?”

  “Are we Brother Oswald?”

  The cleric had listened carefully. “The treasury is healthy my lord and if all works as you describe it then we will become richer.”

  “I want our smiths to produce weapons for us to sell to our allies. At the moment Prince Cadfan, you have no revenue,” I grinned, “when you do then we will ask you to pay for your weapons.”

  Just then the doors burst open and Hogan stood there with Lann Aelle behind him. “I came as soon as I could. What have I missed?”

  Pol laughed and said wryly, “Everything!”

  Hogan looked perplexed. “Come and join us, son.” Lann Aelle stood looking uncomfortable. “You too, nephew. You are my squire and we have no secrets.” I looked at my leaders. “Let me see how well you were listening young Pol. Tell Hogan what our plans are and we will tell you if you are right.”

  The smile was wiped from his face but he took his medicine, stood and began to tell Hogan of the plans. They were reasonably accurate although Tuanthal had to correct him twice.

  “Well done Pol. Now son, is there anything in those plans that you object to? Now is the time to speak.”

  We all looked at him as he rose and looked at us with a serious expression on his face. “No, I am quite happy to be based here but I am afraid that the accommodation will not do. I am not going to share a chamber with Pol or Tuanthal. I want somewhere building for me.”

  The looks of happiness on the faces of his friends were wiped off in an instant and the others stared at Hogan. His rudeness was out of character.

  “How have we offended you, Lord Hogan?”

  Hogan smiled, with a twinkle in his eye, “Oh you haven’t but I don’t think my new bride to be, the Princess Morag would be happy to share a room with both of us!”

  Although it was not the way I would have broken the news it was an effective way of ending the meeting with a celebration. Prince Pasgen sent for some of the good wine and we all toasted my son. “And now,“ I added, “I would like an oath.” They all looked shocked. “No-one mentions this until Hogan has told my wife. If she finds out we all knew first then my life will be a misery!”

  We left Myrddyn, Garth and Oswald to oversee the new fort while we returned to Castle Cam to break the news. Once on board I asked Hogan about the king’s reaction to his proposal.

  “He was overjoyed father. I think he likes me.” He shrugged, almost apologetically, and I think he likes being related to you. He feels safer somehow.”

  “I am happy too, for whatever that is worth. When will the wedding take place?”

  “Morag’s mother is a Christian and she would like it at Yule. It is a holy time.”

  I was relieved. That suited me. It was some months away and I would not be distracted from my major reorganisation of the army. “I take it the wedding will be in Ceredigion?”

  “Yes. Is that a problem?”

  “I don’t think so. We will ask Myfanwy.”

  Myfanwy, of course was delighted. Women like weddings. Nanna, who was becoming more of a young girl than a child, was also delighted that there would be a wedding. Hogan was subjected to a torrent of questions. When he finally escaped I sat with Myfanwy in my arms and told her of my plans for the land.

  Unlike my leaders she had concerns. “Will we be safe here? What if the Hibernians come again?”

  “We will strengthen the defences and I have a mind to train the men of Caer Gybi and the farms to fight. I will see Gwynfor and Gareth. I think if we ask them to train one day a month we should have a reliable force who can protect the fort if attacked. Don’t forget, my sweet, that there will be warriors at Aelle’s and Raibeart’s forts. I intend to ask them to t
ake on the responsibility of patrolling the island with scouts. I am sure they will agree.”

  “But you will be on the mainland!”

  I shook my head. “No. I have leaders there who can make every day decisions. Hogan and Morag will be there. I will only visit the mainland to see how the defences are progressing. If we go to war then I will be there, of course, but my place will be here. So you see you needn’t worry about being attacked, the Warlord and Saxon Slayer will be here.”

  She cuddled in to me. “Then I am happy.”

  My promise meant that I was able to spend the next few months overseeing, with Myrddyn, the building of the fort. It was an excellent site. The river wrapped itself around the hill giving deep water for over half of the walls. We put our usual three ditches on the other side. We built a series of outer walls, as at Castle Cam and then a traditional Roman fort in the middle. We were preparing for large numbers of refugees who might need to take shelter. We built a quay on the river so that ‘The Wolf’ and ‘The Dragon’ could supply the fort if besieged. Satisfied that all was going well we visited Ruthin and Aidan. There, too, they had deepened ditches and clad the walls as suggested by Myrddyn. Aidan was delighted with the new arrangements and the ten scouts he would soon have at his disposal. There had been small scale attacks at the fort but they had been Iago’s men testing the defences.

  “My worry, my lord, is that they come in winter.”

  “It is fifteen miles from the new fort. The beacons will alert Mungo and that means he can have men to your aid in half a day. Can you hold out for a day?”

  “Easily.”

  “Then there will not be a problem. Our defence is based on small forts, well protected by reserves. At the moment we do not have the reserves but next year, or the year after will see us fully prepared.”

  The autumn storms meant that our ships were less useful and the journey back to Mona took a long six days. I had become used to travelling by water. The ride did afford me the opportunity of talking with Hogan and Myrddyn. “Although Garth commands the main castle you do know that you are the strategos for the mainland?”