Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 05] Saxon Slayer

by Griff Hosker

  I looked around the battlefield. We had lost far fewer than the men of Gwynedd but they had not suffered as many deaths as I had expected. The king’s oathsworn had taken the brunt of our attack. To my horror I saw, behind the king, the body of his dead son. I do not think anyone would have deliberately killed the boy but in the heat of a battle then there are tragic deaths. I saw Prince Cadfan approaching. I began to kneel. He shook his head and raised me up. “No Warlord, you kneel to no man.” He embraced me and both armies cheered. “I am sorry that we were late. Our allies are not as used to fighting and campaigning as we are.” He shrugged. “They will get better after all we have our first real victory.”

  I looked at the knot of my warriors fifty paces away. “But at a cost, Garth, my oldest captain has died. He was the last of the Rheged shield wall. This day marks the end of an era.”

  The prince looked distraught. Garth had taught him much when he had first come to live with us. We both went to the warriors who were crowded around his body. Eoin who had guarded his right looked at me with tears in his eyes. “He is smiling my lord. He will be waiting for us in the Otherworld.”

  “He was a brave and doughty warrior Eoin. He had fought with me when I had but twenty men. I will miss him.”

  I looked beyond the shield wall and saw, to my great relief, that Hogan too had survived along with Tuanthal and Prince Pasgen. They were even more precious to me now that we had won than they had been before. Myrddyn dismounted and looked down at Garth. “I will miss him and his pointed comments about magic. He will be a hard man to replace.”

  “He will be an impossible man to replace.” I began to weary of the day. It was not a good taste in my mouth but a bitter one. I know that we had not lost as many men as we had expected but Garth was too great a loss and I cursed Iago for his greed and his treachery.

  Myrddyn spent most of the rest of the afternoon healing. King Cadfan entered Wrecsam and accepted the oaths of his new subjects. None of King Iago’s oathsworn had survived but the rest of the army appeared happy to offer their allegiance to the young king. King Cloten and King Arthlwys came to me as I stood by Garth’s body.

  “We now know what you have done for us, Warlord. For us war was a raid by a neighbour.” King Cloten spread an arm around the battlefield. “This is war and we are novices. We would like you to continue to lead us into battle. We have spoken with King Cadfan and he is in agreement. We will fight as Cymri under the Wolf Banner. If we disagree about sheep thefts and cannot agree we will let you decide.”

  “But I am no king.”

  King Arthlwys smiled, “And that gives you more power than you can imagine. You have shown that you can see beyond boundaries and you can see the way ahead. I have heard of this Great King Urien and for us his greatest success was in making you the warrior you have become. We will follow you.”

  I sighed. The weight was back on my shoulders and I could not rid myself of it. “Then there is one more thing we must do. We need to go to Deva. There are brave warriors there who defend against the Saxons. We should either raise the siege or rescue them. On the morrow we will meet and decide.”

  “As you wish, Warlord.”

  Hogan and Myrddyn knew how distraught I was and they visited me in the house I had been allocated. Lann Aelle sharpened my sword and I stared into the fire. “He is happy you know.”

  “Who is happy?”

  “Why Garth of course. He once told me that had you not chosen him as the leader of your oathsworn then he would have died in Rheged with the rest of King Urien’s warriors. You gave him a station he could never have hoped for. He had no family but that is because your family was his. He was as proud of Hogan as you were, probably more because he had a hand in his training.”

  Hogan shook his head, “More than a hand. He made me the warrior I am today. I received no special treatment because I was the son of the Warlord. He worked me harder than the other recruits and I loved him for it. “

  “Garth was the essence of what makes you a great leader. He had limited ability but you made him better than the raw material and he did the same with those he trained. It was the same with Miach and Riderch. They stayed with you because they believed in you and what you stood for. You have never broken your word and that is a rare thing. You never asked any man to do something you would not do. The men are still in awe of the fact that you went into Din Guardi and into Felan’s lair. They know of no other leader, King Urien included, who would do that.”

  I had not heard that before and it both gratified and worried me. Would my labours never end? I had hoped that with a united Cymri I could retire to Castle Cam and watch my grandchildren growing up. Now I felt obliged to carry on. “Thank you for that. I needed someone to speak to me and make me see sense. This is when I miss Myfanwy. She knows me better than any. Tomorrow we hold council. I want all of my leaders there for we have decisions to make.”

  King Iago had had a large hall built for what he thought would be embassies from other kings. We met there. “The three kings have asked me to continue as Warlord.” I paused and looked for the nods from each of the three of them. “I accept.” Everyone banged on the table. I held up my hand for silence. “Before we can do that we need to do something about Deva. There is a garrison of warriors there and they have been besieged for some time. We either need to raise the siege or to rescue them.”

  A murmur of small conversations rippled around the room. King Cadfan stood. “I would not expect my brother kings to travel that far from their kingdoms. They have already gained my throne for me and they need to return home to defend their borders.”

  “Surely that can wait?”

  “No King Cloten.” It was Myrddyn who spoke. “We may not have liked King Iago but the Mercians feared him. they do not fear King Cadfan, yet. You need to fortify your borders and prevent incursions from our enemies.”

  Coming from Myrddyn the kings accepted the advice and they nodded. I sensed relief on their part. Neither of them was a warrior king and they would go back to trading and making their people rich. There was nothing wrong with that. I stood. “Then King Cadfan and I will leave a garrison here under the command of Dai ap Gruffydd for we do not want to lose to the Mercians such a key town. We will travel to Deva in the morning. We know what we must do.”

  Chapter 17

  We were a small but well trained army which headed the short journey to Deva. None of us were under any illusions. The Saxons would be there in force and they would be fresh. We had fought a long hard battle and we would be outnumbered. Aedh and his scouts rode in and their faces told us the story. “They have many camps, my lord, and Deva is ringed by Saxons. We estimated at least a thousand on this side and there are ships in the Dee and they are filled with warriors, or at least, there are warrior camps by their boats.”

  We had halted five miles from Deva and we could now plan. We had less than eight hundred men. We had to make a decision. I drew Myrddyn, Hogan and the king to one side. “We will be making the decision. I can see that Aedh thinks that it is fruitless to attempt anything.”

  Cadfan sighed, “You are probably right. There are three hundred men at most in the fort. We could lose more than that in attempting to relieve it.”

  “So we let them die?”

  Myrddyn had this way of cutting to the key question. I could see the look of horror on Cadfan’s face. “The decision to leave them there was your father’s and not yours.”

  “And yet they are the brave men of Gwynedd. How could I look at my other warriors knowing that I had let them die.”

  “I ask you again, King Cadfan, what do you wish?”

  “I wish to rescue them but I will do it with my own men.”

  I clapped him about the shoulders, “Well done! You are twice the man your father was.”

  Then Hogan smiled and said, “Of course we will not let you do it alone, we will help you.”

  The look of relief on his face was worth a ship load of gold from Constantinopolis. “Well
Myrddyn? You have a plan?”

  “It is one which has stood us in good stead before now my lord. “ I nodded. “A few of us sneak into the fort and help the men inside escape when an attack is launched on those besieging.”

  Hogan and I nodded but Cadfan looked appalled. “How do you get inside? No forget that, how do you get by the Saxons?”

  “That is simple. We use Saxon speakers, me, Lann Aelle and Aedh.”

  “And me, of course.”

  Hogan’s face froze. “No father, you are Warlord and we cannot risk you.”

  “But you will not be risking me, I will. And it is decided. You, Hogan, will command the army. I would suggest an attack on the two camps by the bridge. Use the archers to keep the others at bay. Give us one night to contact them and then attack.”

  “How will we know you have succeeded?”

  “We will launch three flaming arrows the morning after we arrive. We will break out when we see King Cadfan’s standard at the bridge. We then retreat to Ruthin. They will not expect that.”

  They tried to dissuade me but I was set on this course of action. Had Myrddyn joined in their remonstrations then things might have been different but he seemed happy about it.

  “My mind is set but who else is there? King Cadfan cannot go for we need him to lead the rest of the people. Would you go Hogan? Can you pass for a Saxon? All four of us have been chosen for our skill in deception. All of us, Myrddyn and me especially, have done this before.”

  We spent some time finalising how we would defeat the Saxons. Hogan and Cadfan were left in charge of our warriors. While we were spies they would have much to do. Myrddyn’s plans were never simple affairs.

  We donned Saxon war gear; we had plenty. I gave Saxon Slayer to Hogan for safe keeping. The blade, like my wolf skin marked me out as Lord Lann. We had our story. We were warriors of King Cearl of Mercia. We had heard that there was plunder to be had and we wished to join with the men of Northumbria. Once we had passed through their first camps we would adapt our story.

  We left towards sunset. To arrive after dark would arouse suspicion. The scouts escorted us as far as the first Saxon camp at the eastern end of their perimeter. They had scouted it out and told us that there were only twenty warriors and they were watching the river crossing as it could be forded by brave men on horses. We left the safety and security of the woods and joined the road which led from the east. We did not try to be furtive but we talked of battles and wars we had fought in; all in Saxon of course.

  Two Saxon warriors stepped out from the hedgerow with spears levelled at us. ”Halt. State who you are.”

  As they spoke others appeared from the riverbank.

  Myrddyn spread his arms and said, “Thank the Allfather that we have found fellow Saxons.” He pointed vaguely to the south. We were chased by the horsemen of Gwynedd a little way down the road. We barely escaped with our lives.”

  Although they were still suspicious I could see that they were intrigued and they lowered their spears slightly. A warrior with many battle rings on his arms and a scar on his face stepped forwards. “How did you know they were the men of Gwynedd?”

  Myrddyn shrugged. “We had had to cross into their land to reach here. Who else could they have been? They did not speak our language.”

  The spears lowered a little more. “Did they wear armour?”

  “Horsemen with armour? Whoever heard of such a thing? No, they were on ponies with spears. There were more than ten of them. Had there been less we would have fought them for we are seasoned warriors.”

  “And why are you here?”

  “We have journeyed from across the seas. We landed in the land of the East Angles. Some of our brethren were slain and we moved towards Mercia. We fought for King Cearl and helped him to settle the west of his kingdom. But we are not his oathsworn and seek employment.”

  The warrior turned to one of his men, “Scanlon, light a torch, I would look at these warriors.”

  I surreptitiously loosened my sword in its scabbard. It was a good sword and had been taken from one of the oathsworn of King Iago. I hoped I would not have to use it yet. Scanlon returned with the burning torch and the leader held it to Myrddyn. He moved on to Aedh. I could see that he wondered about those two for neither was a well built man. Our story of being warriors, hung by a thin thread. He examined Lann Aelle and seemed happy enough. He saw the battle rings on the hilt of Bear Killer. I hoped he would not ask to see the blade as he might recognise it as Aella’s. I put that thought from my head for that had been many years ago. When he came to me he saw my scarred face and my battered armour. He looked at my sword. “Let me see your sword.”

  I drew it out but held on to it. “That is not a Saxon blade.”

  “No, it belonged to a warrior of Gwynedd. I slew him and took this. It is a better weapon than mine was.”

  He seemed satisfied. He pointed to Lann and me. “You two will be welcomed by Eorl Aethelward. I can see that you have fought in the shield wall. As for your two…” He shrugged. “You have come at a good time. We begin our final assault in the next few days. Just as soon as the rest of the ships arrive we will rid the fort of the men of Gwynedd. You had better stay with us here tonight. We are all wary of warriors who suddenly appear at night.” He pointed to Deva, a mile away across the river, “We are close to King Iago’s men.”

  “It is not quite dark; could we not visit with this Aethelward? We are anxious to begin work.”

  “Aethelward is north of the river. It is Ardal who is in command and he is by the bridge.” He smirked. “He has a bad temper and he would not be happy to be disturbed. We captured some female slaves today and he will be enjoying them.” I could see that he wanted rid of us and did not want to share his food with us as hospitality dictated. “But if you wish to incur his wrath…” He gestured with his hand for us to pass.

  “Thank you er…?”

  “Carl and these are my men.”

  “Thank you for your kindness Carl and do not judge a warrior by his build.” Myrddyn grinned, “Sometimes smaller warriors can do great deeds.”

  They all laughed, “We have yet to see a small man beat a big man but I admire your courage. If you survive your meeting with Ardal I shall share a mug of ale with you. Keep on the track next to the river.” He laughed, “And don’t fall in!”

  I noticed, as we made our way down the overgrown track, that the night was cool and a fog was already rising from the waters. It might be prove a useful weapon. When we were a little way from their camp we halted. We huddled together. “That was useful information about the slaves. It means they might well be occupied.”

  “Yes Warlord but we still need to get over the river.”

  “Aedh, find the next group of Saxons. We might as well wait a little while; they will be drunk and more occupied the later we leave it.”

  “And the fog might be thicker.” I could see Myrddyn’s mind working on how he could use the weather to our advantage.

  Soon the fog was so thick that we could not see the other bank. When Aedh appeared, silently from its grey gloom Lann Aelle almost cried out. “There is no one until you reach the bridge. You can just make out the glow from their fires. There are many armed men but they are pleasuring themselves.”

  “All of them?”

  “No Myrddyn, they have sentries who are watching; six of them. I could not see the far end of the bridge.”

  “So wizard, how do we cross this river? Do we walk?” I pointed at our armour. “We cannot swim.”

  “No but we can float.” He crawled across the reedy undergrowth and grasped a dead tree which had floated down and become snared in the grass and weeds of the bank. He pointed to another further along the bank. “These will support our weight. We lean on them and push them out into the stream. The current should move us towards the bridge. When we are close we gently direct the logs, by kicking until we are close to the northern bank of the river.”

  I could see that the other two were worried
but I was not. Myrddyn was a clever man. If he said the logs would bear our weight then they would. “Aedh, you and Lann Aelle take the other log. Myrddyn and I will take this one. Follow us but make no noise.”

  As I stepped into the river it felt icy although I knew it was not. Alarmingly the fog was above our heads but Myrddyn smiled. He was happy and he knew where we were going. I just hoped that the other two would be able to see us. We pushed away from the bank. The log dipped a little but took our weight. There were branches we could use to get a better grip. I glanced behind me and saw, to my great relief, that I could see Aedh. The current was slow but powerful and we only needed an occasional flick of our legs to correct our direction. The lights from the fires at the southern end of the bridge were a great help as they illuminated the Roman arches. Had there been sentries on the bridge then we would have been spotted but the fog made us invisible. I could almost hear the legend of Myrddyn’s magic being told.

  The wizard tapped me on my shoulder and I started to kick. Gradually we edged towards the northern bank. It was just a darker patch of fog at first but soon we could discern the foliage sprouting from its sides. A look over my shoulder told me that the other two were close behind. The log made a soft hissing sound as it slid against the reeds. We waited without moving until Aedh and Lann had joined us. We slowly clambered over the logs on to the bank. There were young oak trees lining the bank and we crawled beneath them to get a view of where we were.

  To the left, about fifty paces away, was the Gwynedd end of the bridge. I could see there were guards there. The gatehouse of the fort touched the bridge and I could see the sentries on the top. The walls of the fort came towards us and there was another tower forty paces to the north of us. To the right I could see the glow of another Saxon fire. This would be the most difficult part of our quest. The men in the fort would be nervous and likely to fight first and ask questions later. In addition I was an enemy of their king. We had to tread very carefully.

  The ditch around the fort ended at the gatehouse and so we would have to approach the sentries on the bridge. Myrddyn mimed him going to them and talking and us following. That made sense. If he approached alone and then three more warriors appeared they would suspect a trap. I tapped Aedh and Lann on the shoulder and we crouched as Myrddyn stood and began to creep towards the sentries. We followed, keeping our heads as close to the line of fog as we could. The closer we got to the bridge the thinner became the fog. Suddenly Myrddyn stood and spoke in the language of the sentries. “I am Myrddyn the wizard, and I am here with news of your king. I have three companions.” We stood as one.