Shieldwall

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Shieldwall Page 10

by Justin Hill


  Wulfnoth did not like this choice. He clenched his jaw and smiled. ‘Thank you, but I take no gifts except from the king.’

  ‘Take it.’

  ‘I cannot.’

  ‘Wulfnoth, I will not ask again.’

  ‘The men want leadership,’ Wulfnoth said.

  ‘Do they? And what do you mean by that?’

  Wulfnoth chose his words carefully: ‘They want a captain they can believe in.’ Eadric watched him closely.

  ‘I hear a man who wants to be the king’s sea captain himself.’

  Wulfnoth smarted. ‘I am doing this for England.’

  Eadric left the ring on the table and spoke almost sadly. ‘No, Wulfnoth. You are doing this for you.’

  The king requisitioned a walled manor a few miles inland, where there was a suitable chapel – an ancient square stone building that had been built by the Romans – and the place was soon teeming with retainers and servants, erecting a small town of wattle houses for themselves.

  At the council, a bell rang and each man took his appointed place. Ethelred came in state and stood at the head of the room. Wulfnoth looked to see if the king’s sons were there, but neither the princes nor the queen were present. Eadric stood on the king’s right. Three of the ship captains from Glowcestrescir, young and foolish men, stood with Eadric’s retainers. They stood about him, self-consciously holding their hands where the dull gold gleamed.

  ‘Eadric carries a chest of rings wherever he goes,’ Morcar whispered to Wulfnoth.

  ‘He tried to give me one.’

  Morcar chuckled. ‘Oh did he? You didn’t take it?’

  Wulfnoth gave him a look. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I did not.’

  Godwin looked for Gamal, and although the door ward stood behind the king with the other men of Ethelred’s household, he did not see Godwin, or did not turn his way. There was an excited murmur as the king straightened his robes, but his brows were brought together and he glowered at the men in his council.

  ‘Silence!’ Ethelred ordered and fear fell.

  Godwin could feel his heart beat in his fingertips.

  Ethelred glowered about the room. ‘I was just a boy,’ he spoke in a voice choked with emotion, ‘when I was brought to the throne. And I was misled by some men, who took land from the Church. But we have made amends and brought protection back to the Holy Church. Now the Lord has forgiven us, for by His grace and the efforts of all our people we have assembled this mighty fleet.

  ‘For many years I have sat and worried too many times how we can best prevent the Army from murdering our people. It has been a long and wearisome trial, but God has appointed me for this task. I have always done my best, raising honest men to power, ensuring that good and religious men are appointed to the bishoprics, and petitioning Our Lord Christ on behalf of the whole country. This fair land is already groaning under the taxes that we have been forced to raise. I am not unaware of the privations each tax brings upon the great and the small, but I agree that it is better to spend the money with hope of deliverance than to sit like an old and toothless dragon upon its treasure-hoard, forever fretting against the day when the robber comes and steals a jewelled cup.

  ‘But, when I arrived here, I have found that some men have spoken against me and my advisers. And it is men who I have feasted at my own hall who have spoken against me!’

  Ethelred’s tone was genuinely aggrieved, but nothing more was said on the subject, and the court business was taken up with an embassy from Normandig and another from Bricge, where the dukes had promised not to give haven to the Army’s ships.

  The council was dismissed. Men began to stroll towards the door when Ethelred called Wulfnoth to him. The king scowled.

  ‘Fury grows in a far seat,’ Ethelred said, ‘but I have brought you to my hall and given you gifts.’

  ‘Yes, my lord,’ Wulfnoth said. ‘And you have no more faithful servant.’

  ‘Do I, Wulfnoth?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Ethelred seemed to ponder this.

  ‘Have men spoken against me to you?’ Wulfnoth said. ‘For I swear that I have not said anything against your person. There is no man who has proven his devotion to you more than myself. Is there any other who has taken so many ships or killed so many pirates! If any doubt me, let them step forward and challenge me face to face.’

  There were no challengers of course. Nothing but fireside whispers; private doubts watered and nourished; female murmuring.

  ‘I have faith in you, Wulfnoth Cild,’ Ethelred said, but his words had almost the opposite meaning.

  ‘Eadric has betrayed you to the king,’ Wulfnoth’s men warned him that night. ‘It is not right that that man, whose lands are far from the sea, has grown rich while the rest of us have suffered the Army’s depredations. He is a coward. He cannot bear to see any other man in greater favour than himself. Eadric fears you!’

  ‘Enough!’ Wulfnoth said. ‘I am tired. You are all as nervous as a girl on her wedding night. I do not fear this Eadric.’

  *

  Eadric remained with the king and soon the sea captains were so despairing that they said they were going to go home.

  ‘You must go with us to see the king,’ they said.

  ‘I agree with you, but do not ask me to go to the king on your behalf,’ Wulfnoth said. ‘I do not have the influence that you believe. I cannot bring more of the king’s ire.’

  ‘Wulfnoth, we have no other who can speak to the king.’

  The sea captains begged him and at last Wulfnoth relented. ‘I will go with you, but I shall not speak for you all. I will go and ask the king to listen to you, but that is all.’

  The next day the ship captains came together and made their way to the king’s hall. Summer was at its peak and the fields were parched. There were thick cracks in the soil, and the barley corns, always the first to ripen, were gold as they bowed their heads. Reapers sat in the shade of the trees and sharpened their scythes.

  Gamal, the door ward, stood waiting. He walked out to greet Wulfnoth, but his face was grave. ‘Wulfnoth,’ he said.

  ‘Gamal.’

  ‘Do not do this, Wulfnoth.’

  ‘How can I not? We have a fleet to repel the Devil himself and the king puts that fool in charge. On land or wave, the man has never fought a battle. What use will he be when the Army come with two hundred ship crews? Will he lash his ships together and sail them towards Swein Forkbeard’s craft? Will he be the first to jump into the enemy’s boat? No, Gamal, he will not, and every man in England knows it except the king himself.’

  Wulfnoth worked himself into a fever of anger, and when they strode into the king’s presence, it was Wulfnoth who stood at their head. Ethelred’s eyes were baleful.

  ‘So, this is how you want to earn a name for yourself?’ he said.

  ‘No, lord. My care is only for yourself and the country.’

  ‘And you think I am a fool?’

  Wulfnoth’s mouth opened, but the words he was about to use did not seem fitting. ‘I think you have been misled, lord. A fleet is only as good as the man leading it.’

  It was at this moment that Eadric stepped into the hall.

  ‘Wulfnoth does not think you are up to leading our fleet,’ Ethelred said.

  ‘Does he not?’

  Eadric strode between Wulfnoth and the king. He did not seem either cowed or perturbed by the news; indeed he seemed to relish the intrigue. He wet his lips as if savouring the moment, like a wolf that tastes the prey’s fear.

  ‘No doubt he thinks that he would make a better sea captain.’

  ‘I would,’ Wulfnoth said. ‘But that is not the reason I came with these men.’ He gestured behind him. ‘They begged me to come and speak with you, lord, and I agreed I would come to lend weight to their argument, though I said I would not speak on their behalf. But it seems that it would be cowardly of me to come all this way and not speak my mind.

  ‘When we were twelve, we all went to the Hundred Stone and
swore oaths to you, King Ethelred. Not one of us stepped forward and spoke those words without feeling the weight of responsibility upon our young shoulders. I would be betraying my oath if I did not stand here and speak plainly to you.

  ‘This country has suffered under poor leadership. Suffered more than men can say. I have been a lucky one, and yet I have lost my eldest son, as well as many of my people to starvation and disease and sickness. It is on the backs of the farm folk that my wealth and the wealth of the whole country rides. And it is from their sweat and labour that this great fleet has been brought together. Our people are hungry because of this fleet. They lie in bed at night and their stomachs groan for food. Nevertheless they are content to go without because we have promised them that we shall keep the Army from these shores.

  ‘Never has the country put forth so great an effort for their protection. Not even Alfred brought together a fleet of this size and strength. I for one cannot go back and look my folk full in the face if we fail them now.’

  There was a long pause; then Eadric began slow applause.

  ‘I see through you as clearly as if you were a pane of church glass,’ he said. ‘You have only hunger for power and position. It demeans you and cheapens every word you have said. There is nothing but desire and avarice within you, Wulfnoth Cild. How dare you speak to the king in this manner and berate him as if he were an ale-wife who had forgotten how to malt her grains!’

  Wulfnoth smarted. ‘There is no desire within me, Eadric Streona, except for a peaceful and prosperous England.’

  ‘I am glad to hear that, Wulfnoth.’ It was Ethelred who spoke. ‘And I have heard your concerns. But do not forget that I am anointed king of this land, not any Wulfnoth Cild, and it is my right to summon a fleet into being and appoint the man I think most able to lead that fleet in battle.’

  Wulfnoth laughed as he looked at Eadric. ‘And this is him?’

  ‘It is. Now go back to your ships and await his command. And, Wulfnoth …’

  Wulfnoth turned back and the king spoke almost kindly to him. ‘We do not doubt your courage or resolution. Save your anger for the Army!’

  Wulfnoth rode back in silence. It was a still and subdued day, with high and mottled clouds, and bright white sunlight. The heat had brought all the midden flies out, large and black and gleaming. Wulfnoth threw his cloak over his head to keep them off. The sea was flat as he approached; rain clouds rolled in later that day and flecked the slate-grey water, which swirled with mocking gulls.

  From then on he kept to his hollow ships, did not allow other men to speak treacherous words to him. If anyone started to speak, he would stand up and walk away. But he could not dispel dissent by refusing to listen to it, and the mood of the fleet remained cantankerous.

  He was summoned back three days later, and this time Gamal did not walk out to greet him, but took sword and dagger from Wulfnoth and his men, and showed them into the hall, where they sat on the bench.

  The king had finished his evening meal, and only Eadric and the king’s chaplain were present, along with their retainers. Eadric finished telling the king a story, and the king laughed and then wiped his mouth on a linen cloth he kept on his lap.

  Arrayed along the table were Eadric’s brothers. At the centre was Brihtric, the sour-faced murderer and robber, who had just returned from a pilgrimage.

  ‘Is this the man?’ Eadric asked.

  Brihtric’s solitary eye looked at Wulfnoth. ‘It is,’ he said.

  There was a finality to the exchange, and Eadric turned to the king.

  Wulfnoth did not know what was being decided. ‘I am what man?’

  ‘You are the man who was in Flandran in the spring, meeting chief members of the Army. To help them plan their attack.’

  ‘I am not!’

  ‘You are. Men have already testified that you took five ships out in the spring, and were gone for nearly five weeks.’

  Wulfnoth burst out laughing. ‘Eadric. Is this the best you can do? Drag out paid men who will swear oaths on your behalf.’

  ‘Do you deny it?’

  ‘Deny what?’

  ‘That you sailed out of Boseham, on a mission unknown, and did not return for forty days!’

  ‘No. Of course not. It is well known why I sailed out. All my men can testify. We sailed along the south coast looking for pirates. There is no mystery. All men know what deeds I have done. I do not hear men call you “Hero”, Eadric Streona.’

  ‘I am not on trial here, Wulfnoth.’

  ‘Is this a trial?’

  Wulfnoth looked to the king and his closest councillors. The king let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Have we misjudged you, Wulfnoth Cild?’ he said.

  ‘No. You have not.’

  ‘Brihtric is a good man, fresh from Rome, where he went with gifts for the Saxon School. And Eadric is his brother, my most trusted councillor, the husband of my own daughter. Why should either of them lie?’

  Wulfnoth laughed. ‘There are many reasons a coward will fling mud. Shame is one, when he feels that another man has outpaced him. Jealousy another.’

  Wulfnoth felt increasingly isolated as he spoke for himself, for one by one the men who had sat about him shuffled away until Godwin alone sat beside him on the bench.

  ‘Brihtric,’ Ethelred said at last, ‘these are heavy charges. Do you have men who will swear on this?’

  Brihtric produced twelve men of rank who would swear what he said was true. They looked Wulfnoth full in the face and repeated the charge that he had betrayed them to the Danes. Wulfnoth glared at them. Bastards all.

  ‘Can you summon men of equal rank who will swear upon your innocence?’ the king asked.

  Wulfnoth looked about him to see which of the council might volunteer.

  Morcar stood. ‘I will swear!’

  Eadric seemed to gloat, waiting to see who else would betray themselves. Wulfnoth’s temper flared, but he kept his mouth shut. If he had gone down on his knees to beg the Wise, their consciences would have been pricked to action, but Wulfnoth was too proud and they were too fearful, and Wulfnoth was disgusted by them all and sought to invoke heavenly judgement.

  ‘I will take trial by ordeal,’ Wulfnoth said. ‘I will do whatever you desire, lord, to prove my worth. I put my faith in the Lord Almighty.’

  ‘Wulfnoth,’ Ethelred said, ‘why trouble the Almighty Maker? If you have twelve men who will come here and swear oaths on your behalf, then it will be that Brihtric is mistaken. This is not a lynching. Leave your son here and go and find twelve men who will swear oaths on your behalf.’

  Godwin could see his father pause, like the man who understands that he has stumbled – or been led into a trap – and sees no way out except to win a good name.

  ‘I will not give my son, for he is innocent of any crime.’

  ‘We do not doubt his innocence,’ Ethelred said. ‘It is yours that is on trial.’

  ‘Lord! I swear what this man says is not true.’ Wulfnoth went to put his hand on his hilt, but his sword had been taken. The move was enough for two of the king’s guards to start towards him.

  ‘I suggest you do as the king bids,’ Eadric said. ‘Leave your son in his care, go and bring your witnesses and let the king decide.’

  Of all the room Wulfnoth looked to Godwin. There was no other face that he could trust for a response, and Godwin believed in him, heart and soul.

  Godwin was fearless then. ‘Go, Father!’ he said. ‘We all know that you are innocent. If my staying allows you to go and clear your name, then go.’

  Godwin was nearly eleven, but he was old enough to make a choice, old enough to understand what he was giving his father. And despite all that happened after, Godwin’s choice was good. He drew the attention of every man there, and it seemed strange that the Wise of England were witnesses there, not to the wisdom or good deeds of their king, but to the courage of a ten-year-old boy who believed in his father, as boys did. Generosity glowed within him, and he seemed to shine with an inner ligh
t, like an angel, filled with the glow of truth and right.

  Wulfnoth – who would not kneel to save his own life – knelt before his son and held Godwin’s head between both his hands and kissed his brow. He spoke in a whisper. ‘Godwin, my son, these are lies.’

  Godwin took his hands from his head and held them in his own. ‘I know,’ he told him. ‘We all know this. Go! Bring twelve men, and when you return, the fleet shall keep the Danes away.’

  Wulfnoth kissed his brow again. ‘I will come back for you, I swear.’

  Godwin pushed his father’s hands away. Yes, he smiled, I know. Wulfnoth stood and Godwin remained. He was not afraid. He stood calmly as his father faced the assembly and swore an oath to return within twelve nights.

  Godwin remained as his father strode to the hall door. Wulfnoth paused for a moment and turned to take in the hall. His cheeks were red, his nostrils flared; he hated them. But his eyes found Godwin and Wulfnoth’s last act was to nod to his son, half confirmation, half farewell, it seemed, in hindsight. Godwin smiled at his father. Wulfnoth Cild found it hard to respond. He gathered his cloak about him and stepped out of the hall, stooped slightly against the rain.

  Godwin did not know what to do then. He had played a role of willing hostage, but now it seemed he must submit to the king’s authority.

  At that moment Morcar stepped forward. ‘I shall care for Godwin until Wulfnoth returns.’

  Godwin turned his gaze on the king, and although the light had gone from his complexion, Ethelred had seen the same beauty that the rest of the hall had seen and was not unmoved. Even Eadric did nothing to protest, and so Godwin was led away from the hall with the remains of the party of Elfhelm tight about him.

  ‘That was a brave thing to do,’ Morcar’s cousin, Sigeferth, said.

  Godwin thought for a moment that he was talking to him, but when he looked up, he saw that the two men were talking above his head, and that the comment was directed at Morcar, not Godwin.

  ‘I could not leave him to Eadric. He would not last the week.’

  ‘It would have been better if you had stayed quiet.’

 

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