Housecarl

by Griff Hosker

  “So, Aethelward, you say that he is going to attack?”

  “Without a shadow of a doubt although not this year. His newly conquered subjects are causing him some trouble.”

  “And would you advise an attack from us?”

  “You have a problem there my lord for it appears that Aedgar of Mercia is his ally; it would invite an attack from the rear.”

  “This Cynan Ap Iago, I find it hard to believe that he would countenance supporting the man who killed his father.”

  “He was an angry young man my lord.”Aethelward gave a wry grin. “Perhaps more with me than anyone for my part in defeating his father. I think he is looking for an opportunity to regain his throne and the king keeps him close to watch him.”

  “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer still eh?”

  “Yes my lord.”

  “We cannot have this sword of Damocles hanging over us Aethelward. Come now you have a mind which sees things others do not. What is fermenting in that fertile brain of yours?”

  I now know that I had come to understand my uncle as well as any man for I knew that he had formulated a plan already and I found that parts of it had been in my mind also. Perhaps the games of chess we had played had helped.

  He walked over to the chess board and asked, “What is the aim of a game of chess?”

  Ulf snorted his impatience, “Why to win of course. Even I know that old friend.”

  “And you win how?”

  Harold stood next to my uncle and picked up the black king. “You take the king.”

  “Exactly. Now we could go through all his warriors, his pawns and I believe we would defeat him.”

  “But we would lose many men in doing so.”

  Aethelward nodded at Sweyn, “Precisely! So how would it be if we didn’t fight his army but just captured the king.”

  Ulf and Ridley looked confused but I could see where he was going and I leapt to my feet. “By going to Rhuddlan and his court. There he only has his guards!”

  Harold slapped me on the back. “You are right Aethelward he does have a sharp mind. So we go by sea. And attack him where he feels safest.”

  “It would be simple enough to march north, through Mercia, as though going to visit your brother and then head up to the Dee and make the short crossing to Rhuddlan.”

  “We would need boats.”

  “There are plenty on the south coast. They could sail around the coast to meet us. Remember, we have almost a year to plan and put our pieces in position. It is too late in the season for an attack this year and we could fortify the frontier forts in case he strikes early.”

  “I like it. We can train the warriors over the next few weeks and strike early next year.” He hugged my uncle and then looked at me. “And we will have time to see if we can make this cub into a true wolf.”

  The next few months were amongst the best in my life. Ulf was given the task of training us as Aethelward spent most of the time closeted with the Earl planning strategy. We did not mind. Ulf had told us that we had to wear our mail shirts and armour each time we practised. At first we thought it was enjoyable but we soon tired when it increased the length of time we had to spend cleaning and repairing it not mention the weight of wearing it. We did notice that we were becoming stronger and knew that Ulf was a wise warrior.

  When we began the training for the shield wall Ulf took us away from the other warriors. “When you are in a shield wall you are not fighting alone, you are with your brothers and you are one. You are one mind and one body. There is a place of honour in the shield wall and that is to the right for the warrior on the extreme right is in most danger. The men at the rear also have to be able to push hard to allow those at the front to fight and kill their enemies.” He looked at Ridley. “You will stand to the right and behind Aelfraed. The two of you will be in the rear rank.”

  I felt somehow cheated and I wanted to be in the front rank. I was going to say something when I saw that Ridley just nodded and accepted the decision and it made me realise that I had killed one fat bandit and I thought I could take on King Gruffyd. I almost laughed aloud but instead I nodded.

  “Now we will rejoin the others for Sweyn has decided that we need to work as one unit from now on and he asked me to tell you your positions. You will need to get to know the warriors around you and work with them.”

  As we returned I gripped my spear. I was immensely proud of that weapon for I had made it and bound the head to the haft. It had a fine balance to it and was sharp enough to shave with. I never minded sharpening my weapons for I knew their value in combat. I was even more pleased that I had painted my shield, for my enemies, and my friends would know who I was. I had taken the emblem of the Earl, a white horse and married it to that of Gruffyd whom I admired and I had a red horse painted on my shield. Ridley had the same but while my horse’s head was raised, his was lowered. I had been worried about choosing an emblem so closely associated with the Earl until Sweyn made a comment. He nodded to the house where Aethelward spoke with the Earl. “Your Uncle has connections with the King and the Earl you have chosen wisely, Aelfraed, perhaps even more than you know.”

  The others in the shield wall had fought together before and we were amongst the replacements for those lost in the last fight against the Danes who had raided the previous year. We could see the gap in the rear rank and knew that our places had been allocated. I was to the left of Ridley and to my left was a man not much older than we, he was called Wolf. He nodded at me as I stood next to him and the chess player in me deduced that the newer ones would be in the middle where they could do the least damage to the integrity of the wall. The warrior to Ridley’s right was an older man with a long scar running down his left cheek. “I am Osgar and you have been given much honour.”

  I looked to my left and right and realised that we were but six men from the right, As Ulf had said, the wing for the better warriors. It showed the confidence that Sweyn had in us.

  The field on which we found ourselves was outside Winchester and, although largely flat had plenty of rocks underfoot. We quickly found out that we had to listen to Sweyn’s words for he did not repeat them. “Walk!”

  If you have never tried to walk in armour, carrying a shield and a spear, making sure that you are touching both men on either side of you then you have no concept of what it is like to fight in a shield wall. We were in the wedge formation with Sweyn at the front and then Ulf and another seasoned warrior, then four men and so on back to us the sixteen men at the rear. I could not believe how hard it was to walk. It was only when Osgar said quietly, “Use the same foot as the man next to you.”

  Ridley glanced down and used, as Osgar did, his right foot. I copied him and nudged Wolf so that we were all in step. It struck me that had we been told this then life would have been easier but once we were in the rhythm it was easy. They say that pride comes before a fall and so it was with us. The command, “Run!” brought an increase in pace and, as I looked down to the right to check which foot I should use I tripped on the spear butt of the man ahead. Had I fallen alone it would have been bad enough but I brought down Ridley and Wolf as I crashed to the ground in an ungainly heap. “Halt!”

  Before we could struggle to our feet the grinning warriors around us had split into two groups and made a passage for Sweyn to walk down. He towered over us as we shamefacedly stood to face him. “I am sorry sir, it was my fault.”

  Sweyn just shook his head. “The three of you are at fault and we have a punishment.” I glanced over to see Osgar sadly shake his head. I noticed that the rest of the warriors had reversed their spears and that the passage was now but two paces wide. Sweyn pointed to Ulf at the other end of the passage of spear butts. “You have to run down the passage to Ulf.” The grin on his face told me that it would be painful.

  I turned to Wolf and Ridley. “I am sorry. I will make it up to you.” In answer Ridley set off roaring as he raced down the passage his shield held high and his head tucked in. H
e took me and the warriors by surprise and he was half way down before the first blow struck. Wolf immediately followed and he was five paces down the alley of spear butts before he was hit. I knew, even as I started running, that they would be ready for me. I did as Ridley had done and also I wrapped the end of my cloak around my knuckles; this was partly to protect my hand but also to stop me tripping over the garment. My comrades did not hold back and I was eternally grateful for the helmet and leather cap which dulled the blows. Some of the warriors were quite vicious and one stabbed his butt at my nose and I felt something crack.

  By the time I reached Ulf I could barely walk and I could feel the blood dripping from numerous wounds. Ulf leaned over and said quietly, “It is a mistake most men only do once. Next time don’t fall.”

  As I took my place in the rear rank I saw Ridley smiling at me; he looked to have only suffered a couple of bruises. Wolf on the other side had a gash in his cheek but he did not look angry. I vowed to be more careful the next time. When I heard, “Run!” I was ready and I did not look anywhere but ahead. I felt proud of myself until I heard, “Charge!” and we went even faster. All those games of chasing came into play as Ridley and I kept pace for pace with each other. Suddenly I felt Wolf lurch towards me and his hand gripped my shield for balance. I was terrified that I would fall and I lifted the shield higher. Miraculously it helped him to regain his balance and then we heard, “Stop!” Fortunately the three of us managed to stop in time but two unfortunates ran into the backs of the warriors in front of them who stabbed their spear butts down on to their feet. Obviously that was a lesser crime than falling.

  The afternoon was filled with more of these exercises. I noticed that Sweyn and Ulf took it in turns to lead and when not leading they would stand in the rank behind us. I later discovered this was part of the strategy for it gave a leader before and behind and that way we could react to events not visible to the front rank.

  After a short rest we were divided into two smaller wedges. Ulf led ours and Sweyn the other. We faced each other a hundred paces apart and then Ulf roared, “Walk!” After a few paces he shouted, “Run!” and finally roared a, ”Charge!”

  The two wedges met in an almighty crash. That was not the end however, that was the beginning for Ulf shouted, “Push!”

  Osgar turned to us. “Push your shield into the back of the man in front of you and dig your spear butts into the ground.”

  We did so and I felt the man in front start to move backwards onto me. I gritted my teeth and pushed down with my doughty ash staff and flexed my legs to take the pressure. I felt sure that we would be pushed back and wondered what punishment that would entail and then I felt Ridley’s shield move forwards and I pushed a little harder too. Suddenly Wolf was pushing with me and I heard Osgar shout, ”That’s it keep going! We have them!” Soon we were walking forwards again and then just as suddenly we were running for we had broken them.”

  It must have been a momentous event for there was much backslapping, especially of the three new ones. “Why are they so happy?”

  “Sweyn had the best warriors against us. That is the first time he has lost.”

  Ridley looked terrified, “We won’t be punished will we?”

  In answer Sweyn strode up to us. “Well done! Perhaps I should make all my warriors run the gauntlet. Do that in battle and you will soon be in the front rank.”

  As we walked back to the hall every bruise and cut was forgotten as the three of us relived every push and shove of the afternoon and, more importantly, we listened to our new comrades striding alongside us as fellow warriors. The trip, the fall and the gauntlet were forgotten for we had shown them that we could be warriors.

  The next morning Harold took most of the Housecarls with him to visit the King in London. As uncle was not with him I assumed it was to tell the king of his impending attack on the Welsh for the Earl could not act without the king’s permission and we all knew that King Edward did not like war of any kind. Harold was the most charismatic and charming of men and if anyone could bring off that feat then it would be him. The newer members of the Housecarls were left with Ulf to continue their training and Aethelward came to watch. When we were told to bring our axes I was excited. Ever since I had acquired my weapon I had been desperate to use it.

  There were just six of us who were new but I only knew Wolf and Ridley. As I looked down the line I felt a sense of pride for my axe was the most beautiful one on show. The others looked to be useful and functional but mine had delicate filigree etchings along the blade and the haft had runes carved upon it. Ulf had told me that the weapon had come from a Dane and the tunes were pagan symbols. I did not care about the pagan runes for it was a most beautiful weapon.

  “You may have handled an axe before.” He looked mockingly at Ridley, “Probably cut down the odd tree or two.” Everyone laughed, Ridley included; he took Ulf’s mocking as he knew that the warrior had his best interests at heart. Ridley now modelled himself on the older warrior emulating the way he walked, sat and even drank. A tiny part of me was resentful that I was no longer the object of Ridley’s attention but I knew that we were now part of a whole. “The thing about a tree is it doesn’t move and it does try to kill you. When you cut down a tree you are alone and have room to swing. You will be in a shield wall and there will be men all around you. The enemy will be doing their best to kill you. Sling your shield around your back and take you axe in your right hand and hold it to the side.” We found we had to move to avoid touching the man next to us. “For this particular part of the training we will ignore the shield wall until you have perfected the technique.” When he was satisfied with our positioning he faced us and took his axe in two hands. One hand was half way along the axe whilst the other held the end. He began to swing and spoke as he did so. “You need to build up a rhythm and swing the axe in loops before your face. Just begin to swing to get the feeling of the axe. As you swing slide your hand until they are both at the end and use the full extent of your arms.”,

  He came to look down the line and we continued to swing. It felt remarkably easy and I waited for him to tell us to stop. He didn’t and I began to feel my arms tire. Ridley and I knew Ulf and his looks. We both recognised the sardonic smile which was Ulf’s cruel side. He would not tell us to stop; he would wait until we tired and then make some disparaging comment. As the muscles in my arms burned I shut my mind to the pain and continued to swing. I sensed, rather than saw, the others lower their weapons until only two us were left swinging our weapons. The astounding thing was we were both in time and the blades hummed along together, sweeping the air before us. Even with the pain I could see that it would take a brave man to advance towards me. At the same time my mind saw the weakness, if I had my spear which I had named Dragon Tamer in honour of the Welsh dragon, I could have stabbed through the swing and killed the axe man. I stored that information away for some future battle.

  Eventually Ulf smiled, nodded to us and said, “Halt!” He came to pat the two of us on our shoulders. “Four of you would now be dead and these two would be the sole survivors of the shield wall. You stop swinging when your enemies are dead or fled.”

  Wolf gasped, “But my arms ached!”

  Aethelward’s laugh came from behind us. “Then you need to build up your muscles so that they ache less and fight through the pain.” He stood next to me. “Did you arms burn?”

  “Like dragon’s fire.”

  “And yet you continued. Why?”

  “We had not been told to stop.” He shrugged and walked away.

  Ulf faced us again. “Notice that Aelfraed and Ridley swung their axes together. That is our next exercise.” The others groaned but Ridley and I gritted our teeth. We wanted to be Housecarls and if that mean some pain then so be it. We would not let our mentors down.

  By the time night fell we were exhausted but we could stand in line, shoulder to shoulder and swing our axes in perfect unison. I did wonder about the differences we would have in the real
shield wall for although Wolf and Ridley stood next to me they had others next to them who were different heights with weapons of different lengths.

  That evening after we had cleaned and polished our weapons and armour, we sat in the empty hall with Ulf and Aethelward asking them questions of the battles they had fought and the role of the shield wall. I asked about the wedge formation. “That is the one you have trained for the most. It is the one we use when we go for a victory. If it is the whole army then you would be in the seventh rank and behind you would be the other warriors, the ones who are not Housecarls. When we fight like that we normally face another wedge and it is a killing ground. Most of the time you will be in two ranks for defence. You six are newer warriors and you will be in the second rank. When the others return we will have to practise that tactic.”

  One of the other recruits snorted, “That sounds much easier just standing behind a man.”

  Ulf shook his head, “I said we would fight in two ranks but you, in the second rank, use your shield to protect you and the man in the front rank for when we are in two ranks the enemy will use his arrows and javelins. Your shield has to protect two of you. When we are in two ranks the enemy may use a wedge. Suppose you are in the second rank when the point of the wedge comes to you. Sixty men trying to get beyond you and into the fyrd. What then?” The fyrd were the peasants who would be armed with whatever they could get their hands on. They would be useful when clearing a field but we knew that it was we the warriors who would win or lose the day.

  There was a silence as we drank our ale and watched the flames of the fire dance red and blue. When uncle spoke, even though his voice was quiet we jumped. “And then there is the boar’s snout.”

  I had never heard this before. “Boar’s snout.”

  “Aye Aelfraed. It is a Danish tactic. They have two wedges together so that they look like the snout of a boar. They wrap around a shield wall. The middle gets sucked in and before you know it you are surrounded and cut to pieces. The shield wall only works when it is solid. If it is breached or not continuous then it breaks. It is the contact of the warriors and their shields and continuity of the line which sees us through. You may have to fight and stand although wounded. I have seen dead men supported in a shield wall, doing their duty beyond death.”