Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 06] Saxon Slaughter

by Griff Hosker

  Leading a pack horse with food and kindling we rode in silence through the silent forest which was shrouded in mist. The mantle of snow lay like a cloak around the mountain’s shoulders and, once more, the mountain seemed a living being and not an inanimate rock. We dismounted at the entrance to the cave and led our horses inside. They were reluctant to do so and we had to speak quietly to them and use our spirits to make them bend their will to ours.

  Gawan gasped as Myrddyn lit the torch which illuminated the inside. The single torch threw shadows dancing around its walls making it seem even more alive. It contrasted with the witch’s cave which had seemed dead and empty. We lit a circle of torches around the water and then Gawan and I began to build a fire with the kindling we had brought. Night came quickly and we saw that outside the cave was now as black as the inside of the cave had been.

  We ate a simple meal and laid out our cloaks. The torches and the fire kept out the cold and it felt almost cosy in the cave. Gawan was desperate to sleep so that he could dream but Myrddyn would not let him.

  “First you need to drink this potion.” He handed Gawan a flask.

  “I never had to drink a potion, wizard.”

  “No, Warlord but your blood line came directly from your mother. Hogan Lann did not always dream here. The potion merely opens the mind to the door which leads to the Otherworld. It will not harm him; I swear.”

  “I did not think it would. I was merely curious.”

  Gawan eagerly swallowed the potion and lay down on his cloak. “Do not try to dream. Just sleep. No matter what you see, you cannot be harmed. Your grandmother’s spirit and your ancestors live here and will watch over you.”

  As he lay down I looked at Myrddyn. The wizard looked like a concerned father. This was a momentous occasion for the wizard. I doubted that he would have a son of his own and, perhaps, Gawan was as close as he would ever get to that state. When we heard Gawan’s steady breathing then we knew he was asleep.

  “What do you hope for, Myrddyn?”

  For the first time since I had met him the wizard looked almost nervous. “I am hoping that he dreams my dream. I dream your dreams and my dreams. If your son dreams mine as well as his own then it means that he will be a wizard. If not then he will just be a gifted healer.”

  “And is that a bad thing?”

  “No but Rheged and this land needs another Myrddyn, just as it needs another Warlord. You have been preparing your son to take over for some time. I need to do the same. Neither of us is getting any younger.”

  I was not surprised that he had divined my intention but I began to wonder what would be the effect of my son having that power too. I lay down on my wolf cloak, closed my eyes and prepared to enter the spirit world.

  The wolves were coming for me. They circled in the woods around my city and they made no sound. They came closer and closer. My sentries on the wall saw nothing and when I spoke to one he had no eyes and was as a stone. The beasts began to feast on my horses and the stone sentries and I could do nothing. I was helpless and I found that I could not move. The leader of the pack had red glaring eyes and teeth dripping with the blood and the gore of the dead and he came steadily towards me. He did not rush but he slowly opened his mouth which became, in an instant, as big as the cave. Just before his teeth closed upon me there was a white light which made me cover my eyes and a scream which I suddenly realised came from within me. Then all was black and I saw my mother coming towards me and she was holding Gawan’s hand. They both smiled at me and then at each other. Behind them I saw Myrddyn and he was sleeping. I closed my eyes, for I was tired and I heard my mother’s voice, “Trust your son he has the power. Have faith in your men for they fight for you. The end is coming. A new world is dawning.” I opened my eyes to ask her a question and she began to fade from view. “You have done all that I have asked you to do and you are the saviour of Rheged. I am proud of you.” Then she slipped away and all that was left was a thin grey cloud which disappeared as I looked. I heard a voice saying gently, “Warlord, awake.”

  I opened my eyes and there was a thin light from outside. The torches had almost burned themselves out and the fire was just red embers glowing against the glistening pool of Wyddfa. He helped me to my feet and we watched as Gawan kept dreaming. Myrddyn held his finger to his lips. Gawan began tossing and turning. He began to mouth unintelligible words. I wanted to wake him. Myrddyn shook his head and then reached down and stroked my son’s head. He chanted in the same language which Gawan had used and the tossing turning ceased and then Gawan lay still.

  Myrddyn stood. “Your son will awaken soon.” He examined my face carefully. As usual I knew that he had dreamed my dream, or, at least, a part of it. He seemed satisfied and he began to pack the horses with the cloaks and the torches.

  “I saw her.”

  I looked down. Gawan had awakened. “Your grandmother?”

  “She was a lady in white and she knew me.” He looked at me curiously, “She held my hand and we saw the wolves trying to eat you. She spoke to me and said you would be safe.”

  Myrddyn nodded, and seemed satisfied. “Was there anything else which you saw?”

  “I saw Cadwallon. He was older and a king. He slew King Edwin and then he too was killed by warriors.”

  At that sombre news Myrddyn smiled. He saw my shocked expression. “I am not happy at Cadwallon’s death but it will not happen until he becomes king. Nor will it happen while Edwin lives. I am happy because I dreamed that too and it means that Gawan will be a wizard. He too can talk to the dead.”

  “Don’t I talk to the dead too?”

  “No, they talk to you and that is the difference. Come we need to get back or they will worry about us.” He stopped and looked at us both. “What Gawan saw may not come true but we cannot tell the prince. It would change him and King Cadwallon should be the warrior you make him into, Warlord. Your work is not finished.”

  “From what my mother said, I thought that it was. She said the end was coming. I thought that she meant the end of my life.”

  “There will be an end but we do not know yet what that will be. We just need to be prepared.”

  As we rode down the hill Gawan asked, “The wolves; I thought they were our friends for father is the Wolf Warrior.”

  “There are many kinds of wolves. I believe that these wolves are humans. I believe that they may be treacherous people who try to deceive our friends. These are dangerous times.”

  “I know. I worry that we have spread our best warriors too thinly. An attack on Caer Gybi now might be disastrous.”

  “Any attack now might be disastrous. Your son and I have much magic to perform and you have another army to build.”

  That evening, after the meal, I went to my Great Hall and sat at the oval table I used to speak with my captains. It was empty now for most were far away. My seat was marked by my wolf emblem and I sat there. I laid Saxon Slayer before me as I always did. There was an opening at the far end of the hall and through it I could see Mona to the west. It was somehow reassuring to see it there when I spoke with my leaders.

  “You sit alone Warlord.”

  I looked up and saw Prince Cadwallon there. “I like to come here sometimes to think.” I spread my hand at my table. “This might be my greatest achievement.”

  “The table?”

  “No, my prince, what it represents. Around this table we are all equal. Any one of my commanders can give his opinion.”

  The prince smiled. “I have stood in this room and they normally do just as you wish, Warlord.”

  I laughed, “True but every man has the chance to give me his views and I listen.” I looked at him, fixing him with my eye. “Have my decisions been poor ones?”

  He blushed, “Forgive me, warlord, I meant no disrespect.”

  “Here in this room, you need not apologise. Tell me honestly what you think. Just answer the question. You are no longer a boy you are a man who has been blooded in war and now you are my son too.”r />
  “No, I do not think you have made poor decisions. Wyrd has intervened and you have had to change your plans.” He looked around the table and moved his hand across the smooth surface.

  “You have a place at this table now.”

  He looked up at me as though I had offered him a throne. “Me? Where would I sit?”

  He was the young squire once more. I waved my hand around the table. “You can see where my leaders have either put their sign or their name. I have the wolf as does my son. There is a boar and a hawk. There is even a dragon.”

  “A dragon?”

  “Aye, the red dragon of your father. As I recall there is an empty space next to it.”

  “Then I shall have mine in that place; the green dragon which will be my sign.”

  “A good choice.”

  “Indeed it is, Prince Cadwallon.” We both looked up as Myrddyn and Gawan entered. “The dragon is the symbol of Wyddfa. Its colour can change. Might I suggest the colour should be black for you would be a Wolf Warrior would you not? Their sign is the black wolf.”

  “The Black Dragon.,,” he mused. “Yes that will be my sign. I will have a banner made.” He looked wistfully at Saxon Slayer. “Would that I had a blade such as that one.”

  Myrddyn chuckled. “Swords such as that one do not arrive by happenstance. Lord Lann was chosen. A sword will choose you. That reminds me, I must examine the Roman Spatha we found in the witch’s cave.”

  The prince became animated. “Could we do it now?”

  “If the warlord is not busy...” He saw my questioning look. I had planned on enjoying some wine and a fire. “The four who discovered it must be there when it is examined.”

  I sighed; I did not want to disappoint the two young men. “Very well. But it had better be worth it.” I realised that I sounded truculent but I didn’t care.

  Myrddyn’s workshop was built into the rock wall of the mountain. He had chosen its position carefully and had had men working for many months until he was satisfied. Prince Cadwallon had never been inside and he walked almost reverently into it. There were baskets with herbs and bottles with liquids. There were powders and pastes and strange pieces of wood but what made you start were the lights which Myrddyn had in the workshop. There were torches and they burned not only brightly but also colourfully. It made it even more magical.

  On the bench were the sword and the jet. “The coins?” I asked.

  “Inconsequential. I have given them to Brother Oswald. We can melt them down and make our own.”

  I shook my head. For me they had been valuable because they had been a link to our Roman past but to the wizard they were metal.

  “Now the jet is valuable and we can use them to make protective amulets and necklaces. They are almost as good as the blue stone.”

  “You mean like the stone my mother and Nanna have on their necklaces?”

  “Aye and like the one your father has on Saxon Slayer. Now the sword... I have cleaned it up as you can see.”

  The blade was polished. The part which had broken off was just the tip and the blacksmith could repair that. We leaned in to see the writing which was clearly seen on the blade. “As I am the only one who can read Latin well, I will read it.”

  He held the sword up It make it possible for us to see the words as he read them. “I WAS MADE FOR ULPIUS: GRANDSON OF THE WARRIOR MACRO: I FIGHT FOR ROME.”

  Myrddyn almost caressed the sword. “There is a story behind this blade. Of that I am certain. I will have to dig out brother Osric’s papers to see what I can discover.”

  The prince said, “Can I touch it?”

  “Of course.”

  As soon as he held the blade I watched him shiver. He turned to me with an ecstatic look upon his face. “It feels powerful. My fingers tingle.”

  I looked at Myrddyn who nodded. That was the sign that a sword belonged to you. The wizard carefully took it from the prince and said, “When it is repaired try it again but in daylight where you can see the mountain.”

  After the boys had gone he said, “The sword called to him. I felt it and I know Gawan did.”

  “But it is such an old sword.”

  “It is younger than yours Warlord and there is a connection to Rome and the men who defended this land. Your sword came from a place close to a Roman fort and this one was found within twenty miles of your home. They are connected. I have much to do before the spring.”

  “Why the spring?”

  “Because that is when war will come.”

  The next morning we took the sword outside and Myrddyn handed it to the prince. The sun came out behind the mountain and sparkled on the shining blade.

  “That is the sign, Prince Cadwallon. The sword is yours and the mountain approves.”

  And so Prince Cadwallon of Gwynedd wielded the sword from the stone, the sword of Rome and he used it until the day he died defending the free peoples of Britannia.

  Chapter 16

  I did not know how he knew but I trusted him. In typical wizard fashion Myrddyn could not tell me where the war would begin, just that it would. I worried that King Edwin would begin to claw back the land from Rheged. I had to trust my son, Hogan Lann. The north would have to rely on him. I could not be in two places at once.

  I also knew that I had to do something to prepare and so I summoned my captains, Tuanthal, Daffydd and the garrison commander Llewellyn ap Gruffyd. The prince, Brother Oswald, Myrddyn and Gawan also attended.

  “I need to know how many men we could muster if we had to fight.”

  Tuanthal had already been training his new riders and he looked glum. “There are but fifty I could take to war now. In another month there will be ten more who are ready and thirty others who would give the appearance of numbers.”

  “Thank you for your honesty. Daffydd?”

  “We are more fortunate. With the men from Lord Raibeart and Lord Aelle added to the ones we had already recruited, we could have sixty. In a month they will be better riders.”

  “Llewellyn?”

  “It depends how many men you wish to protect this castle. We have fifty men only here. There are despatch riders and others who work in the castle but we sent most of our men with Lord Hogan Lann.”

  I did not know if there was criticism in his words but if so it was deserved. We had cut our forces to the bone. “That would only give us ten foot soldiers.”

  Brother Oswald coughed. “Warlord, the fort at the Narrows has eighty men. You could take some from there.”

  “Excellent, that would give me another thirty.”

  Llewellyn asked, “And what of Caer Gybi?”

  I shook my head. “We can reinforce the Narrows from here but Caer Gybi protects Mona. We have already taken the archers from the island; my brothers would need the men from Caer Gybi if a war began in the west.”

  It looked like an impossible situation. Myrddyn stood and studied the map. “I apologise Warlord for not being able to predict where war will begin but we can make plans. You have a mobile army of a hundred and sixty warriors. Captain Tuanthal has another forty who can make your army appear larger. If the war begins in the west then you can gather the men of Mona to aid you.”

  “And what if the north or the east?” The south was safer as we had allies there and we would have better warning of an attack. The north and the east were the frontier.

  “If it starts in the north then you use the men from Yr Wyddgrug and Caestre. If the east then the other way around. Both forts are well garrisoned.”

  He was right; we had deliberately been generous with the forces at both forts. Brother Oswald said, “And there is a garrison at the monastery fort of Ruthin. They could be used. It would give you another twenty men.”

  I felt better. Two hundred of my men were more than a match for a warband of Saxons. “Good. I want them all kept at battle readiness. Tuanthal, take twenty of your men and explain to the commanders of the forts what I expect. It will do them no harm to be more alert too.”

&
nbsp; Gawan asked, “And what about our ships?”

  “That is an excellent thought. I will have Daffydd keep them close to Mona.”

  Brother Oswald’s face told me the story in an instant, “I am sorry Warlord. I sent them on trading missions. Captain Daffydd is on his way to Byzantium.” He must have seen my face clouding with anger for he added, hurriedly, “We cannot maintain an army without finance, Warlord, and that means trade.”

  He was right of course. We had the best army because we were rich and we were rich because of the trade and the peace. They need a good army. It was an inevitable circle. “You are right Brother Oswald but it might have been sensible to keep one ship close to home.”

  “You will have to use your brothers then, Warlord.”

  Both of my brothers kept a small ship each for protection and for trade. We only needed them to warn us of an approaching enemy. “You are right Myrddyn. Send a rider to ask my brothers to watch for enemies.”

  When they had all left me and I was alone with Myrddyn I told him of my fears. “This is my worst nightmare. It is my mother’s warning. The wolves are coming and we are alone.”

  “We cannot know what is intended for us and what path we must follow but I have yet to dream your death.”

  “Perhaps it is not you who will dream my death. Have you thought of that?”

  “I have and I have dismissed the idea as ridiculous. The only other one who could dream your death would be Gawan but you and I are bound by more than blood.” He seemed supremely confident. “I will be dreaming your death.”

  I almost laughed at the macabre nature of that statement. Myrddyn wanted to be the one to predict my death. I knew that he would not wish my death but he craved the power of life and death. He was right. Our lives and our destinies were intertwined and depended upon each other.

  Prince Cadwallon sought me out as I walked along the beach. “Warlord, I did not wish to bring this up at the meeting for I am new to this sort of thing but why do you worry about the east? My father and his men protect that part of the frontier.”