Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 02] Saxon Revenge (21 page)

Garth nodded his approval. Of all of the officers he knew Myrddyn best.  “It would need a precise command.”

“How about, ‘Front rank prepare, third ranks stab, second rank rotate.’?”

The two warriors nodded and I said.  That would work.  Teach the men the command tomorrow. Thank you Myrddyn.”

“I would teach at least fifty tonight for you will be fighting tomorrow early I think.”

As we went to bed I wondered how accurate my healer was and the answer was, very!

Chapter 11

I was awoken before dawn by Garth; he was fully armed and armoured.  “My lord, there is movement across the river.  The sentries have reported warriors heading towards the bridge.”

“Call everyone to arms.”

He grinned, “Already done my lord!”

I felt the stiffness in my leg as I struggled into my armour. Summer would mean some respite from my wound but the winter and spring dampness had made me acutely aware of my injury. As I strapped on Saxon Slayer I remembered that it had not been sharpened lately.  I would have to remedy that. I put my shield over my back and carried my helmet.  I needed to see clearly if I was to make the right decisions. As I walked down to the bridge I saw that Riderch and Garth had organised the first thirty warriors who would face any foe who came to the bridge. We would meet them at the far side although I suspected that I would have to give that up at some point as my warriors could be attacked from the flanks there and we had to minimise casualties. Our side, the northern bank, of the river was much easier to defend but we intended them to buy the bridge crossing at the cost of their warriors.

Raibeart was already there as was Myrddyn.  My healer thrust a hunk of bread and a piece of cheese into my hand.  I did not feel like eating but he glared at me. “Brother Oswald stressed that you must eat before battle and, as the Lady Aideen backed him up I would rather face your wrath than theirs.  So eat.” He walked back to the area we had set aside for the injured.

“Bossy little bugger isn’t he?”

“Yes brother but he is as valuable to us as another twenty archers.”

“From what I gleaned last night he is.”

I could see that the warriors, with Riderch at their head and Ridwyn next to him, were at the far side of the bridge.  The spearmen at the rear had hidden their spears and behind them were forty archers.  We had more archers waiting on our side of the bridge but they would give a concentrated and withering rain of arrows to deter attacks. I was confident that we would hold them this day but as for the next, I was not so sure. The rest of the warriors waited patiently in three huge lines on the steeply sloping banks of the river. The terracing made them look to be a larger force than we actually were.  The twenty men from the village formed a small fourth rank.  The warriors who would replace those on the bridge had all been assigned a number so that they would reinforce the others in groups of tens. It was another Brother Osric idea stolen from the practical and ingenious Romans. All of the rest of our archers and slingers were on either side of the bridge.

As we waited a huge warrior from Strathclyde approached us. “My lord, I am Angus and I lead the warriors from Strathclyde.”

I nodded, “And we are pleased to fight alongside you again.”

“Aye, well we know yon laddies are very useful with swords and very organised.” He gave me a shrewd look.  “I ken that ye think we are mad buggers and we are but we do have a weapon that you do not.  This.”

He pulled out a huge metal ball held by a thick rope. “What in Belenus’ name is that? And how do you use it?”

“It’s like a war hammer but you whirl it around your head and you throw it.”

I picked it up, but only just, it was incredibly heavy.  “What does it do?”

He grinned and I noticed that he had no front teeth; he would be a frightening warrior to fight. “It will smash through a shield and armour.  Even a helmet and shield will not stop it.”

“What is to stop them throwing it back?”

“That is why we stopped using the hammer; our enemies could use that against us but this takes years of practise to perfect.  We only have ten warriors who can use it really well.  If the Saxons try to throw if back they will hurt their own men more than us.”

“Send your ten warriors to me and I will use them when it is right.”

“So that’ll be nine others and me then eh?”

He picked it up with one hand as though it was a turnip and wandered over to his men. “That might be useful; especially if they mass against us.”

Dawn broke behind the Saxons and we began to see them as they marched down the slope towards the river.  Their shields were locked and they looked determined.  Aella had many fresh warriors to throw against us and he would have chosen his assault troops carefully. They would have seen our camp fires and estimated our forces.  It would have been obvious to Aella that it was not the full army which faced him and that would have given him some hope that he could destroy us and then rampage through Bernicia. We were relying on our training and our archers to withstand this first assault. This was the first battle I had watched rather than fought in and it was a strange experience. Men would be dying and I would just stand by.

“Look Lann, there are flames!”

I could see torches coming towards us; they were ahead of the wall of shields.  There were too many just to light up their attack and I wondered what Aella’s plan was.  It became clear when they hurled them at the log barricade erected across the bridge.  They would burn it and force the warriors back. Miach would have to deal with that.  I yelled, “Miach take out the men with the torches.”

The answer came quickly and I saw the torches drop but they were brave men and others took their paces to be dropped again but they came inexorably on. I was about to change the order when Miach read my mind.  He rained arrow after arrow on a twenty pace section and there were no more warriors to throw the torches. Myrddyn sent the slingers forward with buckets and they hauled river water to douse the flames. Even after they were out they continued to wet the logs to prevent a second attempt.

The sun was fully up and I could see the wall of bodies which littered the road on the other side of the bridge.  The men had been unarmoured and I suspect they were little more than boys but they had died for Aella and they had failed.  What would his next strategy be?

Aella was forced to resort to brute force.  He sent his warriors down in a ten wide, one hundred deep column of heavily armed and armoured men.  The barrier would delay them and they would lose warriors but it could be demolished.  Miach needed no orders from me and he and his archers began to release arrow after arrow, continuously so that the Saxons had to hide beneath their shields. Warriors fell but they were quickly replaced and, when they reached the barrier they began to demolish it.  That was when they began to lose larger numbers of men.  They had not trained sufficiently and there were gaps in the shields.  Warriors died. They were not large numbers but they were whittled down as the men at the front tore down the logs with their axes and, in some cases, their bare hands.  The first few logs were easy but then they came within the range of Riderch and his men.  The warrior’s swords chopped off hands and arms as they appeared.  Still they came on and still they died.  Eventually the barrier was down and warrior faced warrior.

It was hard to see who was winning but when I saw a ripple at the front then I knew we had changed for the first time.  I could see that, had we wanted to, we could have pushed them back but Riderch and his men were under strict orders to hold at the bridge. Beyond the edge of the bridge we could be outflanked. Eventually I heard a horn sound and the Saxons pulled back. Garth immediately sent down the next thirty warriors as the Saxons move back up the hill.

Riderch and Ridwyn came to me as soon as they had crossed the bridge.  “Myrddyn’s idea worked well my lord.  We lost but four warriors and they lost many more.”

“Good, get some rest for this is not over.”

This time the warriors who held the southern end of the bridge were led by men from Elmet. They all shouted Wolf Warrior and saluted me as they marched down to the bridge.  They held me in high esteem for my efforts against Wach.  They were good men. It was noon and I had ensured that all my men were fed.  Raibeart had replaced Miach to give him and his men a rest. Pulling a bow as often as they did tired a man, no matter how fit he was.

The next attack did not come until late afternoon.  Their warriors had remained close to the bridge. I would have replaced the logs but it risked the men replacing them being attacked.  We still had the second barrier at the northern end of the bridge and that was more important; the narrow bridge would be a bottleneck for the attacking Saxons. Their next attack was cleverly thought out and took all of us by surprise, including the thirty warriors from Elmet who guarded the end of the bridge.  They had cut down some mighty trees and attached ropes.  Their warriors pulled them down the hill and then, when they were but thirty paces from the bridge they released them.  Raibeart had his wits about him. He ordered his archers to kill the men who were pulling the third and fourth logs so that the logs slewed to the side and did no damage.  That did not matter for the first two struck the chargingwarriors in quick succession. It was carnage.  There were just the dead and dying. The Saxons rushed down to take advantage of the disaster.  I saw Raibeart look around and I said to the standard bearer.”Signal retreat.”

He did so and I was relieved to see Raibeart order his men back.  He also ordered a handful of men to find those wounded Elmet warriors and drag them to safety. “Miach, cover Raibeart!”

The Saxons were rushing towards the bridge.  Garth had the next thirty warriors ready at the barricade and Miach’s men and the slingers were doing all that they could to slow down the enemy but it was a disaster.  Raibeart loosed arrow after arrow to protect his men and soon they were heading back across the bridge with eight injured and wounded men with them.  Myrddyn would be busy that night. The archers struggled over the barricade, helped by the remaining Elmet men who had seen the cream of their fellows slaughtered by logs.  It was not a warrior’s death.

I went down to the bridge. “I want them clearing from the end of the bridge.  Do not use volleys Miach but use your best archers to kill any who stand there.”

“What if they rebuild the barricade?”

“Then let them.  They will have to take it down if they wish to attack us.”

He grinned.  “Excellent my lord.”

After they had lost twenty men Aella realised the futility of trying to get across the bridge piecemeal and his men retired. He would be back but we had bought King Urien another day. I felt like a cheat for all I had done was stand and give orders. It was others who had bled and died. I now began to understand King Urien.  He too had pressures and problems which ordinary warriors could not begin to comprehend.

I left Garth in charge and headed for Myrddyn and Raibeart who were with the wounded. “That was well done brother.”

He inclined his head and said, “That was a clever move.  Will he try that again tomorrow?”

“I think not.  The logs would have more chance of striking the side of the bridge and jamming.  No I think that tomorrow he will try his frontal assault again but he may try something different with the logs on our barricade.  Have the men pour oil on them.  Make them slippery and hard to grasp it will only slow them up but…”

“Excellent idea, brother.” Raibeart patted me on the back and went to give the orders. 

I walked up to Myrddyn.  “How goes it with you healer?”

“We have lost two.”

“Which means you have saved more.  If you were not here then all would have died.”

He looked at me and understanding flooded his face.  “I think that this was also intended my lord but I think that I am destined to help you defeat Aella.”

“Of that I am certain, my young friend.  He is a clever opponent all right.”

The men were in good spirits that night despite the loss of the bridge.  We built a pyre and burned the bodies of the Elmet warriors and placed their remains in an urn to return to their homeland.  The survivors were sombre but desperate for revenge.  I knew that the next day would be much harder; the enemy would press us until we burst and then they would be free to ravage the land to the north.

I awoke early the next day and smelled the air.  The wind was from the east and something did not seem right.  I saw Myrddyn already up and he too was looking east. “What do you see healer?”

“There is a strange feel to the air this morning and I sense danger.”

That confirmed my feelings too. “I think Aella may be up to something.” I summoned the nearest sentry. “Go and wake Lord Garth and tell him to come to me.” He trotted off down the hill to the sleeping warriors. I could see the pinpricks of fires across the river but that did not concern me.  We had warriors at the barrier and they were alert but the river was another matter.  It flowed through a steep sided valley creating shadows and darkness in which anything could hide.  We had placed sentries all along its banks but I knew from our own endeavours that men could hide if they chose.

“My lord?”

“Myrddyn and I feel there is danger along the river.  Wake and feed the men and then send Miach and my archers to the east to watch the river.  If my brother is awake then ask him to join me.”

We watched in silence as the false dawn broke. It did not aid us and we still peered into the blackness when Raibeart joined me. “Raibeart I think there may be danger along the river and I am sending Miach and my archers to watch it. Your men will need to cover the bridge.”

He nodded solemnly. “It will be at least five days before the king can reach us.”

“I know.  I am not worried about food and water nor do I fear an attack across the bridge but the river is something different.  We have no ships and we cannot control it.”

“We can my lord.”

We both stared at the young healer who was peering a little close to the bridge. “How?”