The Red And Savage Tongue (Historical Fiction Action Adventure Book, set in Dark Age post Roman Britain) (25 page)

    
‘Anyone who carries and can wield a bow, get to the front and send some arrows back!’ shouted Osric. ‘Don’t hide like women! If you possess a bow get to the front with me now!’

     Wlensling grabbed and shoved the archers forward, then checked the dead and injured
men. ‘Someone attend to Cenhelm. He screams like a stuck swine!’ he shouted.    

     Osric himself, had rarely used a bow, but slowly inched his way to the front, followed by just nine bow-carrying men.
Largely unpracticed in using the weapon, the raiders nevertheless returned a flight of arrows back across the pool to Dominic’s group, who quickly retreated out of range.

     Behind a huge clump of juniper, Osric and his fellow bowmen peered cautiously at the retreating Britons. Feeling safer now, Osric stood and marshalled the archers.
‘I want you stood across the track with bows ready to hold our position,’ he shouted.

    
‘We hit one of them,’ said Wlensling who had walked behind the archers as they released their salvo. ‘I saw a man stumble as they retreated. I could swear he was hit. Success at last.’

    
‘That may be so,’ said Osric as he continued to stare up the track looking for movement, ‘but we’ve just lost two more men, and one to wounding. That’s a quarter of our force gone, and we’ve still not reached the open land. Moreover
,
we still have to get through this water-fucked valley. You’ve been through here before with Egbert, how deep is this hollow?’

    
‘It dips steeply down,’ said Wlensling. ‘We’ll have to swim if we’re to get across.’

    
‘This campaign seems cursed,’ rumbled Osric, ‘If we attempt to swim, then we’ll be easy targets for the British arrows. Most of the men, me included, can’t swim anyway.’

    
‘Then I suggest we allow the ponies to swim, and the men attempt to climb round the steep valley sides. At least there is some cover there.’

     Osric sighed and nodded in resig
nation. ‘We’ve little choice, other than go back and find a different route. But that would put many days on our journey.’

Darga had been the first to see the men approach. His confidence had grown as the track had quickly flooded. Now he felt secure behind the water, just as centuries later other men would feel safe behind the protection of a moat.

     When Osric, Wlensling and Egbert appeared
below them, Murdoc’s face turned ashen, and his voice quavered with suppressed rage. ‘It’s Egbert, damn him, he survived after all.’

     Darga immediately fumbled for an arrow and shakily notched it to his bow. He was about to pull back when Dominic clamped his arm in restraint.
‘No not yet, I’ve told you we don’t release at solitary targets, the distance is too great to hit them individually from here. Wait until the main body joins them. We’ve more chance if we let fly skyward at a big group.’

     They waited until the raiders had bunched in numbers at the wate
r’s edge. At Dominic’s order, they sent two salvo’s into the scattering men.

    
‘They also have archers!’ shouted Murdoc. ‘Retreat along the track and out of their range!’

     As they turned and ran, Murdoc thought Joseph had stumbled, so turned to help him to his feet. Joseph, kneeling, held out his hand for assistance, his face drawn and pale, but fell to the ground just as Murdoc reached him. An arrow
had pierced him below his shoulder blade.

     Au
gustus was at the scene at once, and hefted James like a side of beef over his shoulder, running with him beyond the range of the arrows, which landed randomly to stick into the track behind them.

     Dominic examined the wound and shot a grave look at the surrounding men.
‘The arrow must come out,’ he said to James. ‘You can’t travel with it sticking out of you; every twist and catch will put you in agony if we leave it in. How they hit you, I don’t know—they’re not archers, that’s for sure.’

     James
lay on his stomach but turned his head to see Dominic. ‘Do it then,’ he whispered. ‘If it must be done, get rid of it.’ Dominic grimaced as he closed his hand around the arrow and tugged it free.

     Jam
es gasped as the arrow left him. Dark blood pulsated from the wound. Augustus immediately took hold of him, then turned him over to cradle him in his great arms.

    
‘I’ll have you tied to a pony in no time like a sack of flour, said Augustus. Here we—’

      James shook his head, stopping Augustus, and looked into
his concerned face, his voice barely above a whisper. ‘I’m too wounded for that, you must leave me here to rest … I just need to rest.’ He closed his eyes and Augustus gently stroked his brow. After a while, his eyes flickered open as clarity briefly returned to him. ‘I’ll not be able to avenge my son now,’ he whispered.

     Augustus laughed dismissively, but his tone was desperate.
‘Of course you will. Of course, you’ll be able to avenge him. It’s merely a pinprick man. You, yourself, will take care of the shits that killed your lad. Don’t doubt that.’

     James
didn’t respond and Augustus thought him gone, but again he revived and managed a weak response. ‘Promise me, my old friend … promise me … you’ll—’

     As Joseph’s last breath left him, Augustus
’ face twisted in grief. ‘Of course I’ll finish what you intended to do,’ he said, as his tears now flowed freely, ‘…but you may yet do it yourself. Don’t sleep now lad, there’s too much to do … stay awake for me please.’

     It was the first favour that
Joseph had ever denied any soul.  He died cradled by his life-long friend. Augustus hugged his body, his hefty frame shaking with sobs. ‘Such a gentle man,’ he said through choking tears. He looked up to the others his eyes desperate and questioning. ‘He passed from life to death so quickly, how can that be,’ he asked.

     The other men stood with
heads bowed, some weeping, others numb. None of them had an answer to Augustus’ sad question. After a while, Samuel went to him, and bade him place James to the ground.

    
As Augustus wearily stood, Dominic spoke softly into his ear. ‘I’m sorry but we don’t have time to bury him. They’ll be upon us soon, if we stay much longer. We’ll hide his body quickly and return for him if we get through this. That’s my pledge to you.’

     Murdoc came to them, as William and John gently lifted James’ body and concealed it at the side of the track.
‘They’ve started to cross the water,’ he said quietly. ‘All the men have climbed onto the banking. We’ve no fear from their archers for now.’

     Dominic readied his bow at once.
‘Come!’ he shouted. ‘This is why we flooded this valley. Now’s the time to act.’ 

     As they reached the rise, they
saw the raiders struggling to cross towards them. The dismounted men had climbed onto the precipitous valley sides and were carefully threading their way along from tree to tree. Attached by ropes to their ponies, adding to the difficulty of the traverse, the men coerced the skittish beasts along the deep pool. Some of the ponies attempted to haul themselves onto the steep banking, but their efforts proved futile and they slid back into the water, adding to the confusion and entanglement. Two men fell into the pool with them and floundered in the swirling murk, before taking mouthfuls of water and sinking into the deeps.

    
‘Let them have it for James,’ said Dominic coldly. ‘Send them to their Gods.’

     Darga’s bravado had departed him wit
h the death of James. His voice quavered with suppressed fear as he looked towards the flooding. ‘Would it not be better to go? We’ve delayed them enough surely—they can’t be more then fifty paces away. We need to be further ahead than this.’

    
‘No, we press our advantage!’ snarled Augustus as he stood, bowstring stretched to his nose as he took aim. ‘Fuck off, if you’ve no stomach for the fight!’

     Darga stayed at the rear of the group and reluctantly wielded his bow.

    They began their attack with varying success. Dominic as the seasoned hunter quickly hit three men, who fell into the water to join the two who already lay on the bottom of the pool. Murdoc and William also had a kill each, before the Saxons halted and seeked cover behind the trees that precariously grew from the steep banking. Many of the ponies, now unfettered, returned to the far banking where they whinnied and shook their heads waiting for their masters to return.

    
‘I saw Egbert again,’ shouted Murdoc, ‘but he hung back with his leader, out of direct range, then hid as soon as the arrows started to fly.’

     ‘
It’s no accident he’s survived so long,’ said Dominic, as he sighted his bow around the trees looking for him. After a while, he looked towards the sun as it dipped below the tree line. ‘Night’s not far off, and we’ve killed all we can for now. They’ll not expose themselves to further attack while we stand here. They’re also waiting for darkness. We need to use the remaining light to put distance between us, then we can make ready to meet them again in the morning. We also have a further job to do before it gets dark’

    
‘It looks like Darga’s already gone,’ said Augustus. ‘His pony’s missing and so is he.’

     Dominic looked up the track and silently cursed.
‘We’re better of without the useless bastard. Let’s get away from here, quickly.’

     After an hour riding up the trail
, Dominic stopped. ‘The road here splits, and we must draw them into the forest on the leftward track. If we hide the other fork—the one that leads to the village—they should take the open route into the deeper forest. We’ve just enough light left to get it done.’’

    
‘But surely they’ll remember the way they came last time,’ said Augustus.

     Dominic looked thoughtful.
‘The forest can be confusing,’ he said. ‘Even I sometimes become baffled if I tread an occasional route. No, their eyes should naturally follow the open pathway. Don’t forget, we killed their best two trackers.’

    
‘It’s just as well we did,’ said Murdoc. ‘See how that rushing fool Darga’s left his pony’s hoof prints churned into the ground. He may as well have left them a sign saying
this way to the slaughterhouse!
’’

    
‘Don’t worry; our prints will overlay them before we leave,’ reassured Augustus, ‘Come—William, John, Sam—we need to find brushwood to hide the opening.’

    
Some of the men set to work to gather dead branches, whilst some cut down shrubs. When they had gathered enough material, Dominic skilfully laid it across the fork in the track so that the old dead vegetation was behind the newly cut shrubs. These, he dug into the ground as if they had always grown there. Leaf litter was scattered around the base of the plantings.

     Augustus admired Dominic’s handiwork.
‘If we ever get out of this alive you can plant a nice garden for my wife,’ he said.

    
‘Let’s hope it fools them then,’ said Dominic, ‘I’ll gladly create a garden for the entire village and work only for board and lodgings if
this
works.’

     They moved back two hundred paces while William and John brushed all signs of their activity from the track. After they had completed the task, they rode over the area and down the trail, as if they had ridden through
once only.

Osric had watched and waited when Dominic and the others had ridden from the rise overlooking the pool. With only twenty-five men left, he was still confident his depleted force could take the first village, which, Egbert had informed him, was only a day’s ride away.

     Nightfall was almost upon them before they
had the confidence to move from their precarious defence position, to the spot where the Britons had stood hours earlier. Godrys, the youth who had first reported the flooding of the hollow, approached Osric. ‘Are we to ride through the night,’ he asked.

     Osric shook his head.
‘No, that would be madness. We’ve been ambushed twice in broad daylight, who knows what they have planned for us in the dark. No, we travel at daybreak. Egbert! Wlensling! Post guards around our position!’

Next day they came to the point where the trail divided. Given the task of riding a hundred paces behind the group, Godrys travelled with a gnarled, world-weary, warrior named Bryni. Their job was to guard against attack from behind. Both men sat high on their ponies looking over the top of the brush on either side of the trail, alert for any movement within the shadow of the tree cover.

     The main group, led now by Egbert and Wlensling, passed the point where Dominic had disguised and hidden the track to the village. Happy to follow what they perceived to be the one and only
route, they followed the track the Britons had desired them to take.

    
It was Godrys, riding behind and peering over the top of the fringe of shrubbery, who spotted the disturbed vegetation. He rode at a gallop to reach the main body of riders. ‘Osric, halt the group!’ he shouted. ‘We have found another hidden track back up the trail.’