Amber Treasure, The (13 page)

“Thunor’s balls!”Aedann exclaimed
and looking up, I saw that Lilla was standing next to his rope and had clearly
freed himself. The bard just shrugged.

“Secrets of the profession,” he
murmured and winked at me.

“Could you have got free at any
time?”

Lilla nodded.

“Then why leave it till now and
why tell me you were not much use?”

“I told you, I want a story and
that story needs heroes like you two ... besides which, it was an interesting
experience,” he said, rubbing his wrists.

Intrigued, I wanted to ask more,
but I could see he was as tired as I was so, as with Aedann, questions would
have to wait.

“Where now?” asked Lilla. I
looked at Aedann and raised an eyebrow.

Aedann pointed the dagger to a
nearby building where the roof had all but fallen in. It looked dark, cold and
abandoned. “There first, I don’t think they use it, come on!” Lifting Wallace
across his shoulders, he set off at a staggering trot and Lilla and I, both too
exhausted to argue, stumbled along behind.

The nearest door in the building,
which opened directly onto the parade ground, was blocked with rubble from the
roof, but Aedann led us down between the building and the adjacent barracks to a
side door. He glanced inside then entered and we followed. This first room was
filthy: the roof’s timbers were so rotten that some had collapsed opening a
hole in the roof, which admitted the damp, miserable weather. However, there
was an inner door leading on from it and Aedann walked over and pushed that one
open. This second chamber still had an intact roof and so was reasonably dry,
although very cold. Wooden frames − maybe from beds or cots − were
dotted here and there in the room, although the bedding had long since rotted
away. Aedann glanced around the room then lowered his burden gently to the
floor.

“This seems to have been used as
an infirmary for their sick and wounded,” he said. “The Elmetae do not use it,
so we should be safe here, for a while.”

Wallace was shivering violently
now and we needed to get him warm, somehow.

“I think we should start a fire,”
I said, rubbing the life back into my arms and trying to stop my teeth from
chattering.

“If you do, they might know we
are hiding here,” Lilla pointed out.

I nodded, but then shrugged.

“If we do not, Wallace will die.
He is soaked through and very cold. That break to his arm and then the wind and
rain was too much for him. We must warm him up, dry his clothes and examine
that arm.

“I can treat his arm,” Lilla said
quietly, “I have studied a little of such things.”

“Grettir would be good too, if we
could get him. He has been in enough battles to have picked up a thing or two,”
I mused. “Anyway, let’s try and get a small fire going. Maybe over near the door,
so the smoke will go that way and it will take a while to show itself. It’s
dark − with luck the Welsh won’t notice it.”

Lilla and Aedann gathered wood
from the broken bed frames and then Aedann produced a small amount of tinder
and a flint, which he started striking to get a spark on the tinder. It took a
few minutes to catch, but a small yet cheering fire was soon going and I could
feel the warmth gradually creeping back into my cold bones. Wallace had
recovered consciousness, but seemed unaware of what was going on. Aedann took
off his own cloak and laid it over him and slowly, the Lord of Wicstun stopped
shivering quite as violently, although he remained barely aware. We pulled him
as close to the fire as we dared then the three of us huddled round the flames,
our clothes steaming.

“Now that we are here, we must
decide what to do,” I said. “But, before we do that, I must know what you are
doing here, Aedann. When you left without word, we assumed you’d run away with
the Welsh. Then, when we heard Samlen had come looking for my mother’s
jewellery – the amber treasure as he called it - I thought you must have told
him.

Aedann shook his head. “Is that
what you now believe?”

“Well, Hussa has admitted to
being the traitor, but ... well you tell me. What are you doing here? Go on,
Aedann, why did you run?”

“These people are not my people,
despite what you say. Oh, we are all Welsh but I am Eboracii − the people
of the Kingdom of Eboracum, or Eoforwic as you would call it. Samlen is
Elmetae.”

“So?” I asked. “What’s the
difference?”

“We are different tribes. Just
because we speak the same language and you lump us all together as ‘Welsh’ does
not mean we see ourselves as the same.”

“But, you always teased us about
Owain and his allies coming to drive us English away.”

“Well, the point is you English
had me and my family as slaves. I hated that and if Owain came and wiped you
out so much the better. But when Samlen came he treated my family just as badly
as he did everyone else.”

As Aedenn related what had
happened, I began to understand:  when Samlen raided the Villa, he had taken
Gwen and Caerfydd − Aedann’s parents − away. Not, as we had
believed, to freedom but to yet more slavery. Given the choice of slavery under
my father or under Samlen, Aedann had apparently seen my father as the lesser
of two evils.

“So, when my parents were taken,
I followed,” he said. “It was easy enough to find a spear and shield, and in
the dark I could pass as an Elmetae warrior. I followed the warband back here
and then hid in another of these abandoned buildings. The night before last I located
where Samlen was holding the prisoners, but they were too well guarded for me
to free them.”

“Where are they?” I interrupted, hungry
for news of Mildrith.

“Why here, right here in the
fort. In one of the other barrack blocks further back, in fact. I was able to
find which one and listen to Samlen talking to that Peredur about what they planned
for them. Evidently there is a huge slave market in Loidis and in a few days
they are to be transferred there and sold.”

My spirit had soared at the news
that the prisoners were here, but then sank just as quickly when I learned they
were to be moved to the Elmet capital. That was a big city, with thousands of
inhabitants and once there, I would not be able to find Mildrith. So, we needed
to act now: free the company, then the prisoners and get away - and all very
quickly.

“So,” Aedann continued, “having
found them I went away to think what I was going to do. I needed food and so
went to barter for some in that village. It was lucky for you that you got
stopped and dragged away before you had got to me. No one else saw you hiding
in that thicket apart from me, although one young girl insisted she had seen
Saxons near the village and they sent word here. After I left the village, I
scouted about until I found your warband and was going to talk to you when
Peredur jumped you. All I could do was follow at a distance. When I saw the
three of you tied up, I realised that now was my best chance,” Aedann finished,
then he put a hand on my shoulder.

“There is more, Cerdic −
and you know this bit already. When I overheard Samlen and Peredur talking, I
learnt something. Samlen was bragging about the success of the attack and
showing Peredur your mother’s jewels and your uncle’s sword. Peredur said how lucky
Samlen had been to find the jewels, but Samlen said it was not luck; he had
already known about them from his tame little Saxon.”

“Hussa ...” I hissed.

Aedann nodded.

“So, Hussa lied about you, but
the rest is all true then. I wondered at first if he was just ... oh I don’t know,
making it up to get back at me, perhaps. Right then,” I said between gritted
teeth, “I’m going to disembowel the bastard!”

Lilla and Aedann looked at each
other, but said nothing.

After a moment, Lilla coughed.

“So then,” he asked, “how do we
escape?”

Chapter Eleven

Flight

Wallace moaned
and opened his eyes. He looked at us blearily for a moment then spoke.

“Where...?”

“We managed to escape, my Lord.
We are hiding in an abandoned part of the fort ...” I started to explain, but
by then Wallace had closed his eyes again. However, he was not asleep.

“It’s alright ... Cerdic ... I
can hear you,” he said, “I’m just aching all over and this arm is killing me.
I’m not as young as I once was and hanging for hours out there in the rain, it
nearly finished me, I can tell you. But, I’m not dead yet, so carry on please.
Do you have a plan for escape?”

“Well, I guess the first thing we
need to know is where Samlen and his men are,” I said, turning to Aedann and
then asking him a question. “Have you any idea, Aedann?”

Wallace’s eyes shot open.

“Aedann: your slave? I thought he
was the traitor?”

I shook my head, took a deep
breath and told Wallace about what Aedann was doing here and then about Hussa.
When I said that it was in fact Hussa who was the traitor, Wallace frowned.

“Are you sure about this, Cerdic,
you aren’t ...” he hesitated, perhaps unsure how to phrase his question, “you
aren’t ... leaping to conclusions, hoping that Hussa really is the culprit?”

I knew what he was thinking: that
maybe I would jump at the chance to implicate my half-brother and dirty his
name. I shook my head.

“No, my Lord. Oh, I know all
about ...” I stopped abruptly and looked at Lilla and Aedann. How much did they
know? Ah well, this was no time to worry about that. “I know all about my
father and Hussa’s mother,” I said. “I know Hussa is my half-brother − my
father’s bastard son – and I know he blames me for the fact that our father
rejected him, albeit at my mother’s insistence, when she was carrying me.” I
stared at Lilla, challenging him to say something, but he kept quiet and just
listened, so I went on. “So, I can see why you might think I have a motive to
falsely accuse the man, but truly I am not − am I Lilla? Aedann?”

“Lord Wallace, all that Cerdic says
is true − I heard it myself from Hussa, not two hours ago,” Lilla said
and then turned to me. “Don’t worry, Cerdic, I won’t tell anyone about your
father. I make stories and songs: I don’t spread gossip. You have my word.”

“Mine too ... Master,” Aedann agreed.

The fire cracked and popped and
we all looked into the flames for a moment.

“Well then, Aedann,” Wallace
asked at last, “do you know where Samlen went?”

Aedann shrugged.

“When I saw his troops gathering
on the parade ground, I decided to find that out if I could, so I tried to
sneak out through one of the ruined sections of wall to the west. The stonework
has fallen away and the gap filled in with wooden debris,” he explained. “It’s
not hard to pull that away and make a hole. That’s how I got in and out during
the night the first time and I used it again yesterday to get back in. I
thought that I might follow Samlen a little way and see where he was heading,
so when I saw them leaving I went back to the gap, but that time there were
guards up on the wall nearby and I couldn’t get out for fear of being seen.”

“So you didn’t see which
direction they were heading in?” Wallace asked, sounding disappointed.

No, my Lord, I’m sorry,” Aedann
said, adding as an afterthought, “but they went out the west gate.”

“Towards Loidis, maybe,” Wallace mused.

“Do we know how strong the
garrison is now they have gone?” I asked Aedann.

He nodded at that.

“Well, approximately. Samlen took
two hundred men away with him. That leaves fifty or so warriors.”

“Fifty? We can manage fifty,
Lord,” I suggested, “that is, if we can free the company and get our weapons.”

Wallace nodded, “Yes, even
without weapons, if it comes to it.” Then he cocked his head to one side,
noticing that Aedann was shaking his head. “What? What is it?”

“I think they also have cavalry
here.”

“Cavalry?” Wallace asked, his
voice tense, “How many?”

“That I don’t know, but I saw
twenty or so patrolling around the fort yesterday and I don’t think any mounted
men went with Samlen: none that I saw, in any event.”

Wallace looked questioningly at
me and then at Lilla, “That puts a different light on it.”  

We looked at each other and
grimaced. Cavalry could be a problem: to us, anyway. Like all Saxon armies we
did not use horses in war much at all, other than for our leaders, messengers
and lords. Lilla had once told us stories of the Welsh using regiments of
cavalry in the past and how terrifying that could be. He looked a little
anxious now, but I just shrugged.

“Look, if we need to, we will
cope with them ... Lord?” This last word was to Wallace, who was slumped down,
head lolling about, looking rather green and I now noticed that he was
shivering again.

“Cerdic ... sorry, I can’t think.
You must come up with something ...,” he slurred and then drifted off again. Lilla
went across and wrapped his own cloak around Wallace.

 Sitting back on his heels the
bard shook his head. “Whatever we do, we must do it fast. He won’t last long.”

I nodded and turned back to
Aedann. “Where are our weapons?”

“That, I do know. I saw Peredur
have his men stack them all in the cart they had with them when he captured
you. The cart was on the corner of the parade ground behind the Headquarters
building, but when it started to rain I saw some men move it to a storeroom and
wheel it inside.”

I tapped my fingers on the ground
for a few moments whilst I thought about the problem. To be honest, there were
not too many options open to us, so I decided on a plan quickly enough and
spelt it out to the other two.

“Aedann and I will go to the storeroom
and see about getting the cart. Lilla, you carry Wallace and hide near the
building where our company are being held. We release our men, grab up our
weapons and Wallace can be loaded on the cart.  Then we find and free the
townsfolk and get out.  Obviously, sooner or later, the alarm will go off and
then it could be hard for us, but it sounds as if we have about as many men as
the garrison - assuming they have a similar number of cavalry to foot soldiers.
If there are more, well ...” I shrugged, “we just have to take our chances.”

It was not much of a plan, but
the night was drawing to a close and the next couple of hours − the time
before dawn − was the best for stealth and surprise.

Outside, it was drizzling gently.
That was fine by me, as it was likely to dissuade the Welsh from wandering
about. It was also still dark, although over the eastern wall, towards Deira
and my home, the sky was beginning to lighten.

Aedann and I left the abandoned
infirmary first, keeping to the darkest shadows around the buildings and
avoiding the open parade ground. We edged round the square, past the workshop
where the company were locked up and across the northern side of the parade ground,
until we came to the storeroom. I tried the door and with a horrendous creaking
that set my teeth on edge, it opened. I moved inside, but then I stopped after
a few paces because I could now see almost nothing in the pitch dark interior.
We had no alternative but to swing the doors wide open to let in some of the
silvery light from outside.

The light was still pathetically
weak, but it was enough to see the cart standing in the middle of a large room,
which had work benches along the left side. A few rusting tools hung on the
walls above the benches. Edging carefully forward, I reached out with my
fingers and gently grabbed the cart handles and tried to pull on them. With the
weight of eighty swords, spears and shields upon it, it was extraordinarily
heavy and I simply could not budge it. Aedann took the other handle and
together, we could now shift it. Hardly daring to breathe, we carefully
manoeuvred it towards the door.

We managed to get the cart out of
the shed, but it was when I tried to turn it that things went wrong. The heap
of weapons and shields were precariously balanced at best. As we turned it the
cart gave a lurch to the side and a half dozen spears, a couple of shields and
an axe slid off the pile, teetered on the edge and then with an ear splitting
crash fell to earth.

We froze as the echoes of the
horrendous sound died away. The silence of the night descended once more on the
fort. After a moment I let out a breath I had been holding. Aedann shrugged at
me - his raised eyebrows showing he was asking the same question as I. Had we
got away with it? Then Aedann's face turned into a scowl and I glanced at where
he was staring. High up on the side of the fort a light flared in a window as a
candle or lamp was lit. Two figures were illuminated by the light - two men
peering towards us. A moment later they were gone. Then we heard shouting from
inside the fort. It was time to be gone.

“Move now: go!” I hissed  at
Aedann and we hurtled forward. Across the parade ground we ran, cart bouncing
along behind us. Spears and shields clattered up and down and more fell over
the side, making a dreadful din as they too crashed to the ground.

“Carry on, don’t stop now!” I
urged Aedann on, though we were panting under the effort. I could now see our
two companions lurking in the darkness next to the building we were heading for.
We came to a halt and stood for a moment, catching our breath. Lilla took pity
on us and running to the cart, found an axe then ran with it to the workshop
door. He removed the bar with one hand and tossed it to the side then he thrust
the axe blade into the gap between the doors and gave a mighty wrench one way
and then the other, cracking the wood around the lock.

The door was still shut and the
lock was holding. Lilla tried again, but the wood was strong and he could not
yet break it open.

Over towards the Headquarters
building, there was a shout of challenge and a dozen Elmetae armed with swords
and shields came running at us.

 “Eduard!” I yelled, “Eduard! Can
you hear me?”

A muffled response came from
inside the workshop.

“You must break the door down:
quickly man!”

I then turned and rooted about in
the cart for a moment, found myself a shield and then I gave a whoop of triumph
as underneath the shield I saw the sword I had taken from the Welsh warrior I’d
killed at the Villa. I seized it eagerly and went and stood beside Aedann, who
was armed with a spear and shield. The cart was on one side of us and the
corner of the prison building on the other, which gave us some cover as well as
protecting our flanks, at least until the Elmetae could work their way round
the other side of the cart. The first two warriors arrived and charged forward,
one swinging a battleaxe and the other a sword. I took the blow on my shield
and then hacked back with my sword. I connected with the man’s shoulder and he
fell away, blood spouting. Aedann had been knocked down by his assailant, who
was now on my flank. I cut across at him and felt the blade slice into his
sword arm. He dropped his sword, staggered backwards and Aedann, scrambling to
his feet rammed his shield into the man’s face, crushing his nose. As the
Elmetae fell to the ground, Aedann picked up the warrior’s sword and slashed it
across his throat, killing him. There was no time to think about it. To our
left, Lilla had found a bow amongst the weapons and was firing over the cart at
the group milling around it. Wallace was conscious again, at least for the moment
and having located his sword, was standing in the gap beyond the cart, somehow managing
to hold back four Welshmen.  The man’s grit was remarkable, but I caught the
look of agony in his eyes and knew he would not long stay on his feet.

Suddenly, the cart moved. Three
of the enemy were pulling it away so they could get at us. Lilla seized one
handle and heaved it back, towards him. Wallace staggered across from the wall
of the building and dropping his sword held onto the other, but we were
outmatched and outnumbered and a moment later there was a gap in our defences
and half a dozen of them were surging through it.

From behind me, there was a crash
and a splintering noise and the doors burst asunder. With a roar, Eduard came
out first, swinging a loose plank of wood and leading the company in a charge. Like
caged and very angry bears suddenly finding themselves free they fell upon the
stunned Elmetae, and it was they who were now outnumbered. The fight did not
last long after that. Quickly now, every man armed himself. Cuthbert took his
bow back from Lilla and examined it anxiously, like a mother taking her child
into her arms. So, we had our weapons back and had freed the company, but now
we had to find our captured families and still get away. In the distance I
could hear shouts; the remaining garrison was rousing. We had only moments
before they were upon us. Wallace, barely conscious, was bundled
unceremoniously onto the empty cart and pulling it behind us, we headed towards
the barracks where Aedann had said the prisoners were kept, all the while scanning
our surroundings in the growing light and waiting for the next attack.

As I headed that way, I felt a
hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Grettir, looking grim and unhappy.

“Master Cerdic, you have given
that traitorous slave a sword,” he said with a jerk of the head at Aedann. I
sighed, wearily.

“He took it himself from a man he
killed, Grettir. He is on our side.”

“But, your father said ...”

“My father is not here!” I
shouted and several of the company turned at the noise.

I lowered my voice and whispered
to my tutor. “My father is not here: I am. So leave it, Grettir.”

“But ...”

“I said leave it!” I shouted.

Grettir recoiled, then just
nodded his head curtly and said no more.