Baron of the North (18 page)

We were too weary to talk as we dragged our bloodied and battered bodies back into the city.  I smiled when I saw Wulfric and my men waiting for me at the gates.  They had obeyed me but only just! Wulfric shook his head although my squires looked relieved to see me alive. "Baron, you make protecting you very hard!"

"I am sorry, Wulfric, but these were my father's men and I could not stand to see them slaughtered so."

"Is your father still alive?" I heard the Varangian behind me speak.

"He was slain by Scottish raiders."

The man who had fought next to me nodded his head, "They were ever the treacherous bastards."

Now that I had my breath back I asked questions of these warriors who had walked into the trap."What happened?  How did the Emperor get himself in such a situation?"

"Before I tell you that can you tell your name, Baron, son of Ridley?"

"I am Baron Alfraed of Stockton."

"I have not heard of Stockton.  Where is it?  I come from Winchester."

"It is on the Tees close to the Palatinate."

"I am Harold Hard Spear and I will tell you how we came to be in such a situation. The Emperor is a good general but he is surrounded by idiots.  He wanted to view the road to plan our march north. His Strategoi said just to bring infantry." He spat.  "Everyone knows that these barbarians use horse archers and infantry cannot catch them.  We were viewing the road when they suddenly came at us.  We could not turn for fear of being surrounded and we had to wait.  We were relieved when we saw the Kataphractoi and then dismayed when they chased the archers."

His friend who had a nasty cut to his cheek said, "Aye, if you had not come to our aid, small in number though you were, then we would have all been slain and the Emperor too. I am Sven Gold Beard and I am from Trondheim.  Your archers saved the Emperor.  That is what we need; men who can use a war bow."

We would have spoken longer but an Imperial messenger arrived, "Baron the Emperor commands your presence."

I was still a diplomat and I nodded. "I will see you back at camp, Wulfric, and I daresay we shall meet again Harold and Sven."

"It may not be for some time, Baron, for we have an enemy to defeat first."

"Even though you have such depleted numbers?"

Harold spat again, and this time there was blood in the spit, "We only brought half our number.  That was the decision of the Strategoi too! There are fifty still in Miklagård. Farewell. We will tell the others that Ridley's son is a man to follow."

As I walked through the streets, which were thronged with the wounded and the curious, a horse nudged me.  I looked up and saw Basil. He had suffered a few cuts but none looked serious. "I made a mistake did I not?"

"You did my friend but it was your first command and perhaps understandable.  Do not be impetuous.  Weigh up the options you have and choose wisely. Had you stayed near to the Emperor then those Thracians would have been destroyed.  As it is the Emperor has lost Guards he cannot replace."

He nodded glumly, "You have been summoned?"

"I have."

"Then I will see you in the camp." With shoulders slumped he forced his way through the crowd.

There were ten Varangians outside the Emperor's headquarters.  They smiled and gave a slight bow as I entered. The word had been spread already. Inside I saw a physician tending to the Emperor who had not escaped injury.  I was discovering just how good the medical services were. We were lucky to have a priest but here there were many physicians who tended to the wounded close to the battlefield and they saved many more lives than our priests. The Emperor gave a wan smile, "I do not know how you escaped injury Baron. When you hurled yourself into the midst of those barbarians I expected to see your body in pieces. How do you do it?"

"I have had much practice."

He nodded and waved to a servant who brought me some wine. "Will you not reconsider my offer of employment?  You outshone even my Varangians."

"Emperor it is in your power to make a regiment of warriors such as me."

"How?" He waved away the physician and I could see that he was interested.

"I was born here and raised here.  I am the son of a Varangian and a Greek.  Your Varangians have been siring children for many years.  They will make perfect warriors for you.  They speak Greek, their father's can teach them skills and they are an endless supply of fresh warriors."

"I will give thought to your words.  As for King Henry's request; I am happy to form an alliance but I fail to see how it can be of use to him."

"King Henry would make a good Byzantine, Emperor.  He thinks three or four moves ahead.  I know not why either but there will be a reason and all it cost him was my time."

"I will have my clerks draw up the papers and they will be ready in the morning.  We have some wagons returning to the city with the wounded.  Some, I fear, will never fight again.  It is a terrible waste. Bring your men too for I would reward them.  I saw the effect of just four war bows.  I thought, from the effect, that it must be a regiment.  I could not believe it when there were just four of them.  Do you have many more of them at home?"

"I have less than twenty but they are enough.  A good bowman is hard to train.  I have to begin training them when they are children.  It is an investment."

"Ah, I see now where your suggestion began.  I will see you in the morning.  I have much planning to do if I am to turn this setback into a success." The Emperor would work long into the night.  He and King Henry had much in common.

There was a  nervous air in the city that night.  The bold attack had stunned the population. There had been no disguising the losses as the wounded had returned to the city.  Victorious warriors sing and are full of noise.  We had returned silent and without joy. I made my way through the streets to the camp.  The fact that I rode Caesar again made my life a little easier.  The crowds parted at our approach. The camp too showed the change in circumstance.  The sentries were more alert and questioned me closely.  I did not mind; we would be safer that way.

Leofric took Caesar away and my men made way for me at the fire. John found me a bowl of food.  It appeared to be a stew of some description.  Thankfully the darkness hid the colour and the content.  Sometimes it was best not to know what you ate and just fill the void.

As my squires pulled off my surcoat Wulfric tut-tutted.  "Look at that leather hauberk, Baron.  The blades almost cut through it.  The surcoat is ruined but I have never seen hide suffer so."

"Then it is as well that we have no more fighting. We soon go home."

When I had eaten Dick said, "I have spoken with some of the Greeks. They thought they would have an easy victory today."

"They are new to the battlefield, Dick; they will learn."

"The battlefield is an unforgiving teacher, Baron, and those horse archers are good."

That interested me for Dick rarely had time for any other weapon than the war bow. "You think their weapon is a good one?"

He was wary.  "It is effective and they are skilled.  I watched them turn in the saddle and release when their ponies were galloping. Our bows would have a longer range but they move so quickly that it would be harder to hit them."

"Then how would you fight against them?"

He looked into the fire and then threw a small log into the inferno. "I would use archers behind long shields planted in the ground.  Their ponies could not breach the shields and the longer range of our war bow would rain death." He nodded, "And you would need many arrows."

"How is your supply?"

"We will go to the field tomorrow and see what we can salvage. Some of the enemy arrows may do."

Wulfric asked, "We fight again then, Baron?"

"I do not know.  We go back to the city tomorrow but we still have a long voyage home.  We were lucky when we came here but I am not certain that we can guarantee an incident free voyage."

He chewed on something and then spat a piece of gristle into the fire.  "Those Varangians are hard men, Baron. I have fought alongside others who would have broken when taking such losses. They would make good men at arms."

"I know but they choose to come here and serve the Emperor. They are richly rewarded for doing so."

Roger of Lincoln said, "And they earn every penny, Baron."

Dick and his archers left after dawn to search the battlefield.  We ate.  When they returned they had full quivers and more but their faces were grim. "The wolves and the scavengers have been at the bodies, Baron. None were buried and we saw not a single body which was whole." Dick shivered.  "At least we bury our dead."

Wulfric snorted, "Normally we win, Dick and have the luxury of time.  We were whipped yesterday.  Had the Baron not launched that attack then Serdica might now belong to the enemy.  We have become too used to victory.  I for one am glad we came here for we now see the other side of war."

He was right. As the men packed our belongings on to our horses I sought out Basil.  "I am to see the Emperor and then we go back to Constantinople with the wounded.  I fear I shall not see you again."

He clasped my arm, Roman style. "I am pleased that I have seen you again.  I have lost touch with all my other friends from childhood. I now value you as my closest friend and yet we will be divided by a continent. It is strange that you travelled around the world to see me. You have taught me much."

"And I, too,  have learned.  If you should ever find yourself in the land of the Franks then come and visit with me."

"I doubt that I shall survive this campaign.  War is neither as easy nor as glorious as I expected."

It was like looking in a mirror of time.  This had been me when I had left for Normandy and England.  "You are alive and you have learned.  You will be a better leader now. You have good men and they will follow you for you do not lack courage." I smiled, "Perhaps you are less naïve now."

"Perhaps." He went into his tent and returned with a torn piece of parchment and a wax candle.  He dripped some of the wax on the parchment and sealed it with his ring. "Here, take this to my home.  There is just my mother there now and we have many rooms. If she is not there, she sometimes spends summer in the mountains, then show this to my steward. You and your men will be more comfortable there when you are in the city." He handed me the parchment.  "It is little enough that I can do.  Besides my mother will enjoy speaking with you.  She always liked you.  She said you were the only one of my friends who was polite and she was a good friend to your mother."

We embraced and I left.  That was the last I either saw or heard of my friend.  I like to think that he survived and succeeded but there were dark days ahead for the Byzantine Empire.

There was more order in the city as we made our way through to the headquarters of the Emperor. His guards, other than the Varangians, were more in evidence.  We learned later that more reinforcements had arrived during the night. The Emperor did not receive us in his chambers, instead he came out to greet us.  His Strategoi stood behind him along with slaves. The Varangians formed a square to keep the crowds away. As soon as he spoke I knew that this meeting served two purposes.  Firstly it rewarded us but secondly it was a piece of rhetoric to inspire his people.  He wanted them to see the defeat as a victory. A slave brought out a trunk and Emperor John Komnenos stood upon it.

"Baron Alfraed of Stockton yesterday you helped to throw back the Magyar barbarians and save the life of the Emperor.  For that we thank you. You have brought us a new ally, King Henry of England and Normandy.  You have shown that we have many friends in the west.  For that we thank you. And, finally, you have shown us that a handful of men who fight with passion we can defeat these wild barbarians.  For that we thank you."

He waved his arm and a slave came with a document in a document case.  "Here is the treaty for your king." The slave handed it to me. A second handed me a smaller document.  "This is an Imperial pass.  You shall travel freely in my land." He then made a larger gesture and eight slaves came towards me and my men.  They carried small chests and caskets. "This is a small token of our esteem.  It is little enough.  It is the treasure taken from our dead enemies.  It is yours." We were each handed a chest.   Mine was the largest.

"I have one more duty for you and your fine warriors who espouse all the values of Caesar's legions.  I would have you escort the heroes who are wounded back to our city.  With you watching over them I know that they will be safe. In the Empire we look after our heroes!"

Almost as though prompted all of the guards began banging their shields and chanting, "Emperor!" I caught the Emperor's eye and saw into his mind. He was genuinely grateful to us but was using it to his advantage.

I bowed, "Thank you Emperor.  I know that your men are great warriors and you will drive these invaders from your land."

The Emperor descended and returned to his chambers.  A young officer took my arm.  "If you will come with me, Baron I will take you to the men."

There were just six huge wagons drawn by oxen.  Inwardly I groaned.  It would be a slower journey south than it had been north. They were driven by armed servants. Beneath the canvas awning each wagon contained ten men.  Three of the wagons contained Varangians.