Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 02] Saxon Revenge (10 page)

I explained to them both my thoughts on the possibility of an invasion.  Neither of them tried to argue against me.  I think that they too realised that we had made assumptions about the Saxons based upon our limited victories.  “So could we fortify to the river and make some sort of gatehouse there?”

In answer Brother Oswald said.  “Have you been north to the Roman fort they call Chesters?”

“Aye.  It is where Aelle lost his arm and we defeated Aella.”

“Then you have seen such a fortified bridge.  We will first build a wooden wall and ditch joining the castle walls to the river and then we will have to get some stone to build a second wall behind it.  When we have the stone then we build a smaller version of this gate to deny access to the bridge.  Finally, we complete the fortification on the bridge by building a second gate on the other side.”

Garth shook his head.  “That sounds like a lot of work and it seems to me that it would be expensive.”

“Not if we use our men to build it.”

“What about their training?”

“Think about it Garth.  We would be building up their strength and building them into a team who had to rely on each other.”

“And, my lord, that is how the Roman legions constructed roads and forts in the first place.  It was the soldiers who built not the civilians.  But he is right we would need to get the stone and it would need to be cheap.”

“Raibeart! His fort is close to the Roman wall and when I visited there last I saw the quarries the Romans used.  There is still stone within and it is but a day’s ride.  How much stone would you need?”

“It is a hundred or so paces to the river.  We would need to make it at least two and a half paces wide and as tall as two men.  If I could go to the quarry I would have a better idea.”

“Draw up your plans and begin work on the wooden walls.  When Raibeart returns you can travel north with him and Garth and make your investigations.” I paused to allow my words to sink in.  “I want the building finished by harvest time.  I do not want to be surprised by the Saxons as we surprised them.” Oswald opened his mouth to argue but saw my face and nodded.  Garth just grinned.

Surprisingly Aideen was all in favour of the new wall. “With two bairns we need all the protection we can get.”

The wooden wall and ditch was erected within two days. I had deferred the patrols until we had at least part of the defences built and, as we worked from sunrise to sunset, there was little opportunity for any of our men to slope off to the clandestine meeting place.

When Raibeart and his party returned he was amazed at the progress we had made. His brow furrowed, “But why brother, have you heard something which I have not?”

The women were busily talking of Freja and her home and I took him to one side. I explained about the marks in the woods and my plans. He cast a look over his shoulder. “I cannot believe that any of the men who fought alongside us at Loidis would betray us.”

“Nor do Garth and I.  It will be one of the new men.”

“Then send them home.”

“And what good would that do?  We need more men and any other recruit would be suspect.  This way we know whom to watch.”

He grudgingly agreed with me.  “But listen, you do not need to send all the way to the wall for stone.  There is ample just ten miles to the south west of this castle, on the way to Aelle’s fort.  We passed it on the way here. You could cut your journey time by half.” I slapped him around the shoulders. “But I will build up my defences, for, if what you say is true then any enemy denied this passage into the heartland of Rheged would then travel north and my home would be in the way.”

“Is it defensible?”

He laughed.  “It is said that the old people who lived before the Romans built a mighty castle there and the Romans made it stronger.  It is defensible and, like you, I will build up my forces although, unlike you, I will have to draw on the treasure I captured from Wach!”

After he had gone I mounted five men and Brother Oswald and rode towards this cache of stone. I gave Garth his instructions. “Begin building the gatehouse over the bridge today and deepen the ditch.  With luck and, if the gods are on our side,” I saw Oswald’s stern look, “all the gods, even the White Christ, then we can begin the wall in three days.”

As we headed south west Oswald, seated uncomfortably on the gentlest horse we had, admonished me. “There is only one god Lord Lann.”

“And how do you know this?”

It was as though no one had ever asked him the question before. “Well his son…”

“No, I did not ask about this White Christ but about this one god.  We have gods who fathered sons on earth. I do not deny your White Christ was the son of a god, I am just not convinced that he is the son of the only god.”

He seemed perplexed by this. “Well the Bible…”

“Who wrote this Bible?”

“Men such as me who lived in the past.”

“And did they all live at the same time?”

“No, they spoke of God over thousands of years.”

“So how do you know it is the same god?  Perhaps there were a number of gods who spoke at different times to the different men. Your god may well be the same one as one of my gods but I am not convinced that there is only one.  I look around and see the differences in men: the noble King Urien and the cowardly King Morcant Bulc; the cunning King Aella and the incompetent King Ida.  And it is the same with ordinary men, we too have many differences.  I am a warrior and you are a man of peace.  I believe it is the same with gods.”

I smiled as I saw him consider these arguments and I concentrated on finding the stone.  I had not yet travelled this route for we had normally been heading east to face the Saxons and not south through this lush and verdant land.  It was a land of high hills and, as soon discovered deep lakes. None were as big as Wide Water but the hills were like mountains in places and I was hopeful that we would find a source of stone.  There was a narrow valley and then the trail began to climb up a steep sided hill.  Once we crested the rise I could see the stones which littered the side of the hill.  This was perfect; we would not even need to quarry.

I halted and turned to Oswald.  “Will this stone do?”

In answer he dismounted and brought out the small hammer and chisel he had had the smith make for him.  He found a rock the size of a small child and searched it with his fingers. When he seemed satisfied he placed the chisel at and angle and then struck the rock.  He repeated the action along a line I could not see and then he returned to the middle and this time, when he placed the chisel in the now visible groove, he hit it with all his strength.  The rock cracked in two and I could see that there were clean lines. “Yes my lord, “he beamed, “this will indeed do.”

“Is that magic priest?”

“No, my lord, it is what the Greeks called science.  I read how the Romans used to break rocks and it worked.” He held up the hammer and the chisel. “We will need bigger ones than this of course but I ordered the smith to being making them.” He gave me a wry smile.  “You will have to wait a while for your new weapons of war.”

We found four wagons that we could use to haul the cut stone the next day and I left half the men with Garth to continue working on the wooden wall and gate whilst I took the rest with me.  I took the recruits with me for I needed to gauge their mettle and to see if I could discern if any was the spy.  I half wanted it to be one of them, for that would vindicate my belief that my other warriors were loyal but, at the same time, I wanted these men to become part of my retinue.

Brother Oswald took charge.  He was a good teacher with patience far beyond mine.  He knew the men slightly better than I did for he had to deal with them on a daily basis.  He chose his eight stonemasons carefully.  He chose pairs of men.  One of them was always a huge muscled warrior but the other sometimes looked as though a strong wind would blow him over. As they started to cut I wandered over to him and asked him about the choices.

“The man with the chisel needs to be clever and make wise choices.  If you hit at the wrong point then you may split the rock but make it unusable for a level wall.” He shrugged.  We can use all the stone but we need regular sized pieces for the gate and foundations.”

As we watched the first stones split I asked him about the wall he would build. “The men will dig a deep wide ditch.  It will be as wide as a man and as deep as his legs.  We will put the larger flat stones on either side of the ditch and build it to the height we require.  The odd shaped stones will be rammed into the middle.”

“Will you be using the Roman mortar you told me about?”

“If I had the materials I would but we will use river clay.  It will bind it and make it hard but we will need to renew it each year.“ He stroked his bald pate reflectively.  “It might be a good job for the time after the harvest before the frosts.  Even children could do it.”

I had noticed that one pair was working faster and more efficiently than the rest.  “What can you tell me of those two?  They seem to work well together.”

“The smaller one is Myrddyn.  He comes from Wales and travelled a long way just to serve you.  He is both clever and resourceful. He can both read and write. I am not sure he is cut out to be a warrior; it might be a waste to mis-use his talents.”

“How might you use this warrior then, if not as a warrior?”

“I would like to train him as a healer.  He shows potential and it would be an asset to your retinue.  A healer could save wounded men.” He pointed at my leg. “Had you not had a healer, Brother Patrick, you would now be lame.”

I could see the wisdom in his words.  I will consider it but there will be no harm in his training as a horseman anyway would there?”

“No my lord.”

“And the other?”

“He is from Bernicia.  He is the brother of someone called Riderch. He says you know of him?”

“Aye, he is a good warrior and the best man that Morcant Bulc has in his army.  What is his name?”

“Ridwyn.  He is a powerful warrior.  See how he swings that hammer. That is why they are working faster than the others.  Myrddyn has seen that he needs fewer blows and he spaces his chisel differently to the others.”

I watched the men working well as a team.  The ones loading the wagons did so diligently and clearing the quarried stones to enable the stone cutters to work quickly. “Which one is Llofan?”

He threw me a curious look and then pointed at a warrior who was almost as big as Ridwyn. “The tall one there, the warrior who looks as though he has a bad smell under his nose.” I had noticed him before because whilst the others were working happily and bantering with each other he worked alone and seemed not to care whom he caught with the stones he carried.  “I am curious my lord, why did you ask about him?”

I drew him to one side. “Garth said something about him which disturbed me.  That he did not seem to work well with the other men.  I can see for myself that this is true but what is your opinion?”

“He works hard it is true but he is a solitary man.  When I was paying the men their stipend I heard them talk and he seems to be one that they all fear in some way.  The other two from Bernicia, Ridwyn and Ardal, do not bother with him much which is strange as all the others who came together still sleep in the same part of the warrior hall.  Llofan sleeps well away from the others.”

“Perhaps it would be wiser to send him back to Bernicia.”

“It might be wiser my lord, if you train him as a warrior and an archer and then when the kings come for the Christmas celebrations you can suggest to King Morcant Bulc that this man is so well trained that he would be a valuable leader for the Bernician army. That way you will ingratiate yourself with the king and rid yourself of a problem.”

It was a solution but there was something about this that I did not understand. “But why did he join if he is such a loner?”

The priest shrugged.  “Perhaps some kind of feud at home, who knows?  One of the others from Bernicia might be able to tell us.  I will ask questions.” He saw my worried look.  “Discreetly of course.”

Llofan apart, I was happy my recruits. They worked hard, Llofan included, and there was none of the griping and moaning I might have expected.  I would never truly know them until I had fought alongside them but I was happy. I would speak with Garth about Myrddyn.  What the priest had said had made sense.

Garth had finished the wooden wall when we returned. I told him of the plans for the stone wall and he smiled.  “You were right my lord.  This makes the men even stronger and digging such a ditch will be good for them. I explained to Garth about Oswald’s thoughts on Myrddyn. “He is a good man my lord.  I had him earmarked as a future leader. Tuathal speaks well of him but I agree with Brother Oswald.  A healer would be worth more than five warriors.  We can always get more horsemen but unless we take Brother Oswald with us…”

“No.  The Brother is too valuable here and if we take a healer with us then it should be one who can fight as a warrior too. I am glad that I spoke with you it has helped me to make up my mind.  Send the young man to me after the meal and I will talk with him in the solar.”

A day in the open working hard gives a man an appetite and I ate well.  Brother Oswald had used some of his honey to make some mead and it washed the food down well.  I played with Hogan for a while until one of the slaves came to me. “My lord there is a warrior waiting for you in the solar.  He says you sent for him.”

“Thank you.  Take my son to his mother.” I could see, as I approached him, from the look on Myrddyn’s face that he thought he was in trouble. I smiled.  “Sit down Myrddyn, you are not in trouble but I need to speak with you about… well we shall come to that.  First, tell me your story.  How does a man from Wales find himself in Rheged?”

He visibly relaxed. “My family lived on the Holy Island close to Mona. My parents were killed and sisters enslaved by Hibernian slavers.” He saw the question in my eyes. “It was
wyrd
which saved me. I had been looking for one of our lost sheep; I heard it bleating from below the ground and, when peering for it, I fell down a cleft in the rocks.  I must have banged my head.  When I came to the sheep was licking my face and I was at the bottom of a ravine.  I shouted but no-one heard me.  When I became accustomed to the dark I saw that the ravine became a cave with a pool.  I led the sheep there and we drank. I thought that we were doomed to die in the deep, dark hole.  I lost all hope.” He looked shamefaced. “I am sorry to say my lord that I cried.”