Housecarl (28 page)

“So they may not have sailed or
they may have.” I could see that they had had the debate
themselves. “But if your horsemen are watching the river…”

Edwin dismissed my words with an
imperious wave of his hand. “My brother told me of your idea but
you are not a horseman Aelfraed.  You cannot keep horses on
patrol and then use them in war.” I could see that Morcar had put
my ideas forward and I was horrified that the leader of our army
had ignored my advice. I bit down a retort. I was just another
Thegn and my association with Harold and Aethelward meant nothing.
I was a young lord but I knew that if the King had been with us he
would have listened.

“So they could have landed?”

“I did order beacons Aelfraed,
as you suggested and they have not been lit yet.”

“Well at least we have time to
prepare our strategy for the coming fight. I had hoped that the
Norwegian king would fight the Danes rather than us.”

The hint of a sneer appeared on
Edwin’s face. He had changed since he had been so grateful to us
for defeating the Welsh. “Are you afraid, Lord Aelfraed?  The
hero of Rhuddlan?”

Again I fought against the
instinct which would have snapped a reply.  “No my lord but I
would prefer that King Harold did not have to face the Normans
without your horses.”

I was pleased at the look of
embarrassment on the Earl’s face. “When the Normans come then my
horse will be ready.”

I worried that even if we did
defeat the Norwegians then the Earl would lose more horses than was
safe for the army.  I held my counsel. It was obvious to me
that Edwin Earl of Mercia would do it his way and any advice would
be for guidance only. Already on the first day my heart began to
sink.  I felt Ridley’s shoulders sag as he stood next to me.
Ridley had heard of my ideas and thought that they were sound.
“Well my lord I will go and see to my men.” I had hoped we would
have been invited in for a conference where we would feel part of
the planning but I did not think that the Earl of Mercia took
advice.

Later when I sat with Ridley and
Osbert we all agreed that this lack of information could be
disastrous. It was Osbert who had the idea.  “My lord, do we
need to stay here?”

I looked at him as though he had
two heads. “We are with the army. Do you mean return to our
home?”

“No my lord but if we were south
of the city then we would, at least, have advance warning of the
enemy approach.”

I slapped him on the back. 
“That is genius Osbert but more than that, we have horses, we could
do what I urged the Earl to do and patrol the river.  Ridley,
how many horses do you have?”

“Fifteen.”

“With my thirty that gives us a
sizeable patrol.  I will visit the Earl in the morrow and
suggest this course of action.” I was pleased that we had a course
of action. Ridley still looked troubled.

“What is it old friend? I can
almost see your mind working and coming up with problems.”

“Easingwold is some way north of
Jorvik. I am no strategos,“ he grinned, “I am neither Aethelward
nor Aelfraed, but it seems to this dull mind of mine that if we
were closer to the city and the east then the host could close with
the Norwegians quicker.”

“Your mind is anything but dull
my friend and I am glad that you reflect more than I for it helps
you to see things which I miss. I will hazard with the Earl
tomorrow.”

I was not sure how the Earl
would take my advice. Perhaps the fact that his sister had married
the King made him feel superior to others who had fought more than
he. I knew that Morcar, whose land this was, would heed it but his
elder brother appeared to be using his prerogative as elder to take
charge.  I knew that I would have to be subtle and calm. 
My temper could have the opposite effect to the one I intended. The
two Earls were outside their tent discussing matters with their
sergeant at arms.

“Ah Lord Aelfraed did you sleep
well?”

“I did my lord and it gave me
some ideas which I would like to put to you.”

Morcar’s eager face was in
direct contrast to the scowl which appeared on Edwin’s.  The
Earl of Mercia was a cautious man as he had shown when he conspired
with Harold to remove his father. “We are always keen to hear
ideas.”

I smiled my most engaging smile.
“Well my lord, I fully understand that you do not wish to tire out
your mounts by patrolling but my men will be fighting on
foot.  Have you any objection if I take my men and Lord
Ridley’s to watch the river with our horse? We would be able to
warn you of the enemy’s arrival and join you swiftly.”

Morcar eagerly looked at his
brother.  I could see the Earl of Mercia working out if he
would lose face in this.  I had looked at the suggestion from
every angle and felt sure that he could not. “That seems a good
idea.  Thank you Aelfraed, I am glad that your mind is still
as sharp as ever.”

It was now time to make him
bring his army further south. “Of course if the army were further
south and east then we would have fewer miles to cover to bring the
barbarians to brook. I will leave with my men.  We will be
close to the bend of the river between Fulford and Riccall.”

“Wait, I think that it we were,”
he lifted the calfskin map he held in his hand, “at, say , Stamford
Bridge we could respond to their advances swiftly.”

“An excellent idea my
lord.  I think you have come up with a strategy of which the
King would be proud.” The preening smile told me the best way to
deal with the Earl of Mercia, use flattery.

As we walked away Ridley grinned
at me. “Well done, he does what you wish and believe it is his
idea.”

“Chess, Ridley , chess.  I
will teach you one day.”

We found a dell by the river a
mile or some from Escrick. We were close enough to the big bend in
the river where a fleet could land its men and yet but a couple of
miles from Jorvik. Aedgart set up a camp in the Roman style with
stakes around a rough perimeter and he organised the men while I
prepared the patrols. “We will keep five horses here as a
reserve.  Ridley you take your ten, Osbert you take ten, have
Branton take his archers and I will take the rest.  No armour
and no axes.  We scout not fight. I had copied a map from the
one Edwin had had. We need to scout from Riccall to Goole.  We
will stagger the patrol by an hour so that we do not tire out the
horses. Remember that we are watching for ships or signs that the
ships have already landed.”

“Surely they will leave their
ships where they land?”

“They will, Ridley, but if I was
Hadrada I would land scouts ahead of the boats to make sure that
scouts like us did not spot him.”

Osbert nodded his head, “Then I
hope that Hadrada is no Lord Aelfraed.”

I led my small patrol
first.  I had given myself the least men; it was not vanity,
it was eagerness.  I wanted to be able to reach the mouth of
the estuary quickly and satisfy myself that the preparations were
in time and they had not landed already. As we rode along the river
I cursed that King Edward had got rid of the fleet.  Had we
still had ships then one could have stood off the coast and warned
us of the fleet’s arrival.  This way we could only react to
the Viking moves, we could not initiate.  He would always have
the advantage.

The first week showed me that he
had not arrived and my relief was tinged with doubt.  Suppose
the patrols were all a waste of time?  The Earls had set up
camp at Stamford Bridge and that part was satisfactory but all I
was doing was working my men hard. When I confided in Osbert and
Ridley they both laughed at me. “My lord if we were not patrolling
we would be sat around the camp and the men would be bored. They
would gamble and they would fight.  This way every man has to
ride two days out of three, the third day he trains.  This is
making us better warriors for we now fight as one band not two. I
for one would not change this strategy and the longer the Vikings
take to come then so much the better.”

“No Osbert, it is not, for the
sooner that they arrive the better.  We need to defeat them
and then head south to aid the King for the battle for England will
be fought in the south, not here in the north.  This is a
distraction.”

It was towards the middle of
September and the fyrd were becoming anxious for it was harvest
time. I wondered if they would arrive or not.  Perhaps it was
a feint and they were landing further south, suppose they were
allied to Duke William?  If that were the case then the King
would be caught between two armies and he would surely need us.
Eventually Branton galloped hard to meet me as I led my patrol
east. “My lord! The Norwegians, they have come.”

We raced along the banks to the
bluff close to Riccall, overlooking the river. There I beheld a
mighty fleet of dragon ships.  The river was filled with the
dreaded long ships which were spilling their men ashore.  They
were spreading like ants from a nest. Had the army been handy then
this would have been the time to strike for they were neither armed
nor armoured but the warriors were many miles to the north. Our
task was to scout and we began to count the ships.  After we
counted two hundred it became difficult but that gave us an
estimate. Sending Branton back to Ridley with orders to break camp
and head north to Jorvik, I kicked my horse and led my warriors
north to Stamford Bridge.

As I arrived it seemed that I
had arrived none too soon for the men sat sullenly around with no
sense of order.  Morcar ran to meet me while Edwin came at a
more sedate pace to preserve, I do not doubt, his dignity.

“News my Lord Topcliffe?”

“The Norse men have arrived at
Riccall.  We counted more than two hundred ships.”

Edwin paled a little. “That
would give them in excess of eight thousand men.”

“More, my lord, for there were
other ships further distant we could not count.”

He looked around at the camp.
“We have barely six thousand men.  It will not be enough.”

“It will my lord if we choose
the right ground.” He looked at me with a question in his mind if
not on his lips. “Close to Fulford we can block the road to
Jorvik.  The river and the marshes can protect us and make him
fight on a narrow front where his numbers will not matter.”

“That will not suit my
horse.”

“With respect my lord the bulk
of the army are on foot; had we an abundance of archers then we
could threaten them with your horse and massacre them with arrows
but we must fight with what we have.”

“Very well.” He turned to his
brother .  “Have the army moved to Fulford.” When Morcar ran
off to give the orders Edwin turned to his sergeant at arms. 
“Send a rider to the king.  Tell him that a mighty host has
landed at Riccall and the Earls of Mercia and Northumbria, need his
help.”

The sergeant left quickly. 
I was appalled. “My lord, the Normans!”

“The Normans have not yet come.
If the King comes north then we can defeat these Norwegians and
then march south to meet the Normans with a much larger army than
he has.”

“But if they land now then they
will be unopposed.”

“But we do not know that.” He
shrugged.  “If they have landed then the King will not aid us
and the land will be stained with our blood and bones.”

He turned his back on me and
headed for his tent.  I was dismissed. I wished my uncle had
been with us for the Earl might have listened to him.  What
was I but a Housecarl given a parcel of land for one brave
deed?  And yet I could see that we could have held them at
Fulford or even beaten them. I rode back to my men with dread in my
heart.

I cheered up when I reached
Fulford for my men were in good heart having warned the rest of
their danger they felt they had already played a part. Ridley had
spied the piece of high ground where the marsh protected one flank
and the bank of the river the other.  “Good position
Ridley.”

He beamed with pleasure, “I have
been watching you and slow as I am, I do learn.”

I ordered the men to make it a
defensive position. To my dismay Edwin did not like the position I
had chosen and he placed his men with their flanks secured on the
bank of the Ouse while his brother anchored his men close to the
Fordland marsh. Leaving my men on the high ground I rode down to
the two Earls.  “My lord the high ground gives us an
advantage.”

“But this gives us more for we
have a narrow front.”

“We have nowhere to
retreat!”

“We will hold them here. Our
flanks are secure; place your men in the centre with the other
warriors.”

He strode off the decision, a
disastrous one as it turned out, made.  I rode angrily back to
my men.  Ridley could see my anger and he said calmly, “We
fight by the river.”

“Aye. If things go ill there
will be no place to retreat.” I turned to Osbert, “Get the men
started down the hill but keep the horses here.” He gave me a
questioning look but followed my orders. I looked down the road to
Riccall.  It meandered its way from the south east which meant
the Norwegian would approach the same way. There was a leat near
Naeburn which was hidden by a small wood. I did not want to be
north of the city if the Norwegians were victorious; the King would
come from the south and I needed an escape route that way.  I
did not tell this to Osbert and Ridley for I knew that they trusted
me.  “Osbert, take four men from the fyrd that you can trust,
men who know horses, and have them take the mounts down to Naeburn
and hide them behind the trees.  Tell them to guard them until
we come.”

Osbert was clever enough to see
where I was going with it. “Suppose the Vikings come?”

“I do not think they will but if
they do then they should take the horses south.  At all cost
the beasts must not fall into their hands.”