Outlaw (Aelfraed) (22 page)

The nights were becoming shorter when we began our forays and this emboldened the Normans. It suited us too for the new growth on bushes and trees afforded us more shelter.
  Branton and his scouts spent the first three days watching for the tax men. He found them on the second day. They were to the south east of us around the small village of Malton and Norton.  I suppose they felt secure for there was a good Roman road to York but they had reckoned without my men.  We left ten in the camp to improve its disguise and we led the others to ambush the small column.  There were thirty men in the column and Branton had reported neither crossbows nor knights.  He did tell me that the men at arms had more armour than hitherto.

“It seems we are annoying them then Ridley! We will split the force and await them either side of the road in and out of Malton.” We knew that they were in Malton and had been to Norton but we had no idea if they would return to Jorvik
or continue to bleed the villages dry.

It is gently sloping land around these villages and the trees were sparse; the dips and hollows, however, suited us as there was no clear line of sight over long distances. I waited with Branton and half of the men on the road back to Jorvik while Ridley took the others north.
  I had a scout on the outskirts of the village ready to warn us of their approach.  When he did come, however, it was to tell us that the men had headed north towards Ridley. We mounted and trotted through the village; we saw some distressed villagers to whom we waved but we had no opportunity to speak with them.  Ridley and Osbert would be outnumbered by the Normans, we knew they would need us.

“Branton, send two men ahead to find the end of the column.”

The two men were still in sight when we heard the clash of weapons. I kicked hard and Sweyn surged forwards.  My men needed no command, the sound told them their comrades were in battle. We crested a rise in the road and saw that there was a furious fight going on.  The tax collector was cowering behind the line of men battling with mine. “Branton!”

My sergeant nodded and, calling to his archers wheeled left.
  I grinned as I turned to my men, “Charge!”

The increase in speed coincided with the first flights falling on the backs of the Normans. They were armoured but it is highly disconcerting to have arrows falling behind you.
  I saw the tax collector yell something and the line began to turn. The line of men who faced us was not continuous and certainly not prepared.  I stabbed down with Boar Splitter as I tugged back on Sweyn’s reins.  It was a trick I had taught him; when he lifted his forelegs it helped me to remove my spear and his hooves normally terrified the men on the ground. As I withdrew it I saw that two men lay dead and I stabbed again at the back of the man before me. He fell to the side taking my blade with him.  I unsheathed my sword and looked for an enemy.  A rider aimed his horse at me, his spear levelled.  I waited patiently and as the head came close, swept it aside with my sword and then swung the blade back to sever the man’s arm at the elbow. He screamed as he rode past me.  I looked around for another enemy but they had surrendered for we had surrounded them.

I could see some empty saddles but the ground was covered in dead Normans. The tax collector was still cowering beneath his tiny vehicle and I dismounted to confront him. “Who is your lord?”
I spoke in English for I knew that the Normans would need someone who could speak with the villagers.

“Baron William of Perci my lord.”

He was English and I was tempted to kill him outright for being a traitor but something told me to hold my temper. “Then when you return to your master tell him that William collects no more taxes from these people.” The surprise in his eyes told me that he thought I would kill him. “Tell him and tell your comrades here that any Norman I find in this land will die.  Tell him also that no castle and no town are safe.  We can strike anywhere as your men at Catherick discovered. “I turned to Osbert.  “Disarm them, take their armour and helmets, take their shoes and release them.” I raised my voice and pointed.  “Jorvik is that way.”

The twelve men who accompanied the tax collector looked unhappy as they trudged down the road towards the south. I wondered how they would fare in the village they had just robbed. Osbert and Ridley rode up to me.
  “I am surprised you let them live Aelfraed.”

“Ridley, we need them to fear us and I want them to know that we struck at Catherick. They will be looking for somewhere between the two. I am also gambling that they will think that the east is safe for them and this is the extent of our control.” I looked at Osbert. “Did we lose many?”

“Aedgar died and we have a couple of wounds.” He nodded at the weapons and the cart.  “Good haul though.”

The Normans had disappeared down the road. “Right, we will ride back to the camp.
  Branton send a couple of men to see where they go.”

The coins the tax collectors had gathered were substantial in number but in such small denomination that it reflected the
poverty of the people. Ridley and looked at it and then each other.  “We cannot keep it Aelfraed.”

“I know but apart from Malton and Norton we know not who paid them.”

Osbert came over and ran his hands through the coins. “We could always just return it to the people as payment, over payment, if you catch my drift.”

“What do you mean?”

“We need goods that they have in the villages, food, clothing and the like.  If we go in to buy them we can pay much more than they are worth.  We may not be repaying the exact villagers whose money was taken but at least we would put money back into the villages.”

I patted him on the shoulder.
  “That is a good idea, Osbert!”

“Yes my lord.”

“Edward, disguise yourself and find out which villages have been taxed. It may take you a couple of days.  As they were heading north I would work south from Norton but avoid the road and the Normans.”

Edward sniffed, “You’ll be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs next my lord!”

I laughed, my men needed no instructions about avoided detection, and we were like spirits of the night. “Osbert find someone who did not fight at Malton and send them with a horse to buy things from the two villages.  Take a third of the money.  Ask the camp guards what we need.”

When Branton returned at dusk he was grinning.
  “They were not happy bunnies by the time they reached Hutton.  Luckily for them they found some other Normans there building a small fort.”

“Is it worth us visiting?”

He shook his head, “I think it is just a place to tax those who use the road.  Stupid really, for there are many ways to avoid it.”

For the next month we continued to seek out William’s collectors and we robbed them.
  They increased the guards they used but, as they rarely used knights and crossbowmen we always came out on top.  Word came to us, in early summer that the castles William had been building were nearing completion and that William had his knights with him, searching the land around Medelai and Topcliffe.  “He is looking for us my lord.”

“Yes Osbert, which means that it is time to move back there.”

I think I saw Ridley’s jaw actually drop. “Back there but didn’t you hear?  William is looking for us there.”

“But we aren’t there, we are here and by approaching from the east we will see him before he sees us. Once he has searched and found three charcoal burners only he will head here, to the area around Malton where we first struck.”

Osbert nodded.  “Makes sense and we move at night. “

We had noticed that the Normans feared not the night but those who prowled in the hours of darkness, the human wolves, us! I also wondered about creating some mischief on the way over to Medelai. The castle at Topcliffe was not yet finished and I had an idea how to slow it down; it was probably a petty gesture but the Normans had taken everything from us and I wanted to repay them.

We travelled light and left just before sunset. We skirted Thirsk for there were signs of construction there too. We headed south towards Topcliffe.  We were approaching from the northern side which faced away from the rivers and we knew the land well.  We dismounted in a wood, a mile to the north of the castle and, leaving five men to guard the horses, travelled across the fields to the construction site. Some had bows but most had daggers and swords for the work would be close in and bloody. Our dull brown and green hooded tunics and lack of helmets meant that we were almost invisible as we scurried towards the mound rising in the distance. I sent Branton and Edward, with their archers, forward and when we reached them they pointed to the ramparts and held up three fingers. There were only three guards on the walls! We approached slowly.  There was a ditch and the spoil had been used for the mound. They had yet to complete the outer wall and the keep was a wooden affair with a small inner wall.  Two of the guards were talking above the small gatehouse. I pointed at Edward and signalled for him to take an archer and deal with the other guard. I pointed to the two guards and then at Branton. He and four men aimed at the two men.  They allowed enough time for Edward to get around the other side and then they loosed their arrows Branton’s men were good and the two men were hit in the throat and fell to a silent death punctuated only by the dull thump as they hit the ground. We ran to the walls and, using two of the shields we had brought, two men were hoisted above our heads to climb over the walls.  A few heartbeats later the gate was opened. Once inside we would see that there was a stair leading to a door half way up and the ground floor had the horses.  Branton led the horses to safety while Osbert quietly climbed the steps and jammed four spears against the stairs and the entrance to bar a speedy exit for any occupant.  Ridley and I went into the stables where there was a ripe smell of hoses and hay.  The Normans had fodder in there for their steed and it was dry. My men brought in some of the wood we found outside, obviously ready to build the ramparts, and they stacked it in piles. Using a flint we sparked a few flickering flames which we fanned until the hay and the wood caught and began to burn. We quickly left the stable as an inferno erupted. Once outside we watched the tower blaze. As soon as the smoke rose we heard coughing and then the men inside tried to get out of the door.  The spears held them for quite a while and, when the flames began to consume the ladder, we knew that they were doomed.  Two men managed to break open the door but Branton’s archer’s arrows, mercifully, ended their suffering. When no one else emerged we mounted the Normans’ horses and rode north east to where ours had been left.

When we rode we went in a north eastern direction, as though heading for the Tees. When we found the stream I was seeking we turned and continued west. All the while we could see the red glow in the south that marked the end of the tower at Topcliffe. Ridley still thought that I had been reckless.

“No Ridley, just the opposite. When the fire is seen, perhaps even now, then William, either Perci or the Bastard will send men south and east to find out what is amiss.  They will find the burning tower. If they have good trackers then they might follow us north east and then they will lose us.  Or they maybe have good trackers and search around Topcliffe.  Either way the one place they will not search is where they were for they would have travelled over that ground and not seen us.”

Ridley nodded. Osbert said casually, but showing that he had been paying attention, “What if he only sends some of his men and the rest still search the forests?”

“Then we skirt further north and approach from the west.” He nodded. “I know it is a risk but this way we have damaged William of Perci and his castle and we keep William the Bastard guessing.”

I had Branton and Edward further south from our line of march to watch for any Normans and, as dawn broke and we found
ourselves crossing the Roman road close to the Swale, the two of them rode towards us.

“You were lucky my lord.
  A column of nights and men at arms, all mounted, travelled down the road just an hour ago.”

“How many?”

“It was still a little dark but it looked to be over two hundred.”

“And if would be too dark for banners.
  Good then ride to the camp and see if the road is clear.  If one of you does not return then I will assume that it is.”

The ride over the last fifteen miles was the most nerve wracking of all for it was daylight and the open vale meant that we could be seen from a long way away.
  If I were William I would have a castle along the road but so far it was devoid of castles and men. We received no word from my scouts and as we rode into the hidden camp, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

We remained hidden in the camp for a few days and then I sent scouts out to the villages which lay close to the hideout to see what they could discover.
  As usual they took some of the Norman tax money to buy things we needed and they were more than happy to give us information.  I suspect they knew who we were but none knew where we hid and, for the moment we were safe but I knew that, before winter set in we would need to build two new camps away from these two sites. William the Bastard had returned south, apparently less than pleased with my work.  We heard that there was a healthy reward for information about Aelfraed the Outlaw and his rebels! At least he knew who we were.