Saxon Bane (22 page)

I woke stiff and hungry. As I threw some water on my face I chastised myself.  I was getting soft. I needed to become a warrior once more.

“I want Geraint and Daffydd to wait for Tuanthal at the cove. It could be any time in the next two days.” When the two scouts came Aedh explained what they should do.

“We will, Warlord.”

“When they arrive then bring Captain Tuanthal and his men to the hill above the village; the place we watched from.”

“And where will we be, Warlord?”

“We will be watching there to ascertain more precise numbers and to try a little mischief.” I turned to Geraint. “If we are not at the hill then tell Tuanthal to wait for us.”

“I will, Warlord.”

We separated and Aedh and I retraced our steps.  We knew the places now which were dangerous and we went more carefully there. At other times we were able to move quicker. We made it to the small rise and settled ourselves down to watch.

“You have a plan Warlord?”

I nodded, “The beginnings of one.” I pointed to the hut used by Morcar and Morgause. “You see the amphora by the hut?” he nodded.  “I intend to sneak down there and put the belladonna which Gawan gave us into the jar. It will either kill them or make them sleep.  Either suits us.”

“But how will you get the poison into the jar.  It is close to the gate.”

“I do not know yet. We need to watch for something which might help us.”

It was a long slow morning as we peered down into the village.  The only ones who appeared to leave through the gate were the slaves and a couple of women.  They went to the northern part of the shore where we saw them gather shellfish. When it was slaves who went foraging then two guards went with them and watched. They looked to be our only chance.

In the early afternoon we saw the brothers.  They went to Morcar’s hut. He and Morgause came out.  There appeared to be a heated discussion. One of the brothers, he looked younger than the other, and I took him to be Oswiu tried to hit Morcar at one point.  I saw Morcar’s hand go to Saxon Slayer before Oswald intervened. Morgause must have said something for Oswiu retreated a little. Then the four of them left and walked down to the ship.  They all boarded and it left. It went in the same direction as the previous day and headed south.

Aedh said, “They are looking for us again.”

“Will Geraint and Daffydd be safe?”

“You know where they are but I would defy you to find them if we went there.  They will not be discovered.”

“I have an idea.  Let us go to the northern beach where they collect shellfish and see what transpires.”

I could see, from Aedh’s face that he thought it a bad idea but I was Warlord. “Then follow me and keep low.”

There were plenty of gorse bushes and, by crouching, we were able to make it into the rocks close to the beach where we had seen them collecting shellfish. We both drew our swords and laid them next to us in the sand. 

“How do you know they will come again this afternoon?”

“I am guessing. We saw no hunters going out.  Unless they have vast quantities of food laid in then they will have to use what is around the settlement. They will want shellfish which is fresh.  When the tide turns again they may come for more.” I shrugged.  “If they do not come then we will try again in the morning when we know that they will come.”

He nodded and we settled down to watch. As the tide began to recede I became more hopeful.  It seemed likely that they would come when the tide was on its way out.  The wait became more tolerable as I anticipated a result.  We saw the four thralls come down.  They were carrying large baskets which, I assumed would become heavy as they collected more shellfish.

The reason why the guards were necessary was answered when the two guards followed them. The women had been waiting by the water’s edge. The guards gave them crude knives.  Obviously the slaves were not to be trusted with weapons however small. We had both missed that in the morning but it gave us a chance.  They would need to collect the knives back from the slaves before they returned to the settlement.

The women worked quickly.  Their hands plunged into the water and after they had used the knives they would put their catch into the basket. Three of them worked in the water whilst the others clambered around the rocks hacking off mussels, barnacles and oysters. Either there was little game on the island or the Northumbrians were lazy. The two guards then began to drink from a skin.  I assumed it was a potent brew for they appeared to enjoy it.

Gradually the thralls filled their baskets and one by one they returned their knives to the guards and then headed back to the settlement with their baskets on their heads. Soon there was but one left.  She was a young girl of no more than fifteen summers. As she drew close to the two guards I saw them exchange a look. My mind began to work out what would happen next.  “Be ready to follow me, Aedh.” He nodded.

One of the guards held out his hand for the knife. As she handed it over the other grabbed her other arm and dragged her beneath the rock on which they had been sat.  I knew from our observations that they were out of sight of the guards. The other warrior joined his friend.  I heard a muffled shout.

“Now Aedh!”

We raced towards the rock.  He went one side and I the other.  I did not pause, I hurled myself at one warrior and threw my arm around his neck.  I knocked him from the girl. I landed on top of him and my weight took his wind.  Before he could recover I ripped my sword across his throat and he bled to death. Aedh did the same for the other.  The girl was shocked and I jumped towards her and put my hand across her mouth.

“Ssh!” She nodded her acquiescence.  “What are your people?” She looked confused. “Where were you taken?”

“Rheged!”

I was relieved beyond words. “I am the Warlord of Rheged.  Will you help us? We will take you home.”

“I will.  Will you take my sisters too?”

“We will take all of you.” I turned to Aedh.  “Put on the dead man’s clothes.” We stripped the dead and we dressed in their clothes.  Both men had had hoods and we put them up. “Now then…?”

“Ciara.”

“Now then Ciara, I want you to pretend that the men violated you.  Pretend to weep as we go through the gate. Can you do that?”

“I can.”

“Say nothing to the others but we will come back.  That I promise you.”

She leaned up and kissed me on my cheek. “You saved me from more pawing and groping.  I am grateful.” She pointed to one. “He is Aella and he,“ she pointed to the other, “is Egbert.”

“Thank you Ciara.  You are brave.”

She put the basket on her shoulder and began to move towards the gate. I took the wineskin and held it to my mouth and put the other arm around Aedh.  It hid our faces and made us look drunk.  Ciara’s tears sounded real but had no effect on the guards. 

“You two horny bastards will come a cropper one of these days. Hey, Aella, I am talking to you.”

I affected a slurred voice, “Ah go play with yourself, you queer.”

They must have bantered before for the guard merely laughed. And then we were inside the settlement.  Aedh began to urinate against the gate. One of the guards said, “Dirty bastard!”

While they were watching him I poured the belladonna into the amphora. Just then the guard said, “Here, watch out, the Princes are back.”

I looked up and saw the ship returning. I staggered towards Aedh and said, “Shit, I have left my knife on the beach. Egbert, come and help me find it.”

The guard laughed, “You had better hurry up then, we intend to bar the gates when they are back inside.”

We staggered drunkenly towards the rock.  When I was sure that we were out of sight we scurried back up the hill.  Aedh made sure that we leapt from rock to rock to avoid leaving tracks. When we reached the safety of our lair Aedh began to laugh.

“You are the Warlord’s son. Only you or Lord Lann himself would have tried that!”

I shrugged.  “Men see what they expect to see. Our problem now is will those men be missed.”

We peered over the rise and watched the Northumbrians with Morcar and Morgause walk from the ship. When they reached the gate Oswald said something to the guards and they ran back to the ship.  They returned carrying something, we could not see what but it took two of them to carry it. When the two guards were through the gate it was closed. With luck the two guards we had killed would not be missed until morning or even later.  I hoped that, by then, Tuanthal would have reached us.

The night was not an easy night. We heard the sounds of screaming coming from the village.  We could not work out what was going on.  Our vantage point did not allow us to see inside the huts and they had no fires burning outside. Worried by the noises we took it in turn to sleep. I had the last watch before dawn.  When Aedh roused me dawn was just breaking to the east. His face was grim.

“What is it Aedh?”

“Come and see.”

We slithered over to the rise and looked down at the village.  The sentries were on the gate still but there, on two spears just before the gate were the heads of Ciara and Daffydd. Now we knew what the screams had meant.

Back in our dell a mixture of emotions raced through me. We had caused the death of a young girl and I felt guilty.  I was also angry at their treatment of her.

“What of Geraint?”

Aedh shook his head, “There is no sign of him.”

“He may be dead and Tuanthal may be waiting in the cove for us.  Obviously the drugged water did not work. It may be they have not drunk of it yet. We will have to return to the cove and wait with Geraint. I think the girl will have told them that I am on the island.  They will hunt us as soon as it is daylight.”

Nodding, Aedh rose and led the way.  Having made the decision there was no time to lose. There was a danger that there could be warriors waiting for us at the beach. My first quest as Warlord looked to be heading for failure.  I had failed to build a camp and allowed the mercenaries to kill irreplaceable warriors, I had allowed Morcar to escape and my vanity had caused the death of an innocent girl and a fine young warrior.

When we reached the cove it appeared deserted. Aedh frowned.  “Even had they been seen they would have left signs. I can see no evidence of a struggle.  Wait here Warlord whilst I search.”

While my captain of scouts searched I peered out to sea. Why was Tuanthal not waiting in the cove?  What other disaster had befallen us?

I heard a noise and whipping my sword out turned to face the danger.  It was Aedh and he was carrying an injured and soaking Geraint. “I am sorry, Warlord, we failed you and it was my fault.”

I could see that he was upset but I needed him to be calm so that I could gauge the size of the disaster. “Just tell me what happened Geraint.”

“We were watching for the ship when we saw the Northumbrian boat coming around the headland. We went to our hiding places.” He pointed to the cove.  “I had a rocky perch and Daffydd hid in the trees. “They fooled us. They had sent four men through the woods.  I knew nothing save I heard a noise and then I saw them dragging my friend towards the top of the cove. Seeing that there were just four of them I tried to get to my friend but I slipped on a slippery rock and tumbled down the far side of the cove into the sea. My leg was trapped between some rocks and it took me all night to escape.”

I could see that his leg was badly gashed, “Aedh, see to his leg.  It was not your fault Geraint, it was
wyrd
.”

While Geraint was attended to I returned to watch for the ship. It was not quite the disaster it could have been.  They would have questioned Daffydd before killing him and that explained the screams.  They would have done the same with the girl. Now that it was daylight they would search for us.  We had not hidden our trail from the vantage point.  It would take them some time but they would find our tracks and it would not take them long to work out that we would be where they captured Daffydd.

I waited, as patiently as I could until the wound had been bound.  “They will follow us here.”

“I know.”

“And we have nowhere to go. So if we are to be here then let us make it hard for them.  Geraint, come and watch for Captain Tuanthal.  Aedh let us lay some traps for them.”

I knew that warriors give up too easily if there is no hope. The traps would not save us but they would slow down the enemy and buy us a little time.  They would also make them wary. I had seen the despondency on Geraint’s face and I knew that Aedh would take the loss of one of his best men hard.

We hurried back to the valley we had used. The lack of tracks meant that they might not be aware of its existence and would be wary.  It was narrow and had many natural dangers.  We just used them. We made a trip with some hemp line and a pile of rocks. We moved some of the rocks in the water so that they would make an unstable platform.  We littered the valley with pitfalls and traps. We worked as long as we dared and then headed back to the cove.  Here we had slightly more time.  We used caltrops to direct them towards hemp lines to trip them.  Aedh cut stakes close to the trips.  If they fell on them then they would be hurt.  We used the wild blackberries to make impenetrable barriers which forced them towards our traps. Once we had used all of our resources we returned to the cove and Geraint.