The Bretwalda (The Casere Book 4) (19 page)

‘How long before supper do you think?’ He asked Derryth.

‘An hour perhaps – plenty of time to get it done today.’

‘Okay; let’s do it.’ He gave the order and the cataphracts and their riders were soon ‘dressed’ in their armour, while the Sagittari prepared their mounts to ride through the space created by the cataphracts – if they were needed. It would be a twenty-minute light canter to the Axum positions.

As Conn got within range, he fired an arrow into the air and as it hit two hundred yards, it exploded, into reds and blues. A roar could be heard from behind the barricades in the castle.

The Axum wiga turned to the sound and saw the charging horses in the distance. The Folctoga immediately ordered his troops to turn and face the charge. Within moments of doing so, they heard the second roar from the town; as the men, cooped up for a lunar, raced out to attack the Axum wiga. There was at least two thousand Axum wiga massed on the plain; and though outnumbering Conn’s fyrd, they stood little chance in the pincer movement. On top of which they were unprepared and underpowered.

Those with any sense threw away their weapons and ran – before surrendering. Some surrendered as soon as Conn had ridden over their line; severing heads and trampling bodies; Conn had a specific target and he turned with five hundred horses behind him and headed for the command post; where the folgere would be. The Sagittari would attack that post with their full might; and within two minutes two thousand arrows peppered the tents and the assembled attendants; Conn’s horses decimated those that were not injured with pike and sword. Everyone died in the command tent – folctoga and folgere. Conn didn’t even have to dismount.

By the time Conn had pulled his stallion up, and the five hundred had regrouped, the battle was over. It took less than twenty minutes. Derryth trotted over to Conn, a sad look on his face.

‘We are getting too good at this. We need to find a new hobby.’

Conn nodded. ‘Next time it won’t be so easy – I think the Bretwalda will be a little better organized – and he does have over ten thousand men in Meshech – and much better trained than these.’

By the time they had sorted the wounded and had the prisoners under guard, it was almost dark. Conn led the way into the castle town; leaving the fyrd outside to set up camp, and take care of the wounded.

Sir Njil waited at the gates with the Jarl, Helbut, and the Makurai folctoga, Rendel. Helbut bowed respectfully to Conn after he had been introduced. ‘I was warned about your wiga before they arrived, Marquis, but now I am in awe. They terrified me even from this distance. Welcome to my humble abode.’

Inside the gates, it was clear that the “invaders” had not been idle. Conn had included a squad of Kerchian engineers in Rendel’s fyrd to direct work once they arrived.

Helbut was grateful. ‘Your engineers have been most gracious in sharing their knowledge – I have not had so much work done in so little time.’

‘Many hands make light work, Jarl.’ He then introduced Eldarr to Helbut. ‘I presume you have been informed about Eldarr?’

Helbut nodded. ‘Yes, Rendel has told me everything he knows. Eldarr comes highly recommended and he will have my support – should he need it.’

They walked to the Jarl’s renovated and enlarged longhouse; he didn’t have a stone tower house like everyone else did – though he did have the ruins of one. He explained. ‘My ancestral uncle foolishly decided to resist the Axum when they invaded and they destroyed his castle and later executed him. My ancestor was his nephew. Until now, we have not been so rash.’

‘Yes, I’m sorry that we chose you to make the stand. Rendel assured me that you would not be too put out.’

‘Indeed not. My ancestral uncle was not executed by Geirfrith who defeated him and slighted the castle – but his brother, the so-called Bretwalda. He did it after Geirfrith had died and for no legal reason. The war was over. It was payback.’

The Jarl and his family were welcoming and hospitable – and they ate and drank until late. It was dark when Conn retired to his tent in an area set up inside the walls and guarded by his wiga. He was hardly asleep when he sensed that someone else was in his tent, and after his initial surprise he relaxed – the only ones capable of doing that inside a guarded town were the Twacuman. It was a young woman.

‘Yes?’ He asked nonchalantly.

‘Feorhhyrde, I have been sent to ask you to come for a meeting outside...”

‘Now?’

‘Yes – it cannot be held during light hours – no one must know.’

Conn followed the woman out between the tents and through the outside walls. His Twacuman guards acknowledged him as he passed. They headed for the woods and there they found several more Twacuman sitting and waiting. One was the old man that Conn had met in Bakan, which surprised him.

He apologized for bringing Conn out in the middle of the night, but again stressed that there was no alternative.

‘I understand fully. What can I do for you?’

‘We understand that you now intend to travel to Makurai-jo.’

Conn agreed. ‘Yes, either by road or by ship. I fear that going by ship is problematic but going by road is slow.’

‘There is a quicker way – over the mountains.’

‘I asked the Jarl but they told me that there is no way over the mountains.’

‘No Ancuman knows the way – but we do. We can get you there in fourteen days instead of forty.’

Conn paused to consider this. ‘Obviously you would not want the Ancuman to know of this road…?’

‘No – the knowledge is power – we have no desire to share it.’

‘Well, I have been known to be very foolhardy and stubborn. Tomorrow I think I will insist on trying to cross the mountain with my men.’

Conn stood up to return to his bed. ‘Until tomorrow then.’

‘Goodnight, Feorhhyrde.’

The Elders melted back into the forest, and were soon gone. The woman waited for them to leave. She then turned back to Conn.

‘Feorhhyrde, it is quite common for men in the town to bring theow out here in the woods at night – especially so that their bedda do not get jealous, if you know what I mean. Perhaps you should – we should – have a reason for being out here. If you are so inclined.’

Conn looked back at the town and then back at the slight figured but very attractive Priecuman woman. ‘I suppose there is a danger of being caught out?’

She smiled. ‘You never know. Mistakes can happen.’

She held out her hand and he grabbed it. ‘Come, I know just the spot’.

~oo0oo~

The next morning Conn surprised everyone by issuing a new set of orders. Rendel would lead the Makurai forces by road to escort the prisoners, while the Kerchian would go by sea.’

They looked at him strangely.

‘I want to get there quickly so I’m going over the mountain.’

Helbut was amazed. ‘But that isn’t possible – people have been trying to cross the mountain with a horse for thousands of years. A man can do it on his own but that is no use. You will get lost or even worse, you will have to come back and start again. It is foolhardy.’

‘None the less – I insist on trying. I do not have time to walk around the coastline.’

Sir Njil, who always just shrugged when given impossible orders, asked. ‘And where do I take the Kerchians?’

‘To Elis-jo. I understand that it is a good port.’

‘To the Jarl of Elis?’ Helbut was surprised. ‘The Jarl isn’t going to welcome you with open arms – his town is two day’s ride from Makurai – one if you hurry. By design he is very friendly with the Axum as he barracks a large number of them.’

‘I’m going to be there first, and get him to change his mind.’

Helbut thought it was a joke but when no one else laughed, he stopped.

~oo0oo~

Accordingly, Conn was the last to leave Sipan. The Jarl was not convinced he wouldn’t be seeing Conn and his five hundred wiga again soon, but he sent him on his way with his best wishes, and thanks.

Conn informed him that a very surprised and confused Bertlund il Bakan would arrive in a couple of days. He suggested that both of them make their way to Makurai-jo as soon as possible.

With goodbyes made, and Sipan free of invaders, Conn led the five hundred Twacuman directly towards the highest mountain peak. After an easy day, they camped on the lower slopes. It would be three days before it got steep. As they sat to eat supper, Derryth was the first to break silence.

‘Okay; so what the Gyden are we doing trying to find a way through the mountains that look like they are going to eat us up?’

‘Don’t you trust me?’ Conn joked.

‘I trust you to take on ten heavily armed Axum wiga with a long piece of grass and a butterfly wing – but not to guide me through these mountains. We are riding Elfina but even they won’t find a way through these mountains in less than a lunar. We don’t have a lunar.’

‘Relax – we will have guides tomorrow.’ Conn explained what had happened over night and why it was so secretive. The next morning three riders arrived as they were about to set out – including the woman that Conn had gotten to know so well so quickly. Her name was Aga, and she was of the seventh clan.

It seemed that Aga and her kin were not theow at all; in fact, there was an entire community of Twacuman living “under the radar” in the hills of Makurai; providing support and intelligence to those that were theow. Conn felt a little guilty taking advantage of her and said so as they rode together.

She laughed. ‘There is no need to feel so – it was fun.’ She smiled deviously, ‘and we will have to do it again soon – perhaps tonight.’

~oo0oo~

It was slow climbing up the mountain side; and at some points they even had to dismount to get their horses up the steep inclines.

‘There are other paths but they are slower,’ Aga explained.

After four days, they found themselves in a small valley, and heading to what looked like a dead end.

Derryth was nonplussed. ‘I have spent my entire life in a forest and have never got lost. I am now totally lost – I would never be able to find this spot again.’

‘It is certainly not in any danger of being discovered easily.’ Aga waited at the front and dismounted from her horse. She started to wrap a bandana around her horse’s eyes.

‘There is a fifty-yard tunnel that we have dug connecting this valley to one that leads down to the other side. The horses do not like the tunnel, but if we keep their eyes covered we should be okay. It will still take a long time with this many horses.’

‘Why don’t I have my stallion organize the horses for you?’

‘I know he is Elfina but I doubt that he has that much power.’ Aga had fallen in love with the black stallion as soon as she had met him. There were no Elfina bred horses in Makurai – or Kishdah for that matter, though they knew of them. There would be soon. The stallion had been servicing mares every night.

‘Now you have insulted him. Let’s go for a walk.’ Conn walked to the entrance of the tunnel. It was seven-foot-high and only about four foot wide. He patted the stallion and walked into the tunnel, with Aga at his side. The stallion followed along behind without hesitation. Fifteen minutes late they returned. Conn gave instructions that half the wiga should leave their animals behind and go ahead; they were to wait on the other side to stop horses from running away. Only half were Elfina – they would be fine – but they others may be a little terrified after the trip.

Later, after half the fyrd had disappeared into the tunnel, Conn patted his stallion again, and pointed to the tunnel.

‘So we want all of them through there.’

The stallion shook his great mane, and with a mighty stallion roar, he raced around the collection of mares and geldings; nipping, nudging and generally working them up into some kind of frenzy. After a few moments he roared again and the Elfina turned and headed into the tunnel, with the non Elfina mixed amongst them. Within half an hour, the last horse disappeared into the tunnel. Conn and Aga were the last through.

‘That is not something you see every day.’ Aga said, shaking her head in disbelief.

It took a while to get the animals calm so they camped on the other side of the tunnel for the night. With an early start the next morning, they were well on their way to Elis-jo. Downhill was much quicker than up, and when they encountered people, it was Twacuman that had gone ahead who were waiting for them. A day out from the castle, they were met by the same Elders that Conn had met a few days earlier.

‘You have made better time than we presumed.’

Aga explained how the stallion had made it much quicker. ‘Wise animal. And you say we will have his kin in our herd soon? Already we are rewarded.’

The Elders explained the layout of the castle and what Conn might expect. Conn’s plan was simple; the fleet should be lying off the coast unseen – but not out of contact. Conn was going to inform Njil when he was ready, and the schooners would “attack” the port with their catapults – distracting the inhabitants long enough for Conn to take them by surprise and invade the castle. The Twacuman were assisting by providing an easy entry into the castle; all Twacuman within the castle knew what was happening, and were leaving gates open.