The Bretwalda (The Casere Book 4) (39 page)

Chapter 17
The Eaorl of Mazra

Leaving the Grey Jackets in Oxmon, a shorter but still long line of horses trekked up and over the mountains; their path guided by the Twacuman. As well as Twacuman from all three nations, Conn took his Brown Jackets and the Eagle’s Claw, almost fifteen hundred wiga in total, and they passed through the mountain range without incident.

Ten days in, Wilric came back to see him. ‘There is a small camp to the south, in the forest; it seems to have life.’

‘Strange place for Ancuman wiga.’

‘No – Priecuman. It is well hidden from the valley – but not so from the mountain.’

‘It is probably Wulfgar from Mazra. I was informed that he was up here somewhere – he somehow surviving the encounter with the Aebeling that killed his father and the Eaorl of Katane.’

‘What shall I do?’

‘I’ll send Tulia; she needs some responsibility.’

As Conn headed west, Tulia led her squad south down the range. Soon into open country, the fyrd turned south along the river towards town, looking for sign of the Ancuman squads. There were none because no one expected them to travel high over the range. As they rode, they passed fields of what that had been recently harvested. Enak was an area of excellent faming; which was probably why the Axum had secured and maintained a post there – pressing the locals into service.

A scout returned. ‘We have been seen,’ he reported. ‘A squad of men are assembling between us and the town. Perhaps two hundred men – fully mounted.’

‘Let’s see if we can give them a scare and send them home.’ Conn issued orders to Bricwahl, and soon the Brown Jackets started their advance; several companies of men galloped down the mountain towards the clump of trees. Suicide not high on their list of activities for the day, the Ancuman squad turned tail and fled. The Browns pulled up their horses and waited, and they all continued together towards the town.

Bricwahl then set up camp on the north side while Conn continued further south with the Eagle’s Claw until he had the village surrounded; he then set up camp on the southern road.; well out of arrow range but within sight of the inhabitants.

As he overlooked the buildings, it was clear to Conn that the Ancuman had capture the town and its inhabitants relatively intact, as Priecuman could be seen amongst the hundreds of people milling around the buildings; setting up barricades for the inevitable onslaught.

Night fell and with the morning, the inhabitants were still at their posts waiting. Conn could only imagine their feelings of anxiety.

Tulia had arrived the previous night with not only Wulfgar, but another young man who Conn didn’t know. He was introduced as Kadwahl, second son of the Eaorl of Katane. Conn welcomed them.

‘Gentlemen, I understand that both your fathers died fighting the Ancuman. You have my condolences.’ Conn had been annoyed that his instructions had not been followed – they were to abandon their homes for Oxmon.

Wulfgar thanked him. ‘My father was a stubborn man – he had a fyrd of nearly five hundred men gathered from the villages and other demesne. He thought he would be able to stop them taking his town. When he knew he couldn’t, it was too late. They had taken the road to Oxmon. He was cut off.’

‘How many died?’

‘Nearly all who stood died – over a dozen Thanes as well. I survived because my mother is from Gera, and her brother came and brought me all up here. I owe him my life.’

‘And since then?’

Kadwahl took the lead. ‘Not long after Wulfgar and his mother came up the valley, the Ancuman followed; I was with the Eaorl of Gela and my brother the Eaorl of Katane and we engaged an advance party and barely escaped with our lives. We then took every male from every village and retreated to the hills. They chased us as far as Gela before they retreated back to Enak. There was not enough time to take the women and children – they moved so quickly – and whilst it is unforgivable that we left them to that consequence, we feared that they would die if we tried to travel in the hills with them.’

‘Your brother and the Eaorl of Enak?’

‘They went to Sedina to report ten days ago.’

‘Good, they will return with the Blue Jackets. Now, we need to see if we can get Enak his home back. First, let’s organize quarters and clothes for you – yours have seen a little too much wear I fear. You might also like a meal. We can speak again later.’

They agreed, bowed and headed out of the large yurt. Conn looked at Tulia – she seemed a little agitated. Derryth asked what the matter was.

‘Wulfgar! He seemed very polite here – but all he did since I met him was complain! You know he blames me for his horse becoming lame – he says that I took the wrong path through the river. The nerve of that man!’

‘Have you helped him choose a replacement horse?’

‘No! Of course not…it was not my fault.’

‘Please do – we can’t have the Eaorl of Mazra without a horse to ride, can we?’

She looked at Conn and Derryth dumbfounded. ‘You’re serious?’ she asked her father again. ‘You want me to help him choose a horse? I’m a Wealdend!’

‘Not at the moment. You are a Captain in the Brown Jackets, and you will do as ordered. And before supper too. Just in case he needs a horse in a hurry… oh, and uniforms and somewhere to sleep.’

Tulia stormed out – temperance was still not a strong suit while arrogance was. Derryth shook his head. ‘I hope you know what you are doing…’

Conn feigned shock. ‘Me ... why is it always me...?’

~oo0oo~

Despite her annoyance, with the news of the arrival of two young men, all three girls dressed better than usual at supper, even in the tent, but had to compete for attention as the young men were quite overwhelmed by the multicultural nature of the event – they were eating supper with men they had considered their enemies and even joking with them. Vigbert’s Eagle’s Claw colleagues had taken to being in Conn’s camp very easily and they were by far the noisiest. Siri had a booming voice and liked the sound of it. The lack of attention the girls received made them all pout. Derryth was very amused, which made them mad at him, which he didn’t understand.

In the morning a furious Tulia went to see her father again. ‘I am going to murder him – is it okay for me to murder an Eaorl – if you can execute your own daughter, surely I can murder an Eaorl and get away with it – do you know what he blamed me for now?’

‘No idea.’ Conn sat on his horse with Derryth overlooking the town. They had been wondering how long it would take for the inhabitants to crack before they were disrupted.

‘The arrows – he has a new uniform – he doesn’t think much of the colour – I put him in the Greys – his horse is too short because it is shorter than mine – and to cap it all off, he returned some of the arrows that I personally supplied him – he said they were too short! That man is insufferable!’

‘Too short? That is a problem; did he say which end?’

‘He did! The end with the fletching. I do not believe his arrogance. They are all the same size! Doesn’t he know who I am?’

‘I have someone look into that.’

‘Look into what?’

‘The short arrows. Maybe his bow string is too wide.’

‘I’ll ask him.’ She suddenly smiled viciously. ‘I will get my own back this afternoon though – he has challenged me to spar with the Bo. I’ve seen him spar – he thinks he is good but he will be black and blue by the time I’m finished with him.’

Conn and Derryth stole a nervous glance. Conn spoke first. ‘You will have to postpone that bout – I’m sorry to say.’

‘Why?’

‘I sending him on a trip this afternoon ... umm… with Derryth…you know the one we discussed…’

Derryth looked shocked. ‘The one we discussed … Oh, yes, that one… yes, we will have to leave immediately.’

Confused she asked. ‘Where are you going?

‘Where are we going? Yes, well, we are going – with Kadwahl – down as far as we can south – I want to see if there are reinforcements – Axum ones – coming up the valley. We’ll be back tomorrow.’

‘Don’t you already have people doing that.

‘Some extra eyes never hurt.’

‘Sounds important – I’ll go with you.’

‘You can’t!’ Conn interjected very quickly. ‘I need you here…’

‘Why?’

‘I’m thinking that we might see some action early tomorrow morning – I’d like you to be here.’

She turned to leave. ‘I’m very confused.’

They watched her go.

‘You’d best get going then’, Conn said, ‘You are going to have your work cut out for you.’

‘The jobs you give me.’ He wheeled around his horse and with Elfrea in tow; he headed to find the Eaorls.

Derryth hadn’t returned when the first sign that events were impacting on the residents of the town became apparent. Vigbert and the Eagle’s Claw had set themselves up in full sight; the nobori fluttering wildly over the valley.

Conn sat overlooking the settlement with Tulia and Vigbert when four riders left the gates and rode in their direction with a white flag on their lances. Vigbert had Sigrin, Jarl of Siri ride at his side.

‘I don’t suppose they are going to surrender?’ Vigbert asked.

‘I doubt it. Do we know who they are?’

Sigrin looked for a while before answering. ‘The one on the left is the son of the Jarl of Marad in the north. He is of the house of Farstein. The one on the left is Garnar, the son of the Jarl of Kuara – which is surprising they are together. They don’t like each other. Garnar is of Geirfrith. We are kin as well – I expected him to be with the Aebeling in the west.

The four riders arrived unimpeded. Two rode up closer to Conn while two hang behind. The men behind were clearly men of Farstein.

The close they got, they more confused they got. Both Siri and Vigbert were in Eagle’s Claw tabards. Garnar acknowledged Siri’s presence but Marad ignored him.

Marad started speaking. ‘I have come to negotiate. You are toremove this blockade and we will not kill the women and children in the village.’

Conn shook his head. ‘That is not negotiation – that is a demand. I think you need to try harder – something like – if we surrender, will our lives be spared – please. Or even pretty please.’

‘Axum do not surrender or beg. We would rather die.’

‘Very well; die. The women and children are the only things that have kept you alive so far. When you start killing them, we will attack and I will ensure that any man who isn’t dead will roast alive.’

‘Threatening us is not going to work. We have the children – we will kill one every day until you let us go…’

‘Oh shut up Madras,’ his colleague interrupted. ‘Are you going to kill a child yourself? We are not animals. We are warriors – warriors don’t kill children.’ He looked back at Conn and Vigbert. ‘Can someone tell me why is the Eagle’s Claw is here?’

‘Long story, short answer. The Prophesy…’

Madras interrupted. ‘Fool – there is no prophesy – he is just a traitor. He deserves nothing but death. He will be roasted alive.’

Conn shrugged. ‘It is always interesting that the people who are to suffer because of a prophesy are the only ones who don’t believe in it. You should surrender now – save ...’

Madras interrupted him. ‘We will not surrender – that is treachery! I would rather die...’ His diatribe was interrupted by Garnar’s big left hand connecting to his chin, and him falling off the horse. Garnar was a big man, and caught square on the jaw, Madras fell like a stone. His two wiga reached for their weapons but stopped as ten sets of Twacuman bows were aimed at them.

Garnar turned his horse around, ‘If you would like to keep these Farstein occupied for a while, I’ll go back and organize a brawl in the town. Never too hard with the Eagle’s Claw being seen – trust is very low, and the Farstein are very sensitive. You are right – they believe in the prophesy more than we do. I’m sure you’ll know what to do.’

They stayed sitting for another fifteen minutes until it was obvious that something significant was happening in the town. Derryth and the two Eaorls returned just in time. Derryth asked what was happening, as he looked at the three Axum wiga trussed on horses.

‘One of the Geirfrith Folctoga has kindly offered to start an insurrection. I think it is under way.’ Conn looked to his signaller. ‘Sound the advance.’

The pipers filled their balloons and soon the sounds of bagpipes filled the valley. Immediately, wiga advanced from all both sides of the town, led by Vigbert in the south, and the Brown Jackets in the north. Conn decided they didn’t need him; there were no folgere here.

‘Drums!’ Derryth offered. ‘Everyone else used drums to communicate – but no, you have to use those infernal bagpipes. I have no idea how a Gyden allowed anyone to invent the bagpipes…’

‘It’s a mark of separation – of distinction between me and the others.’ Conn suggested.

‘Something is certainly different.’

After a while, they headed in to town. The three Ancuman were now trussed on their horses and rode behind Conn, and their horses were being led by Tulia. Wulfgar was riding at her side.

Wulfgar was not giving up. ‘Aebeling, I am sure this horse had one leg shorter than the others – he has an unnatural gait.’