The Sword Brothers (108 page)

‘I do not suppose, my
lord, that you would reconsider your decision not to send the
women, children and the old away.’

‘You suppose right,’
said Eha answering for her husband.

Thaddeus smiled most
graciously at her. ‘Then I would ask your husband to organise
hunting parties to gather as much food as possible so we can
withstand a siege.’

Kalju nodded. ‘It
shall be so.’

‘And men to fish on
the ice on the nearby lakes also,’ added Thaddeus. ‘This will
require a slight alteration to the rotas, of course. Still, should
be possible. A week before the enemy arrives, you say?’

Kalju nodded.

Thaddeus looked at the
others sitting at the table. ‘Then I suggest, my lords, that we all
attend to our duties forthwith. Time is of the essence.’

He bowed his head to
Kalju and Eha, turned on his heels and strode from the hall. A
grumbling Sir Richard, Bertram and Mathias followed, Kalju sending
his two chiefs after them. Conrad made to walk with Rudolf from the
chief’s presence when Eha called after them.

‘Conrad.’

He turned. ‘Lady?’

‘That old man,
Thaddeus, is he a holy man?’

‘No, lady.’

‘Then why do your
lords obey him?’

‘A question I have
often asked myself,’ said Rudolf.

‘It is because he is
very knowledgeable when it comes to defensive warfare and sieges,
lady,’ said Conrad. ‘It was his wisdom that led to the fall
of…’

He was going to refer
to the fall of Lehola but knew that at that time Kalju was an ally
of Lembit.

‘Continue,’ said
Eha.

Conrad glanced at
Kalju. ‘It was Master Thaddeus’ knowledge that resulted in the fall
of Lehola.’

‘To think that one old
man could reduce such a mighty fortress,’ said Kalju thoughtfully.
‘He is truly powerful and wise.’

He rose from his seat
and walked to the hall’s doors.

‘Where are you going?’
Eha called after him.

‘To see Master
Thaddeus so I can receive his orders concerning the hunting and
fishing parties.’

Eha laughed as he blew
her a kiss and marched from the hall. She too went to rise, Conrad
stepping forward and offering his hand to assist her. As she bent
forward Conrad noticed the heavy silver necklace she was wearing,
from which hung a large piece of amber. Eha saw him looking at
it.

‘A gift from my
sister.’

She stood and he
released her hand.

‘She is in the fort?’
he asked.

Her eyes filled with
hurt. ‘She is dead or at least I hope she is dead. She lived in a
village on our southern border. It was raided one winter and all
the menfolk were killed. The women and children were all taken.
Slave traders, most likely.’

Conrad went pale. He
felt physically sick as shame gripped him and he was unable to look
Eha in the eye.

Conrad suddenly fell
to his knees and took Eha’s hand.

‘I promise you, lady,
that the enemy will not breach the walls of this fort and the women
and children will be safe. This I swear in the name of God.’

Eha’s eyes opened wide
with surprise and looked at Rudolf in confusion.

‘He is apt to make
such gestures,’ remarked the brother knight.

Eha, delighted, raised
Conrad up to his feet and kissed him on the cheek.

‘Many among my people
believe that the crusaders are bloodthirsty barbarians but now I
can see that this is false. There are obviously many fine warriors
among them.’

Eha linked her arm in
his and walked from the hall. She was smiling at him but he could
have wept such was the self-reproach he felt.

That night, as he sat
round the campfire with his companions, he told them of what had
happened earlier.

‘This is our
punishment for what we did at that village,’ said Conrad, staring
into the fire.

‘You do not know that
it was Kalju’s sister-in-law who was in the village,’ said
Hans.

Conrad rounded on him.
‘Does that matter?’ He tugged at his surcoat. ‘We are supposed to
be warriors of Christ, devoting our lives to truth and justice, not
filthy slave traders.’

‘Henke says that
pagans do not count and so it does not matter how we treat them,’
said Anton, trying to be helpful.

Conrad fixed him with
a stare. ‘Henke is an animal. Do you believe what he says, Anton?’
He gestured at the fort bathed in moonlight. ‘Are the women and
children in the fort less deserving of protection because they are
pagans? Will you defend them with less vigour when the enemy comes
on the advice of Henke?’

Anton shook his head
and looked at his feet.

Conrad remembered the
mournful look on the woman’s face as she was led away by the slave
traders after the raid on the village.

‘Eha’s sister was
among the captives we took; of that I am certain.’

‘It is God’s will we
are here, Conrad,’ said Johann.

‘And God will ensure
that we shall pay for our crimes,’ replied Conrad.

The next day, as the
sun beat down on dozens of men hacking at the soil around the fort,
on the advice of Master Bertram one of the polished silver signal
mirrors was used to send a message to the nearest hill fort to the
south. Once received it would in turn be relayed to the Ungannian
fort nearest to Wenden. From there scouts would ride to the Sword
Brother stronghold with a message for Master Berthold:
enemy
force very large, send reinforcements immediately
.

*****

‘Our new allies,’ said
Gleb, resting his hands on the saddle’s pommel. ‘Not much to look
at, are they?’

Domash said nothing
but sighed heavily and waved forward one of his mounted officers.
His scouts had made contact with Lembit two hours earlier and both
sides had agreed to rendezvous by the frozen surface of the Leevi,
a small river located around six miles north of Odenpah. It flowed
from the uplands near the fort east to Lake Peipus.

‘Come Gleb, let us
meet our fellow conquerors.’

He nudged his horse
forward, the officer and a dozen of his men falling in behind as
Gleb also walked his horse forward.

‘Give the order to
make camp,’ Domash called to another of his senior commanders. The
foot soldiers escorting the sleds that carried supplies were at
least two hours behind so it made sense to call a halt. There was
flat ground either side of the river and the trees did not begin
until around two hundred paces from the riverbank.

The Estonians were
mostly on foot save for a group of warriors wearing helmets and
mail armour, armed with spears, who sat on ponies directly ahead.
One carried a standard of some sort but there was no wind and so it
hung limply from its staff. His own horsemen filled the ground
extending to the east but he could only see two relatively small
groups of foot behind the mounted warriors, one carrying brightly
coloured round shields, the other sporting wolf heads on their
shields. As the foot soldiers moved to stand either side of the
mounted men he saw blonde hair extending from beneath many of the
helmets of the men with coloured shields. One of the men sitting on
a pony took off his helmet and raised his hand. Shorter in stature
than most of his companions, especially the oversized brute next to
him, he had broad shoulders and long hair.

‘Greetings, friends. I
am Lembit, leader of the Saccalian people.’

Domash raised his hand
and also removed his helmet before answering in Estonian. ‘Domash
Tverdislavich, Mayor of Pskov and deputy to Prince Mstislav of
Novgorod.’

Both parties smiled
politely and did their best to forget that they had spent more time
fighting each other than being allies.

‘This is all you
have?’ said Domash, looking at the warriors standing bored in the
snow.

‘Our camp is two miles
to the west,’ replied Lembit, who looked beyond the Russian to the
horsemen standing in the snow. ‘You bring many horse?’

‘A few thousand,’
remarked Domash casually.

‘Not much use when
storming a fort,’ sneered Jaak.

Lembit maintained his
polite smile. ‘This is Lord Jaak, ruler of Jerwen, whose warriors
will aid us in our assault.’

He then turned to
Sigurd. ‘And this is Prince Sigurd who commands a large body of
Oeselians.’

‘Oeselians?’ said Gleb
in surprise upon hearing the word. ‘Are we going to eat any
captives we take?’

The horsemen with
Domash smiled but their commander was not amused and froze Gleb
with a stare. Fortunately he had spoken in Russian and Lembit and
his allies did not understand the language.

Domash nodded to
Sigurd, who had removed his helmet, and to Jaak who had not.

‘What of the
Ungannians?’ he asked.

‘Cowering in their
hill forts,’ reported Lembit with satisfaction. ‘Kalju has
dispersed his forces rather than concentrate them at Odenpah. I
doubt if he has even a few hundred men to defend his
stronghold.’

Domash nodded
contentedly. ‘Will you give him an opportunity to surrender?’

Lembit laughed. ‘You
do not bargain with traitors, mayor, you execute them. We shall
storm Odenpah to make an example of Kalju. I will send his head to
Prince Mstislav as a present.’

‘I am sure he will be
touched,’ remarked Domash.

His gross
underestimation of the enemy was Lembit’s second mistake.

*****

It snowed heavily
during the night and early morning, so that by the time Lembit and
his Russian allies arrived before Odenpah just after midday the
ground all round the fort was a blanket of white. No sign of the
crusader camp that had been dismantled the day before was visible,
and the dry moat that encompassed three sides of the fort was also
hidden from view. Kalju’s scouts had alerted their leader of the
approach of the Estonians and Russians once they had arrived within
five miles of the fort, the enemy’s progress having been exactly
tracked by the signals from the other hill forts.

As soon as word
reached Odenpah that the enemy was a day’s march away Master
Thaddeus put his plan into effect. The crusaders moved into the
fort along with their wagons, horses and draught animals, pitching
their tents between the inner and outer walls. It was very cramped,
especially as Thaddeus’ engineers had set up the six mangonels in
the same area: two behind the outer western wall, two on the other
side of the compound behind the outer east wall, and the other two
directly behind the gatehouse in the outer southern wall. The
elderly, women and children were all moved to the higher, inner
stronghold where they would not only be more removed from immediate
danger but also be kept out of the way to allow the soldiers to do
their work.

There were eight
square timber towers along Odenpah’s outer perimeter wall and
another four at each corner of the inner timber wall. The latter
was reached by steps fashioned from great stone slabs that were
positioned on the eastern side of the higher hill. These led to a
single squat gate that gave access to the inner stronghold. The
steps were steep and the gate deliberately narrow to prohibit
horsemen from entering.

Master Thaddeus had
given express orders that no crusaders, Sword Brothers or
crossbowmen were to show themselves in the towers or on the
battlements until he said so. Sir Richard grumbled at this but the
chief engineer was insistent. He explained his reasoning as he
stood with Kalju, Bertram, Mathias and Sir Richard in one of the
towers that flanked the main gates as the enemy began to deploy
around the fort. Conrad was in attendance in his role as translator
for Master Thaddeus.

‘We must give the
illusion of weakness,’ he said to Sir Richard whose unhappiness had
increased at having to wear a fur-lined cap, thick woollen tunic
and brown cloak so he resembled one of Kalju’s men. Bertram,
Mathias and Conrad were similarly attired.

Kalju looked at the
hundreds of men deploying to the south, west and east of his fort.
‘We
are
weak.’

His warriors filled
the other towers but the battlements between them were empty.

Thaddeus shook his
head. ‘Have no fear, my lord, it is within our interests for the
enemy to take our bait.’

‘Bait?’ said Sir
Richard, flicking a louse off his cloak.

Thaddeus pointed at
the empty battlements between the towers. ‘What do you see, my
lords?’

Sir Richard looked
perplexed and Bertram confused.

‘Nothing,’ said
Kalju.

‘Exactly,’ smiled
Thaddeus. ‘And that is what the enemy will see: nothing. They will
deduce that if they mount a mass assault against the fort it will
fall quickly. And that is what we want them to think for they will
believe that victory is within their grasp. They will become
over-confident and that will lead to their downfall.’

Sir Richard looked at
the now thousands of men moving into position around the fort.

‘Looks like they are
preparing to attack.’

Mathias shook his
head. ‘Not today, lord. This display is purely for our benefit so
we can behold their strength and dwell on it through the night. In
this way the enemy hopes to demoralise us.’

He pointed at a large
group of soldiers directly ahead, facing the main gates. ‘There are
no scaling ladders among their ranks, which indicates that they
will not launch an attack today.’

Kalju looked into the
sky. ‘There are only two hours of daylight left.’

But in that time the
enemy put on an impressive display. As they made no attempt to
approach the walls the commanders decided to take a tour of the
ramparts to observe their opponents more closely. Kalju pointed to
the west where the Saccalians stood between the men from Jerwen and
Sigurd’s warriors.

‘You see the men with
red painted on their shields? Those are Lembit’s wolf shields.’

Conrad clenched his
fist at the mention of Lembit’s name. Kalju pointed at the block of
warriors standing to the right of the Saccalians.