Aela (28 page)

He commanded, ‘Their equipment has to be checked to see that all is in proper order and every one has to try and get some sleep tonight. Go and check your men at once, as I will be coming around personally to see that my orders have been carried out correctly. If this has not happened I will hold you all individually responsible. If any of you are shown to be really incompetent, you will be immediately executed,' bellowed Brude, glaring angrily at them all. ‘Get out of my sight before I change my mind.'

Without a word spoken, Brude's officers quietly disappeared from the room leaving behind a mournful silence hanging in the air.

In the meantime, Juno and his army had settled for the night and were camped at the side of the main road. He realised that tomorrow's battle would be the deciding factor of his fate and there was no turning back. For a split moment he let his thoughts wander as he daydreamed that he would be triumphant and he saw himself sitting regally on the golden throne at the Temple of the Sun.

At his feet was Brude, grovelling, begging for mercy for his life to be spared. His thoughts were rudely interrupted by one of his scouts entering the room.

‘My liege, one of my informants has told me that Brude intends to fight you on the open field in front of the main gates, rather than place his men on the walls in a defensive position.'

‘How accurate is this information?' queried Juno.

‘I was told by one of Brude's officers who was at the meeting when the strategy was decided amidst a lot of quarrelling amongst his men.'

‘So there is dissension amongst his men?' exclaimed Juno. ‘That is very good news. Somehow I must use this situation to my advantage. Who is this officer who gave you this information? Can you bring him to me so he could verbally recite to me the full details of Brude's strategy? Then I and my advisors can work out a counter plan for my men to carry out and completely defeat Brude's army. What a stroke of luck! You will be handsomely rewarded for this information.'

Juno started to pace up and down, deep in thought.

‘My liege, will I go now and fetch the man for you?' exclaimed the scout.

‘Of course, bring him to me immediately. Also tell him he will be given gold for his information. Go quickly as we must act swiftly, before it is too late!' Juno waved his hand impatiently in the air, over his head.

The scout very speedily left Juno, then ran to his horse and was soon galloping back down the main road towards the Temple of the Sun. Juno could hardly believe his good fortune at these turn of events.

Then doubts started to emerge, what if this was a trap that Brude was setting for him, by supplying false information of his battle tactics. He realised that he must be very careful when he heard the report from this man.

With these notions running through his mind at rapid speed Juno walked a short distance away from the camp and looked up at the night sky. He lifted his head and stared up at the cascade of twinkling lights, a myriad of illuminated stars draped across the white milky way.

He began to feel a surge of emotion overwhelming him as he lowered his head. As these feelings of hate swirled around inside his chest, he felt uncharacteristically humble and angry at the same time. He found he had no control over these conflicting feelings and tears began to appear in his eyes as he sobbed uncontrollably, then his whole body slumped slowly to the ground. He continued in this position for some time and gradually his sobs became less and less.

Juno started to breathe more evenly, his crying stopped and then there was silence. He picked himself up and slowly looked around. His first thoughts were that he hoped no one had seen him in this state. He must look strong and confident at all times in front of his men. Juno began to feel irritated with himself, for being such a fool to allow these emotions to get the better of him.

He must go back to the camp immediately and continue to prepare for the battle tomorrow. With this thought paramount in his mind, Juno walked briskly back to his headquarters. There was frenetic activity at the camp with men checking their weapons and servants scurrying to and fro with food and equipment, whilst others were saddling the horses ready for their masters to mount at a moment's notice.

Juno ordered Aela and Rom to be placed on a horse each with their hands tied in front and the rope secured to the pummel of the saddle. Finally, everyone was ready and Juno gave the signal for the army to move forward along the road towards the Temple. Scouts on horses were sent ahead as lookouts to survey and report back to Juno any movements of the enemy that may be observed.

He realised that the best plans can sometimes become unstuck, as no one had control of everyone or everything, not even the mighty Juno.

His army's slow progress was noted by local bystanders as they walked along the main road and a few people paused in their work tilling the fields to watch the column of men marching past them. One such person was Croan who thought this may be his opportunity to ingratiate himself with Brude and gain favour once more. He also noted that Aela and Rom were prisoners of Juno, as they rode past on horseback.

Croan was very quick to hide his face as the immediate party came very close to him. Thoughts raced through his head as how to formulate a daring plan, then an idea came to him and he smiled to himself. He waited patiently as the army of men slowly marched past and was careful to keep his head down, so that nobody would recognise him.

The army officers were intent on making sure the men were marching in an orderly fashion rather than looking at the casual bystanders watching them as they marched past. The men themselves were too absorbed in their own thoughts of the impending battle that nobody took any notice of the lone figure crouching on the ground with bowed head.

As soon as he saw the army had gone past him, Croan leapt into action and began running back into the forest as fast as he could, working his way towards a nearby stream. There was a particular sharp bend in the water, and he could see a track marked out and began to trot at a fairly fast pace along the narrow way. Croan knew this pathway would lead through the forest into a shallow valley, a short cut which would bring him to the Temple of the Sun, within the walled fortress and Brude's army.

More importantly he hoped to be in the presence of Brude himself, where he was expecting to gain special favour with his information of the strength of Juno's forces and the fact that Aela and Rom were his prisoners.

Juno and his army, by taking the main road were on the longer route but they did not have any choice because of the large numbers of men on the march, as well as having to handle all the heavy camping equipment, food supplies and the bulky artillery and weaponry.

Very soon Croan was forced to sit down and rest beside the track, as he was feeling very hot and thirsty. He began to curse to himself over the fact that his body was so weak. He hated to admit that he was no longer a young man in his youthful prime.

After resting for awhile, his strength returned to his legs and arms and his heavy breathing abated. He scrambled to his feet and started to walk at a slower pace, but with renewed determination. By the middle of the day he estimated that he was at least halfway to his destination.

Croan was very tired, thirsty and hungry and once again started to doubt the validity of his idea of action. But after thinking over the situation again, he realised he had nothing to lose and everything to gain by carrying out his plan to try to seek an audience with Brude, So he slowly picked himself up from the ground and started to walk along the narrow pathway, more resolved than ever to reach his goal.

The army continued the slow march along the main way and the men were feeling tired and their mouths required frequent topping up with water. At long last Juno called a halt to his army, and the officers gave the order, allowing the men to fall out and relax on the side of the road.

The scouts informed Juno that it was not far to go and the men were feeling both restless and excited, that very soon the battle would commence.

Rom was feeling uneasy with this news and whispered to Aela, ‘We must somehow find a way to escape.'

Aela nodded her head in agreement.

Just then Juno appeared in front of where they were resting on the ground together. ‘I have just had a brilliant idea for you Aela. I seem to remember that Brude has a passion for you and lusts after you. So I am going to place you at the head of my army, in order for Brude to see you. This will further make him angry and frustrated, that I have the upper hand in the situation.'

Rom immediately became extremely agitated and lunged towards Juno yelling, ‘I will kill you, let me be at the head of your army, so that I can kill as many enemy as possible before I die.'

Rom was overpowered and pinned down on the ground by a number of Juno's men. ‘How touching. You, Aela, have a great champion in Rom, who is prepared to sacrifice his life for you. Well I am going to have to disappoint you both and separate you lovebirds. Take Aela to the head of the army and place Rom on his horse near the rear and guard him well.'

Then Juno dug his spurs into the flanks of his mighty black horse and galloped forwards to the head of his army. Rom was particularly angry at the sudden turn of events and he tried to think of another plan of action. But his mind was in turmoil, as he grinded his teeth in futile rage.

Rom tried to tear his bonds apart but only succeeded in further chafing his wrists.

One of the guards noticed Rom's actions and laughed out loudly, ‘You will never break your bonds and escape. I have made sure the knots of the rope are securely tied.'

With that explanation the guard gave Rom's horse a slap on the rump with his hand, which resulted in the animal suddenly darting forward and Rom was forced to grimly hang onto the pummel of the saddle, otherwise he would fall onto the hard ground beneath him. The guards thought it was a hilarious joke, until they realised that the horse was bolting out of control as it galloped along the road.

Realising the situation, one of the guards urged his horse to charge after the runaway horse. Finally with some difficulty, he was able to grab the reins and pull backwards with all his strength, slowing the horses motion to a trot, thus gradually bringing it to a halt.

This did not please Rom who, at one stage had thought he may have had a chance to escape on the horse into the forest. However, it gave him an idea of a possible plan for freedom as all he needed to do was to bide his time and when there was some kind of distraction he could ride away. He began to feel much better within himself, but was careful not to show any emotion of elation towards his captors and kept his head down as though he was resigned to his fate.

Brude received the news from his scouts that Juno's army was not very far away and he gave the order to form a phalanx with the main army of regular soldiers in the middle flanked on either side with the cavalry and his archers placed on the ramparts of the walls with their bows and arrows at the ready.

Very soon everyone could see a cloud of dust on the horizon and gradually one could make out flags, long drawn pikes and men in armour on horseback. By now the atmosphere was highly charged and Juno's men began to chant their battle cry. Not to be outdone, Brude's soldiers started singing their own battle song in retaliation, whilst beating their shields with their swords. Many of the horses pricked up their ears with the noise, started dilating their nostrils, lifted their heads up and down erratically and then using their hooves, pawed the ground repeatedly.

As suddenly as the battle songs started, it abruptly stopped and there was a stony silence hanging in the air. Everyone was waiting for the trumpeters to blast out with the sounds of attack so they could charge straight at the enemy.

Juno was the first leader to order his trumpeters to sound the charge and immediately his cavalry was galloping down the gentle slope towards the main gates of the fortress. Seeing this solid mass of men and horses moving at breakneck speed, Juno yelled at the top of his voice, ‘Charge, you bastards! Kill every man to the last, but spare Brude so I can personally thrust my sword through his miserable body!'

His men let out a deep throated roar in unison, drawing their weapons, swords, spears, or pikes and started running or riding towards the enemy that was immediately in front of them.

Rom, at long last was released from his bonds and given a sword and a shield with which to fight. Aela, her hands still tied to the pommel of the horse, was led away by two guards to a nearby hill, which was situated near a thick wood and joined Juno and his immediate personal guard. This position gave Juno a sweeping view of the overall battlefield, so that he could send his scouts to his officers with direct orders from himself.

Brude stood on the ramparts with his immediate senior officers and his personal bodyguard watching Juno's army sweeping towards him. He was in a dilemma as whether to remain standing on the ramparts and deliver his orders or rush down the steps and mount his horse to meet his enemy at the main gates with his army.

This decision was taken out of his hands as Juno's cavalry was already a short distance away from his men and the gap between the two protagonist forces was closing rapidly. Without further hesitation he yelled out the order for his cavalry to positions themselves on both sides of the main body of his men and charge towards Juno's army.

There was a mighty roar from his men, as they spurred their horses forwards with their swords held aloft, ready to hack their enemy to death. There was a loud clash of steel as the men on both sides lashed out with their weapons.

Confusion, occurred with many men and horses colliding in mid air and then the tangled mass came crashing down to the earth. There was a horrendous melee of swords cutting through the air, a shower of arrows came shooting down with deadly accuracy, striking into living bodies of men and horses.

A small number of the gallant steeds went tumbling on the ground, letting out screams of terror as they rolled on top of their riders crushing them to death. Just then Juno's foot soldiers were caught up with the swirling mass of humanity and deadly hand to hand fighting began. There was many blood-curdling shouts, screams and curses issuing from the distorted lips of struggling soldiers.