Baron of the North (17 page)

"Do you like the feeling?"

"Yes but I did not enjoy the slave's hands on my body.  It felt unnatural."

"You could have had a woman you know."

He shook his head, "That would have been even worse!"

On the way back I found a shop which made clothes. If we were to be there for five days then our tired clothes would need replacing. I asked the man to make ten surcoats for me. I used just one size for, apart from John, we were all similar in stature. His apprentice made notes on his wax tablet and I was given a price. It was less than I expected. By the time we reached the camp it was dark and we struggled to make our way through a town which was filling up with off duty soldiers determined to have a good time.  I was pleased we would be outside the town for I knew there would be fights.

It was quiet for two days. Basil went to a daily meeting and his men looked after the horses and their weapons.  There appeared to be little communication between regiments. Our new surcoats arrived and, before we wore them and polluted them with our smell, I persuaded the others to bathe.  It was Leofric who persuaded them. It was only Wulfric who would not have his beard trimmed and oiled.  He glowered and glared at the slaves who were terrified of him. He still looked like a bear when he emerged; a clean bear but a bear nonetheless.

We were camped at the western end of the town. There was a meadow which suited us for the horses had grazing and we were far enough from the water for the biting insects not to bother us. It was also far enough away from the trees so that we could not be surprised by those intent on slitting throats while we slept.  However its open nature meant that it was hot.  The smell and heat from the cooking fires was overpowering. It was hard to find somewhere cool.  I began to wonder if the Emperor would ever get around to reading the letters and seeing me.  I was ready to go home.

A rider galloped in and reined in next to Basil, "Turmachai! The Magyar are attacking! Your men are ordered yonder to the right flank of the army!" He pointed to the north and the road.

"To arms!" He turned to me, "Will you guard our camp for us?"

"Do you not wish us to accompany you?"

"It is not your war."

"No but you are my friend and your men have been kind to us. Besides if we are not there who knows what may befall you!"

He laughed, "It is your funeral."

"Wulfric! We go to war.  Best put on our old surcoats.  I would not have these new ones bloody yet."

"Aye lord!"

When we had mounted we waited for the Kataphractoi.  They had armour to don.

"Baron, are these barbarians rich or are they like the Hibernians at home, piss poor?" Wulfric got down to the practicalities of war very quickly.

"I have never fought them but I suspect we may find out soon."

"It is just that I did not see these men searching the bodies after the fight in the forest.  Do they not do that?"

"Some do but the Turmachai does not approve."

"I am sorry, Baron, for I know he is your friend but he is a fool. Men will be more likely to fight for a leader if they can become richer following him."

It was what I had told the Emperor.

We rode out in the same formation we had adopted on the road.  The Kentarchos rode next to Basil and we rode behind.  We rode swiftly without tiring our horses.  We could hear the clamour of battle in the distance.  I deduced that it was what I had been taught was called an encounter battle. The advancing barbarian army had come across resilient defenders and both sides were feeding men into the fray.  There was little planning. I saw many disparate regiments racing from Serdica.  We were one of the few companies who were together.

As we approached the road I saw that below us were three regiments.  There were two regiments of Skutatoi and Varangians around the Emperor. To the right of the road was a small knoll. It was little higher than the surrounding land but it afforded  a good view.  I wondered why the Emperor had deigned to use it. Before I could comment on that to Basil, my impetuous friend had spied some of the Magyar horsemen who were so feared.  Riding a small pony and armed with a composite bow they were the annoying insects it was hard to swat.  They were making for the Emperor and Basil saw them. He stood in his stirrups and shouted, "We must save the Emperor!" They wheeled into line and galloped towards the advancing horsemen.

John and Leofric began to follow.  "Hold! We  have no armour and my friend is making a mistake.  We ride to the knoll and we examine the terrain."

As we headed towards the knoll I saw that the Magyar horsemen were already pulling back on their bows.  They sent a flurry of arrows towards the Varangians.  The huge shields of the Emperor's guards easily held them.  I saw now why they had done this.  The regiment of Skutatoi to the right of the Emperor turned to join the Kataphractoi  and chase off these horsemen.  It was when I reached the knoll that I saw the cleverness of this King Stephen. He had cleverly made two regiments leave their post. He was drawing off the two units which guarded the right flank of the Emperor and I saw a warband of Thracians, armed with the dreaded rhomphaia, advancing rapidly towards him.  He only had his Varangians to guard him.  Behind the Thracians I saw huge blocks of warriors armed with shields and spears advancing behind a cloud of peltasts. The Magyar had done their job well and they raced to the north loosing arrows over their shoulders as the two regiments sought, in vain, to catch them.

The knoll was some one hundred paces behind the Emperor. "Dismount! Leofric, plant my banner here and guard the horses.  Dick you and your archers kill any who close with the Emperor.  You others follow me.  We have to help the Emperor. Wulfric, to my right.  John, protect Wulfric's back."

The Thracians were ferociously fast and they charged the right side of the Varangians. They attacked the sword and axe side of the Varangians.  I watched as their wicked two handed blades took arms from the Varangians and then decapitated the helpless warriors. We moved quickly down the slope unencumbered by mail. However I was acutely aware that we only had leather hauberks under our gambeson and surcoats. A rhomphaia would make short work of that. The one advantage we had was that we were but four men and, as such, invisible. Their target was the Emperor standing behind his wall of iron and with his eight staff officers gathered around him. They were on their horses and, as such, made a tempting target for the Thracians. The Varangians had locked shields but those on our side were vulnerable. As we ran I saw that many of the Kataphractoi had fallen to the deadly arrows and the Skutatoi were being assailed by peltasts from the flanks.  They could not help the Emperor.

It was Wulfric, to my right, who struck the first blow.  The axe he held was longer than a sword; he was the only man I knew who could wield it one handed.  He swung it around and it took the head cleanly from the shoulders of a Thracian.  The head, complete with a surprised expression, flew into the air and landed amongst the others. Still the enemy pressed and I saw men such as my father had led being butchered by the wicked curved weapon. They were being overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers.  Thracians were falling but so were the Emperor's bodyguards.

I had no room to swing for Wulfric was by my side but the men before me had no armour and I stabbed forward with my sword; it was more in hope than expectation for the press was so great I could not see my target. When I felt its edge grate against ribs I twisted and pulled. At the same time I punched forward at the next man.  Roger of Lincoln was doing the same to my left. The Thracians were at a disadvantage.  It was their left side we attacked and they had to turn to fight us.  When they swung their rhomphaia they hit our shields.  The blows were hard and numbed my arm but the curve of the blade matched the curve of the shield and we held. When we countered we killed. Every blow they struck resulted in a dead Thracian and we made inroads.

We were making progress but the Emperor was still in danger..  John slashed and stabbed at any who tried to get around Wulfric's right and we hacked our way towards the Emperor. My father had told me of Viking berserkers at Stamford Bridge who had held a whole army.  I had never understood such reckless bravery but as I saw the men my father had led; the men who had left their homeland to travel the rivers of the Rus to fight for the Emperor being butchered like slabs of meat I began to become angry. It was as though my father was there being slaughtered. All that I could think of was Wulfstan fighting off Fitzwaller's killers and a red mist descended. I began to stab, lunge, punch, slash and head butt with increasing ferocity.  When I saw the last of the Varangians who were before the Emperor fall, leaving only his staff officers for defence, I snapped.  Yelling my father's war cry of. "Housecarl!" I threw myself, quite literally, into the heart of the advancing Thracians.

My action took me a little way from my oathsworn and it allowed me to swing a full blade. The rowing had made me stronger and the first Thracian who tried to bring his weapon to bear was torn in two by the force of my blow.  I did not wait to see the effect.  I pushed his dismembered torso towards his companions and brought my sword over my head.  I took the rhomphaia on my shield and my blade severed his shoulder and his arm. I was unaware of anyone else. I was swinging, slashing, punching and stabbing at every half naked body which I saw before me. I ignored the cries from behind me. I was now committed to a course which took me deeper into the enemy lines.  I was dimly aware of arrows thudding into bodies as they tried to get at me.  Dick was disobeying my orders; he was now protecting me.

Wulfric's strident and commanding voice brought me to my senses. "Baron! Horses!"

I turned and saw some horse archers thundering towards us.  The Thracians were withdrawing and King Stephen was trying to end this skirmish with the death of the Emperor. He was sending in more of the dreaded horse archers. It would be Manzikert all over again. I swung my shield around just in time to take four arrows.  Then Wulfric swung his axe and it buried itself in the neck of a pony.  The pony threshed and fell pulling Wulfric with it.  He would have died for a horseman stood in the stirrups with bow ready to finish off the helpless Wulfric. John screamed and, using a dead body as a spring board leapt into the air and brought his sword down on the shoulder of the archer.  They both tumbled to the ground.

I ran and punched the next pony in the jaw.  Horses, unless they are trained like Star, will not attack a man and my punch made it veer away. I slashed wildly at the horseman's leg and sliced deeply into it below the knee.

I suddenly heard the Emperor's voice, "Baron! Fall back! I command it!"

When Wulfric and John stood, we backed, with Roger, towards the remnants of the Guard. The horses of the Emperor and the staff officers all lay dead, pierced by arrows and the Varangians lay in concentric rings. It broke my heart to climb over the bodies of the fallen oathsworn. They had fulfilled their oath. We reached the dead and dying staff officers and we all fell back towards the Emperor.  Had we turned then it would have cost us our lives.  As it was we had to constantly raise our shields to stop arrows and to hack at the fierce warriors who tried to end the Emperor's reign there and then. We reached the knoll where the Emperor waited. Dick and the others sent arrow after arrow into those who tried to ascend.  I saw that Leofric had tied the horses to the banner and he too was raining death upon these barbarians. Thankfully, Basil and the remnants of the Kataphractoi were now making their way back to the Emperor along with the survivors of the Skutatoi.

"Emperor, take my horse and ride back to Serdica." He looked at me dumbly.  "We can fight our way back to the town.  You draw their arrows like a flame draws moths." He nodded, "Wulfric take the men and protect him.  I will fight with the Varangians."

"But Baron!"

I pointed to his arm.  He had been wounded.  "Obey me and watch the boys.  They have done well."

It was not bravado nor a wish for glory.  Basil and the others would reach us and we would soon be reinforced.  It was the Emperor they wanted.  If he left then the attack would weaken.  That was the theory. I found myself surrounded by the surviving Varangians.  There were just eighty of them left.  One said, as I joined him, "You are a mad bugger! You must have some Saxon blood in you!"

"My father was Ridley."

"Then I see him in you.  We will drink and talk when we have swatted these insects." He began banging his shield and chanting, "Ridley! Ridley!" Over and over.  I felt goose pimples as they all chanted my father's name.  I banged my shield too and joined in the chant. 

Suddenly a wedge of warriors came at us.  They had spears, shields and helmets. They ran the last few paces. I tried something I had never done before.  As the leading warrior punched his spear at me, for I was their target, I dropped to my knee and angled the shield so that his spear slid along the leather.  I stabbed upwards into his unprotected body and stood as I did so.  The sword came out through his neck and I punched my sword so that his body fell amongst those who were following. Those on either side of me took heart as the wedge was disrupted. There were no spears before me and I punched with my shield.  The enemy were so close that I could not swing my sword.  I punched with the pommel and it tore into the eye of a warrior who fell screaming.  I had room now to swing and I sliced at the neck of a warrior who was pinioned by his fellows and my blade tore through his neck. 

Unbelievably we were pushing them down the slight slope.  The ground was slick with blood and bodies.  The wedge fell apart and then Basil and his men struck.  Their Kontoi found unprotected backs and the wedge disintegrated as they fled.  We stood panting on that bloody battlefield.  There were no words for we had no breath.  We had turned the enemy. The Kataphractoi were in no condition to pursue and we pulled slowly back to the city.  We had lost the skirmish but we had found glory. And I had upheld the honour of Aelfraed and Ridley.