Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 02] Saxon Revenge (25 page)

Suddenly part of the thin wooden wall on the left flank gave way and Saxons hurtled through overrunning the defenders. Adair and his slingers slowed them a little but it was time for my detachment.  We raced forwards towards the fifty men who had broken through. Fifteen spears flew through the air and twelve men fell. We struck the disorganised mass with a solid line of spears and every spear struck home.  I threw my spear at a warrior ten paces away and watched as he gurgled his bloody death. I drew Saxon Slayer and backhanded a warrior who was coming towards me with an axe. I heard a groan behind me and saw a Saxon, who was about to stab me on my unprotected side, fall to Pol’s seax. I looked around for my next Saxon but the slingers and my men had ended the threat.  Garth had fortified the gap in the wall but it was still a desperate fight.

Scean shouted, “My lord.  Riderch is in trouble!”

I saw that the Saxons had now broken through on the other flank and Riderch’s men were being attacked on all sides.  “Follow me!” Grabbing a spear I led my men towards the Saxons who were oblivious to the danger in their rear. We threw our spears and then hacked into unprotected backs and legs.  Soon we were standing side by side with Riderch who nodded his thanks but I could see that there were another thousand warriors massing before us. “Pol, tell my brother to retreat.  Scean signal the retreat.” I yelled as loudly as I could, “Retreat!” and we began to edge back up the hill.  “Riderch take your men and form a defensive line just below the ditch.” He looked as though he was going to disobey but then thought better of it.

We were a line of twelve warriors and we faced the Saxons who thought that they had won.  They advanced towards us, each one of them anticipating being the one to kill the Wolf Warrior.  That was their undoing for they forgot about the other eleven who were all skilled warriors.  Nor did they anticipate my brother and Angus charging into their flank.  It was a bitter battle as we edged backwards and the Saxons had to fight over their dead and dying to reach us and we were always just out of reach. And then we were in one line with Riderch and Garth.  The last warriors left, standing in a circle before the ditch.  Behind us were Miach and the last archers who had arrows. There was a hiatus as the Saxons paused.  They had us surrounded and were eagerly waiting for the order to charge us.

“Miach, use your last arrows when I give you the order. Riderch and Garth, when I give the order, retreat to the prince and we will fight from the walls. Now!”

A number of things happened at once: the arrows flew, we ran back and then I heard the thunder of hooves. I stopped and I turned, The Saxons before me were now fleeing and I saw the standard of Elmet.  King Gwalliog and his men had arrived.  We had reinforcements! One of the kings had reached us in time.

Chapter 13

Although the king had only brought a thousand men, two hundred were horsemen and they had destroyed the men on the right flank. The one thousand men who had started the attack had paid heavily at the hands of my men and the sudden charge of the mounted men had been enough to send them fleeing back across the river. Although over three thousand still waited below us the sudden collapse of one of their wings had halted them. “Quickly, form a new line on me and the men of Elmet.” Within minutes we had our left side anchored at the top of the hill defence and the right flank at the river. We were still outnumbered but at least we had fresh troops and, more importantly, hope.

I had not seen Aella until that moment but I saw him then. He stood at the rear of his line with his bodyguards around him.  I risked a glance across the river and saw that he still had many more warriors ready to flood across the bridge once he secured it again.  Our barrier had thwarted their attempt to rush through the middle and I could see that Aella would try to attack there. “Miach take your archers and the slingers.  I want any Saxon going near to the bridge killing.  Tuanthal, mount your equites and join the men of Elmet on our right flank.”

Raibeart was next to me. “You are gambling that he will try to take the bridge?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Of course but if you are wrong then we lose the hill and that will mean that we lose the battle.”

“Our task was to defend the river crossing and that we will do.  The king should be here in two days.  With King Gwalliog’s men we might just do it.  Now join your father in law and tell him of our plight.  I will stay here and defend the top of the hill.”

Aella waved his warriors forward and they came at us in three enormous wedges.  We still had the advantage that we were uphill of them and they were tired; so were we but we did not have to drag our armour up a slope steep which was slippery with gore.  We had no archers now and they came on relentlessly without the annoyance of archers and slingers.  They were able to watch us as they steadily trudged up the hill side of death. They had seen some of their men defeated, they were now swimming back across the river or fleeing to the west, but they still outnumbered us and their king was leading them this time.

“Lock your shields!” They would push us back.  We were but two lines of warriors but they would find the slope hard. I took the first sword which hacked at me on my shield and gave it a slight turn so that it slid down and snagged on a nail.  It only took the warrior a moment to free it but that was all I needed. I slashed down on his neck and almost severed his head. The next warrior had punched with his shield but Scean’s sword appeared next to my head and pierced his eye.  I ended his life swiftly but I was forced to step back. The Saxons took that to be a sign of weakness and pushed forwards but they only served to hamper the warriors on the front line who could not swing their swords.  We had no such problem and I swung Saxon Slayer over my head to split the helmet and head of the unfortunate warrior who had lunged at me.  There was no time for self congratulation for there were more enemies to kill.  Had the Saxons been able to enjoy another hour of daylight they might have beaten us but as night fell Aella withdrew his men to our first ditch which he used as a defence against us.

Soon both sides had fires going, partly for defence but also to give warmth and to cook some food.  We had fought all day and I knew that we would struggle to stay awake.  I sought King Gwalliog and I embraced him.  “You have saved the alliance this day.”

He gave a shrug which almost appeared to be one of embarrassment. “I could not have my daughter widowed yet could I?” Raibeart too embraced his father in law. “I took a leaf out of your book Lord Lann. I brought the one thousand warriors who were ready.  The others will leave in seven days when their tasks are complete.  I came to the Roman Bridge and was told where you were.  I could have waited for King Urien but now I see the state of your force then I am glad that I came earlier. Where is the king?”

“Still two days away and no sign yet of King Morcant Bulc but I expect him with King Urien.  We have two more days of hard fighting if we are to hold this river crossing.”

King Gwalliog looked at the fires which littered the hillside and across the river.  “It is a mighty host.  Can we hold them?”

“Had you not arrived then the answer would have been no but I now have hope. Let us join the prince for he will be pleased to see you.”

While the king and the prince spoke I sought Myrddyn.  “What is the cost?”

“It is a high one.” He looked at me with sadness in his eyes.  “Adair is dead.” I felt my heart sink.  Adair was brave and he was intelligent.  I had high hopes for him he would have made a fine leader of horse to aid Tuanthal and now he was gone. “You have less than five of your oathsworn warriors left and that includes Garth.  Two are wounded but may fight again.  Rheged has paid a high price. I think you have less than a hundred warriors and a hundred archers left from the ones who left Rhege.” I suddenly realised that I had not told the king of the loss of his contingent of warriors.  There were just six of them left.  Only Angus and his Strathclyde men seemed indestructible.

It was dark when Pol awoke me.  “My lord you are sent for.  There is something happening in the Saxon camp.”

I threw my wolf cloak about me to take away the chill of the night.  Garth and Raibeart were stood watching the Saxon camp. “What is amiss? Are they attacking?”

“No, my lord.  We have sent Ridwyn to investigate but we think that they are leaving.  They banked up their fires and there was noise but, for the past hour there has been silence and we can detect no movements.”

“What about the bridge?”

“The fires still burn on the other side of the river but, as with this camp here there is no movement.” Was this another of Aella’s tricks?  True we had been reinforced but we were still vastly outnumbered. “Should we wake the men?”

“No we can wait until Ridwyn returns.  I can see that what you said was true there is no sign of sentries but I wonder where they have gone.”

“Their ships are still downstream.”

“True but, as we know, there are only enough to ferry them across the river not to go further afield.”

Raibeart smacked his hand on the pommel of his sword.”I would hazard a guess that he has taken all his troops north of the river and is heading for Bernicia.”

“You may be right brother.  I should have thought of that before and put scouts to the north.”

Garth laughed. “With the small number of warriors we had I am not sure we would have had sufficient to do that.”

Ridwyn suddenly appeared like a wraith from the early foggy valley.  “They have gone, my lord.  There is no sign of any of them.”

“We will have to wait until the sun rises to investigate further.  Ridwyn go and wake Tuanthal and ask him to mount a patrol.  We will see what they can discover.”

See we could that Ridwyn was correct.  I sent Tuanthal off to the east to track them while I led Angus, Miach and their men across the river.  We climbed over the barricade.  I did not want it dismantled only to have to rebuild it again; this could be a trick.  We marched in a shield wall warily watching for ambush but, as with the other camp, it was deserted.  I began to fear that Raibeart was right.  They had stolen a march on us and headed north.  They would be able to destroy King Morcant Bulc and his men and then defend the impregnable fortresses of Bernicia. I had been outwitted.  “We can dismantle the barrier now.  Miach keep the archers on the ridge to watch for the Saxons in case this is a trick to lure us away.”

By noon the villagers were back in their homes, weapons had been sharpened and the army waited for an order.  The prince, King Gwalliog and I had spent some time with Myrddyn debating our course of action. King Urien was coming to our aid and we could wait a day. That still left the problem of the Bernician army which could, even now, be lying slaughtered just north of us. It was with some relief that we saw a jubilant Tuanthal and his patrol return to Dunelm.

“Great news! It is the Bernicians; they are half a day away, coming along the river.”

Prince Ywain asked the question which was on all of our minds. “And the Saxons are they north or south of the river?”

“King Morcant Bulc had not seen them but he had seen their ships sailing down the river. They looked to be empty and the land across from the camp was very muddy.” He hesitated.  “If I were to make a guess I would say they have crossed the river.”

We had been outwitted again and Aella had gained at least half a day on us.  “Tuanthal send another patrol on the road south and tell them to find the Saxons. They could head west and take the Roman Bridge or travel to Elmet and devastate that land. We must know where he is.” I could see the fear in Gwalliog’s eyes as I suggested the unthinkable.  His army was here and his land was defenceless. “Do not worry King Gwalliog.  His army is on foot.  You can have all of our horses to pursue him if we discover that he is south of the Dunum.”

The Bernicians arrived in the late afternoon.  He had brought just a thousand warriors and fifty horses. Aella must have feared he was being caught in a trap but had he stayed he would still have outnumbered us. 
Wyrd
! The camp cheered Morcant Bulc and his men as though they were heroes. I still did not like the man and I did not see him as a hero.  Had he come quicker then Adair and many others would be alive. But he was here and he revelled in his moment of glory.  He looked as happy as I had ever seen him and he embraced first his brother king, then Ywain and finally me.  “I want to thank you for helping me to drive the Saxons from my land.”  I threw a look of disbelief at Raibeart who gave a slight shake of the head; the effrontery of the man.  It was us who had fought, bled and died while he had vacillated his way south.

“And now we just wait for my father and we can finish this job once and for all.”

King Morcant Bulc laughed and shook his head.  “Aella and his men are a finished force.  He will crawl back to the lands of the Saxons beyond the seas.”

It was obvious that they had not seen the Saxons.  “Does your majesty know how many men Aella has?”

Morcant Bulc pointed at the dead fires. “We passed through their camp and counted the fires.  If there were two thousand I would be surprised.”

I had to hold in my anger at both the arrogance and the incompetence of the man. “On the other side of the river there were more than three thousand men.  He has five thousand and he has lost very few.  He will not return home just yet.”

I saw him start and his face drained of colour. He looked around at the camp.  “But we have less than two thousand men here.  We cannot defeat him.”

Prince Ywain showed that he was his father’s son. “We could give a good account of ourselves as we have for the last six days but it would be wiser to wait a couple more days and await the men of Rheged and Strathclyde.  Lord Lann and I achieved what we were ordered to do; we denied the Saxons the crossing of this river which would have allowed them to devastate the whole of Bernicia.”

He gave a weak smile, “And I am grateful.  Where shall I camp my men?”

I pointed across the river.  There is a huge area on the ridge over the river.  As you can see we are somewhat crowded on this side.”