Housecarl (12 page)

We were at the top of a rise and
below us we could see a hundred mounted warriors under the banner
of the Earl of Mercia.  Aedgar himself was there! I saw my
uncle ride forward alone and speak with the Earl. There appeared to
be an argument and suddenly one of the warriors behind the Earl
hurled a spear at Aethelward who deflected it with his shield and
then raced back to our lines, the mounted men shooting arrows at
the Mercians.  As he galloped up I could see he was grinning.
Ulf too was laughing and he said, “Well I see you upset him
then?”

“Aye it seems he is not yet
ready to desert the Welsh.  Horsemen to the flanks. 
Housecarls today you will face horsemen.  Show them what
Saxons can do.”

We all roared and banged our
shields with our spears. I was just glad that, although the
Mercians were mounted as the Normans were and wore armour, it did
not extend to their legs and they did not have lances, merely
spears, such as we, even so I was grateful that we had archers with
us. “Lock shields!”

It felt comforting to feel
Ridley’s shield and Wolf’s touching mine. Our spears were held
easily over the top so that any enemy attacking from the front
would have to face a hedgehog of spear points. Of course, unless
they were particularly foolish they would attack our right flank
where Osgar stood. I could see them clearly for we were still at
the top of the rise. They would have to negotiate the slight
incline.  It would slow them up but the land on either side
was open and the only obstacle between the Mercians and our flanks
were the unarmoured horsemen armed with shields and javelins. 
Unless the horsemen were incompetent they would sweep through them
and be upon us. I felt glad that it was uncle who was leading
us.  We would survive for he had planned all of this.

Their cavalry galloped up and
loosed a volley of javelins at both us and the horsemen. We fared
better for we all protected each other with our shields. My uncle
had told me that the Romans had used such a tactic but even more
effectively so that the whole of their force was covered on each
side by shields.  We all survived but the light cavalry did
not and I saw three or four empty saddles.  Then the enemy
were around the sides of the wedge.  I heard Edwin, the
archer, shout, “Loose!” and saw the fifty arrows arc over our heads
and into the cavalry.  They had round shields but they proved
quite effective and I only saw one warrior and one horse injured.
Edwin’s voice sounded calm as he repeated the order and soon flight
after flight was flying towards the enemy.  On our flank they
had seen the lack of shields and they wheeled in.  We could
not turn to face the enemy or we would have exposed our rear to
their cavalry.  I heard my uncle shout an order but the words
were lost and besides I was too busy defending the line to the
right. Ridley and I turned our spears so that they were above
Osgar’s head and Ridley had angled his shield to protect his
head.  Behind me Wolf had his spear along our backs ready to
strike anyone who tried to attack from the rear.

Osgar appeared calm as he
stabbed forwards with his spear.  I noticed that he had
crouched slightly and as his spear took the horse in the throat I
could see why. The warrior flew over his head and crashed into
Ridley knocking him to the ground. My friend wasted no time in
rolling him over and spearing him in the throat but that had
allowed another horseman to urge his horse at Osgar whilst another
came at his unprotected back. Our training took over and I stepped
over Ridley and stabbed at the horseman feeling the reassuring
pressure of Wolf’s spear at my back. Dragon Tamer went into the
horse and stuck. As it was wrenched from my grip I drew my
sword.  This was no place for an axe for we were tightly
packed. The warrior whose horse I had killed struck down at me, as
his horse fell, with his spear.  He was a brave man for he was
falling towards me.  I deflected the spear and, seeing the gap
under his arm, stabbed through the space in the mail.  The
blade transfixed his body and came out under his other arm.  I
used his own momentum to throw the body behind us and looked to my
next enemy.

When I looked up all that I
could see was a sea of men and horses, what I could not see was
that it was a thin line for we had cut down many.  My uncle,
from his lofty position must have see that the moment was right for
I heard him shout, “Charge!” I knew that it was not intended for
us, that was Ulf’s job and I concentrated on watching Osgar’s
side.  I suddenly felt Ridley at my side and we walked next to
Osgar protecting his right side.  I daresay we broke formation
but there were so many horses facing Osgar that to retain our line
would have resulted in his death. The sudden appearance of an extra
spear and a sword forced the horsemen back and, as the horses
turned, the men with spears found vulnerable spots in both the
warriors and the horses.  Almost as soon as they had come they
had gone and all that were left before us were the bodies of the
horses and the ten men we had killed on our side of the fight.

As we reformed the archers
slipped amongst the bodies making sure that all were dead. 
One archer grinned as he returned Dragon Tamer to me. “Next time
watch where you throw your bodies, you nearly hit me!”

That was my first battle. 
It was over so quickly that I barely had time to draw breath. At
the front of the wedge lay the body of Aedgar slain by Ulf and
around him the bodies of his oathsworn warriors.  We had lost
two warriors and both were from the second rank, the oathsworn had
done their duty. With the eight horsemen and two archers it had
been a small price to pay for now Edwin would be Earl and he was an
ally of Harold.

That evening as we retold the
tales of the day and the warriors we had killed I thought of the
moments in the short battle when it could have changed my
destiny.  Ridley’s fall, the loss of Dragon Tamer, the man
falling towards me.  I could have planned for none of it and
yet I had survived. Osgar, Wolf and Ridley were soon drunk but I
sat with Aethelward and Ulf.

“You did well nephew.”

“Aye but next time do not break
formation.” Ulf could not resist admonishing me and my fellows.

“You saw?”

“I saw.”

“What else could I have
done?  Osgar would have had three enemies had we not done
so.”

“Aye well you were lucky.” He
looked at my uncle.  “We were all lucky or were we?”

Aethelward was quiet and then,
when he spoke, it was in a quiet voice. “It was planned.  It
was the reason we were sent here.  Edwin had let the Earl know
that he wished to support Edward.  It means that Edward will
now sanction the invasion as Gruffyd will never be weaker.  We
will invade in the spring.”

I did not mind that I had been
kept in the dark; after all I was a lowly Housecarl. But I liked
this knowledge for I saw the bigger picture and was beginning to
see the politics of the kingdom. Ridley was right I was noble and
that meant I thought differently to him and to Wolf but I would
never take for granted that loyalty which he gave me.

When we returned to Worcester it
was to a mixed reception. Many of the garrison were overjoyed that
Mercia was back in the English fold but some did not like the way
it appeared to have been engineered. There were fights and
arguments between Mercian and Mercian as well as Mercian and
Saxon.  It was not until the arrival of Edwin, Earl of Mercia
that things calmed down. It also coincided with the arrival of
Harold and the two Earls greeted each other as long lost brothers.
Having the insight of my uncle I knew that this meant the border
with Wales was secured and my uncle’s plan to invade the north of
the country could begin.

As we marched north along the
border country I saw the new Housecarls who were junior to
us.  It felt good to have been bloodied and the story of the
flying Mercian was told around the camp fires.  I would be
lying if I said I did not enjoy the notoriety and fame for I did
but it made me more determined than ever to be a good warrior who
would move his way forward in the shield wall. We had all been
promoted to the penultimate rank, this was partly due to deaths and
wounds but also because of injuries incurred on the march. I didn’t
mind but it could be claustrophobic to be surrounded by warriors in
a wedge. I knew that I would need to get used to it.

There were many advantages to
being one of the Earl’s Housecarls, we got to march at the head of
the column.  On a wet March morning that meant that the roads
were not as churned up for us as they would be for the ones at the
rear. The horsemen we had brought with us under Magnus were the
only horsemen we possessed.  The Mercian horse had been cut up
rather badly by our blades and the Earl of Mercia left them at home
to recover their numbers and get over their humiliation. There were
other Housecarls belonging to the other Earls but we knew, as we
trudged along at the head of the line, that we were the elite.
Harold was the richest man in England, richer, even, than the king
and he could afford to pay his warriors well.  He expected
them to use that on their armour and weapons and Sweyn saw to it
that none let him down.

We felt safer now that the
Mercians were allies but we still kept a wary eye on the hills
which rolled away westwards.  The archers of the Welsh were
known to make sudden raids on their enemies, loosing flights of
arrows and then disappearing into the mists of the mountains. 
Our mounted men were there to prevent that and we were happy that
we could not see them for that meant they were doing their
job.  Ridley and I were able to tell Osgar and Wolf of the
land we would see for we had crossed it ourselves.  Although
we had not seen Rhuddlan itself, we had passed within a few miles
of it. Ridley told them of the legend of the Welsh Dragon. 
Wolf looked as fearful as Ridley had done but Osgar shook his head,
“I have fought the length of this land and I have yet to see a sign
of a dragon besides, young Ridley, I think that if it is buried
beneath a mountain then we are safe.”

I liked Osgar who spoke the
truth and did not suffer fools gladly.  He was the rock at the
rear of the line and all of us respected his courage and his
calmness.  When we fought it was reassuring knowing that the
man on the right would do nothing foolish.  When we stood in a
two line shield wall it was even more important for it was Osgar
who anchored our right flank.  If Ulf and Sweyn fell it was
Osgar who would lead the wedge and I felt proud to have him as my
friend.

We headed for Legacaestir which
was held by Harold’s brother Tostig for it was a Northumbrian
town.  It was like Jorvik with a sound Roman wall and a
garrison of doughty warriors watching the Dee and the Welsh. 
It was still a powerful fort and even the Irish raiders avoided
it.  I was pleased that we would be resting there for it meant
more comfort, for at least one night.  When we left its secure
walls we would be in Welsh land close to the Welsh King’s
army.  I knew, from our scouting mission, that many of the
king’s men would be on the borders towards the south but his elite
would be guarding his lands in the north west for this was his
original kingdom.  His men would know the land better than we
did but Harold and my uncle had devised a bold stroke. If we could
kill or capture Gruffyd then the head of the snake would be
ours.  I had learned, through my discussions with my uncle,
that Gruffyd had only unified Wales recently and there were many
men whom he had displaced, men who resented his action. 
Aethelward had suggested to Harold that, with Gruffyd out of the
way the country would fall in upon itself and return to petty
internal border disputes.  I had had an insight into the
bigger picture and it made it easier for me to march through the
mud.  My fellows did it because they were loyal to Harold,
they were his men. I felt guilty because I still thought of myself
as a Northumbrian who had loyalty to Aethelward.  I kept
hoping that I would feel as my peers but, so far, it had not
happened.

The forest did not seem so
intimidating as we passed through it, although we were such a
mighty host that I thought that any bandits who remained would have
fled before us.  This time it hid us from prying eyes and
scouts. Aethelward sent Magnus and his men ahead of us to scout the
defences at Rhuddlan but we knew that they would not be like the
walls of Legacaestir or Jorvik and would be wooden. They were there
to deter opportunist raiders not a well armed army.  When we
reached the walls either Gruffyd would fight us or he would flee;
even Osgar knew that.  He was confident that, if we met them
in the field we would prevail.

“The only weapon they have which
worries me is the bow for they are fearsome archers.  Luckily
their spearmen are not worth shit and we have our own archers and
horsemen to deter them.” He pointed over to the mountains and crags
in the distance. “I am just glad that his fortress is not up there
for we would never take it.”

Wolf looked surprised. “It could
withstand an assault by us.” He gestured at the formidable force
which looked terrifying even without armour.

“The ground is not even and
there are rocky crags.  If I were King Gruffyd I would have
built a fortress there where his archers could shoot with impunity
and we could not keep a straight line.  I just hope that the
land is flat near Rhuddlan.” He looked at me for an answer.

I shrugged.  “Saint Asaph’s
monastery is in a valley but the sides are not steep and Rhuddlan,
which we saw in the distance, is close to the coast and on a flat
area next to a river.”

He seemed content.  “Good
then we will soon whip this Welsh dragon and be back in Winchester
for the May celebrations.” Wolf and Ridley both looked
involuntarily at the mountains when he spoke.  They still
feared the real dragon.  That night we camped in the forest
and Magnus conferred with the leaders. Now that we were on the
march it did not seem appropriate for me to be party to these
conferences but I yearned to find out what we were doing. The Earl
and my uncle seemed satisfied and the next day we veered towards
the west and I could tell that we were avoiding Saint Asaph and
approaching the fort from the north west. The going was much easier
once we were out of the forest and we made good time. The sun was
high in the sky when we emerged from a small wooded area to stand
on a ridge overlooking the fort of Rhuddlan, the court of King
Gruffyd. It was a substantial fort but it was only raised a little
from the land around.  The river ran along one side and there
was a wood to the east.  We could see the men in the fort and
when they saw us it was though we had disturbed a hive of wasps for
they ran hither and thither.