[Norman Conquest 02] Winter of Discontent (31 page)

Unusually, conversation was limited to local affairs, with no discussion of matters affecting the country generally. They enjoyed the local gossip and discussion of rustic pursuits, before the guests were shown to their beds.

*
 
*
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*

Nine days later, at Sunday Mass
the day after the Feast of the Birth of the Virgin Mary
, baby Juliana was christened in the village church by Brother Wacian in the presence of most of the villagers. Roger and Alice Bigod, the Norman
sheriff
of Suffolk and his wife
who were
close friends of Alan and Anne, had arrived the evening before in response to the rider sent north
. Also present were
Anne’s parents Orvin and Lora and her brother Garrett and his wife Ellette
, who had travelled from Ipswich.

Leofstan, the Thegn of the nearby villages of Great and Little Holland, a wealthy and influential man in the local community and Alan’s deputy on the Hundred
Court
, and his wife Erlene stood together with the Bigods by the font and swore their oaths as Julia
na’s god
parents.

Alan shifted his grip on the sword hilt and stepped forward, bashing his shield into his opponent before launching a series of powerful overhand blows which sent the other man reeling. He then stepped back to observe his opponent reposition himself and shouted
,
“No you stupid bastard! Why are you pointi
ng your sword at the ground? It’
s not a fucking shovel! Keep your sword in the proper position! You can't be tired yet as we’ve only been going for fiv
e minutes! That footwork isn’
t what I showed you. You can
’
t swing the sword properly if you
’
re unbalanced. Keep your feet a shoulder-width apart and step with one and then the other
foot
to keep your balance, instead of jumping around like a blood
y hare! Now let's do it again!”

Moments later, after performing several beat-parries to deflect his opponent’s sword, he
crashed
the hilt of his sword into the face of the young man, making sure that the blow was delivered by his leather-gauntleted fist so as not to smash the youngster’s face. The young man stepped back to clear his head, a spray of blood from his nose as he shook his head
.
“That's enough of that for the moment
. W
e’ll work on
your technique
more tomorrow
.
”

Alan was training six new members of the
fyrd
in basic sword technique and fighting
,
and this was the youths’ third half
-
day of training.
He then addressed the whole group.
“
F
ighting in the line is different
to what we’ve done so far. You don’
t have the room to move to put yourself in a better position or disadvantage your opponent. You are crammed in tight with a man at each side and men behind. Also the footing is usually treacherous, with bodies and equipment lying everywhere. In the line you fight as a unit, not individuals. The men in the line provide
mutual support
. If you get killed because you can
’
t handle a sword, that's tragic. If you kill one of your companions because of your mistake, that's unforgivable.

“Udell, you stand there. Eadwold stand to his left. Averil you stand on his right and Wulfhere behind him. Putnam, you stand on my left and Dreogan to my right. Eadgard, you pick a spear from the rack and
stand behind me. Wulfhere, you
get a spear also. Stand half a pace apart so that you're not crammed in tight. Most of your opponents will be right-handed and
have their shield on the left.

“
Now we’
ll just walk through this. You
’
re each responsible for the man to your front. If you can provide support to the man on each side, without getting yourself killed, you do that. You have to be aware of what every man within three paces of you is doing, as each one of them can kill you. You can
’
t fixate your attention on one man. Now Putnam, Dreogan and myself step up. Putnam and Dreogan you push your shields against those of Averil
and Wulfhere, but watch what I’
m doing. I can step forward to my opponent easily enough, but moving back is difficult because Eadgard is in the way. Udell’s shield is on my sword
-
side, and mine the same for him
as we face each other
.” Alan had made a slow wide overhead forehand sweep of his sword, clipping Dreogan
, who was standing
to his right
,
on the helmet. He then did the same with an overhead backhand blow, narrowly missing Putnam. “As you just saw, there’s no room for flashy swordplay and you
’
re more likely to kill your comrades than your opponents. Keep the sword low, hit them with your shield and try to stab them in the guts. You’re fighting a battle, not a duel. If your opponent is put out of the fight, even for a few moments, you can assist the man on yo
ur right.

“
Udell, you are dead. Step back for moment. Now you can see Eadwold’s unprotected si
d
e is open to me. He’s concentrating on Dreogan and I would have a moment or two before the next man steps in front of me to do this.” Here Alan took a diagonal step with his right foot and
performed
a lung-thrust to Eadwold’s stomach. “Note how I've kept my shield protecting my left side, which my movement has made vulnerable. Also note I’m
on
Averil’s left and he can't hit me without turning, taking at least half a step and exposing himself to the
man on my left. If he tries to hit me without moving
,
it would be a very weak blow on the backhand, with him being off-balance. The chances of me being injured in this case while killing Dreogan’s man are slight. Unless,” here Alan gestured to Wulfhere with a sharp inward motion of his right hand, “There is a spearman behind either of the three nearest opponents, in which case I'm in trouble. My shield should protect me from a man either standing where Wulfhere is at the moment, or behind Eadwold.” Here Alan waved Wulfhere to stand behind Averil and continued
,
“But where he's standing now, I’
m a dead man.” Wulfhere pushed slowly forward with his spear, gently hitting Alan in the chest as he remained extended in his lunge towards Averil. “I say again, you must be aware of what everybody within three paces is doing and what weapons they have. I may have killed Averil, but that doesn’t console my widow. Keep yourself alive!”

Alan noticed that his steward Faran had come on to the training ground and obviously wanted to speak to him. “That
’
s enough for today. We
’
ll do some more mutual-
support trai
ning tomorrow. Also, tomorrow I’
ll show you some ways to deal with a man
who is
using the two-handed axe. Brand here will help demonstrate. Make sure you wear brown trousers.” Here Alan indicated the massively-built huscarle who was standing watching. “I
’
ll get Brand to take over now and I'll see what Faren wants. Spend another half an hour in one-to-one swordsmanship and then break for the meal. Brand please take over.

“What is it, Faran?” he
asked his
steward.

“There’s a young lad presented himself at the
Hall
.
He’s a
bsolutely filthy. He insists on seeing you but won't say what it's about. He says he
’
s your man.”

Alan frowned in
puzzlement, shrugged and walked to the weapons rank, where he replaced the training sword and shield before doffing his helmet, turning his back to Faran and raising his arms for the steward to untie the buckles
and leather thongs
on the mail hauberk and assist in pulling the forty pounds of metal off over Alan
’
s head. Wearing his rust-stained and sweat-soaked padded gambeson and a pair of
woollen
trews he walked into the Hall.

Waiting
there was a youth about fourteen years of age. He was small in stature, lean almost to the point of emaciation, dirty and wearing clothes that were little better than rags. But his face looked familiar. Alan stared at him closely, before the lad said
,
“My name’s Linn, my
l
ord.”

Alan nodded to indicate his recollection and pointed to the door to the left at the end of the
Hall
. “Go into my office and sit on the bench next to the table,” he instructed. “Faran, get some food and drink for the lad. Some bread, cheese and beer w
ill
do
for
the moment and he can eat with the servants when we have the midday meal shortly.”

A few minutes later Alan was sitting in a chair in his office, with a quart jug of ale in his hand to quench the thirst caused by his morning's exertions, and watched the youth wolf down the simple fare that he had been provided on a wooden platter. “So what did you and the other man, Pierce, find out when fitzWymarc released you last year to act as spies
amongst
the bandits?” he demanded in an abrupt manner.

The boy spoke through
a mouthful of food, “Well, my l
ord, as you know I sent word that I'd been sent to the south and that Pierce had run as soon as he was freed. I tried to pass on information to the sheriff, but I don't know if it was received nor did I get any response, so I gave up after a while. Sending messages by other people was too damn risky. Now I
’
ve been sent back with another band, led by a man named Eadwyn. They are eight of them in the forest near Alresford, using the same deserted woodcutter's cottage used by the last band. Two hav
e brought their women and there’
s a young lass who they seized in Lexden Hundred who is kept in thrall. She’s about my age. She’s badly used by the men and the other women use her as a servant.”

“How long have they been there?” asked Alan.

“A little less than a week
, my lord
. They haven
’
t started waylaying any travellers yet and have restricted themselves to stealing a few pigs from the sties of the local cottars while they get themselves familiar with the area and the boltholes where they can hide. This is the first opportunity I
’
ve had to slip away
,
as a leader wants me to steal some wine for him from the tavern.”

Alan spent several minutes questioning the boy about the b
andits’ daily routine. “Linn, I’
m glad that you remain
ed
true to the promise you made when you were released after being caught previously. I
’
ll lead some men to
the woodcutter's cottage and we’
ll attack at dawn in two days. Make sure that you and the captive lass stay out of the way when we kick in the door. Now, I
’
ll get my steward to give you a decent meal, which you look like you could use, and two skins of poor quality wine such as you woul
d expect in a village tavern. I’
ll see you at dawn the day after tomorrow.”

*
*
*
*

It was half an hour before dawn a
s
Alan crouched behind bushes a hundred paces from the abandoned woodcutter’s cottage in a clearing in the forest near Alresford. With him were ten of his own men, including Brand and Edric, and thegn Edward of Alresford with four of his men. It was Edward’s land and Alan
had
thought it politic to advise him of the situation and invite him to participate in the punitive expedition.

“Remember
, t
here are eight bandits, a lad who’s on our side and three women. One of the women is a captive and she is to be left unharmed. So is the lad, Linn. We don’t know which of the three
women is the girl
, so don’t hurt any of the women. Several of us saw Linn the other day and we’ll go in first. Myself, Brand, Edric, Aeldrid, Thrydwulf, Redwald and thegn Edward. It’s only a small one
room cottage so there’s no
space
for any more. Four
men
remain outside the door in case any dash out. You, you, you and you. The others, who are the archers, I want at the edge of the tree-line. These men are bandits and
,
except for the boy and girl
,
I don’t care if they survive to see the sun rise. Preferably not, as that would save the trouble of a trial. Right! It’s first light, so let’s kick arse!