Outlaw (Aelfraed) (23 page)

William of Perci, Aux Gemons, had begun work on his castle and the down side of our raid was that the people of the manor, my people, were put to work rebuilding. For my part I concentrated on the north of the land around our camp, up towards
the Tees and the old Roman fort. William had sent his tax collectors there, for it was rich farmland but it was along way from Jorvik and we were safer from reprisals.  By the autumn the collectors had stopped travelling north of Topcliffe but the land to the east and west was heavily patrolled by mounted men.  It was as though they were saying that north of that line was mine but the rest was Norman. Although we had not had any more deaths we were all getting older and our numbers were not increasing.  It was, again, a stalemate, until, finally, Edgar the Aetheling finally invaded and brought with him Sweyn King of the Danes.  We had two enemies in the land.

They landed close to Riccall just as Harald Hadrada had, years earlier. They were not as numerous as Tostig and the Norwegian King’s horde but then there were no Saxons to oppose them.
  As the Normans deigned to use the fyrd there was just the Norman troops in the region left to fight.  Baron William retreated to the partly built castle at Jorvik. It freed us to move around at will for the Normans were too busy with a real army to worry about my rag tag band. I had a dilemma.  Should I throw in with Edgar?  Fight alongside the Danes and overthrow the Normans or join the Normans?

The night before we left the camp we sat around the fire debating the issue. “We cannot fight for the Normans my lord
can we?”

“Yet if we help the Danes might they not be tyrants like the Normans?”

I just listened and the memory of Aethelward came to me.  I wondered what he would have done.  At least he would be proud of my silence but I was still unsure of how he would view my actions. I closed my eyes and remembered my mentor and listened to the words of my friends.

“But they are both our enemies!”

I opened my eyes and sat up.  “I remember Aethelward telling me of when he fought in Byzantium.  There was an Arab wise man who said to Aethelward, ‘
the enemy of my enemy is my friend
’.

Ridley looked confused which made Branton and Osbert smile. “Huh?”

“Who do we fight?”

“The Normans.”

“Who is the Normans’ enemy?”

“Now? The Danes.”

“Then they are our friend. It may well be that they prove to be as bad as William the Bastard but we will deal with that later.”

“We join their army?”

“No but we make hay while the sun shines.  We attack and harry the Normans.  We burn their castles and we rob them of supplies. The advantage we have now is that we do not need to hide.  We can ride in mail and unfurl our banners.”

And so, as the year petered to a wintry end, my small army went to war. We headed to Coxold, mainly because Ridley had not seen his people since the previous Christmas and Ralph’s reports were not as detailed as he wished them to be. We rode close to Topcliffe and, seeing the new ramparts on top of the blackened mound we detoured to see what mischief we could cause.
  The four men left to guard it ran off when they saw the column of men with the red horse shields.  “Fetch a couple of them back Branton.”

They had only had time to put new wooden stakes in ready to attach the ramparts.
  They pulled out easily.  When we went to the new hall built close by the river we saw that they had built this of stone and wood- it burned well.  Branton returned with one of the men. I lifted one eyebrow and he shrugged.  “They wouldn’t stop.”

“Do you speak English?”

“Yes my lord.”

“You know me?”

“Yes my lord, I was one of Thegn Skipton’s men.  I fought at Fulford.”

“And yet you fight now for the Normans?”

“The Thegn is dead and his land belongs to William of Perci.  I needed to eat.”

I looked at the man who was shivering, not with the cold but the fear of imminent death.
  “What is your name?”

“Tadgh my lord.”

“Tell me Tadgh of Skipton, how many men does the Baron have?”

He shrugged, “I was never a counter my lord, more of a fighter but he has many horsemen.
  He came here with, oh must have been fifty armed horsemen and five hundred foot soldiers, I was one of them, and thirty or so crossbowmen.”

“Why were you left here?
  To make sure the castle wasn’t wrecked again.”

He gave a half smiled.
  “That really pissed him off, my lord.”

My men laughed.
  “He expects much of his men.  Four of you to defend against my band of warriors?”

“That’s why we run sir.
  The lads and me, well we can’t fight the men of the hood, no-one can.”

Osbert asked, “Men of the hood?”

“Yes sir, that’s what they call you.  Well the Normans, they say,
’Hommes de la Capuche
’ or something but one of the lads said it means men with hoods or of the hood he wasn’t certain.  They think you are the ghosts of the men who fought at Hastings.”

I was curious.
  “Why do they call us that?”

“Well first off there’s never any bodies after you fight and then you appear in places where you shouldn’t and disappear, like
you did at Catherick. They don’t see your faces, see, the hoods hide them so they think you are ghosts.”

I looked over to Osbert who was as interested as I was in the man’s story.
  “So he went to Jorvik.”

“Yes my lord, he was collecting his men from the other castles on the way.
  The Vikings are back they say.”

“That they are. Now then Tadgh you present me with a dilemma.
  We should kill you.  Indeed there are men behind me already whetting their knives in anticipation.  On the other hand you are an old comrade. I will give you a choice, death, and I will make it quick and as painless as possible or become an outlaw and join us.“ I heard Osbert snort behind me. I turned, “Remember Aedgart? He fought against us and proved to be a valuable comrade did he not?” Osbert nodded, Aedgart had been one of his truest friends.

“Well sir.
  You give me a choice of life or death, no contest.  I am your man.”

I smiled cynically, “Just as an hour ago you were Baron William’s man.
  You may join us but you will be watched so do not think of running.  Branton here can hit the eye of a hawk at four hundred paces.” That was an exaggeration but Branton enjoyed the compliment.

“Yes my lord.”

“Find yourself a horse; there are some spares at the back.  Edward, keep an eye on him.”

Leaving the burning building behind, we headed for Coxold. Ridley rode knee to knee with me. “Men of the hood eh? I wonder how we can use that.”

“What do you mean use it?”

“They think that we are supernatural creatures; let us use that idea.
  Strike more at night and make them fear their own rooms and chambers.”

“I prefer a stand up fight.
  I miss the shield wall and fighting alongside you, Osgar and Wolf.”

“As do I old friend but those days are gone. There will be no shield wall again; William the Bastard has seen to that.”

The pall of smoke rising in the distance told us that Aux Gemons had struck again and I saw the anger rip across Ridley’s face for he knew the land and the only manor nearby was his. We found the first corpses on the outskirts of the village.  They had been running away and all bore wounds in their back. Here the buildings were Ridley’s buildings.  The Normans had not claimed it yet but they were all burnt.  There was a smell of human roast which made some of the younger men gag as we approached the village of the dead. The smithy was a pile of still smoking ashes and the warrior hall had four timbers left and the rest was blackened debris. The only building which still stood was the church. We could not see any bodies but we searched anyway.  Tadgh nervously edged closer to me as the men began to stare with open hostility at this man who had been with them until a short time ago.

“Tadgh, “I said loudly, “were you here?”

“No, my lord.”

“Do you so swear?”

He put his hands between his legs and said, “I so swear.”

The open hostility stopped but the men still did not take to the stranger. The men searching the church came back shaking their heads.
  There were no bodies in there. Suddenly we heard a noise and every man’s hand went to his weapons.  I held my hand up for calm when I saw that it was fifteen or so women and girls. They rushed, crying, up to Ridley, “Oh my lord! I curse the day that you left.”

He dismounted and took the woman in his arms.
  It was the most gentle I had ever seen Ridley. “Tell me, Edith what happened.”

“One of the boys, young Alan, came and said that the Normans were coming, lots of them.
  Ralph heard and told the steward to get everyone to run away or be prepared to fight.  He said that the Normans were the new rulers and we would have to get used to it.  Ralph just told us to run and he looked so fearful we did.  We ran to the trees overlooking the village and Ralph got his hammer. When they rode in they didn’t speak they just started killing everybody.  There was only Ralph with a weapon and he hit a few of them, then he went into his smithy and he never came out,” she began to cry once more.

“You are doing well my pet, now what happened next?” Ridley’s voice reminded me of Nanna’s, soothing and gentle, encouraging confidences.

“Well they set fire to the smithy and then some of them found some of the girls who hadn’t run and, “she looked up at Ridley and blushed, “and did things to them.  Oh sir some of them were only nine or ten and they screamed.  “She shook her head.  “I can still hear them and then when everyone was dead they threw the bodies in the buildings and set fire to them.”

I felt so sorry then for Ridley for this had happened to me and I knew the dark pain which now ripped and gripped him. His eyes were filled with tears.
  I turned to Branton, “Branton, bring the box with the coin.” He went to the pack horse at the rear.  “Osbert, detail eight men to escort these women to…” my mind went blank.  Where was safe? Perhaps the lucky ones were the dead, the dead who had died quickly.

“How about Medelai sir, that should still be standing and the Steward, well he will know what to do.”

“Good idea, well done Osbert. Here ladies.  There is a box of  coin so that you will not be poor.  Go with these men to Medelai.  They will watch over you and the Steward there is kind man, rough but kind.” I shrugged, “Neither Lord Ridley nor myself can offer you any comfort save that we will be revenged on these killers of children.” She kissed my hand and then Ridley’s and led the women off.  Each one bowed to Ridley as they passed and each one kissed his hand.

There was an eerie silence after the crying women had gone.
  Ridley had a determined look upon his face as he stared at the burnt manor.  “I let these people down Aelfraed. We all let them down.”

“What could we have done old friend.
  We had no defences; we would have died with your people.”

He turned on me, suddenly angry, “Well perhaps that would be better because we would have killed some of those bastards. There was a time when I felt sad for Wolf and Osgar now I know that they are the lucky ones for they do not have to look on this Norman world and live in its evil confines.
  They died defending an England that was worth defending. What do we do?  Sneak around in the night.  Burn a few bits of wood and feel like heroes.  Well I for one do not feel like a fucking hero!”

Something changed that day in my relationship with Ridley.
  He was still loyal and fought as hard as any warrior but he was never as close to me again for a long time, not until we finally left our homeland behind.  His people had suffered and he blamed me. The sad thing is this was just the beginning.  The scene would be repeated but on a far larger scale.  The world we had known had ended and we were about to enter a world which was more like a nightmare than a reality.

We had planned on staying the night in the comfort of the warrior hall but that was out of the questions.
  Instead we made a camp in the hills some five miles south of Coxold. The hunters shot some game but we did not enjoy the meal and ate only out habit.  There were none of the ribald stories or songs we usually sang for almost a year ago we had shared our food with these people.  The women who had been raped had danced with these men and we had been happy; they had been happy.  We would never dance or eat again without thinking or Lord Ridley’s people. Branton began keening a lament, quietly at first and then as others joined in it became louder but still a gentle hymn to the fallen.

Fallen leaves lie on the ground

Covering the earth with death

Beneath the soil life grows on

And new spring will come again

We remember those who die

We sing praise to their spirits

Beyond this life we meet again