Games of Otterburn 1388 (11 page)

Douglas saw his men as they passed him carrying tanned leather, livestock of various kinds from chickens to sheep, a wagonload of various foodstuffs from which they were randomly eating, sacks of coins, leather horse tack, and many other valuables along with twenty or so prisoners strung neck to hands in queue that his men thought might bring a valuable ransom later.

“We’re
retreatin
’!” shouted
Douglas
.

“We heard yer horn,” replied a high knight coming to his side.

“Get men on horse in the other street. We need a rearguard!” came back
Douglas
. “We’re about to be attacked!”

“I know where to get them, Milord,” said the knight as he wheeled down
Silver Street
.

“Hope to hell yer right,” said
Douglas
under his breath as he turned toward
Market Street
to be the rearguard of at least one.

He arrived on the street among a mêlée of outbound movement.

The next few men passing him were stopped. “Need some to fight,” announced
Douglas
as he pointed to the oncoming Englishmen.

They dropped their loads, drew their swords and stood their ground.

“Any more behind ye?” asked
Douglas
drawing his own sword.

The two knights came from the money lender’s shop. “
Ye
needin
’
help?”

Douglas
saw they were fairly loaded with coin money and answered, “We got this. Ye two get with the others!”
Douglas
threw his sword over his shoulder pointing their way.

“Aye, Milord,” said one of the knights as the other grabbed the dangling reins of their horses and they climbed aboard and headed out of town.

Mungan came to
Market Street
with Adara holding tight to his back. There were about forty men riding behind him.

Out of the edge of the fog
Douglas
saw they were being pursued by the English troops fresh from the gates of the castle.

“Get ready!” shouted
Douglas
.

The archers who were on horseback saw the English coming toward them and rose up in their stirrups and let fly arrows over the heads of the Scots who were trying to get to Douglas’ rearguard position. The arrows found many homes in English flesh as those who were hit stumbled and fell.

There no longer was enough
gap
between the Scots and the English so that the archers could be effective so they slipped their bows over their shoulders and chests and drew their swords and axes.

Douglas
held his sword high and kicked his horse to charge.

The spearmen quickly wheeled and kicked their horses. They dropped their spears over the heads of their mounts just like a tourney knight and became an instant force to reckon with.

Adara, still holding tight to her giant savior, squealed with delight as the charge came close to the English defenders.

There was the terrible sound of the first clash of troops coming together.
Adara’s
 
screams
went quiet as Mungan threw his splintered spear to the ground and drew his sword. Adara realized what he was about and turned him loose. He jumped off and went to the street to wade into the English troops.

She leapt into the saddle and moved the horse back from the thickest of the fighting.

An English foot soldier saw her and figured her for an easy kill. He moved toward her position, his sword poised to strike.

Douglas
faced more men on the English side who were taking more of his men.

Adara pulled the battle axe from the saddle loop as the English soldier rushed to her side. She screamed bloody terrible and the soldier hesitated just long enough for her to strike a hard blow onto the opening between his helm and the chain mail covering his chin. Blood flew from the man’s face as he staggered back dropping his sword and ending flat on his back to see his last.

A flash of satisfaction crossed Adara’s expression as she watched the soldier die on the street. Her attention went from the street back to the fight as she looked for Mungan.

The English warden who led his men to the battle must have been overly inebriated as he had fallen to the hard dirt of the street and passed into unconsciousness.

The knight who had gone off in search of men came in behind the English and ran around the English troops.

Douglas
saw the maneuver and thought it was a good opportunity to withdraw since their main objective of reiving had been accomplished. He hooted his horn again and his men withdrew. The English troops, being leaderless, allowed that to happen.

The remaining straggling Scots left the town with their liege.

Within the half hour the fog had lifted from the streets to the realization that the Scot’s had effectively raided their town and taken quite a haul with them as they left.

The titular head of the merchants demanded and got an immediate audience with Bishop Skirlaw who agreed to pursue the Scots post haste with as many knights and men-at-arms as he could spare so as to return not only the reived goods but the town’s pride as well.

The bishop went back to the battlements where he had first heard the raid through the fog. The air was clear as he looked down on the market place. He was thankful the raider’s had not set it ablaze as they had from time to time in the past and yet on the other hand he realized the air was just too wet to strike a spark. He was still fitful and pressed with guilt over the unnecessary loss of English life since he had dismissed the message that Sir Henry Percy had sent him warning of just such a possibility but he thought he would have at least three more days to plan.

He wrung his hands and fretted. He felt helpless as he cried out to heaven for the understanding of why his people had to suffer so.

Within the hour the bishop had changed his mind about sending out troops to bring justice to the Scots for he feared it might be a two edged justice meaning his contingent of warriors within his immediate grasp would not be enough to accomplish the task and all of them would be senselessly slaughtered. It was that that he could not abide so he instead
send
warrants across the bishopric to immediately gather a greater army to shoo the Scots from the countryside.

August 12 - Mid Morning

Appleby in Westmorland,

England

The square eighty foot high Caesar’s Tower was surrounded by an extensive curtain wall enclosing three separate baileys that occupied the highest point on the bluff overlooking the River Eden in the
Eden
Valley
. Below the castle was the town of
Appleby
on the edge of the river.

Robert Stewart, Earl of
Fife
pulled rein on his horse about a mile north of the town,

“Appleby’s not far to my
figurin
’,” he said.’

“We’re
goin
’ to have to cross the river ere we get closer,” said Stewart of Durisdeer standing his mount at Robert’s side.

Robert turned in his saddle resting his hand on its cannel. He looked at his thousand troops on horseback and knew they were as worn the same as he for they had followed him to the depths of the West March to raid whatever valuables they could lay to hand.

They had been traveling for three days leaving his soldiers on foot to attack closer places such as
Carlisle
and that neighborhood.

“Ye been in this area much?” asked Robert.

“Have been, Milord,” said Durisdeer.

“Know a good ford?”

“‘Bout a half mile to the west it widens with a small bit of land mid way,” he answered then added. “River meanders a lot through here.”

“Lead?”

Durisdeer nodded and kicked his horse toward where he knew the crossing point to be.

Soon the thousand knights and men-at-arms splashed across the
Eden
River
then turned toward Appleby, and soon came to the edge of the town.

Robert instructed his men as he moved through them to go in front. He drew his sword high indicating for his thousand to do the same.

Within the town was heard a blood curdling scream followed by another shout, “Scotch! Scotch
are
a’raiden
’! Run!!”

Robert smiled. He liked panic. It was his ally when he was raiding. “Attack!!” he ordered then he war whooped and spurred his large warhorse. All of the men war whooped to a frightening roar.

It took less than a minute to ride the main street from one end to another. The citizens fled as much as they had places to flee.

His men who were spread along the street moved to either side killing and wounding people as them came to them with a weapon. The citizens had little to no organization to fight back and their defense was willy-nilly at best.

Robert saw the blacksmith shop with several skittish horses tied to posts out front and knew there must be
more close
by.

While Stewart was directing operations Robert got from his horse in front of the smithy.

He tried the door and it was barred. He shook it harder and it remained fast.

Robert could hear at least one person inside.

“Come out!” he demanded.

There was no sound from within.

He went around to the side that backed up to the river and there were five more horses.

Robert, who was not accustomed to being barred out, found a length of rope hanging on a branch of a tree close to the pinfold.

He went back to the front and shouted through the door, “Come out or I’ll be
settin
’ yer smithy
a’fire
!”