Housecarl (22 page)

The Steward looked up at me.
“Building?  Men at arms?”

“Tell me Thomas what do you do
when the Scots come through rampaging or the Danes?”

“The Danes have not done so for
years but when the Scots come we go to Ripon or Jorvik.”

“And that can be done
swiftly?”

“Oh no my lord.  We leave
the farms and get there as quickly as possible. The Scots never
take everything, they always leave a little and we start
again.”

I sighed and looked at Ridley
who understood me far better than this man of the soil. “If we had
our own castle and men at arms then all the valuables could be
gathered and protected and the Scots would leave empty
handed.  We would not need to start again and we would have
more money.”

I could see that he was dubious
but it mattered not for I was lord and I would make that
decision.  Thomas was there to carry out my orders. The church
was a fine stone church with a small bell tower. I could see that
it did well. The priest who greeted us was a round, well fed man
called Osbert. When I introduced myself a cloud appeared to pass
across his face and he glanced at Thomas. “Welcome my lord I am
pleased that the king has sent another master for the land.”

“Could we go in the church
father for it is cold?”

In truth it was not but I wanted
to see the interior before he had the opportunity to hide what I
knew we would find in there.”Please, it is your parish church
now.”

“It is, isn’t it priest?” The
harshness of my tone made him flinch. Inside I was immediately
struck by the gold which glittered on various objects, the crosses,
the communion plate all had the tinge of gold.  I wondered
what we would find in his dwelling? “My Steward tells me that he
has been leaving the profits from the estate in your care.” I
smiled disarmingly at him, “I would like to thank you for
that.  Of course now that I am here I will, of course, require
my gold.”

I have seen men pale in battle
but never in a church.  He paled.  The blood drained from
his face. “But my lord, the church needs upkeep and…”

I picked up the golden crucifix.
“This does not look like the roof, or the walls.” I gestured at
Thomas who was behind me as though he feared the priest. “I am sure
that Thomas here, being a good Steward will have kept a good
accounting of my money.” Thomas eagerly nodded. I pointed a mailed
finger at the shaking priest. “That amount is what I expect from
you so let us go to your dwelling and begin to count out the first
amount that I will take with me today.”

“But my lord I must protest. The
bishop in Jorvik loves my church and he would not wish it to be as
it was.”

My voice lost its sweetness.
“Listen priest, this is my church and the Bishop can go and kiss
his own arse for all that I care.  My people have suffered at
the hands of the Scots whilst you, no doubt were safely behind
Jorvik’s walls. I am here now and things will change.  Do you
understand me?”

I could see from his frightened
piggy eyes that he did and he led me to this home which was a fine
stone dwelling and, as I had expected, well furnished. He went to a
trunk and took out a wooden box.  He took a key from around
his neck and opened it.  There was a quantity of silver in
there but not what I expected.

“This is it?”

“The rest went into the church
my lord.”

I grabbed a handful of his
cassock. “Then get it from the church or Ridley and I will rip if
from the walls ourselves.” His face was filled with fear.  I
heard Thomas have a sharp intake of breath. I saw, on his table two
silver candle holders and I grabbed them and dropped them into the
box. “Ridley, Thomas, find anything else which looks valuable and
you my pudgy little friend, have one week to find the rest of my
gold.”

Whilst my companions cleared out
the house I returned to the church and took all the silver and gold
ornaments I could find. My absence had emboldened the priest. 
“My lord I must protest.  When the Bishop…”

“Never mind the Bishop what
about the Earl?”

He looked non plussed. 
“The Earl?”

“I assume you have been paying
his taxes?” I knew that he had not and his skin whitened once
more.  He had gambled on the Bishop protecting him but Earl
Tostig valued gold above the church.

His shoulders sagged. “A week my
lord.”

As we rode back to the Steward’s
house I wondered where he had secreted the rest. Probably in Jorvik
with some of the Jews who lived there.  It mattered not to me
and if he ran, then good riddance, I already had enough to make the
start I want to on the improvements to my estate. When we returned
to Thomas’ house he said, “My wife and my family will move into the
barn my lord.”

It took me a moment or two to
understand that the house he occupied was the lord’s house. 
It was a rough building and not worthy of a lord.  I assumed
that the previous occupant had not stayed there much. “No Thomas.
Lord Ridley and myself  are used to privations and we will
sleep in the barn but on the morrow we will purchase the men and
materials we need to begin on my home.” He tried to protest but I
waved them away. “Is the inn still on the Roman road at
Catherick?”

“The Angel?  It is my
lord.”

“Do not prepare any food for us
we will visit there and we will see you on the morrow.”

As we rode the few miles north
to the inn Ridley asked me all the questions that had been
simmering in his mind.  “How did you know that the priest had
been stealing from you?”

“The things he had in the church
and his look.  Brother Aidan was a real churchman and he had a
lean look about him.  The priest was too well fed.”

“I would not know what to look
for .”

“I will visit with you when you
go to your parish.”

“And why do we visit the
inn?”

“We both need men at arms and
our parishes will not have them.  We can spread the word and
the inn is the best place for that.  There will be many men
without lords and if they travel south they will have to call at
the inn.”

The rest of the questions were
easily answered and Ridley appeared satisfied with the
answers.  His problem was that his father had ignored him and
he lacked confidence.  The Housecarls had given him confidence
in war but not with people.  I hoped that he would survive but
I knew that I could not be watching over him all the time.  He
would have to make his own mistakes and live with them just as I
would make my mistakes.

The Angel, so called because of
the small crudely carved wooden statue of a winged angel which
adorned the door lintel was a popular inn. I would have stayed
there but I knew that, until the priest made good with his promise
to repay the money, I would have to cut my cloth accordingly.
Everyone stared at us as we walked in.  To me the sight of
heavily armed men was normal but here, on the road it was unusual
for the lords normally stayed in each other’s homes when they
travelled the land. The landlord took one look at our weapons and
decided to defer to us.  “Welcome to my inn.  How may I
serve you?”

“Two ales for a start and food
if you have it.”

“Aye sir we have a hunter’s stew
on the pot and freshly made bread.”

“That will do.” I turned to face
the patrons but continued to talk to the landlord. “I am the new
lord of Topcliffe, Lord Aelfraed, and this is the master of Coxold,
Lord Ridley.” I felt Ridley squirm for he was still unused to the
title. “I am seeking men at arms to serve with us landlord, if you
hear of any men seeking employment then please direct them to my
demesne.”

“Certainly my lord.” I could see
from his face that he was adjusting his prices to accommodate the
new land owner.  He pushed two old men away from the table by
the fire and pulled out the crudely carved chairs for us. We sat
there supping the frothy ale from the two goblets fashioned from
some animal horn. The food when it came was tasty and
filling.  We were both used to hard rations and any food would
have been welcome.  When we had finished two men came over,
their heads bowed.  I say men but they were only just in their
twenties. The taller one spoke first, his accent had the hint of
the coast further north; it was recognisable for strangers thought
it sounded Scots but we, in the north, could differentiate.

“My lord I am Osbert and this is
Branton my brother; we are from Persebrig.” I knew of it. 
There were Roman ruins there and it guarded the river which divided
Northumbria.  “We served a lord who died fighting the Scots
and we seek employment.”

“What weapons did you use?”

“My brother is a skilled archer
and can use a sword.  I can use a sword and a spear and I can
ride.”

“Where do you stay this
night?”

He jerked his head to the left.
“In the barn.”

“If you will come to my home and
sleep in the barn as we do I will try you out tomorrow.  If
you are not suitable I will pay you to help build my castle and if
you are then you help me to begin my retinue.”

He grinned. “Then we will come
with you my lord and we will be suitable.”

“We will see.  When we
leave then join us.”

They both repeated their thanks
and returned to their table. “Do you see Ridley?  We are here
but a moment and I have two men. When the word spreads we will have
many men for there are always swords looking for new masters.”

As we left, having paid the
landlord, I repeated my request. “Remember landlord I am not far
from this inn and I like it.  You will have good custom from
me and my friends if you serve me well.”

I could see the greed in his
eyes as he effusively thanked us and we headed back south. 
Branton and Osbert had celebrated with much ale and were quite
noisy as they rode along the Roman road.  We had to go at a
slower pace as they were afoot but I did not mind.  I listened
to their words to gauge the kind of men they were.  Osbert was
definitely the leader and I picked up that he had been the leader
of the warriors of the lord he had served.  That suited me for
I needed someone who could be decisive and take command. They fell
into the hay and fell asleep before Ridley and I had taken the
saddles from our horses.

“We could have made them do
this?” grumbled Ridley.

“We could, but I intend to work
them both hard tomorrow and an early night will mean I will have
greater work from them.”

I was up before dawn for I was
excited. When we had ridden around the land the day before I had
seen, just north of the church, the perfect site for a defensive
home.  The river made a curve and a small stream joined
it.  With a little judicious engineering the smaller stream
could be a formidable barrier.  I rode out to it. Dismounting
I reached down to grab a handful of bare soil. It was malleable. I
led my mount to the river to drink and examined the river
bed.  There were many stones there which we could incorporate
into the building. As I mounted my eyes were drawn north west to
Medelai but fifteen miles distant. I wondered if my father and
brothers knew yet that they had a new neighbour and he was a member
of their family.  I had been tempted to ask Ridley’s father
for help with the building but I decided against it.  I wanted
to be slightly more secure for I knew that my brothers still
harboured dire thoughts.

By the time I had returned
Ridley and the brothers were awake and eating the bread and cheese
provided by Thomas’ wife. I talked as I ate; Nanna would have
disapproved of such bad manners but time was of the essence.
“Thomas I need men of the parish to come and start the building of
the citadel.  We will need them for two days, no more. 
Then I want you to go to Ripon and buy tools.  Take the silver
box. If there are any carpenters or masons on the land let me know
otherwise you can hire a couple for a few days. While you get the
men Ridley and I will give these men at arms a try.”

The words had come out in a
torrent and I think they overwhelmed Thomas who, none the less
mounted his nag and rode off. I would need to think about buying
horses for breeding. There were some horse farms to the east and
that would be another task. I was suddenly aware that there were
not enough hours in the day. The one commodity we had plenty of was
weapons for Ridley and I had collected them from the men we had
slain. I chose two of the short swords and gave them to the
brothers.  Ridley and I used our own.

Branton looked worried, “My
brother told you my lord that I am an archer.”

“Do not worry, Branton, you need
not be a champion but in my experience archers sometimes run out of
arrows and I would have you sitting on your arse while we do your
fighting eh?”

Osbert laughed.  “Come on
brother you are not as bad as you think.” He took a good stance
with his feet well balanced and I watched Branton copy him.

Ridley and I advanced and swung
our blades.  The metal clashed and clattered as we exchanged
blows.  I did not expect either of them to give us a good
match for we were Housecarls, I just wanted to see if they were
afraid and they were not. After we had disarmed them a couple of
times I was satisfied. “Branton get your bow and show me what you
can do.”

Grinning he went into the barn
to get his bow and his quiver.  I saw that he had but three
arrows, a sure sign that things had been hard for them. He
carefully took out his bowstring and strung his bow. He selected
the best arrow he had and smoothed the goose feathers with wetted
fingers. When he was happy he turned to me, “Target my lord?”

I shrugged.  “You know your
own skill better than I.  Impress me!”

I could see that he relished the
challenge. His eyes scanned the land and then he smiled. A crow was
perched atop a tree.  I estimated that it was at least two
hundred paces. It would be a difficult shot. He drew back and then
the arrow flew. With a half squawk it fell to the ground.