Housecarl (5 page)

“Do we have to climb those
mountains?”

Ulf answered over his shoulder.
“No the monastery is at the foot of the hills.  We only have a
short distance to travel.  Once we have passed Wat’s Dyke we
will be in Wales.”

My uncle reined in his horse.
“Be on your guard for after we have travelled through the forest
ahead we will be in dangerous country. Both of you are doughty
fighters but up to now it has been play. The next time you draw
your weapons you will be drawing blood.  Think on that. 
Keep you swords handy and, Ridley, place your bow on the pommel
horn ready to string should it be needed.”

Ridley looked to be pleased to
have something to do and he took out his bow from its case and
notched the string around one end. I held his reins as he fiddled
with his quiver and slung it over his shoulder. I was glad that we
had brought my friend for he was a reliable archer and I had the
feeling that we would need him.

The Forest of Mara loomed ahead
of us stretching east and west as far as the eye could see. 
It appeared to be a solid barrier, a wall marking the end of
England and the start of Wales. I saw Ulf and my uncle don their
leather helmets. They had not ordered us to do the same but Ridley
and I were still learning our trade and we quickly put ours on
too.  I wished that mine looked as well used as those of Ulf
and Aethelward but those we wore were newly made.  Stronger,
no doubt, than the older ones worn by the two warriors but they
marked us out as apprentices as did our shiny leather byrnies. We
had long left the Roman roads and were now on cart tracks. The
grass on our present road and lack of tracks showed that it was not
a well used way.

Ulf kicked his horse on and rode
a little ahead of us. My uncle called to me. “Aelfraed come here.”I
rode Raven, my horse, next to him. He handed me the reins of the
pack horse which Ulf had given to him. “Here watch the spare." My
face must have shown my disappointment for he smiled and added. “We
need Ridley’s bow and if we meet trouble then we will need my
weapons and Ulf’s to defend us.  Your time will come.” He
turned to Ridley. “You watch our rear; from here onwards we will
always be close to danger.”

The track seemed to turn to from
day to night as we trotted beneath its leafy canopy. The branches
looked to be threatening and suddenly sinister as they moved above
us in the gentle breeze.  There was a total silence, broken
only by the clip clop of the hooves on the forest floor.  I
almost jumped when Raven snorted and I heard Ridley stifle a giggle
behind me. It was with some relief that I saw a clearing and Ulf
and my uncle dismounting. “We will camp here.  There is water
nearby and it is not as gloomy as the other parts though which we
have passed.”

My uncle might have thought it a
pleasant spot but I still found it overpoweringly dark and
malevolent. We dismounted and led the horses to the stream to
drink.  As they were drinking we took off their saddles and
used them to mark the boundaries of the camp.

Ulf’s voice barked, “You two go
into the forest and find some dead, dry wood for the fire.”

The last place I wanted to go
was into the forest although I was shamed onto doing so by Ridley’s
cheerful whistling as he wandered off into the undergrowth. I was
torn between performing my task and watching for whatever was in
the forest which might hurt me. My uncle said that I was a thinker
and perhaps I over thought things for my imagination provided
ghosts, ghouls and phantoms not to mention aelfes and hobs. I
steeled myself to look for wood and soon found my arms laden with a
bundle.

By the time I returned to the
camp it looked half organised with Ulf chipping away with his flint
to light the kindling and uncle hobbling the horses.  Ridley
had reached the camp before me and was handing his timber to Ulf. I
almost breathed a sigh of relief that I had reached the camp
safely. Once the fire was going the forest seemed less intimidating
and I felt foolish for worrying about nothing.

“Cut up some of the dried meat
and put it into the pan, we might as well have some hot food.
Ridley, go into the forest again and see if you can find any herbs
and roots.”

“I could take my bow in case I
see a rabbit.”

Ridley was keen to show Ulf his
prowess and surprisingly Aethelward grinned as he said, “Make sure
you get the herbs first!”

While I used my knife to cut the
tough dried meat into manageable chunks I watched, intrigued as Ulf
and my uncle took lengths of thin cord and crouched close to the
trails. When they had finished whatever they were doing and they
seemed satisfied they returned to the camp where they lay down,
their heads resting on their saddles. The meat was now in the water
and I took some of the precious salt we had with us and put some in
with the meat.  I suddenly spied a bush next to the stream and
I went to recover some of the elderberries which had escaped the
attention of the birds. It would add to the flavour.

As I stirred I ventured the
question which had been in my mind for the past few moments. 
“What were you doing with the cord uncle?”

“Good.  I wondered how long
it would take you to ask.  Remember always ask better to feel
foolish than dead.  They are alarms to warn us of any
predator, human or animal which ventures close to our camp this
night.”

I looked around fearfully. 
I had thought of supernatural terrors not human ones.  “There
are men in the woods?”

“There may be and if there are
then they will be living outside the law and so be dangerous. 
The Welsh are not the only enemies we will face.”

Ridley’s cheerful whistling made
us turn to see him enter the camp.  He was beaming from ear to
ear with a rabbit in one hand and a bunch of herbs in the other.
“Supper!”

Ulf laughed.  “You have
done well and your boast was not an idle one. Skin it and Aelfraed
can joint it.  We eat well tonight. Now if we only had some
ale then we would have a fine feast.”

That night as we lay around the
embers of the fire I felt companionship such as I had never felt
before. There was a comfortable silence which punctuated the tales
Ulf and Aethelward told of battles past and comrades they had
known.  The deaths were not seen as sad events but momentous
and worthy of praise. I could see that death in battle would not be
unwelcome to Ulf and Aethelward who had outlived most of their
friends and comrades. We also learned more of Harold and his half
brother Tostig. Although both were renowned warriors it was obvious
that Harold was seen by both men as the exemplary and iconic
leader.  Tostig seemed too concerned with himself and how he
could profit from any given situation.  I allowed myself a
half smile realising that I had chosen the worthier of the brothers
and that would be reflected in the honour which I would gain.
Ridley sat up and paid particularly close attention when the two
men spoke of the Housecarls and their mighty shield wall.

In one of the silences his small
voice ventured a question. “Do you have to be noble born to be a
housecarl?”

Ulf’s laugh seemed to echo
through the forest. “Gods no! There would be but Aethelward left if
that were the case.  The only rule is that you are a mighty
warrior who can stand with his comrades even when all else have
fled and give your life for your liege lord.” He looked curiously,
almost paternally at Ridley.  “Why lad, would you be a
housecarl?” In answer he lowered his head shyly and nodded. “Well
you could do worse and you have the size already.  When we
have the chance I will see what your arm is like. Now I feel it is
time for rest for tomorrow we will need our wits about us. 
Tomorrow we meet the Welsh.”

In the event we needed our wits
a little earlier. I was woken by a hiss from the side of my head,
it was my uncle. “Wake Ridley, we have company. Get your weapons
but move slowly.”

I thanked the spirits of my
ancestors that I had the wit to think calmly. I slid my sword from
its scabbard and then rolled to the side to speak with
Ridley.  I touched his shoulder. “Be calm.  There are
enemies close. Get a weapon and then be ready.”

I peered, from my prone position
to see if I could discern anything but all I saw was the
darkness.  Then, as my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw the
leaves move unnaturally and when I stared I could see that there
was a lightness which appeared to be a man.  There were outlaw
approaching. I was afraid but also excited.  The tales we had
heard around the fire had convinced me that Ulf and Aethelward
could deal with any problem which arose. The hardest part was not
moving as I saw the armed men approach.  I trusted in my uncle
and Ulf, they would know the moment to move, and I just prayed that
I would not let them down.

When the word came I was ready
but it still took me by surprise.  With a roar and an
unnervingly quick turn of speed Aethelward shouted, “Now! And leapt
at the first shocked outlaw. His sword took him in the throat. I
was on my feet looking for the shape I had seen coming from the
forest. The man was a huge bear with a helmet, shield and war axe.
As I raced towards him I wondered if my first fight might be my
last. I tried to remember all that I had been taught and one idea
stuck in my mind; use my speed of blade for I could see that he was
a lumbering brute who would not be able to move as swiftly as me. I
feinted to his right and as he moved his shield to block me I
rolled to his left and hacked at his unprotected legs. I felt the
blade jar into his shins and then sensed his axe as it sliced above
my head.  A hand span lower and I would have had no head. It
was a harsh lesson. I rolled forwards and back slashed my blade at
his unprotected back.  Again the blade struck flesh and his
blood spurted down the edge of my sword.  He roared with pain
and swung his axe at me.  Had I had a shield I would have
deflected the blow but I only had my sword and I fell backwards
over the body of the man my uncle had slain. He thought he had me
and lumbered forwards but I had no intention of lying there to be
meekly split and I rolled towards the woods. I was on my feet in an
instant to face him once again. He hissed at me in some barbaric
language but I focussed on his weaknesses; I could see that he had
to favour his left side because of the wound to his leg and his
back. I swung my sword at his right, aiming for the hand which held
the axe. He was tiring and the parry was weak. Again I feinted to
the right and as he moved the shield to cover my attack I saw a gap
and stabbed forwards. To my everlasting amazement he did not block
the blow and the sword  found the weakened link in the rusty
mail and slowly sank in through his layers of fat.  He looked
down in surprise and then roared; he opened his arms and grabbed me
to pull me in towards him. I had not expected that move and the
breath from his stinking mouth filled my face.  I was
terrified.  I suddenly remembered that I had a dagger and I
reached around to my belt to try to reach it as his arms tightened
around me in a bear hug which threatened to kill me. I extricated
the dagger and squeezing it up through his grip stabbed upwards
into his throat and into his skull.  Suddenly I saw life leave
his eyes as his arms dropped to the side and he slowly slid to the
floor, he was dead, I had killed my first man.

I spun around to look for
another attack and saw, instead, that the other five had been
despatched by my three comrades. It looked as though the fat
warrior I had killed had been the better armed of the bandits for
the others lacked helms and armour but they lay dead nonetheless.
Ulf grinned at me. “I worried, young Aelfraed that he had taken to
you and wished you for his bed.  Had I known you were fighting
him I would have stepped in to help.”

Aethelward saw the shock on my
face and came over, his arm around my shoulder. “You did well
nephew for he knew how to fight and next time you will not make the
same mistakes.”

Mistakes? I had thought that I
had fought him well. “Are there others?”

“We will find out. You two strip
any armour from the bodies and see what they have that we might
use.  We will search the forests.”

Dawn was just breaking when the
two warriors returned. It had been a grisly task removing armour
and valuables from the dead. It had taken two of us to strip the
mail armour from my opponent. The bodies yielded a few coins, the
fat one had a purse with a gold piece and two silver ones while the
others had a couple of swords and daggers between them. We had laid
the bodies in a line, more to stop us falling over them rather than
from any sense of honouring the dead for they had tried to kill us
in our sleep and were not worthy of any respect. The horse they
brought with them looked to be bigger than ours and I deduced that
their leader had been its rider.

“Well Ridley you may have done
well from this attack for I venture the horse will suit you and
unless I miss my guess the armour and helmet will fit you better
than Aelfraed.”

Ridley looked at me for
approval. I had no desire to wear the rusty armour but it would
have been good had the helmet fitted me.  I would have to
continue to wear my leather one. “You may have them Ridley but the
armour will need work for it is rusty and has links missing.”

“For which you should be
grateful nephew for if he had looked after it your blade would not
have penetrated.” He picked up the axe. “This is cared for and is a
good weapon.  You were lucky that he did not catch you with it
for the edge is like a razor.”

He handed me the axe which
seemed well balanced and I hefted it in my hand. Ulf nodded. 
“When the opportunity presents itself I will show you how to use
it.”

“Ulf is one of the best axe men
you will ever meet.  Now we must ride for we need to reach our
destination by nightfall.  I would not risk another night in
these bandit filled forests.”