Northern Knight (22 page)

There was a movement and I saw their plan.  They came in a huge wedge of Norsemen flanked by the wild Hibernians. The Norse would try to force the passage between the stakes while the Hibernians would use their speed to surround us. This was the way they had fought for centuries.  The overlapping shields and the spear points would normally drive though any enemy.  I was pleased we fought on foot.  Our horses would have been of little use against such a formation.

"Wulfric, Dick, do you see?"

"Aye, my lord."

Aye, Baron."

"You know what to do, Dick?"

"This time we have arrows aplenty.  God will give our arms extra strength."

Dick would target the mailed warriors until the lighter armed men closed and then he would shift targets.  Wulfric and his men at arms would be the barrier which held the enemy form the archers. I could now estimate their numbers.  There were not a thousand as had been suggested but it looked to be well over six hundred. I estimated that from the wedge.  Each successive line added another two warriors.  There appeared to be nineteen ranks in the wedge.  There could be almost four hundred Norse alone. As they made their way down the slope the sunlight glinted off the front seven ranks.  They were mailed.  The rest were not.  We had forty mailed warriors to eliminate. Dick's words made me realise that I needed a priest with us. When we had fought with the Bishop's priest my men had had the comfort of the cross. 

I could tell that the Hibernians on the flanks of the wedge were champing at the bit.  The wedge had to move slowly or lose cohesion but the Hibernians just wanted to race at us and get it over with.  They reached the boggy stream which was half a mile away and I saw that they became a little disordered as they slipped and struggled across the sticky, muddy bottom. It was tempting to risk sending my archers to loose arrows at them but I knew that the Hibernians were fast enough to catch my bowmen no matter how swift footed they were.

As the wedge began to labour up the slope some of the wilder, younger Irishmen decided to forget their orders and get amongst us.  Forty of them suddenly raced up the slope, alarmingly quickly.  I need not have worried. It took but fifty arrows to kill them. They shunned armour and our arrows were well made. Their bodies were now a human obstacle to the wedge which would have to cross their corpses and it was forty less men for us to deal with. The success of the archers raised the spirits of my men who cheered wildly as though we had won the battle.  Wulfric growled, "Shut your noise! Anyone would think you were Frenchmen! Wait until they are all dead before you crow!"

The dead bodies also acted as a mark of the range of our bows and I knew that the attackers would begin to get nervous once they came within range.  I saw the wedge as they squeezed together more tightly. The Irishmen were hanging back a little on the flanks and we all knew what that meant; they were preparing to charge. One of them sounded a horn made from an animal horn and the warriors on both sides of the wedge leapt forward to close with us. Almost a quarter of them had already been killed but there was still nearly two hundred who hurled themselves quickly through the stakes. These were agile warriors and the stakes did not slow them up.  It did, however, prevent them coming at us in a line.

Dick and the archers began to pick off Irishmen.  They had no armour and each arrow struck a body. Wulfric and the archers had all spread water between the stakes and when they reached the stakes and began to dodge and twist some of them slipped and brought down others.  Dick and his archers picked them off at their leisure. The handful that made it through were despatched by Wulfric and his men at arms. They came at us piecemeal; it was a waste of warriors. Almost without a pause the archers shifted their aim to the wedge which was now within their range and picking its way across the bodies.  They did not aim their arrows at the front ranks who wore mail but those behind who had but a helmet and a shield for protection.  They were not looking to the skies for they had to step around the dead bodies.

Whoever led the Norsemen, and I saw two candidates in the third rank of the wedge, had not allowed for the narrowness of the channel we had created. The men had to bunch after the fifth rank had entered the staked maze. Their numbers would not help them.  We had nine knights to face them.  We filled the gap and the column, no matter how big could only face us nine men wide. We would outnumber the first five ranks and I hoped to make a barrier of their bodies. Dick and his archers were now working their way in from the flanks and death rained upon those who were at the rear. 

I concentrated upon those at the front.  They had put their best three warriors as the point of the wedge and the two leaders were behind those three. The first Norseman was a giant of a man with a full face helmet and byrnie down to his knees. He had his shield slung at his back and he wielded a double handed Danish axe.  The two behind him had long spears. The axe was being spun in a figure of eight.  It was almost mesmerising. It was so long that it extended beyond the spears of his two companions.

I spoke in Saxon, "Edward and Harold, take the two men behind this giant.  Squires go for his knees.  He has no armour below them."

I heard them all chorus, "Aye Baron!"

The wedge tried to run the last ten paces.  It was not successful.  The slippery ground did not afford good grip to their boots.  I saw the axe being swung as they ran at us.  I had to time this well.  I angled my shield as I punched forward with my spear. My arm and my shield shivered with the force and shock of the axe but the angle of my shield deflected it down the side.  My spear tore through the links of the Viking's mail, his padded tunic and into his stomach. I saw a spear come from behind me and it jabbed into his knee just below the kneecap.  I heard a scream of pain as the spear was turned. As the giant dropped to one knee I withdrew my spear.  The spear in the knee shattered when his body fell upon it and a second spear struck him in the throat.

We had no time to enjoy our minor victory for, although Edward and Harold had killed the next two warriors there were now five men facing us and two of them were leaders.  Both wielded swords.  I stabbed forward with my spear and it began to penetrate the mail of one of the leaders.  The warrior next to him swung his own sword and took off the head of my spear. It cost the warrior his life as Edward stabbed him in the throat but I would have perished as I tried to unsheathe my sword if it was not for Hugh of Gainford whose spear came to my aid.  He disobeyed me and did not go for the knee or for flesh but for the weakened links of the mail. He pulled its bloody head back and, as I drew my sword, I punched the warrior with my shield to buy myself some time.  He stepped back and I drove my sword through the hole made by Hugh and out of his back.  I put so much force into the blow that it penetrated the thigh of the next warrior.

We were winning the battle in terms of casualties caused but now their sheer weight of numbers began to tell and we were faced by nine warriors. They began to push their wall of shields towards us. It was no longer a wedge we were fighting; it was a column of men. A sword came from out of nowhere and I tried to pull my head away.  I partly succeeded but it still tore through my coif and into my cheek.  I tasted salty blood. The joy of the wielder of the sword was short lived as an arrow suddenly blossomed from his face and, as I stabbed forward, I found that the men before me no longer had mail.

This was a chance.  Our weapons could wreak havoc on men without mail. "Come! We have them! Now we push them back! Men of the valley, on!"

I felt my squires pushing from behind me and took comfort from the three spears which surrounded me.  I looked to my right and saw, not Edward, but Wulfric. "I was fed up with watching my lord! No, you don't!" He brought his sword down to split the helmet and skull of a shocked Norseman who had been poised to stab me with his spear.

I could now see daylight where there had been merely bodies.  Dick and his archers had continued their work at the rear of the column and, while we had absorbed the blows of those at fore, those at the back had perished. Their tiredness now showed for we had renewed energy and hope.  We had weathered the storm of their better warriors and now it was those who had hoped to enjoy the spoils of victory. They were more tired than we and although our blows lacked the power they had had at the start, theirs had none at all and every swing brought a wound or a death. A willow can be amazingly strong when bent but there comes a point at which it shatters in two.  That happened to the Norse.  One moment they were whole and fighting hard and the next they dissipated and disappeared like morning mist. It happened when we found ourselves beyond the gap we had created.  As we burst through our numbers began to tell and my men at arms swarmed through and beyond those of us who had fought at the fore for so long. Their arms were not tired and their legs were fresh.  My men fell upon the warband with savage strokes and hard blows. The raiders fled down the slope.

I turned to Wulfric. "Mount the men at arms and pursue them.  We will join you." We could catch them quicker on horseback and I wanted them destroying.

"Aye my lord."

He shouted, "Men at arms, to horse and let us make merry with these barbarians!"

I turned to my three squires.  They were all bloody but it was not their blood which covered their amour and their surcoats.  It was our enemies.  "You did well. Get my horse and your own."

I looked at my knights and saw that there were just three of us still standing.  Sir Richard and Sir Raymond were the only ones who would ride after the enemy with me. I knew not if the rest were wounded or dead but I would have to leave that for we had to finish off these wild men of the west. We had thwarted the enemy, now they needed eliminating.

I mounted Star. I knew that he was ready to go to war for he stamped his hoof and tossed his head.  Leofric handed me a lance and they mounted. I led the eight knights and squires after the men at arms.  I could see that Wulfric had them spread out like huntsmen in a wide semi circle.  We passed the wounded and dying enemy.  Dick and his archers were already moving amongst them to end their pain. When we reached the Skerne I saw how difficult it would have been to cross on foot.  Star ploughed through the water and, shaking himself, galloped up the other bank. 

Already we were catching some of the men at arms who had poorer mounts than we did. The fleeing enemy should have turned to face us but their panic meant that, with their leaders and heroes dead they just ran. These were not the oathsworn we pursued; these were the glory hunters and those who sought to find treasure. We had drawn them to us with our success and poor Sir Guy and his men had paid with their lives.  It gave impetus to my arm as I swung it on unprotected backs. Some heard me coming and turned to raise a feeble arm in defence.  I felt no mercy.  They had come to take all that we had. They would have slaughtered our families or enslaved them had we not held them at the Skerne.

Here and there minor chiefs tried to rally their men and hold us off. We found knots of weary warriors with a handful of men who stood in small shield walls.  Our lances tore through their defence.  With no armour to slow them the heads ripped though bodies and were unbroken.  Their dead bodies marked where they had fulfilled their last oath and died with the chiefs.  The warband bled to death on that race across to the Tees at Gainford.

We reached their camp at Gainford.  There we found their booty and their slaves tethered by the neck and hands to trees. Star was tiring and I halted by their camp.  My faithful squires all dismounted too and joined me. John son of Godwin looked shaken, "My lord, that was not war was it?"

"No, John, but it was necessary."

Hugh spat out, "I would have inflicted more pain if I could." There were tears in his voice and I saw where he looked.  There outside the burnt out shell that had been Gainford was the head of his father and his brothers, each one arrayed on a spear. His brother dismounted and came to join us.  He put his arm around the shoulder to comfort him.

"John, Leofric, go and take them down." Hugh went to go too.  "No, Hugh, you stay here with your brother.  Until you become a man you will be as a son to me and I know your father would have you do what I asked my squires to do.  Stay here." He obeyed, albeit reluctantly.  "Go and free those slaves and tend to their hurts.  They were your people and they look to both of you."

Hugh nodded and went off to attend to the terrified and shocked villagers of Gainford with his older brother to guide him. Wulfric and my men at arms rode in just as the grisly remains of Sir Guy and his sons had been reunited.

"We caught the last of them, although some may have jumped in the river.  I think we may find their bodies washing up close to our castle. Sir Richard and Sir Raymond went back to the Skerne.  They were both worried about their squires."

I nodded, "I am afraid we will have to bury the dead here. Have the dead raiders piled together and we will burn them.  I hope they have left a priest alive I don't know the words to say over our own dead."

I led Star towards Hugh and Gille.  I saw one man who looked different from the others standing to one side.  Gille was viewing him with suspicion. "He is not one of my uncle's people and he was not tied."

"You think he is one of the raiders?"

"He could be although he had this around his neck." He showed me a thrall's yoke.

I approached the man and tried Saxon. "Who are you?"

"I am Oswald son of Harold.  I was taken in a slave raid when I was but four summers old."

"You have lived in Orkney all of this time?"

"No, my lord, I was taken from Man to Dublin."

"Who were these warriors?"

"My master was Magnus Fine Hair. He brought me to translate.  He was keen to find out where the treasure of Alfraed of Norton was."

I smiled; he did not know who I was. "I am Baron Alfraed."

He dropped to his knees, "I am sorry, my lord, I meant no offence."

"None taken, you were not to know. And who were the others?"

"The Irishman was the young son of the head of the O'Neill clan, Padraig. He wanted to show his father that he was a better warrior than his brothers and that he should be named as heir. The Jarl from Orkney was Harald White Eye."

"It seems a long way to come for slaves."

"It was treasure they sought. There are stories told in Dublin of how you and your father came from the court of the Emperor in the East with his treasure. There were tales of how your father and his men had crept into the palace and stolen it.  It was said you could not return to the east for there was a price upon your head. It was said that you had built the castle in Stockton to protect all of your gold."

"But I have no more gold than other men."

He shrugged, "That was the story we heard and it was also told in Orkney.  They say that is why you are the champion of the Empress of the Germans."

"I am no champion; I am one of her knights that is all."

"There are many stories about you, lord.  You defeated the Welsh King and took all of his cattle. You fought the finest knights in Germany and defeated them all."

"I did none of those things."

"I am just repeating the stories that we heard.  I am sorry."

He looked fearful as though I might punish him for telling me the truth. I smiled, "Well you are free now. What would you?"

"I would like to live amongst people who speak my language and where I am safe."

"You may return with us to Stockton and then choose your home.  You will be safe in my land." The look of relief on his face was a sober lesson for me.  His past would have been my people's fate had we failed.

We found that they had left the priest alive and he helped us to bury the dead of Gainford.  The dead enemy were thrown on to a pyre and the smoke filled the air. Those who had survived went nervously back to the remains of their homes.  They knew how close they had come to death.  "I will have the men of Piercebridge keep watch over you and should you need aught then send to them." I looked at Gille and Hugh and they both nodded. They would not forget.

We rode wearily back to the Skerne as darkness was beginning to fall. Sir Richard had organised the burning of the enemy and our dead were laid out.  There were fewer of them than I had expected but the losses were still grievous.  None of our knights had been killed but all had wounds which would keep them within their halls for a month or so.   It was the squires who had suffered the most. Only my three had survived and Gille had survived.  Harold had lost his squire and was distraught. Sir Edward's wound was the least serious.  A war hammer had caught him a glancing blow on the side of the head and he had been knock unconscious.  Had it occurred earlier then he might have fallen to the advancing Norse but it had been in the last moments of the battle. Gille had ensured that he was still alive and then joined his cousin. Harold had a badly gashed arm and Tristan's foot had been speared.  None of the wounds were life threatening but we knew we had been in a battle.

Sir Geoffrey took his men back to Piercebridge and promised to watch over Gainford. He spoke with both Gille and Hugh before he left. He and Sir Guy had been friends.  I knew that the manor was in safe hands until the King appointed a new lord. We returned to Stockton for no one wished to stay at the charnel house on the Skerne.  It was pitch black when we crossed our bridge into my castle. We were home.  It was the first battle I had fought so close to my home that I could see my family at the end.  It showed me how close we had come to disaster. I decided I would visit with the Bishop and ask him if his knights could keep a better watch on my borders.

I was stiff the next morning.  I had fought longer than I had for some time.  I prayed that my fighting was over for this year. Adela asked me about the battle; I had been in no mood when I had returned.  I told her and she burst into tears when I told her of Sir Guy.

"Poor Hugh! He has no one save his brother?"

I shook my head, "I have said I will take him as my squire and train him to be a knight.  It is what his father would have wished. He will live here with us."

She put her hand on mine.  "That is the Christian thing to do. What of the manor?"

"That is up to the King but I will plead for the rights of Hugh.  Perhaps he will hear me." I stood, "And now I will walk among my people and put their minds at rest. They will have worried when we left so swiftly and there will be gossip. I would have them know the truth and not the exaggeration."

I had told her what Oswald son of Harold had said.  "How can men believe such nonsense?"

"There are some men who always believe that there is an easy route to riches and to power.  They know not that you must work for it."

"Could I walk with you in the town as I once did? I have missed it."

"Of course."

As we left the keep she asked, "What of this Oswald?  What will happen to him?"

"He wants a life amongst his own people and safety.  I cannot blame him."

"I will see if I can find a place for him. It seems he was sent for a purpose."

It was only when I walked around my town that I realised we had security.  Gainford had all but gone.  It could be rebuilt but it would never match my town.  I had achieved much. I began to wonder if I had now achieved all that I was born to achieve.  My father's old nemesis,
wyrd
, came to prove me wrong. As we turned to return to the castle a rider hurtled to a halt next to me.

"My lord, Father Peter sent me.  You must come quickly, Lord Athelstan is dying. He must speak with you."

I left Adela and ran to the stables. Leofric and John were there.  "Saddle Scout, now!"

I threw on my cloak and waited impatiently as they tightened Scout's girth. I jumped into the saddle and galloped as hard as I could. The journey was short but seemed to take forever. The gates of Norton were open and I galloped in and jerked Scout to a halt. A sentry said, "They are in the main hall, my lord, and you should hurry! Father Peter is administering the last rites."

I gave him the reins and ran into the dimly lit hall.  Osric stood by Athelstan's bed while Father Peter held Athelstan's hand.  He murmured something into his ear.  I dropped to my knees next to his bed and the eyes of my father's oathsworn opened.  He gave a wan smile, "You have come, my lord.  I knew you would."

"It is Alfraed, my friend, and I would have come sooner had I known you were so ill."

He shook his head. "It is my time, Alfraed.  I have seen the angel of death and I am not afraid but I wished to speak with you before I join your father and his oathsworn." He flicked a nervous look at Father Peter, "I will go to heaven Father?"

"You are a good man and I have absolved you of your sins. Soon you will be without pain. You will go to heaven." He looked at me. "You wished to say something to Baron Alfraed?"

He nodded and then coughed up some blood. "Your father and I buried something in the garden of our old home near to the palace in Constantinople. It is beneath his favourite lemon tree in an urn."

I glanced at Osric but he looked blank as though this was the first he had heard of it. "What is it Athelstan?  Why did he leave it there?"

He closed his eyes and carried on.  I wondered if he had heard me. "When King Harold fought at Stamford Bridge his sword was damaged and the pommel stone came loose. It was left with Aelfraed's uncle for safe keeping. He gave it to your father." He coughed up more blood and Father Peter dabbed it away. He looked at me and shook his head. "He did not want to bring it back to England in case we found ourselves outlaws.  He told me he did not want Harold's enemies to have it. It is a symbol of life before the Normans came."

He was silent. I looked at Father Peter who leaned in and then nodded, "He lives still but not for long. You had best ask any questions quickly."

"What should I do, Athelstan?"

He opened his eyes, "That is for you to decide.  You are now Baron and you are the keeper of the secret. He told me one night before he died for he felt his time was coming.  My time is coming and the secret now is yours. I have done my duty and passed it on. I can tell your father, when I see him, that I was oathsworn until the end."

He smiled and looked totally at peace.  His eyes closed and, with a soft sigh, he died.

I looked at Osric who shook his head.  "I thought that I knew all there was to know about my friend Athelstan and yet I did not.  He was truly oathsworn." He held Athelstan's dead hands in his and said, "Goodbye old friend.  I shall see you ere long." Father Peter made the sign of the cross and we bowed our heads. The priest put his arms behind us and led us into the light.

I turned to Osric.  "Did you know of this stone?"

"I knew not that it had survived but, in the Guard, we all heard the stories from the housecarls who had known King Harold that his sword had a blue stone in the pommel. That was the reason for the star on your father's standard.  The blue star was for King Harold." I nodded.  "You remember the lemon tree?"

"I do.  It was where my father would sit and talk with me in the evening when I was growing up." I shook my head.  "It stopped when I grew and I miss those talks."

Father Peter smiled, "We can all look back and regret things we did when we were young. The trick is to not make those same mistakes when you are older."

I was silent as the secret filled my head.

"What will you do, Alfraed?"

I looked at Osric, "About the stone?" He nodded.  "I know not.  It should be safe enough, at least for a while. It would be a long journey to get it.  And it is no secret now; three of us know it."

Osric and the priest looked at each other. Father Peter said, "It is a secret still.  A man's last words are like the confessional."

"And I am oathsworn to you, Baron.  The secret is safe.  It dies with me."

I clasped both their arms.  "Thank you both. I will send for Wulfstan and we will bury him by the church."

Osric pointed to a large elm.  "While he was ill he liked to sit beneath that elm.  It looks east and he liked to sit there."

"Then we shall do it. We shall bury him there." Wulfstan arrived and dismounted stiffly from his horse.  The wound from the hunt still bothered him.  It was another sign of the age of my father's men. Their time was coming to an end and soon I would be the last of the band that had left Constantinople.

Under the light of the moon we buried Athelstan beneath his favourite tree.  We buried him in a stone lined grave with his sword, shield and armour upon him.  We laid stones on the top and I told Father Peter that I would have a special stone made by William the Mason.  Athelstan and his fidelity would be remembered. I took my leave of Osric who suddenly felt frail as I held him tightly to my chest. There were tears in the old man's eyes as I mounted Scout. I rode back to Stockton with Wulfstan. I chose to tell him Athelstan's words.  He too was one of my father's oathsworn. He seemed happy that he had not been told the secret. "We were all oathsworn.  I think there may have been secrets your father confided in me and not the others."