Saxon Dawn (Wolf Brethren) (21 page)

The king nodded and I said, “Wolf, Slayer!” The chant went up and I saw the king’s look of surprise. The guards at the end of the causeway had seen us and there was no chance of surprise so our chant was a warning for the Saxons of the fight to come. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Raibeart’s boat glide alongside us slowly and silently. I knew that they would all have arrows and stones ready to assault the Saxons and that gave me heart. Saxon Slayer was before me and, in the pale light of dawn, appeared to glow. I saw a brief flash of light as the gates opened and disgorged the Saxon shield wall which would face us. I concentrated on the man at the centre of their line.  He would be my opponent.  I saw that he had a helmet with a nasal and carried a sword and a shield.  The shield had no boss and I assumed no metal.  That gave me an advantage.  I knew, without looking, that the boats were in position and I waited for my brothers to begin their attack.  They would judge the moment well, that I knew. When they did loose their arrows and stones all that I heard was a faint whoosh and then I heard the clatter of metal on metal and the screams of men who were struck.  Their front ranks crumpled and then the arrows and stones came a second time.  More men fell and the ones who replaced them had their shields held high.  It was our chance and I raised my sword.  We ran.  Three hundred men encased in armour and protected by wood and iron crashed into their lines.  I thrust my sword forwards as we hit and the warrior I had watched had my sword driven through his mouth and through the back of his skull. The men behind me pushed and the wedge over ran their front ranks.  The warriors behind
us
were killing
those who squirmed on the floor.  I stabbed blindly and felt the sword strike something soft and
fleshy
and another warrior fell before me. The arrows and the slings were taking their to
ll and the two lines before us were crumbling.  We had won and we had victory.

Suddenly the men before us just ran and fled to the safety of the stronghold.  We roared forwards, an uncontrolled mass
of exultant warriors.  Then we realised the trap they had set.  The bridge over the ditch was raised, leaving forty or fifty of the last Saxons to be slaughtered like fish stranded on a beach. I halted the line. There was something I did not like. “Prepare for an attack.” My men dressed their shields and prepared for the Saxons to come towards us.  Suddenly King Rhydderch appeared.  “You have done well Lord Lann but now is the time to attack.”

“There is something amiss here.”

“You are tired.  Allow my men the honour of the final assault.” He was a king and I was just a warrior.  I could not gainsay him.

I turned to my men. 
“Take thirty steps to the rear and leave a gap for the men of Strathclyde.”

The warriors of the king had obviously been watching us practise and they formed their own wedge with the leader of the King’s bodyguard at the point. At a nod from the king they roared into the ditch and attacked the wall.  Suddenly a flaming torch was thrown f
rom the ramparts and the whole ditch erupted in flame.

“Raibeart, Aelle support the attack!”

It was a forlorn hope.  The ditch was filled with faggots soaked in pitch and pig fat.  The brave warriors of Strathclyde burned and roasted.  Raibeart and Aelle kept the men from the walls killing those in the ditch but it would have been a mercy had they done so as they would have ensured a quick end. We waited to help out of the ditch those who were not badly burned but there were few of them.  Ywain came to the King and me, “The tide is returning.  We must clear the causeway or we will all perish too.”

Reluctantly we turned and retreated.  We had almost succeeded but in the end it was a loss and
could be viewed as a disaster.  Had I led my men across the ditch then we would have lost the war there and then.  The men of Strathclyde’s sacrifice had saved the army.

I
n the camp that night there were no recriminations.  King Rhydderch’s name was justly the Generous.  He knew that my caution had saved my men and his recklessness had cost him his.  Over two hundred of his men had perished and it grieved him for he was a good king and he knew his men. We had lost barely thirty thanks to the accuracy of Aelle and Raibeart’s men but we could not celebrate.  We had the smell of human flesh roasting and no one was in the mood for food that night.

King Urien and his son came to visit me in the camp. “We so nearly won and it grieved me to have to watch those men die.”

“The Saxons merely did what we would have done. They used every means available to them to destroy us and it worked. Until they set fire to the ditch we had killed more than they had.”

The king looked thoughtful. Ywain knew him better than I.  “Father, have you an idea?”

He did not answer but looked at me.  “Could your men fire arrows which were burning?”

I had never done so but I saw what the king was driving at. “I think we could but we would need to devise a strategy to enable us to do so.”

“Try.”

“Father, what is your idea?”

“Use fire to fight fire. If we launched fire arrows at their ramparts then they would burn.  It would make the assault much easier. Then we could surround the fortress and starve them out.” He looked at me with a questioning look.

“I think it would work and, your majesty, it is worth a try.”
Raibeart gave me a weary look.  He and I would need to devise a method of firing arrows

King
Morcant Bulc looked quite self-satisfied as he, too, visited our camp. ”I am sorry for your losses, it was a valiant attack.”

King Urien shook
his head.  “Commiserations should be given to King Rhydderch for his men suffered more grievous losses.  We will attack again.”

“My men will be ready to support this time for the King of Strathclyde has done enough.  What do you intend?”

“We will surround them and then try to burn their walls.  They lost many men today and now, I think, we outnumber them.”

That night I had to reorganise
the wedge.  It seemed likely that we would need to assault again for this time the Saxons would be desperate.  As I was doing so Lord Gildas sought me out. “Please Lord Lann; allow me to lead the attack tomorrow.  I felt pained to watch you do all the work with your men while I stood idly by.”

I knew not what to say.  Ywain stepped forward. 
“He is right and we need as many men blooded as possible.  There will be many battles before we have  driven the Saxons fro our shores.”

Reluctantly I agreed.
“I will support you on the morrow my lord.”

I walked with my brothers to the headland overloo
king the beach.  Wolf was with us sniffing for any rabbits in the dunes. We sat in the tussocky grass, in a sheltered dell. “It seems a waste of good arrows to set them on fire.  We have precious few as it is.”

“We could use the ones which are not
perfect; after all we only need to hit a wooden wall not a man.”

“Even so there would not be many of those.” He smiled ruefully,” our men are now accomplished fletchers.”

Aelle was the thinker. “What about the arrows which were damaged and are unusable.” Aelle had struck gold once more.  Out archers collected every arrow they could find after each battle whether broken or not.  The feathers and barbs could be re used even if the shaft was broken.  When we had returned from the battle there were many captured shields brought back and many were studded with our arrows.

Raibeart brightened momentarily.  “That would give us enough arrows for we would only need two arrows for each man but the range would be shorter.”

“How so?” Aelle had a look of concentration upon his face.

“If the tip is on fire then we cannot draw the bow fully back for fear of burning the bow or the archer.  We will need to be closer than we normally are and I do not know how we will make them burn.”

“While you two discuss that I will go down to the beach and collect some pebbles while there is still daylight.”

Aelle took his responsibilities as leader of the slingers very seriously. He disappeared over the dune. Wolf looked up briefly and then settled down again.  There were no rabbits.

“You know the wicked drink that King Rhydderch and his men consume in such great quantities, King Rhydderch’s fire?” Raibeart nodded, “well when they throw it on the fire it burns.  If we soaked pieces of wool in it and wrapped it around the arrow head then we could light it just before we loosed.”

“Aye that would work.”

Just then Wolf’s ears pricked up and he growled before ascending the dune and began barking. We knew that meant trouble. As we reached the top we saw Bladud, easily recognisable by his size and two other men running towards Aelle who could not hear them because the wind was coming from the east. Wolf raced towards the men. “I will go along the dunes and cut them off.  Use your sling brother.”

I drew my sword as Raibeart and Wolf ran to aid our brother.  He must have heard the barking for he turned when they were but thirty paces from him. 
Aelle did not have much time but he had enough to hurl a stone and strike the leading warrior.  I could see that Raibeart was almost there as I saw the flash of light on his blade.  Wolf fearlessly leapt up at Bladud’s hand and I heard the scream as his teeth sank in. Aelle fell to the floor with the second warrior on him.  I was forty paces away and I would not reach my brother in time.  Bladud saw me and, hurling Wolf towards the sea, ran north back to his camp. The warrior’s knife came up, poised to strike and Raibeart hurled a stone which struck the man’s head and he fell over.  The first warrior stood and drew his sword. I screamed, “No!” and pulled Saxon Slayer over my shoulder.  I did not pause nor did I slow down, I swung the blade and his head flew off towards the incoming tide.

Even as the last warrior recovered and drew his own sword Raibeart plunged his blade into his neck.  I looked for Bladud but he was too fa
r away to catch. His reckoning would come another day. Raibeart was with Aelle as Wolf limped up.  The blood on his jowls told me that Bladud had been injured. Aelle had a wound to his left arm but it was not deep and we bound it.  He had been knocked about but he still smiled.  He looked at us apologetically. “I did not hear them.  Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologise for.  I would say those three were hoping to catch me unawares.” I looked at the two men.  “Do you recognise them?”

Raibeart shook his head.  He knew more of the army than I did.  “They are not our men.”

“And yet they look familiar.” Then it struck me.  They were Morcant’s men. “They are from the castle.”

“Why should Morcant Bulc wish harm to come to you?”I told them of his offer and how my refusal had offended him. “What do we do with the bodies?”

The water was already lapping around our ankles. “Leave them here and the tide will take them.  They will be washed up on the Saxon beach.”

“What will you tell the kings?”

“Nothing.
  I cannot believe that Bladud will say anything, neither will the king and I would not sow discord between the kings until this is over.  We will watch Bladud even more carefully than before.  At least it is out in the open now, between us anyway.”

Aelle struggled to his feet.  “I hope you are right brother.”

“So do I.” In light of subsequent events I think I was wrong but
wyrd
interferes in many ways; hitherto it had been to our benefit but now it was to cost us dear.

The tide was not low enough until the early afternoon which gave us the time we needed to prepare our fire arrows. Rhydderch made a joke of our request but acceded gladly. 
“A terrible waste of fine liquor.  We will have to brew more when we return home.  But if it pays back those bastards then it is a good use for it.”

Gildas and his men spent the morning honing their formation.  They had had the advantage of watching us fight and knew what the dangers were.  I thought that we had done well but I too had learned much. When this was all over I would have a spear made for every man.  A wall of spears would aid us and we would still be able to draw our swords.  My shield had now been modified with two scabbards and the next time we fought I would have a surprise for my opponent.

King Urien and his bodyguards rode over and I felt a great satisfaction when I saw his heavily bandaged hand.  Wolf had been given some treats the previous night and I noticed that he growled as the standard bearer rode by.  The hatred was even more visible but I smiled a greeting. The king dismounted and led me away from the men. “I see the Saxons are ready for us today.” The Saxons had two boats filled with warriors on either side of the causeway.  If we attempted the same tactic then the archers would be attacked.

I grinned.  “A good job we are not repeating the same
attack today then.”

The king nodded and looked to the empty headland behind us.”
King Morcant is a little tardy. It seems strange when we are here to regain him his kingdom and yet he is the last one to present himself.”

“Perhaps we should let him lead this attack.”

The king stroked his beard.  “I had thought of that but Gildas would take offence at that and I would not dampen his enthusiasm.”