The Sword Brothers (123 page)

‘Well, no one can say
that Lehola was not defended,’ said Henke.

That night the army
camped two miles from the fort and there was still no sign of the
Estonians.

Grand Master Volquin
had persuaded Caupo to garrison Fellin with a hundred of his
warriors, adding ten of the order’s crossbowmen for missile
support. With the fall of Lehola he was forced to deplete the army
further, asking Caupo for an additional hundred of his men, to
which he added a further ten of the order’s crossbowmen. He sat
with the king and the lords in his tent a hundred paces from
Lehola’s gates. He did not wish to sleep inside the fort until it
had been again cleansed with holy water, fearing the malign
influence of hundreds of years of paganism. He did, however, assign
a number of the order’s soldiers to keep watch in the forts’
towers.

The grand master sat
round a small table in the company of Sir Richard, Count Albert,
Master Thaddeus, Caupo and Sir Helmold. The flaps of the tent were
open in a futile effort to entice fresh air to enter.

‘Having expected to
have to fight for Fellin and Lehola,’ said Volquin, ‘we now find
ourselves in the rather unusual position of having taken both
places without a single sword having been drawn. The question now
is: what course do we follow hereafter?’

‘Logic would suggest
garrisoning both places strongly before retiring back to Livonia,’
suggested Thaddeus.

‘Impossible,’ said the
count. ‘I came to Livonia to wage war against the pagan. If I had
wanted to spend the summer wandering around the countryside then I
would have stayed in Germany.’

‘I agree with the
count,’ added Sir Richard. ‘If we let Lembit go then he will be
free to torment us for another year.’

‘To say nothing of the
other Estonian chiefs,’ said Sir Helmold. ‘They will be emboldened
if we retreat back to Livonia.’

‘Well, then, my
lords,’ remarked Thaddeus, ‘you have the unenviable prospect of
trying to find Lembit in this green wilderness. But you need to
find him quickly before the weather changes and the autumn rain
turns the land to a sea of mud.’

Though they did not
know where Lembit was and could not agree on where to march to
next, they were of the same mind when it came to Thaddeus’ siege
engines. They would be stored inside Lehola until after Lembit had
been engaged. In this way, it was hoped, the army would be able to
cover more miles a day in their quest to track down the Estonian
leader.

Conrad rubbed his eyes
and peered north into the gradually lifting gloom. He had been on
watch for an hour in one of the towers on the fort’s northern
wall.

‘See anything?’ asked
Hans.

‘Nothing.’

Conrad sat down on the
stool as his friend leaned on the top of the log and stared north
and west. Not that he could see anything aside from the brooding
black shape of the forest that surrounded Lehola. He pulled his
cloak round him for it was cold and clammy before the sun warmed
the earth.

‘Looks like we will
marching further north, Conrad.’

‘Seems strange that
Lembit has abandoned his homeland and his stronghold,’ mused
Conrad. ‘It is like us abandoning Wenden.’

‘Who knows how pagans
think,’ declared Hans.

‘The same as us, my
friend.’

Hans turned to face
him as the first shards of sunlight pierced the eastern
horizon.

‘Really?’

Conrad nodded.
‘Really. Pagan or Christian, all a man really wants is a warm bed,
food in his belly and…’

He was going to say a
family but he fell silent instead. He turned the ring on his finger
and suddenly thoughts of Daina flooded his mind.

‘And what?’ queried
Hans.

‘Doesn’t matter. If we
are to march further north we will need more supplies. Master
Thaddeus has said that there are only fifteen days’ of food and
fodder left. Hans?’

His friend had his
back to him, staring to the north as it got lighter and the eastern
sky was filled with red and yellow hues.

‘We will not need any
more supplies, Conrad.’

Conrad, perplexed,
stood up and went to his friend’s side. Ahead, around half a mile
from the fort’s northern ramparts, in a thin meadow through which a
dirt track ran, sat hundreds of warriors on ponies.

Lembit had shown his
hand at last.

The alarm was sounded
and the camp sprang into life, knights barking orders at their
squires to fetch their warhorses as they desperately put on their
armour, spurs and buckled their sword belts. As the Livs in the
fort kept watch on the still-stationary Estonians a trumpet called
the brother knights to the chapel tent where Otto said prayers
while everyone knelt and bowed their heads. There was not enough
room in the tent and so priests from the other garrisons of the
order went among the sergeants and brother knights to bless them
and their weapons.

Conrad held up his
sword for Otto to bless, the solemn shaven-headed priest clutching
the blade and looking up to the heavens.

‘Oh Lord, thou knowest
how busy this knight will be this day. If perchance in the cauldron
of holy combat he forgets You, I beseech You do not forget
him.’

Afterwards, as novices
scurried about to fetch the brother knights’ warhorses, Conrad,
Hans, Anton and Johann gathered in a circle. Conrad held out an
arm. The others placed their hands on top to form a wheel.

‘God with us,’ said
Conrad, ‘kill Lembit.’

‘God with us, kill
Lembit,’ they repeated before embracing and joining the others to
collect their horses.

Like the knights of
the lords, each brother knight rode a warhorse in battle, riding a
palfrey for everyday duties, the difference being each knight owned
his own horse whereas the horses of the Sword Brothers were owned
by the order.

Before the army moved
out of camp everyone ate a hearty breakfast. The cooking pots had
already been bubbling when the enemy had been spotted, and as the
Estonians had shown little inclination to move nearer or further
from the fort Volquin issued orders that men and horses were to be
fed. It might be a long day. He also gave orders that the novices,
civilian drivers, carpenters, pages and anyone else incapable of
using a weapon were to remain at Lehola, inside the fort. This did
not include the priests, who would accompany the fighting men of
the army when they marched. But it did include Master Thaddeus and
his engineers, who after breakfast directed the wagons loaded with
their siege machines to be driven into the stronghold. The tents
were left where they stood.

It was two hours past
dawn when Grand Master Volquin led the crusader army out to face
the Estonians, the latter retreating immediately upon sighting the
hundreds of mail-clad horsemen approaching. They fell back slowly
into the gently rolling hills north of Lehola, now bathed in bright
morning sunshine. The cool of the evening had disappeared and the
temperature began to rise, though mercifully there was a gentle
westerly breeze that ruffled the Christian pennants and standards.
And as the army crawled forward the Estonians slowly retreated.

Count Albert sent
fifty of his knights forward to try to goad the enemy into action,
but the Estonians merely increased their rate of retreat, though
always remaining visible to the crusaders. After two hours the
Estonians suddenly melted into the trees. Volquin considered
ordering a halt but then the air was filled with the sound of
shouts and cheers, which appeared to be coming from the north. The
order was given to close up and keep watch on the flanks as the
march was resumed and the army entered an area of flatland bordered
by a thick forest on the left and a brooding black lake on the
right. The ground in between contained a few scattered pines but
was flat and covered in lush grass – ideal terrain for horsemen.
And ahead, around five hundred paces away, filling the horizon, was
a great wall of warriors.

They had found the
army of Lembit.

Frantic trumpet calls
and drum rolls called forth the divisions of the Christian army as
it moved from column into line to face the Estonians. As had been
agreed at the start of the campaign, in any battles against Lembit
it would comprise five separate ‘battles’ of varying sizes. On the
right wing – the place of honour – stood Count Albert and his men.
The count took up position in the centre of the front rank made up
of two hundred knights and their squires. The same number of lesser
knights was drawn up immediately behind, with the count’s foot
soldiers arrayed behind them.

In the centre of the
Christian line stood three more ‘battles’. On the right centre were
Sir Helmold and his one hundred knights, one hundred squires and
two hundred lesser knights. To the left of Sir Helmold’s men stood
the smaller number of Sir Richard’s command – thirty knights, the
same number of squires, fifty less knights and forty crossbowmen.
On the left centre were arrayed the Sword Brothers, a ‘battle’ of
white caparisons, surcoats, mail armour and silver helmets. And
behind them stood the spearmen and crossbowmen of the order.

On the left wing stood
King Caupo’s Livs, seven hundred foot soldiers and a hundred riders
of the king’s bodyguard, Rameke among them. The Livs began singing
one of their mournful war songs that told of a valiant young chief
slaughtering hordes of Estonians in a time long ago, until the king
in front of his great banner bearing a cross ordered them to stop.
So his men took to whistling and jeering at the Estonians instead,
the enemy replying in kind, some running forward and raising their
spears and shields in the air – an invitation to single combat.
Rameke offered to accept the invitations but Caupo told him to
remain where he was.

The Christian army
looked beautiful that morning, the knights and their squires
wearing a profusion of colours and carrying gaudily coloured
banners and flags sporting every heraldic device imaginable. Behind
Count Albert a hulking knight carried his white horse head banner,
the golden lion fluttering behind Sir Helmold and the red cross and
sword insignia of the grand master of the Sword Brothers behind
Volquin. The Livs cut a more sober appearance and similar to the
Estonians in their greens and browns, their round shields adorned
with red crosses to signify that their king fought for the Holy
Church.

There was a great
blast of trumpets and then the priests that accompanied the various
‘battles’ walked beyond the front rank of horsemen, made the sign
of the cross at the Estonians, turned and raised their arms.

‘Dismount,’ ordered
Rudolf as he left his saddle.

‘I thought we had done
all our praying,’ complained Henke. ‘We’re up and down like a
whore’s robe.’

‘This is the
twenty-first day of September, Henke,’ replied Rudolf as Walter
rammed the end of his lance into the ground, sank to his knees,
clenched his hands together and closed his eyes, ‘the feast day of
St Matthew.’

Otto walked forward
and blessed the soldiers of Wenden, glaring at leather face and his
crossbowmen who showed a marked reluctance to get their knees
dirty. After the priests had called upon St Matthew to aid the army
they retired behind the horsemen. Conrad scraped the earth with his
foot.

‘This ground is very
soft, even though it’s summer.’

‘We are here to kill
the enemy not plant crops,’ said Henke derisively, hauling himself
back into the saddle.

Conrad did the same
and looked at the line of Estonians across from him. His instincts
told him something was wrong but he did not know what. Another
blast of trumpets brought him back to reality and he plucked his
lance from the earth. The sun was climbing high into the sky now
and it was getting warmer, though fortunately the breeze continued
to blow. The gaps between the various ‘battles’ were suddenly
filled with foot soldiers as the crossbowmen marched forward with
their spearmen protectors to commence hostilities.

‘It was kind of Lembit
to arrange his army in a long line so our crossbowmen could shoot
it to pieces,’ said Henke loudly. The prospect of imminent
slaughter always put him in an ebullient mood.

‘Lembit is not
stupid,’ said Conrad, becoming increasingly anxious, though he did
not know why.

Henke, to the left of
Hans who was beside Conrad, leaned forward. ‘Course he is. Just
watch as half his army is cut down by crossbow bolts.’

Conrad saw leather
face walking forward, crossbow on his shoulder, as though he was
taking a stroll. Like every other knight Conrad waited until the
last minute before putting on his helm and smiled at the
crossbowman as he passed him.

‘Don’t you worry,
boys,’ leather face called to them, ‘we’ll soften them up nicely
for you.’

The Christian army
numbered two and half thousand men and over six hundred of them
were now walking towards the enemy. They halted around three
hundred paces from the enemy, close enough to kill but far enough
away to get back to the knights if the Estonians decided to charge
them. From behind a wall of shields two hundred and eighty
crossbowmen and a hundred Liv archers began shooting at a rate of
four bolts and arrows a minute to shred the Estonian line.

From where Conrad sat
on his horse it sounded as though hundreds of twigs were being
snapped as the crossbowmen worked feverishly to deluge the
Estonians with a hail of iron-tipped missiles. The horsemen of
Count Albert, Sir Helmold and Sir Richard began cheering and
shouting as the missiles struck the enemy – over two thousand
quarrels in two minutes. The Sword Brothers, more disciplined,
remained silent in their ranks. Each crossbowman was carrying three
full quivers and they did not stop shooting until two had been
emptied – over eleven thousand bolts unleashed in ten minutes. And
the Estonians just stood in their ranks and were shot down like
dogs. The Livs shot at a slower rate but their arrows added to the
mayhem that was being thrown at Lembit’s warriors, eventually
running out of arrows as they emptied their quivers and marched
back to their king.