English Knight (15 page)

“I assume you will be building a curtain wall and a moat too?”

“Aye.”

“Then this will be a hard castle to take.”

The next day I left our four new men to help William continue his building.  William liked the suggestions about the narrower door and I left the masons and my men at arms toiling away. We had been away but a couple of days and yet Norton looked small and inconsequential. It looked as though a strong breeze would demolish the walls. I bit my tongue.  It would not do to upset the others.

Now that we were back we were able to send some of Branton’s men to help build the castle.  As my father and Garth were busy with the allocation of animals and slaves I took Aiden and Harold.  It was spring and a good time to hunt. We took both bows and boar spears.  We did not know what we would encounter.

The boggy bottoms were still too wet to cross and so we headed up the track towards Wulfestun.  There was but one farm here, Thomas Two Toes, his sons and his hardy wife eked out a parlous existence close to the forest. They seemed to survive. I called at their hut on the way north.

Thomas gave a slight bow. “Good morning my lord.  Going hunting?”

“Yes Thomas.  Yesterday we were at market and I need the hunt. Have you seen any hawks this spring?”

“No, my lord, my sons are watching out for you as you asked.” I nodded my thanks.  “A word of warning sir, there is a family of wild pigs come to live not far from here and the sow has had young ‘uns.  They are protective and dangerous. The boars are nasty buggers!” He hesitated, “I wasn’t certain if you would know coming from foreign parts.”

I laughed, “I knew but I thank you for your advice.  And we now have cows and cattle at Norton.  My father is keen to let farmers graze them in return for a share in the bounty.”

Thomas grinned, “That’ll be good news for the wife sir.  She is keen to be making cheese and butter. Sheep’s milk butter is not as fine as that made from cow’s milk.”

I nodded, “I shall tell him you are interested.” Before I put spurs to Scout I asked, “Any sign of any visitors?”

“No, my lord and the ground is still wet enough to show the tracks. I will send young Tom if we see aught.”

I knew that there were a couple of ponds in the forest and they attracted game. As we entered the thick forest I checked on the wind. It came from the north and worked in our favour.  We would smell the animals before they smelled us. I had Aiden to the fore; this was not because he was a slave but because he was most at home with animals.  He loved training dogs and horses.  He rarely washed and smelled more like a horse than a horse. That said he could detect an animal with his nose.  He would be as good as any dog.

We went slowly.  We were in no hurry and I wanted to go back carrying a dead animal. I wanted to prove to my new men that I was a skilled hunter. I was young in those days. If we rushed we might scare them and they would be gone forever. Suddenly Aiden slipped silently from his rouncy. He dropped to the ground and picked something up which he rubbed between his fingers and then sniffed. He came close to me and said quietly.  “Deer were here less than an hour ago.  There were five of them.”

He led his mount and I strung my bow as Scout followed his rouncy. I knew that Harold would do the same. I could guarantee that if we saw any animals then Harold would make a kill; he was that good.  When it was strung I chose the straightest arrow I had and nocked it. I would be ready.

After a short while Aiden held up his hand and, after examining the ground, waved us to the path. I dismounted and tied Scout’s reins, loosely, to a branch. Our quarry was close. Aiden had no bow; he was a slave after all but I had given him a dagger.  He drew that as he led us off the path and through the trees.  We had to watch where we put our feet for we did not wish to startle the animals.  I caught the pungent smell of a deer and knew that they were close. I realised that we had been descending for some time.  We were heading for water.

Aiden’s hand came up and he slowly squatted.  There, some fifty paces away, was a small herd of deer. They were not large but I saw that there were at least seven young.  They made the best eating; they would be tender and succulent. I did not need to tell Harold when to release he would choose his own target but he would wait until I had released my arrow.  I took aim at the largest of the young and pulled the bow back.  They had no idea we were there. I released my hunting arrow and it flew straight and true. It struck the young animal just behind the ear.  As the herd started to scatter Harold’s arrow flew past my ear and took the young hind which had leapt over the dying one I had hit.

We moved forward quickly.  By the time we reached the water the herd had vanished as though they had never been there. Aiden set to work to gut the animals. The sooner he did that the better.  He had a sack in which he put the guts.  Some would be discarded but some would be used by Faren.  Even the bowels could be used.  If they were emptied and washed they could be used to make bait traps for foxes and rats.  We wasted nothing.

Harold helped Aiden.  This was familiar work for him.  We had brought our spears with us and we used these to carry the two dead deer to our horses.  I followed the two of them back to where we had tied Scout and the others with an arrow nocked in my bow in case we saw anything else worth hunting. I was feeling pleased with myself. It almost led to disaster.  The wind was now carrying our scent and masking the scent of the animals before us.  It hid the smell of the huge wild boar which hurtled towards us.

“Down!” Aiden and Harold dived to the side and I released my arrow and then dropped the bow. I hit the tusker in the chest from no more than twenty paces but it did not even slow it down. It was lucky that I had such fast hands.  I drew my sword and spun as it tried to rip my stomach open with its wickedly sharp tusks. As it was one of its tusks ripped open my leggings.  I brought my blade around and felt it slice across the pig’s rump.  It would neither slow it down nor hurt it. It turned remarkably quickly and its feet scrabbled for purchase on the leafy, muddy ground.  That gave me the chance to plant my feet apart. This time it would go for the kill and I had to treat it as though it was another knight.

Its tiny red eyes seemed to glow as it launched itself at me.  I swung from right to left as hard as I could.  I had gained much strength over the winter but, even so, this was a powerful boar. The blade of my sword bit into the side of the boar’s head; blood spattered from the screaming animal’s jaw. Its shoulder struck me and, even though I had a wide stance it knocked me to the ground. I was now in the gravest danger for the enraged beast turned to come back and finish me off. I barely had time to turn and brace myself on one knee.  It vaulted towards me and I jabbed by sword forward. The boar seemed to eat the sword.  It disappeared down its yawning gullet.  Only the hilt was left. I was forced to drop it and use my hands to grab the two tusks which were coming directly for my eyes. By holding his tusks I stopped his teeth from closing on me as did the hilt of my sword but I was now trapped by the huge boar which crashed on top of me.  I heard something in my side crack. I could barely breathe.  Then I saw Aiden and his dagger ripped across the boar’s throat as Harold thrust his sword through the ear and skull of the boar.  I was showered in warm pig’s blood.

My two companions pushed the dead boar from me and Harold looked terrified as he asked, “My lord! Are you hurt?”

I laughed and then winced as my cracked ribs sent spasms of pain through my body. “No Harold, but I thank you both for God smiled on us today.”

Aiden’s eyes widened.  “That is a huge boar, my lord!”

“Aye and there will be at least one angry sow nearby.  We have pushed our luck enough.  Bring the horses here and we will take our bounty back to Norton.”

We slung the boar on Aiden’s rouncy and the two deer across the necks of our horses.  Aiden led his mount. When we reached Thomas Two Toes’ farm they came out.  “Good lord! What has happened, my lord?”

I looked down at my tunic.  It was almost black with the boar’s blood. “It is the boar’s.” I shouted to Aiden. Aiden had taken the heart, kidneys and the liver from the boar. He handed them to Thomas.  “Thank you for the warning. Here is a present from the forest.”

Thomas grinned, “We will eat well tonight.  Thank you, my lord.”

We were spied from some way off and my father was waiting.  He looked concerned but his voice did not betray his inner fears. “Good hunting, my son?”

When we had dismounted and told him our tale he did something unusual, he crossed himself. Then he embraced me. “What is it father?”

“Your namesake, Aelfraed did much the same thing save he had a boar spear.  You have done something I never expected, you have outshone Aelfraed!”

I went up in the estimation of all of the warriors.  To face a wild boar with just a sword was seen as a mark of a great warrior.  I was not sure.  I felt I had just been lucky. It made me glad to be alive and I threw myself into the building of the castle.  However I had to do one thing, as soon as the blood had been cleaned from my clothes and Faren had tended to my ribs.

“Father I wish to free Aiden.”

“Why?”

“If he and Harold had not been so prompt then I might be dead.” He nodded and said nothing, “Besides he seems more than a slave. I do not think he will leave us.”

“You would pay him.” He pointed to my purse and repeated, emphasising the ‘you’, “You would pay him?”

“Aye I would.  He would be my freeman.”

His face broke and he threw his arms around me.  “You are becoming a man my son and I am proud of you.  Your mother will be looking down from heaven and she will be smiling too.  Let us go and do it now.”

My father told Aiden, in front of the men at arms that he was free and then he stepped back. I stepped forward smiling at the shock on Aiden’s face. “And I would have you as my freeman to look after my animals.  What say you?”

In answer he dropped to his knees, took my hand and kissed it.  Tears were coursing down his cheeks. Wulfstan said quietly, “I would take that as a yes.”

I gave him a rouncy to use and one of the short swords we had captured the previous year. I asked him to keep an eye out for some dogs.  There were many strays; they were all that were left of their owners who had died.  They tended to gather around the farms and settlements to beg for food.  I was convinced that Aiden could train them.  The experience with the boar had shown me that we needed animals to smell out danger.

Edward and the others had worked hard and the ground floor of the castle was completed.  William had narrowed the entrance and I tried it with Scout.  I stripped to the waist and began to help.  Judith, William’s wife, saw my bandaged ribs, “My lord you are injured.  Should you be working?”

“Injured or not this is my castle and I will work as hard as any to complete it.”

I spent a week there and we saw a massive change. We had a wall on the second floor which came to my waist.  I ascended the ladder and looked out across the river.  I imagined when it was finished and I would have a view to the hills in the south.  This would be a fine castle.  It was as I stood there with Harold and Edward that we spied the two riders leading a third horse, approaching the southern bank from the west. I was not worried; it was, after all, just two riders. Ethelred took the ferry over for he was ever keen to make a profit.

“What do you make of it Harold?”

“It looks like a knight and a squire.”

“Can you make out the coat of arms?”

I knew which ones I had to be wary of and I had learned caution.

“It looks to be a plain blue shield and he wears no surcoat.”

I was intrigued. He had approached from the west.  We had had little contact with the west.  When we had visited the quarries the land had been empty.  Had he come from the west coast? My speculation was pointless.  He would soon be here.

We kept on working.  I actually enjoyed pulling on the rope as the crane hoisted the huge stone blocks into place.  I would soon have to visit Alf and have my armour repaired once more. I was still broadening out. I heard Edward laugh, “My lord, haul slower, we cannot position it if you pull so fast.”

“I should have hired stronger men at arms.”

“My lord, you should have employed Titans!”

I could see that William was pleased with the progress. He had worked on a carved stone over the gate.  It was my father’s axe and I was pleased. It was a reminder of our past and our connection to Harold Godwin and the Housecarls.

I caught sight, out of the corner of my eye, the knight, his squire and his horses as they left the ferry.  They would have to travel a hundred or so paces to reach me or they could head directly north for Norton.  They headed for the castle. Edward had just tied the stone to the crane and waved to Harold and me.  We began to haul.  The stone was half way up when I heard a Norman voice ask Edward, “How do I reach Baron Ridley of Norton?”

Edward ignored him as he was continuing to hold the rope taut.  If he had let go then we might have lost a valuable piece of stone.

“I am talking to you; fellow with the rope.  Do you not understand Norman?”

I kept pulling but shouted down, in Norman, “He understands you but he is busy.  Just wait!”

Harold grinned and kept pulling.  I heard the knight curse and say to his squire, “Impudent serfs.  They should be whipped!”

I shook my head and hauled on the rope.  As William pulled it into place and began to smooth the mortar I grabbed the rope and slid down to the ground.  I landed next to his horse.

“Now then! What is it you wish to know?”

The knight had taken off his helmet and lowered his mail coif.  I could see that he was only a little older than I was but he was a little thin, as though he had not eaten well lately.  His squire was much older and looked like a skeleton in mail.

The knight looked imperiously down his nose at me. I waved to Harold to bring a drying sheet for I was sweating heavily. “I wish to know how to get to your master, Baron Ridley.  And be quick about it, my man.  I already have some bad reports to make about his serfs.  Do not exacerbate the problem.  Tell me quickly how do I get to the Baron?”

Edward, Aiden, Harold, everyone was grinning at the knight’s mistake. As Harold brought me the drying sheet I winked at him.  After I had dried my face I dropped to one knee, “Oh I pray sir that you give no bad reports of me. I cannot stand another whipping.”

He nodded, “Very well but be quick.  How do I reach Norton?”

I stood and pointed to the north. “Well sir, if you keep on this track for a couple of miles you will see his castle at Norton.”

“That is better.  And what is your name so that I might tell him of your assistance?”

I smiled and said, “I am Sir Alfraed of Norton, Baron Ridley’s son.”

If a silence could be said to echo then this one did.  I nodded to Harold, “Harold, get dressed and escort….”

The knight recovered his composure and said, “Sir Richard Fitzherbert.”

“To my father, tell him I will join him for the meal tonight.  I am sure it will be interesting!”

It did not take Harold long to throw on his tunic and mount his palfrey.  After the knight had gone Edward and his men fell about laughing. “What did you make of his war gear, Edward?”

He stopped laughing and composed himself, “Old fashioned mail.  It must date from the invasion but it is well cared for.  He has a good squire.  He has a good palfrey but the destrier is old.  His shield is old fashioned and bears no mark.  He has no lord.  His squire is a little like me, my lord, his face shows that he has been on the wrong side of an argument.” He laughed, “I quite like that.  They have not eaten well lately but they are close.”

I was intrigued, “How do you know?”

“When you mocked him his squire’s hand went to his sword. He is oathsworn.  He is no hired man.”

“Thank you Edward.  We will finish for the day.  I shall go back to Norton.  You can come with me if you wish.”

Edward grinned and began to rub himself dry.  “No thank you my lord.  We can stay here and get an early start.”

William laughed, “Do not worry, my lord, he and the ale wife have become quite close since he arrived.  It is the lure of her bed which is attractive.”

Edward shrugged, “What can I say my lord? My needs are small.” His nephew was about to say something and Edward, laughing, pointed at him and said, “And that is all that is small, nephew!”

I stripped off and dived into the river to clean off the sweat, stone dust and dirt of the day. It was no hot bath but it sufficed to make me feel cleaner. I had clean hose and my tunic had lain in the sun all day. Aiden and I rode back towards Norton feeling replete.  There was something satisfying in physical work.  As I looked back and saw another course on the castle I saw progress; in every shape and form.

It was approaching dusk when we saw the gates of Norton.  After the stone gate of Stockton it seemed a little flimsy but I knew that its ditches were sown with traps and it would be well defended. Branton and his archers would rain death on any attacker.

I saw the horses of the knight with his squire watching them.  The knight was nowhere to be seen. William’s son had begun to build new structures to house the new men who had arrived and although they were as yet unfinished I was sure that the knight and his squire could be accommodated.  The rules of hospitality meant we had to offer the impoverished warrior shelter for the night.

Aiden took the horses away.  He had captured a couple of dogs a few days earlier and I heard them howling their welcome as they scented him. I heard him shout to them, “I’ll be with you in a moment you noisy buggers!” Aiden now had a complete life and was as happy as any within Norton’s wooden walls.

The knight was seated with my father at the table.  Faren had served them some ale.  I held out my hand and she poured me a beaker.

“I hear you have met our new knight, Sir Richard?”

I smiled, “Aye although he took me for a serf!”

Sir Richard flushed and saw an irritated look flicker across my father’s face, “You must excuse my son, Sir Richard.  He has a wicked sense of humour.”

Sir Richard forced a smile onto his face. “I can remember when I had a sense of humour but then my father died and I was forced from my own land by my own brother to make a living.  You are lucky Sir Alfraed, you have no brothers and you will inherit this fine manor.”

I toasted Sir Richard, “In which case I apologise for my jest but we were in good spirits.  The castle is coming on apace.”

The new knight nodded, “It is well situated. When do you move in, Sir Ridley?”

“I do not. It is my son’s castle.  He and my mason have designed it and he and his men at arms build it.”

“But you only have four men at arms!”

It was my turn to flush.  “At the moment, aye but Wulfstan serves me too and he is a mighty knight.” I looked around.  “Where is he, by the way?”

“He and my oathsworn heard reports from Thomas Two Toes of strangers on our borders.  He has gone to investigate.”

It was getting on towards summer and our land burgeoned with young animals and growing crops. If someone was going to raid then this would be the opportunity. “In which case I will take my men from the castle building and we will join Wulfstan to hunt down these intruders.”

“They may be a figment of the old man’s imagination.”

I pointed to my ribs, “That old man has sharp senses, father, if he says there are intruders then we should be worried.” I looked at Sir Richard.

My father saw my look and nodded, “So, Sir Richard, will you serve under my son?”

He stared at me and then smiling, bobbed his head, “It will be an honour my lord but I should warn you that I stay only to make my fortune.”

“Then I am afraid it will be a brief stay for enemies travel here in hope and their bones and riches remain here in Norton.”

My father shook his head and touched the hammer of Thor he wore alongside his crucifix.  He still spoke of the weird sisters who wove their webs.  I did not believe such nonsense but he had been brought up in a different time.

We were about to sit down to eat when a weary Wulfstan and the others entered.  They sat at the table and downed their ales in one.  “I was ready for that.” Wulfstan briefly looked at Sir Richard before addressing my father. “The old man is right.  There were tracks north of the forest.  There were no hoof prints but the marks of men.  Someone has been scouting our land.  We followed them west to the Durham Road. They crossed the road.”

My father looked at Sir Richard. “Did you cross the Durham Road, Sir Richard?”

“We came along the south bank of the Tees and we saw no-one.  My squire, Carl, had begun to think that no-one lived in these parts.”

My father nodded to Wulfstan who continued, “We rode down to Edward at the castle and warned them to be on the lookout for enemies.”

I frowned, “I will send Harold to bring them back here.  William can stop work on the castle for a while and work here. We need to quash this raid before it begins.”

Sir Richard put down the piece of bread he had been eating, “Would it not be better to wait behind these walls and see where they strike?”

The comment was addressed to my father who began to open his mouth to speak but I forestalled him, “We are a small manor, Sir Richard, and we are well mounted. We can patrol the borders to the north and the west.  Better to destroy them before they hurt our people.”

I was pleased to see a nod and a smile from Wulfstan.  Sir Richard picked up his bread and began to chew. I could see that he was thinking. “My son is impetuous and speaks before his elders and betters but he is correct. “

Osric belched and swallowed some ale.  “And I do not think it is those Normans we had trouble with last year.  I think that this will be the Scots.”

“What makes you say that?”