Hosker, G [Wolf Brethren 02] Saxon Revenge (24 page)

They came soon after my men had begun work on the ditches.  It was a huge wedge.  The frontage was the same but I could see its tail trailing back up the hill. Aella could see into our defences from his lofty position and knew how few we were. I stood with the second rank of replacements. The men of Strathclyde formed the front three ranks while Angus and his hammers waited behind them. Our archers and slingers made little impression on the wedge as the Saxons had learned how to protect themselves.  Our only advantage was that their measured approach meant they could not run at the Strathclyde warriors and strike them with their combined armour. The weight of men began to press the ranks back slowly and I nodded to Angus. He and his men began hurling their lethal weapons. Soon gaps appeared behind the point of the wedge and our line stabilised.

I could see the front rank taking casualties and I gave the order to change. Angus and his men threw their last hammers and the spearmen jabbed and I found myself in the second rank; this time with Pol and Scean behind me. Pol had armed himself with a seax we had found on the body of one of the Saxons from the night raid.  It was shorter than a sword but longer than a dagger and perfect for the close fighting of a wedge.  I hoped that he would not be needed.

The warrior who hurled himself at me, even though I was in the second rank, had no shield but he whirled a mighty two handed war axe above his head.  He detached himself from the wedge and threw himself at our line.  I raised my shield as the long axe sliced and hacked down.  The blade caught on my shield but, such was the force, it tore itself free and took off the head of the warrior who stood before me in our front rank. Saxon Slayer was at my side and, as soon as I saw the gap where the Strathclyde warrior had stood, I stabbed upwards.  The blade entered his ribcage, ripped through his heart and emerged from his neck.  Pol had sharpened it well.  As I pulled it out his entrails dropped to the floor. The wedge struck our line but the dead had made the floor slippery and cost the first two warriors in the Saxon line, their lives as they rushed to get at me; they fell before they could swing their swords and were easily despatched. Their deaths allowed me the freedom to swing Saxon Slayer at head height and there are few warriors who will willingly walk into the scything death of a long sword.  The pressure from the warriors behind pushed three warriors into the arc of death. Miach and his men now had targets as the gaps appeared and took a great toll on the warriors behind the front rank. Despite the numbers of men pushing forwards, it was obvious that the wedge had failed and I heard their trumpet sound and the Saxons retreated.  They must have been given better instructions for they retired in good order with shields held high and Miach was unable to score many casualties but we had driven them back. My men moved forwards to clear the bodies and retrieve arrows and weapons.

“Hold! Just take the weapons and armour, leave the bodies there.” They looked at me in surprise.  Hitherto we had cleared the bridge of the bodies but I had just witnessed the benefits of leaving the bodies there.  They would form a barrier which the Saxons would either have to clear or surmount.  Whichever course they took would suit us.

I turned to Pol and Scean, “So Pol.  You survived your first action.”

His white face showed how terrifying it had been but he gave me a weak smile.”I thought the man with the axe was going to kill us all.”

“He was a brave man. He knew he would die and was willing to sacrifice himself by killing me. He thought to end this as they did in the old days by champions.” I saw Angus who had just collected the bodies of his dead warriors.  They had died well. “Angus.  I want a wooden wall building here at the end of the bridge.  I want it as high as a man, three paces wide with a step half way up to allow us to fight from the top.”

He nodded his approval. “That’ll slow the buggers up!”

“I have had enough of playing into Aella’s hands. He thinks to wear us down man by man.  Now we will let him bleed.”

Aella saw what we were about but he was helpless to do anything about it.  He tried two furious rushes of warriors to disrupt the building but they did not even make it half way for Miach’s archers stopped them. By evening the ditches had been built and there was a wall around.  We would need to lose sleep again but another day had gone by and that meant King Urien was but three days away.  They would be three long days.

Our night of interrupted sleep was fruitless for they did not come and I wondered if they had given up but, as I peered across the river I saw their camp still standing and their warriors with their shields still facing us. Raibeart and Garth joined me.  “Is it my imagination or are there fewer warriors there today?”

They both looked. “Perhaps, Lann the others are preparing an attack somewhere else.”

“Perhaps. Garth put one third of our warriors behind the wall on the right and the other third behind the wall to our left.  They may have a surprise yet for us.”

Garth had no sooner put the warriors in position when Tuanthal and his horsemen came galloping up. “My lord.  They have landed a large number of men downstream.  We charged them but there are too many.  They are coming this way.”

“You have done well.  Bring all our sentries in and get yourselves behind these new walls.  Put your equites at the top of the hill behind the last ditch. You will be our reserve.” I paused.  “You will be fighting on foot.”

Raibeart joined me.  “Well at least we know what his surprise is.”

“Aye.  You and Miach need to spread your archers evenly; place a third around each side of our perimeter.  They have crossed the river but so long as we stand they cannot move their army.”

Aella then launched his second attack across the bridge. Angus had done well in the time available and the barrier was effective. I knew that they could build a ram as they had before but they would struggle to use it effectively on a bridge slippery with gore and filled with their dead. Aella showed his final cunning as a third attack materialised along our right flank.  Like the ones in the night raid they must have floated over on crude rafts. Riderch estimated a thousand men and, added to the two thousand coming upstream we were well outnumbered.  It would be a long day.

Myrddyn came up to me. “If you have men wet the slopes before the ditches then the Saxons will find it hard to climb.” Myrddyn was the best of all worlds, he was a healer and yet he had a military mind as sharp as any warrior. “We have plenty of water from the river and it will give the villagers a part to play.”

Soon there were two human chains carrying any kind of receptacle to the walls and pouring it down the slopes.  The fact that some of the water went into the ditch did no harm, in fact it aided us by hiding the stakes. We stopped it when we saw the first Saxons on our flanks.  Angus and the men at the bridge were busily engaged and one disadvantage of the barrier was that the men from Strathclyde could not longer reclaim their hammers and so they fought with their swords, supported by Raibeart and his men. Leaving Raibeart and Angus to defend our bridge I went to the greatest threat, our left flank; where the greatest numbers were attacking. Garth was there with the bulk of my men. Riderch had the survivors from Elmet and the Bernicians on the other side. As soon as my banner was unfurled my men began banging their shields and they chanted, “Wolf Warrior!” over and over.  The Saxons now knew whom they faced.

They had formed a shield wall and they had many spearmen amongst their warriors but they struggled to keep a straight line as they approached us at an oblique angle.  Miach’s archers chose their targets carefully.  We had used too many arrows lately and could not afford to be profligate. They came on steadily until they reached the wetted ground.  As soon as a warrior slipped he was despatched by an arrow.  The gaps were then exploited by other archers but still the Saxons came on. The first warriors who reached the ditch had their shields held up to protect themselves from the rain of arrows and stones.  They crashed screaming into the muddy, stake filled bottom. Those who were able to tried to extricate themselves but they were quickly killed. Perhaps the warriors were lured on by the thought that, if they reached me, they would be rich men; whatever the reason they kept coming until the ditch could be negotiated for it was filled with the bodies of their dead.

When they reached the wall they tried to hack it down with their axes whilst protected by their spears but the archers and my own spearmen made that task difficult.  Even so we began to lose men.  They were winning the war of attrition.  We fought through a long afternoon.  Myrddyn found the time in his healing to send food and drink to the men at the walls and we rotated whenever possible. Inevitably it was the Saxons who tired, and as night fell they withdrew taking, wherever possible, their dead and wounded with them. Before we could rest I sent out my men to empty the ditches of the bodies and to have the villages pour as much water down the slopes as possible. By the time the hill was sodden and the ditches cleared everyone was exhausted. I gave the orders for the men to sleep at their posts and I ordered Tuanthal to use his horsemen as sentries.  I hoped the enemy would not return but I could not be sure.

I met with Myrddyn and my officers to plan the next day and we hungrily grabbed bites of food as we talked. “Let us start with the bad news first and get that out of the way.  How many dead and wounded?”

There was a pause then Myrddyn’s calm voice listed what he knew. “There are fifty wounded warriors.  All can fight again but only thirty will be ready tomorrow.”

Raibeart chimed in, “We have lost fifteen archers but we are desperately short of arrows.”

“We lost another thirty horsemen delaying the enemy; we are down to one hundred and twenty equites but we now have ten spare horses.” I threw him a look.  I knew what was behind his last comment; we could all have an escape route on a horse but I think Tuanthal knew me better than that.  I would not ride away to leave my men to be slaughtered.

“Garth?”

“We have lost heavily today my lord.  We have less than two hundred warriors left. If we add the wounded that will still only give us seventy men on each side of our defences.  Another attack like the one today and we lose.” He looked at Miach. “We may have to arm some of the archers and let them fight in the shield wall.  We have the shields and the armour,” he paused, “from the dead.”

“Aye that might work.  We could give our arrows to Lord Raibeart’s men.”

“Tomorrow we will send the villagers to the top of the hill where the equites will be.  When I give the signal to retreat then everyone falls back there.  Myrddyn has sent all our food there and we will have that as our last defence.” I nodded to Prince Ywain.  “You, my lord can organise the defenders for I shall stay outside until all hope is gone.”

There was an ominous and sombre silence around the fire.  All of us were exhausted but none had given up hope.  The fact that they were still coming up with ideas spoke well of their morale. Pol came in with a gleaming Saxon Slayer.”Here is your blade my lord, sharp enough to shave with!”

For some reason that cheerful comment made everyone laugh and in that laughter came release. We were still positive and we all thought we could still win, even a young squire.  None of us knew how but there was a belief in the camp that King Urien would reach us in time and the sacrifice would be worthwhile when we defeated Aella.

When the next day dawned we could see that the forces on our flanks had been massively reinforced.  They intended to finish it that day. “Raibeart take half the men from the bridge and reinforce the two flanks.  I think the bridge will be a diversion and their real effort will be where their main forces are.” I sought Riderch.  “You take charge of the same flank you did yesterday but send me five of your warriors.” “Garth, you are to defend the left flank.  Send me five of your warriors.”

When I had the ten men I sent Pol to Tuanthal for five of his warriors. Raibeart came over when he saw the small detachment. “What do you intend brother?”

I pointed up the hill.  “That will be the last point of defence but I want to delay the enemy.  When he breaks through I will take these fifteen men and we will attack the ones who break through.” I shrugged.  “I know it will only delay the inevitable but every hour we save might mean the king reaches us or at least reaches us in time to bury our bodies and defeat Aella.”

No words were needed and I clasped my brother’s arm. “Pol, get a shield and find a helmet.” He cheerfully ran off. I wanted him protected and able to defend himself. “The rest of you arm yourself with a couple of spears.  There are plenty.  We will throw one and then use the other.  We need to be mobile. We fight as a line of ten warriors with the equites watching the rear and the flank. We will be the last to retreat.  We give the others time to get to the top of the hill.” From the looks on their faces one would have thought I had given them a bag of gold rather than signing their death warrants.

Myrddyn trudged up the hill. “I will heal from the top of the hill.  We may save more that way.”

“Good and, Myrddyn…”

“Yes my lord?”

“Arm yourself.  Aella will remember the spy who was in his camp and helped the prince to escape.” He nodded and his face became serious as he understood the implications of my words. His service to me might be brief and cost him his life.

Aella tried to intimidate us by banging drums at the same time as his men banged their shields. I didn’t mind.  Any delay was welcome. When his horn sounded the whole Saxon line, on three sides, leapt forwards. They were relying on numbers and on speed. We had fewer archers but they could keep the arrows flying for longer as they had more shafts.  The warriors at the front fell like wheat to a scythe but still they came on. They tried to leap the ditch but the water we had used had made the grass greasy and they slipped and fell on to the stakes which were covered in last night’s shit.  The men had particularly enjoyed that bowel movement. The dead bodies in the ditches meant that they soon closed with the walls. I glanced at the bridge.  Raibeart and Angus had half the number of warriors they had had the previous day but the Saxons were making no impression on their barricade.