Games of Otterburn 1388 (14 page)

The knight could hear warriors sallying from the gate at the top of the hill and knew their time there was short.

“Sorry, M
ilords
all,” begged the old man, “but he is in the mountains. At
Rey
Cross…
Stainmore
… with his family.”

The one knight growled and showed his teeth at the blacksmith for he figured he would be punished for not bringing the lad but they at least had the thirty caltrops wrapped in leather pouches.

“We’ll be back for the lad,” warned one as they both mounted their horses.

The English troops of Roger Clifford knowing nothing of the visit of the two knights came at a gallop off the hill heading for Brougham Castle where their numbers were certainly smaller than Earl Robert’s but they were sent in harm’s way for the sake of Clifford’s scorching temper easily goaded by pride and a vain hope his ill-gotten gold could be recovered.

The Scottish knights whipped their large but relatively slow-footed destriers to as fast a gate as they could muster headed toward Castle Brougham where Earl Robert must be warned.

The old blacksmith stood in front of his smithy watching the dispatching men and horse splashing into the ford water. His grandson came to his side and tucked himself under the man’s protective arm glad he was still in Appleby.

The man gave the boy a loving pat and was glad he was able to accomplish the dangerous ruse.

“‘Twill
be
better by-and-by,” he said in a quiet reassuring voice.

August 13 - Early Afternoon

Otterburn
Village
and

Blakeman’s Law

Otterburn was a small village near the confluence of the Otter Burn and the
Rede
River
. It was a sanctioned trading town that despite its small area and population had a certain influence in the region.

In many ways Otterburn had been a constant target for raiding border clans for much of recent history.

Even King Robert the Bruce had raided Otterburn after the great battle of
Stirling
. He had riled the local citizens to join him in raiding other parts of Northumberland with the plan to bring Tynedale back into the Scottish nation, a venture that never matured in Robert’s lifetime or thereafter.

“Scotch
a’comin
’!!” screamed the old woman working her way through a close knit group of sod hovels with thatched roofs.

“What Scotch?” asked a child of nine years coming from one of the
hovels.
She hunkered at the fire and stirred vegetables that were cooking in an over hanging pot.

“The ones that cuts your heads off and reives your food,” said the woman in a fearful voice as she squatted close beside the child.

The child blinked wide eyed not fully understanding. “Why you need food if your head’s been cut off?” she asked in all innocence.

The woman said, “Seen it with my own eyes, I have… heads cut off by Scotchmen
!...
Came here ‘bout three years back and ruined a lot a’ folks!” To illustrate her point she reached across and with a single long fingernail stroked it across the child’s neck which must have felt like the slice of an actual knife blade because the child jumped to her feet, grabbed her neck with both hands and screamed at the top of her voice.

The chief Burgess of the village heard the alarming screams of the child and rushed to understand her problem. He caught her by the shoulders in mid run and asked, “What?!”

“Scotch are
a’cuttin
’ my head off!” she cried.

“Where?” he asked, “Where’s the Scotch?”

The child quickly looked about and saw the old woman walking her way and she screamed again. “
Yon’s
the one! She cut my neck, too!”

The chief burgess looked to where the child pointed.
“You
tellin
’ fright stories again’, Old Mary?”

Mary gave a crooked smile. “Ain’t just a story this time,” she said.

The child held close to the burgess’ leg as she fearfully stared at the addlepated woman.

“You ought
not
scare the children,” scolded the burgess.

“Scotch is here ‘bouts for true fact,” said Mary beckoning him with her one index finger, “Show you, I will.”

The burgess was exasperated with Mary since that was far from the first time she had alarmed the town but he could not just ignore such a possible thread so he took the child by the hand saying, “Show us.”

Mary gave her crooked smile, turned with a jolt and made her way north out of town.

The patient burgess followed her up on a rise called
Faldon
Hill immediately north of the town. She stood on the crest and pointed across the way to Blakeman’s Law. “Yon they are!” she announced feeling vindicated.

The burgess climbed the few more steps to her level and looked across. “My God!” he said in a whisper.

The child came to his side and looked as well. “Them the Scotch?” she asked calmly.

For the most part the foreground was relatively flat, rich, green, farm lands left fallow for the year with the meandering Rede River winding its way snakelike south toward the village and beyond to the North Tyne and the Tyne that eventually poured out to sea beyond Newcastle. The burgess saw some hundreds of warriors unpacking mules and setting up tents for an apparent camp site.

“Reckon now you believe me they’re here to cut our heads off?” said Mary, a wide prideful smile stretching her lips and showing her
snaggled
teeth.

The burgess thought the Scots to not be an immediate danger and so the three walked back toward the town.

“We still got our heads,” said the youngster happily.

“Aye, child,” answered the burgess, “We still got our heads.”

Mary was straggling as she thought to pick flowers along the return.

It had taken the leading knight, Alexander Ramsey from
Midlothian
more than two days to arrive at Blakeman’s Law. His contingent was assigned to meet the plunder train under the command of Sir John Swinton that was coming north and to help with moving that plunder into
Scotland
. He had about twenty knights with him along with six hundred men-at-arms for protection and had arrived without any challenges along the way.

 
There was another Scottish knight by the name of John
Haliburton
on whom Alexander depended a great deal. He was a fair man with logistic skills that surpassed Ramsey’s and so the two men naturally formed a bond to accomplish their task to a greater proficiency than either one working alone.

“How ye
figurin
’ this John?” asked Alexander as the two men sat their horses on an elevated part of the surrounding landscape.

“What ye make of the land over toward Elsdon?” asked John.

“‘Bout the same,” he said, “
no
real advantage here to there,”

“
A’right
, ye see the bend in the burn yon?” he asked pointing to a fairly flat piece of boggy land limned by the crook of the river bed.

“I see,” said Alexander.

“Ought to put the plunder and what horse we have in there. Kind of a natural pinfold, it is,” spoke
Haliburton
. “We’ll have to fence off the open side. That’s all.”

“Water
a’plenty
, too,” added Ramsey.

“Aye,” agreed
Haliburton
.

Then
Haliburton
wheeled his horse and said, “There, across the road and up that bit of a rise is where ye’ll be
a’wantin
’ to build yer obstruction.”

“James Douglas was strong on that notion,” advised Ramsey, “said if any English were to follow him here he wanted to have a barrier.”

“Just in case, I see,” said
Haliburton
.

“Just in case,” reiterated Ramsey smiling.

“Good view of the whole road and along the sides. Archers could kill
a’many
ere they could get to that barrier point,” explained John.

“I reckon there would be enough trees here ‘bouts,” said Ramsey.

“Oh, there’s
a’plenty
a tree in yon wood to cut and drag over here with the mules,” said John again pointing. “Good many
saplin’s
to lace in and out, too.”

Ramsey nodded his head he was pleased. “There’s the plan.
Time to get busy.”

August 14 - Afternoon

Castle Brougham

Earl Robert Stewart saw the two knights coming fast on their destriers across the planted fields and heading straight for him. Recognizing the men as the ones he had sent to Appleby he waved them to his exact position.

“Looks to me like they’ve ‘bout kilt their horses,” said William Douglas.

“Came from Appleby,” advised Robert. He kept waving.

The knights came to Robert and pulled hard on the reins. “Men from Appleby… not far back, Milord!”

“Shit!
Must’a
seen
the smoke,” said Robert then turned to William. “Got me in trouble, ye have.”

William shrugged as he put a foot in the saddle’s stirrup. “Show
ye
where our men are bivouacked… ‘
less
ye want to lay out here
a’moanin
’ and
whinin
’…
Milord.”
When he topped his horse he smiled widely to show his tease but by then Robert was busy going to the top of his destrier and asking questions of the two knights.
“How many?”