Authors: Griff Hosker
“Branton, take two men and find Reuben, explain that I need a letter to obtain money in Eidyn Din and Constantinople; a thousand gold pieces from each. He will understand and tell him we may not be able to meet again.” I would have preferred to say goodbye to the old Jew personally but I did not know what reception I would receive at court. “Then meet us on the Coxold road.”
When we reached the court I saw Norman mounts and at least one Norman warrior. We were still armed as at the field of battle. “Osbert, leave the men guarding the horses.
You come with me. I fear there may be bloodshed ere long.”
Osbert spoke with the men and I heard them draw their swords. I doubted that any of the garrison in Jorvik would cause them any trouble but the ones inside were a more serious threat.
Even as I went into the hall I wondered why I was risking our lives. I could have just taken my money and ridden away but I needed to look Morcar in the eye, if only for the dead who lay at Doncaster and Fulford for this was the second time he had let me down.
The guards at the door looked at our swords.
“My lord your weapons…”
Osbert walked up to the man. “Aidan of Easingwold.
You and I have stood behind this lord and defended him with our lives. You have a choice, let us enter or die where you stand.” Osbert was known as the toughest of my Housecarls and many said that he could have stood with honour at Senlac amongst the elite of the Housecarls. Aidan nodded to his companion and stood aside, shamefaced.
When the door opened I saw four Normans speaking with Morcar. There was an audible gasp from them all.
Morcar went white. He stood with a weak smile on his face. “Aelfraed, good to see you. I though that you were…”
“Dead? I would have been had we not fought our way out after you deserted us and now I see that you are consorting with these Normans.”
“The day was lost.”
“The day was not lost until you ran again.
Know this Morcar that you live only because of your sister whom I loved but the next time I see you. You will die.”
“You do not understand Aelfraed.
King William has built a castle at Warwick and Edwin has submitted. Harold’s mother has surrendered as has Hereford. There is only you and Hereward in East Anglia who fight. It is over. We have lost.”
I was not surprised by the news but I was disappointed.”It matters not to me.
This will be over when Death Bringer is prised from my cold dead hand.”
Over in the corner the four Normans were speaking with, what looked like a servant. Osbert spotted their agitation. He said, quietly, “I don’t want to alarm you my lord but those four look like they have just worked out who you are.”
“Earl Morcar, unless you wish to see bloodshed in your hall, tell your new friends to sheath their swords.”
The four mailed men had drawn their swords.
Morcar spoke to them in French but they still advanced. Osbert and I drew our swords and daggers out and faced them. “No! Please, Aelfraed. Put up your sword.”
I glared at him. “What and submit? I know not what runs in your veins Morcar but it is English blood which flows in mine. “
Even as we were speaking the four knights launched themselves at us. They had deigned to use daggers. I parried a sword away with my dagger and blocked a sword with my own. Instead of retreating, I advanced for I was bigger and heavier than they were. I punched with my sword and the surprised Norman tumbled to the ground in a heap. I swung the blade at the second man who ducked. I stabbed forwards, instinctively with my dagger, and felt it slice along his cheekbone. He put his hands to face his face to halt the bleeding and I kicked him in the groin to add to his misery. My first opponent had risen to his feet and, angrily advanced on me. His eyes filled with fury and humiliation. Aethelward had always taught me not to fight angry and I never had. The Norman raised the sword to crash it down on my unprotected head; unfortunately for him there was a wooden wheel hung with candles suspended from the ceiling and his sword stuck in it. This was no time to be generous and I ran him through with my sword. Osbert had disposed of one of his men and the other stood there facing two bigger men armed with double his weapons. I stepped forwards and, roaring, “Fuck off!” hit him in the middle of his face with the hilt of my sword. I heard the nose break as he crashed to the ground. “Morcar, choose your friends more carefully in future. Although no-one else had a belligerent look about them, we backed out of the room with drawn blades. Once out of the chamber we strode quickly out of the hall to the gate. Branton was already there with our horses.
Osbert turned to me and grinned.
“I do not think we will be invited back there in a hurry.”
“Let us ride!”
As we kicked our horses a crossbow bolt flew from the door of the hall and struck me on my shoulder. The armour saved me but it felt like being punched by Ridley. Branton smiled, “Have you been upsetting people again, my lord?”
“It would appear so. Perhaps Earl Morcar does not know how to get the bloodstains from his floor.”
We rode hard until we reached Coxold; it was a measure of the lack of spine in the Earl that no-one followed us. Ridley had organised a magnificent feast. I had forgotten how hungry I was. I had barely slept for two days and I could not remember the last food I had taken. We all ate in one of Ridley’s barns. It was rustic and it was rough but it felt like a feast of kings. We were depleted in numbers but not in spirit. We spent the whole night talking of those who had fallen and remembering them. Stories were told of their deeds and it was good to know that, when we fell, others would talk of us and keep our memory alive.
The next morning we rose late and we rose stiff.
My shoulder ached and, as we dressed Ridley laughed. “It looks as though someone has painted your shoulder green and blue.”
“Those bolts are more than a nuisance. If I had not had the armour I fear I would be dead by now.”
“I will see if Ralph can make some for the other men.”
The four of us, Ridley, Osbert, Branton and myself held a council of war in Ridley’s hall whilst the men had their armour and weapons improved, repaired and renovated. “The question is now what do we do?” I had included Osbert and Branton for they felt like family and I respected Osbert’s views.
Ridley would listen and soak all the information up like gravy and a piece of bread. Branton had the ability to see things from a different angle. They remained silent and I think they expected me to give them some choices. “We could do nothing, and hope that William ignores us. We could journey to Ely and help Hereward fight them. We could try to raise an army against William and… well that is my range of strategies exhausted.”
“I do not think, my lord, after our experience in Jorvik, that William will forget us.
We have damaged him too many times.”
“I know Osbert and we no longer have the security of Jorvik for the Normans control Morcar.”
Branton played with the feathers of one of his knight killers. “We could go abroad, my lord. I assume that the message to Reuben was to provide you with funds in Scotland and Constantinople. I assume that they are in your mind?”
He was clever; was he questioning my motives? “They are a last resort, Branton, and I would not travel alone, I would take as many with me as wanted to.
Aethelward suggested the East and I know that our skills are held in great regard there but I do not wish to desert our people. Thomas, Sarah and the others still burn in my memory and my nights are haunted by the spectre of their deaths.”
“We could just stay here Aelfraed.
We could defend Coxold against the Normans. We have enough time to build up the defences.”
“Aye my lord.
It would be a hard nut to crack.”
“You are right.
We could defend this manor and your people; they would aid us?”
Ridley almost bristled with indignation. “Of course they would, they are loyal.”
I lowered my voice, “And if we lost, Ridley, and they ended up like my people at Maiden Bower, you would be happy about that and you could live with the deed?”
He visibly paled. “But if we did not lose…”
“Lord Aelfraed is right, my lord, if the King does come he will have more men that William of Perci and even William of Perci now has enough men to defeat us. We could hold out for a while, possible even weeks but then we would run out of arrows, and food and the will of the fyrd would weaken. We would be left with fifty of us to fight against a much larger army. We would lose. Many Normans would die but we would lose eventually and then what would happen to the people of Coxold.”
Ridley’s silence was eloquent. “I suppose we could go to Ely and join Hereward.”
No-one seemed excited by that idea. Branton continued to look at his arrow. “There is one other alternative.”We all looked at him. I could see that Ridley was desperate for any solution which would mean his people would survive. “We do not think that William will come before next spring. We spend the winter building up our weapons and making places in the woods where we can live.”
Osbert snorted, “Live in the woods?”
“Think about it brother. We know the woods to the east and the west of the road. The main road north is here. We could make the Norman’s life impossible if we harried them along the road and when they travel around the north. We nearly have enough horses now and we are able to mount all of our men. We could strike in one place and, when they come to look for us, find another sanctuary. Move and strike. They would need a bigger army than they have at present to control the land.”
Osbert nodded, “Aye, my lord and remember, the people at Knottingley are not different from any others and they welcomed us and helped us.”
“I would not wish to put anyone in harm’s way.”
“Nor would we, my lord.”
Ridley smiled for the first time. “They have named us outlaws. Well let us live as outlaws. Strike, where they do not expect us. Make them fear to go to bed at night.”
“And, my lord, if they do come into the woods after us then we can make them dance a merry dance.
Their knights will not have the advantage then.”
“Nor would my men at arms.”
“No my lord, we would need to change. I think we can change but can the Normans?”
I thought about it. This was not the glory of a shield wall but that glory had perished with my friends and my father, far to the south.
The day of the Housecarl was over, if only because the remaining Housecarls were Ridley and me. Was it even worth staying to fight? Would we not have more riches and fame if we travelled to fight as mercenaries? Aethelward felt it was important to fight and I owed it to the dead. We would have one last attempt at wresting the land back from William’s greedy fingers.
“If you
are all foolish enough to follow me then we shall do as Branton suggests.” Their smiles were as though we had already won a victory. I shook my head in disbelief. “Branton you had better scout out two camps quickly before winter falls. Osbert and Ridley we will need to prepare ourselves for living in the wild. Weapons are vital but we need to think about armour which is less heavy and yet still affords protection.”
“When I served my other lord, he was not a rich man and we had leather armour with metal pieces. If we used a mixture of leather, disks, such as we have on our shields and the shoulder protectors of iron then we might move easier through woods.”
Ridley nodded, eagerly, and the Normans, they use a mail hood beneath their helmets to protect their necks and backs. They would not be too heavy.”
“Both good ideas see to it and I will take some of Branton’s men and look for good places to ambush the enemy.”
So we spent the late autumn into early winter busily making our preparations and hoping that the King would not come north. It seems he was a cautious man for he spent a long time building a solid castle at Warwick. Uncle had told me of his White Tower in London and it seemed that this King would control the land through stone and iron; the stone of his keeps and the iron of his men. That suited us for it meant he would have few men to hold on to this land and that gave us the land between castles. Branton found two good camps; one was close to Helmsley and the old Viking village of Griff. It was in a valley which was hidden from view but which had good access north and south along the valley. The other was east of Medelai where the river tumbled over rocks and there was a high cliff. The forests stretched to the hills many miles to the west and we could roam at will. Both had water and wood; both were well known to us. As the first frosts of winter gripped the ground we planned the spring and the camps we would build.
Six of the fifty men we had brought from the field of battle were too badly wounded to serve as men at arms. Despite my offer of money they implored me to still be able to serve me.
Branton came up with the idea of stationing three men in each camp as caretakers and hunters for we would be too busy to gather game for ourselves and it seemed to suit everyone. Osbert organised stores of salt and the pans we would need to cook. Ridley had his steward buy in materials to help us repair our clothes and make new ones. We had plenty of time to plan and think of unexpected events for the Normans spent the winter in Jorvik and far to the south.