Outlaw (Aelfraed) (28 page)

As we walked I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was not quite right. Normally, the night before a battle, there would be the sound of swords being sharpened and quiet reflective conversations.
  Here it seemed almost like a feast with loud laughs and cheers.  I could not quite work out what was going on. The Roman Bridge was a thousand years old and must have been a second one for we crossed the pillars of an older bridge.  Fortunately it afforded us a good view of the bridge and both camps as well as making it hard to see us.  We lay next to the worn Romans stones and watched. The Danish camp appeared to be just as jolly and full of festivities as the Norman one.  Was this something new?  Party before you fight?

Branton nudged me and I leaned over.
  “There are no guards on the bridge.” He whispered.

“What is going on?
  This makes no sense.”

“Unless they are not here to fight but to talk.” Branton’s knowing look suddenly put everything into perspective. The two armies were not enemies, they were allies.

I gestured for him to follow me and we made our way along the darkened river bank to the side of the bridge where some Normans were talking. Infuriatingly we could not understand a word.  Suddenly Branton gripped my arm. I turned to look and he pointed at the bridge.  There was Sweyn and his lieutenants.  They did not look as though they feared the group of Normans who were less than thirty paces from us. I recognised most of the men with Sweyn for they had been at the conference before we took Jorvik. One of them, I could not remember his name had been an Englishman who had once been a prisoner of the Normans and he now stood next to Sweyn.

Sweyn shook hands with a short stocky Norman and they both gave a cursory bow to the other.
  Then there was a silence.  The man who spoke English said something to the stocky Norman and then turned to Sweyn. “King William says he is glad that there will be no hostilities between us for we both have the same roots in the north. “ He then translated Sweyn’s reply to the Norman.  I heard nothing for I was stunned.  It was King William who stood there.  If Branton had brought his bow then William would be dead.  Of course we would not survive either but…

“King William hopes that this coin will be sufficient.”

I pricked my ears up and watched as Normans carried ten huge chests across the bridge. That was it.  Sweyn was being bought off! The money which William had ripped from the poor inhabitants of England was buying off the Danes. The chests were obviously enough for the Normans followed the chests to the Danish camp and we were left alone again, in the dark.  I had heard enough and we made our way back to the safety of the woods.

“That double dealing bastard! Damn him and damn Edgar.”

“It puts us in a difficult place then, my lord.  We will not have a weakened William to deal with.  We will have him and his army hunting us.”

We mounted our horses and rode eastwards. “We will do what we did before we were duped by Sweyn and Edgar.
  We will fight from the woods and we will do all in our power to weaken William.”

The only sounds, for a while, were clip clop of the hooves. “In the end, my lord, it may be for nothing.”

“So what are you saying?  That I should submit?”

“Edwin and Morcar did so and they were given lands.”

I stopped my horse and stared at the blackened shadow which was Branton.  “Do you think I could do that?  That would be a betrayal of all those who have died before now.”

“It is an option which is open to you my lord.
  Those who follow you have no choices do we?”

Branton was right.
  They were not Housecarls and they were not bound by an oath.  We could submit but I knew I never would; if only because Ridley would fight on and, probably, die. I would have to speak with the men once we reached camp for they had to know the truth.  The truth was unpalatable but it had to be spoken.  We could not win, ever.  We would all die and we would not make a difference once we did end in some bloody, anonymous and soon forgotten battle.

We reached the camp just after dawn and Osbert had hot food waiting for us.
  I suspected that he and Ridley had spent most of the night awake, worrying about us. Osbert was as sharp as a knife and one look at our faces told him that something was amiss. He did not say anything but he led our horses away as Ridley handed us our food.  They both waited for me to speak. I did not want to speak for, until I said the words then they were not true. I could almost feel Branton willing me to tell them.  Eventually I sighed. “Branton gather the men together.  I need to speak to them.”

They gathered in silence around me sensing from my face that the news was not good.
  “Men, we came here to attack the Normans once they had fought the Danes. There will be no battle for William has bought off the Danes.” He pointed to the river.  “I fully expect to see the Danish fleet sailing eastwards later this day. It means that we will have the full army of William to contend with.”I peered around their faces. “I have to tell you now that we have no hope of winning.  We do not have the numbers to defeat the Normans and there is no-one else left to fight them. Once Hereward in Ely is defeated then that will be the end.” I allowed this to sink in.  I gave a half smile at the truculent look on Ridley’s face.  He would not be giving in! “I am telling you this because I will continue to fight, as I imagine will Lord Ridley.”  The smile appeared like a new dawn on Ridley’s face.”I have offered you coin before if you wished to leave my service and I do so again.”

Edward stood and looked at the others. “Are you saying, my lord, that you do not wish to fight with us?”

“No Edward.  I will always be proud to fight with you but if you remain I want you under no illusions.  There is no hope.”

He sniffed and sat down.
  “Well that is all right then, for I stay.”

There was a chorus of,
”and me,” which rippled through their ranks. 

Osbert gave me a wry smile, “It seems you can’t get rid of us then.
  So what do we do first?”

I had not thought that far ahead.
  I had assumed that they would be leaving.  For once I had no plans. Branton said, “Well if you want my suggestion, they will have to travel south today to get back to Jorvik.  The King is finishing his castle.  Why don’t we attack their rearguard eh?  Annoy them.  They will not be expecting it for the enemy they were going to fight has gone.”

Osbert and Ridley both nodded and it suited me, for we would kill some of the hated invaders. “Break camp.
  Let’s annoy some Normans.”

We rode hard and with purpose.
  They were less than twenty miles from us and, riding along the edge of the hills we could see them as a black shadow crossing the land. Edward took eight archers to dog them a little closer while I rapidly came up with a plan to do more than annoy them.  I wanted to leave as many dead as I could. We were converging with them and as the sun began to sink in the west, it hid us in the shadow and highlighted them. The men at the rear were the wagons and the light cavalry.  They were moving at a slower speed than the foot soldiers before them and I could see a gap appearing.  I suddenly realised that there were heading for Ripon. They would not be camping and would travel through the first hour of darkness.  It made sense for it was a good road and a straight road. Better to sleep beneath a roof than a leaky tent.

“Branton, take the rest of the archers.
  Find Edward and, as soon as it is almost dark then shoot at the cavalry, not the horses but the men.”

“And if they chase us.”

“I am counting on that! When they chase you then ride north west , towards Persebrig and then return to our camp near Medelai.”

He hesitated, “And you my lord?”

“I think we will see if we can capture those wagons.”

When he rode off I turned to the company.
  “When the archers attack we will strike from this side.  I want the drivers and the guards killing.  We want whatever is in those wagons.”

Ridley asked, “Why?
  What is in the wagons?”

“I have no idea but it must be important to the Normans or they would not guard it.” I found myself grinning.
  I had worried and planned for so long to rid my land of the Normans and now that was no longer possible, it had freed us up and that, in itself, was a victory.

We halted less than a hundred paces away from the wagons but, in the gloom of dusk and with our hooded cloaks about us we were all but invisible. Suddenly I saw horsemen plucked from their mounts.
  There had been forty men guarding the wagons but suddenly there were just over twenty.  Their leader roared an order and they galloped off in pursuit of Branton. We silently moved forwards.  The attention of the wagon drivers and guards was, as I expected, to the west and the departing cavalry. The first that they knew of us was when our spears and swords hacked them from the six wagons. I did not even get to draw blood. Discarding the bodies we turned the wagons around.  There was a road which led from just south of Catherick to Medelai; this turned into a woodman’s trail which ended close to the camp. We could empty the wagons and then dispose of them in the Swale which ran nearby. We whipped the wagon horses a little harder than their drivers as we urged them north. I calculated that William would not notice the non arrival of his wagons for at least an hour and then, by the time they had headed north we should have escaped.

Suddenly a party of riders loomed up on our left.
  To our relief it was Branton and Edward. His teeth grinned white in the dark night.  “All dead my lord! We thought you might need some help.”

“Thank you Branton.
  Keep your archers half a mile back and warn us of any one heading north.”

It was a nerve wracking ride but that helped to keep me awake for I had not slept for two days.
  Ridley was in good spirits.  At least four of the Normans had fallen to his mighty axe. We made it to camp, some time before the moon rose.  The boxes from the wagons were manhandled for the last mile and then Osbert took the wagons to the high cliff overlooking the river and they were rolled in.  They smashed on the rocks below.  We took the horses with us and Edward and Branton masked our trail. Once in the camp I just fell asleep, in my armour.  Exhaustion took over.

We were like children as we opened the chests.
  I wondered if they contained money.  Perhaps Sweyn had been bought off cheaply? In the event they were even more valuable.  Half of them contained mail armour, kite shields and swords while the other half had tunics, and food. It was a treasure trove more valuable than gold for we were now, truly outlaws.  We could no longer ride into town to buy goods.  We would have to steal and forage.

Osbert strode over to me as the men emptied the chests. “My lord we need to think of security now. The Normans will have men looking for us.
  We are well hidden but we need warning.”

“I agree.
  What do you suggest?”

“Have eight men in pairs at the edge of the forest.
  If they see the enemy then one rides back here to warn us while the other watches them.  If we split the men into two halves it will mean just one duty every four or five days; not too arduous.”

“Good.
  Set it up.” He started to walk away. “And Osbert, include Ridley and me.” He went to the camp shaking his head.  I went to Ridley.  “Here Ridley, help me off with my armour.”

He seemed almost disappointed, “Aren’t we fighting today?”

“No Ridley.  We have travelled late and the men are tired.  Tired men make mistakes.  We will attack when we are fresh.”

As he helped me to pull my mail shirt off I explained about the watches. “That seems like a good idea but I for one want them to come here.”

“They will come, Ridley, make no mistake.  We have been a burr in the Norman’s side since Senlac Hill. We have bloodied Aux Gemon’s nose too many times and do not forget my moment of madness, Copsi.”

The old Ridley grinned back at me, “It seems I am not the only one who has the red mist descend upon them then!”

As well as the sentries we also sent out patrols to watch the roads and so it was that a week after we had stolen the wagon we had word of the Normans.  They burned Medelai to the ground and slaughtered every living thing. The scouts returned too late to prevent it but I mounted twenty men and rode south to ambush the perpetrators. I took a mixture of archers and men at arms.  Ridley and Osbert did the same north of us.

As we headed towards the road I could see a number of columns of smoke on the horizon. There was more than a little mischief at Medelai that was certain. If the fire starters were heading sou
th they would have to pass by Catherick and we waited in the thick woods to the east of the town and the road.  Branton rode towards Catherick to see if they had gone there.  When he returned his face was white. “What is amiss?”

“Catherick is no more.
  It is burned to the ground and the land littered with unburied bodies.”

We did not know it then but this was the beginning of what came to be known as the harrying of the north when William killed everyone who lived north of Jorvik.
  He merely completed what Sweyn had started but, as with all things Norman, it was done with far more ruthless efficiency for even the animals were slaughtered and where he could he sowed the fields with salt. The north was being punished so that they would never rise again.