The Beast of Caer Baddan (58 page)

Britu and Swale went down to the assembled Army, and Swale gave the orders to the centurions.

The soldiers readied their weapons.

“Blow the horns,” Swale said.

“Blow the horns!” one of the centurion repeated.

The air filled with the rumbling sound of the carnyx.

“To war!” Britu cried.

The whole Army marched forward into the Deisi lines, cutting down their front and pushing them back. The Deisi’s right pushed north into the exposed side of the Army, when King Erb gave the Silurae the command to attack. The Silurae rammed into the Deisi’s right, forcing them back away from the advancing Army.

The Deisi center proved far stronger than Swale had anticipated. Although the enemy gave ground on the first onslaught, they held themselves against wave after wave of attack. The Army, clad in heavy metal, soon grew tired, while the lightly protected Deisi kept their position. The cavalry charged on the Deisi’ left, but well placed spears kept them from having any affect.

As Owain rode up, he noticed young Annon standing on a high point near the reserves. The boy's eyes were fixed on the raging battle but two hundred
stride before him.

“Prepare to march!” the centurion of the reserves ordered the soldiers there. 

“Riders!” a scout yelled, and then looked Owain full in the face. “Dominae!” he gasped.

“Ie, 'tis I,” Owain said.

He dismounted, and the servants took his war pony and headed towards the camp.

Owain strode up and stood by the boy's side.

“God keep you, Annon,” he said, casually.

“God keep you, Prince Owain,” Annon said, with a cheery greeting.

Owain waited, with a smile dancing on his lips, as the reality of the situation came to his young student.

Owain was not supposed to be there. Owain was hurt and would stay in Baddan. Owain would not be fighting. And yet, there Owain was.

Owain laughed as all these thoughts ran wild on the boy's face.

Annon stared up at him with wide eyes.

“Prince Owain!” he cried. “You’re here! You’re here! You’re really here! They said you were alive but I could not believe it!”

“Believe it now, Boy,” Owain said, laughing.

“Prince Britu said you were unwell, but you came!”

“So I have,” Owain said.

Annon threw his arms around him, screaming and laughing together.

“I missed you! I missed you! I mean-” at that, the boy let go of him and stood up right, as if in an effort to contain himself. “I'm glad you are returned, Prince.”

  “Thank you, Annon,” Owain said. “I missed you as well. Who is out there?”

“Prince Swale, Prince Britu, and King Erb.”

“I meant whom are we fighting?”

“Oh,” the boy replied. “Aed King of the Deisi and Prince Corath their champion.”

Owain nodded, for he knew both of those men.

“Well, it seems that our friends need our assistance,” he said. “Are you ready for war?”

“I am,” Annon said. “Wait! You mean I can fight?”

As Owain gazed on Annon, he thought how much the boy still had to learn and grow before he was a man. Yet his combat training, the preparation for war, was more than complete. Annon would not be any more ready to kill if he waited another year or seven more years. No man was truly ready to take another man's life, but that was the way of things.

Owain smiled. “You can, Boy.”

They went down the hill and the reserves went with them, into the front of the battle.

The Deisi held their ground against the soldiers, but Owain fell on them with such a vengeance that their front ranks shattered at once. He cut through to the rear and the reserves filed in behind him, splitting the Deisi in half.

“Stay with me, Annon,” he said.

“I am,”
came Annon's reply.

Owain turned on the Deisi's left half, and hacked through their rear line. The Deisi, still directed east, could not turn to face the attack, and Owain slaughtered them with every stab and strike.

“Annon, stay close,” Owain said.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy struggled around the piles of bodies.

“Annon!” Owain yelled, in rebuke.

“I’m here!” Annon cried.

“Look!” came the hoarse voice of one of the soldiers. “There’s Prince Owain! There’s our dominae!”

“Owain!
Owain! Owain!” the soldiers cried.

Owain harried the Deisi’ northern line until they broke rank, dropped their spears, and fled. He then stood aside for the cavalry to enter the battle.

“Annon?” Owain said, looking about himself. “Annon! Annon!”

He rushed back to the Deisi’s collapsed rear. He saw a Deisi warrior standing just over a sword's reach away from where Annon had fallen and lay among the piles of dead. Owain recognized the man at once as Prince Corath Champion of the Deisi.

Annon tried to rise, but put his hand into a dead warriors split open gut.

“Ugh!” he cried.

Owain charged on the Deisi prince and caught his downward swing, batting his arm away. Prince Corath tried to stab Owain with the long knife in his left hand, but Owain blocked the knife by striking him hard with the bronze boss in the center of his shield. The long blade of Calybs came down on Prince Corath’s left shoulder and across the back of his neck, hacking through his leather vest.

The Deisi prince fell to the ground.

“Owain!” Annon cried.

“Get up!” Owain cried.

Annon scrambled to his feet, wiping the blood off of his hand.

“The cavalry approach,” Owain said. “If we stay here we shall be trampled.”

“I’m coming,” Annon replied.

They went out to the far back away from the battle and found a high point that Owain was sure the Deisi king had just vacated. Owain turned about and looked over the battle field.

“Britannae to victory!” he cried.

“Victory!”
Annon cried.

“Victory!” the Army yelled back.

The Deisi’ far right broke apart, and its warriors fled. Owain and Annon stood on the high ground and watched as they passed by.

“Run!” Annon cried.
“Run, you cowards!”

“Annon!”
Owain said in rebuke.

Owain saw the weary Britannae look up where he stood and recognized him as their leader.

“Look!” they cried. “There’s Prince Owain! There’s our dominae!”

Soon, the whole land rang with the sound of their cheers.

“Owain! Owain! Owain!” the soldiers cried.

When they had returned to camp, Britu and Swale marveled at Owain, but Owain's mind was busy with more important matters. He got a bowl of green paint from Leir and told Annon to stand still.

“So the boy finally fought,” Swale said, impressed.

“He did,” Owain replied.
“And very bravely.”

He rubbed some of the paint onto his forefingers and thumbs and slowly decorated Annon's young face with bright green spirals.

“Now you are a true warrior,” Owain said.

Young Annon had entered the battle, sword played with a number of Deisi warriors, even killing a few, and now stood triumphant as an equal to the other princes.

Owain smiled, satisfied with at Annon’s accomplishments of the past two years. But Owain also knew that the horror of being kidnapped and held prisoner by the terrible Attacotti would not disappear in that time. Thus he resolved to watch the boy even more closely than he had before.

Chapter Forty Seven: A Tentative Peace

At sunset, the soldiers regrouped and returned to camp. The wine was brought out and each one had his cup filled.

King Erb collected the princes and brought them to the hilltop too. 

“To Swale Prince of Ewyas!” he cried.

“Swale!” the whole company, both of the Army and Silurae soldiers, cheered for their leaders.

“To Britu Prince of Atrebat!”
King Erb cried.

“Britu!” came the
soldiers loud voices.

“To Owain Prince of Glouia!” the king cried.

“Owain!”

From one corner of the camp, the soldiers chanted.
With every time, more joined into the chorus.

“Owain!
Owain! Owain!”

“You must speak to them,” Britu said.

Owain rose then and stepped on crate to address the crowd.

“For the land!” he cried.

“For the land!”

Owain’s heart swelled with pride. This was what he was, the battle leader,
the dominae. He did not need to receive pretty eyes from every woman he saw. He needed to fight, to save his land from invasion, as he had always done. That was the only way to honor his mother and gain forgiveness for allowing her to sacrifice herself for him.

“Look how they love you,” Annon said, amazed at the crowd.

“At least that has not changed.” Owain mused.

“That shall never change,” King Erb said.

But although he believed the king’s words, he did not care if they were false. As he looked on the soldiers, he knew that even if they should dislike him or chant another’s name, he would stand by them. He would stand by the people of Glouia and all of the Britannae, because they were his people. He was a prince and he did right by the people, no matter what they thought of him.