Varangian (Aelfraed) (14 page)

“I am pleased that we are all together and that we can go some way to avenging the tragedy of Manzikert.
  Many of you know my feelings about this Norman traitor, Roussel,  Had he supported our Emperor at Manzikert then we would not have lost and now for him to set himself up as a prince in his own right goes beyond the pale.” They all nodded to signify their approval.  They were civilised; my brethren would have banged the table and roared their approval. “You will see a new commander amongst us.  This is Aelfraed Godwinson who fought at Stamford Bridge.  He will command the five hundred men of the Saxon Droungos. But our new leader also has experience of fighting the Norman horse whom he defeated a number of times. He will now tell us how he managed that feat.”

He held his arm out for me to begin speaking.
  I was unprepared and I looked pleadingly at Aidan.  “Do your best my lord and speak honestly.” He said quietly giving me a sardonic smile, “They will not expect that.”

“I know that the Byzantine army is a powerful and efficient force. You have mighty horsemen yourselves, the Cataphracts, but the Norman can ride more quickly than your heavy horses and ride for longer.
  We found that we had to defend our front with obstacles and force them into our axes.  Their horses are not as yours, they do not wear armour and our axes found the horses easy to kill.” One or two of the officers turned their nose up at this while others smiled.  I think I had worked out who the cavalrymen were. “We also found that we could use our mailed gloves to grip their lances as they struck and pull them from their horses.  Once on the ground they were easy to kill.  But our best weapon was this.” Branton had left me one knight killer as a souvenir and I brought it out. ”We called this a knight killer for it can penetrate mail better than an arrow with a barb.” I passed it around and they all looked at it with interest.  “We had no horse to face the Normans but you do.  I would imagine that your Cataphracts would make short work of the Norman but I suspect you have fewer of those horses than the Normans have with their knights.”

Alexios held the arrow head in his hand.
  “Sadly that is true.  It is as you say the Norman horse is swifter and can evade us, but if our soldiers had these arrows it might make a difference.  Thank you Aelfraed you have given me food for thought.”

A tall soldier came up to us and spoke with Aidan. “I am Nicephorus Botaniantes and I command the Cataphractoi, although
we only have five Kontoubernia.  Not enough but all that we can take. I like these arrows, may I keep it to have more made?”

“Of course for we serve the same man do we not?” He gave me a strange smile as though trying to read my words.
  Aidan said something to him and he shrugged and left.

“What did you say to him?”

“I told him that Saxon warriors always speak from their hearts and speak the truth.”

“But we do!”

“Aye my lord but you are now in Byzantium.”

We reached our destination in two days and there was a mighty camp set up there already.
  It seems that Alexios had planned on taking the Saxons anyway and my arrival had been propitious as it gave them a commander and a focus.  Although they did not have the word
wyrd
in their language Aidan told me that they called it Fate and believed that it marked me as a lucky emblem. I could see the relief on Ridley’s face when we met again.  He had enjoyed getting to know his men, a pleasure I was denied on my voyage for I had to meet with the other senior officers but it did at least help me to understand their character traits. Each one appeared to be different in some way.  In England I had been used to either men at arms or the fyrd.  Here they had a plethora of different warriors, each one appeared to be specialised in some way.  The Thema appeared to make up the bulk of their army. The cataphracts looked magnificent as they led their mounts down the reinforced gangplank.  Covered from head to toe in armour, as were their mounts, I could not see how they could be defeated.  Nicephorus had told me that they had a few weaknesses; they were so heavy that one charge winded them and they could not pursue. In addition their enemies had taken to sowing caltrops, small pieces of metal with wicked points which always had a sharpened barb for a hoof no matter how it landed. I decided to get some just to protect us against the Normans.

Aidan was a resourceful man, as demonstrated by his ability to escape slavery, and he discovered where we were to be quartered.
  The Byzantines had learned much from Rome, and it had grown from that ancient, highly organised people.  The camp had a ditch and wooden wall surrounding it and the tents within were laid out in neat rows.  The tents each accommodated eight to ten men and there was one for the three of us.  We left the men to sort themselves out and Aidan to arrange our tent while I took Ridley with me to meet Alexios in the command tent where he was briefing us all on the forthcoming campaign. This was a much larger affair than the one on board the ship and I wanted to arrive early, partly to get a good position but more importantly to speak with the strategos alone.

The bodyguard recognised me and frowned at Ridley.
  I had picked up a little Greek by then, however crude it sounded, “With me!” He let us in and Alexios was at his desk poring over a map.

He glanced up at me, “You are early commander. Trying to impress me?”

“No my lord but I thought that as my Komes had been on the other ship I might be able to let him know of your plans.”

He nodded, “Sensible. Welcome Ridley.” He leaned over the map. “You will not know that this Norman has sacked Chrysopolis which is a town across the water from the city of Constantinople.
  It is the reason we are here for it was a little too close to home for the Emperor.  He has retreated to Ankara where he awaits us.  He has at least three thousand cavalry and they outnumber us in the other forces he has at his disposal.  As for his other troops we estimate that there are ten thousand soldiers under his command.” He looked up from the map and his eyes bored directly into mine.  “You should know Aelfraed that I intend to send you along with my light cavalry archers to watch his city because the army will have to move slowly as we are taking siege engines.”

I studied the map even more intently.
  ”Would I be able to have a copy of this?”

“Of course, send Aidan to me. And he can make a copy.”

“How many cavalry will be accompanying us?”

“Four Droungoi.”

“Not a large force then strategos?”

“No, for you are not there to fight but to watch. The light cavalry are swift and can see much but if the Normans attack they will need to hide behind your wall of shields.”

I smiled, “Shield wall.”

“Yes that is it.
  Do you know the ancient Romans had just such a device?  They called it the testudo.”

“Yes my uncle told me of it.”

“So you will build and defend the camp and watch the road to Ankara.  In that way we can arrive safely and without ambush and we will know what this Roussel intends.”

“Thank you for that sir; it always helps to understand the broader strategy.”

Just then the other officers began to drift in and Ridley and I made our way to the side so that I could observe them and their reaction to the briefing. Nicephorus nodded to me as he came in and gave me a half smile.  I had learned that a smile from a Byzantine can sometimes be the prelude to a knife in the back but Nicephorus seemed as honest as most men. I could not get over the magnificent armour which was paraded. The Byzantines might not have a huge army but the one they did have was well protected. Aidan scurried in and stood next to us, just before Alexios began. We already knew our role and all heads turned in my direction when our names were mentioned. The cavalry commander was Andronikos who grinned at me when his name was spoken; he appeared to be slightly younger than the others, like Nicephorus and the rest of the senior officers.  We discovered that we were taking a Thema of infantry from the region along with the cataphracts of Nicephorus and the engineers who would service the siege engines. I looked at Ridley when the numbers were read out.  “We will be seriously outnumbered.”

Ridley nodded but the grander plans were not Ridley’s strong point.
  He could understand the men he could see but larger numbers meant nothing to him. I could see that Alexios was relying on the ability of both my men and the light cavalry to secure himself a base and I wished that we had had time to train the men and practise shield wall and wedge formations.  Much would need to be done on the road.

Andronikos and I were asked to stay. “Your role is vital.
  You are both Droungarios and I expect you to work together.” He gave an apologetic smile to Aidan,” it means, priest, that you will have to accompany Aelfraed into danger.”

Aidan bowed, “It is my honour to serve.” Aidan had learned the politic reply well in his time in this place of intrigue.

“You will leave tomorrow morning and remember that you must secure a camp close enough to spy on the enemy stronghold and yet make it defensible.  You must control the road.”

Once outside, Andronikos shared his knowledge with us.
  “My men are from this region, Droungarios, and we know the terrain well.  There is a round hill just to the west of the town which would be perfect for a camp which could be fended and yet still see the city.”

“Excellent. How are your men armed?”

“We have bows and swords.”

“Armour?” I looked at his magnificent breastplate and mail.

“No, they wear a helmet only.” He looked at us. “You are on foot and you will not be moving quickly I think.”

“Faster than you think.
  An English army armed as we are once marched over two hundred miles in four days and won a battle against the Vikings.”

He looked impressed.
  “We may be quicker for we have wagons which will carry our tents.” He held out his hand.  “I look forwards to this expedition and to fighting alongside men who carry such fearsome weapons.”

I liked Andronikos for he was not a man of politics; he was a soldier and, as I came to find out, a magnificent horseman.
  He was a young noble who was passionate about Byzantium and his one regret was that he had not been at Manzikert where his father had fallen.  In all the time I knew him he never played me false and was a true friend; would that I could have said that about all my fellow commanders. He had told me that we would be marching for almost three hundred miles. The strategos had arranged for the few ships the Byzantine fleet had to accompany us along the coast which would be twenty miles to the north of us.  In the old days we would have all been transported closer to our destination but the fleet had been neglected.  It meant that, if we were in danger we could retreat and be evacuated by sea.  I hoped it would not come to that. I decided that we would try to march at least sixty miles a day.  That would be tough going but it would help to harden up the men and give me an idea of their ability.  Ridley and I had discussed the men and realised that if they had taken the trouble to make their way to Constantinople then they already had a mental toughness about them on top of their natural ability.  If they were not the elite yet they soon would be.

We left before dawn had broken for I wanted to use the cool of the morning to march; we would need to rest during the heat of the day. I took a risk that first day and told the men to put their mail in the wagons along with their axes.
  It meant we could move faster on the first day when they were at their freshest and Andronikos assured me that the people of this region were not aggressive. Once we neared the capital of the rebel homeland then we would need to be aware of enemy attacks.

By the end of the first day we had covered seventy five miles but we were too exhausted to build a camp and Andronikos offered to use his men as sentries. I hoped he was correct about the placid nature of the local inhabitants. He had been impressed by the efforts of my men. “We could not have travelled much further today and we
journeyed mounted.” He looked up at Ridley and me.  “Are all your warriors as big as you two?”

We stood a head taller than the Byzantine and in his men. I laughed.
  “No but the Housecarls,” I waved a hand at my sleeping men, “are always big men for their wear heavy armour and wield heavy weapons.” I pointed to their ponies.  “It is the difference between your swift ponies and the horses of the cataphracts.”

“Ah, now I see. You have to stand and fight but we can evade and harry.” He shook his head. “It must take bravery and courage to stand and know you cannot retreat.”

“If we retreat we die so we stand and we fight. That is what a Housecarl does.” Aidan had fun explaining the word Housecarl.  I had been impressed by the priest for he had not complained once but taken a great interest in the land around us. The next day as we once again made an early start I spoke to him of his dreams.

“My dreams, my lord?”

“Yes Aidan.  What do you wish?  Where would you like to be?”

“Jerusalem, my lord, in the land of the Turks.
  I would like to see the place where Christ was born.”

I had not thought of that but we were as close to that holy place as any and I wondered what it would be like to see such a famous place. Such thoughts filled my head as we trudged eastwards through the heat, and the dust and the flies. Here I was in the land of antiquity, of Trojans, Persian
s and the Bible. Alexander and Caesar had both ranged and fought over this land and now, over a thousand years later, we were doing the same. The journey was uneventful until the end of the fourth day.  One of Andronikos’ riders galloped to a halt before us.