Enemy at the Gate (6 page)

"I will.  And we will need to look out for a young warhorse for you, too, Gilles."

"I am barely a squire, lord.  I may wear mail but we both know that I have not yet the skills to fight in a conroi. I am there to fetch your spear and your spare horse."

Unlike most squires Gilles was overly modest. I liked that trait in him. "Do not underestimate yourself, Gilles, besides I did not say you were ready for a warhorse but you need a young horse that you can school so that you can grow together.  Sir William, Sir Leofric and Sir John all had unschooled warhorses which are still not at their peak but horse and rider are growing as one. We shall put Badger with a good mare and you shall have the issue. Aiden knows horses and he will help you to grow close.  Wulfric there will teach you how to school the beast."

Wulfric had acquired his magnificent grey, Roger, in Normandy when he had slain the knight who rode him.  He had only ridden palfreys before then.  Most men at arms would never be allowed a war horse. Men who served me did not follow the same rules. Perhaps that was why I had little trouble in attracting new men. 

We were going into battle and that night Father Abelard heard confession and then absolved the conroi of its sins.  Men fought better knowing that their souls had been cleansed. He had with him a cross which Archbishop Thurstan had given to me many years earlier.  Father Abelard would make sure that the cross would be as visible as my banner.  Although priests were supposed to be safe in battle I had seen too many die to take that for granted. My banner would be carried by Gilles.  I had too few men at arms to have the luxury of a standard guarded by a valuable warrior.  Gilles could defend the standard; I hoped he would not have to.

We broke camp before dawn and moved all into the shelter of the woods. We walked our horses there rather than riding them. I had Aiden, Edward and Edgar with me.  I sent them down to the river with orders to slay the Scottish scouts whom I knew would be crossing the river soon. They were fine hunters; this day they would hunt men.

We then waited.  Most battles are hours of waiting followed by a brief but vicious fight and then it would be over.  Some men lost the battle while they were waiting for they defeated themselves in their minds.  Their enemies' numbers grew.  Their belief in their leaders diminished. All of my men had fought enough times to ignore those doubts.

By noon we had received a message from the castle that the bridge gate had fallen and the Scots were crossing.  To us it was a distant noise but from then on the noise grew as more Scots and rebels crossed the bridge and tried to move around to the east gate.  The curtain wall, which was above the bridge, had been built on an a slope which was impossible to climb one handed.  Four men could guard the whole wall.  Instead the army endured the arrows, slingshots and stones of the south wall of the castle as they hurried to the flatter ground to the east.

Gilles pointed and said, excitedly, "There lord! I see banners."

"You have sharp eyes, Gilles." The vanguard was approaching the east gate.  The castle was just three quarters of a mile from us.  I had had my men pace it for I needed to know the exact distance for our charge. I turned, "Prepare for war.  The enemy approaches. Gilles, fetch our mounts."

When he returned he said, "Do we not charge them now lord?"

"No for first they will ask for the surrender of the castle while their men prepare the ram. I want the ram almost completed before we destroy it."

Sure enough we heard the trumpets as the Earl of Moray or whoever led them approached the walls.

"Mount!"

There would be no further orders until we left the safety of the woods.  It would take some minutes to organise into our three battles. Sir Richard would lead the right.  Sir Edward, the left.  I would have Sir Tristan and Sir Hugh with me and we would form the centre.  There would be forty heavily armoured men in the centre column and but fifteen on each of the flanks.  It was my job to go for the heart of their lines.  The other two were to protect my flanks and enable me to do so.

I waited until I saw activity and heard the shouts and cheers as the Scots prepared to attack. Half a mile from us they had set up their camp and I saw men unloading the parts of the ram from their wagons. I shouted, "Mount!"

I led my men from the wood. It did not take long to form our lines. I rode at the head of my column and I was flanked by Wulfric and Sir Harold.  Sir Tristan was to Sir Harold's left.  Gilles and the squires were tucked in behind the four of us and then the rest of my men at arms, warriors all, formed the sides of the wedge.  We were using my father's favourite formation. The four of us would be the point of the arrow and we would charge the heart of the enemy.

Wulfric said, "Ready, lord!"

We trotted forward.  We were not seen by those constructing the ram until we were four hundred paces from them.  By then we were cantering. When we struck the enemy we would not be going much faster. Behind us the men who guarded our camp were running to finish off any men we wounded.  We would slay the men at the ram and they would destroy it.  Without a ram the castle could not be taken.

As soon as we were seen pandemonium ensued.  The men who had been building the ram had no armour and they fled towards the river. Our horses opened their legs and we covered the last couple of hundred paces quickly. Ahead of us the Scots had seen our approach.  They had their best men facing the walls and few mounted men. The mounted men were their twenty knights and they hurriedly turned to face us.  I eased Badger's head to the left so that we approached the knights head on. We had our long spears. Unlike wooden lances these had a long metal head.  Alf had tempered them and they would penetrate mail.

The Scots had no lances for they had not envisaged fighting horsemen. The four of us were so close that our stirrups were touching. The enemy line was loose. The four of us struck the two centre knights.  I pulled back my spear and punched it at the chest of the knight with the yellow cross on the blue surcoat.  Harold's spear struck his shield. My punch and my sharpened spear head broke the mail and tore though the gambeson to enter the knight's chest. Harold's spear knocked the rider into the path of the fellow next to him and Wulfric lost his spear when it shattered in the throat of his opponent.

I pulled back my arm and lowered my hand for there were no horsemen before me. My men at arms were engaged with the outnumbered knights behind me.  Sir Richard and Sir Edward had brought their men to add their swords to that unequal contest. Before us lay the mass of the Scottish army and they were all on foot.  Dick and his archers rained arrows down on men who now had two foes to face.  If they turned their backs on the archers to face us they had no shields to protect themselves.

Twenty or so Scottish men at arms had formed a shield wall.  Three of us still had spears.  I shouted, "Bear left!" It allowed us to ride obliquely across their line and thrust our spears at the waiting shield wall.  Wulfric had drawn his axe and he could swing that mighty weapon one handed. I thrust with my spear at the man at arms who had just stabbed at me.  My spear was longer than his and it entered his cheek and the head shattered.  I felt the blow from his spear but my mail prevented penetration.  I heard a loud shout as Wulfric's axe took half the head from the leader of the men art arms.

"Bear right!" Drawing my sword I swung Badger's head to the right.  We were now inside the shield wall and the slaughter began.  The squires could use their spears and we had our swords and axes to hack and slash at the heads of the men at arms.  Few had mail coifs and our long swords found flesh. They were brave and struck at us with their swords.  One managed to strike Badger which was a mistake for he lunged, teeth bared at the Scot. I thrust under the man's outstretched arm into his side. The Scots were either dead, wounded or had thrown down their weapons and prostrated themselves on the ground.  I reined in Badger.  The wound to my mount was not serious but it would need stitches.  He stamped the ground angrily.  It did not do to upset a destrier.

I saw that Sir Edward and Sir Richard had captured most of the knights or slain them.  Two had managed to escape and now gathered with the rest of their army.  It was much smaller in number. They had formed a huge circle with shields on every side.  I smelled burning and turned to see that my men had set the parts of the ram alight. Close to the wall were the remains of the ladders.  Barnard Castle would not be taken.

Wulfric and Sir Edward reined in next to me. Wulfric pointed to the two knights who had escaped, "That is Sir William Redere there with the Earl of Moray."

Sir Edward said, "They still outnumber us, lord."

"But they cannot defeat us.  We have an impasse.  We do not have the men to defeat them and they are looking for a way out. Come Gilles, Sir Edward, we will go and speak with them. Sir Richard, take command."

I sheathed my sword and took off my helmet and rode slowly towards the enemy with my right hand palm uppermost.  It was the sign of peace. When I was twenty paces from their wall of spears I stopped.  Just then I saw a crossbow come up.  I barely had time to bring up my shield before a bolt struck my shield. I lowered my shield as I heard the cries as my archers killed the last four crossbowmen.

"I might have expected such dishonour from Scots." I pointed my hand at Sir Richard, "And you sir, had best stay clear of my sword for you lied to me." He had not been as innocent as I had assumed.  He had deceived me.

He shrugged, "A ruse of war, that is all."

The Earl of Moray was a greybeard He had negotiated before, "Make your offer!"

"Leave your horses and go back to Scotland.  Send ransoms for your knights and pay a hundred gold pieces to Sir Hugh of Gainford for the unwarranted attack on his castle and his lands."

"We outnumber you!"

I was close enough to see the walls and for them to hear me. "Dick! A demonstration!"

An arrow flew and struck the squire next to the Earl in the hand. The shocked squires looked in disbelief at the shaft in his palm. "Enough! You call this honourable?"

"He lives, does he not? Had the position been reversed then I am not so sure."

"Very well. I agree to your terms, reluctantly.  I do so to save my men's  lives." He turned his horse's head. 

"No horse is to leave the field.  You can walk back to your home. You have one month to send the ransoms, that is all!"

The four remaining horsemen dismounted and the Scottish army trudged west.  They had to endure the jeers and shouts from the walls of Barnard Castle and it was not a quick departure.  The narrow bridge gate slowed them down. The humiliation would last all the way west.

It would have been impossible not to lose men in our attack against such odds and we had lost men at arms who were impossible to replace. Others had wounds. Our horses had been hurt.  We had to stitch Badger and a number of other animals. However we had achieved our aims.  The Scots had been thwarted.  I was, however, worried that King David was not with them.  This meant that this was not the main Scottish army.  This was a test to see our reaction. Had they captured the castle then it would have allowed them to take the whole of the north.  The war was not over and the enemy were still sniffing around our borders, our walls and even our very gates.

We took the prisoners into the castle.  There they would be closely guarded. Sir Edward organised the sharing out of the spoils of war and they were better than we might have expected.  It showed that they had been confident they would win.   We had seven warhorses, one of each conroi.  There were suits of armour as well as many weapons.  The baggage train was abandoned and we found gold and coins. Gospatric had escaped us once more.  He was always too canny to be caught.  He had been the first to flee with his bodyguard.  He would live to fight another day.

We feasted that night.  It was always the way of warriors.  We had come close to death and yet, by banding together, we had survived.  None of my men had died but we knew those who had and we spoke of their deeds.  We recounted past battles where they had gained honour and we toasted their souls to heaven. None of us doubted that we would meet again in the Otherworld, heaven.

The next morning I sent Sir Richard, Sir Tristan and Sir Harold home with their booty.  I wanted their homes protecting. We could not risk spending long periods away. Sir Edward and I would wait until the ransoms and damages had been paid. Sir Hugh was delighted.  His castle had held and he had seen ways to improve his castle. 

"I believe, Earl, that we could last five, six, even seven days without aid. I intend to build a double ditch before my  gate.  If a ram is the best that they have then they will never defeat these walls."

"Then make sure you have a cellar with plenty of food.  Your well and the river give you water but a determined enemy can lay siege for months."

"I will lord but, thanks to your wisdom I am much richer now.  I can hire more men and employ William the Mason to make my castle stronger."

By the time that the ransom and damages had come I was satisfied that Barnard Castle would be a rock upon which the Scots would break. The next time they would come a different way. As we rode back I discussed it with Wulfric, Dick, Aiden and Sir Edward. Aiden knew the land better than any.

"I was worried, lord, when they reached Bowes for, from there, they could either cross the river or head south. I gambled."

"We all gambled, Aiden and it paid off. But you are right.  What do we do if they come south of the river?  They could head for Gainford, Piercebridge or Yarm.  None of those castles are as strong as Barnard. King David can muster a much larger army than the one we saw last week. We must be vigilant. I asked Sir Hugh to keep his foresters far to the west and the north.  We need early warning of danger and our enemies."