The Temporal Knights (63 page)

“Yes, but it’s still almost a hundred and fifty miles to the point, and that’s a large area to search with the rain limiting our visibility,” Peebles answered. He was concerned. The land was quite hilly, severely limiting their line of sight in any one direction. They all looked up from screen as a strong, cool gust of wind rocked the vehicle. The wind was growing stronger by the moment.

“It’s going to be quite a storm,” Lemay predicted confidently as they watched the Lady Æthelf
læ
d approach. She was no longer dressed in one of her fine gowns; instead she wore a pair of oversized camouflaged pants that Logan managed to scrounge up somewhere. The trousers were rolled at the cuffs and too big at her waist, as was the button-down shirt she wore underneath a large windbreaker sporting the logo of Arizona State University in big red letters. She still wore her dainty shoes since not even Logan could find boots to fit her. She did have her own helmet however, complete with silver TVD, though Peebles had turned off most of the systems so she would not be overloaded with information. She looked as women have always looked when dressed in men’s clothes, ridiculous, and impossibly attractive. She carried her helmet at her side and fought the fickle wind as she made her way up to them.

“Twill
be hard Anglish weather to be sure,” she told them with a smile

“Yes, but it will really limit our ability to find your father,” the General answered, and though he was slightly worried he couldn’t help but cast a smile of his own. She was lovely and he was truly enjoying her company. He was very glad she’d come along. Both Sadao and Lemay noticed the change in their commander, though only the Colonel was annoyed by it, after all they had a war to fight. 

“Methinks ye should wait here,” Æthelf
læ
d said with no noticeable worry, as they sat along the road to Exeter. “Father wold’ve sent riders out if’n he were to fight the Danes, either to Lord Eadwulf at Shaftesbury, or to me at Winchester. Since we have encountered no one, and this is the only road to Shaftesbury, the rider is yet to be sent or coming as we wait.”

“We’ve got a horseman, coming fast,” Private Brooks announced as if on cue. The private and his group were perhaps two miles west of the main force. He was off the road by nearly a half a mile, hiding in a small grove of trees, but he was positioned on the tallest hill in the area and had a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. Of the three men, only Sadao was wearing his helmet and the report came in loud and clear to him, though it was low, and lost in the wind to the others. Instantly both Peebles and Lemay put on their own helmets and after a brief moment the Lady Æthelf
læ
d followed suit. The Lady of Mercia was bothered slightly by the blank faceplate and was utterly surprised that she could see…and see well through the metal shield.

“Seems the Lady was correct,” Sadao said.

“Say again,” Peebles said.

“Horseman coming fast from the west.”

“What’s his position?” Peebles asked as the inside of his TVD shifted and showed him and Æthelf
læ
d the view from Private Brooks’ position. The Lady gasped though the men around her took the changing view in stride. Æthelf
læ
d felt a brief moment of vertigo but she quickly adjusted and felt a thrill as she spotted a rider, charging hard in the distance.

“Wondrous!” She whispered though everyone heard her plainly.

“About half a klick west, coming right on the road. He should reach Sergeant Moore’s position in thirty seconds.”

“Sergeant Moore.”

“Aye Sir.”

“Stop him,” the General ordered. “We need information. Take out the horse if you must.”

“Yes Sir,” Moore answered. He only waited a little over a minute before the rider topped a hill and charged into view. The rider was apparently oblivious to his surroundings and was bearing down on Moore’s position, unaware of what waited for him. Moore had his men; Chuen, Trotsky and Martone spread out just off the road. As the rider approached, Chuen stood at the last possible moment and fired a burst from his flame-thrower across the nose of the horse. The beast stopped abruptly, nearly throwing the rider. The soldiers rose and quickly surrounded the horse and man, but they immediately took off their helmets, knowing now that it was better to greet the locals face to face.

“We are with Lady Athelflayed,” Moore announced to the confused man.

“Who ye be?” the rider asked not recognizing any of the strange men around him, and fearing a Danish trap.

“We are with Lady Athelflayed,” Moore repeated. “She’s come down from Winchester in Sir Eadwulf’s stead.”

“Æthelf
læ
d?” the rider asked surprised, wondering at the man’s strange speech and garb. Strange though it was, it was clear he was no Norseman come a’vikin’. “God’s be blessed if she be here with her fyrd. The King be north of Exeter, attacking a buhr protecting the Boneless himself.”

“Come, I will take you to her,” Moore said as the first large drops of rain began to fall.

The rain was really coming down by the time the rider finished his report inside the back of one of the trucks where it was dry, if not exactly warm. At least now they had the exact location of the King. He was close; Exeter was only about fifteen miles away. The rider also informed them that Alfred suspected that the Boneless was bait to lure his army down on the Lizard. He expected to be trapped by Halfdan, Ivarr’s brother if they did not take the buhr soon.

“The peninsula widens near Exeter and the Exe River flows right along the edge of the town, the Danes may use it to escape…it’s their M.O.” Lemay said from the front seat of the lead hummer.

“From what the rider said, Alfred’s army is here. If you were going to attack his position would you come from the north, south or east?” Peebles asked and they all studied the map on the dashboard computer screen. At first the Lady Æthelf
læ
d just gawked at the colorful map, fascinated. She could read; her father insisted she learn, and while she recognized many of the names of the major towns, despite the propensity of odd spelling, there were some she did not know and others where she definitely knew no towns actually existed. There were five of them huddled over the screen, staying out of the rain, including Sir Gospatrick and Master Ædwin.

“From what we’ve been told, the Danes would most likely come in from the south side of the peninsula, probably launched from the Isle of Wight,” Lemay commented. “If we stick to the northern passages we probably won’t run into them and have a clear way to Exeter.”

“Yah, yah,” Æthelf
læ
d agreed tearing her eyes from the display screen. “The Boneless wintered on the isle the last two years now, and the Danes have controlled it for the past five. They land and raid all along the south coast stealin’ and killin’.”

Peebles stared at the map a moment. “If they built a fortification at Exeter to lure King Alfred there, my best guess would be that their army would land here...at Bridport or somewhere just east of it.  Once on land they’d probably move their army due north to cut off any possible retreat, maybe hold up and wait at Axminster or possibly Taunton for Alfred to take the bait.”

“That would put the bulk of the Danish army near us, unless they’ve already moved down for the kill...and if there is an army. We still don’t know for sure that it’s a trap.”

“Tis a trap,” Sir Gospatrick said with confidence, and agreed. “The Danes are
na one to build buhrs. They’d rather be a horsed, or escape from the King’s armies on the river. The Boneless would not tie himself down without cause and if the Danes being movin’ down the Lizard we must make haste and follow as soon as the storm let’s up.”

The General smiled and shook his head. “No, we must be very careful, but we can move now. The rains will slow us, but not stop us. We’ll stick to the north, but I’m sure the Viking army would not cause us any real problems if we happen to blunder into them. We should be able to scatter the lot without much problem, though I’d prefer to fight in more suitable weather. Tell me Lady Æthelf
læ
d; would a storm like this stop the Danes from moving against your brother?”

She glanced out the back of the truck to the torrents of rain then looked back at the General as if he were daft. “Oh yah, twold be verily easy to lose ones way in such a storm and verily hard to attack. Twold be impossible to communicate in battle, flags and horns wold be near useless.”

“Good,” Peebles said confirming his own thoughts. “Let’s move to the north around this little town...Rockbeare, and then head due west until we meet the Exe. It should guide us right down to the King.”

Lemay nodded, but Sir Gospatrick just scowled. He’d ridden this far in the back of one of the trucks with Ædwin and many a strange soldier. It was a nerve-wracking journey, made even more so because they could not see anything but the road behind them. It was disorientating and Sir Gospatrick innards had not liked the swaying of the vehicle, though the men were friendly enough. Still, he knew not how they would move in this downpour, and wished he had his own horse beneath his legs. He felt somehow unmanned, going into battle on foot like some common peasant. His friend Ædwin however, seemed to show no sign of discomfort and spent nearly the entire trip conversing with one soldier or another.

“Ye can move and see in this?” Sir Gospatrick said holding a hand up to the storm, thunder rolling around loudly to punctuate his question.

“We can still move, slower mind you, and much more carefully, but the hummer is legendary in my time, and these trucks can move through anything…and twenty-five miles is not all that far,” the General replied, though Rockbeare still seemed a very long way off to the locals. “Now let’s get moving,” he added and donned his helmet then without hesitation stepped out into the driving rain. He paused at the end of the truck to help the Lady Æthelf
læ
d down. The Lady’s own helmet was already on, since she had a much tougher time taking it off because of her flowing hair, she did take a moment to flip the blank metallic visor in place. Despite the General’s recommendations she insisted on having the same helm as all the soldiers and though the amount of information she received was limited, she still adjusted to the virtual display surprisingly well. She even played with the magnification settings, amazed and delighted. As the Lady of Mercia stepped from the vehicle she turned and gazed blankly back at Sir Gospatrick, who shivered and crossed himself.

“Could I possibly get one of those helms?” Ædwin asked, further irritating his friend. Gospatrick scowled at him, but Ædwin ignored him, knowing that the Lady Ellyn was behind most of his foul mood.

§

The storm was not so easy for King Alfred and his men to weather. The attacks on the buhr came to a complete halt, and though there were tents for the noblemen, and a ragged pair for the wounded, most of the army endured the cold, driving rain in the open. The King along with his advisors and most of his more trusted knights pondered the problem within the King’s own tent, including Sir Æthelnoth, Ealdorman of Somerset, who’d arrived just before the rains with thirty knights, seventy-three foot soldiers and just over a hundred archers. Outside the wind howled and the rain beat down hard enough on the thick oiled fabric to cause numerous leaks, but inside they were relatively dry, though still chilly and uncomfortable.

“The storm will stop them just as it has stopped us,” Sir Helmstan said and everyone agreed.

“We must use the storm to our advantage then and leave this place,” Wulfhere suggested.

“Pah,” Alfred shouted. “Wot, wold ye have me do, run like a coward?”

“We must use the storm and attack when they be least ‘xpectin’ it,” Sir Siberht, the Ealdorman of Devon said, always an aggressive one.

“Sir Siberht thinks like a King,” Alfred commented and Wulfhere scowled, hating the man’s recklessness though he remained quiet. Sir Siberht was no one to challenge lightly.

“Forgive me Sire,” Wulfhere added hastily in his anger. “Tis just that we’ve been here over long, and methinks we may be able to use the cover of the storm to move to the north and evade the danger.”

The King eyed him silently for a time, thinking Sir Wulfhere’s time may be over. “Tis a trap Wulfhere. The road home is already closed. The Boneless wold have ‘xpected us going north. Wot do ye want, me fyrd trapped by the sea? Twold be better to go south, something they twold na ‘xpect, but methinks that wold do little good either.”

“Mayhap if ye crossed the Exe and moved farther down to Lydford, tis a strong fortified town. There ye could wait for Genaral Peebles or Æthelf
læ
d to come,” Sir Æthelnoth added, taking Wulfhere’s side. He knew the power of the Americans would quickly overwhelm this flimsy buhr of Ivarr’s and with little risk to the King. Something in his gut told him they should not remain in place much longer.

Alfred nodded and gazed intensely at the Ealdorman of Somerset. “F
læ
d should be holdin’ up at Sutton or mayhap Kingston against Eadwulf movin’ on Winchester,” the King said somewhat alarmed.

Æthelnoth coughed once, very conscious of everyone’s eyes on him.
“Sir Eadwulf will na be comin’,” he answered and Alfred’s eyes flashed from the Ealdorman to Helmstan and back.