The Wolf Brethren had been decimated: wars, disease and old age have take most of them. When a band of Saxon mercenaries are hired by King Oswald and slay Lann Aelle and all of his people it becomes a blood feud between the Warlord and Lang Seax. The novel follows the ebb and flow of victory and defeat as the Northumbrians fight for supremacy of Britannia with King Penda of Mercia. The Warlord plays his part but with Myrddyn now dead Rheged looks doomed. Hope comes from a most surprising source and when his nephew, Arturus takes a bride then the fortunes of the last of the Romans take a turn for the better. A fast moving novel set in the seventh century of ancient Britain.
I put it off as long as I could but I had to end the Wolf Brethren Series. This was the third series I started and it led to Dragonheart. The story would never end well. I enjoyed, in this last book, bringing the Arthur/Guinevere story to life and there may well be a stand alone book about Arturus. I have many projects to finish first. I used the actual events of the King Oswald/King Penda/King Oswiu wars as my backdrop. Some of the incidents I discovered beggared belief- Oswestry in Wales is named after the battle- Oswald’s Tree. King Penda had the Christian King’s body dismembered and hung from a tree. Bizarre, eh?
Excerpt
I raised my spear, “Prepare to move!”
Daffydd and his archers appeared behind us. Their bow strings were still inside their seal skin pouches. It would keep them dry until the last moment. The King and his oathsworn were in the centre of the river. I did not see who commanded the Angles. It was not Oswiu for he was still in the north. They waited in three ranks. The mercenaries were all on their left flank leaving us with the Deiran warbands. The bank was slippery and I saw the Mercians struggle to reach the solid ground. That should have been the moment for the Northumbrians to attack but they did not. They seemed content to allow King Penda and his men to form up. The Mercians were disordered as they struggled up the bank. Why let them form a shield wall? It made no sense to me. I began to hope and believe that we would win.
The Mercians formed three lines and then the second horn sounded. We moved forward. I glanced down the river and saw the men of the East Angles in the water. Œthelwald of Deira had not moved forward. In fact, he had withdrawn his men to a small hill which lay further north. He was not attacking. He was waiting to see which side would be likely to win. We were nearing the south bank when a Northumbrian horn sounded. Lang Seax led his clan and the mercenaries. Some had crossed the river. They must have been the splashes I heard in the night and they fell upon the flank and rear of the single warband of East Angles. They fell upon the Angles in the river. The one warband faced three. I forced myself to concentrate on what we needed to do. Our right flank would fall! We had to defeat those on our side.
We were in one line. Daffydd shouted, “Ready, Warlord.”
Normally we would have taken our time but the longer we waited the less effective would be the bow strings. “Charge!” The damp ground would mean a charge at a trot rather than a gallop but we had to support King Penda. Already he was engaged with the Bernicians. Their blades and spears clashed in a deadly cacophony. I had my own battle. The arrows might not have been as effective in the rain but the first ones still flew two hundred paces and fell amongst those at the rear who did not have their shields up. Angles died! Even before we reached the shields another four flights had been sent into the enemy ranks. I saw the fall of arrows and knew that the range was decreasing incredibly quickly. Soon they would be useless.
Then we struck. I pulled back my arm and jabbed down with my spear. I was lucky. Even though Star did not have a firm footing the enemy had the same problem and as the Bernician who faced me stepped on to this left leg he slipped. My spear darted down and struck his neck I twisted and pulled. The blood arced spraying those around him. I urged Star on and his head reared above the Angle in the second rank. His jaws were open and his teeth looked terrifying. The Angle flinched and my spear found his stomach. The arrows had all been sent towards the centre, just ahead of me and I now reaped the reward. I was through their shield wall and I turned Star to head towards King Penda. I was attacking the side unprotected by a shield. Men tried to fend off my spear with their own but a spear is unwieldy at close quarters and I was striking down.
All was not going our way. I saw both Garth and Gruffyd pulled from their horses. They fought bravely but they were overwhelmed. I hurled my spear into the back of the warrior who was trying to take Garth’s head. I drew my second spear. I saw that King Penda was beleaguered, “Head for the King!”
My equites and squires all followed me. Those at the rear were attacked by the warriors who had been on the far right. I heard Daffydd’s voice above the mayhem all around us, “Archers, draw swords! Let us show them that we can fight as well as the equites too!”
A horse is the best vantage point to see the whole battlefield. With no enemies around me I looked west and saw that the East Angles had been slaughtered. That allowed Lang Seax to lead his men up behind King Penda. The Mercian King was being attacked in the rear. To my right Gawan and eight equites had manged to get within thirty paces of the King.
I speared another Northumbrian who was too slow to pull his shield up and I shouted, “Gawan! Go to the aid of the King!”
I know not if he heard me above the clamour of battle or if he read my thoughts but whatever the reason he raised his spear and he and the equites began to hack their way through the Angles. We were now well behind the front line of the Bernicians. I saw their leader. If I could get him then we might still win this battle. Agramaine, Pol and Dai were the nearest equites to me. I saw that there were too many empty saddles. There were less than twenty equites left and perilous few archers.
“Let us take the Eorledman who leads them. If we take the standard then the rest might flee!”
“Aye, Warlord.”
The four of us and their two squires kicked our horses in their flanks and rode towards the standards of Deira and Bernicia. Their attention was on the battle for it raged around King Penda and his standard. I saw Gawan and his five remaining equites as they fought their way to his side.
I forced myself to look at the twenty men we would attack. We were less than forty paces from them when they spied us. The thegn shouted an order and ten of his men ran at us with shields and spears. I still had one spare spear and so I hurled the one in my hand. It caught the Angle in the centre by surprise. My spear drove into his leather armour and pierced his chest. He fell and tripped the warrior next to him. I drew my last spear and as Star trampled to death the fallen man I stabbed down at a third Angle. I was through them and I left the others to be dealt with by my equites. The Eorledman had his standard bearer by his side. Two priests and three oathsworn were also with him. I was alone save for Warrior who still ran gamely next to me. This would be my death. I would die with Saxon Slayer in my hand but I would die. The odds were five to one. I hefted the spear and hurled it as I approached. The standard bearer had no mail. He had no armour. The standard showed a martyred St. Edwin. Perhaps he thought that would protect him. It did not and he fell, along with the standard. Behind me I heard a cheer as the Mercians took heart.
Drawing Saxon Slayer, I rode at the oathsworn. The priests fled; their faith was not strong enough. The Eorledman had his sword drawn but his shield was around his back. As I neared them I pulled back on Star’s reins and he reared. I slashed with my sword as his hooves hit one warrior. My sword struck the side of the helmet of a second. A spear was rammed up into my side. Warrior leapt and fastened his teeth around the oathsworn’s neck They fell to the ground. Even as I pulled Star around the Eorledman had brought his sword down to take brave Warrior’s head. He had died saving me. As the Angle with the bleeding neck rose I sliced across his neck with my sword. The Eorledman realised that he was alone and needed his shield. Even as he brought it around I hacked with Saxon Slayer. I struck his left arm, almost severing it. He looked up. His face was a mixture of shock and resignation. I brought Saxon Slayer from on high and cleaved his helmet and skull in two.
As I wheeled Star around I saw my two remaining equites riding towards me. Their squires were slain. I continued my turn and saw King Penda slain by Lang Seax. He raised King Penda’s head to show what he had done. One of his men held up Pybba’s head. It was the signal for flight. The Mercians ran. There was no logic to the direction they took. Some ran back towards the river while others tried to flee through the Northumbrians. Some of the Clan of the Snake had taken horses and were crossing the river to pursue them. The ones who stood the best chance were those who fled west. I turned to look for Daffydd ap Miach and his archers. I saw their huddle of bodies where they had made their last stand. Gawan! I looked back to King Penda’s last stand. There was no sign of Gawan nor their horses. The Clan of the Snake must have taken them.
I dismounted and picked up Warrior’s body. I laid it across Star’s neck.
Agramaine’s voice was urgent, “Warlord, we are lost! If we stay here then we will die too. We are the last three warriors of Rheged on the battle field. There may be others who have escaped. We should head south and then cut back north west.”
Agramaine was right. I felt numb. In one battle more than half of the best warriors in Rheged had perished. Had Gawan fallen? Even as I turned Star to head south I closed my eyes and pleaded with Gawan to speak to me. Although he did not answer, strangely, I felt that he was alive and that gave me hope. I opened my eyes and we galloped through the Northumbrian camp ignoring the treasures which lay there. The most important treasure now was our lives. We had to get back to Rheged as soon as we could.
