Shadows and Schemers

The next installment of the saga.

 Shadows in the Snow.

The column was finally approaching Leymoor, Denys Howard the Thrang of Hammerton was keen to speak to the towns elders and his garrison commander, to find out the extent of the incursions into his dominion. He knew it was bad, by the messages he had been receiving and suspected it was more than a roaming band of outlaws and thieves who were responsible.

'What do you see Walter?' Denys spoke to his son without turning his head away from the town ahead.

Walter was a little puzzled at the question.

'Why the town of Leymoor, ahead of us father.' he said the confusion evident in his voice.

Denys give a slight nod of the head, but again kept his eyes on the town.

'What else do you see my boy, forget the town ahead, look around you for a little while, and then tell me what you see.'

Lawrence had no idea what his father was talking about or hinting at, but he began to scan the land around him. The column was trudging along behind the Thrang Host as normal, to his right were only fields of white, as far as the eye could see. To his left was a low snow covered ridge, nothing remarkable... then he saw movement. At first he thought he had imagined it, but there it was again, two of them, men on foot, moving from snow covered rock to snow covered rock.

'Father, I see two men moving along the ridge on our left side, they are trying to stay hidden but show up against the snow.'

Denys again nodded, this time he looked at the boy, 'Those men or others with them, have been following and watching us for the last two days, did you not notice them before.'

The boy felt himself redden of face, 'No father, I have not been paying attention, only on the road ahead.'

'Then take this as a lesson, always keep alert to what is around you at all times, your life and those of your people may depend upon it.'

The townsfolk were now aware of the approaching column, the garrison was being called out and began to form up, people stood outside of their houses and the town elders rushed to take their places for the arrival of their thrang. They had much to tell him, most of it bad!

                            

                             The Thrang is Dead, Long Live the Thrang.

Agnes Foxe, wife of, or more correctly widow, of the Thrang of Rudston, gave a convincing show of distress, as her husband took his last breaths in this world. The pig was dead, and she was elated to be rid of him. It was good timing too, the twin boys had celebrated their sixteenth birthdays yesterday, at least he hadn't died on that day to ruin the celebrations for the boys.

But now there was work to be done, the late thrang's host, would now have to choose a ward to advise the new thrang. Benedict could not assume that role fully for two more years, and Agnes intended to fill the role of ward. Her lover, Andrew Daye, a senior member of the host would help her achieve that goal.

She had time to organise herself, as the host would not meet until her husband had been buried and that would have to wait until invited guests, mainly neighbouring thrangs and of course her brother, the Thrang of Wheeldale arrived. Messages were at this moment being carried to them all.

They would all attend of course, it was expected that neighbouring thrangs attended the funeral of one of their own, with the melting snow now revealing the fields beneath, it was not a very good time for any of them, far too much to organise in their own dominions. But come they would from Exelby in the South to Sailsworth in the North, they may not even have liked her husband, but the thrangs of financially poor dominions, could not be seen to snub a more powerful thrang.

Agnes had plans for her two boys, Benedict would take over at Rudston, with her guiding hand of course. But what of Luke? He too should rule over a dominion, but which one? Exelby and Longthwaite, close by were unsuitable, both being of poor soil and of little use for anything except grazing sheep on the hills. No, Agnes had her eyes on Waplington, a far more suitable dominion. Aubrey Cotterill, its thrang, would soon be receiving the sad news of her husbands death and of course would be attending the burial. She had met him on only two previous occasions, he was quite elderly, certainly beyond 60, a fine warrior in his youth and a good leader of his people. It was said that the populace of Waplington were among the happiest in Yolare.

But with her brothers help, as well as the other former members of the Eastern Alliance, she hoped to take it, along with other dominions who stood in her way. It would ease the pain and shame many of the Eastern Alliance still felt after the War of the Two Rivers, a dozen years earlier, when the coward of a husband of hers, had surrendered the Alliances forces, when the war was still there to be won.

It would not happen again...

A Skirmish in the Snow.

The next installment of the saga for your reading and viewing pleasure.

                                       A Surprising Turn of Events.

Guy de Cobham gathered the men of Thorngarth and Egton around himself and Owen Wadham. He explained the price demanded by Lovell to continue their journey. The men, especially those from Egton Low Moor, to which the desperately needed supplies were to be delivered, shook their heads and cursed.

'We refused to pay what was demanded,' Guy explained, in a loud voice so all could hear. The men nodded their heads and cheered, some shook their fists or waved a weapon.

'Let them try and take it!' shouted one of the archers of Egton, which brought another cheer and shaking of fists from the assembled men.

This time Owen spoke up, 'We will not be handing over a single grain of wheat, the only thing they will receive from us, will be the sharp point of arrow and sword as we push them aside.'

This brought another loud cheer, as men smiled and nodded to each other.

'My lord, I will order an advance to the wall, archers in the lead.' said Luke Brann, banner man of Godfrey Lovell.

'You will give no such order,' hissed Lovell. Those young puppies and their shepherd boys will come to me!

Luke narrowed his eyes and looked across the wall to the far side of the field, he could see the two mounted figures of Guy and Owen, surrounded by their men, no doubt giving them a rousing speech to encourage their efforts and instill confidence. His lord had said not a single word to any man since they had returned from the wall and the meeting with the two young men.

'But my lord, the wall gives the defender some cover from arrows as well as making it difficult for the attacker to cross, we are closer and could advance to deny it to the enemy.'

Godfrey Lovell looked directly into the face of his banner man.

'Do not try to tell me battlefield tactics!' He spat the words out, 'They will come to me and be slaughtered, they are no match for my troops, especially my Host, they have nothing to match them. Oh no, those runts, do not yet warrant a Host, nor will they live long enough to ever warrant one!'

He instructed Luke to form the archers in the centre ahead of his Host with the bill men on each flank. The banner man moved off to give the orders, he was not happy with the situation but had little choice but to obey.

'It seems that Lovell has no intention of advancing to the wall,' Guy watched Lovell's men forming up in a battle line. 'Most odd, but to our advantage Owen my friend,. We can advance, our archers in the centre, the spears and bills on the flanks. We have the advantage in bows and they will need to count as the enemy is greater in infantry. Thank the stars for this snow or his Host would be mounted, that could have made things very difficult for us.'

Owen had the men of Egton moving forward, but although the Thorngarth archers also moved, the more experienced bill men failed to advance.

Godfrey Lovell sat impassive as he watched the enemy troops begin their advance to the wall. His banner man too showed nothing on his face, but he was unhappy that the wall had been conceded to the foe. It seemed his lord had forgotten the first rule of any battle, deny the enemy any advantage whilst taking it for yourself. It was not a good beginning.

As the spear men and archers approached the wall, Guy was able to get the reluctant bill men to also advance.

They were now in long range fire of Lovell' archers, though protected by the wall. They unleashed but scored no hits, most of the arrows harmlessly striking the wall.

The archers of Thorngarth drew their bows and unleashed.

Causing a casualty, even at extreme range.

The archers of Egton also score a hit.

Encouraged by their earlier efforts, the archers once again unleash.

Two further members of Lovell's archers are cut down.

The view from the wall.

Godfrey Lovell was appalled, his archers seemed to be doing no damage but were themselves being cut down like wheat. He had seen enough.

'Advance! advance! we will close on these shepherds and teach them a lesson.'

Obeying the command all the men advanced.

Lovell's archers now being closer, they score two hits on the archers of Thorngarth.

In the volley of arrows that were returned from the wall, another casualty fell and the men, now looking at each other in fear, began to waver.

The archers of Egton fired a volley at the advancing spear men, but not hits were recorded.

Guy and Owen order the spears and bills to the wall.

Lovell's men continue to advance.

But the enemy appears as strong as ever.

A final volley of arrows from the men of Thorngarth, proves too much for Lovell's archers who break and run.

The archers of Egton take down a spear man.

Still they continue their advance to the wall.

However, Lovells Host stop before the bodies of the fallen archers.

Godfrey Lovell is beside himself with rage.

'Advance you dogs, you are supposed be my elite guard, but you stop and gaze at a few bodies like a bunch of old women!'

Lovell's bills finally approach the wall.

 

With  the words of their thrang ringing in their ears, the Host advance through the corpses.

With the enemy bills so close, the archers fail to unleash.

Not so on the left flank as the Thorngarth archers reduce the bills by one.

The men of Egton this time do unleash and claim a victim before being ordered back by Owen.

Now it is a battle between the bills and spears.

Brutal fighting at the wall saw both sides take casualties and both were forced to recoil, Lovell's bills in confusion.

Bitter fighting too on the other flank between bill men, saw Lovell's men pushed back in confusion.

A lull in the fighting as Lovell's Host advance in the centre between his reeling bill men.

A welcome rest too for the men of Thorngarth and Egton. As they brace themselves for the next assault that they know must soon come, only this time with the Host adding their weight to the attack.

A cry goes up from the defenders as a column of troops are seen to their rear. The initial fear of a trap with Lovell's men also behind them is soon dispelled as they realise the column bears the colours of Richard Pierrot, Thrang of Burn Howe.

Both Guy  and Owen, ride to greet the Thrang who had given them shelter just days earlier. After greetings and handshakes, Richard explained he had gathered his host and what troops he had available and set off a few hours behind their column.

'It was the least I could do,' a smiling Richard explained. 'I expected Lovell to intercept and wanted to be on hand should my assistance be needed, though it would appear that you have things very much under control and are giving dear old Godfrey a bloody nose.'

Guy nodded, 'The battle has gone our way so far, but now his host are about to enter the fray, with our bills and spears in close combat, only our archers stood in their path. Your timely arrival has saved us from suffering many casualties and possibly defeat.'

A call rang out from the wall, 'Riders approaching.'

Richard smiled again, 'It seems Godfrey has also come to greet me, let us not keep the gentleman waiting as I think he will have much to say.

The three men trotted off to the wall.

Godfrey Lovell had also seen the arrival of the column, the battle was not going as it should, these shepherd boys were tougher than he imagined and he saw a chance to redeem the day in his favour. Along with Luke he trotted forward through his battered troops to the wall.

He wasted no time on pleasantries, instead calling on Richard as a fellow thrang, to assist him in destroying this invasion force in his dominion, he went on to tell him that he had personally had his life threatened as Owen had attempted to draw a sword on him.

'My dear Godfrey, the borders of your dominion should indeed be sacrosanct, especially from any foreign invader. However,' he waved a gauntleted hand along the line of men. 'I hardly call this an invasion force, more an escort for a valuable cargo. A cargo which you were determined to intercept for whatever reason.'

Godfrey Lovell, was getting angry, he had to control his voice and temper, he needed this fool on his side.

He attempted a smile which was little more than a grimace, 'Richard my friend, no matter the reason, an armed force entered my dominion without permission and threatened its thrang.'

Richard shook his head slowly, 'The problem is Godfrey, your spies and scouts wander through my dominion, without permission, all the time, why is this incursion into your dominion so different?

Godfrey was about to explode, he opened his mouth, but Richard raised a hand to stop him. He turned to Guy and Owen.

'Is this true, did one of you threaten to draw your sword on a thrang in his own lands?'

Owen spoke up, 'It is true my lord, but only after he had personally insulted my family and myself, I was simply acting to defend their and my own honour.'

'There, you see Godfrey, you only ever tell part of a story, the part which you want heard. You call an escort an invading army, and insult the son of a thrang too. It seems these two young men and their brave troops have bested you on the field of battle too.'

It was too much for Godfrey, he spat out the words. 'They have bested nothing, if you hadn't arrived to interfere, my host and bills would have cut them to pieces. So you can take your host and spears from my dominion and let me finish this affair.'

Richard shook his head again, 'The problem is my dear Godfrey, is that now I am here my men will be more than happy to assist the men of Thorngarth and Egton. It seems you are greatly outnumbered and would suffer terribly if you insist on continuing this fight. I think it much wiser if you take your host and the rest of your men, and return to Knapton and let these young men continue their journey unmolested.'

Lovell could barely contain his anger, but knew the words were true, with Pierrot's host and spears against him, it could only end in utter defeat. No his day would come and all three of these fools would pay dearly for today. He was already preparing his story of how not one, but two invading armies had attacked his small force, he had been left no option but to retire to his hall.

'I will not forget this day Pierrot, both you and these runts will rue the day you crossed me, be sure of that.'

Once again Richard smiled, 'I have no doubt what you say is true, but you are being offered a free passage away from this field of battle, you can gather and take away your dead too. Personally, I would be more than happy to cut you down at this very spot, and rid Yolare of another tyrant.

Godfrey Lovell, turned his horse, Luke following him.

'The dead are of no use to me, they can rot and be left for the carrion they are.'

He rode off back to his men.

Godfrey Lovell, his force still mainly intact, though they had suffered casualties, formed a column and headed away from the field of battle.

The men of Thorngarth and Egton, with the accompanying mules passed through the gate and headed for the dominion of Egton Low Moor. They carried their own dead colleagues, but were unable to bury the enemy dead as the ground beneath the snow was still frozen.

Richard shook the hands of both men.

'Your journey should now pass without incident.' Richard said, looking at the corpses strewn about the field, there was no dignity even in death for Godfrey Lovell's men it seems. 'You should be out of Lovell's dominion by nightfall and into the dominion of Egton Low Moor. Those supplies will be well received.'

Owen and Guy thanked him again, then set off after the column, it would still be two or three days before they reached the home of Owen's father. Both young men hoped it wouldn't be too late.