By the time the nights had lengthened and our waists grown thinner, we had two well made and well hidden camps. It had been hard building them in the winter but, as Osbert had pointed out, it meant that when the plants began to grow our shelters blended in and looked natural. We tried, whenever possible, to build our shelters out of living trees and bushes; bending and shaping branches and weaving in other materials. In the depths of winter we had to augment these with cloaks and clothes to keep us dry. The forest, however, contained much game and we used this whenever our supply of salted meat grew short. We still visited Coxold and Medelai until they were occupied and the two stewards kept us supplied but in early March, Branton, who had been sent to Medelai, galloped in with bad news, “Perci is at Medelai and he has begun to build a castle at Topcliffe. He has put every man woman and child to work.”
“But it is Spring! What about the crops? The lambs?” Ridley was incensed; they were not his people but he knew what would come next.
“They do not care Ridley. This is what happens when you lose a war. But at least it means we can move to our western camp and see if we can annoy the Normans a little.” There were just our three crippled warriors at the camp and they were pretending to be itinerant charcoal burners. It was an acceptable enough story and their injuries should provide an excuse for them not to build the castle walls. “We will move out tonight. Branton, you take the archers and make sure our way is clear.”
The ride was not short but we were lucky and had a fine moon to guide us. The night was frosty but not icy and the horses made good progress. The hardest part was the slope leading down to the Vale of Jorvik. We had not seen any Norman occupation of Thirsk, which was a small place anyway but we avoided it as we did Masham. We rode through the night like ghosts for everyone was inside their homes, including the Normans. As the coldest part of the time came and went I wondered how we could use that to our advantage. We could move freely along roads during the night and be ready to strike as dawn broke and tired sentries saw what they expected to see.
We found Branton waiting for us close to the old Roman town of Catherick. He spoke quietly, “There is a Norman conroi ahead. They are in Catherick itself.”
“We will go around but tomorrow you and I will find out who this conroi belongs to.”
Edward, Branton and myself rode to Catherick the next day. It was but a handful of miles from our camp and there was plenty of cover for our horses. We spied the Normans at work on the motte and bailey they were building. I say Normans, but they were on their horses supervising the thralls and villeins who toiled away. There would be much hunger this summer if the lambs were not care for and the crops not sown. We counted five knights or, at least, horsemen who were dressed as knights and fifteen men at arms. We could see no crossbowmen. This looked like our first opportunity to strike at the invader who was spreading across the land like a disease.
The men rested all day and we rose in the middle of the night at moonset. We took all the men we had for we wanted no surprises. We left the horses in the stand of trees with two men and then we split up. Ridley and Osbert took half the men to wait close to the construction site in case we failed in our mission whilst Branton and I took the others to hide close to the river and the village. The Normans had obviously occupied the old warrior hall for there were armed sentries out side. The huts of the villagers were further from the river. We spread out in a thin line. The two sentries at the main door appeared to be the only guards which meant that there should have been eighteen men inside. Branton had six archers and they each aimed at one of the sentries. As I nodded, six arrows found their targets and the two men fell silently into oblivion. One of the horses neighed but there was no other sound. Branton and the archers went to the horses while I took the fifteen men at arms with me. I was counting on surprise. Once we entered the hall then we knew that all inside were Normans and therefore enemies. Branton waved at me to show that he had secured the horses. With his archers mounted they could catch any who escaped our trap. The door opened with a slight creak; I hoped that the sentries coming and going during the night had made the noise before and it was familiar enough to ignore. All of us wore our shields at our backs and carried swords, axes and maces.
I stepped into a world lit at
one end by a glowing fire which had slowly died down during the
night. The Normans were spread along the sides but I assumed that
the knights would have taken the prime positions by the hearth. I
made my way through the sleeping bodies. It they woke it would be
unfortunate but the closer I got to the leaders the better it would
be. One of the men three back from me slipped slightly and stepped
on a man. He woke with a roar and took in the armed spirits who had
appeared, he began to roar a warning before he was despatched by a
warrior but they were all awake. There was no time for honour and I
slashed at the warrior next to me who had crouched, prior to
rising. The next man was splashed by his blood and struck by his
head as I decapitated him. We now outnumbered them by two. I ran
towards the Norman knight I could see drawing his sword. He still
had his tunic on but that was all. He advanced towards me with the
sword held level with his shoulder. I slipped my dagger in my left
hand and hacked at his sword; there was a clash of sparks and I
stabbed up at him with my dagger. It sliced through his tunic and
into his side but the knight just gritted his teeth and swung his
sword at me again. It was a two handed sword and longer than mine.
It meant that he could keep me at bay. I feinted with my dagger and
he reacted by turning with his blade. I took the opportunity to
stab forwards with my sword and struck his thigh. I knew it was a
deep wound as I struck a bone and deep red blood gushed from it. It
had hurt him and he staggered back. I smashed down with the sword
and again he staggered, this time into the fire. Without meaning to
he rolled away from the fire into the point of my dagger which
entered his throat and ended his life. I turned quickly to see one
of my men fall to a knight’s sword. Unfortunately for the knight
his side was facing me and my blade entered one side of his body
and exited the other. The remaining warriors were quickly
slaughtered for each faced three or four of my men.
It was like a charnel house. “Take our dead and wounded and then
gather any weapons, armour or documents. We need to be away before
dawn.”
There were not enough horses for us all and so I had the wounded and dead placed on the horses along with the arms and the weapons and the ten warriors with me backed out of the village. “Put your hoods up, disguise your faces.” As we left I saw the tiny glow from doorways as the villagers fearfully peeped out. I hoped they did not recognise us. I wanted our identity to be a mystery. We made our horses and met up with Osbert and Ridley. We quickly and silently headed east towards Topcliffe. The ground was hard now but the hoof prints would be clearly visible when the Normans came to look for their lost patrol. We rode to the road and then headed south for a while. When we came to the small river over which the road passed, we headed west, into the river and thence home.
“Too many men died there, my lord.”
“I know.” We had lost three dead in the attack and then another had succumbed to his wounds. “It was a major blow to the Normans but, you are right Osbert, they have more men to lose. The knights are fine warriors, even without armour. We will limit ourselves to ambushes along the road for a while. You never know, we may get more men who wish to join us.”
Osbert was not convinced. “Anyone who joins us would be a potential spy. We have to be careful.”
I could see what he meant for, with a price on my head there would be many men willing to risk all to make their fortune. As it transpired, there were no volunteers and we spent the next month watching for travellers. We devised a method by which two archers would wait as close to the Jorvik road south of Topcliffe as they could manage. If they saw a likely convoy then one rode up to the place we waited to fetch us whilst they other trailed them. I was there with Osbert and twenty men, a mixture of archers and men at arms when Edward galloped in. “My lord, a column of men at arms and knight. “
“How many? Twenty men at arms and four crossbowmen but only the knight is mounted.”
I turned to Osbert. “They can’t be making for Catherick, they wouldn’t make it. They must be going either to Topcliffe or Medelai.”
“Then we have to take them.” We rode along the road for four miles and then turned off into the scrub land adjacent.
Edward held his hand up. “I think that they should be just down the road around the stand of trees.”
“You and the archers secrete yourselves next to the road. We will attract their attention. Take out the knight if you can or his horse and your next target will be the crossbows.”
We had discovered they were the Normans best weapons and although we did not fear them, we respected them. “Right Osbert, I will ride down the road with four men and see if he will attack us or at least draw close to us. You and the others hide in the bushes and close with them.”
“With respect my lord, you cannot carry on like this.”
I saw the others smile, “Like what?”
“Always putting yourself at the fore as you did in Catherick. Always the first one in. I know you are our leader but we can’t afford to lose you. Let me have a go this time.” He grinned to take any insolence out of his words. “See if I can manage it, eh sir.”
He was right. He was as good a warrior as I was and perhaps I was hunting glory too much. “Very well, but don’t get yourself killed, I don’t want Branton pissed at me as well!”
We found some bushes and hid the horses. My horse, Sweyn, neighed; he always did that when he heard strange horses. They were approaching. Osbert and his men were in the distance riding down the road and I spied the Norman column. The knight had spotted Osbert and he showed his caution by forming his men into a defensive circle with him in the middle. Osbert halted and we had a stalemate. Edward and his archers had no target yet, at least not a target they could hit effectively. Osbert must have read my mind for he spread his men out into a line and began to trot down the road. I heard an order in French and then four crossbowmen stepped forwards to aim their weapons at Osbert. Although Edward’s men could not see the knight well enough to hit, the lightly protected crossbowmen were an easy target and they fell to the ground dead.
The men at arms turned to their left to protect against the new enemy and I shouted, “Now!” We sprang from concealment and struck the rear of their line with our spears. “Withdraw!”
The knight was a brave man and he charged at the archers. They knew better than to stay and they quickly mounted and sped away. Osbert galloped up and his men at arms exchanged spears with the men at arms, leaving another couple dead. When the knight reorganised his lines it was stalemate again and we withdrew. I felt disappointed but it had been a good ambush. We had killed or wounded at least eight and not lost a man. Osbert was cheerfulness personified as we rode back to camp. “Now that is how we should do it. Annoy them. Slow them down. Make them look behind every bush for us.”
By the end of the month the convoys had increased in size to protect them against our incursions. Each one had mounted men and crossbowmen to escort it. But we did notice that they cracked their whips even harder and the castles rose inexorably to dominate the skyline. I could see a pattern. They were controlling the roads. It was the chess game again; the castles controlled the board to enable their knights to attack. Luckily we received some intelligence from an unexpected source when Ralph arrived with more arrow heads.
He appeared to have grown by at least four fingers! “They have almost finished the castle at Maiden Bower and Aux Gemons…”
“Who is Aux Gemons when he is at home.?”
“That is William of Perci or as he is now called Baron Topcliffe. His nickname is Aux Gemons because of his moustaches. He is now at York building that castle and William has raised the taxes. They have been doubled. He has tax collectors all over the land.”
“You have done well Ralph. Have they been to Coxold yet?”
“Aye, they came there first.”
“You be careful when you return to Coxold and we will call in to the manor to speak with the steward.”
When he left I drew Osbert, his brother and Ridley to one side, “We will move camp.”
“What was that about visiting Coxold?”
“We will Ridley but it will be from our other camp.” He looked at me with a puzzled look although I could see that Osbert had worked out my meaning. “If Ralph is captured he will send any Norman west.”
“Ralph will not talk.”
“We cannot take that chance, besides, they are alert to us here. It is time to collect some taxes of our own.”
To the east there were many more small villages and settlements nestled in and around the foothills. There were few forts and castles although I suspected that William would change all that soon. The road to Scarborough wound through a fertile gap in the hills and, with my military eye, I could see that a castle built at Helmsley would prevent any progress that way. It was one reason why I had selected the camp as our hideaway for it enabled to strike quickly and yet still remain hidden.
The nights were becoming shorter when we began our forays and this emboldened the Normans. It suited us too for the new growth on bushes and trees afforded us more shelter. Branton and his scouts spent the first three days watching for the tax men. He found them on the second day. They were to the south east of us around the small village of Malton and Norton. I suppose they felt secure for there was a good Roman road to York but they had reckoned without my men. We left ten in the camp to improve its disguise and we led the others to ambush the small column. There were thirty men in the column and Branton had reported neither crossbows nor knights. He did tell me that the men at arms had more armour than hitherto.
“It seems we are annoying them then Ridley! We will split the force and await them either side of the road in and out of Malton.” We knew that they were in Malton and had been to Norton but we had no idea if they would return to Jorvik or continue to bleed the villages dry.
It is gently sloping land around these villages and the trees were sparse; the dips and hollows, however, suited us as there was no clear line of sight over long distances. I waited with Branton and half of the men on the road back to Jorvik whole Ridley took the others north. I had a scout on the outskirts of the village ready to warn us of their approach. When he did come, however, it was to tell us that the men had headed north towards Ridley. We mounted and trotted through the village; we saw some distressed villagers to whom we waved but we had no opportunity to speak with them. Ridley and Osbert would be outnumbered by the Normans we knew they would need us.
“Branton, send two men ahead to find the end of the column.”
The two men were still in sight when we heard the clash of weapons. I kicked hard and Sweyn surged forwards. My men needed no command, the sound told them their comrades were in battle. We crested a rise in the road and saw that there was a furious battle going on. The tax collector was cowering behind the line of men battling with mine. “Branton!”
My sergeant nodded and, calling to his archers wheeled left. I grinned as I turned to my men, “Charge!”
The increase in speed coincided with the first flights falling on the backs of the Normans. They were armoured but it is highly disconcerting to have arrows falling behind you. I saw the tax collector yell something and the line began to turn. The line of men who faced us was not continuous and certainly not prepared. I stabbed down with Boar Splitter as I tugged back on Sweyn’s reins. It was a trick I had taught him; it helped me to remove my spear and his hooves normally terrified the men on the ground. As I withdrew it I saw that two men lay dead and I stabbed again at the back of the man before me. He fell to the side taking my blade with him. I unsheathed my sword and looked for an enemy. A rider aimed his horse at me, his spear levelled. I waited patiently and as the head came close, swept it aside with my sword and then swung the blade back to sever the man’s arm at the elbow. He screamed as he rode past me. I looked around for another enemy but they had surrendered for we had surrounded them.
I could see some empty saddles but the ground was covered in dead Normans. The tax collector was still cowering beneath his tiny vehicle and I dismounted to confront him. “Who is your lord?” I spoke in English for I knew that the Normans would need someone who could speak with the villagers.
“Baron William of Perci, my lord.”
He was English and I was tempted to kill him outright for being a traitor but something told me to hold my temper. “Then when you return to your master tell him that William collects no more taxes from these people.” The surprise in his eyes told me that he thought I would kill him. “Tell him and tell your comrades here that any Norman I find in this land will die. Tell him also that no castle and no town are safe. We can strike anywhere as your men at Catherick discovered.” I turned to Osbert. “Disarm them, take their armour and helmets, take their shoes and release them.” I raised my voice and pointed. “Jorvik is that way.”
The twelve men who accompanied the tax collector looked unhappy as they trudge down the road. I wondered how they would fare in the village they had just robbed. Osbert and Ridley rode up to me, “I am surprised you let them live Aelfraed.”
“Ridley, we need them to fear us and I want them to know that we struck at Catherick. They will be looking for somewhere between the two. I am also gambling that they will think that the east is safe for them and this is the extent of our control.” I looked at Osbert, “Did we lose many?”
“Aedgar died and we have a couple of wounds.” He nodded at the weapons and the cart, “Good haul though.”
The Normans had disappeared down the road. “Right, back to the camp. Branton send a couple of men to see where they go.”
The coins the tax collectors had gathered were substantial in number but in such small coins that it reflected the poverty of the people. Ridley and looked at it and then each other, “We cannot keep it Aelfraed.”
“I know but apart from Malton and Norton we know not who paid them.”
Osbert came over and ran his hands through the coins. “We could always just return it to the people as payment, over payment.”
“What do you mean?”
“We need goods that they have in the villages, food, clothing and the like. If we go in to buy them we can pay much more than they are worth. We may not be repaying the exact villagers whose money was taken but at least we would put money back into the villages.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “That is a good idea. Edward!”
“Yes my lord. Disguise yourself and find out which villages have been taxed. It may take you a couple of days. As they were heading north I would work south from Norton but avoid the road and the Normans.”
Edward sniffed, “You’ll be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs next! My lord.”
I laughed, my men needed no instructions about avoiding detection, we were like spirits of the night. “Osbert find someone who did not fight at Malton and send them with a horse to buy things from the two villages. Take a third of the money. Ask the camp guards what we need.”
When Branton returned at dusk he was grinning. “They were not happy bunnies by the time they reached Hutton. Luckily for them they found some other Normans there building a small fort.”
“Is it worth us visiting?”
He shook his head, “I think it is just a place to tax those who use the road. Stupid really, for there are ways to avoid it.”
For the next month we continued to seek out William’s collectors and we robbed them. They increased the guards they used but, as they rarely used knights and crossbowmen, we always came out on top. Word came to us, in early summer, that the castles William had been building were nearing completion and that William had his knights with him, searching the land around Medelai and Topcliffe. “He is looking for us my lord.”
“Yes Osbert, which means it is time to move back there.”
I think I saw Ridley’s jaw actually drop. “Back there but didn’t you hear? William is looking for us there.”
“But we aren’t there, we are here and by approaching from the east we will see him before he sees us. Once he has searched and found three charcoal burners only he will head here, to the area around Malton where we first struck.”
Osbert nodded. “Makes sense and we move at night. “
We had noticed that the Normans feared not the night but those who prowled at night, the human wolves, us! I also wondered about some mischief on the way over to Medelai. The castle at Topcliffe was not yet finished and I had an idea how to slow it down; it was probably a petty gesture but the Normans had taken everything from us and I wanted to repay them.
We travelled light and left just before sunset. We skirted Thirsk for there were signs of construction there too. We headed south towards Topcliffe. We were approaching from the side away from the rivers and we knew the land well. We dismounted in a wood, a mile to the north of the castle and, leaving five men to guard the horses, travelled across the fields to the construction site. We had bows and swords for the work would be close in. Our dull clothes and lack of helmets meant that we were almost invisible as we scurried towards the mound rising in the distance. I sent Branton and Edward forward and when we reached them they pointed to the ramparts and held up three fingers. They only had three guards there! We approached slowly. There was a ditch and the spoil had been used for the mound. They had yet to complete the outer wall and the keep was a wooden affair with a small inner wall. Two of the guards were talking above the small gatehouse. I pointed at Edward and signalled for him to take an archer and deal with the other guard. I pointed to the two guards and then at Branton. He and four men aimed at the two men. They allowed enough time for Edward to get around the other side and then they fired. Branton’s men were good and the two men were hit in the throat and fell to a silent death punctuated only by the thump as they hit the ground. We ran to the walls and, using two of the shields we had brought, two men were hoisted above our heads to climb over the walls. A few heartbeats later the gate was opened. Once inside we would see that there was a stair leading to a door half way up and the ground floor had the horses. Branton led the horses to safety while Osbert quietly climbed the steps and jammed four spears against the stairs and the entrance. Ridley and I went into the stables where there was a ripe smell of hoses and hay. The Normans had fodder in there for their steed and it was dry. My men brought in some of the wood we found outside, obviously ready to build the ramparts, and they stacked it in piles. Using a flint we sparked a few flickering flames which we fanned until the hay and the wood caught. We quickly left the stable as an inferno erupted. Once outside we watched the tower burn. As soon as the smoke rose we heard coughing and then the men inside tried to get out of the door. The spears held them for quite a while and, when the flames began to consume the ladder, we knew that they were doomed. Two men managed to break open the door but Branton’s archers’ arrows, mercifully, ended their suffering. When no one else emerged we mounted the Norman’s horses and rode north east to where ours had been left.
When we rode we went in a north eastern direction, as though heading for the Tees. When we found the stream I was seeking we turned and continued west. All the while we could see the red glow in the south that marked the end of the tower at Topcliffe. Ridley still thought that I had been reckless.
“No Ridley, just the opposite. When the fire is seen, perhaps even now, then William, either Perci or the Bastard, will send men south and east to find out what is amiss. They will find the burning tower. If they have good trackers then they might follow us north east and then they will lose us. Or they may not have good trackers and search around Topcliffe. Either way the one place they will not search is where they were for they would have travelled over that ground and not seen us.”
Ridley nodded. Osbert said casually, but showing that he had been paying attention, “What if he only sends some of his men and the rest still search the forests?”
“Then we skirt further north and approach from the west.” He nodded. “I know it is a risk but this way we have damaged William of Perci and his castle and we keep William the Bastard guessing.”
I had Branton and Edward further south from our line of march to watch for any Normans and, as dawn broke and we found ourselves crossing the Roman road close to the Swale, the two of them rode towards us.
“You were lucky my lord. A column of knights and men at arms, all mounted, travelled down the road just an hour ago.”
“How many?”
“It was still a little dark but it looked to be over two hundred.”
“And it would be too dark for banners. Good then ride to the camp and see if the road is clear. If one of you does not return then I will assume that it is.”
The ride over the last fifteen miles was the most nerve wracking of all for it was daylight and the open vale meant that we could be seen from a long way away. If I were William, I would have a castle along the road but so far it was devoid of castles and men. We received no word from my scouts and as we rode into the hidden camp, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
We remained hidden in the camp for a few days and then I sent scouts out to the villages to see what they could discover. As usual, they took some of the Norman tax money to buy things we needed and they were more than happy to give us information. I suspect they knew who we were but none knew where we hid and, for the moment we were safe but I knew that, before winter set in, we would need to build two new camps away from these two sites. William the Bastard had returned south, apparently less than pleased with my work. We heard that there was a healthy reward for information about Aelfraed the Outlaw and his rebels! At least he knew who we were. William of Perci, Aux Gemons, had begun work on his castle and the down side of our raid was that the people of the manor, my people, were put to work rebuilding. For my part I concentrated on the north of the land around our camp, up towards the Tees and the old Roman fort. William had sent his tax collectors there, for it was rich farmland but it was along way from Jorvik and we were safer from reprisals. By the autumn the collectors had stopped travelling north of Topcliffe but the land to the east and west was heavily patrolled by mounted men. It was as though they were saying that north of that line was mine but the rest was Norman. Although we had not had any more deaths we were all getting older and our numbers were not increasing. It was again, a stalemate, and then Edgar the Aetheling finally invaded and brought with him Sweyn King of the Danes. We had two enemies in the land.