SOUL MINER
VI
Spurius, Einion and the men of the glen and glade paused as they could see Rhos in the distance just before making their descent down the mountain road. Most men walked; carrying weapons, blankets for sleeping and food for nourishment. But a few like Spurius and Einion rode their work horses, Hugo was larger than most and Rollo was the only wolf dog among them, he was always stride for stride beside Spurius. They had slept one night near the road in their trek to the town, at the request of the king. Many other Decaenli of the mountains had joined them during the days walk. During their meal that night they had decided that Einion was to be their leader and he had asked Spurius to be his second. After their meal Einion had remarked to his friend, that he had expected to see Bloderedd there as they left, wishing Gwydderig goodbye along with Nant. But had been somewhat surprised when she came and hugged Spurius as well. Spurius then told him, that the two of them had become closer, just before the departure. Einion had congratulated his friend.
That night Spurius had thought about her as he lay waiting for sleep to overtake him, he had wished he had not fallen asleep so early that night. Even though he thought he understood why she had been gone when he awoke the next morning. She had not been something he had contemplated when he left Gaul and Father Haralius to come to Britannium and Gwynedd.
As they stood there all could tell there was much activity about the town and it looked as if forces of men were encamping to the south, just outside the town’s outskirts. Men sat about fires, or walked from fire to fire talking with other men. Some looked to be soldiers of Gunedda ap Edern in uniforms wearing weapons. But most appeared to be more similar to those, of these men with them and just now arriving.
“We will be many in this endeavor, it appears.” Einion said to his friend as they scanned the surrounding area and coast near Rhos.
“Yes, many put in harm’s way, more to become injured or dead. All at the behest of so called nobles, in their squabbles that should not be the concern of common men.” Spurius answered in hushed tones.
“I agree my friend. If this fight is not averted many women and children may mourn because of the greed and swelled heads of those who call themselves nobles. But we common folk have little choice in matters such as this. They call and we come to do their bidding, or suffer their wrath later if we do not.”
“All too true . Let us be on then.”
With so little said, all continued their walk down the road and toward the town. As they neared the area where it appeared all were encamping for now, a soldier asked Einion where this party was from.
“From two days walk east of here, in the mountains this side of the River of the Goddess by a good days walk and south of Snowdonia. Why do you ask?”
“We are making sure all are here before assignments are made. Be that one with you the roman priest, the one who was in the parley with our king at the battle with the Powys king?” the soldier could see the black robe and hat that Spurius wore.
“It is him, and his name is Father Spurius.”
“Our King has asked about him and told all, that when he arrives, have him and his friend to come into Rhos for a council. So, have your men set up over there, and if you be the friend named, go directly into town and the king.”
“By your leave we will do just that.”
Einion and Spurius left the encampment as soon as the others were situated. They rode into the town with Rollo tagging along. Once they reached the main council house, another soldier asked them the same question as the first one had.
“I thought it must be you two, by the description I have heard and that wolf dog I have heard about. Go on inside, I will watch your horses. Will that dog stay here?”
“Yes, he will lay beside Hugo, my horse.” As Spurius said this he motioned a flat downward palm to Rollo.
Rollo turned his head briefly to the soldier and then back to his Alpha, let out a low snort of air through his nose and then sat on his haunches next to his only other pack member, the large dapple called Hugo. This stranger Spurius made noises with was of no concern, if circumstances warranted he could be rendered no threat at all, quickly.
With that they walked into the council house. Once inside they were directed to the main chamber where the king was seated and in conversation with several other men, some looked to be officers while the others must have been other nobles or councilors to the king.
“Father Spurius, I am glad you and your friend are here. Come closer and join us.”
“Thank you, King Gunedda, we are at your service.”
Gunedda ap Edern introduced Spurius to those near him before returning to conversation.
“How many men have joined with you from the mountains and how well are you armed?”
“I would say in all, we are near to two score men. Many have some sort of hunting spear and knives, a few have swords and most have brought hunting bows with arrows. I do not believe there are any with helmets or chain mail for protection.”
“And you, are you still content with that stave of yours?”
“I am my King, I hope to render more aid and defense rather than offensive maneuvers, but I will do all in my power with the Decaenli.”
“Good then, here is my plan. I believe Niall will attack here at Rhos with the bulk of his forces to gain a defensible foothold here in Gwynedd and hopefully either kill me or take those of my family as hostages, against me, for leverage.” Gunedda stated rather flatly, took a breath and then continued. “He will undoubtedly have other forces land to either the north or south, or even both. These forces will have orders to come ashore in stealth, if possible, and then approach Rhos over land. This would make us fight on two fronts at least, catching our forces in a more precarious defensive posture and blocking any retreat we might try.”
Many there nodded agreement with these assumptions. Einion merely stood motionless and listened, wondering why the king had requested Spurius and him to be in attendance at this war council, as neither were of noble birth or high station and neither did they lead a large force of trained soldiers.
“I will maintain the bulk of our forces here at the capitol. Most will be assigned positions along our coast in fairly close order. A few will have rear guard duties and maintain patrols to our backs. But I will send two smaller forces, one to the south and one to the north at positions of the most likely landing place, for any of Niall’s army that attempt such maneuvers on our flanks.” This statement brought more open vocal agreement from the amassed nobles and high ranking soldiers in attendance. “I also believe his foray here is more possibly only a piece of greater plans against other kingdoms on Hibernia itself, he cannot hope to maintain a long control of any kingdom here, but he can hope to use one as a launching off post for two pronged attacks on another kingdom there.”
The kings short pause here was met with silence only, as everyone waited for him to continue.
“With these things in mind, I am asking purius and his retinue to travel south at first light on the morrow, where the terrain is more rugged as they are accustomed to and find the most likely bay or point for such an attack. There they will keep vigil and if necessary defend our shores, for as long as they can. I will send one lieutenant with a few soldiers as advisors and messengers back to here, in case such men are needed. I will also ask the men of Flint with a similar force of soldiers to take up a position where the River of the Goddess’s estuary meets the western sea, north of here. So now I ask for those men’s agreements.”
Einion and Spurius looked at one another silently for just one brief moment before turning toward the king and hailed assent in almost unison with the noble who they assumed was from Flint.
“Good, I thought you both would. Now you men can return to your groups of men and I will have lieutenants with men meet you at first light to start your journeys to those locations. May the gods protect you.”
The next morning, just before the full light of dawn broke over the mountains, a burly mid-aged man wearing the obvious attire of an officer in the army walked into the campsite of Einion and Spurius. During the following afternoon and early evening their group had swelled from two score in strength to nearly five score in total, with the influx of others from the mountains around them being directed to their camp. The lieutenant introduced himself as Bleddyn, who said he was originally from Llangollen on the River of the Goddess and he had 10 soldiers with him, who he did not introduce individually.
By the time the full light of day was in the sky, all were trudging southward along the coast. By early afternoon they had stopped upon a promontory nearly four leagues south of Rhos.
“This seems to be a very likely location for us to set up camp. We can see far in both directions here and that small bay to the south is the best anchorage we have come upon. A good runner could make it back to Rhos in fairly short order from here.” Einion said purposely to Spurius, even though he knew Bleddyn was standing beside him listening to every word the two said.
“I agree brother. What say you Lieutenant?”
“The same with me, and do just call me Bleddyn. I earned my station over many years’ service, I am not high born as some are. I will advise you in any way I can from my experience, but the king has put you two in charge here and I will not attempt to over step his decision in this.”
“I meant no offense Bleddyn, I assure you. We two are not soldiers and will gladly accept any suggestions you make, you are the professional here, leader or not.”
“Thank you, and yes I still agree that this looks like a good spot to observe from, it also has good advantages to defend the coast from if we need to. There appears to be a stream just there emptying into the bay.”
“Yes, I see it. Could be our closest fresh water source.”
“Sulien, go find the fastest way to that stream, so we can use it for fresh water. Keep an eye out for game trails as well, fresh meat would be good to have.”
“Yes Father, I will return soon.”
Men began to set up campsites for cooking and sleeping while Einion, Spurius and Bleddyn discussed assignment of watches along the coast from three close locations with overlapping fields of view. When Sulien returned, he reported the closest directions to the stream and that yes, there were game trails that intersected the stream in several locations where animals came down to drink. They also decided a few men could fish the coast during daylight when they were sure none of Niall’s ships were within sight yet.
Thus the next four days passed, one after the other without any enemy sightings. The small force spent time fortifying their observation and campsite locations with boulders, rocks and gathered large fallen limbs and logs. Some foraged, fished and hunted or collected wild grains and berries, caching food reserves as they could. While Einion, Spurius and Bleddyn discussed defensive options and strategies for their post as they directed or took part in the various activities of preparation.
Bleddyn found that many of these men were quite good archers and two especially were excellent ones, those two being Sulien and Gwydderig. Thus those two spent time trying to increase the skill of the others. He put his own men to training some of the others to be better fighters in close combat techniques, while Spurius showed men the finer points of using a stave as both a defensive and offensive weapon. Many men spent free time fashioning crude shields from the available materials close at hand.
After a particular discussion between Gwydderig and Spurius many of the men’s arrows were fitted with dried mosses and grasses and positioned at two locations for the best of the archers, the first being at their main campsite and the other at the lookout position around the bay. If ships came into the bay close enough, these arrows were to be used on the ships themselves, to start fires and burn sails especially.
Just at dusk on the fifth day, two lookouts spotted what they thought were three ships on the horizon, far out yet, but sailing for the bay. The entire camp went into full alert mode. Small fires only were kept burning and were banked below the crest of the promontories and under cover to keep them as unnoticeable as possible from the sea, but ready for use if needed before dawn. Men slept in short shifts with a full third of the camp awake at all times throughout the night. Men would need to be as rested as possible before the next dawn, but sleep was evasive to most.
As the first orange rays of light began creeping over the mountains to the east, the men could see landing boats being lowered into the water, off all three ships, now anchored as near the shore as they dared. At the pre-agreed to moment, when the all the three ships landing boats appeared to be in the water with men and over halfway to the shore, Gwydderig loosed an arrow nearly vertical into the sky, the arrow had been fitted with two hollow reeds so it would make a whistling sound during flight. At that moment both he and Sulien had each of their groups of nearly half the company’s best archers between them loose a combined rain of flaming arrows at the middle anchored ship. All waited to be sure their targeting was accurate before they loosed a second flight on the same target.
The other half of men were already stationed just inside the tree lines near the shore of the bay, waiting under cover, for the boats of men to land on the shore they were facing. Bleddyn, Einion and Spurius were with these men, most armed with bows and arrows not to set fire to targets. Brychan and some of the men from nearer the River of the Goddess were with this near half of the company. Bleddyn had assigned one man, his best runner, to be at the rear of everyone. His sole task was, if and when the on-coming battle appeared to be lost, to make all haste back to Rhos and inform the king.
Sulien was glad to see that almost no arrows had missed their target, all had hit the ship, its sails or outer hull. He and Gwydderig immediately had their archers loose a second volley followed by a third in rapid succession. Two of the landing boats turned back to the ships, but the rest made shore and began to disembark attackers. As these men made it on shore, the archers within the tree line began loosing their arrows on the unsuspecting soldiers of Naill, before the sailors landing them could un-beach their boats and return to the ships. Many fell quickly either dead or severely wounded and many more fell or sought what cover they could on the beach itself.
By now, Sulien and Gwydderig’s men had finished five volleys of flaming arrows on the middle ship. Sails were ablaze, fires could be seen all along the ships upper deck and men could be heard screaming in the fires, whether from arrows or burns in the fires, or fear at trying to put out flames. Then the two main archers went into their second phase of their attack, Gwydderig’s men now targeted the ship to the south, as Sulien’s targeted the ship on the north side loosing three more volleys at each of these ships in addition. After that both groups of archers on the promontories turned their attention on the invaders on the shore loosing volleys of non-flaming arrows on them.
With arrows raining down on them, now from three directions the attackers made one mad rush for the tree line group, rather than the sure death staying crouched on the beach with little cover from the higher archers. What few of the original number made it close to the tree line, were met with the now larger force of men who had been shooting arrows, but now wielded knives, spears, and swords.
As the attack became close hand-to-hand and weapon-to-weapon fighting where most could not be distinguished from one another by uniforms, it was the knowing of your comrades that saved men from fighting their own. As one man rushed at Spurius’s back while he was exchanging blow for blow lunges and parries with an attacker who had been trying to finish off one of Einion’s men, Rollo vaulted into the air, knocking the man to the ground. In his near bloodlust from the scent of death and gore all around him, Rollo went straight for the man’s throat, ripping it out with tearing canine incisors, then spitting the prize to the ground. Spurius yelled instinctively for the large wolf-dog to halt, lest Rollo become uncontrollable in the confusion. Rollo barked and growled ferociously, but returned to a defensive posture next to his alpha. The wolf dog’s aide had allowed Spurius to defeat his opponent, the man now lay unconscious on the ground. Spurius immediately knelt to Einions wounded man and checked him for the severity of his bleeding lacerations.
In the melee that followed, eventually none of Nialls men who landed on that beach survived the day. And what men did not die on the middle ship, jumped overboard and swam to the other two before those two upped anchor and retreated back to the western sea from whence they had come, both ships still putting out fires onboard of their own.
The beach was stained dark red from the fighting, and the men with Bleddyn, Einion and Spurius looked as if they had been in a blood rain storm. Only a few of the defenders were seriously injured, Spurius was attending to worst of these first, while others bandaged themselves as best they could. Bleddyn instructed his runner to make haste now for Rhos and inform the king of the victory here and return with the king’s commands.
At Bleddyn’s urging the men walked amongst the vanquished’ s bodies scavenging for better weapons, protective clothing and helmets, or anything of use better than what they had. These were the spoils of war and they just might need them if they were called to march quickly, to join the king’s forces at Rhos. Brychan mentioned to his brother-in-law Einion that he and some of the men from his area had already decided to completely beach the landing boats that were not damaged. Then when the fighting was over, they were going to return here and sail them up the coast to the estuary, down it to the River of the Goddess and home, they would make excellent fishing boats. Einion and Spurius agreed that they would help them do just that, then return to the glen afterwards.
It was the next day before the runner returned from Rhos. While he was in the capitol another runner had come in from the north to tell Gunedda ap Edern that there had been an attempted attack to the north as well, but most of that one had been fought on the water. The results were very similar in that the attackers had fled back to sea, without landing a single boat or man. There were of coarse losses of some men and a few boats, but undoubtedly Naill’s men had suffered worse, including two ships sinking in the juncture of the estuary and western sea. Gunneda had been boisterously glad. He then commanded the runners to return to both groups and tell them to maintain vigilance at their posts until further word was sent, in case of retaliatory attempts.
Six days later a messenger came into the camp with the news that, Naill’s remaining forces had fled back into the western sea and disappeared beyond the horizon two days before. There had been no attempted return, as two of the ships from Rhos had dogged their wakes, staying just close enough to be sure they had gone and know they were being hounded.
After camp was broken the next morning most of the men headed back up the trail to the road over the mountains and home. Bleddyn and his men walked with them up the coast trail until they veered for home, both groups hailing good wishes of friendship and solidarity which would not have been thus prior to the fighting alongside one another just days before.
True to their word, Einion, Spurius and all the glen men except Sulien and Gwydderig manned one of the boats as crew to make the journey by the sea with the river men, adding one more prize to the Decaenli who lived near Brychan. Sulien and Gwydderig were with the others walking home. It was their task to give good tidings to all there and let them know that the rest of the men of the glen and glade would soon rejoin them, after these boats were safely at their new port on the River of the Goddess belonging now to kinsmen.
*****
Two days after the men had left the glen and glade for Rhos, Bloderedd noticed Gwenfron walking through the glade, in the direction of the glen. She turned and told Nant that she was going to take a walk and visit Annwwyl and Carys for a while. When she arrived she saw that Gwenfron was standing in front of Spurius’s house and Annwwyl was walking from hers to greet the Derwydd priestess. As Annwwyl saw Bloderedd, she stopped and greeted her friend and neighbor.
“Good day to you Bloderedd, I see we are of the same mind, wondering what Gwenfron is here about.”
“I have every intention of finding out, I hope you will allow me to accompany you, at greeting her.”
“Of course and will be glad of it.”
As the women approached Gwenfron turned in their direction.
“Greetings Annwwyl, and to you Bloderedd.”
“And to you Gwenfron, I am surprised to see you here. There is no festival soon. I would have thought you might be with other priests near Rhos, with the coming of a battle?” Annwwyl answered.
“No not this time, that is the business of men this time.”
“So to what do we owe your presence this time? Spurius is with all the able bodied men at Rhos.”
“I had hoped he would have stayed behind this time. I doubt this call to duty will not go as quickly or bloodlessly as the last one did.”
“Nor does any I fear. But he would not allow our men to go without his accompanying them.”
“Then I have wasted my time. I will return when I hear all are back to home and hearth.”
“Then could I walk with you as far as the glade and offer you some refreshment, before your long trip home?” Bloderedd asked.
“If you wish, but there is no real need.”
“Good, I would prefer to. I will see you later Annwwyl, my friend.”
“Until then my friend. Safe journey to you Gwenfron.”
With that, the three turned and left Spurius’s house, Annwwyl going into her own. As Bloderedd and Gwenfrom walked out of sight of the glen Bloderedd turned to the priestess.
“You do not fool me priestess, I know you all too well.”
“To what are you implying?”
“Only the simple truth of your reason for being here. Let us not play at games, there are only us two here now. You have set your taste on the Roman, sister, remember I of all know you well. Even if we have been apart many years now.”
“Truly and if I have, what business is it of yours, he belongs to no one. Can I be of offense to you with a foreigner, unmarried as he is?”
“Unmarried he may be, but unattached he is not. He believes in his faith, he is now one of us here in these mountains and he is now my man. You tried to take one man from me once before, lest you remember how that ended.”
“He choose you and married you, and you left your training for our faith, while I stayed. Our father blamed me for that and never spoke to me again all the way onto his death. Does any of your friends know that you trained to be a priestess just as I did, but left for the love of one man?”
“My son knows, his father and I kept nothing from him, no one else needs to know that part of my past. I left it behind me and made a new life here. But I am not ashamed of it. Nor would I have made it a mockery at times, as you are well known to do.”
“Does Spurius feel the same as you or are you dreaming he will? And I make a mockery of nothing, sister.”
“We are of the same mind and will make it formal, come Lughnasadh next fall. I warn you now, do not attempt to interfere again as you did once many years ago, I am not inclined to ignore such a blatant insult.”
“I will let it set then until Lughnasadh, not because I believe you, but I have time. If what you say is true then welcome to him, my dear once sister. I bid you goodbye here, I prefer to continue on alone.”
