The Retreat to Avalon by Sean Poage

Author:Sean Poage [Poage, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MadeGlobal Publishing
Published: 2018-06-07T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The late morning sun shone in a clear sky, perfectly illuminating the scene before Namnetis’s walls to Cei’s forces. Those looking eastwards into the sun at the arriving cavalry had difficulty discerning the numbers they faced.

The city stood at the end of a long, narrow peninsula formed by the Leger on the south and the Erdam on the west and north. Roman walls of stone, mortar and brick surrounded it to a height of about thirty feet. Semi-circular towers jutted from the wall at regular points. Two gates faced the east, with more on the other sides of the city. People stood on the walls and towers, but the gates were closed.

A narrow strip of land separated the walls from the Leger, with the remains of razed buildings. It looked like the buildings had been destroyed for some time, but smoke rose from beyond the west side of the city.

Bedwyr’s troops had been busy since their arrival. In a remarkably short time, they had dug parallel defensive ditches beyond bowshot of the walls. The dykes protected a strip about fifty paces wide, running roughly north to south between the two rivers. It cut off the land approaches but would not stop the Saxons from using the river-facing gates to access boats.

Short sections of wooden palisade had been erected at various points along both sides of the fortification as if the Britons had started building the walls in different spots before being interrupted. At the furthest northern end of the fortification, the Britons had organised their oxcarts and baggage into a long, narrow pen for the animals. Somewhat south of that point, outside Bedwyr’s fortification, a large pile of logs and unusual timber frames smouldered.

Bedwyr’s army had taken refuge between the ditches to lay siege to Namnetis and hold off Odoacer’s reinforcements until Cei could arrive. On either side, they faced a mass of Saxon warriors, most from the city on the western side. Somewhat fewer were on the eastern side, having arrived from more than a score of ships beached on the shores of the Leger.

The Saxons had made some preliminary assaults against both sides of Bedwyr’s position before word arrived of Cei’s approach, and had pulled back to assess their new situation. A handful of Saxon horsemen, messengers more than cavalry, made several feeble attempts to approach Cei’s men to determine the size of his forces. These were quickly driven off by the light scouts Cei had sent ahead of the main body.

Hyfaidd ordered his ala to halt and form up in line of battle while the other alae flowed towards their positions on the wings and in the reserve. A priest stepped out in front of the host and called out a prayer that most could not hear as they dropped any gear not used for fighting. The Decuriones were recalled to their commanders for last minute instructions, so Gawain left Illtud in charge and trotted to the centre. Hyfaidd conferred with his staff there, messengers arriving and departing rapidly.

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