The Wessex War (The Mercian Tales) by Townend Stacy T

Author:Townend, Stacy T
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Thirteen

Cedric and his warriors headed back to their own horses, with Ardith, Aruna, and the old warrior Griff in their wake. Cedric explained that her father had headed to seek support from other Thanes whose lands also bordered Wessex. En route, he had met with Ealdorman Ludeca who was Steward to King Offa. It was the Ealdorman who had organised the venture into Wessex to try and gain the freedom of Ardith. He had also sent word to King Offa explaining the situation and requested that he send his messengers to King Cynewulf and ask him to support the release of Ardith.

The small party was soon all astride horses and moving towards the white tree upon the hill. Ardith spoke with Aruna she promised she would now be safe and could return with her and her father to Mercia. Griff watched the two young women both seemed happy and full of life, he was glad to have assisted them to safety. If his life was to end he would be content knowing he had fulfilled a worthwhile duty. Griff rode in silence following the women and the warriors. He was worried that it was not over as they headed back towards Thane Wiverth’s lands and potential trouble.

Kare, Thrun, and his warriors scrambled up from the river through the tangle of shrubs to head to the small gate at the rear of the wall of Ealdorman Osric’s hall. Kare had one of his men grab a couple of the dark cloaks the warriors of Osric had used. Though caked in fresh blood they would help disguise them and hopefully enable them to get right up to the gateway. Thrun tasked two others to carry the body of one of the would-be attackers. When Kare raised his eyebrows at Thrun he explained that if they donned the cloaks and carried the dead man to the gate, hopefully, the guards would open the gate to help. Kare understood that he and Thrun could quickly launch an attack and deal with the guards easily to gain access to the compound. Kare had his men hide in the bushes close to the gateway. He and Thrun threw the blood-wet cloaks over their shoulders then picked up the dead warrior holding him between them they dragged him along to the gateway.

The young guard who had sought out the Hell Hounds earlier was still on duty, and now stood at the small gate waiting for the return of Crom and his warriors. A few steps brought Kare and Lud to the gateway. Kare reached up and tapped the head height gate. A small creak as the wooden gate opened and the young guard peered out. He looked down to see a wounded warrior held up by two others. “Here let me help you.” He reached down to grab the arms of the injured warrior. In doing so he left himself vulnerable to an attack. Kare grabbed hold of him dropping the dead warrior. Thrun also let go of the dead man and neatly drew his seax across the young guard's throat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.