Saxon Bane by Griff Hosker

Author:Griff Hosker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Sword Books
Published: 2014-08-13T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Three days after we had captured the two crossings King Cadwallon reached us. He and his men had made good time. He greeted me warmly. “Have you lost many men, Warlord?”

I shook my head, “None to speak of.” I waved King Fiachnae mac Báetáin forward. “This is our ally King Fiachnae mac Báetáin.”

King Cadwallon gave one of his broadest smiles. “Welcome to this alliance against Northumbria.” He gestured towards me. “Lord Lann is the only one of us to have fought in the last alliance against the men of Northumbria. I hope that this new alliance of Ulaid, Mercia and Gwynedd can be as successful.”

“And I hope so, too, King Cadwallon. We have heard of your fame and that of the Warlord. Already I have learned much.”

Myrddyn stepped forward. “Perhaps, your majesty, you might address the armies.” He pointed to the huge bowl on the opposite site of the river. “This is one of the places where we can gather them.”

King Fiachnae mac Báetáin nodded, “It is a good idea, your majesty, for the men of Dál nAraidi have not seen you before.”

We gathered the warriors together and King Cadwallon sat astride his white horse, Wyddfa. He was encased from head to toe in the armour of a cataphract. When the sun peered out from behind the clouds it made his armour sparkle and gleam as though it was gold. Even before he spoke I saw the awe on the face of the men of Dál nAraidi and even Penda’s Mercians looked to be impressed.

“Warriors of the west, today we have our alliance of the finest warriors in this land to oust the dark forces from the east. We will wrest this land from the greedy fingers of Edwin and his robbers; we will free the people of Rheged. Today we begin the road to peace and prosperity.”

There was a huge cheer but I noticed that the men of Dál nAraidi were less than thrilled at the prospect of peace. They had come for plunder and I hoped that the spirits had been right to invite them to join us. I would have to speak with Myrddyn later. I decided that we had to take one step at a time. First we had to capture Din Guardi and then destroy Edwin and his army.

“We will go to the lair of King Edwin and become the first army to take that stronghold of the east. Let us go forward and fight under the banners of the dragon and the wolf and let us be led by the Warlord of Rheged and Gwynedd, Lord Lann!”

If the cheers for the first part had been muted when King Cadwallon had finished there was a cheer and an acclamation which could have been heard in Dunelm far to the south. That evening there was a boisterous and optimistic mood around the camp. It felt as though we were on the threshold of something great. We needed to keep the momentum going. This alliance would not falter as the other had; not if I had anything to do with the matter.

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.