The Saga of Yanna Part II: The Titus Chronicles by R.W. Peake

Author:R.W. Peake [Peake, R.W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

It was, Eadward thought, a true blessing from God that Titus and his warriors had managed to draw what appeared to be every defender, not just from the wall, but from that entire side of the town. The difficulty started almost immediately when they reached the wall and began to raise the siege ladders, which, as the Count had been warned, had become waterlogged, being so heavy that it took eight men to raise each one, and if they had been under a missile barrage, they would have undoubtedly suffered casualties before they scaled the wall. As it happened, Baldwin and his force actually reached the wall without any significant resistance, managing to get just one ladder up against the wall, all that was needed because the few men present had fled. It was not until the Franks who were first up the ladder, led by a Pedes named Josse, disappeared from the rampart that they heard a horn, but the sound of it was muffled, telling them that whoever had blown it was down on the ground inside the walls. While Josse and his men were busy, Baldwin led the Eques to the gate, placing himself and Eadward side by side at the front of the column, but given the width of the gateway, it was impossible to form up in a wedge, so they would be passing through the gateway in a column of two’s.

“Then,” Sigismund translated from his spot just behind Baldwin, placing him to Eadward’s right rear quarter, “once we are inside the wall, if we have the opportunity, Lord Baldwin will put us into a wedge. You will drop back behind him and join me.”

It was not worded as a request, or a suggestion, yet despite knowing that the Count was well within his rights, being in his own lands and being that all of these men were sworn to him, Eadward felt a stab of resentment at what he saw as the presumption. After all, the entire reason they were there was because his sworn man, a Thegn at that, needed their help, but even if he had been disposed to bring it up, there was no time to do so. The Eques were still arranging themselves when the gates swung open, and Eadward had to kick Noir hard to keep up with Count Baldwin, who was already at the gallop, his sword drawn. Once he burst out of the gateway into what he saw was a relatively open area, he was relieved to see that it was empty, not just of any Northmen warriors, but of any townspeople, all of whom he felt certain had taken shelter, probably in whatever cellars or basements were present inside the walls. The structures nearest to the gate, about twenty paces away, were a combination of stables and enclosures that, while empty, Eadward’s nose told him normally held pigs, sheep, and cattle, though even as this occurred to him, he had caught up to Baldwin, who

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