Earl by Griff Hosker

so that any enemy could not run directly in.  They would have to turn. It was only a small ditch but it would slow down an enemy.
    Harold was the first to return. It was in the late afternoon. He had been to the west and the road to Anglesey.  His small conroi had been augmented by five pack animals.  Two of his men bore wounds; one of them looked serious enough for the attention of our priest.
    "Father John, would you see to the wounded?" Harold dismounted.  I felt like a proud father as I saw the look of joy upon his face.  He had fought alongside others before but this was the first time he had been entrusted with a solitary command. I clasped his arm, "It went well?"
    "Aye, my lord.  My time in Sherwood stood me in good stead. I found a bank and some trees which overlooked the road and we waited.  This column of horses was escorted by ten men.  There were but five warriors.  We slew two quickly with arrows but the other three fought hard.  The servants fled west; they will know we are here."
    "And what were the rewards?"
    "A sumpter with arrows, a second with spears and the other three contained grain." He held up a small bag. "We found some coins.  I will give them to my men.  They fought well. It was intended for Chester. Your strategy has paid off my lord.  We are choking them."
    I noticed his squire talking animatedly to John.  "And how did your squire?"
    "He was calm and doughty.  He never wavered when we attacked."
    "Good.  This is all good experience for them."
    As the day turned to dusk the others returned with varying degrees of success.  We had suffered wounds and slight losses but our sudden appearance had caught the Welsh napping. Their losses far outweighed our own. We had another six horses as well as many swords, shields and coins.  My men had not sighted any knights.  These had been small groups of foragers looking for settlements which had survived the initial raid. I was pleased that young Harold had had the most success. The successful conroi was the centre of everyone's attention.  Dick was delighted with the arrows for although they were not of the same quality as the ones our fletcher made, they would enable our archers to be more profligate with their precious missiles.
    After we had eaten I gathered my knights, Wulfric and Dick, to give them the instructions and orders for the next day. "Some men escaped Harold's ambush and headed west.  I will head there tomorrow with my conroi. They will have a better idea of our position and I would prefer to meet them on my terms.  The rest of you will continue to fortify the camp.  I will leave Erre and the Varangians here."
    Wulfric shook his head, "He will not like that, my lord!"
    "He will obey orders!" Wulfric nodded.  "I want you to send out your archers tomorrow but they should stay hidden.  I want this Owain to waste time tomorrow seeking us.  They will find us eventually, but each day they don't brings the Earl closer to us."
    "They just watch, my lord?"
    "No Dick, they can ambush but I want them to remain hidden. I want them as the outlaws of Sherwood, invisible. Their job is to be our eyes and ears."
    Edward threw the bone he had just gnawed into the fire.  "Should we not be finding where their leader is?  It was obvious that he was not at the siege."
    "I do not wish to spread us too thin.  Our first instruction was to relieve Chester.  Our presence here has done that already.  If we do not find whoever leads their army today then I will raid their lines again tomorrow and see if we can force them away.  If they have not reinforced them then that may be possible."
    Sir Richard stroked his beard; a sure sign that he was thinking, "Who is it that leads them?"
    "The Earl thought it was Owain the son of their king. I know nothing of him save that he has two brothers. If the Earl is coming north then he must think him a formidable foe else he would have left the Earl of Chester to deal with him."
    The next morning we rose