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The second day advanced without respite out on the Plains of Athelney, as a maelstrom spread wide under the cool, clear skies hovering above the battlefield. The Saxan reserve force gathered around the great dragon standard of King Alcuin remained firmly in place, under the leadership of Prince Aidan, allowing Aelfric to rove freely behind the long lines of the steel-bristling shield wall. He had just finished inspecting the Saxan right flank, giving great scrutiny to the condition of the enemy opposite it.
The Andamoorans had arrayed a solid line of rectangular, hide shields, seeming content to present a forest of spears, gripped by the veiled men who kneeled down just behind the shields. A few passes of horse archers at the edge of their arrows’ range was about the only gesture of offense from the badly mauled Andamooran ranks.
Aelfric had little doubt that the enemy’s left flank would be licking its wounds after suffering tremendous casualties during the previous day’s fighting. They were not likely to take any unnecessary chances, whittled down as they were. The stalemate was beneficial to Aelfric, giving him one less thing to worry about, so that he could turn his focus more squarely towards the other areas of the battle.
Guiding Midnight, he trotted back towards the center of the Saxan line, nodding in acknowledgement of the many men hailing him as he passed by. Only a handful of his household retinue rode along with Aelfric, as most were positioned at the heart of the shield wall.
The Avanorans had been forced to divert their efforts on the previous day, but no such repeat would be likely on the new one. With the invader’s weakened left flank, Aelfric expected a powerful thrust to come from the enemy center.
A group of heavy cavalry, mounted upon horses wearing bards of scale armor, were clustered together a short distance ahead of him, with one of their number set a few paces forward from the rest. Aelfric drew up the reins as he approached them, eliciting a curt snort from Midnight.
Count Gerard II stared out silently over the battlefield, gazing off in the direction of the massed Avanoran ranks, just opposite his force. His face was impassive, but the look in his eye was forged of iron.
“They are going to move upon us soon,” Count Gerard commented, as Aelfric neared him, keeping his face fixed forward. “I think you will enjoy this, if they choose to try the methods that won them the kingdom of Norengal.”
“Those monstrous beasts they ride, if you can call them horses, can surely shove our men back, if that’s what you mean,” Aelfric said, reflecting on what he knew of the Avanoran methods of war.
The Avanorans’ heavy horse would not charge into a solid spear wall. No horse, even the most frothing, cantankerous war stallion, could be coaxed into anything so blatantly suicidal. That only left a few options if the Avanorans hoped to employ their formidable knights on horseback.
One option was to punch holes in the shield wall using men on foot. Once breaches were made, mounted cavalry could then exploit them, a tried and true method that was certainly within their capabilities.
There was another tactic, and it was the one that Count Gerard was apparently expecting; a disciplined formation, slow, deliberate, and cohesive. One where the ends of their extended lances would be pushed against the Saxan shields, with the force generated by the brawny war stallions that they rode.
Breaches would be created with the exceptional physical power of the war destriers, jostling and shoving the men in the shield wall back and aside. The horses could be cajoled into cooperating with such a tactic, and their strength would be too much for any normal man to long withstand.
Aelfric was still more than a little perplexed at Count Gerard’s manner earlier that morning, especially the Count’s unyielding insistence that he bring the bulk of his cavalry to assemble at the Saxan center. He had gotten Aelfric to promise not to send the Saxan forces forward in the center, under any circumstances, at least beyond where some conspicuous white stones had been placed on the ground far in front of the shield wall. Aelfric knew that Count Gerard was anticipating the enemy to attack the center with near certitude, and he also understood that there was a tactical countermeasure in place.
The blaring of multitudes of war horns called Aelfric’s attentions back to the battlefield. A forest of knightly pennons and baronial gonfalons were surging towards the Saxan center. At the moment, there was a screening line of heavy infantry, archers, and crossbowmen, but they were not a cause for concern. The real nexus of the force was contained in the sleek, muscular forms of the warhorses, and the glinting armor of their knightly riders.
Aelfric found that he was getting more acclimated to the shaking of the ground, though he could see the jarring effect that it had on the morale of the peasant levies arrayed behind the shield wall. The sight of their extreme agitation gave him some cause for concern. There had been many replacements put into the shield wall for the second day of fighting, with so many thanes and household guards falling on the first. Most replacements on the face of the shield wall were still well-equipped thanes and ceorls, but it would not be much longer before simple peasants would be asked to hold shields, to ensure a continuous, unbroken line.
Aelfric banished the fears rising up within him, as that moment was not yet upon the Saxan defenders. Turning his head, he looked off towards the left, to see whether he could gain some hint as to what was transpiring on the left Saxan flank.
The forces of Ehrengard were again deployed in a conservative posture. On the Ehrengardianardan far right was the enormous, shielding hedge of Halmlander pikemen, like the bristling back of some giant porcupine, curled to protect an assemblage of knights sheltered within the underbelly of its center.
Masses of infantry, like an adjacent shield wall, provided a further line of protection all the way down to the center where the Avanorans were positioned. As before, large pockets of the kettle-helmed archers and crossbowmen emerged to the fore of the line, to loose sporadic volleys of arrows and bolts at the Saxans opposite them. Ranks of heavy cavalry behind both infantry and missile troops appeared content to remain in place under their fluttering banners.
For the time being, the Ehrengardians would not likely be a major concern, though the dense, spiky formation on their far right continued to worry Aelfric greatly. He reverted his attention back to the center. Peering ahead at the oncoming lines of Avanorans, he quietly took several steady, slow breaths. He could see a large number of Saxan archers gathered behind the shield wall, and knew that the enemy forces would be well-greeted when they reached the barrier of overlapping, wooden shields.
Arrows had been dutifully collected wherever they had remained intact, after descending in the enemy rain on the first day of fighting. Weaponry, shields, and armor had been stripped from fallen enemies, as non-combatants labored to pull as many of the Saxan dead from the battlefield as they could. Often, they came within just paces of their counterparts from the enemy encampments, though the tense truce that allowed for dealing with the wounded and slain held in place.
Aelfric was grateful for the diligence taken in adhering to his wishes for that first night. The Saxan archers would have a prodigious quantity of arrows to use in the second day’s fighting, both from their own stores, as well as those collected from the enemy. It was one small reward gleaned from enduring the seemingly endless volleys of the previous day. Many of Saxans had already notched their first arrows of the day on their bows, anxiously awaiting the commands to set them free.
The Avanorans proceeded at a tight canter, controlled and relatively slow, as they drew closer to the Saxan lines. At a unified horn blast, as if in one motion, their great lances were lowered from their upright positions. The lances were secured in the couched technique that was such a distinguishing characteristic of the Avanoran knights.
To Aelfric’s eyes, it looked like a solid wall of steel approaching upon a foundation of muscle, as horse and rider readied themselves to connect with the shields of the Saxan lines. They were just about within reach of the Saxan arrows, and Aelfric expected to hear their own horn signals and shouts resounding soon enough.
Aelfric glanced over at the Bretican noble at his side. A smile was spreading across Count Gerard’s face, breaking into a chuckle as the plainly amused Count of Bretica looked upon the furrowed brows of worry surmounting Aelfric’s rigid, tensed expression.
Looking at Aelfric the whole time, Count Gerard spoke loudly, to one of the horsemen in attendance upon him. “Ready the signals.”
“Now I think that I just might have an idea as to what your men were heading out to do last night,” Aelfric said, as his brows gradually relaxed.
He looked back out to the battlefield, his sight focusing in upon the white stones placed along a roughly even line. The stones were within the range of the Saxan bows, and though that might have factored into their placement, Aelfric knew that they signified something much more ominous for the enemy ranks.
He looked back to Count Gerard, as the corners of his own mouth turned up in a subtle smile. The Count now had one of the most wry grins that he had ever seen, winking to Aelfric, before turning his head back towards the battlefield
“Just an extra precaution for your center. My men took care of it last night, as you noticed. I hope you do not mind my initiative in this matter,” Count Gerard stated, as he settled himself in his saddle. He hefted up his circular shield, where it had been hanging from a guige strap on his left side. Reaching across his body, he drew his sword out, and held it high. “I will see you in a little while. It is time to greet these Avanorans properly.”
It was about that moment that Count Gerard’s plan manifested. Aelfric’s spirit leaped, as he saw a considerable number of horses and riders in the forefront of the Avanoran ranks suddenly go tumbling down, falling out of his sight. He recognized that they had fallen into pits, which had been dug under Bretican supervision, carefully covered by turf, and marked by the small white stones.
The Avanorans had encountered no pits the previous day, and were pressing a direct attack from the onset on the second. The pits were a brilliant move on the part of Count Gerard, and Aelfric wished that he could take a moment to congratulate the man’s genius.
The Count had already moved onward, and horns were sounding among his own horsemen, as those manning a few areas of the Saxan shield wall parted aside to allow the riders through. Aelfric’s gratitude would have to wait for later, as there was an Avanoran harvest to reap.
Confusion was rampant up and down the Avanoran lines. The back ranks, and those few knights in the front that had not fallen into one of the pits riddling the ground, jerked in panic on their reins, pulling their steeds to an abrupt halt.
Many of those who had fallen into the pits were badly injured in the avalanche of horses and men. Cries of man and beast emitted from the hollows, some pitiful, and others full of rage. A few knights who had freed themselves from their mounts were trying to scramble out of the pits, just as the Bretican cavalry emerged from the Saxan lines and counter-attacked the Avanorans with brazen ferocity.
The clash of steel erupted, swelling into its own chorus as a host of swords danced. Avanoran knights swiveled their mounts about to meet the unexpected onslaught, and to acquit themselves honorably. Sergeants and squires pressed forward wherever they could to aid the knights that they so dutifully accompanied and served.
The Avanorans were not the only ones to press forward, as many thanes recognized the stagnation and severe disruption in the Avanoran advance. The advantage that the Avanorans held moving in tight, coordinated units had been cast into disarray. With masses of horses and men jammed together and constricted, without coordination, an irresistible opportunity arose.
Aelfric dismounted quickly, as he watched the development unfolding, hurrying towards the shield wall the second that his shoes touched the ground. He called out to a number of his household guards and thanes, joining with a large throng hastening forward to the Saxan shield wall.
A cluster of his elite household warriors surrounded him, as he moved with alacrity out onto the battlefield. They bore their long-hafted axes eagerly, intent on inflicting great damage to the Avanoran invaders. Raising his own sword high, Aelfric passionately exhorted them, as he felt the upsurge in adrenaline, conveying a tempest of fury throughout his body.
The knights in the pits were at a terrible disadvantage as the Saxans on foot reached the edges of the earthen cavities. Swinging long axes, or thrusting and slashing broad-bladed spears downward, the Saxan defenders slew many of the hapless knights, delivering torrents of blows.
“The mounts! Go for the mounts!” a thane close to Aelfric cried out to some of the axe-bearing men, who obliged the order with great rapidity.
The great war axes, wielded by the powerful household guards, could behead a horse, and several fearsome blows did just that. Many knights cried out in a terrible rage as their mounts were cut out from under them. Many steeds pawed, reared, and kicked out with tremendous force behind their sharp hooves, claiming more than a few of their Saxan attackers, as the battling soared towards a feverish crescendo.
A few particularly unfortunate knights were pinned securely under the bulk of fallen horses, but others moved with a strength purchased by desperation, and pulled themselves free. In the swirling battle, with the ranks so tightly contracted together, and so many bodies creating obstacles on the ground, the Avanoran squires could not bring forward replacement mounts.
One knight cut and thrust at Aelfric, as he thundered into the eye of the storm alongside his men. He had fully expected the style of attack, as the Avanoran knights, with their tapering sword blades, were every bit as likely to thrust as they were to slash. Aelfric caught the first strike with his blade, and the latter with his shield. He fired back a heavy sword blow that crashed into the knight’s shield, a flat-topped design, rounded of corner and curved in at the sides, that was red with several black lines crisscrossing its surface. The knight was garbed in a close-fitting, black, sleeveless surcoat over his chain mail armor, and Aelfric could feel the cold, deadly stare coming from behind the rigid face visor.
Back on the offensive, the knight pressed forward with three more rapid strikes. The last was a blurring-fast thrust that scraped along the edges of Aelfric’s mail shirt, on his right side, grazing the iron links just under his arm pit. The strike had gotten past Aelfric’s sword and shield, but a slight twist of his body had both saved him, and given him an opening to capitalize on.
Aelfric immediately moved his body forward, and a little to the left, bringing his raised iron shield boss into the fight as an offensive weapon. He drove it up vigorously, shoving the iron piece towards the knight’s head, putting his full weight behind it. The stout shield boss smashed into the right side of the knight’s face, just behind his visor, crashing into chain mail links and staggering him.
Aelfric whipped his sword down low, bringing the heavier, wider blade underneath the knight’s shield, and into his mail-shrouded leg. As the heavy Saxan blades were adapted more for impact than for slicing, the robust blow delivered a serious injury, causing the knight to drop instantly to the ground with a loud outcry.
It took only a couple of moments longer to finish the grisly task, though Aelfric had to bring his defenses up fast, as an enraged squire, hate boiling on his face, struck down at him from his mount. The long, thin spear tip, prime for piercing chain mail armor, narrowly missed Aelfric’s body.
War was war, and without a good position to cut at the squire, Aelfric brought an arcing blow up from below, into the neck of the squire’s steed. Aelfric jumped backwards as the steed toppled to the ground with a mortal wound, trapping the squire’s leg underneath, as the man’s face turned swiftly from hate to unbridled terror. Aelfric did not let the man suffer much longer in such a state, bringing an end to the squire’s life with one more deadly blow.
By the time that the call came to return to their own lines, Aelfric’s shield was jagged at several places along its outer rim, his sword was generously nicked and bloodstained, and a part of his mail shirt had suffered many broken links. He trudged back wearily, with the consoling knowledge that the damage done to his equipment had been far less than what he had inflicted upon the enemy.
At least two men that he was sure were knights had fallen under his blade, in addition to four lesser fighters who were likely a mix of squires and sergeants. Several others had been either wounded, or had been caught up in the surges of the fighting and taken away from the reach of his blade.
Those of his household guard around him had hewn a plentiful harvest while amongst the forest of Avanorans. Their axes were blood-soaked, and only a few of them had been killed, or taken injury in return. Most had remained close to Aelfric throughout the fighting, circling around him tightly as the calls rang out to pull back to the shield wall.
The Avanorans were now retreating themselves, in an orderly, controlled fashion that demonstrated their great discipline. Well-coordinated units were fighting together in rear-guard type actions, while the ranks behind them hurried to retreat.
Aelfric plodded on leaden legs across the last stretch of ground to the shield wall. He was out of breath, shoulders and arms aching from all the exertion, and the impacts of absorbed blows, but his mood was very much uplifted.
He stopped for a moment, to aid a wounded household guard struggling along to his right side. Aelfric allowed the man to put his left arm around the ealdorman’s shoulder, hastening to slide his own sword back into his scabbard, so that he could concentrate on supporting the injured warrior. The man had taken a gash to his thigh, and was weakening fast, but had not suffered a mortal wound. The household guard would likely be fine with some further rest and attention.
Aelfric would still say a few prayers for the Saxan warrior. Any kind of wound suffered in battle was still a threat to survival, with the festering, corrupting possibilities that time often brought to an injured warrior in a battle’s wake.
Entering through the parted shields, he called out loudly for some of the men in the deeper ranks to assist the wounded household guard back to the main camp. There, at the least, monks, nuns, and priests more skilled in the treatment of wounds could help the man. He imparted a few words of encouragement to the veteran warrior, as two wide-eyed levy men bore up the injured man’s weight on either side, carefully starting back towards the encampment.
Turning around, Aelfric looked off across the wide battlefield, gazing over the fully reconstituted Saxan shield wall. The Avanorans were continuing their fallback, and their cavalry were now shielded behind a solid wall of infantry, archers, and crossbowmen. Aelfric could not help but give another nod of respect to their coordinated retreat, positioning themselves in such a cohesive order, after suffering a fair number of losses.
Nothing of further concern had occurred on either the left or right flanks. The Andamoorans had remained in place. The Ehrengardians had not remained entirely inert, but had made no significant moves.
As he looked on, he witnessed a small cluster of mounted knights returning from an unsuccessful sortie against the Saxans. The knights of Ehrengard were now moving toward the far right end of the Ehrengardian flank, hurrying to gain the protection of the Halmlander pikemen.
There was no question that the action in the center was by far the most important on the battlefield. Perhaps the strongest element of the invader’s army had been engaged and repelled. In many ways it was a tremendous achievement, testifying to both Saxan wits and temerity.
Aelfric took several deep breaths, as sweat streamed down his face, hunching over in his fatigue and letting his shield rest on the ground. His chest heaved as he labored to get air into his lungs.
“Did you approve of my surprise?” inquired an exuberant voice.
Though he remained stooped over, Aelfric brought his eyes up to see Count Gerard, mounted on horseback before him. The burly, bearded man’s face, with his prominent, aquiline nose, echoed the visage of his war steed, an ironic sight that almost caused Aelfric to laugh. As things stood, he was highly elated over Count Gerard’s initiative, and battened down his momentary amusement.
He knew that the Avanorans would have been able to jostle holes in the shield wall had those brawny destriers been able to put their full force behind the knights’ extended lances, and push forward. Having been so close to the Avanoran stallions, Gerard’s own impressive steed clearly appeared lesser by comparison.
The destriers carried a foreboding appearance with their ferocious demeanor, and sharp, wickedly powerful hooves. With noticeably long manes, substantially heavy fore and hindquarters, and an ample span of strong, muscled back stretched between their saddle’s pommels and cantles, the heavy war horses of the Avanorans were like big barbarians amongst the race of equines. They were exceptional steeds, bred for the art of war, well-suited to the stout flow of martial blood running steadily through the veins of their Avanoran masters.
Having those brutes resisted by men holding shields was not something that Aelfric had ever wanted to test. It was an even more dour thought to imagine those stallions thundering down upon mere peasant levies, behind breaches in the shield wall.
“Approve?” Aelfric finally replied, with a grin. “Thrilled, and greatly relieved, I would say, Gerard.”
Count Gerard smiled. “That should take a little fight out of them for the day, but they will not fall for that twice.”
“No they won’t,” Aelfric agreed, slowly straightening up, as his breath returned to him. “But they should be stymied for a short while. Go and get your men and mounts some rest, and a little to eat and drink, while you can.”
The enemy tide had ebbed into the oceanic mass of invaders, but it would soon return. In what form, Aelfric had no way of knowing, but the fact that they had withstood a major attack by the Avanorans boded well for their chances of surviving one more day.
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