It is his undoing.”
Robert looked up at Luc’s banner, a black wolf on a red field. “I pity him.”
“S IR S IMON is dead.”
Luc stared at his captain. Sweat smeared Remy’s face, seeping from beneath the nose guard of his conical helmet to drip from his chin. “We have lost,” Remy added miserably, and gestured toward Wulfridge’s stone walls with the tip of his sword. “We are undone.”
“No, we are not.” Luc’s denial was so fierce, his burly captain took a stumbling backward step. “No clumsy Saxon warrior can vanquish trained Norman soldiers, Remy. We will withdraw our men from the fight but not the battle. Give the order to retreat to the wood and regroup. And, Captain Remy—do not speak to me of defeat again.”
At Luc’s crisp orders, Remy’s face creased with relief. “At once, Sir Luc.”
“I will join you shortly.”
When Remy silently nodded and retreated, Luc reined his mount, Drago, around to study the forbidding stone walls that rose from the limestone cliff. Since the Norman retreat, the Saxons had melted away, no doubt to savor their triumph. Luc swore softly. Curse them, he would not yield, would not allowthis old lord to make a fool of him. Sir Simon’s failure was not his.
Wulfridge
was
a surprise, however. He had expected to find the familiar wooden fortress with stockade walls and clustered buildings, not this impenetrable stone edifice with gates tightly shut, iron overlaying wood making it resistant to fire arrows. Not once had these gates opened, yet men had appeared outside the walls to engage Sir Simon’s troops and just as easily seemed to disappear into a thick mist that clung stubbornly to the ground.
Luc shook his head. There seemed to be no style to the structure, yet he could see carved niches among the irregular crown of jagged rocks that provided the defenders with arrow notches. Moss and lichen greened the stones, and ancient ornamentation pocked the walls with intricately carved Celtic knots. For a great distance around the castle, trees had been leveled to afford an easy view of an enemy’s approach. This was a well-planned stronghold that reminded him of ancient Roman forts. On the way north they had passed long stretches of earth and stone wall, built centuries before and undulating across the land like the gray bones of a giant serpent: further evidence of the Roman occupation.
And here, near the boundary of the land of the Scots, Wulfridge perched like a predatory beast atop a promontory that dropped steeply into the churning froth of the North Sea. High, chalky cliffs afforded no hope of invasion from the sea side. Already, a half dozen of his men had bogged down in the marshy ground, with horses sunk hock-deep. They were fortunate that more were not hindered.
The Saxon lord had the element of entrenched forces on his side: a fortress that was nigh impregnable. Even if a stout enough tree could be felled and brought to use as a battering ram against the wooden doors, the ascent was too steep to wield it effectively. Luc set his jaw grimly. These cursed defenders must think themselves invincible, shut up in their stone fortress torain down arrows on the foe at their leisure. Infuriatingly, it seemed true enough.
He rode the castle perimeter slowly, just out of arrow range. Grass studded the sandy ground in places, and small patches of thicket sprung up in waving barriers that unnerved Drago. When an undulating branch came too close to his line of vision, the stallion shook his head in a metallic jangle of bridle bits and trappings. The thick mane whipped across Luc’s face as Drago’s hooves sank into the sand with a rasping sound. Cursing, Luc urged the sweating destrier to more solid ground.
He reined in the horse on a scrabble of rock, and leaned to pat the animal’s damp neck. “For shame, Drago, to let a few leaves frighten you. Or is it because they are Saxon leaves?”
The horse snorted. A seabird wheeled overhead with a keening cry, a
Robert looked up at Luc’s banner, a black wolf on a red field. “I pity him.”
“S IR S IMON is dead.”
Luc stared at his captain. Sweat smeared Remy’s face, seeping from beneath the nose guard of his conical helmet to drip from his chin. “We have lost,” Remy added miserably, and gestured toward Wulfridge’s stone walls with the tip of his sword. “We are undone.”
“No, we are not.” Luc’s denial was so fierce, his burly captain took a stumbling backward step. “No clumsy Saxon warrior can vanquish trained Norman soldiers, Remy. We will withdraw our men from the fight but not the battle. Give the order to retreat to the wood and regroup. And, Captain Remy—do not speak to me of defeat again.”
At Luc’s crisp orders, Remy’s face creased with relief. “At once, Sir Luc.”
“I will join you shortly.”
When Remy silently nodded and retreated, Luc reined his mount, Drago, around to study the forbidding stone walls that rose from the limestone cliff. Since the Norman retreat, the Saxons had melted away, no doubt to savor their triumph. Luc swore softly. Curse them, he would not yield, would not allowthis old lord to make a fool of him. Sir Simon’s failure was not his.
Wulfridge
was
a surprise, however. He had expected to find the familiar wooden fortress with stockade walls and clustered buildings, not this impenetrable stone edifice with gates tightly shut, iron overlaying wood making it resistant to fire arrows. Not once had these gates opened, yet men had appeared outside the walls to engage Sir Simon’s troops and just as easily seemed to disappear into a thick mist that clung stubbornly to the ground.
Luc shook his head. There seemed to be no style to the structure, yet he could see carved niches among the irregular crown of jagged rocks that provided the defenders with arrow notches. Moss and lichen greened the stones, and ancient ornamentation pocked the walls with intricately carved Celtic knots. For a great distance around the castle, trees had been leveled to afford an easy view of an enemy’s approach. This was a well-planned stronghold that reminded him of ancient Roman forts. On the way north they had passed long stretches of earth and stone wall, built centuries before and undulating across the land like the gray bones of a giant serpent: further evidence of the Roman occupation.
And here, near the boundary of the land of the Scots, Wulfridge perched like a predatory beast atop a promontory that dropped steeply into the churning froth of the North Sea. High, chalky cliffs afforded no hope of invasion from the sea side. Already, a half dozen of his men had bogged down in the marshy ground, with horses sunk hock-deep. They were fortunate that more were not hindered.
The Saxon lord had the element of entrenched forces on his side: a fortress that was nigh impregnable. Even if a stout enough tree could be felled and brought to use as a battering ram against the wooden doors, the ascent was too steep to wield it effectively. Luc set his jaw grimly. These cursed defenders must think themselves invincible, shut up in their stone fortress torain down arrows on the foe at their leisure. Infuriatingly, it seemed true enough.
He rode the castle perimeter slowly, just out of arrow range. Grass studded the sandy ground in places, and small patches of thicket sprung up in waving barriers that unnerved Drago. When an undulating branch came too close to his line of vision, the stallion shook his head in a metallic jangle of bridle bits and trappings. The thick mane whipped across Luc’s face as Drago’s hooves sank into the sand with a rasping sound. Cursing, Luc urged the sweating destrier to more solid ground.
He reined in the horse on a scrabble of rock, and leaned to pat the animal’s damp neck. “For shame, Drago, to let a few leaves frighten you. Or is it because they are Saxon leaves?”
The horse snorted. A seabird wheeled overhead with a keening cry, a