‘I – I do,’ he said, his voice trembling.
I marched across, my mail chinking with each step, and stood over him. ‘Whom do you serve?’
He cast his gaze down. ‘Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn, lord.’
‘Rhiwallon?’ I asked. I’d heard that name before; he was foremost among the Welsh princes who held sway in these parts beyond the dyke. Indeed I’d heard it said that he called himself king, though there was precious little in these parts to be king of. Until now I’d never spoken to any who knew him directly. ‘He sent you?’
The boy nodded cautiously, as if unsure whether this was the right answer to give or not.
‘You took something that didn’t belong to you,’ I said, slowly enough that he could understand me. ‘The death of your companions is the price that you pay.’
He nodded but remained silent. For one so young he did well to keep his composure, when many men twice his age would have crumbled.
‘Go back to your master and tell him you failed. Tell him what happened here, and mention to him the name of Tancred a Dinant. If you’re lucky he’ll spare your life, as I’ve done. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, lord.’ I saw a lump form in the boy’s throat as he swallowed, but he did not move.
‘Then go,’ I told him. ‘Or else I just might change my mind.’
He scrambled to his feet, hesitating just for a moment while he glanced at his fellow countrymen. The blades of my men were pointed at their backs, their heads were bowed and they didn’t speak. He must have seen that he’d suffer the same fate as them if he waited any longer, and so he darted away across the clearing, towards the west and the dying light, into the depths of the forest. I raised a hand to Serlo and ?dda so that they knew to let him go, then went to survey the corpses strewn about the clearing, to see if they had on them anything of worth.
‘What about the rest?’ Pons called after me. ‘Are we going to take them back with us?’
I glanced towards Hild, clutching at Lyfing’s limp body, the tears flowing down her cheeks. I thought of all those men back in Earnford whose lives had been cut short earlier that day, and I thought too of their families who would be grieving for them. They had not deserved to die.
And I knew what had to be done.
‘Kill them,’ I said, without so much as turning around. ‘Kill them all.’
They were warriors the same as us, and as such they faced their deaths with dignity. But nevertheless when the end itself came, they screamed as any other man would, and I hoped that the boy running back to his lord would hear those screams and know how fortunate he had been.
Two
WE DIDN’T STAY there long. There could well be more Welshmen prowling the hills – friends and brothers of those we had killed – and if the boy went back to them rather than to his lord, they would surely come to seek their revenge sooner rather than later. Although we were all weary and it was already late, I knew we could not rest yet.
Before we went, we rounded up the enemy’s horses and searched their camp for anything useful or valuable. A man could rightfully claim anything owned by someone he himself had killed, except for silver and anything more precious, which had to be given up to me. In all we managed to find thirty-nine pennies, which I would share out amongst my knights later. Since I had slain the enemy’s leader, I claimed for myself his silver chain and gold ring, while the village men found and traded with each other for helmets and knives, shields and weapons, as well as brooches, tunics and even shoes. I saw ?dda donning a fine green cloak trimmed with what looked like otter fur, while another man tried to buckle up a leather corselet that was too small for him.
What food we could gather I divided up into equal parts, though there was little of it: some dozen loaves of bread no bigger than my fist, a handful of small cheeses wrapped in scraps of cloth, and a few berries and nuts. It was not much of a feast, given that we had two dozen empty stomachs to feed, but it was more than any of us had eaten all day, and it came as welcome relief.
With the light fast fading, then, we left that place of slaughter, following our own trail eastwards in the direction of home. As night descended it grew harder to find our way; the moon was new and cloud was beginning to gather, obscuring the little light offered by the stars. We were becoming ever more stretched out, and several times those of us at the front had to stop to let the stragglers catch up.