Tuck

CHAPTER 36

Coed Cadw

The war between Bran ap Brychan and King William for the throne of Elfael continued as it began-with short, sharp skirmishes in which the Grellon unleashed a whirlwind of stinging death before disappearing into the deep-shadowed wood. These small battles were fought down in the leafy trenches of greenwood trails, down amongst roots and boles of close-grown trees and the thick-tangled undergrowth where Ffreinc warhorses could not go and swords were difficult to swing. The Welsh rebels struck fast and silently; sometimes it seemed to the beleaguered knights that the Cymry materialized out of the redolent forest air. The first warning they had was the fizzing whine of an arrow and the crack of the shaft striking leather and breaking bone.

And although there was never any telling when or where the dreaded attack would come, the result was always the same: arrow-pierced dead, and wounded Norman soldiers lurching dazed along the narrow trackways of the greenwood.

After a few disastrous running battles, the Ffreinc knights, whose fighting lives were spent on horseback, quickly lost all interest in facing King Raven and his men in the dense forest and on foot. In this, Coed Cadw lived up to its name-the Guardian Wood-providing the rebels with an immense and all-but impenetrable defensive bulwark against an enemy whose numbers far exceeded their own many times over.

Without the use of their horses, and forced to traverse unknown and difficult terrain, the knights' supreme effectiveness as a weapon of war became nothing more than a blunt and broken stub of a blade. They might thrash and hack along the borders of the wood but could do little real damage, and the elusive King Raven remained beyond their reach.

Still, the king of England was determined to bring this rebel Welsh cantref to heel. He insisted that his commanders pursue the fight wherever they could. Even so, rather than send yet more men to certain death in the forest, they made endless sorties along the road and told themselves that at least they controlled the supply route and enforced the peace for travellers. King Raven was more than happy to grant William the rule of the road, since it allowed his archers time to rest and the Grellon to make more arrows and increase their stockpile.

As it became clear that there would be no easy victory over King Raven in the forest, King William moved to take the Vale of Elfael. The Ffreinc army set up encampment in the valley between the forest and Saint Martin's, laying siege to the Welsh fortress at Caer Cadarn. William invaded the town of Saint Martin's with a force of five hundred knights and men-at arms with himself in the lead. There was no resistance. The invaders, discovering only monks there-most of them French, under the authority of an ageing Bishop Asaph- and a few wounded soldiers and frightened townsfolk with little enough food to supply those already there, simply declared the town conquered and effectively reclaimed for the king's domains.

Caer Cadarn was not so easily defeated. The occupying Ffreinc troops quickly learned that they could not approach nearer than three hundred paces of the timber walls without suffering a hail of killing arrows. But as the old fortress itself seemed to offer no aid or support to King Raven and the rebels in the wood, William decided to leave it alone, and trust to a rigorous siege to bring the stronghold into submission.

Day gave way to day, and sensing a cold, wet winter on the near horizon, with no advancement in his fortunes and the time for his departure for France looming ever closer, the king decided to force the issue. He called his commanders to him. "Our time grows short. Autumn is at an end, and winter is soon upon us,"William announced. Standing in the centre of his round tent with his earls and barons ranged around him, he looked like a bear at a baiting, surrounded by wolves with extravagant appetites. "We must leave for Normandie within the fortnight or forfeit our tribute, and we will have this rebellion crushed before we go."

Hands on hips, he glared at the grim faces of his battle chiefs, daring them to disagree. "Well? We will have your council, my lords, and that quick."

One of the barons stepped forward. "My lord and king," he said, "may I speak boldly?"

"Speak any way you wish, Lord Belleme," replied William. A thick-skinned warhorse himself, he was not squeamish about any criticisms his vassals or subjects might make. "We do solicit your forthright opinion."

"With all respect, Majesty," began Belleme, "it does seem we have allowed these rebels to run roughshod over our troops." The Earl of Shrewsbury could be counted on to point out the obvious. "What is needed here is a show of strength to bring the Welsh to their knees." He made a half turn to appeal to his brother noblemen. "The savage Welshman respects only blunt force."

"And yours would be blunter than most," remarked a voice from the rear of the tent.

"Mock me if you will," sniffed Belleme. "But I speak as one who has some experience with these Welsh brigands. A show of force-that will turn the tide in our favour."

"Perhaps," suggested Earl de Reviers of Devon, stepping forward, "you might tell us how this might be accomplished when the enemy will not engage? They strike out of the mists and disappear again just as swiftly. My men half believe the local superstition that the forest is haunted by this King Raven and we fight ghosts."

"Bah!" barked Earl Shrewsbury. "Your men are a bunch of old women to believe such tales."

"And yet," replied Devon, "how is this show of strength to be performed against an enemy who is not there?" He offered the craggy Shrewsbury a thin half smile. "No doubt this is something your vast experience has taught you."

Shrewsbury gave a muttered growl and stepped back.

"The rebels refuse to stand and fight," put in Le Noir of Richmond. "That is a fact. Until we can draw them out into the open we will continue to fail, and our superior numbers will count for nothing."

"To be sure," agreed the king, "and meanwhile our superior numbers are eating through all our supplies. We're already running out of meat and grain. More will have to be brought in, and that takes time. Time we do not have to spare."William's voice had been rising as he began to vent his rage. "My lords, we want this ended now! We want to see that rebel's head on a pike tomorrow!"

"Your Majesty," ventured another of the king's notables, "I would speak."

William recognized his old friend, the Earl of Cestre. "Lord Hugh," he said, "if you see a way out of this dilemma, we welcome your wisdom."

"Hardly wisdom, Sire," answered Hugh. "More an observation. When facing a particularly cunning stag, you must sometimes divide your party in order to come at the beast from unexpected quarters."

"Meaning?" inquired William, who was in no mood for hunting lessons.

"Only this, my lord: that unless these rebels are truly spirits, they cannot be in two places at once. Sending a single large force into the wood is no use-as we have seen. So, send three, four, five or more smaller ones. Come at them from every direction."

"He's right," affirmed Lord Rhuddlan. "They cannot defend all sides at once. We can cut them down before they can escape again."

"We never know where they are," complained another lord. "How can we muster troops on the flanks and rear if we cannot tell where they will attack?"

"We must create a lure to draw them into battle," suggested Earl Hugh, "and when the bastards take the bait, we're ready to sally in from the rear and flanks and slice them up a treat."

There was more discussion then, about how this might be best accomplished, but the plan was generally accepted and agreed: the king's army would adopt a new tactic. They would abandon their normal course of moving into the forest in a single large force, and would instead advance in smaller groups towards a single destination using a body on horseback as a lure to draw the rebels into a fight, whereupon the individual parties would rally to the fight and, sweeping in from the flanks, quickly surround them, cutting off any escape.

The king, satisfied that this plan offered a better way forward, gave his blessing to the scheme and ordered all to be made ready for it to be implemented the following morning. Then, in a far better mood than he had enjoyed since his arrival in Elfael, he ordered a good supper for himself and Earl Hugh and a few others, to celebrate their impending victory.

At dawn the next day, six separate hunting parties rode out with a seventh, larger body of knights and men-at-arms to serve as the lure to draw the rebels into the trap. Upon reaching the forest's edge, they dismounted and proceeded on foot; the six smaller bodies fanned out around the main group and proceeded with all stealth.

It was slow and arduous work, hacking through the vines and branches, searching out pathways and game trails through the dense woodland. But just after midday, their determination was rewarded when the main body of knights encountered the Welsh rebels.

They had been stalking through a rock-lined rill, following the stream, when suddenly the canopy of branches seemed to open and begin raining arrows down upon them. The soldiers took shelter where they could, pressing themselves against the rocks and stones, all the while sounding blast after blast on the trumpets some of them were carrying. The attack continued much as previous assaults, but faltered when there arose a great shout and a second body of Ffreinc knights entered the battle from behind the rebel position. This was quickly followed by the appearance of a third body of knights that drew in from the left flank and mounted a fierce resistance to the killing shafts.

The battle lasted only moments and ended as abruptly as it had begun. There was a rustling in the branches overhead-as if a flock of nesting rooks had just taken flight-and the arrows stopped.

As the king's men reassembled to gather up their wounded and reckon their losses, they found a longbow lying among the rocks in the streambed-one of the rebels' weapons. What is more, it had blood on it. And there was no Ffreinc body in sight.

After the ruinous ventures of the previous encounters, this was deemed a triumph. It shrank in significance, however, when the victorious troops returned to their camp in the Vale of Elfael to learn that the other three search parties had become lost in the forest and unable to join the battle as planned. In their confusion, they had stumbled upon a hidden settlement-a cluster of crude huts and hovels made of sticks and skin around a great oak tree and a stone-lined well, together with a few storehouses and a pitiful field. Caught unawares, the inhabitants scattered. But the knights did manage to kill one of them as they fled-an old woman who seemed to be in some way guarding the place with only a wooden staff.