Saxon Fall Read Online Free

Edwin.”
    “It is for me,” I realised that it had sounded cold and I shrugged and gave my little brother an apologetic smile.
    “You need a woman.  You are still young enough to father children.”
    “I may be but I am aware of the passing of time.  We need to slow down the advance of the Northumbrians. The Northumbrians are flexing their muscles; they tried a sneak attack on Mona.” We sat in his hall and I told him of the failed attack and my plans. “So I need some of your equites and, if possible, you.”
    “Of course I will join you but why do you need me?  There are better equites than me.”
    I laughed, “Because you complete me.  I need a wizard. Our father gave half of his skills to you and the other half to me.  I can fight but I cannot dream.”
    “You have Myrddyn.”
    “Myrddyn is getting old. I need you, little brother.  Even if your sword remained sheathed you would still be invaluable to me. You are the only one, save Pol, who can think as quickly as I do.”
    “What about Tuanthal?”
    “I would take him too but he is old and I would that he protected Mona with Uncle Aelle.  The two of them can protect our home.”
    “Very well.  When do we leave? It is almost summer now.”
    “I will be in Hibernia until Midsummer’s Eve at the latest but I warn you that I intend to winter in Northumbria.”
    That surprised even Gawan. “But you have horses and the winters are harsh.”
    “And we can punish the Northumbrians for they will not expect us. We will become a spectre. We will haunt them in the darkest and longest nights. I have plans for feeding the horses. Fear not.”
    And I did have plans but I told them to no one yet.
    I took but twenty of my equites with me on my trip to Hibernia. Before I travelled I met with Aelle and Tuanthal. “I told King Cadwallon that I would be taking a hundred men with me to raid the Northumbrians but I want you two to train as many as you can.  If any show prowess as riders then they will come with me. We need every boy as a slinger and the girls too.”
    “Girls?” Women did not fight.
    “Yes Tuanthal.  If the Saxons come they will not be spared will they?  They can fight for their freedom as can the boys.”
    Myrddyn stood next to me as we set sail.  “You may have ruffled feathers on Mona, Warlord, but I am pleased with this ruthless warrior I see before me. The land will need a firm and strong hand. Your father both trained and chose well in his successor.”
    “I am just sad that I cannot talk with him.”
    “ Wyrd . But he talks to me and to your brother.  I hide nothing from you, Warlord.”
    “But it is not the same.”
    “I know.”
    I had chosen Pol to accompany me and the rest were young equites who were yet to be blooded. I hoped that this expedition would not be dangerous but I needed to know my young warriors and how they would react to the unexpected. Pol and I had shared many experiences; from having been my father’s squire to travelling to Constantinopolis. He was even closer to me, in many ways, than Gawan for I had spent almost every day with him since I had been a child. When I went to war he was on my right hand side and I never looked for him on the field of battle for he was always there.
    While Myrddyn slept, he did much more of that these days, I went to the prow with Pol. We had sailed west and then north to avoid the Saxons on Manau.  Once the captain turned north we would begin to see the coast of Hibernia. Pol pointed off to the horizon. “Where will we go to seek these mercenaries, Warlord?  There are many on the island who would slit our throats for our helmets alone.”
    “They would have to be fine warriors to do that but I will go to the north of the island; to the land of Fiachnae mac Báetáin .”
    “He is in Strathclyde is he not? And, as I recall the Uí Néill are untrustworthy.”
    “True but Fiachnae had a brother, Fiachra, whom he left to rule in his name.  I hope that he may know some men