Bebbanburg’s big inner courtyard stank as pitch was burned out of pine, then smeared on shields. Weapons were sharpened, food crammed into bags, and Hanna, Berg’s wife, brought me three new battle-standards she had sewn in secret.
And three days after I had returned to Bebbanburg I left again, this time riding my best stallion and leading fifty-three battle-hardened men into the hills.
Where we would do the Devil’s work.
Eight
There was silence in the hills, not even the sound of a soft wind over thin grass. It was close to dawn and it seemed as if the starlit earth was holding its breath. A few high clouds drifted eastward where the horizon was just touched with a blade of grey.
I had been close to the Devil’s Valley for two nights and a day, and no horsemen had come from Eoferwic. If none came on this new day then I would admit failure because it would be impossible to hide almost two hundred men and their horses for longer. True, we were in the hills, but we had already encountered one shepherd bringing his flock south. That man, his dogs and his sheep were under guard, but ever since Finan had revealed the gold, the villagers had been climbing to the Devil’s Fort asking to see the hoard.
He had showed them the treasure, he had boasted of the new wealth and he had gone with half a dozen men to the village alehouse. He had worn the heavy golden torque and paid for their ale and food with a lump of gold. ‘So Guthfrith has to come today,’ Egil now told me. ‘The bastard must know the gold’s here.’ The two of us were lying on the grass, watching the eastern horizon where the grey was slowly lightening.
I saw a horseman briefly outlined against the wolf-grey streak of dawn. That would be one of our men. I had given my son the responsibility of leading our scouts, who would watch the road from Eoferwic. They would watch from the hills, then retreat fast if they saw Guthfrith coming.
‘Let’s hope they both come,’ I said vengefully. It still grated on me that Æthelstan had named Ealdred the Lord of Bebbanburg and, pleasant as it would be to slaughter Guthfrith, there would be even more pleasure in cutting Ealdred down.
I had expected Guthfrith the previous day, and every hour that he did not show gave me more anxiety. Finan had flaunted the gold, but the obvious question was why he had not immediately taken it north to Bebbanburg. He had told the villagers that he was waiting for me, that he needed another fifty warriors to ensure the gold’s safe return to Bebbanburg, and that he wanted to search the other two mounds, but would Guthfrith believe that feeble story?
Sihtric of Dunholm climbed the slope behind us and dropped next to me with a grin and a curt nod of greeting. I had known him since he was a boy, the bastard child of Kjartan the Cruel who had been one of my worst enemies. Sihtric had none of his father’s viciousness, but had grown to be one of my most trusted warriors. He had a gaunt face, a dark beard, a knife scar beneath one eye, and only four teeth when he grinned. ‘I remember when you were good-looking,’ I welcomed him.
‘At least I was once,’ he said, ‘unlike some I can think of.’ He nodded east into the glare of the rising sun that had just flared on the horizon. ‘Smoke over there.’
‘Where?’
Sihtric squinted. ‘Long way off, lord. In the valley.’
‘It could be mist,’ Egil said. I could see the pale smear in the Tesa’s shadowed valley, but could not be certain if it was mist or smoke.
‘It’s smoke and there’s no village there,’ Sihtric sounded certain. His men patrolled this part of my land and he knew it well.
‘Charcoal burners?’ Egil suggested.
‘Wasn’t there last night, lord,’ Sihtric said, ‘and they’d hardly build the pit overnight. No, that’s Guthfrith’s men. Bastards are camped there.’
‘And are letting us know they’re coming?’ I asked dubiously.
‘Folk have no sense, lord. And Guthfrith’s a king and God only knows what the West Saxon boy thinks he is, but kings and lords don’t abide being cold by night,’ he grinned at the implied insult, ‘and it’s still dark down there, sun hasn’t risen on the valley yet. You watch, that smoke will vanish in a few minutes.’
I watched, I waited, and Sihtric was right. The smoke or mist faded and disappeared as soon as the river valley’s shadow shrank. I touched the hilt of Serpent-Breath and prayed that both Guthfrith and Ealdred were coming. I doubted that either would trust the other, which meant that both must come if they were to share the gold equally, but with how many men? I had assembled almost two hundred, but now, as the sun rose to burn the dew from the uplands, I began to worry that I did not have enough. I did indeed plan the devil’s work that day, and to achieve it I needed to overwhelm whoever came to the Devil’s Valley.
And I was sure they would come across the hills. Guthfrith would have heard that the view from the new fort dominated the valley of the Tesa so that if he rode the Roman road he would be seen long before he could hope to reach the high valley. So he must come through the hills, hoping to surprise and overwhelm Finan’s men. Those men were still digging trenches, trimming pine logs, and excavating the mounds.
It was late morning when the first of my son’s scouts came back to us. It was Oswi, who we saw intermittently as he made a wide detour to the north to ensure he did not appear on any skyline as he approached us. The day had warmed and his horse was
