it was the best piece of generalship he has ever seen. Since he saw Harold at Stamford Bridge, that’s no mean compliment! The men are entitled to their celebration.”
Alan looked at the two of them in amasement. “You really don’t understand, do you? Either of you? Lady Anne I can understand, but you should know better, Wulfgar. She may be
“You need to be calling in every member of the fyrd and every man who can hold a knife. I expect to have 200 more men from Tendring Hundred here by nightfall- they’re marching in on foot. If I don’t, we’ll have some new thegns next week! After we have beaten the Danes when they come back down river, if we beat them, then you can celebrate.”
Alan stalked off muttering to himself and found Baldwin, who had his men well in hand and had restricted them to a pint of ale each. Alan gave permission for the men to take off their armour and rest after the long night and busy morning, and to receive a second pint of ale. As Baldwin helped Alan out of his hauberk and gambeson he gave a report on the losses for the morning’s battle. Three dead and one wounded amongst the archers; four dead spearmen and one injured; one dead swordsmen; one dead horseman and one with a severe leg wound. There were a number of minor injuries that would not prevent the men fighting again. Several of the villagers were dead or injured, but he had no details.
It was mid-afternoon when he walked out to the village green and greeted the men lounging in the shade of the trees. All had armour and weapons close by. Rolling up a bundle of cloth as a pillow, Alan lay down to get several hours sleep. It was nearly dark when he roused, stood and sought out Baldwin, who had been dealing with the arriving warriors. Hugh had arrived with the levies and men from Ramsey, Dovercourt and Great Oakley. Sending Baldwin for a rest Alan met with the Tendring thegns and had Baldwin distribute to the thegns’ retainers and fyrdmen the 100 or so chain-mail byrnies, swords, axes and shields that had been taken that morning, although most went to his own men.
He also sent a message rider to Thorrington and Brightlingsea, the latter to advise of the probable risk of immediate attack, and also to St Osyth to tell the inhabitants to be ready to evacuate the village and drive their animals into the forest if the invaders appeared on the sea.
Wivenhoe had a sandy beach with a wharf able to accommodate two ships, the village itself being built 500 yards inland on higher ground to prevent inundation on high tides or floods. There was woodland to the north and south, leaving an area about 500 yards wide clear between the village and the water.
The peasants were put to work digging long thin trenches in the wet low-lying ground about 100 paces from the edge of the village. The spoil was removed and placed as a breast-work just before the houses, sharp stakes were placed in the trenches and the cut sods carefully replaced over a network of thin branches over the trenches.
Men continued to trickle in from the east and south and Alan was overjoyed when four wagons arrived heavily loaded from Thorrington. Calling a group of peasants together he soon had them clearing a patch of trees and bushes at the edge of the northern section of woodland, stacking cut branches and shrubs to one side. The wagons were manoeuvred over to the cleared area and huge balks of timber and lengths of rope were unloaded, along with a giant cauldron and a number of barrels.
The wagons then rolled away and returned a little later loaded with rocks the size of a man’s head or a little larger, which were stacked between the piles of wood. There was also a small pile of about twenty hollow baked ceramic balls, each the size of a man’s head and each with a small hole at one end. As Anne walked up to see what the excitement was about, Alan and half a dozen men were fitting pieces of wood together and knocking wooden dowels in place with wooden mallets. The first machine was nearly complete, a large square of heavy timber with two upright posts, the rear post attached to a crosspiece onto which two men were currently tightly winding rope. The shorter front post was padded, thicker and not as high as the rear post. The length of the whole contraption was about fifteen feet and it was half that wide and high. Two of the men started to assemble the second machine as Anne arrived.
“What on earth are they?” she asked in puzzlement.
“Onagers,” replied Alan briefly. “They throw rocks and stuff,” he grunted as he increased tension on the rope. “These spokes twist the central skein of rope, which provides a force vector that causes the central beam to whip up and throw the object. I’ve already tested these two to throw a large rock 500 paces. This time I’ve replaced the sling with a sort of spoon, because I’m a nasty bastard.”
A workman carefully measuring amounts of different powders into a large cauldron gave a hearty laugh. “Greek Fire,” explained Alan. “Well… not really. It would perhaps be more accurate to refer to it as the ancients did and call it ‘Wildfire’. The Byzantines have been using Greek Fire in warfare for over 100 years, but the formula is a closely guarded secret. The Greeks and Romans used incendiaries based on naphtha. This is naphtha with the addition of some extra substances such as tree resin to thicken it, also nitre and sulphur. We heat it in the cauldron, then we add quicklime and pour it into the baked clay ball. Then we put the ball in the cage on the spoon-shaped container at the end of the moving beam, light it and pull the trigger. The result is barbequed Dane.” The workman gave a nasty snigger.
Anne looked none the wiser for the brief explanation and asked, “If it’s a military secret, how do you know about it?”
Alan looked up from carefully checking the consistency of the mixture as it was heated. “As I said, the use of naphtha to burn down gates and so on has been happening for over a thousand years. When I was studying in Paris I shared rooms with a man who was determined to try to discover the secret of Greek Fire and he did a lot of research and experiments. He intended to sell the formula to the king of France. I helped him sometimes. He added different substances to naphtha to see what the results were.”
“And was he successful?”
“Possibly. Indeed, I’d say probably, given that he blew up his laboratory and himself and caused a huge fire that burned down a number of buildings. At that time he was working on the problem of making the mixture self- combust. Fortunately, I was away visiting my family when he found the answer, or I’d have shared his fate. From that I learned to conduct such experiments outdoors and with very small quantities. What I have isn’t quite Greek Fire, as it can’t be pumped out of a hose and is quite unstable, but it does the job well enough for my purposes.”
When the second onager was completed Alan tested both, adjusting the tension on the ropes and lobbed half a dozen practice rounds of rock at various targets until he was satisfied with the setup. The practice rocks were retrieved and put back in the pile ready for use.
“What makes you so sure they’ll come to our village?” asked Anne.
“The same reason they came this morning- because you are here. A prosperous village, with men and women to seize and carry off as slaves, after they’ve had their fun with the younger women.” Anne blushed. “They’re just up the river and they’ll come just as sure as bees are drawn to a honey-pot, whether they win or lose at Colchester.”
It was now fully dark and Alan retired to the village green to sleep in the open with his men, declining Anne’s offer of a bed in the Hall.
Next morning dawned clear and bright, promising a hot summer’s day. Alan had had the village Fletcher up all night making arrows, and the blacksmith and his apprentice making spearheads. Now each village peasant could fashion himself a spear by cutting a suitable sturdy sapling and attach the newly-made spearhead. With this and the seax knife that each man owned as a mark of their free status, all would now be reasonably well armed.
Gimm, Alan’s young armourer, had arrived and was doing the rounds making small repairs and adjustments
