"You leave your flock in safe hands, my lord. Angharad needs no help from me, and I will be more aid to you on the battle line." The priest patted the satchel at his side. "I am bringing cloths and such for wounds. I can serve you better at the sharp end, can I not?"
"Come, then," Bran said, shifting the bundle of arrows on his hip. "It would not do to keep King William waiting."
They marched at a steady pace, moving silently as shadows through the thick-grown trees and heavy undergrowth of bracken and tangled ivy vines and bramble canes, guided by an intimate knowledge of the greenwood's myriad trackways-many of which would be invisible to anyone who had not spent years in the wild woodlands of the March. They changed direction often, abandoning one trail for another, always working south, however, towards the King's Road.
"Do you think William Rufus himself has come?" asked Tuck.
"Perhaps," allowed Scarlet a few paces behind him. "Where you find king's men, you sometimes find a king leading them. Red William is said to like a fight."
"It would be good if he has come," Tuck observed. "Then when we sue for peace he will be ready to hand."
"Sue for peace," said Bran. "I have no intention of suing for peace."
"I was not thinking of you, my lord," replied the friar. "I was thinking of the Ffreinc. After a few days, I would not be surprised if we see a flag of truce from William's camp."
"A few days?" wondered Bran. "Tuck, bless you, we have but ten men! If we make it to the end of this day with body and soul knit together, I will count it a triumph."
"Oh, ye of little faith!" the priest scoffed, and on they went.
The land rose steadily beneath to form the long slope of the ridge that was the southern border of Elfael. At the place where the old road crested the ridge-dropping low as it passed between two steep banks of stone like a river flowing through a gorge-Bran had chosen to engage the enemy. They dropped their bundles at the foot of a high rock stack shielding them from view of the road below. While Scarlet and the others took a moment's rest, Tuck and Bran climbed the stack. On a flat rock jutting out above the road, they found Rhoddi lying on his stomach and gazing down the long southern slope towards the foot of the ridge.
"Thank God," said the warrior, squirming upright as Bran crawled up on hands and knees to join him. "Here I was thinking Prebyn had lost his way."
"Where are they?" asked Bran, squatting beside Rhoddi.
"Just there." He pointed down the slope towards a stand of oaks that grew beside the deep-rutted road. "They seem to have stopped. They've been there for a while, but they should come in sight any time now."
Tuck scrambled up at last and, lying on his belly, turned his eyes to the dark stretch of road far down the slope where the intertwining limbs still overhung the deep-sunk path. The Grellon had cleared the trees for a dozen yards on either side of the defile to give themselves a clear and unobstructed view from above.
"How many do you think there are?" asked the friar.
"I don't know," replied Rhoddi. "A fair few, I reckon."
Bran returned to where the others were waiting. "Scarlet, you and Tomas will command the other side. Llwyd and Beli," he said, referring to the two newcomers, both farmers' sons who had been added to their number following the abbot's disastrous raid, "go with Scarlet. He'll show you what to do. You'd better hurry. We don't want the Ffreinc to see you."
The four left on the run, and Bran and Owain took up an armful of bundled arrows and scrambled back up to the lookout post. "I see them!" said Tuck, pointing down the long incline. "That spot of red, there. It's moving."
"It's one of the scouts," Rhoddi told him. "They advance and fall back. They're plenty wary."
"They know we will attack," said Bran. "Trying to tempt us into showing ourselves."
"Brave men," Tuck murmured to himself.
"Brave fools," amended Owain.
"Is this the main body?" asked Bran.
"I made it three divisions," Rhoddi replied, and explained how he had worked his way down to the bottom of the ridge to see what could be learned of the king's army from that vantage. "Most are mounted, but there are a number on foot as well. And those I saw appeared but lightly armed."
"They know they will not be facing knights on horseback," surmised Bran, "so they need not overburden themselves or their animals."
Tuck backed slowly down the rocks and into a little sunny patch nearby; hitching up his robe, he knelt in the long grass and, crossing his hands over his chest, he lifted his face to the clear blue sky above and began to pray, saying, "Commander of the Heavenly Host, You are no stranger to war and fighting. I know You'd rather have peace, and I'd have it, too, if it was left to me. But You know that sometimes that en't possible, and if peace was in William's mind I don't reckon he'd be marching against us now. So, I'm asking You to think back to Your man, Moses, and how You supported him in all his wrangles with the Pharaoh-Who-Knew-Not-Joseph. Great of Might, I'm asking You to support Bran and his men today-and like You did with the Hebrew slaves when Pharaoh chased them out of Egypt, I'm asking You to drown the armies of the enemy in their own bloodlust. Last but not least, I'm asking You to ease the suffering of the wounded and, above all, to treat kindly the souls of those who will be coming to stand before You in a little while. Grant them eternal rest in Your wide kingdom for the sake of Your most Merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus."
Tuck was roused from his prayers by the sound of a trumpet-small but bright as a needle point in the quiet forest. "Amen, so be it," he whispered and, crossing himself, he picked up his staff and hauled himself back up the rocks to where Bran, Owain, and Rhoddi were waiting.
The trumpet sounded again: a single long, unwavering note.
"What is the meaning of that?" wondered Owain. "Vanity?"
"Maybe they think to frighten us," suggested Tuck.
"Take more than a pip on the horn to send a shiver up my spine," said Rhoddi. He nocked an arrow to the string, but Bran put a hand on his arm and pulled it down.
"They're still trying to get us to show ourselves so they can mark our positions," said Bran, "perhaps get some idea how large a force they will face. If they only knew how few…" He let the rest of the thought go.
The trumpet called once more, and this time the trumpeter himself rode into view. Behind him came two knights bearing banners: a blue square with three long tails of green and a cross of gold in the centre surrounded by small green crosslets. Behind them could be seen the first ranks of knights; some of these also carried banners of red and blue, some with yellow lions, some with crosses of white and red.
"Owain," said Bran, "find yourself a good position somewhere just there"-he pointed a little farther along the rock wall-"and be ready to loose on my signal." As the young warrior departed, Bran turned to the friar. "Tuck," he said, placing a bundle of arrows upright at his feet, "I want you to see that we do not run out of arrows in this first skirmish. Keep us supplied and let us know how many we have left if supplies run low."
"Good as done," said Tuck. He scuttled back down the rocks and arranged the bundles in stacks of three which he then hauled up to a place just below the archers to keep them within easy reach. By the time he rejoined Rhoddi and Bran, the Ffreinc were much closer. Tuck could make out individual faces beneath the round helmets of the knights. They rode boldly on, scanning the rocks for the first sign of attack. Some were sweating beneath their heavy mail, the water glistening in the sunlight as it dripped down their necks and into their padded leather tunics.
Both Bran and Rhoddi had arrows nocked and ready. "We'll wait until they come directly below us," Bran was saying. "The first to fall will-"