Robin Hood | Thief of Skandia

Chapter 16 (War Council)

Song: Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine

The Skandian War Council was meeting in the Great Hall. Will sat to one side, listening as Halt addressed the Skandian leader and his principal advisers. Borsa, Erak and two other senior jarls, Lorak and Ulfak, flanked the Oberjarl as they clustered around the table where Halt had spread an immense map of Skandia. Robin Hood stood slightly to the side of the meeting, a tactiful few paces back, both there and not there. The Ranger tapped a spot on the map with the point of his saxe knife.

'As of last night,' he said, 'the Temujai were here. Maybe sixty kilometres away from Hallasholm. The delaying raids are having exactly the sort of effect we wanted. That was a tactful idea Robin. The advance has gone from thirty kilometres a day to less than twelve.' He tried to draw positive attention to the outlaw, it might come in handy for her trial after the war.

Robin shrugged.

'Shouldn't cavalry move faster than that?' asked Ulfak. Halt perched one leg on the bench beside the table and shook his head.

'They'll move fast enough when they're fighting,' he told them. 'But right now, they're conserving their horses' strength, letting them feed and move easily. Besides, now that we've reinforced Olgak's men with another half dozen raiding groups, it's taking them half the day to simply form up, then set up camp again in the evening.'

Ragnak thumped one massive fist on the pine planks that formed the table.

'Raids and skirmishes, nuisance attacks! They achieve nothing! It's time we hit them with our main force and settled this once and for all,' he declared, and three of his Council growled agreement.

'There'll be plenty of time for that,' Halt cautioned. 'The most important thing is to engage them in a place that suits us – one that we choose ourselves.'

Again, the Oberjarl snarled. He knew he'd agreed to listen to Halt's advice. But these damned invaders had been flaunting themselves in his country now for several weeks. It was an affront to him and to every Skandian and he wanted to wipe the affront out, or die in the attempt. 'What's the difference where we fight them?' he said. 'A fight is a fight. We win or we lose. But if we do lose, we'll take plenty of them with us!'

Halt removed his foot from the bench and stood straight, ramming the saxe knife back into its scabbard.

'Oh, don't worry,' he said icily. 'There's every chance that we'll lose. But let's make sure we take as many of them with us as possible, shall we?' The Skandians, used to bluster and boasting, were taken aback by his cold assessment of their chances for survival – as he had intended them to be.

'They're cavalry,' he continued. 'They outnumber us at least four to one. They can outmanoeuvre us, outrun us. And they'll look for the widest possible front to engage us on. That way, all the advantages are with them. They'll flank us, surround us and draw us out if they can.' He saw that he had their attention. They weren't happy about the situation, but at least they were prepared to listen.

'How will they do that?' Erak asked. He and Halt had discussed this briefing the day before. Halt wanted certain questions to be asked, and Erak was to ask them if none of the others seemed prepared to do so. The Ranger glanced quickly at Erak, but directed his answer to all of the group.

'It's a standard tactic of theirs,' he said. 'They'll attack on a wide front, probing, hitting and retiring. Then they'll appear to become fully engaged at one or two given points. They'll stop their hit and run tactics and fight a pitched battle – just the sort of thing that will suit your men,' he added, glancing at Ragnak. The Oberjarl nodded.