Winter's Blossom: The Seasons of Arthur

Chapter 22

We were going home.

Rather, we were going to the home of the Votadini.

Two British kingdoms dominate the North East of Britain up to the smaller Caledonian highland lands. The border between these countries was defined by the Roman wall that stretched from the east to west coast, reaching across the neck of Britain. South of the wall lay Elmet. It bordered Rheged in the west, a rough disputed line that weaved its way through the wills that ran like a spine up the country. To the east was the sea and to the south were the rivers and marshlands that was their natural barrier against the Angles.

Elmet was sparsely populated. There had been large Roman settlements there, such as Lindum that had once been a powerful Roman settlement that sat astride the Ermine Street road that ran from Londinium all the way Eboracum, and then onwards even further north all the way to the Edinburgh, the capital of Gododdin by the northern wall built and abandoned by the Romans. It was the end point of the Fosse Way that went southwest from Lindum all the way down to Dumnoniorum, with Ratae not far away. But Lindum were empty now but the birds, the foxes and wild cats. Much of its stone had been taken to build walls for livestock around the flat lands that stretched across the south of Elmet.

The capital of Elmet was not in the Roman settlements but one built towards the west of the kingdom, away from the raids of the Angles from the south and along their eastern coast. Elmet had no standing army ready to react to incursion. They could not afford any spread any further north. If the Angles reached Lindum than they had a clear march to Lyd, and nothing to stop them until Eboracum, and with that two thirds of Elmet would be gone. Rheged would be threatened to the west and Ratae, in Powys, would find itself like a bastion being steadily surrounded. As such, the warriors of Elmet permanently guarded the fords into the south of their kingdom.

North of that wall was the ancestral home of the Votadini, Gododdin. It had once dominated the land between the two Roman walls, but for the craggy, deeply forested country of Strathclyde to the west between the walls. That country had fallen though to Scotti tribesman who had invaded from Hibernia, and who now called the kingdom of Strathclyde Scottiland. Gododdin had once been the most powerful kingdom in the north of Britain. It's warriors were giants of men, fierce warriors but they were being invaded from three sides, with their southern neighbour unreliable, and so Cunedda, brother of the king, had led a migration of large numbers of Votadini population to Gwynedd at Ambrosius' invitation. While this had been good for Britain this left the embattled kingdom of Gododdin more vulnerable than ever. The promised armies of Ambrosius had never come, despite the requests year after year for help. The Votadini had rescued Britain, even though they were not even a part of Ambrosius' united kingdoms, but it seemed to be at the cost of their kingdom.

To reach Gododdin we marched back along the route we had taken to Ratae. We marched past the hill fort that we had stayed in and our raiding war band had crossed the river to break away from the rest of the troops. We did not stay there, but I looked up at the hill fort as we marched along the Fosse Way and thought again what an amazing location it was.

We were a hundred and eighty warriors on the march, led by Owain. This was no notional command this time, Dirandon was there as his second in command, to advise him and try to curb any mad plans but this was Owain's warband. It was tough, made up of the Votadini warriors, Aglovale's Powysians and thirty cavalrymen. Almost the exact same force that we had raided Angleland with. There were a healthy mix of eager young men and experienced veterans who looked like they could fight their way through the fires of hell and come out victorious. Yet none of these older, experienced men had commented on Owain's instalment as commander, despite his meagre years and lack of experience. I voiced this to Dirandon, who I would have thought to have been feeling the most slighted.