Winter's Blossom: The Seasons of Arthur

Chapter 34

As we approached Din Eidyn we were met by a procession of horsemen, led by an incensed Owain and Pellinore at the head of an escort of a dozen riders.

Owain reined in a looked down at us with cold fury on his normally calm face. 'My lord,' He said in icy formality, his anger not quite puncturing his subservience to the prince and heir of the kingdom. 'If you wanted to accompany my men on a raid, you should have spoken to me first,'

'Aye, I should have,' Agravaine agreed, and then broke into an impish grin as though he was a mischievous toddler. 'But you'd have said no.'

'For good reason.' Owain nodded, and cast a cold glance at me as if this was somehow my fault. I could tell that Owain thought that I had given him the okay with this. I was in a lose-lose situation really for I would have to admit to either collusion or ignorance to the giant heir of Goddodin amongst my men. Owain certainly did not look happy with me. I stayed in silent indecision about which way to go with this when Owain switched his attention from me back towards Agravaine.

'Did you give no thought to what would have happened if they'd caught you?' He demanded. Nobody answered that, not even Pellinore. Anything could happen at any time. Agravaine was always in the centre of the front rank in every shield wall.

'What if the Scotti had attacked?' Pellinore asked softly.

'Then you and the Lord Owain would have dealt with them.' Agravaine continued to look surprisingly pleased with himself. 'I am a capable warrior,' He admitted modestly. 'I am certainly above average, but the two of you are far more able commanders than I am.' Pellinore's grey beard stretched to show a wry smile.

'Come Owain,' Pellinore said in placating tones to his younger companion. 'You cannae get sense from the oaf when he's in this mood.' This only broadened Agravaine's grin so that his white teeth seemed to stretch from ear to ear. His teeth were annoyingly straight and white inside the thick black beard. Owain sighed and, without another word he turned his horse and kicked it into a trot towards Din Eidyn.

Suddenly irritation flared upon me. 'The raid went well.' I called at Owain's back.

'He knew that.' Agravaine leaned in to say, still wearing his easy grin. 'Otherwise we would'nae be here would we?'

I barked laughter at myself and began to lead my band back towards the Din Eidyn.

The men chatted easily as they walked, and though they were impossibly weary from our flight from the highlands, they walked with a fresh energy. There would be no early nights for most of the men, I knew. Tonight would not be used to catch up on sleep, and to sleep on their furs in a hall rather than the biting cold they had endured for the past days. They would go out and get crazy drunk tonight in pursuit of cheap drink and cheaper women.

The first raid may have been successful, but they met with mixed success after that. Owain gave my men no rest, sending us back into the north after less than a week despite my complaint. 'You're punishing my men, not me.' I tried to argue but my words fell on deaf ears. I was in the bad books still. Owain and Pellinore also tried to make Agravaine stay behind, but as often as not he came anyway, so that Owain would send me away from when Agravaine was away from Din Eidyn and could not simply join my war band.

It was a frustrating time for Owain, for the hill tribes never had the same superstitious terror that we had engendered in the Angles. They were raiders themselves and were used to crossing the lands at night to steal livestock and women from Gododdin.

It became a game, a deadly game of raid and counter raid. Ambushes in the valleys and the woodland paths as we tried to trap each other's raiding parties. Somehow, I felt that we never really got the best of it.