Free English Knight by Griff Hosker Page A

reason that we had avoided Nottingham.  We had also tired of comments about the armour and weapons wielded by my father’s men.  They marked them as Saxons and Wulfstan and Osric had had to use their strength to ensure our safety. We left a few bloodied noses and broken coxcombs in our wake. Besides which we had less than sixty miles to travel. My father and Branton remembered a narrow stretch of water we could ferry to cross the Tees and avoid further attention. The new men at arms were a resourceful group of men who could chop down trees quickly. They tied them together to make a raft ferry in less than half a day.   That way we could reach the manor without encountering other Normans who might object to our presence. My father was being careful. He wanted a wall around us before he met his neighbours. Strong walls made for healthy neighbours. He knew that the Bishop of Durham was still in London and he could not upset him by failing to present his titles. Any clerics who might be unhappy could be ignored.  The walls were what were important.
    We made our wooden ferry to cross the Tees at a narrow bend in the river some twelve miles from Norton. We saw a walled farm on the escarpment and Osric was convinced that we were being watched. None of them knew the name of the settlement. This was not a friendly place. We rode north without speaking to our new neighbours.  As Wulfstan pointed out, “They have been raided and attacked from the south and from the north.  It will take some time to build trust. Fear not, Alfraed, your father is skilled when talking to people.  They will trust him and come around to his viewpoint.”
    I was learning much about my father.  In fact the slow journey north had given me the chance to see him in a different light.  In Constantinople he had been the Emperor’s man.  Here he was his own man.  King Henry was on the other side of the Channel.  My father had more authority even though he commanded fewer men than he had before.
    Since Harold had agreed to be my squire I had spent every moment of each day instructing him in the skills of a knight. We could do much from the back of a horse.  I taught him the names for all the equipment he would have to service and clean. He had much to learn.  He could use a sword but had no experience with a shield, armour, or a helmet.  None of them were easy to use.  They looked to be easy but in the hands of a novice a shield could be a hindrance.  Each night I devoted an hour to giving him the basics of a sword and a shield. I also had to show him how to ride properly.  He knew how to stay on a horse and that was about it.
    Wulfstan and the others spent the same hour improving the skills of the new men at arms.  As archers they were peerless but they had much to learn about other weapons.  We had time and we would use it. By the time we reached the stone church at Norton we were ready to put down roots.
    The church was unfinished. There were stone walls and a wooden tower.  The half finished roof was just covered in turf. We reached the site too late to begin work and so we explored the land.  We would camp and when dawn broke set about building our castle.  My father took me in the church while the others scouted the land.
    “This will be where I will be buried Alfraed. We have to finish this quickly.”
    I gave him a sudden, worried look.  “You are not ill are you?  I know that this cold climate is not good…”
    “Fear not my son I have no intention of leaving you yet.” He took out his sword and tapped the floor.  It was dirt. “This should be a stone floor.  The walls are stone but I wonder why it is unfinished?”
    Perhaps my ears were younger or I was more alert but I heard the noise from behind the tattered hemp curtain which hung listlessly at the back of the altar. I whipped out my sword. “Come from behind there before I pierce your hide.”
    I heard a voice, full of fear, say, “I am sorry, masters, do not hurt