Free Hereward 02 - The Devil's Army by James Wilde Page B

have no faith in you,’ Edwin said with a shake of his head. He glanced towards the door where two men were arguing in loud voices. ‘The north will rise up again soon. Were I to send my men to fight, it would be there. But I have done that once and almost paid the greatest price. No more. Let someone else fight the king. My brother and I will eat his food and enjoy the comforts of his court—’
    ‘While England burns and folk die?’ Hereward snapped.
    ‘Folk always die,’ Edwin said, rising. He beckoned to Morcar to follow. ‘This is not my worry.’ As the two nobles made to leave, Edwin turned back and said, ‘I have shown you a kindness here for your father’s sake. He was always a loyal thegn. But if I see your face here again, I will have you dragged before the king and your miserable life ended.’
    Hereward watched the brothers stride out into the bright sunlight. He refused to be perturbed. His army needed to be built into a force that would make the king quake, and nothing – not even two haughty earls – would stand in his way.

C HAPTER E LEVEN
    BUBBLES BROKE THE surface of the filthy marsh-water. A moment later the young man burst from the stinking surface, gasping and flailing and crying out in panic. Black mud streaked his face and hair and soaked his tunic. Laughter echoed across the wetlands from the slopes of Ely where the callow youths who wished to be warriors waited with their spears and their shields still smelling of fresh paint.
    A cloud of flies droned away as Hereward grasped the man’s tunic and hauled him out of the stagnant pool. He was still exhausted from the long journey back from Wincestre, but there was work to be done. With a shake of his head, he tossed the man on to the bank where he wheezed and sputtered and coughed up the foul stew. ‘Here is your lesson,’ he called to the watching group. ‘A man is not a fish.’
    ‘You should see Penda kiss a girl,’ someone called, making loud popping noises and flapping his arms.
    ‘That’s how he fucks,’ someone else shouted.
    The others all fell about laughing. Hereward offered a hand to the unfortunate recruit, who glowered at his fellows. He wiped the mud from his scowling face and stalked back to his place at the end of a line.
    ‘This is a world of water,’ Hereward said as he walked along the front of his audience. He studied the faces, young and not so young, all of them untutored in the ways of battle. Some would not see out the winter, their blood draining into the fenland bogs. But there was no doubting their determination to do whatever they could to repel the invaders. ‘If you treat it like the world of solid land that most of you are used to, it will claim your wretched lives.’ He plucked up the hollow reed that Penda had dropped, tipped his head back and placed it to his lips. Pointing at the sodden young man, he said, ‘This time use those shells on the side of your head. This reed will let you breathe while you lie beneath the water. You will all be eels, waiting to bite the unwary earth-traveller who steps into your home.’
    He strode back to the edge of the black water and swept one arm towards the glassy wetlands. Barbs of golden light glinted from the morning sun. ‘Now it is hot and bright, but soon the mists and the rains will come. They will be our cloaks, as the night is now. The Normans are used to fields of battle and shield walls and horsemen. Not a place that shifts around them even as they watch. They do not understand this world. But we do. We will be like ghosts. Our foes will not be able to touch us. And they will fear us, as they fear ghosts, as they fear the judgement of God.’ He clapped his hands. ‘Now come. Show me some of what I said today has entered your thick skulls.’
    The new recruits trailed out. Some were eager to show their courage, others wary. From the reed-beds dotted along the edges of the marsh they broke off stems and then one by one they waded out into the still