Ambrosius rode at the head of the column of soldiers – in between Lucius and the High King’s standard-bearer. The gold dragon standard fluttered in the warm breeze.
Even though the autumn chill had already reached the northern kingdoms, it was still the last days of summer in the south. It was a cloudless day, but it wasn’t too hot. The army made good time as it marched east toward the edge of the Saxon frontier.
Two days later, Ambrosius saw smoke in the distance. He ordered scouts to ride forward and report back on what they found.
When Lucius saw the scouts returning, he rode forward to meet them. Ambrosius followed.
“You were right, my King,” Lucius said when Ambrosius arrived. “Hengist has pushed west. He’s stretched the frontier of his territory nearly twenty miles, and he’s entrenching.”
“Can we dislodge them?” Ambrosius asked.
“Possibly, but we have to hurry before they finish building the earthworks.”
“If we march all day, can we attack before nightfall?”
“Doubtful, my King,” Lucius answered.
Ambrosius stared at the smoke in silence. If Hengist believes that his plan worked, then he’ll think that I’ve sent men north to deal with Colgrin. He’ll also think that I sent men to reinforce Marcus at Londinium. I hope he doesn’t realize that my main army is marching straight for him and will be there in the morning. If I can catch him off guard, I can push him back. Otherwise, he’ll have expanded his frontier, and I’ll have failed to keep him penned inside the Saxon territory.
Ambrosius shook his head. “Then we’ll attack before dawn and see if we can catch them still asleep.”
Ambrosius and Lucius rejoined the army and continued leading the soldiers east.
Colgrin’s Anglians reached the edge of the frontier that bordered Ebrauc by mid-afternoon. The soldiers from Ebrauc, Rheged, and Bryneich hid, waiting for Colgrin’s forces to move closer.
Colgrin’s men were deployed in five wide columns. When they reached the border, they didn’t stop. They marched confidently into Ebrauc.
When the front half of each column was across the stream that marked the border, archers from Ebrauc, Rheged, and Bryneich began raining waves of arrows on the Anglians. Most of the Anglians marched with their wooden shields slung on their backs, because there had been no sign of their enemies. Hundreds fell dead with the first wave of arrows. Hundreds more fell before the rest of the Anglians reacted and grabbed their shields for protection.
Colgrin marched behind the vanguard of the center column. He saw his men fall dead in front of him, and he quickly grabbed his shield. He looked up in time to see the next wave of arrows approaching, but something was strange about them. Fire!
His men ducked down behind their shields, but the arrows were tipped with oil-soaked rags. The oil splashed across the shields, spreading the fire. His men tossed the shields aside to keep from getting burned, exposing them to the next wave of arrows.
Colgrin couldn’t see the enemy archers anywhere. He ordered his men to charge, hoping to close the distance to the archers before too many more of his men were killed. As the Anglians surged forward, their formations broke as the men had to step around or jump over the dead and wounded.
Moments later, the soldiers from Ebrauc, Rheged, and Bryneich appeared. Colgrin was surrounded. Waves of arrows continued flying toward the rear of his columns, leaving him nowhere to go but into the lines of the waiting soldiers. He clutched his axe and led his men into battle.
Ambrosius’ army stopped for the night. They were less than five miles from Hengist’s westernmost forces. Guards were posted, and the men spread out to rest. There would be no fires lit – nothing that could alert the Saxons. The soldiers were accustomed to cold camps, and they understood the stakes. The Saxons must be pushed back, and surprise was the army’s best weapon.
Colgrin and his men fought furiously, but they were outnumbered and outmaneuvered from the moment they crossed the border. As darkness fell over the battlefield, he knew that further fighting was hopeless. He broke off the attack, and the surviving warriors escaped back across the border under the cover of darkness.
Search parties worked all night to find any wounded soldiers from Ebrauc, Rheged, and Bryneich who could be saved. Search parties also worked to drag the dead and wounded Anglians into piles to be burned. Mor didn’t bother to order the search parties to kill the wounded Anglians first. He wanted them burned alive.
As the Anglian funeral pyres lit up the night, Arthwys approached his father. “Our losses were light, Father. This was a great victory! But Colgrin was not among the dead or wounded. He escaped with the rest of his men.”
Mor nodded, watching the fires burn. “It’s only a matter of time, my Son. I’ll see him die, and then I’ll reclaim the lands that he took from me.”
Two hours before dawn, Ambrosius’ men crept forward toward the Saxon entrenchments. The hastily erected earthworks weren’t completed and offered little protection against the army.
His men were deployed along a wide front to attack the Saxons in several places at the same time. Ambrosius and his cavalry waited on the far right of the army. They’d hit the Saxon west flank and push the enemy back as the rest of the army attacked. Ambrosius hoped that the Saxons would flee in fear and abandon their newly-captured lands.
As the soldiers approached the Saxon line, archers took out the Saxon sentries standing outside the earthworks. Then the archers fired flaming arrows wrapped with oil-soaked rags at the Saxon camps while the soldiers advanced. The soldiers were over the earthworks before the Saxons awoke to find their camps burning.
When Ambrosius saw the fires spreading through the Saxon camps, he ordered his cavalry to charge.
The Saxons were caught off-guard. Hundreds were killed before they could reach for their axes and fight back. In the confusion, some of the Saxons retreated east, which kept the other Saxons from mounting any kind of defense against Ambrosius’ army. By sunrise, the western end of the Saxon line had broken, and Hengist’s warriors fled east as fast as they could.
Ambrosius and his army attacked the retreating Saxons, chasing them toward the original frontier.
Ambrosius and his army pushed the Saxons back almost ten miles. But by mid-morning, the army reached Hengist and the main body of his warriors. These Saxons were well-entrenched behind completed earthworks. Ambrosius’ archers fired into the Saxons, but the enemy didn’t retreat. Their new fortifications provided an effective defense.
Ambrosius ordered his army to regroup and form ranks. “If they won’t leave on their own, then we’ll push them back.”
The army moved forward toward the earthworks. Hengist’s Saxon warriors held their position, and then they jumped over the earthworks and charged the army. Their blond hair shone like harvest grains in the sunlight.
When the two forces met, the clash of metal on metal was heard for miles. Carrion birds swarmed over the battlefield, waiting for their chance to feed on the fallen.
The battle raged for hours. Ambrosius’ line held, but the Saxons wouldn’t retreat. By late afternoon, Ambrosius’ cavalry turned Hengist’s west flank, and the Saxon line began to waver. Hengist ordered his warriors back behind the earthworks.
Ambrosius’ archers fired wave after wave into the retreating Saxons, but Hengist still had enough warriors to repel any attack on the new fortifications.
As daylight faded, Ambrosius ordered his men to reinforce their lines while search parties looked for any wounded soldiers that could be saved. A few of the wounded Saxons were taken prisoner and interrogated. The rest were killed, but no funeral pyres were to be lit.
“Can we dislodge them from those