Army of the Wolf by Peter Darman Page B

with these barbarians from the east, and have proceeded to pillage and burn your way here. This I cannot tolerate.’
    Yaroslav leaned forward. ‘Master Rudolf, have you not seen the size of the army that surrounds your castle?’
    ‘Army?’ sneered Rudolf. ‘It looks more like a band of thieves to me.’
    Henke’s laugh from inside his helmet was clearly audible. The Cuman male, clearly frustrated by his inability to understand what was being spoken, shot some words to Yaroslav who calmly explained what the castellan had said. He looked at Rudolf, spat on the ground and pointed at him.
    ‘You die.’
    He then wheeled his horse around and rode back to his people, followed by his striking looking wife.
    ‘I assume this meeting is over,’ remarked an unconcerned Rudolf.
    ‘I regret any bloodshed that will ensue,’ said Yaroslav.
    Rudolf tugged on his horse’s reins to wheel the beast around. ‘You should have thought of that before you invaded this land.’
    They returned to the gates as Yaroslav and Gerceslav galloped back to their horsemen. As the Sword Brothers trotted through the gates there was a great cheer and the blast of trumpets and horns and the earth shook as thousands of riders charged.
    ‘Get those gates closed,’ shouted Rudolf as the enemy tried to sweep into the perimeter.
    Guards heaved at the heavy oak barriers to deny the Cuman vanguard entrance as others slammed braces against the gates and the oak beam was placed back in its brackets. Conrad heard a succession of dull thuds as the crossbowmen in the towers and on the walls shot a volley of quarrels against the attackers.
    ‘Back to the stables,’ ordered Rudolf, digging his spurs into his charger.
    Walter, Henke and Conrad followed as the first Cuman arrows came over the wall to strike the turf behind the ramparts. They trotted up the track, across the drawbridge and rode into the courtyard where Lukas stood with his group of novices, all wearing gambesons but carrying no weapons. Conrad smiled. He remembered his time as a novice when he had been frustrated at not being allowed to carry a weapon until Lukas deemed him competent to use one. He slid off his horse as the novices came forward to take the destriers back to the stables, removing his helmet as one took his reins and led the great beast away. Beyond the confines of the courtyard came the muted cheers and shouts of the attackers as they assailed the walls.
    ‘Hopefully they will amuse themselves battering their heads against our defences to allow the grand master to organise a force to destroy them,’ said Rudolf, cocking his head towards the tumult. ‘Lukas, go to the perimeter and instruct the crossbowmen to save their ammunition. The enemy has no siege engines so I see no point in shooting all our crossbow bolts.’
    Lukas saluted, told the novices to stay in the castle confines and walked briskly towards the drawbridge.
    Rudolf pointed at Henke and Conrad. ‘Back to your positions on the wall. And don’t waste ammunition.’
    Rudolf asked Walter to accompany him to the master’s hall as the Cumans and Russians continued to assail the defences. But after an hour of this fruitless activity Gerceslav pulled back his horsemen to the north of the castle, burning the settler’s village as he did so. Lukas gave strict instructions that there was to be no shooting at an enemy who clearly had no appetite to assault a stake-filled ditch, steep earth rampart and thick timber walls. And so Conrad and Hans watched as the Cumans made a lot of noise and shot the occasional arrow against the walls and then disappeared altogether. As far as Conrad could tell as he peered through a loophole none of the Russians had approached the walls, and he could not see the banner of Pskov anywhere among the enemy horsemen.
    So Yaroslav and Gerceslav left Wenden after burning its village and slaughtering all the livestock they could find. Rudolf hoped the raiders were returning back to Mstislav’s land