Chapter 21

There was a fine drizzle of rain falling as the boat set out from Crinan. Eoric decided then and there that he would have boats built for his own use in Lorne and he would establish a port closer to home. Despite the weather, Gemma and Sarah were in high spirits at what they saw as a great adventure.

Eoric's men had to row, as the wind was not entirely favourable so the going was steady rather than fast. The girls were chattering away, commenting on the scenic view as they passed along the Knapdale coast with the Isle of Jura on their right. Then it was past Kintyre and Islay as they continued southwards.

The boat pulled in at the foot of Kintyre so they could rest for the first night and Eoric quickly supplied enough fish for all of them to have a hearty meal. He spent a comfortable night with a warm woman on either side of him and when he awoke the next morning it was to find the sun was up and there was a southwesterly breeze.

A quick start was made to take advantage of the wind and soon the boat's large square sail was billowing and they were speeding along. They passed the long thin Rhinns and soon could see the Isle of Man low in the water before them. Eoric had been battling his urge to strip off and take to the water, but by midday he could hold off no longer.

The girls squealed and the men hooted as he stripped off and leapt from the boat. His speed in the water and ability to stay under for long periods amazed all of them. When he raced past the boat and then came leaping out of the water like a dolphin the boat's occupants could only shake their heads in wonder.

Eoric stayed in the water for another hour or so, catching fish and throwing them into the boat. At last he had satisfied the urges he had been feeling and he hauled himself back aboard, drying off and pulling his clothes on before accepting hugs from Sarah and Gemma.

They slept on the boat on the second night, the Isle of Man now much closer and as a result larger. Eoric had been told that elements of the Ui Neill controlled the island and he had told his captain to give it a wide berth. The men must have taken turns in piloting the boat through the night because when Eoric awoke he could see that they were now past Man and already it was growing smaller behind them.

Their trip had been uneventful - apart from Eoric's periods of being in the water - and by the fourth day out from Crinan the captain informed Eoric that the land they could just make out was in fact Wales. This was the Kingdom of Gwynedd where Eoric was hoping to find King Iago and persuade him to take up arms against the Saxons.

Eoric could sense a fairly large settlement some miles further along the coastline and he urged his captain to keep the boat parallel to the shore until they could finally make out the camp. As the boat ran ashore onto a sandy beach an armed group came out from the settlement to find out who they were and what their business was.

The Gaelic of the men was somewhat strange, but at least understandable. When Eoric answered them in his own Gaelic they looked on him curiously. He explained who he was and that he had travelled to Gwynedd to speak to King Iago.

"King Iago is dead, my lord," one of the Welshmen told him, "his son, Cadfan, is now King here in Gwynedd. Iago died fighting the Saxons last year."

Eoric was at once both disappointed and pleased. He was disappointed that King Iago was dead, but pleased that the Welsh Britons seemed to have already taken up arms and were fighting the Saxons without any urging from him being required. The men of Gwynedd welcomed the boat's occupants ashore and told them that the settlement was called Llandudno.

"You are welcome to stay here until King Cadfan returns from his hunting trip, my lord," offered a man who seemed to be a minor chief of sorts.

Eoric accepted the man's offer of hospitality and they were escorted up to the camp. They took in the strong fortifications that surrounded the houses - a stout palisade of trimmed tree trunks - as they were shown into a large hall. Meat and drink were offered and fish was found for Eoric when he expressed a preference for that.

The Welshmen were friendly and Eoric took the opportunity of trying to learn more about the politics of the region and the battles that had already been fought. He found that the man he was talking to was called Huwyl and he pumped him for information. He had already looked inside the man's head and read his thoughts and memories, but he thought the story would make interesting hearing for Sarah, Gemma and his men.

"Huwyl, tell us of these battles with the Saxons," he started.

Huwyl explained that a mighty battle had taken place at Caer-Legion (modern day Chester) the previous summer. All of the Welsh kingdoms had joined forces to take on Æthelfrith - Gwynedd, Powys, Pengwern and even Dumnonia had contributed warriors to the army.

King Iago and King Selyf of Powys were both killed in the battle, but the Saxons were kept at bay at least.

"Æthelfrith vented his spleen some weeks after the battle at Chester when he attacked again. King Bledric of Dumnonia was killed in a second battle at Bangor-is-Coed and the Saxons slaughtered over a thousand monks. That is how Iago's son, Cadfan, came to be King of Gwynedd," said Huwyl.

Eoric's questions identified other useful information. The reason Æthelfrith had attacked the Welsh Britons seemed to have been of Iago's own making. Huwyl told them that Iago had given shelter to the boy king of Deira, Edwin and that had angered Æthelfrith. The kingdom of Deira bordered Æthelfrith's own Bernicia and he had attacked his neighbours, uniting his own kingdom with Deira to form what he was now calling Northumbria.

Edwin was approaching maturity and it seemed that Æthelfrith wanted to remove him as a threat to his kingdom once and for all. That had been the motivation for the Saxon attack on Gwynedd. Eoric learned that the young King Edwin had escaped after the battles and he was believed now to be under the protection of the Saxon king, Redwald, in East Anglia

"Cadfan is not like his father," Huwyl told them, "he is wiser and has already made alliances with Pybba and Penda of Mercia in the north and Cynegelis of Wessex in the south. We have known a peace of sorts for the past year and we are the more content for it."

This wasn't the news that Eoric was hoping to hear. The Welsh seemed to be making peace with the Saxons rather than fighting them, that wouldn't help Dalriada at all. As Huwyl shared more information with them - the fact that Cynegelis had conquered and now ruled all of the lands to the south, including the former Celtic lands in Cornwall and Dumnonia - Eoric began to see that King Eochaid was right, there was no hope of uniting the Celts against the Saxons.

"I fear you are right, my friend. Dalriada will needs must face the Saxons alone," came Merlin's voice inside Eoric's head.

"Perhaps we can still weaken Æthelfrith. If this King Redwald is now protecting his enemy Edwin, might there not be some opportunity to encourage Redwald to take up arms against Northumbria? Surely he must have a reason for sheltering Edwin? Perhaps he has his own designs on Deira and Bernicia?"

"You think quickly and clearly, Eoric. There might be some truth in this. Anything that keeps Æthelfrith's attention looking south rather than north would be a good thing," Merlin responded.

Eoric and his party were shown to guest accommodation and it was much later when a messenger arrived to inform him that King Cadfan had returned from hunting and now wished to meet and greet his Dalriadan visitor.

Eoric thought he had to at least make an attempt at introducing the idea of Celtic unity and he did so when he was shown into Cadfan's presence.

"Sire, my thanks for your kind hospitality," Eoric began.

"It is nothing. It's not often that we receive visitors from so far north and I'll warrant there must be a good reason for you to have made the long journey?" Cadfan said.

Eoric could see that Cadfan was indeed as intelligent as Huwyl had suggested. This King of Gwynedd was sharp and obviously keen to know what Eoric was about, what his mission was.

"Sire, I come with the same mission that King Arthur had. It is clear to us in the north that all of the Celtic tribes and clans are threatened by the growing might of the Saxons. Already Celtic kingdoms are falling to them. I hope that you will ally yourself with King Eochaid of Dalriada against the Saxons," Eoric said.

Cadfan looked at him sharply now, his concern for his own kingdom clearly evident.

"I'm afraid that is out of the question. I have sued for peace with my neighbours and my people are thriving as a result. I can't do anything that would jeopardise that. No, my friend, such an approach cannot be my policy!" he said firmly.

Eoric tried to argue his case for a little while longer, but Cadfan would not change his position and it soon became apparent that his patience with his 'pushy' visitor was wearing thin. Eoric accepted the reality of the situation and asked the King's permission to retire.

He walked back into the guest accommodation and all eyes were on him. That quickly, within hours of landing in Gwynedd, Eoric's plan had fallen apart and his objectives had completely changed. His companions could see the look of disappointment on his face and Gemma and Sarah came forward to hug him, as if to lend him their strength.

Eochaid sat beside a camp fire, his son Domnall and King Beli close by. He was in deep thought and his face carried a look of consternation. Eoric had alerted him to the presence of several bands of Picts in the north, as he headed south. He had marched his own force to meet up with that of Domnall in an attempt to strike a significant blow against the Picts in the northeast, but they had spent a fruitless ten days chasing shadows.

Donachd had sent word that he had been more successful at Inverness, but even that news had been tempered by the fact that there had been an uprising in Ireland. Donachd advised that he needed to take his force back to Antrim to deal with that, meaning that any gain in Inverness would not be consolidated.

The Picts had adopted a nomadic existence and refused to be lured into any major confrontation. Eochaid knew that as soon as his warriors returned to Dalriada to sit out the winter, the Picts would be back at their old camps and no doubt increasing their defences so they were stronger for the next year.

Undoubtedly the Picts had lost many men, most of them during his own campaign before the harvest. There were still many thousands of them however, and Eochaid knew they were a long way from being a beaten force. The fact that he had so many men available but couldn't force a reckoning with the savages was frustrating in the extreme.

"Enough! I've had enough of this wandering all over the country chasing these will-o-the-wisps! Let us head back to our own beds and lay our plans for striking a bigger blow in the spring," he said at last.

Domnall and Belie had been growing just as frustrated as he was and they nodded their heads in agreement at this course of action.

Eoric had decided he had to make at least an attempt to speak to King Redwald to explore whether there was any possibility in him making war on Æthelfrith. He was advised the distance to Redwald's court at Rendlesham was over one hundred and fifty miles and that made him decide to make the journey alone. Running fast he could make a trip of that length in just over ten hours. If the girls and his men went with him it might take nine or ten days.

Gemma and Sarah weren't happy when he told them of his decision, but understood his desire for speed and the unlikely nature of his quest. He set out at once and followed the sketchy directions he had been given. He had to reveal himself twice on the journey to ask for further directions and he chose his moments carefully to minimise the danger.

His estimate of the time it would take was out by two hours, mostly because he had had to hang around waiting to catch a herder on his own to seek directions. He had been surprised at the numbers of Saxons he could sense as he ran, the scale of the threat to his own way of life becoming ever more clear. At last he approached Rendlesham.

The description of King's 'court' was perhaps an exaggeration he thought when he looked upon the town. It was certainly larger than anything he had come across previously, but there was nothing fine about the sprawling stone built houses.

When he made himself visible and approached the guards at the gate to the town he was escorted to the largest dwelling of all. This was somewhat more impressive than everything else surrounding it, with stone walls, courtyards and a number of accommodation blocks built together. Eoric was shown into some kind of waiting area. He was left to his own devices for over an hour before someone came to speak to him.

The Saxon called himself the 'chamberlain' and it was clear he was only interested in how he could get rid of Eoric quickly and with the minimum of fuss.

"I am the Lord of Lorne and I wish an audience with King Redwald," he insisted.

The chamberlain looked at his scruffy appearance and gave all the signs of disbelief that Eoric could possibly be a lord.

"What business would the likes of you have with the king?" the man asked haughtily.

Eoric tried to ignore his offensive tone, recognising that antagonising the man would only make matters worse.

"I have matters of sufficient importance to discuss, concerning Æthelfrith of Northumbria, but not with you, sir. Please alert the king to my presence," Eoric said.

"What are these important matters? I can't simply allow any passing stranger access to the king," the chamberlain replied.

Eoric refused to discuss things further with the man and it became something of an impasse. The chamberlain left him, but re-appeared to ask the same questions three or four hours later. It became clear that he was hoping Eoric would give up and simply leave. That was underlined when no food or drink was forthcoming and the man stamped about angrily as Eoric made it obvious that he had no intention of leaving.