I could also see that the shield-wall held at least a hundred men, and more were hurrying into its ranks. “Hold!” I called to my men, then stared into the bad light and guessed that nearer two hundred men were forming the enemy wall. The grey light glinted from their spearheads. This was the elite guard Gorfyddyd had set to hold the vale.
The vale was certainly too broad for my fifty men to hold. The road ran close to the western slope and left a wide meadow to our right where the enemy could easily outflank us and so I ordered my men back. “Slowly back!” I called, ‘slow and sure! Back to the fence!” We could guard the gap we had ripped in the tree fence, though even so it would only be a matter of moments before the enemy clambered over the remaining trees and so surrounded us. “Slowly back!” I called again, then stood still as my men retreated. I waited because a single horseman had ridden out from the enemy ranks and was spurring towards us.
The enemy’s emissary was a tall man who rode well. He had an iron helmet crested with swan feathers, a lance and sword, but no shield. He wore a breastplate and his saddle was a sheepskin. He was a striking-looking man, dark-eyed and black-bearded, and there was something familiar in his face, but it was not till he had reined in above me that I recognized him. It was Valerin, the chieftain to whom Guinevere had been betrothed when she had first met Arthur. He stared down at me, then slowly raised his spearhead until it was pointed at my throat. “I had hoped,” he said, ‘that you would be Arthur.”
“My Lord sends you his greetings, Lord Valerin,” I said.
Valerin spat towards my shield that again carried the symbol of Arthur’s bear. “Return my greetings to him,” he said, ‘and to the whore he married.” He paused, raising the spear-point so that it was close to my eyes. “You’re a long way from home, little boy,” he said, ‘does your mother know you’re out of bed?”
“My mother,” I answered, ‘is readying a cauldron for your bones, Lord Valerin. We have need of glue, and the bones of sheep, we hear, make the best.”
He seemed pleased that I knew him, mistaking my recognition for fame and not realizing that I had been one of the guards who had come to Caer Sws with Arthur so many years before. He raised his spear-point clear of my face and stared at my men. “Not many of you,” he said, ‘but many of us. Would you like to surrender now?”
“There are many of you,” I said, ‘but my men are starved for battle, so will welcome a large helping of enemies.” A leader was expected to be good at these ritual insults before battle and I always rather enjoyed them. Arthur was never good at such exchanges, for even at the last moment before the killing began he was still trying to make his enemies like him.
Valerin half turned his horse. “Your name?” he asked before riding away.
“Lord Derfel Cadarn,” I said proudly, and I thought I saw, or maybe I hoped I saw, a flicker of recognition before he kicked his heels back to drive his horse north.
If Arthur did not come, I thought, then we were all dead men, but by the time I rejoined my spearmen beside the barricade I found Culhwch, who once again rode with Arthur, waiting for me. His big horse was noisily cropping the grass nearby. “We’re not far away, Derfel,” he reassured me, ‘and when those vermin attack, you’re to run away. Understand? Make them chase you. That’ll scatter them, and when you see us coming get out of the way.” He grasped my hand, then enfolded me in a bear hug. “This is better than talking peace, eh?” he said, then walked back to his horse and heaved himself up into its saddle. “Be cowards for a few moments!” he called to my men, then raised a hand and spurred away southwards.
I explained to my men what Culhwch’s parting words had meant, then I took my place in the centre of the shield-wall that stretched across the gap we had made in the felled trees. Nimue stood behind me, still holding her bloody sword. “We’ll pretend to panic,” I called to the shield-wall, ‘when they make their first attack. And don’t trip over when you run, and make sure you get out of the way of the horses.” I ordered four of my men to help the two with broken ankles to a thicket behind the fence where they could hide.