Baron of the North
Who?"
    "Just the men, Baron.  We found no sign of women and children."
    "Take Garth and rejoin Aiden.  I want the three of you to discover where they have gone and we will remain at the castle."
    As the two of them rode off Edward shook his head.  "It is like Norton when you arrived, Baron. An empty manor filled with the dead."
    "It is and that makes me angry." I waved a hand at my conroi. "This is enough to frighten a few brigands but the King should come north and teach these Scots a lesson that they will not forget.  He should be as William the Bastard was, ruthless."
    We were approaching the smoking ruins of the castle.  Edward said, sadly, "The King is ruthless but Normandy appears more important than England at the moment.  After the marriage that may change."
    I had not needed that bringing up but Edward was right.  I liked his forthright honesty. "Dick, secure the castle."
    The archers galloped around the far side of the castle.  I could see that it was an old fashioned although well constructed motte and bailey castle. There was a keep on a high hill, the remains of a bridge which connected it to a lower ward and a palisade around the side. With enough men it could be easily defended. Poor Ralph had been a squire with a handful of men.
    The heads of what I assumed was Ralph and five of the defenders greeted us as we dismounted.  Their heads were atop spears as a message. "Get the heads down and find the bodies.  We will bury them."
    I saw that the six squires were all shaken by the head of the brave Ralph.  He looked to be of an age with them. Edward pointed, "Ten men could not hold each side of that castle. It would have been a massacre."
    "And yet what could he do? If he had run then he would have been deserting his people."
    "The result is the same, Baron."
    Edward had been a man at arms, a sword for hire and sometimes that showed in his practical attitude.  I had been brought up as a noble and that gave me more responsibilities than rights. I left Scout with Leofric and made my way up the slope. In places it was slick with the blood of the defenders. The blackened walls had burned to the ground in places. The hall, however, had had a turf roof and that had saved a little of it. We found two bodies there.  I could see why their heads had not been spiked on spears; they had been badly hacked. The white hair on one of them showed that he was an old retainer.
    "Here are two died defending their lord."
    "There is no point in surrendering to a Scot, Baron, the result is the same."
    There was little left in the hall.  It was a simple affair but there was enough left to show the mark of a woman. Where were the women? We headed for the lower bailey. Tristan and Harold were there already.  "It looks like there was a stable." Harold knelt and examined the ground. "The horses were taken."
    We descended to the bottom of the hill.  "Edgar there are two more bodies in the Great Hall." My men were digging graves.  It was not just the heads which had been disfigured.  The bodies of the dead showed that cruel and unnecessary wounds had been inflicted on them after death.  The grim faces of my men told me what they would do to these Scots if they found them.
    Cedric galloped in.  He had returned sooner than I had expected. "They did not go towards Otterburn, Baron.  I went along the track over the hills and there was no sign but, to make sure, I rode to where I could see the tower and it was safe yet."
    "You have done well."
    We had buried the last of the dead when Garth rode in from the south and east. "I have found them, Baron. They are heading for Morpeth."
    "How many?  And do they have captives?"
    "No captives.  They have at least twenty horses and there looked to be forty men."
    There was little point in berating the forester for his faulty information. He might not know the difference between a knight and man at arms.  At least we knew the captives were not there. "And the road, is it a good one?"
    He
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