Saxon Dawn (Wolf Brethren) Read Online Free PDF Page A

could hold off a determined band of Angles.
    As winter began to bite my father suggested that we heed the words of the king and improve our defences. At first the others were reluctant; late autumn and winter was a time to do the tasks within the warm huts, not labouring in the cold.  Our hut was close to one gate and my father shrugged his shoulders, “Well boys.  We will have to make our own gate eh?  At least we shall have some warning.  What they do with their entrances is their own business.”
    We went into the forest with his huge axe and my small one and the two of us began to fell trees.  He chopped them down and I removed the side branches.  My two brothers took the small branches back for firewood.  We were soon warm and I wondered at the indolence of the other men. It was abut that time that I began to discern differences in men.  Until then they had all been grown ups and I was a boy but, as the first wispy hairs sprouted on my chin and upper lip I began to see differences.  Men like my father and King Urien made the world a better place by working hard.  Others, like the men in the stronghold, just existed and accepted what life brought them.  I suppose that is why I am the last of the Britons for the Angles and the Saxons were also men who shaped the world to suit them.
    When we had enough long logs we hauled them back to our hut. Although my smaller axe was not as powerful as my father’s the two of us were able to work together to make the logs the same length.  Two of them were kept long for they would be the gate posts. By the end of the day we were exhausted but Radha and Monca who had watched us work while casting evil glances at the other men who sat around their fires observing us, had made a stew with an old sheep which would not see out the winter.  All day long it had bubbled and boiled; cooked with the autumn berries and wild herbs.  After a hard day’s work we were all ready for the fine feast they had prepared; the food tasted much better because of our efforts.
    That night I fell asleep quickly but when I awoke I ached all over and my muscles seemed to scream as I tried to move.  My father laughed.  “Now you are becoming a man.  Those pains will go and then you too will have arms like this.” He flexed his muscles and they rose like mountains. I went out feeling no pain for when I was as strong as my father then no Angle would dare to face us.
    The next morning brought a damp day which suited us for the ground was soft and we were able to dig the two post holes easily. It took all of us, except for my sisters to raise them and hole them while their base was packed with stones.  We stood back and admired our work.  Now it looked formidable, even without the gate between it. With my brothers’ help my father and I soon made the two gates and we used the leather hinges mother and Monca had made. The final part, the bar and the locking mechanism, took the longest time and it was dark before we finished. I was even more tired than the day before but I felt a sense of achievement. My only regret, as I slipped away to sleep was that I had not had the chance to practise with my bow but I now knew that I would have time.
    When we viewed the gate in daylight we were even more proud of our achievement.  The other men came to admire it too.  Perhaps they thought that building one gate was all that was needed for they praised us and then went back to drinking their beer and telling tales. My father shook his head. “We have done our part.  Now it is up to them.  Come boys we will hunt.” With the sheep penned we had the opportunity to increase our food stock for the winter.  We would kill more than we needed and dry the rest.  When the long dark days of winter came we would still eat, the meat would be chewy but it would help us survive until spring brought new life.
    We only managed to hunt for one day before a sudden c old snap descended upon us.  The snows came early and