Drustina must secure her rear before attempting to help Ethelred drive the Vikings out of Northern Britannia. To this end she must capture the Isle of Man (Ynys Mann) and she achieves this by trickery and deception.

http://www.harbourguides.com/charts.php/Irish-Sea-East

The Angry Mermaid 119
Or
Y Morforwyn Dicllon 119

Gisela the Viking Princess cursed as the cold, newly-arrived, northern rain trickled down her collar.

“By the Gods, I hate the north winds. Even this far south they bring nothing but cold.”

She pulled her leather cape about her and looked up to study the sail. This only made it worse as rain trickled down her throat and into her cleavage. She flinched as she struggled to tighten the cape further.

“Damn this rain! D’you know? I believe the Norse snows are better than this bloody stuff.”

Drustina emerged grinning from the welcome shelter of the amidships leather covers and presented her with a very unglamorous hood for her cape and a hot bowl of cowl.

“Here girl cheer up. Your trick is nearly over.”

She took the hood gratefully and draped it over her saturated hair then handed the tiller to Drustina before savouring the stew. For the first time that morning she smiled.

“By the gods, this Cambrian lamb is tasty. Is there any more of this?”

“Yes, I’ve told Edburg to save some extra for the watchkeepers. It’s no good having cold hungry lookouts they miss things if they’re more concerned with their comfort.”

“I hate it when we simply drift around like this; the ship rocks and rolls like a turd in a piss-pot and we’re going nowhere.”

“You’ll be busy soon enough girl, just be glad you’re safe for the moment.”

“What d’you think of our chances?”

Drustina paused. She didn’t want to invite disaster.

“What? For the whole enterprise or any conflict we have with the Hibernian Vikings?”

“Both,” Gisela frowned.

“One result hinges on the other. We outnumber King Forden’s ships but we are spread thin to cover as much sea as we can. It’s no good throwing a cordon around Bail-ar-y-Claith because he can despatch a ship from a port further north and warn Harald Cold-blood’s Scottish cousins. They could then divert south and confront us with a vastly superior force. I’m trying to avoid bloodshed while enhancing Ethelred’s chances of beating Harald. My plan is to try and destroy Forden’s fleet at sea so Constin, the Scottish king has little news or intelligence and is compelled to reinforce Coldblood’s fleet somewhere near Chester; either the Aber Dyfrdwy or the Aber Mersea.

My ideal tactic is to somehow catch Harald’s fleet landing his forces to attack Chester and either pin him down on the Wirral shore or simply pen his ships up after Harald lands so they cannot resupply Harald ashore.”

Can Harald not march around the Aber Mersea and attack Chester from the East?”

“He stands a strong chance of encountering Edrinor’s forces marching from Nottingham. Harald’s depending on his Scottish and Irish cousins to reinforce his army so he cannot go too far inland to the east if his cousins are arriving by sea from the west.”

“There are a lot of ifs and buts aren’t there?”

Drustina tossed her head wilfully.

“Tell me about it. Now go and get some more stew for yourself, I’ll take the tiller while you are away.”

Gisela didn’t need a second invitation and she eagerly scuttled under the leather covers to fill her belly. She emerged with two bowls and a wide grin.

“Edburg scraped the pot.”

“Well you won’t go into battle half starved then. Make the most of that, it’s the last meal for today.”

“D’you think we’ll meet with them today?”

“Probably. Make sure your sword is sharp and your armour well fitting.”

The pair fell silent with their own thoughts while Gisela ate with her arse resting against the tiller to stop it flopping about as they drifted with the cold wind.

Through the morning a series of Mermaids came and went with reports as the spies rotated their duties while to the East of The Angry Mermaid, Udris and Dorvan commanded the two longship squadrons waiting to pounce once news arrived. At mid morning two Mermaids slipped through Udris’s squadron and reported to Drustina.

“We’ve brought the dye you ordered Lioness. We almost stripped Aber Conwy clean of every last drop. What’s it for?”

“I’ll tell you when we need to know. For now, stay close to me.”

The commanders smiled and shrugged. The lioness was noted for her tricks and ploys though for the life of them, none of the men could determine why they should carry so much dye. Drustina had obviously got her reasons and they would learn in good time. For the time being they just waited alongside the Angry Mermaid ready to receive further orders. The lioness was obviously setting the best trap her forces and resources would allow.

~o00o~

Just after noon, the news arrived that Drustina had been waiting for; Forden’s fleet had departed from Bail ar y Claith and his chosen course indicated that he seemed to be steering for the northern tip of Ynys Mann. The pre-arranged plan had already swung into action as the message was passed by signal arrow to each mermaid ship in the patrolling ring. Ships to the south simply fell back into a small flotilla whilst those to the east and north raced to rejoin Drustina’s main force. Being faster than Forden’s longships they were quickly able to slip away and stay out of sight of Forden’s patrols. Only Heliox remained in sight of Forden’s fleet to keep tabs on his movements and convey information to the signal ships by arrow. Drustina set a course to sail south and east of Ynys Mann then pounce on Forden’s ships as they passed north of Ynys Man before turning south around Pen Ayre. She explained to her commanders.

"Heliox will shadow Forden’s fleet with a score of Mermaids so that we will not alarm him unduly. He knows something is afoot to the south so it seems he has chosen to take the northern route to Ynys Mann he’s probably hoping to rendezvous with Constin’s ships somewhere of the south coast of Scotia. I intend to capture the ports of Dougle and Ramsey to use as temporary bases to entrap Forden to the east of Mann. If we can trick him into thinking that Udris and Dorvan’s ships are Constin’s long ships we might be upon him before he can prepare."

“Seems a bit sneaky and dishonourable,” Gisela observed.

“The objective is for us to win Princess, not become chivalrous corpses. The less blood of ours I spill, the more men will follow me. Battles are won by guile and deceit; wars are won by preparedness and intelligence.”

Gisela fell silent, she had never been involved in a full blooded sea battle; all the conflicts she had experienced had been raids and skirmishes. This time she knew with a sickening certainty that somewhere, sometime, they would face the full might of the Viking fleet unless the Lioness was very, very cunning.

The raid on Dougle proved surprisingly easy. The inlet was not large and there were only six ships tied up in the harbour. The toughest part was capturing the fortified town and here Drustina demonstrated how preparedness and some useful local knowledge could achieve miracles.

Her previous childhood associations with the Manx tribes had taught her long ago that Manx people were a particularly superstitious lot. She had visited both Dougle and Ramsey on several trading trips with her father and older siblings and she knew of several local superstitions that could be exploited. While her father and older brothers had bartered and traded with the local Manx tribes, Drustan as a young boy had listened to the story-tellers in the market.

When she had been wondering how to capture Dougle she recalled a particular tale of witchcraft and legends.

The legend held that before Dougle was to be destroyed, the river would turn to blood. It was a well-known story and one of the mainstay tales from which many other Manx legends had grown. Drustina had put two and two together when she remembered the surfeit of Red dye the Cambrians used in Aber Conwy to colour the women’s dresses. To this end, she had earlier despatched the two mermaids to Aber Conwy to collect a cargo of the local red dye to colour the Rivers Glass and Dhoo where they joined to form the River Dougle. The wicked witch was to be Drustina herself of course and during the start of the attack on Dougle she would declare herself as the witch and immediately turn the river red. To achieve this, she would fire a ‘magic arrow’ into the air thus sending a signal to her men located at the confluence of the rivers Dhoo and Glass. Additionally her men would pour salt into the river to make it undrinkable and further convince the superstitious Manxmen that the water had indeed been changed.
On that day when the spy ships determined that Forden had departed Bail ar y Claith Drustina set her plan into action. Using fast Mermaid ships she despatched a force of men to sneak ashore on Ynys Mann to put in place the first stages of her plan.
On the eve of the attack on Dougle, Drustina had every second man of her attacking army carry a large bag of salt or large clay camphor of the red dye and she positioned them before dawn at the junction of the two rivers.

As the sun rose that morning, Drustina’s fleet arrived in force off the town of Dougle. Two score of ships invaded the harbour and quickly overwhelmed the dozen longships that had been expecting the arrival of a large friendly force of Scottish and Hibernian ships. With the Viking occupier’s ships taken Drustina was soon well set to put the second part of her plan into action. Udris and Carl grinned as Drustina and Gisela dressed up as old crones bearing curses to frighten the local Manx people into submission. With the local population free to return to the Celtic cause, Drustina would feel a lot safer with friends at her back. The main issue was somehow getting the Manx Celts to rise up against their Viking oppressors and this was where the dye and salt came in.
With the six occupying longships now in Drustina’s hands and the few Viking survivors in chains at the city gates, Carl and Udris called out to the occupiers of the fortified city of Dougle to surrender.

This met with derisory laughter for the Viking occupiers had every expectation of the imminent arrival of the Scottish and Hibernian fleets en-route to Join Harald’s forces. They little knew that Drustina’s mermaids following the Hibernians had spooked them into attempting an earlier rendezvous further north and this would delay their appearance of Dougle by one or even two days. Time enough if Drustina’s plan was to work.
Carl and Udris lined up their forces as though to attack or lay siege, the occupying Vikings could not determine which. This uncertainty was deliberately fomented to reinforce the fear and suspicion. Arguments were already breaking out amongst the Viking overlords when two old crones appeared cackling maniacally at Carl’s shoulder. Carl played his part.

“Go away you old witch, your spells are not welcome here!”

“Ayee you Saxon whoremonger. You do not offend us for we shall put a curse on you.”

Carl roared with laughter for effect then drew his sword and smacked the older witch across the arse as his men joined in the laughter. This scorn of the old witch caused her to shriek with rage but Carl's men simply laughed louder. Drustina made a show of screaming incoherently as she motioned to the other ‘witch’ to call down the god of storms and pestilence.

“Fire your bow sister. Call down the blood demons and curse this land!”

As Gisela fired her green smoke into the sky Drustina uttered her incantations then made some passes with her hands over the river as she threw some red powder into the water.

“When the tide turns whoremonger, this river will turn to blood and you will die of thirst for all the water in Man will be thus.”

The tide was scheduled to turn within an hour, plenty of time Drustina calculated, for the salt and die to flow downstream. It was less than a mile from where the rivers Dhoo and Glass joined to form the River Dougle that helped to form the harbour at Dougle.
Having made her curse, Drustina beckoned to Gisela to leave with her and they left Carl to complete the next act of the pantomime, namely to discover that river had indeed seemingly turned to salty blood and the water was undrinkable.

It was less than an hour before the first red streaks appeared in the river at the city gate and some soldiers reported the fact to Carl. He made pretence of scoffing at their reports in full view of the Viking and Manx defenders but his manner changed when he saw the ‘blood’ and tasted the salt. He cursed loudly for the benefit of the Viking defenders as he spat out the foul tasting water.

As the river flowed under the city ‘water-gate’ the defenders also quickly realised the water was poisoned. Amongst the Manx defenders the legends of the river turning to blood before the city’s demise were quickly resurrected. Fear soon became panic as the legends took root and before the hour was up, the Manx were arguing with their Viking overlords. The arguments became louder and quickly escalated to violence as swords began to clash behind the city defences. Carl turned to Udris with a grin.

“Right about now I think comrade.”

Udris nodded and with a silence born of much training Drustina’s forces attacked the palisades. The distracted Vikings could not put up a co-ordinated defence and weak spots were soon exposed as Drustina’s men flung ladders at all sides of the city. Once the attack had commenced Drustina returned with the other half of their forces after they had polluted the river. For the Vikings, already struggling desperately to hold the ring, the sudden arrival of a second wave led by the shrieking, cackling pair of witches was enough to break their will. As Drustina led her second wave up and over the already once used ladders the Vikings realised the game was up.

Most Vikings, as was their way, fought to the death but a tiny few took fright and threw down their arms. In the frenzied mayhem, even some of these were slaughtered before the Lioness could bring order and discipline but about a dozen men survived. Once again the Lioness had mixed feelings about this. She questioned herself and wondered if she was becoming like the enemy she so detested. For she realised she would have preferred them to die fighting. Prisoners were a liability especially when they sought quarter.

The native Manxmen were corralled into the city square by Drustina’s men where Udris, being a fellow Celt, took charge of their care and eventual release. Carl joined Drustina in dealing with the Viking prisoners.

“What’s your pleasure Dru?”

Drustina shrugged.

“I’m not sure, the ones who surrender usually seem to be the more rational and sensible men. Your arm is cut, let me look at it.”

Carl shrugged and wiped the blood away.

“It’s only a flesh wound, where’s your sister witch?”

Drustina grinned.

“Gisela? Ooh she’s questioning Vikings. When they realise who she is it tends to unsettle them and they become a bit more talkative. She’s a bright girl.”

“Udris said he saw her get cut.”

“She was; nothing serious but she counts it as a badge of honour; evidence that she’s fought. I sent her to the healer before interrogating prisoners.”

“Quite the little heroine then.”

“She’ll do.”

Carl smiled, the lioness was well known for understatement when it really mattered. ‘She’ll do’ or ‘he’ll do’ was one of the Lioness’s highest accolades for a fellow warrior.

“So what now? I presume we’ll be staying the night here before resuming the hunt.”

“Damned right!" Drustina cursed. "I need a bath; that dye stinks. It’ll be morning I’m thinking before the river is clean again.”

Carl went off to Join Gisela interrogating the Viking prisoners while Drustina went amongst the Manx looking for a decent bath. It was not until she convinced some of the Manx shamans and holy men that the river colour was a trick that they relented and revealed the only unpolluted water supply in the city. She had to wait impatiently for water to be heated and it was fully an hour before some semblance of hygiene was achieved. By that time Gisela had finished interrogating the captured Vikings and found her leader exactly where she had expected ... taking a bath.

“May I join you?”

“Of course, how’s your shoulder.”

“Sore.”

She turned to reveal the fresh cut and some neat stitches. Drustina nodded.

“That’s a neat job.”

“It was a clean cut.”

“Where is the healer who did that, we can use a man like that?”

“It was a woman Lioness.”

“Speak to her after you’ve washed. Ask if she wants to join us.”

Gisela slid gratefully into the hot tub and winced as the hot water invaded her cut. Drustina nodded.

“Have the woman redress it after you’ve bathed. The dye stinks and it might infect your cut.”

“What’s it made of?”

“I’m not sure. They said the red powder comes from the Halkyn lead mines on the plateaux between Aber Clwyd and Chester and they mix it with sheep’s blood; then they boil it and add other stuff.”

“Uugh! Disgusting.”

“Yes, that’s why you must wash that cut after getting this filth off you.”

Even as she spoke, Drustina ordered another hot fresh bath.

‘If a victorious queen could not indulge in this single female luxury,’ she reflected; ‘what was the point of winning battles?!’

Gisela availed herself of the shared luxury and smiled as they shared their unspoken concurrence. While they soaked gratefully Carl eventually arrived unannounced and Gisela squeaked as Drustina invited him in.

“I think I’ll go and visit the healing woman again,” Gisela giggled as she tactfully left the pair to share the tub.

“Don’t forget to ask her?” Drustina shouted but Gisela was already re-robing in the ante-room.

~oo000oo~