Drustina is now deeply involved with the first elements of the Campaign to drive the Vikings out of her homeland.

The Angry Mermaid 120.
Or
Y Morforwyn Dicllon 120.

This site provides an EXPANDABLE Chart of the eastern IRISH SEA. It covers the whole area of the forthcoming campaign.

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

NB Historical note. The red line marks the course of the present River Dee with the narrow artificial Channel joining Chester to Flint. In Drustina's day the black dotted line (The current Welsh-English Border would have been the north shore of the upper estuary and whole of the estuary right up to Chester would have been marshlands and forest. The estuary was drained and reclaimed when the river was diverted into a straight navigable Channel in 1732. The red line shows that straight, dredged channel.

~~~~~~~~~

The Angry Mermaid 120

The wind rattling the shutters woke Drustina as she freed herself from Carl’s loose embrace. He murmured and blinked before reluctantly joining her by the cold tub.

“Bloody service around here is terrible.”

Drustina agreed with him and reasoned thus.

“The whole town is at sixes and sevens as people try to bring some semblance of cohesion to their newly liberated lives. The Vikings ruled with a rod of iron, so the Manx are having to re-adjust to making their own decisions again. I didn’t think about the situation in this place, I suppose all the slaves have buggered off to savour their freedom. I think we’ll have to organise our own breakfast.”

“There should be food down with the ships.”

“Well we’re going that way anyway come on, we might as well start as we mean to go on.”

The pair dressed for the foul weather, then located Gisela and some other commanders before rushing hungrily down to the gathered ships. The harbour was alive with activity as ships prepared to sail but it wasn’t long before they found some welcome shelter and hot food. By mid morning, the fleet was ready and the local Manx natives watched with mixed feelings of relief and uncertainty as the harbour emptied and the whole fleet sailed north to Ben yr Ayre. As usual, the Mermaid ships became the eyes and ears while the longships sailed in close formation to provide the heavy muscle when trouble came, as it invariably would. Drustina was looking for it.

The weather continued foul but Drustina was glad of it. In strong winds the Mermaid’s speed and seaworthiness compounded their advantages and they scouted considerably further ahead of the main fleet in the hope of enticing the unsuspecting Hibernians into their trap. The rain also reduced visibility and if the Hibernians did pursue what looked like a few straggling ships they would in all probability be drawn into the jaws of Drustina’s trap before they had time to avert it.

As they reached Ben yr Ayre’ on the extreme northern tip of Ynys Man, the main fleet heaved to ready to pounce if the Hibernians took the bait. To the north, west and east of Ben yr Ayre the Mermaids spread out to cast the bait as wide as possible.

By dusk Drustina was beginning to get worried. She had fully expected the Hibernian fleet to make for Dougle in expectation of joining with the Viking occupiers there. As darkness fell she was beginning to wonder if she had blundered.

‘Had King Forden taken his ships north to first meet with the Scottish King Constin to reinforce their fleets since realising there was obviously some sort of enemy force sailing the Celtic waters.’

With darkness upon them, Drustina signalled all the ships to anchor for the night except for the essential patrol ships forming the security cordon. Anchored ships were to have a red light ready to show to any approaching vessel whilst the Patrolling mermaids were to answer with a green light whenever they approached the anchored fleet.

The tactic worked successfully as morning found the bulk of the crews refreshed and prepared for whatever the day brought. During the night the wind had backed slightly but the rain persisted thus maintaining the Mermaid’s advantages of manoeuvrability and speed. It was long after sun-up before one of the search ships returned with news.

“He has rendezvoused with Constin’s ships far to the north at Stranraer but this southerly wind puts their entire combined fleet in Irons. It seems he’s waiting for the wind to veer to the west and hopefully the north.”

On receiving the news Drustina called a meeting of her commanders.

“I want each of you to give me your ideas.”

She was gratified as she went around the circle of commanders, that the Ambush option was still the most favoured.

“If the wind is north or west, Luce bay would be a good place to lie in wait provided their fleet is put to sea and no longer in touch with the shore.” Udris observed.

“Tucked well in behind the Mull of Galloway,” Drustina added as she studied the chart.

She stood back from her precious chart to give all her commanders a chance to study the lie of the land and slowly a murmur of consent rippled around the group. Udris’s suggestion was adopted. The only commander who had remained silent was Heliox but lastly he made his point.

“What if they decide to go south around Ynys Mann? There are less hazards and it’s still a favourable approach to Aber Mersea and Aber Dyfrdwy.”

This idea had been nagging at Drustina’s mind and the only solution was to throw a cordon of fast Mermaids stretching west as far as the Hibernian shore. She had the ships to do that but it meant the mermaids would be unavailable for the main battle or more correctly, they would arrive at the point of conflict in dribs and drabs. She looked around expectantly at her commanders and it was Carl who almost read her mind as he pointed out.

“Knowing what Constin and Forden are up to is more important than attacking them. Our main objective is to defeat Cold-blood when he attacks Chester. Even if we are reduced to simply pursuing their ships into either of the estuaries we still give Cold-blood a headache. Besides there’s no certainty that Constin and Forden know our full strength. All they know about are the Mermaids and perhaps a few of Udris’s longships. They know little about Dorvan’s fleet. We can afford to spread the mermaids thinly across the North Channel because whatever route the Vikings take, we will end up with eyes on either side of them and know which way they choose to go. So long as we know where they are and where they’re going they cannot determine what strength we’ve got or where it is located. Keeping them guessing is a huge advantage to us.”

Drustina nodded and nobody dissented. Thus was the plan changed. Once again, Drustina had cause to be thankful for the extraordinary characteristics of her Mermaid design. Compared to the narrow-gutted, low-freeboard Viking warships, the Mermaid craft performed superbly in bad sea conditions. Going ‘a’viking’ was essentially a summer-time activity when calmer seas allowed their longships to cleave swiftly through calmer seas and strike fast in unexpected places.

Drustina smiled as she considered these two limiting factors. The Viking fleet could not move quickly while the unseasonal gale blew and furthermore, their destination was not wholly unknown to Drustina’s forces. , The Vikings only had the options of either Aber Mersea or Aber Dyfrdwy.

~o000o~

With these considerations she discussed the tactics with Carl and the other commanders.

“So we just corral them, like cattle drovers.” Udris observed.

“Well not quite like cattle herders,” Carl replied, “we just need to know what their target is. We don’t want them to think we are penning them so we keep our surveillance to an absolute minimum. We must endeavour to make them think there is only one or possibly two of our ships trying to keep tabs on them; we must make them think we have only a few ships and insufficient strength to confront them. The most important element is getting intelligence back to Drustina, Heliox and Udris so that the heavies are not too far behind. Once the Vikings enter one or the other of the estuaries, we can pen them there.”

“What about Cold-blood’s ships?” Heliox asked.

“I have no idea, it’s obvious they are not combined with the Hibernian and Scottish fleets otherwise the North Channel would be covered with ships.” Drustina confessed. “I can only hope that they are already close to his armies so that they can ferry his troops. By my reasoning, if Constin is heading south then he must be expecting to meet with Cold-blood’s forces so I’m hoping the bulk of his ships will be already stationed on the north shore of the Aber Mersea. Ethelred’s spies assure us that Cold-blood has definitely massed his land forces on the north shore of the Aber Mersea because he would be vulnerable to attack from the Garrison at Chester if he crossed south too early. The line stretching across Britannia from the Aber Mersea to the Aber Umbre is the border between the Mercians and the Vikings although Ethelred has been strengthening the Chester Garrison with Saxon reinforcements for the past months ever since the roads were clear of snow. Edrinor has only been able to divide his army since we have been certain Cold-blood is poised on the Mersea.”

With this as their best intelligence Drustina bravely decided it might be necessary to split her own heavy force of long-ships if the Viking fleet went ‘south-about’ Ynys Mann. Carl and Udris would follow Constin’s fleet south around Ynys Mann whilst Dorvan would accompany Drustina down the east coast of Man so that they would hopefully rendezvous south and east of the island whilst ensuring that no additional Viking forces were issuing from the Avon Ribble.

Drustina and Heliox were tasked with firstly monitoring Constin’s fleet to make sure they were going south about, then they would double back and commence checking every bay and Inlet on the South Scottish and West Viking shores to mop up any possible Viking opposition.

To try and improve security and secrecy, Drustina led a small force ashore on the Mull of Galloway to kill any Vikings or Scots who might somehow get word of her fleet’s location to Constin before he decided his route. Drustina was not proud of this tactic for the force was landed with clear instructions to take no prisoners if they were deemed likely to reveal the location and size of Drustina’s fleet as it sheltered under the headland that formed the Mull of Galloway.

It was a night of much bloodshed but Drustina felt at least their location was still a secret. To Drustina’s eternal relief they knew of no women or children being slaughtered.

“War is a bloody business,’ She reflected, ‘and this one is going to be one of the worst I’ve fought.’

Two days later, proof that her brutality had been successful was manifest by Constin’s fleet surging south past the Mull of Galloway and seemingly smashing its way through the flimsy cordon that the Celts had thrown across the north channel in a pathetic attempt (or so it appeared to Constin,) to debar the Scottish Vikings from the Irish Sea. As the meagre handful of Celtic ships seemed to scatter before Constin’s fleet the Scottish Viking smirked to himself.

‘It would take more than a scabrous handful of those flimsy cockleshells to stop him now.’

Of course as soon as the Celtic spies brought news of Constin’s breakout Drustina set her plan into action. Carl and Udris set off in unseen pursuit directly behind the Scottish Vikings while Drustina Dorvan and Heliox raced around the north and East of Ynys Mann to rendezvous with Carl at the tail of the Mersea Bank. By then the Celts would be certain of Constin’s destination.

~o00o~

On her voyage down the Eastern side of Ynys Mann Drustina encountered a small flotilla of Harald’s ships that had been stationed up the Solway Firth. These Vikings had occupied Galloway and Cumbria but the region was mountainous and agriculture was difficult to sustain. As a consequence they relied mainly upon their old Norse activities of fishing and piracy. On first spotting the Mermaid outriders of Drustina’s fleet, the Cumbrian Vikings presumed the small scattered ships to be an easy target to be captured ‘en-passant’ whilst on their way to join Cold-blood at his main base upon the Aber Mersea. For those Vikings it was to be a costly mistake.

Drustina’s captains had practiced many times in preparation for dealing with unexpected encounters. The appearance of the Viking flotilla was a perfect opportunity to test their training.

At first, the Mermaids made a poor showing of trying to escape as they turned away and appeared to be trying to go south and west towards Ynys Mann. Instead they were tempting the Cumbrians to follow them back to Dougle where the Cumbrians would have expected their Viking allies to assist them.

After a pursuit of several hours the handful of mermaids seemed to get trapped in the wide sweep of Dougle bay, the Cumbrians pursued them greedily without realising that the main body of Drustina’s fleet, namely the rest of the Mermaids plus Drustina’s Hibernian long-ships, were sweeping down from the North. Before the Cumbrians realised they were in a trap, Drustina’s main force was amongst them. Such was the care and training of Drustina’s force, the battle was soon over. The Cumbrians and Gollowayans numbered but ten long-ships against Drustina’s thirty longships and twenty mermaids not to mention a dozen other assorted vessels that had somehow become attached to Drustina’s fleet. They were mostly merchant ships that had become seconded to Drustina’s force by various instruments of agreement or fiscal expediency. When the brief skirmish was over Drustina had seven more long-ships at her disposal whilst the other three Cumbrian ships had been destroyed. As her men rooted through the spoils of the fight Drustina noticed a young lad’s body under a larger man’s body. Curious as to who the lad might be she heaved the larger corpse off the boy and discovered a nicely worked helmet lying half submerged in the bilge-water having obviously fallen or been knocked off the boy’s head.
As she dug it out of the blood-stained bilges she held it up to inspect it and Heliox stopped to admire it.

“That’s a nicely worked bit of kit. Are you going to keep it?”

Drustina studied the beautifully crafted face plates and nodded thoughtfully.

“Maybe, it’s too small for any of you lumbering men; it’ll fit me or even Gisela with a filler cap inside.”

So saying she was about to try it on then spotted a piece of the boy’s cheek bone and skin stuck to the face plate, the young Viking had obviously received a massive blow. She wrinkled her nose as she poked out the gruesome residue to remove it then shrugged and dipped the helmet over the side to wash it. Heliox wagged his head.

“Give it a good wash lioness, before you try it on.”

“He must have been high ranking but he was still too young to be fighting. Some of these Viking fathers are too bloody keen to blood their boys. The boy’s not even got any bum-fluff.”

Having thoroughly rinsed the helmet she fussed with the cheek plates and eventually got the headpiece sitting properly.

“It’ll need a thick woollen cap inside but it’s good fit once the dent is removed.”

Heliox nodded approvingly.

“D’you know, if you tuck up your hair inside, nobody would ever recognise you.”

“Except for this,” she replied tapping the feminine cuirass with notable breast mouldings.

“Well not at a distance,” Heliox added. “Keep it Lioness, it fits none of the men and it’s beautifully tooled haulm.”

“I intend to. Now let’s get these prize ships sorted and find a smith to fix this dent.”

The smith was soon found and Drustina watched as he deftly tapped out the deformity. Soon the haulm was as good as new. The situation concerning the ships was not so easy however. Once again the question arose ... what to do with the ships when they had insufficient trained men to sail them. Finally, the question was resolved by despatching the ships into the safe-keeping of the local Manx Celts who were slowly acclimatising to their new-found liberation. Drustina was amused and embarrassed when several hundred liberated Manxmen offered to serve with her and man the surplus ships. Refusing their immediate offer of alliance was difficult but she tried to explain without offending their pride.

“Gentlemen, my crews and my ships are highly trained and much experienced in sea-born warfare. Now whilst I recognise that you are certainly competent sailors, there is much more to operating together as a coherent, organised, fighting unit. On that basis I must regretfully refuse your offers to fight alongside us but you can at least join with our supply train and perhaps lend your protection to them when they transport supplies. You can be assured that these ships get perilously close to the action and there your services for protection will be most welcome. When can you be ready?”

Drustina smiled inwardly and exchanged a knowing glance with Udris. The Manx-men, whilst being more than willing to fight, were totally unprepared to put to sea immediately. They eventually started squabbling amongst themselves as to who should command each ship and who should sail with whom. Drustina quickly intervened and behaved somewhat patronisingly.

“As you see gentlemen, you are not yet a well organised unit for you cannot even agree who shall command. I therefore suggest that you sort out your differences then join us either in the Aber Mersea or the Aber Dyfrdwy. Might I suggest you practice some simple fighting skills as well or believe me, if you meet with any of Cold-blood’s ships, you will receive short thrift and no mercy.”

So saying, she signalled to her fleet and within the hour, the Manx hopefuls were left to wonder at the empty bay evacuated by the swift and organised departure of some sixty or seventy ships. They were left to consider the gift-horse that Drustina had left for them. Organising the seven valuable ships into a functional flotilla would test their discipline and organisation to the limit. The only element Drustina knew she could rely upon was the Manxmen’s loyalty for the Viking yoke had rubbed hard and cruelly upon their necks.

The following morning Drustina was relieved to see the red patches of Carl’s sails approaching from the west as they rendezvoused several miles north of the tail of the Burbo bank at the approaches to the Aber Mersea.

“So which way did Constin go?” She asked him.

“Mostly into the Aber Mersea though about half a dozen ships made for the Aber Dyfrdwy. I can’t think why.”

“Perhaps Cold-blood has already landed his forces there.”

Carl wagged his head.

“I doubt it; the land is flat with no potential to choose a battle ground. Most of it’s marshy anyway, marching on Chester across the marshes would be a slow messy business and he dare not try and sail up the Dyfrdwy. The river is winding and has forests on it’s banks; the Saxons could ambush him at every bend in the river. I think they just want to make sure that the Afon Dyfrdwy is closed off to any Saxon sea traffic.”

“That we can’t allow, we are that traffic.”

“So what are your intentions then Lioness?” Carl pressed her.

“We must claim the Dyfrdwy as ours if we can. It gives us water access right up to the city walls and that is a huge logistical advantage. I have no idea where Ethelred or Edrinor are yet. Reaching Chester would enlighten us and them. Having ships at his disposal on the Dyfrdwy will give Ethelred many useful options.”

“Like ferrying men around the Wirral to attack Cold-blood’s rear.” Gisela offered.

Drustina smiled and nodded.

“You’re learning young lady.”

With the new intelligence the Celts set about organising their first campaign, namely securing the Aber Dyfrdwy for their own ends. Drustina and Carl would lead a score of Mermaids and a dozen longships into the Aber Dyfrdwy to seek out the Viking precursors.

The whole of Drustina’s fleet initially set off together. Drustina felt she had to be cautious until she was certain that Harald’s ships were mostly located in the Aber Mersea. The massed fleet arrived at the tail of the Burbo bank of the Aber Mersea and for the first time since making her childhood oath, Drustina felt she had a real chance of fulfilling that promise. She scanned the sea and counted over one hundred and eighty ships. It now remained for Harald Cold-blood to make his move. A few bold sorties by the fastest mermaids in her fleet had determined that Harald had at least two hundred and fifty ships anchored in the fast-flowing, deep Aber Mersea. Drustina had no intentions of simply plunging headlong into the narrow ‘bottle-neck’ and mixing it blow for blow with Harald’s ships. In the confinement of the narrow mouth, it would be sheer folly, his longships vastly outnumbered hers and the Mermaids would lose the freedom to dash about at liberty between the two narrow rocky shores that choked the Mersea into a furious tidal surge four times a day, twice flooding and twice ebbing. She ordered her main fleet to loiter with intent just off the tail of the bank while she went hunting in the Aber Dwfrdwy.

Her substantial flotilla peeled away from the main force and raced south and east towards the wide shallow estuary of Aber Dyfrdwy. Without hesitating, Drustina’s ships swept into the estuary and quickly entered the main channel that led all the way to Chester. Eventually as the widely separated shores closed in Drustina realised they would inevitably encounter the Viking ships somewhere between the old village of Flint and the city walls of Chester. The last thing she wanted was to go blundering into an established landing of several longships with their crews girded for war!

By now the winding meanders of the Dyfrdwy were becoming banked on either side by intermittent forest and farm land, then the forested banks became so thick it was impossible to discern anything on the land. Carl came silently alongside and whispered.

“You could hide an army in those woods.”

“Exactly,” Drustina agreed, “if they only had six ships then it’s unlikely they’ll have more than a couple of hundred men free to land ashore while the rest guard their landing beach.”

“Yes but where?”

“Up river obviously, we haven’t seen them so far.”

“So what do we do?”

“Land our own men ashore, how many can we spare?”

“About four hundred I suppose. That leaves about fifteen men apiece to man each ship. D’you want me to lead them ashore?”

“I was thinking that would be my job.” Drustina replied.

Carl growled.

“Not bloody likely. You’re too bloody valuable, you shouldn’t really have come on this expedition anyway, you should have stayed with the main fleet.”

Drustina smiled disarmingly.

“So what if you got killed? I’d be a widow. Besides, the defenders of Chester would be reassured if they saw it was me.”

“You’re not fobbing me off with that shit Dru, you’re not going ashore into those woods; you’re too bloody vulnerable and it’s too risky. Every Viking in the Irish Sea knows that the lioness is abroad by now. Any woman with a sword, a shield and yellow hair will be deemed a legitimate target. Stay with the ships and stay in overall command, at least until we get close to Chester. We’re bound to encounter them before then.”

Drustina pulled a resentful expression but deep down she knew Carl was right. She would be far more useful on the main battlefield later on, visible to the allied Saxon and Mercian armies and a lucky talisman for her own mixed forces. Carl looked over the flotilla then decided to take Althred the Saxon Commander of Ethelred’s ships that had been the mainstay of Drustina’s force since leaving Sotona.

The landed force would then comprise mainly Saxons and function as a single tongued, coherent force in the confused thickets and undergrowth. Several Celtic warriors asked why they were excluded until Drustina made her feelings clear.

“When you are whispering in the bushes, it’s best that everybody whispers in the same tongue, then there’s less scope for blunder. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to cover yourselves in glory and the time is soon.”

Thus mollified the Celts and Gauls returned to man the ships as Carl led his force along the bank. Drustina followed several hundreds of meters behind so that the Vikings would not spot her ships before Carl’s force could get among them. The downside being that it would take Drustina several minutes to assist Carl if they were attacked first. Muffled oars dipped silently into the water as the longships slid silently alongside the banks.

For once the Mermaids were the worse option because the longships excelled at their designed function of rowing stealthily up rivers and land large numbers in force. Drustina for once had forsaken her beloved Mermaid and stood in the bow of one of the longships whilst peering nervously into the thick woodlands. She knew her men were there because one of Carl’s force would occasionally slip out of the thickets to confirm their progress.

It was almost an hour of unbearable tension as Carl and his men crept silently forward until a shout was heard and quickly followed by clashing swords.

The battle had commenced, or at least the first exploratory skirmishes.

~~o000o~~