The Wounded Soldier

In the fifth century England was divided into many small kingships. These kingships were constantly at war with one another, and with outsiders such as the Scots and the Picts.

In one such kingship lived a shepherd and his family. The shepherd was a middle-aged man who lived with his son, Aedan, who was in his early twenties, and his two teenage daughters Rosalind and Edith. His wife had died a number of years ago during a bad winter.

The shepherd loved his family. He was very proud of his strong son, Aedan, who took such good care of the sheep. He loved his eldest daughter Rosalind who stepped in and filled her mother's shoes when she had died. Most of all he loved his beautiful youngest daughter, Edith, who could bring a smile on the darkest of days.

The family was well aware of the violence that surrounded them. Their sheep had been stolen by raiders from the neighboring kingship and a couple of their neighbors had been killed protecting their land. It was commonplace to see the crimson colors of their kingship's soldiers riding past their cottage. They still tried their best to carry on their simple lives. They raised their sheep and chickens, drew water from their well, and collected fire wood, always with an extra glance over their shoulder expecting to see foreign raiders in the bushes.

Soon their expectations would be fulfilled. On a warm spring evening, young Edith went out to draw water from the well. The men were still away in the fields with the sheep, while Rosalind prepared the supper. A sharp scream brought Rosalind out of the cottage. She opened the door to a chilling sight. Edith was surrounded by six raiders, all dressed in the green robes of the neighboring kingship. They wasted no time in binding her arms and tying a sack over her head. Then they dragged her off into the trees while Rosalind stood paralyzed with fear.

The shepherd and his son came home to find Rosalind in tears. It took a while to get the whole story out of her, but they soon understood. The old man sat moaning with his head in his hands, while Aedan stormed about the cottage in a rage. Aedan vowed to join the king's army in the morning to bring back his sister and to avenge her abduction.

When Aedan arrived at the castle in the morning, he found he was not alone. There were several of his neighbors there also, all angry about things that had taken place in the night. The raiders had sent several parties into their kingship and taken animals, produce, and Aedan's sister.

The King was not a bad man. He was perhaps a bit greedy, but there were many others worse than him. He tried to provide protection for his subjects and in return he expected a portion of his subjects produce. Aedan had always hated it when the kings men had come to take their portion, and he hated it even more now that he felt the king had failed to uphold his end of the bargain.

When the king heard of the raids of the previous night, he was outraged. He wanted to take immediate action, and he sent out a call to arms to all of the households in his kingship. By evening a group of about sixty farmers and peasants had arrived at the castle, all prepared to fight. The king provided weapons and armor for the men, many of them obviously young and afraid. Aedan grasped his sword and swung it through the air. He was naturally athletic, and the weight of the sword felt good in his hands.

The next morning, the newly formed army set out to the northeast in the direction of the neighboring kingship. When the peasants joined with the king's soldiers and and horsemen, they were 200 strong all dressed in the crimson robes of their kingship. By late afternoon they came to the edge of the forest that marked the border of the kingship, crossing into the trees would mean passing into enemy territory.

The army was easily spotted by the lookouts of the neighboring kingship. The neighboring king quickly rallied his troops and prepared them to meet the invading army. The men were quickly armed and dressed in their green robes. That night the invading army had a restless night in the forest while the defending army marched to meet the attackers by morning.

Aedan awoke just after dawn on a cold, misty morning to the sound of shouts around him. Everyone was scrambling for their weapons and preparing for the fight. Overnight the defending army had reached the attackers and were waiting in a large field on the edge of the forest. They were to form ranks and prepare for attack.

The peasants and inexperienced soldiers were put in front, followed by the more experienced foot soldiers and finally by those on horseback. Aedan was near the front next to a skinny boy that he thought he knew from a neighbor's farm, but he looked quite different dressed in the clothes of a soldier. They were soon assembled, and at the captains orders, the army charged through the trees. It wasn't far to the edge of the forest where the neighboring army was waiting. Aedan could see the swords and spears of his enemies and he gripped his sword tightly and prepared to fight.

As they reached first rank of the enemy everything got very confusing for Aedan. A large man swung his sword so hard that it knocked the sword from Aedan's hand. The neighboring boy jumped forward at Aedan's right to protect him from the large man. The swing of the large man's sword came again, swiftly and heavily, from right to left. It cut the head clean off the boy and landed crushing blow on Aedan's right arm. Aedan fell, the headless boy on top of him. His arm burned, but he dared not move. He looked dead, covered in the blood of the headless boy. Aedan lay there for what seemed like hours as the battle raged around him, with metal clashing, blood flowing, and men falling. The fighting moved slowly away into the field, and finally disappeared all together.

The sun was low in the sky when Aedan finally gathered the courage to get up. He could see the bodies all around him, men and boys in green and red robes. They had all given their lives for a cause that they believed in. Perhaps some did not believe in the cause, and gave their lives for nothing. Aedan felt rotten. He had done nothing. He had fallen to the ground with a boy who had died protecting him, and neither of them got up again to fight. The blood that covered him was not the blood of his enemies, but the blood of one who died for his sake. And what about his sister whom he had come to rescue, was there any hope of finding her now?

Aedan stumbled his way through the bodies in the field which rose slowly uphill. At the top of the hill he could see activity, but he could not make out the uniforms of the men as they were silhouetted by the setting sun. They were setting up camp-fires, and seemed to be generally joyful. As he got closer he recognized one of them as one of his king's soldiers. He tried to shout out to the man, but he had no voice. Soon the man saw him approaching, and ran to meet him with his sword drawn. He quickly recognized Aedan, the shepherds son, and he was overjoyed. He put his arm around him and led him up to the camp. All the men congratulated him, and treated him like a hero. Aedan tried to explain what had happened, but no one seemed to listen. The accolades of the others just caused his shame to deepen.

The battle had been won by the men in the crimson robes. The men in green had retreated to their castle. In the morning they would head back to their land having sent a message to the neighboring king. Aedan wanted to ask about his sister but didn't know what to say.

It was a long and painful march back to the king's castle. Aedan's arm was in a lot of pain; he had a large gash, though the bone was not broken. All the time he was marching, he was trying to think what he would say to his father and sister about what had happened. After reaching the castle, the men were congratulated by the king with a fine meal, and a small reward based on their position. For a shepherd's son, this was a very small reward, but Aedan didn't care how much it was, it would not bring his sister back.

After the meal all the men were dismissed. Aedan trudged slowly back to his cottage. As he walked down the path that lead from the main road to his home, one of the sheep dogs bolted out to meet him. It leaped about in celebration, licked at his cold hands, and barked excitedly. Aedan saw the door of the cottage open, and three figures came out. It was his father, Rosalind and Edith. It seemed impossible, that Edith was home again, he certainly had not rescued her.

They rushed up to him and they all kissed and embraced. They sat down in the kitchen of the cottage, and as Rosalind took care of his injured arm, Edith told the story of her escape. She had been kidnapped not by men from the green kingship, but by Scotsmen disguised in green robes. They were a raiding party sent down to steal the riches of the English farmers. They had not come for prisoners, but when they saw the beautiful Edith, they could not resist.

When the leader of the Scotsmen saw that his men had taken a prisoner, he was furious, but decided it was too dangerous to let her go at the moment. They slowly headed northwest towards their homeland with wagons filled with plundered treasure. They soon saw that they were being followed by the crimson army that had set out to attack the green kingship. The Scots did not want to get caught in the middle of this fight so they got rid of everything that was not valuable enough to take with them, including Edith, and made a hasty retreat for home.

Edith did not understand why the Scots had let her go, she didn't realize that the kings army was coming her way. She gathered some of the food that the Scots had left and wrapped it in blankets. It took her a couple of days to get back home, but somehow, she did not cross paths with the advancing crimson army on the way. She had arrived home that morning before Aedan.
It was Aedan's turn to tell his story, and he could feel the shame rising up as he began the horrible story. As Aedan was berating himself, his father stopped him. The old shepherd was overjoyed that his children were all still alive, and he rejoiced for Aedan's cowardice.

Not long after this, a truce was made between the crimson and the green kingships. All three of the children eventually married and started families of their own. The old Shepherd lived a long and happy life, always in the fields with his son Aedan and the sheep. Aedan never lifted a sword again.

JE