Battle plans rarely survive first contact unless scope for a swift and orderly withdrawal is factored in at first instance. Drustina's initial plans do exactly that. First she must try and measure the enemy's capacity and quality on sea and if possible, on land. She has not the resources to tempt the Vikings to land troops ashore early so she cannot fully determine what she must face in the final analysis.

The Angry Mermaid 101 or Y Morforwyn Dicllon 101

http://www.westernyachtclub.com/chartsbundle/CHARTS/1549.htm

A Trebuchet.

As The Angry Mermaid raced towards the tiny settlement of Glyn, her commander lay curled up tight in the bend of the spare sail where it lay stored up in the bow. Despite the pounding as the hull raced across the waves and slammed into the short steep wavelets, the woman in battle jerkin and leather leggings slept well. It might only be for a couple of hours but it was a sleep she desperately needed. The rest of her crew either grabbed some well deserved sleep or tended quietly to their weapons while the second in command steered for the headland indicated by the Tipperrarian pilot.

Only the rescued family had nothing to do but count their luck as they settled with no small relief at the stern and talked quietly about the strange band of warriors who had rescued them. What intrigued them more was the nature of the warrior woman who slept under the cuddy in the bow. Inevitably they fell to asking the lieutenant about her.

“Is she really your commander?”

The lieutenant nodded as he stared fixedly at the headland and tried to listen to the pilot as he gave vital advice. The middle child however, a girl of some ten years, was not to be deterred by the lieutenant’s reticence. She asked again.

“Is she a queen then?”

The lieutenant smiled at her for an instant as he replied.

“Yes, she’s a very famous one and a very brave one.”

“What’s her name?”

The Tipperarian pilot interrupted as he sensed the Lieutenant struggling to keep his concentration.

“Do not distract the helm’s-man young lady; the warrior queen is called ‘The Lioness of Carthage,’."

He then turned to the helm’s-man and added...

“When that single pine-tree comes in line with the headland, wait until it starts to open then steer for that white quartz fissure until we pass the red-stone bluff. Eventually you will see the inlet open. It looks nothing more than a small break in the trees but you have to turn very sharply to stay in the navigable channel.” The estuary looks wide but the actual channel is little more than a gully. The tide has turned in the couple of hours so we will enter on the flood and we will have to depart before high water, the whole area dries out before low water next tide.

The lieutenant nodded and adjusted the tiller as he checked his wake to compare the course of Udris’s ship astern. He nodded with satisfaction as he watched Udris’s helmsman following to the inch in order to avoid the shallows and sandbank. The pilot also looked back and smiled appreciatively; the quality of ship-handling had been impeccable on both ships throughout the day. He intended to compliment the Lioness when she woke. That moment would be soon. Few captains left the docking of their ship to their second-in-command unless it was a regular and frequent procedure. This was the first time Drustina and The Angry Mermaid had approached Glyn.
When the time to wake Drustina arrived, the pilot sent the ten-year-old girl to do it. She seemed to be a lively and alert child, much more inquisitive than her siblings. The rest of the rescued family were huddled together just thankful to be alive. Pleased to have given what to her was a big responsibility, the girl skipped nimbly over the recumbent crewmen and over the thwarts towards the bow where she savoured the duty of waking the queen. She gently shook Drustina who stirred and looked at the girl.

“What is it child?”

“The tall man by the tiller says it is time to wake you.”

Drustina glanced towards the pilot who signalled that they were entering the very narrow channel into Glyn. Drustina squinted at the girl.

“Thank you, now turn away. I want to wee.”

The girl made a pretence of turning away as Drustina pulled down the front of her leggings and directed her urine over the side. On hearing the splash, the girl could not resist turning to look and her eyes widened with surprise. Being young she failed to be tactful and squeaked out.

“You wee like a boy!”

Drustina wagged her head and glanced over her shoulder with a resignation born of many such remarks during her life.

“Yes, young lady, I have both parts; now turn away please.”

The girl being precocious and intelligent was not to be put off however. She was neither censorious nor offended as she continued.

“I was told you were a queen but you have boy parts.”

Had the girl not accompanied this with a tone of genuine curiosity Drustina might have become irritated but she recognised the girl’s genuine and somewhat innocent interest. As she tucked her penis back into her leggings she smiled then explained.

“Young lady, I will explain just this once then I want to hear no more about it. I have both girl and boy parts and have been both mother and father to different children. Today I used my boy part because it was convenient to wee quickly. Now I need to go aft to attend to our arrival. You can fetch my sword from the cuddy and bring it to me at the stern.”

So saying, Drustina stepped easily over her sleeping crewmen and the girl eagerly followed whilst carrying the prized sword. The Tipperrarian pilot grinned as he watched the ecstatic expression of pride on the girl’s face. Drustina grinned as she joined him at the stern.

“You’ve made a little girl very happy Lioness.”

Drustina grinned as she studied the Mermaid’s tricky approach then received her sword off the girl without taking her eyes off the navigation marks. She left the steering to her lieutenant however, for it would have been unsound to take the helm at such a complex juncture with all the attendant needs for the pilot to repeat the instructions. Instead she tousled her hand through the little girl’s long red tresses then hugged the child’s shoulders to her hip before fastening her sword and scabbard down her back. The girl was ecstatic with pride as Drustina whispered to her explaining why the pilot was advising the lieutenant and not the captain.

Having fulfilled any maternalistic obligations to the little girl, Drustina turned to the more serious matter, namely entering the shallow creek at the foot of Dorvan’s fortifications. Soon the anticipated gap in the trees revealed itself and Drustina saw Dorvan’s camp on the bank. In short order, both ships were alongside but they had only a few hours over the high water. Quickly they shared information and discussed tactics.

“So how many men have joined your banner?” Drustina asked the Prince.

“We have about three hundred. If all the pledges given to my father are fulfilled; he should have about a thousand men by tonight and about one and a half thousand by tomorrow noon. That’s about one thousand eight hundred. How many Vikings did you count?”

“Udris and I each estimated about two-and-a-half to possibly three thousand. We based this on something over one hundred men to each longship and we counted twenty three longships.”

“So we are outnumbered perhaps three to two.” Dorvan frowned thoughtfully.

“You are forgetting the men on the north shore,” Drustina tried to reassure the prince, “when we left, Carl and Heliox had about five hundred assembled.”

“And how do we get them to the scene of battle?” Dorvan demanded.

Drustina squinted at the young prince as she considered his question. It seemed the prince had somewhat limited and conservative ideas of organising a campaign. She set about carefully ‘adjusting’ the young man’s ideas.

“Uuuhm, who said there is going to be a battle?”

Dorvan stiffened with incomprehension.

“Of course there will be a battle; how are we to drive them off?”

Drustina started first by asking the prince some searching questions.

“Have you ever fought a battle with any Vikings ... and won?”

Dorvan hesitated at the last part of her question.

“Well ... well no, not really. Last time they attacked they almost reached Limerick but there were insufficient of them to overwhelm the town’s defences. There were only four ships. This time you’ve said it yourself, there are twenty three ships; they obviously intend to give us a beating.”

“But this time your highness, they do not have the element of surprise. Your father had the wit to organise a very good signal system.”

Dorvan smiled ruefully. He had personally thought his father was being over cautious but the system of watch towers and signal fires had proven their worth. The Vikings had not even landed and already, the Connacht clans had gathered a substantial force. Dorvan only wished they had more time for if the clans had received more warning, they could have mustered up to five thousand warriors within a week. He had seen how well the Vikings were armed after the attack on Limerick. Nearly all the attackers had chain mail and some of the leaders even had plate mail. He did not relish meeting such powerful and well protected adversaries. Secretly, Dorvan was prepared to die. To this extent he was slightly bemused that the warrior queen seemed a lot less concerned than he.

Drustina sensed his sense of resignation but she persevered with the education as she questioned him some more.

“Do you expect to have to confront these Viking face to face then?”

“How else?”

“What about ambushing them then running away? What about setting traps for them then pouncing on them and once again, running away?
What about harrying them as they make their way towards Limerick?”

“We only have a few ships, altogether about fifteen I think. My father is still fitting other ships out for war but they are slow and clumsy.”

“How many horsemen do you have?” Drustina asked him.

Dorvan hesitated. The Hibernian horses were small and light but fast moving horses, more resembling a large pony then a full sized horse. They could not carry a fully armoured man. Even he and his father did not own a large heavy horse to smash into the Viking Shield walls. He frowned uncertainly.

“Why d’you ask?”

“I ask because I saw no horses aboard any of the Viking long-ships.”

“So? If they are going to smash their way right up the river with their ships, they won’t need horses will they?”

“Come with me.” Drustina replied.

Dorvan was mildly surprised to be told to do something without any of the courtesies like ‘please’ or ‘if-your-highness-would-be-so-kind’ or any other indication of respect or rank. The warrior queen had simply told him almost as if she were a pedagogue and he the acolyte. Her manner intrigued him and he followed her to the quay where Udris was supervising the attachment of a long pole to a strange wooden contraption. Drustina asked about progress and Udris paused from drilling a hole to make a spindle for the pole and the swing weight.

“How’s progress, commander?” She asked the Dumnonii chief.

“Give me another half an hour. This is an ash pole, it’s lighter but stronger than pine. It’s best I can find for now but the wood is sound and being green makes it flexible.”
Drustina nodded and turned to Dorvan.

“D’you recognise that device?”

Dorvan certainly recognised the rope and strong leather bag.

“It looks like some sort of sling.”

“That’s exactly what it is and if you’ll humour me until Udris finishes his work, I’ll demonstrate its effectiveness. That new and longer pole should be even more effective than the one we broke when fighting the long-ships this morning.”

“What!” Dorvan expostulated. “You’ve already met with them?”

“Yes but we were not very successful. The sling arm broke because the long pole we cannibalised from a wrecked longship was tired and rotten. That new pole should do a much better job. Ash is the best wood because it is straightest and lightest wood for a Trebuchet. It can take a lot of shock without splitting or breaking; that’s why you use it for the handles of your axes, hammers and shafts for your carts. The same goes for Trebuchet arms.”

“Is that what you call that contraption?”

“Yes. I’ve seen big ones hurl substantial rocks as big as a man’s head for up to five hundred yards.”

“How far will that thing go?”

“I don’t know. We certainly hurled a rock big enough to smash through planking and I’m guessing that was about one hundred and fifty yards. I don’t know if that ship sank because we had to skedaddle when the arm broke with the next shot. I reckon with this newer, longer, lighter arm it should go hopefully about three hundred yards. This trebuchet is a very small one.”

Dorvan was so intrigued; he decided to watch the arm being repaired so Drustina joined Udris on the afterdeck to help speed up the repair. The job was soon completed and the Mermaid was moored with extra ropes to stabilise her against the quay. The longer arm would create a far more violent motion and there was no knowing whether the ship would remain stable. Unfortunately, the longer arm necessitated shorter sling ropes otherwise the sling would have snagged the rigging. Drustina explained.

“I hope to set this up on the bluff overlooking Foynes Island. It would command a large slice of the south channel and some of the north passage. It will force the Vikings to travel up the North side of the channel and I hope to get a message to Carl to muster as many men on the north shore with fire arrows.”

As she said this, Udris stood back from the engine and declared it ready. Drustina loaded the engine and invited everybody to step back as she explained.

“I don’t know how safe it is with this longer arm, so you’d all best stand back.”

Drustina’s companions pulled well back for they had seen the ramshackle mechanism only that very morning. Nobody wanted to be near if the thing failed. Dorvan however knew little better so he stood close to Drustina as she prepared to release the charge of stones with one larger boulder. She warned Dorvan.

“If this thing goes wrong, there’s no knowing where these stones will end up!”

“Well wherever I stand then, I could end up being hit.”

Drustina smiled philosophically and shrugged.

“I suppose you’re right. Just watch the stones and stand behind me.”

As he stood peering over her shoulder Drustina released the trigger catch and the trebuchet swung violently as the arm whipped up and the sling whistled evilly. There was a slap as the release hook of the sling operated at the optimum point of rotation and the machine released the stones perfectly. For a moment Dorvan lost sight of the stones as they flew away with the trees as a background and he began wondering just where the stones had gone. Drustina’s more practiced eye continued following them and she tapped Dorvan’s shoulder as she pointed to the water across the inlet just as the splashes revealed the fall of shot.

“’Bout four or five hundred yards your highness, enough to sink a few Viking ships before they realise they can squeeze past out of range on the north side of the channel.”

Dorvan was dumb-founded and he stared stupidly for at least a couple of seconds before releasing a piercing yell of elation.

“My God woman! That’s incredible. Can we not make more like that?”

“Depends how long we’ve got. The last I knew was that the Vikings were attacking the round tower belonging to the abbey on Scattery Island. I don’t know how long they’ll be there.”

“Well the sooner we start the better. There’s plenty of timber at Foynes, does the timber have to be faired and squared?”

Drustina sucked her cheek thoughtfully. The only ones she had ever seen had been well fashioned and properly tooled. She supposed that, providing the joints and swivel pins were true and stout, the timber need not necessarily be faired and squared. Of one thing she was certain though. Only she, Udris, Carl and Heliox had the knowledge to build them at that juncture for they had worked with them on previous occasions. Her reply to Dorvan was cautious.

“If you have plenty of carpenters I think we might build one big enough to span half the North Channel at Foynes. As I said, it depends how greedy the Vikings are looking for treasures at Scattery Abbey.”

“Then let’s be about your business Lioness. We shall make all haste for Foynes.”

“I must get a message to my other lieutenants. They are currently mustering on the north shore at Killimer. I will need my ships to ferry the foot soldiers up to Foynes. The mounted men will have to ride like the wind.”

Dorvan grasped the plan and the need for urgency; he wasted no time barking out orders to his men while Drustina and Udris were already departing. Udris for Killimer with the message to Carl while she carried the trebuchet on The Angry Mermaid up to Foynes. Once they had landed the trebuchet on the south bluff at Foynes Drustina immediately crossed to the north shore and set about constructing a larger trebuchet while her lieutenant dashed back down channel to collect more of Carl’s men. Throughout the afternoon and long summer evening the mermaid class ships made repeated voyages to collect as many Kerry and Clare men to concentrate at or around the town of Foynes. As the light was failing, Drustina was overjoyed to see Heliox arrive at the north shore with a large squadron of mounted Hibernians. It remained only to post lots of lookouts and patrols to ensure the Vikings did not try to sneak up the channel during the night.

Drustina had good reason to be thankful for the resources available in the town of Foynes and within hours; after much ferrying of wood and other materials to and fro across the channel, she and Carl had assembled a crude working trebuchet on the north shore. Because of its size, it had substantially more range than Drustina’s smaller one and it left a very narrow strip of channel right out in the middle that was out of range of either of the weapons. Drustina wondered whether Dorvan’s carpenters would be prepared to continue working through the night to build a third weapon and place it on the westernmost tip of Foynes Island itself. She was heartened and gratified by their response. Having seen the effect of the North Shore trebuchet, they were enthusiastic and built a smaller one so as to make it easier to traverse and cover a greater arc. After leaving the building to the Carpenters, she and her warriors sought some well earned sleep. The morrow promised to be an auspicious day and a fearful one.

~~oo000oo~~

Author’s note. (That sound's posh dun'nit!)

Trebuchets.

Anybody interested in the effectiveness of trebuchets might do well to type ‘war-wolf’ or ‘trebuchet’ into Google.

Although the huge, sophisticated siege versions took days (and in some cases, weeks) to build. A crude but effective battle-field trebuchet could be fashioned within a day. Drustina and Carl were intimately familiar with trebuchets and past masters (or mistress) at knocking a workable weapon together almost overnight. Accuracy and predetermined ranging were not vitally important when firing at moving targets like ships. It was more important to get a wide spread of shot as opposed to one singularly heavy and destructive boulder. A boulder of some 20 Kg (45lbs) could easily plunge down and smash through a Viking longship’s planking after having been flung perhaps 300 or 400 metres.

Below is the Wikipedia site for trebuchets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwolf