He and his men slept well that night, undisturbed by any alarm call. Alun had charged four men, in two turns, to take over at dusk from the lookouts. So, the night had its watchmen. At dawn, he sent two more to relieve the nightwatchmen. These most recent sentinels blared the alarm, maybe an hour before noon. Alun watched them gallop ferociously towards the camp and slow to a walk before the swampy ground. He smiled grimly as they nudged their horses to the riverbank to urge them slowly around the scar in the ground, where the river still poured into the ditch. He could only imagine how much water was outpouring at the other end. Imagination would not serve, so he would have to gallop over to see for himself. First, he listened to the lookouts’ report. The vast Norse host was approaching “
