Heading north from York, across the moors, is the River Tees, home to the legendary water witch Peg Poehler, who, in Anglo poetry, has green skin, long hair and sharp teeth, and is dragged by the ankles of those who come near the riverbank. Between the River Tees and Hadrian's Wall is the Diocese of Durham, the former frontier of the Kingdom of Benicia, now the southern frontier of the rebels of the North.

On this pleasant summer day, an English boy named Sherwin was fishing near the north gate of Durham when his rod suddenly swayed, and he thought that a fish had finally been hooked, but he heard a neighing of horses from the north, and the ground shook slightly. As far as he could see, a large shadow appeared from the northeast, as if it was going up against the tide. Soon, Selwin saw that a large group of horsemen had appeared on the riverbank, and were rushing in his direction, and there seemed to be countless figures behind them, and this huge procession seemed to be a moving city, and the boy could not help but be stunned.

From the iron walls of this "city" rushed a knight, holding a flag in his hand, and quickly rushed under the walls of Durham, and the soldiers of Durham had already spotted each other, and immediately opened the gate after recognizing their faces and the flag in their hands.

"Lord Commander, the Bishop's messenger has entered the city, and the prince's army has arrived outside the city!"

The magistrate of Osbert had been informed by the messenger the previous month, and now that the arrangements had been decided, he had assigned everyone to prepare to welcome the lords of the whole north into the city. To the cheers of the English in the city, the well-armoured Northumbrian army entered the city, the English women scattered flowers and herbs around their horses, and the nobles in front of the procession were the most powerful lords of the north: the Earl of Gaspatrick, the Lord of Arnketyr, the Earl of Walsioff, the Bishop of Ethelwyn, the Bishop of Woolfstein, and the Cali sons of House Sebrand, except for Bishop Aldred, who was too weak to remain at Bebanburg. The rare sight of these northern lords, who had been mired in blood vendettas for decades, were now in the ranks of the rebels at the same time, with Prince Edgar at the head of their ranks, seemed to mean that the English finally had a new leader after the death of King Harold.

The nobles from Lothian followed closely behind the prince's dragon banner, and some of them had been in Durham with King Duncan of Alba to besiege the city. The Englishmen in the city apparently did not remember this old thing, and welcomed them into their city. The soldiers marched along the banks of the river through the city to the south of Durham and set up camp on the spot, and the lords arranged their armies before they reached Prince Edgar's tent under the leadership of Bishop Ethelwyn.

The magistrate of Osbert, who was already in the tent, said to the prince: "According to reports from some of our sailors, the mouth of the Humber in the south had been blocked by the Normans five days earlier, and there is no news of our envoy to York. ”

The prince nodded, turned to the Earl of Benicia and said, "It seems that the enemy has arrived, and although it is not clear where King William is, it is speculated from the news in Lincolnshire last month that the Normans will not be marching north for the time being. ”

Count Guspatrick nodded, and asked the magistrate, "When was the last time Count Moka's messenger arrived?" ”

"My lord, we haven't heard from York for half a month." The magistrate replied.

Arnkhtir and the other lords, who had just entered the tent, were still giving orders to their attendants, and when the prince saw that everyone had arrived, he stopped the discussion and began to greet the lords.

After taking his seat, the prince first introduced the report of the county magistrate of Durham to everyone, drank another glass of wine, and weighed it before continuing: "My lords, we do not know the enemy's movements at present, nor do we know the current situation of the two earls in the south, so I have decided to lead the horseback squire and Sain to the south to reconnoiter first, and the main force will stay in Durham to prepare for battle, and the whole army and fortification will be in charge of the Earl of Benicia and the Bishop of Durham respectively. ”

The lords were not in a bad position, and many of their armies had to rest after the trek, and only the Count of Benicia and Prince Edgar, who had been in Bebanburg, were in the best condition. However, the bishop of Durham said: "My lord, the current situation of the enemy is unknown, and it is too dangerous to go south, so it is better to send out sentries and continue to contact the Earl of Mercia and the Count of Northumbria." ”

The prince patiently explained: "The enemy has only been in Lincoln for more than a month since May, and it stands to reason that it will not go north so quickly, so we are concerned about the position of King William's main force, and it is difficult for the sentinels to obtain reliable information. And in the event that the enemy has all reached York, and we need to respond or prepare according to the situation of the two earls, I will set out at once with my cavalry, and I will always be able to respond to the situation, and if it takes too long to wait here for a return, I am afraid that the enemy, even if he has not yet reached York, will arrive with all his troops, and we will be in danger. ”

Bishop Ethelwyn, though he felt that the risk was too great, appreciated the prince's courage and did not continue to oppose it.

The next day, Prince Edgar ordered half of the knights to choose a squire to follow him and set out, and the whole army of nearly 1,000 men sorted out their ordnance, and began to march south with their horses and pack horses. The knights, who had been trained in the joint camp for half a year, marched south from the avenue with great skill, like arrows out of the string, like tigers out of the clock, and pounced in the direction of York.

After days of fleeing, the Counts of Moka and Edwin arrived in Catrice, where there was a manor house of Count Edwin, located on the site of the old Roman fort, the stone walls and ditches were dilapidated due to long-term neglect, and the inhabitants of the manor were wary of the disarrayed soldiers, but after Count Edwin identified himself, they welcomed them in. After eating and drinking, and recovering their strength, they did not plan to continue to flee for the time being, but began to discuss the next choice, Edwin seemed to want to surrender to the Normans, but the Earl of Moka said: "At the beginning, we took the initiative to surrender, but we were still deprived of the territory, and now that we have been defeated and surrendered, I am afraid that we will only be imprisoned by the king, or go north to find Prince Edgar and the Earl of Benicia, and then we can go into exile in Scotland at the worst time." ”

Earl Edwin sighed again when he thought of his family and his domain, and turned to his brother and asked, "What will happen to Edith if we flee?" She's still in Chester. ”

The Earl of Moka replied, "She is Harold's queen, and if she stays in England, I am afraid that William will search her, so without further ado, we will write a letter and arrange for her to be sent to Dublin, and I heard that Godwin is in the court of Diamed, and she should be allowed to take refuge." ”

While the two were discussing, there was a noise of people and horses in their ears, and they couldn't help but look at each other.