Several of the thegns including Aelfric, Leofstan and Leofson of Mose saw Alan and Anne privately later at the Hall, the latter two to discuss mutual co-operation with the fyrd.
Next morning at seven Alan stood with Hugh on the practice field outside the fort. Facing them were Brand and the other 18 huscarles, all in full mail harness. Most held kite-shaped shields, but a few preferred circular shields. Alan and Hugh had kite-shaped shields similar to the others, but painted a simple dark green, hanging from their left shoulders. Alan instructed in an easy but well-projected voice that carried to everybody in the group without shouting. “Right! Select a practice sword from the pile over there and pair up. When I give each pair the order to start, I want that pair to engage one on one.”
“Why do that? We can all use a sword,” said Brand with some distain. “Anyway, my favourite weapon is that one there,” he continued, pointing at a practice battle-axe.
“Firstly, you do it because I told you to. Secondly, I need to see what I need to work on with each of you. Now do it!” ordered Alan brusquely. The men lined up and each selected one of the blunt swords, swinging the sword to get accustomed to the balance.
One by one each of the pairs took turns to engage, with Alan and Hugh watching closely and making occasional comments to each other. Several times Alan stopped a bout to correct a technique he found particularly deficient, usually the angle at which the sword was held. Finally, Alan picked up a sword and said to Brand, who as the odd man out, had so far not participated.
“Let’s see how you go,” said Alan as he stood apparently unready three paces away from Brand. Brand towered six inches above the tall Alan and had a significantly longer reach. Brand suddenly launched himself forward with a series of vicious sword swings, which Alan countered nonchalantly with either shield or sword, slowly giving ground before Brand’s furious attack and observing the techniques and style of the other man.
Suddenly he moved to the attack with an advance followed by a ballestra lunge, a feint followed by a lunge-proper that struck Brand hard on the right of the chest. “Use that shield properly!” snarled Alan as he took a step back with a leg cross-over and pass backwards into the en garde position again.
With his face dark with anger Brand came forward more carefully this time. Alan performed a beat on Brand’s sword, a simple preparatory motion of hitting the middle of Brand’s sword to provoke a swing to which Alan responded with a circular parry, using parry counter-six followed by a stop-cut, hitting Brand on the side of the helmet with the flat of the practice-sword. He recovered in time to parry the attack that Brand pressed, despite being ‘dead’ from the head-wound, and gave a riposte which hit him again in the chest. Alan stepped back. “Dead three times in two minutes, I suggest that you do need to work on your technique, after all! Again!”
This time as Brand swung his sword Alan stepped inside the swing and used his shield to bash hard against that of his opponent. Brand used his own shield to deflect the following overhead blow from Alan, who in turn used the momentum from the defected blow to spin. He then made a lightning-fast change of grip on the practice-sword to hold the middle of the blade in his gloved hand and struck upwards with the pommel which was pointing towards Brand’s head. Although Alan pulled the strength from the blow, Brand’s head was still rocked back. As the huscarle staggered Alan, still holding the sword by its blade, used the cross-piece of the handle to catch the top of Brand’s shield and drag it down, leaving the Saxon open to a stab to the throat delivered by the blade still held in a short-grip, which Alan stopped inches from Brand’s neck.
Brand was panting heavily and both he and his men were stunned at the speed and versatility of Alan’s swordsmanship.
“Now Hugh and I will show you how it’s done properly. The hard way, without shields.”
Alan and Hugh both discarded their shields and moved to en garde, and proceeded to put on a demonstration of swordplay and footwork for five minutes that left the English astonished. The footwork each used made the contest resemble a complex dance- although dancing rarely involved stunning kicks and the throwing of dirt in the face of the partner, as the two Normans ignored all rules of chivalry. The swords flashed as they swept back and forth, both men using both the blade and the pommel to strike at their opponent. Alan finally managed a low sweep of his reversed sword, using the cross-guard to pull one of Hugh’s feet from under him, delivered a strong kick to the ribs and placed the blade at Hugh’s throat.
Breathing slightly heavily, Alan turned to the Englishmen. “As you can see, it’s not all ‘crash and bash’. If you have technique, timing and footwork you are more likely to stay alive in a swordfight, be it on the battlefield or elsewhere.”
Just then ten of Alan’s personal horsemen called ‘The Wolves’ filed out of the gate on foot.
“That’s all very well, but I’d take you with an axe!” said Brand, smarting at his loss.
“You think so? There’s a practice two-handed axe there. Pick it up!” ordered Alan. Brand tossed down his wooden sword, picked up the huge axe with its five foot haft and ten-inch, although blunt, blade. He slipped his shield around so that it hung out of the way on his back and raised the axe in the traditional left-handed stance, ready to attack the side of the opponent not protected by a shield- although with a hit from such an axe, particularly from a man as big and strong as Brand, a shield was of virtually no protection.
Alan raised his sword in the air and an instant later an arrow a yard long, but with a blunt and padded tip, crashed into Brand’s chest, knocking the wind out of him and driving him to his knees. Some 200 paces away, near the trees, Owain lowered his bow. “Lesson number one for axe-fights,” said Alan to Brand and the other huscarles as Brand struggled to suck air into his lungs and stand upright. “If you’re fighting an enemy that has archers or cross-bowmen you are likely to be dead before you get your first swing in, because you can’t use a shield when you have two hands on the haft.”
He gave Brand a couple of minutes to recover from being hit by the practice arrow. “Now if that doesn’t happen, let’s see what the swordsman can do.” This time as Brand jumped forward with the axe raised Alan took two quick steps inside the swing of the axe, hit Brand hard under the chin with the top edge of his shield and slammed the pommel of his reversed sword into Brand’s stomach. “Of course in a battle you would have run him through the guts! And again!” he said as Brand struggled back to his feet using the axe to help him up.
This time as Brand rushed forward, Alan stepped back, keeping just out of range of the swipes of the axe blade that, even if Brand turned the handle so that the flat of the blade hit Alan, would probably break several ribs- which Alan didn’t want a few days before his wedding day. After three massive swings, when Brand started an upwards swing from near his right ankle, Alan turned the shield partly sideways, dipped at the knees and used the side of the shield, now at the bottom, to catch the haft of the axe before it had hardly started its movement and when it still had no momentum. At the same time he performed a simple lunge from a crouched position, right foot sliding forwards, torso bent slightly forward to put some weight into the blade, which at the last moment Alan diverted to graze off the side of Brand’s chain mail armour.