Bretwalda, Part 6

 

cover art by Emmett Watson

Read/Watch 'em In Order #139

"Scourge of the Severn" (Argosy, July 8, 1939) is the sixth of Philip Ketchum's tales about Bretwalda--the axe that will save England. And it's yet another winner. In fact, I think the quality of the stories, which was high from the get-go, might actually be inching up with each successive issue. 

We jump ahead a little over a half century from the previous century. The axe is still in possession of the Wilton family and is back in England. 

But the situation in the homeland is grave. The year is 1153 and England has been mis-ruled by King Stephen for the last few decades. People are starving and outlawry is rampant.

Soon, the man who will become Henry II will land in England to claim his right as heir to the throne after the aging Stephen dies. But another man--a man who will no doubt be a pure tyrant--plans to grab the throne first.

This is Sir Belan of Severn, who has been using his authority as a judge to seize land, enrich himself and gain control of more men-at-arms. One of the estates he seized belonged to the Wilton family. Sir Richard Wilton escaped Belan's murderous raid with Bretwalda and a few loyal men, but his father and sister were both killed.

The story has a little bit of a "Robin Hood" vibe to it as Richard gathers together a band of outlaws and other dispossessed men. This, I think, is deliberate. The story begins at Huntingdon Abbey--a name reminiscent of the Earl of Huntington, Robin's real identity in many later versions of the story. Of course, by the time this story was published, 19th Century sources such as Ivanhoe had moved Robin's story to the time of Richard III, which is a generation after this story is set. But that was a fairly recent change to the original legend and I think Ketchum wanted the Robin vibe to be general rather than specific.

Anyway, on with the story. Sir Belan has captured the young lord of Worcester (Oliver Lacey) and wants to force that lord's sister (Margaret) to marry him. Then Oliver can be killed and Belan will control Worcester's additional 5000 men. That gives him more than enough to make short work of would-be King Henry.

So Richard Wilton has to rescue Lady Margaret, then rescue her brother. The first part goes well. The second part involves sneaking into a castle via a secret tunnel. That castle falls, but Oliver isn't there. In fact, he and Sir Belan (and Sir Belan's chief torturer) are already on the way to Worcester. Belan has lost his chance to marry Margaret, so now he's going with the more basic "threat of torture" route to gain Oliver's cooperation.

Sir Richard knows he must move quickly to stop Belan. But the only plan he can come up with doesn't necessarily leave him the option of surviving afterwards. Still, there's no choice. He's willing to trade his life to stop Belan from gaining England's throne. 

This story has a lot going for it. The fight scenes are great. Ketchum does a better job of effectively describing the complex political situation than I did in my summary. All the characters in the story, both major and minor, are given definable and realistic personalities. And several epic plot twists at the end bring the story to a more than satisfying conclusion. 

Click HERE to read this story online.