My men were greatly chuffed and pleased and full of themselves despite being so stiff and tired they could barely stay in the saddle. Of course they were; they were alive and there were valuable weapons and armour scattered about everywhere that would provide each of us with a good deal of prize money.
It was no wonder the horse archers were so pleased with themselves; many of the young ones, including Richard, my apprentice sergeant, had never before had coins to spend and most of my veterans had none in their pouches because they tended to spend their annual coins and prize monies as quickly as they got them.
My own dear wife would be most pleased with my share of the prize money. I may have to take her to London to spend the coins she does not squirrel away in the little pouch I am not supposed to know about.
Chapter Twenty-one
No rest for the winners.
All the rest of that long summer day was spent searching the battlefield for our survivors and our dead, and gathering up the weapons, armour, and useful clothes of the barons’ dead and wounded men. And that included pulling or cutting out the arrows sticking in them. We hitched our horses to abandoned carts and retraced our steps to pick them up. Along the way, as you might imagine we met some of the barons’ men who tried to surrender and, of course, many of their wounded.
We took the weapons of the men who wanted to surrender and left them alive with orders to take care of their own wounded. We certainly could not take care of them ourselves; we had enough problems taking care our own wounded, and only a limited supply of the flower paste that stops the pain of a wound. We also ignored the small groups of the barons’ men who had ridden or run off into the nearby forest to hide, or left the battlefield and began to ride or walk for home.
That night we camped near the barons’ devastated encampment. We lit cooking fires, fed flower paste and water to our wounded men, and ate our fill of burnt strips of horse meat and raw liver. We could hear the murmur of talking in the barons’ camp and every so often when the wind blew towards us we could hear cries and moans as wounded men called for help or tried to crawl away.
It was a fine moonlit night and I slept soundly until it was my turn to stand watch. Then, for some reason, the cries of agony and calls for help coming from the barons’ camp began to distress me. In the morning there were mostly dead men and horses in the barons’ camp and great flocks of birds eating on them.
Many of the barons’ men who had been wounded had crawled away in the night. Only a few able-bodied men could be seen moving about. Some were probably the friends and family members of the dead and wounded who had crept back in the night to assist them; others had returned in an effort to scavenge whatever of value might have been left in the camp.
Their scavenging was mostly futile, of course, because we had already removed everything of value to our own camp and given mercies to the horses and men who had no hope. Some of the would-be scavengers at the camp and on the battlefield were killed, but most were sent off with fleas in their ears and a warning that they had be shown no mercy if we ever saw them again.
****** Richard
The morning after the battle, after we had broken our fast before dawn with burnt strips of horse meat, Lieutenant Raymond announced that George and I were to ride to Launceston with him to report on what has happened and get more flower paste to sooth our wounded. The rest of the men were to stay in camp to protect the loot we had gathered and tend to our wounded.
George and I rode together with Raymond and the three of us shared our recent experiences. It took less than three hours for the comfortable ambling gait of our horses to get us to the Launceston ford, the gateway to Cornwall. As we approached it, we saw a party of a dozen or so mounted archers splash their way across the river and start down the road towards us.
After a few tense moments, we greeted each other with great enthusiasm. Reports of a big battle and the routing of the barons’ army had reached Cornwall yesterday afternoon and they had been sent by Captain William to try to discover what they could about the battle and its aftermath, the very things we were coming to report. They turned around and rode back with us. We did not stop to talk.
Only after our horses splashed across the river could we see the prepared battle lines of the company’s army. We saw them as we came up on to the river bank on the Cornwall side after we crossed the ford. The lines were there with their sharpened stakes, trip holes, and caltrops, but many of the men were not—they were a couple of miles away practicing their archery and marching together on the same foot to the beat of a drum.
****** William
My lieutenants and I, and particularly Thomas, had been extremely worried about George and the company’s horse archers based at Okehampton ever since late yesterday afternoon. That was when the riders we had sent into Devon to see what was happening had come hurrying back to report that a big battle with heavy fighting and many dead and wounded men seemed to underway between the barons’ army marching on Cornwall and another army which seemed to have a lot of mounted archers.
George and all of our properly gaited horses and available riders had already been sent to reinforce Raymond’s horse archers based at Okehampton. They were the only mounted archers we knew about and we assumed they had either sallied out against the barons, or had left the castle before the siege started in order to harry them.
Until we saw Raymond and George, we did not know what had befallen Raymond's horse archers and we were greatly worried because of the reports we had received that the battle had resulted in many dead and wounded men. So we had scraped together a mounted scouting party composed of my personal couriers and other volunteers and sent them into Devon this morning to see what they could find out.
I was stunned and Thomas’s face turned white when we heard our lookouts shout that our party of scouts was returning. It was much too soon and we instantly feared the worst. Did they turn back because they met the barons’ victorious army on the road to Cornwall? I was about to summon our archers to man their fighting positions when I saw our scouting party splash its way over the ford—and realized they were not alone.
“My God, look Thomas; it is George and Raymond.”
Thomas and I literally ran to meet them, and so did many others.
“What happened?” I shouted with great relief in my voice as my son dismounted and I gave him a big fatherly hug. “Are you all right? We heard there was a battle and many fell. Is it true?”
I was so relieved to see him that I could barely contain myself.
A very pleased and smiling Raymond answered, as he should being as he held the highest rank.
“Aye Captain, we had a great battle. We won it, and the barons and their men are defeated and running. It is finished; the war is over. We have ridden in to report and get another chest of flower paste for our wounded.”
“Finished? You defeated the barons' army and it ran? How can that be?”
It was hard to believe. I was truly astonished and so was everyone else.
******
It took a while for my lieutenants and me to fully understand what had occurred because each of the men had a fine tale to tell and was anxious to tell it. By the time they finished, a great circle of men had gathered around them and what each of the three men said was repeated by those who were able to hear them to those who were standing further away and could not. There was much cheering and clapping of hands as each man told his tale.
I decided right then and there that I would go to the battlefield to see for myself and take some men to help with the wounded and bring the captured weapons and such back to Cornwall. And then, at Thomas’s suggestion that “it would be good thing for everyone to be learnt what a few good men could do with proper training and the latest weapons,” I decided that we would all march there so everyone could see what happened and be inspired by it. Little did I know that this would turn out to be an unfortunate mistake.
******
My lieutenants and I left for the battl
efield almost immediately with six full ship’s companies marching behind us to the beat of their rowing drums. The rest would assemble and follow within the hour. I was still so worried about the barons’ army, particularly since I was told that the Earl of Devon’s body had not been found, that I had each ship’s company march with its auxiliaries and its horse carts filled with its land fighting weapons and supplies. I still could not grasp the size or extent of the victory.
We could smell the death in the barons’ final encampment and see the circling birds long before we reached it late in the morning. It was not until I finally saw the barons' camp that I began to realize just how great the victory was that George and Richard and their handful of outriders had won here. Then and there I decided that every man who fought in the battle should be rewarded with another stripe except, of course, Raymond, because there was no higher rank possible except captain and I already held it. He would get a reward of two hundred silver coins and be a very rich man for the rest of his life.
One of the companies of foot archers was ordered to stay at the barons’ camp to salvage the abandoned carts and wains. They were also to provide assistance or mercies to the remaining enemy wounded as might be required, many of whom had already been removed by their friends and relatives to a more comfortable site immediately upwind of the camp.
“Feed them and let them go,” I ordered, somewhat unnecessarily, since I could see that their friends and relatives had scavenged the makings of bread from the destroyed supplies and were burning meat from the barons’ dead horses and oxen. What I was really saying to the archers, of course, was that the war was over and those of our enemies who survived should be left alone to walk home.
The rest of the companies were ordered to spread out in a great line and walk close together over the battlefield beyond the barons’ encampment to retrieve any missing weapons and enemy wounded. My lieutenants and I led them. It took all the rest of the day because Raymond’s “wounded bird” had led the barons’ riders such a great distance from their camp and so many had fallen.
That night we camped near the spot where Raymond turned around and began his counterattack. It was a pleasant night and we spent it sleeping in the open after a splendid meal of fresh flatbread and burnt meat strips cut from the barons’ horses that had not yet spoilt. There was much singing and moors dancing.
******
We left an entire company of foot archers to clean up and the wounded bird battle field and marched the rest of the archers to Okehampton the next morning. It took almost all day to get there and my lieutenants and I talked almost constantly as we rode slowly at the front of our marching men. We had many important things to discuss even though my thoughts increasingly turned towards seeing Isabel. First among them was the Earl of Devon and Exeter Castle.
“The Earl was not found among the dead,” I said to my lieutenants as we rode together. “Do we dare attack him now that we know he and the other barons came against us with the permission of King John? Or should we be content to hold Okehampton to guard the approaches to Cornwall?”
After much discussion, Thomas convinced us that we should do nothing until we know more about the King's thoughts and intentions. He offered a good idea that I instantly accepted.
“Master Levi might know,” Thomas suggested. “Why do not you send a parchment to London and ask him?”
Another question I raised as we rode together had to do with the port of Hastings. I had recognized some of the Hastings men who had tormented us among the barons’ dead and wounded. I asked my lieutenants what they thought about our sending a couple of galleys to return their heads to Hastings, and, while they were there, either burn all the boats in the harbour or require the city to pay another ransom for allowing its men to attack us, or both
I was still seething about how the Hasting portsmen tortured and mistreated my men and me when we were wrecked near there and held for ransom. Cutting that bastard portsman’s belly open and making the others pay a ransom instead of getting one from us was not near enough; their joining with the barons had reminded me of an earlier pledge I had yet to kept.
“That was another good question for Master Levi.” Thomas opined.
******
We were approaching Okehampton on its cart path, and I was thinking how pleasant it might be to see Isabel again, when an exhausted galloper came in from the sergeant who had been left in command of our Restormel garrison. One of our picket galleys at the port of Haarlem had come in with an important parchment addressed to me.
The message on the parchment was alarming to read and changed everything, including my plan to spend a few days at Okehampton—one of the German princes was coming for the relics with both enough coins to buy them and a very large army. The talk in the taverns of Haarlem, where the German prince’s armada stopped for food and water, was that he intended to buy them only if he could not seize them or force us to give them up.
“There is trouble coming, lads,” I told my lieutenants. “We need to get our men back to Restormel and aboard their galleys as fast as possible.”
- End of the Book –
The readers of this book can be of good cheer about the possibility of several more books about the archers. What will happen after that is uncertain. Oxford’s taverns, however, are uncommonly good so there is every reason to hope that Martin Archer and his fellow scholars will continue the Oxford tradition of drinking and debating about what really happened in the medieval world until either someone with authority decides the story is complete, or they are forced out of their favourite pub by a shortage of ale.
There have been several close calls. For example, the scholars responsible for these pages almost stopped writing when Henry the Eighth had the heads chopped off several of them because they suggested that the company had prospered as a result of its relationship with the Pope. A memorial to them can be found in the Tom Quad of Christ Church College. Inquire at the porter’s lodge just inside the tower gate.
There are more books in The Company of Archers Saga.
All of the books in this great saga of medieval England are available as individual eBooks, and some of them are also available in print and as audio books and multi-book collections. You can find them by searching for Martin Archer stories.
A bargain-priced collection of the entire first six books of the saga is available as The Archers’ Story. Similarly, a collection of the next four books in the saga is available as The Archers’ Story: Part II; the three novels after that as The Archers’ Story Part III; and the four after that as The Archers’ Story: Part IV.
A chronological list of all the books in the saga, and other books by Martin Archer, can be found below.
Finally, a word from Martin:
“I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading the latest story about my ancestors as much as I enjoyed writing it. If so, I respectfully request a favourable review on with as many stars as possible in order to encourage other readers.
“And, if you could please spare a moment, I would also very much appreciate your thoughts about this saga of medieval England, and whether you would like to see it continue. I can be reached at [email protected].”
Cheers and thank you once again. /S/ Martin Archer
eBooks in the exciting and action-packed The Company of Archers saga:
The Archers
The Archers’ Castle
The Archers’ Return
The Archers’ War
Rescuing the Hostages
Archers and Crusaders
The Archers’ Gold
The Missing Treasure
Castling the King
The Sea Warriors
The Captain’s Men
Gulling the Kings
The Magna Carta Decision
The War of the Kings
The Company’s Revenge
The Ransom
The New Commander
The Gold Coins
The Emperor has no Gold
Fatal
Mistakes
The Alchemist’s War (coming 2019)
eBooks in Martin Archer’s epic Soldiers and Marines saga:
Soldiers and Marines
Peace and Conflict
War Breaks Out
War in the East
Israel’s Next War (A prescient book much hated by Islamic reviewers)
eBook Collections on Amazon
The Archers Stories I - complete books I, II, III, IV, V, VI
The Archers Stories II - complete books VII, VIII, IX, X,
The Archers Stories III - complete books XI, XII, XIII
The Archers Stories IV – complete books XIV, XV, XVI, XVII
The Soldiers and Marines Saga - complete books I, II, III
Other eBooks you might enjoy:
Cage’s Crew by Martin Archer writing as Raymond Casey
America’s Next War by Michael Cameron – an adaption of Martin Archer’s War Breaks Out to set it in the immediate future when Eastern and Western Europe go to war over another wave of Islamic refugees.
Sample Pages from Book One – The Archers
....... We sometimes had to shoulder our way through the crowded streets and push people away as we walked towards the church. Beggars and desperate women and young boys began pulling on our clothes and crying out to us. In the distance black smoke was rising from somewhere in the city, probably from looters torching somebody’s house or a merchant’s stall.
The doors to the front of the old stone church were closed. Through the cracks in the wooden doors we could see the heavy wooden bar holding them shut.
“Come on. There must be a side door for the priests to use. There always is.”
The Captain's Men Page 16