Lions of the Grail
Page 1
Also by Tim Hodkinson
Richard Savage series
Lions of the Grail
The Waste Land
The Whale Road Chronicles
Odin’s Game
The Raven Banner
The Wolf Hunt
The Serpent King
LIONS OF THE GRAIL
Tim Hodkinson
An Aries book
www.headofzeus.com
This edition first published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Aries, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Tim Hodkinson, 2021
The moral right of Tim Hodkinson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (PB) 9781801105484
ISBN (E) 9781801105460
Cover design © Dan Mogford
Aries
c/o Head of Zeus
First Floor East
5–8 Hardwick Street
London EC1R 4RG
www.headofzeus.com
For Trudy, Emily, Clara and Alice
Contents
Welcome Page
Copyright
Dedication
Historical Note
Glossary
Map
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Part II
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Part III
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Author’s Note
About the Author
An Invitation from the Publisher
Historical Note
This book is the first in a series set during the Scottish invasion of Ireland in the Fourteenth Century, a conflict that was once described to me by a publisher as “an obscure Irish war where everyone appears to be on the wrong side.” When I heard that I just knew I had to write about it.
In 1314, Robert Bruce of Scotland defeated Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn, ensuring the sovereignty of Scotland as a separate country. One year later Robert’s brother Edward took an army across the sea to invade Ireland, provoking a war that raged up and down the island for four years and continued despite the onset of one of the worst famines in European history. This is the backdrop to this novel and its successor in this series – The Waste Land.
Some of the characters in this work of fiction are based on real historical figures. While the Scots invasion of Ireland may be a bit of a historical backwater today, the players in that game were political heavy hitters. I will provide here a list of the main ones to give some context.
The Scots
Robert Bruce (Robert de Brus/Roibert a Briuis)
Robert Bruce probably needs no introduction. As the names listed above show, he was a man of mixed Anglo-Norman and Gaelic heritage. Through his mother’s side he is believed to have spent part of his early life being fostered among the Gaelic nobility of western Scotland or their cousins in the north of Ireland. On his father’s side he was related to many of the nobility of England. He began his career as a ‘young bachelor [knight] of King Edward’s Chamber’ and fought for King Edward I of England in what is now called the first wars of Scottish Independence. In 1302 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard de Burgh, the Earl of Ulster and staunch supporter of Edward I. By doing so he wrapped himself further into the web of allegiances and blood that crisscrossed the north channel at the time. Robert then decided, in his own words that he “must join my own people and the nation in which I was born.” Having himself crowned king of Scotland, he embarked on a long war which culminated in his decisive victory at Bannockburn in 1314.
Edward Bruce (Edward de Brus/Edubard a Briuis)
Edward Bruce was the Earl of Carrick, a lordship in south-west Scotland (not to be confused with Carrickfergus in Ireland). He was King Robert Bruce of Scotland’s younger brother and supported his brother in the Scottish Wars of Independence. In 1315, one year after the Scots defeated the English at the battle of Bannockburn, Edward invaded Ireland at the head of an army. Within a year he had taken half the island and had himself crowned King of Ireland.
Syr (Sir) Neil Fleming
Fleming was a young Scottish knight and captain in Edward Bruce’s army in Ireland.
Tavish Dhu/Thomas Dun/‘Black Thomas’
Tavish was a notorious sea captain and pirate who terrorised the Irish Sea in the early 1300s. As the fledgling Scottish kingdom lacked a navy, in 1315 Robert Bruce hired Tavish to ferry his brother’s invading army across to Ireland.
The Irish
Richard Óg de Burgh
De Burgh was Earl of Ulster and Baron of Connaught. Known as the ‘Red Earl’ he was immensely rich and at one point ruled nearly half of Ireland. He played a key role in fighting against the Scots during the reign of Edward I of England (a personal friend) and his daughter was married to Robert Bruce (who at that time was nominally on the side of the English King). ‘Óg’ is another Irish title usually interpreted as ‘young’ and referring to the young age he became earl (twenty). At the time of this novel, he is in his fifties and at the height of his power in Ireland.
Thomas de Mandeville
De Mandeville was the Seneschal of Ulster. The role of seneschal – an official title in medieval government – in Irish realms was slightly broader than the usual administrative remit and de Mandeville spent most of his tenure acting as a military leader.
Henry de Thrapston
De Thrapston was keeper (or castellan) of Carrickfergus Castle. In medieval life, a castellan was responsible for the running of a castle, overseeing both the domestic staff and the military garrison.
John de Bermingham
The de Berminghams (known in Irish annals as the MacFeo
rais) were a powerful Anglo-Irish clan who were barons of Athenry. De Bermingham became Justiciar of Ireland, which meant he ruled the island in the name of the King of England. The Lordship of Ireland (Tiarnas na hÉireann) refers to the lands in Ireland ruled in the name of the King of England by the justiciar (now called the ‘lord lieutenant’). The lordship was created as a Papal possession following the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169.
The English
Roger Mortimer
Baron Roger Mortimer was a very powerful English nobleman with ties to Ireland through marriage. At the time of this book, he was part of a small ruling cabal of nobles who effectively governed England.
Edward II (Plantagenet)
Edward II succeeded his father Edward ‘Longshanks’ to the throne of England in 1307. His reign was a troubled one and due to the defeat at the hands of Robert Bruce, the onset of the famine and behaviour generally regarded at the time as not suitable for a king, he became very unpopular and was forced to relinquish a lot of his power to his barons, including Mortimer.
Fictional characters
Of the fictional characters, many have some basis in historical fact. John Barbour, a poet sometimes referred to as the ‘Father of Scottish Poetry’, wrote an epic account of the life of Robert Bruce within living memory of some of the events described in this book. At one point he listed the names of the chiefs of the Ulster army fighting against Robert Bruce and some readers may recognise a few of the names:
‘Brynrane, Wedounne, Fitzwarryne,
And Schyr Paschall of Florentine,
That was a knycht of Lumbardy,
And was full of chewalry.
The Mawndweillis war thar alsua,
Besatis, Loganys, and other ma;
Savages als, and yeit was ane
Hat Schyr Nycholl of Kylkenane.’
Brinrans, Weddens, FitzWarins,
And Sir Paschal of Florence,
who was a knight from Lombardy,
full of chivalry.
The Mandevilles were there also,
Bysits, Logans, and other men;
Savages too, and one
named Sir Nichol of Kilkenny
Glossary
Some of the names of characters and places and terms that appear in Lions of the Grail may sound strange to modern ears. In order to help the reader, this glossary of some of the more frequent words has been provided, giving the word as it appears in the book and its modern equivalent.
Galloglaich: Gallowglass – a heavily armed Scots-Irish mercenary
Domnall: Donal
Ui Neill: O’Neill
Tyr Eoghan: Tyrone (roughly equivalent to the modern-day county Tyrone)
Ceannaideach: Kennedy
MacHuylin: McQuillan
Cladh Mor: Claymore
Vikingsford: Larne Lough
Ui Flainn: O’Flynn
Syr: Sir
Le Poer: Powers
Aengus: Angus
Seneschal: A medieval position part judicial and part military. The Seneschal had to keep the peace and defend a district in the name of the earl and through him, the king.
Béal Feirste: Belfast
Hobyny: A small, highly agile Irish cavalry horse. The lightly armoured skirmishers who rode hobynys were called Hobelars. Hobynys proved so effective in war that King Edward II at one point banned their export from Ireland. They are thought to be the ancestor of the modern Connemara pony and the term “Hobby Horse”.
Map
Part I
“Ghazan the King of the Tartars is now on the point of sending his vast army into the Sultan's lands to make war. Knowing this, we now intend to go to…Tortosa and cause much damage to the Saracens. We intend to go there and settle in to await the arrival of the Tartars.”
— Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, in a letter to the king of Aragon, AD 1301
1
AD 1302
Tortosa,
former fortress of the Knights Templar,
Coast of Syria
Richard Savage wiped the sweat from his brow for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. Despite the perspiration running into them, his eyes felt as hot and dry as the sand around him. He blinked, trying to dispel the stinging sensation as he peered into the distance, squinting against the glare of the blazing sun. He could see the approaching dust cloud for definite now and hoped it did not signal approaching death.
Savage turned towards a nearby two storey, clay-built house that was the same light brown colour as the sandy countryside. He looked up to the flat roof where a black clad Templar sergeant stood on watch. He too was watching the approaching dust.
‘Can you make anything out?’ Savage said.
The sergeant, still peering intently into the distance, shook his head.
‘Not much,’ he said. ‘They’re kicking up so much dust. There are a lot of them that’s for sure. I don’t like it.’
Savage wondered just what ‘a lot’ meant. His orders were to guard this little road into the fortress of Tortosa. The two Templar knights, eight sergeants and ten turcopoles that made up the little force Savage was part of had already repulsed two attacks by cavalry skirmishers sent to probe the Crusader defences. Those had been bands of seven or eight light-armoured horsemen and easily sent running back into the desert.
Sooner or later, however, the whole Mameluk army would come charging down that road. What would Savage and his comrades do then?
He looked once more at the corpse of the boy that lay in the dust a little way down the road. The child’s blood had congealed to a sticky black puddle around him and flies were clouding above it. The little boy’s open, staring eyes were dark, like ripe hazelnuts. Savage could swear that no matter where he stood, they still looked at him, dead and unmoving but full of accusation. Savage longed to walk over and close the child’s eyelids but he knew to do so would provoke the wrath of brother Gui.
Savage had expected the discomfort of the heat and dust and the constant threat of imminent danger from deadly enemies on this expedition, which was his first taste of real action as a Poor Knight of Christ and the Temple of Soloman, a Templar. The last thing he had expected was that what would worry him most would be one of his own brethren.
‘Let the heathen bastard go to hell with his eyes open,’ Gui had roared. ‘Let him see his damnation coming as he descends into the mouth of Satan.’
What the boy had been up to, Savage had no idea. None of them did. He had appeared earlier in the morning, shepherding some goats up the road towards the castle. Whether he was there by accident or design no one knew. The old fortress sitting where the desert met the impossible blue of the Mediterranean Sea had been abandoned eleven years before when what was left of the once mighty forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, along with the Templars, Hospitallers and other military orders had withdrawn from their last strongholds in the Holy Land to Cyprus. Apart from a glorious twenty-one days two years before when the Templars had briefly but ultimately unsuccessfully reoccupied it, Tortosa had been empty ever since.
Savage guessed that the cool shade thrown by its stone walls and empty buildings provided the boy welcome relief from the scorching sun during days spent tending his family’s goats. He probably came there often.
Except today he came and found it was no longer empty. The Christians were back.
Savage felt enormous pride that his first action as a new Templar was on the start of a new Crusade. A week ago he had set sail from Cyprus on one of the sixteen new war galleys of the Templar fleet, loaded with knights, sergeants and auxiliaries of the Templars, Hospitallers and forces of King Henry of Jerusalem. The Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, Jacques de Molay himself, was onboard with them to personally lead the adventure. They had descended on the coast of the Holy Land like vengeful locusts, raiding Rosetta, Alexandria and Acre, places Savage had only heard about in chansons de geste and other heroic songs about the crusades.
With his own feet on the sam
e land that Jesus himself had once walked upon, the words of the old crusading song, the Palästinalied, meant so much more to him now.
For the first time in my life, I am alive to myself,
Now my sinful eyes behold the Holy Land,
I have won what has been my lifelong prayer:
I am in the country where
God in human form did fare.
Now they had come to Tortosa, not to hit and run like Vikings but to dig in and re-fortify. This Templar fortress had been the very last foothold of the Christians in the Holy Land. Now it would be the bridgehead, the tête de pont, for their reconquest of it.
This time they would win, too. Their leaders had found common cause against the Saracens with the Great Khan of the Tartars, Ghazan. His armies would sweep south from Armenia while the Crusaders attacked from the western sea. The Saracen army would be caught and smashed between them like a nut between hammer and anvil. The Crusaders would then march on to victory. Finally, they would retake the holy city of Jerusalem itself.
Savage glanced at the dead child again, a nagging voice inside his heart wondering how many more innocents would die before they walked through those hallowed gates.
The boy looked about eight winters old: Too young to have ever seen crusaders in the flesh. Someone though, had taught him to hate and fear them. The mere sight of the red, equal-armed crosses on the white surcoats of the two knights, Brothers Gui and Savage, and on the black robes of the sergeants, was enough to make the lad hiss and spit like a cat. As Savage walked towards him, he had begun shouting in a language whose words Savage did not understand but whose angry cursing portent was clear.