The Pillars of the Earth

by Ken Follett

"There's a fire in the keep," the guard said. "Go and warm yourselves." William hesitated, and the guard began to look wary. "What are you waiting for?" he said with a trace of irritation.

  William cast around desperately for something to say. "Can we get something to eat?" he said at last.

  "Not until after mass," the sentry said. "Then they'll serve breakfast in the keep."

  Now William saw that Walter had been edging imperceptibly to one side. If the guard would only turn a little, Walter could get behind him. William took a few casual steps in the opposite direction, going past the sentry, saying, "I'm not impressed by your earl's hospitality." The sentry was turning. William said: "We've come a long way--"

  Then Walter pounced.

  He stepped behind the sentry and put his arms over the man's shoulders. With his left hand he jerked the sentry's chin back, and with the knife in his right hand he slit the man's throat. William breathed a sigh of relief. It was done in a moment.

  Between them, William and Walter had killed three men before breakfast. William felt a thrilling sense of power. Nobody will laugh at me after today! he thought.

  Walter dragged the body into the guardroom. The plan of this gatehouse was exactly the same as that of the first one, with a spiral staircase up to the winding room. William went up the stairs and Walter followed.

  William had not reconnoitered this room when he was at the castle yesterday. He had not thought to, but in any case it would have been hard to think of a plausible pretext. He had assumed that there would be a winding wheel, or at least a reel with a handle, for lifting the drawbridge; but now he saw that there was no winding gear at all, just a rope and a capstan. The only way to lift the drawbridge was to heave on the rope. William and Walter grasped it and pulled together, but the bridge did not even creak. It was a task for ten men.

  William was puzzled for a moment. The other drawbridge, the one leading to the castle entrance, had a big wheel. He and Walter could have lifted that one. Then he realized that the outer drawbridge would be raised every night, whereas this one was only lifted in an emergency.

  There was nothing to be gained by pondering over it, anyway. The question was what to do next. If he could not raise the drawbridge, he could at least close the gates, which would certainly delay the earl.

  He ran back down the staircase with Walter close behind. As he reached the foot of the stairs he had a shock. Not everyone was at mass, it seemed. He saw a woman and a child come out of the guardroom.

  William's step faltered. He recognized the woman immediately. She was the builder's wife, the one he had tried to buy yesterday for a pound. She saw him, and her penetrating honey-colored eyes looked straight through him. William did not even consider pretending to be an innocent visitor waiting for the earl: he knew she would not be deceived. He had to prevent her from giving the alarm. And the way to do that was to kill her, quickly and silently, as they had killed the sentries.

  Her all-seeing eyes read his intentions in his face. She grabbed her child's hand and turned away. William made a grab for her but she was too quick for him. She ran into the compound, heading for the keep. William and Walter ran after her.

  She was very light on her feet, and they were wearing chain mail and carrying heavy weapons. She reached the staircase that led up to the great hall. As she ran up the steps, she screamed. William looked up at the ramparts all around. The scream had alerted at least two sentries. The game was up. William stopped running and stood at the foot of the steps, breathing hard. Walter did the same. Two sentries, then three, then four were running down the ramparts into the compound. The woman disappeared into the keep, still hand in hand with the boy. She was no longer important: now that the sentries had been alerted there was no point in killing her.

  He and Walter drew their swords and stood side by side, ready to fight for their lives.

  The priest was elevating the Host over the altar when Tom realized there was something wrong with the horses. He could hear a lot of neighing and stamping, much more than was normal. A moment later someone interrupted the priest's quiet Latin chant by saying loudly: "I smell smoke!"

  Tom smelled it too, then, and so did everyone else. Tom was taller than the rest and could see out of the chapel windows if he stood on tiptoe. He stepped to the side and looked out. The stables were blazing fiercely.

  "Fire!" he said, and before he could say any more his voice was drowned by the shouts of the others. There was a rush for the door. The service was forgotten. Tom held Martha back, for fear she would be hurt in the crush, and told Alfred to stay with them. He wondered where Ellen and Jack were.

  A moment later there was no one in the chapel but the three of them and an annoyed priest.

  Tom took the children outside. Some people were releasing the horses to save them from harm, and others were drawing water from the well to throw on the flames. Tom could not see Ellen. The freed horses charged around the compound, terrified by the fire and the running, shouting people. The drumming of hooves was tremendous. Tom listened hard for a moment, and frowned: it was really too tremendous--it sounded more like a hundred horses than twenty or thirty. Suddenly he was struck by a frightening apprehension. "Stay right here for a moment, Martha," he said. "Alfred, you look after her." He ran up the embankment to the top of the ramparts. It was a steep slope, and he had to slow down before he reached the top. At the summit, breathing hard, he looked out.

  His apprehension had been right, and now his heart was seized in the cold grip of fear. An army of horsemen, eighty to a hundred strong, was charging across the brown fields toward the castle. It was a fearsome sight. Tom could see the metallic glint of their chain mail and their drawn swords. The horses were galloping flat out, and a fog of warm breath rose from their nostrils. The riders were hunched in their saddles, grimly purposeful. There was no yelling and screaming, just the deafening thunder of hundreds of pounding hooves.

  Tom looked back into the castle compound. Why could nobody else hear the army? Because the sound of the hooves was muffled by the castle walls and merged with the noise of panic in the compound. Why had the sentries seen nothing? Because they had all left their posts to fight the fire. This attack had been masterminded by someone clever. Now it was up to Tom to give the alarm.

  And where was Ellen?

  His eyes raked the compound as the attackers pounded nearer. Much of it was obscured by thick white smoke from the burning stables. He could not see Ellen.

  He spotted Earl Bartholomew, beside the well, trying to organize the carrying of water to the fire. Tom ran down the embankment and rushed across the compound to the well. He grabbed the earl's shoulder, none too gently, and yelled in his ear to make himself heard above the din. "It's an attack!"

  "What?"

  "We're being attacked!"

  The earl was thinking about the fire. "Attacked? Who by?"

  "Listen!" Tom yelled. "A hundred horses!"

  The earl cocked his head. Tom watched as realization dawned on the pale, aristocratic face. "You're right--by the cross!" He suddenly looked afraid. "Have you seen them?"

  "Yes."

  "Who--Never mind who! A hundred horses?"

  "Yes--"

  "Peter! Ralph!" The earl turned from Tom and summoned his lieutenants. "It's a raid--this fire is a diversion--we're under attack!" Like the earl, they were at first uncomprehending, then they listened, and finally they showed fear. The earl yelled: "Tell the men to get their swords--hurry, hurry!" He turned back to Tom. "Come with me, stonemason--you're strong, we can close the gates." He ran off across the compound and Tom followed him. If they could close the gates and raise the drawbridge in time, they could hold off a hundred men.

  They reached the gatehouse. They could see the army through the arch. It was less than a mile away now, and spreading out, Tom observed, the faster horses in front and the stragglers behind. "Look at the gates!" the earl yelled.

  Tom looked. The two great iron-banded oak gates lay flat on the ground. Their
hinges had been chiseled out of the wall, he could see. Some of the enemy had been here earlier, he thought. His stomach churned with fear.

  He looked back into the compound, still searching for Ellen. He could not see her. What had become of her? Anything could happen now. He needed to be with her and protect her.

  "The drawbridge!" said the earl.

  The best way to protect Ellen was to keep the attackers out, Tom realized. The earl ran up the spiral staircase that led to the winding room, and with an effort Tom made himself follow. If they could lift the drawbridge, a few men could hold the gatehouse. But when he reached the winding room his heart sank. The rope had been cut. There was no way to lift the drawbridge.

  Earl Bartholomew cursed bitterly. "Whoever planned this is as cunning as Lucifer," he said.

  It struck Tom that whoever had wrecked the gates, cut the drawbridge rope and started the fire must still be inside the castle somewhere, and he looked around fearfully, wondering where the intruders might be.

  The earl glanced out of an arrow-slit window. "Dear God, they're almost here." He ran down the stairs.

  Tom was close on his heels. In the gateway, several knights were hastily buckling their sword belts and putting on helmets. Earl Bartholomew started to give orders. "Ralph and John--drive some loose horses across the bridge to get in the enemy's way. Richard--Peter--Robin--get some others and make a stand here." The gateway was narrow, and a few men could hold off the attackers for a little while at least. "You--stonemason--get the servants and children across the bridge to the upper compound."

  Tom was glad to have an excuse to look for Ellen. He ran to the chapel first. Alfred and Martha were where he had left them a few moments earlier, looking scared. "Go to the keep," he shouted to them. "Any other children or women you pass, tell them to go with you--orders of the earl. Run!" They ran off immediately.

  Tom looked around. He would follow them soon: he was determined not to get caught in the lower compound. But he had a few moments to spare in which he could carry out the earl's order. He ran to the stable, where people were still throwing buckets of water over the flames. "Forget the fire, the castle is being attacked," he yelled. "Take your children to the keep."

  Smoke got in his eyes and his vision blurred with tears. He rubbed his eyes and ran to a small crowd who were standing watching the fire consume the stables. He repeated his message to them, and to a group of stable hands who had rounded up some of the loose horses. Ellen was nowhere to be seen.

  The smoke made him cough. Choking, he ran back across the compound to the bridge that led to the upper circle. He paused there, gasping for air, and looked back. People were streaming across the bridge. He was almost sure that Ellen and Jack must have gone to the keep already, but he was terrified that he might have missed them. He could see a tightly packed knot of knights engaged in fierce hand-to-hand fighting at the lower gatehouse. Otherwise there was nothing to see but smoke. Suddenly Earl Bartholomew appeared at his side, with blood on his sword and tears on his face from the smoke. "Save yourself!" the earl shouted at Tom. At that moment the attackers burst through the arch of the lower gatehouse, scattering the defending knights. Tom turned and ran across the bridge.

  Fifteen or twenty of the earl's men stood at the second gatehouse, ready to defend the upper compound. They parted to let Tom and the earl through. As their ranks closed again, Tom heard hooves hammering on the wooden bridge behind him. The defenders had no chance now. At the back of his mind Tom realized that this had been a cleverly planned and perfectly executed raid. But his main thought was fear for Ellen and the children. A hundred bloodthirsty armed men were about to burst in on them. He ran across the upper compound to the keep.

  Halfway up the wooden steps leading to the great hall he glanced back. The defenders of the second gatehouse were overcome almost immediately by the charging horsemen. Earl Bartholomew was on the steps behind Tom. There was just time for them both to get into the keep and lift the staircase inside. Tom ran the rest of the way up the steps and leaped into the hall--and then he saw that the attackers had been cleverer yet.

  The attackers' advance party, who had wrecked the gates, and cut the rope of the drawbridge, and set fire to the stables, had performed one more task: they had come to the keep and ambushed all who took refuge there.

  They were now standing just inside the great hall, four grimfaced men in chain mail. All around them were the bleeding bodies of dead and wounded knights of the earl's, who had been slaughtered as they stepped inside. And the leader of the advance party, Tom saw with a shock, was William Hamleigh.

  Tom stared, stunned by surprise. William's eyes were wide with bloodlust. Tom thought William was going to kill him, but before he had time to be scared, one of William's henchmen seized Tom's arm, pulled him inside and shoved him out of the way.

  So it was the Hamleighs who were attacking Earl Bartholomew's castle. But why?

  All the servants and children were in a frightened huddle on the far side of the hall. Only the armed men were being killed, then. Tom scanned the faces in the hall, and, to his overwhelming relief and gratitude, he saw Alfred, Martha, Ellen and Jack, all in a group, looking terrified but alive and apparently unhurt.

  Before he could go to them a fight started in the doorway. Earl Bartholomew and two knights charged in and were ambushed by the waiting Hamleigh knights. One of the earl's men was struck down immediately, but the other protected the earl with his raised sword. Several more of Bartholomew's knights came in behind the earl, and suddenly there was a tremendous skirmish at close quarters, with knives and fists being used because there was no room to deploy a long sword. For a moment it looked as if the earl's men would overcome William's; then some of Bartholomew's men turned and began to defend themselves from behind: clearly the attacking army had penetrated the upper compound and was now mounting the steps and attacking the keep.

  A powerful voice bellowed: "HOLD!"

  The men on both sides took defensive positions, and the fighting stopped.

  The same voice called: "Bartholomew of Shiring, will you surrender?"

  Tom saw the earl turn and look out through the door. Knights stepped aside to get out of his line of vision. "Hamleigh," the earl murmured in a quietly incredulous tone. Then he raised his voice and said: "Will you leave my family and servants unharmed?"

  "Yes."

  "Will you swear it?"

  "I swear it, by the cross, if you surrender."

  "I surrender," said Earl Bartholomew.

  There was a great cheer from outside.

  Tom turned away. Martha ran across the room to him. He picked her up, then embraced Ellen.

  "We're safe," Ellen said with tears in her eyes. "All of us--all safe."

  "Safe," said Tom bitterly, "but destitute again."

  William stopped cheering suddenly. He was the son of Lord Percy, and it was undignified for him to yell and whoop like the men-at-arms. He composed his face in an expression of lordly satisfaction.

  They had won. He had carried out the plan, not without some setbacks, but it had worked, and the attack had succeeded largely because of his advance work. He had lost count of the men he had killed and maimed, yet he was unharmed. He was struck by a thought: there was a lot of blood on his face for one who was uninjured. When he wiped it away, more came. It must be his own. He put his hand to his face, then to his head. Some of his hair had gone, and when he touched his scalp it hurt like fire. He had not been wearing a helmet, for that would have looked suspicious. Now that he was aware of the wound it started to hurt. He did not mind. An injury was a badge of courage.

  His father came up the steps and confronted Earl Bartholomew in the doorway. Bartholomew held out his sword, hilt first, in a gesture of surrender. Percy took it, and his men cheered again.

  As the noise died down William heard Bartholomew say: "Why have you done this?"

  Father replied: "You plotted against the king."

  Bartholomew was astonished that Father k
new this, and the shock showed on his face. William held his breath, wondering whether Bartholomew, in the despair of defeat, would admit the conspiracy in front of all these people. But he recovered his composure, drew himself upright, and said: "I'll defend my honor in front of the king, not here."

  Father nodded. "As you wish. Tell your men to lay down their arms and leave the castle."

  The earl murmured a command to his knights, and one by one they approached Father and dropped their swords on the floor in front of him. William enjoyed watching that. Look at them all, humbled before my father, he thought proudly. Father was talking to one of his knights. "Round up the loose horses and put them in the stable. Have some men go around and disarm the dead and wounded." The weapons and horses of the defeated belonged to the victors, of course: Bartholomew's knights would disperse unarmed and on foot. The Hamleighs' men would also empty the castle's stores. The confiscated horses would be loaded with goods and driven back to Hamleigh, the village from which the family took its name. Father beckoned another knight and said: "Sort out the kitchen staff and have them make dinner. Send the rest of the servants away." Men were hungry after a battle: now there would be a feast. Earl Bartholomew's best food and wine would be eaten and drunk here before the army rode home.

  A moment later, the knights around Father and Bartholomew divided, making a passage, and Mother swept in.

  She looked very small among all the hefty fighting men, but when she unwound the scarf that had covered her face, those who had not seen her before started back, shocked, as people always were, by her disfigurement. She looked at Father. "A great triumph," she said in a satisfied tone.

  William wanted to say: That was because of good advance work, wasn't it, Mother?

  He bit his tongue, but his father spoke for him. "It was William who got us in."

  Mother turned to him, and he waited eagerly for her to congratulate him. "Did he?" she said.

  "Yes," Father said. "The boy did a good job."

  Mother nodded. "Perhaps he did," she said.

  William's heart was warmed by her praise, and he grinned foolishly.

  She looked at Earl Bartholomew. "The earl should bow to me," she said.