by Griff Hosker
The sentry said, “Begging your pardon sir, but Lord Edward is not here. Captain William went with him and half the men to London.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “From what I heard, Captain, some of the barons are getting above themselves. They are challenging the king. The prince went to sort them out.”
It sounded like gossip but there could be a nugget of truth in it. It seemed I had arrived back just in time. I went to the upper ward to speak with the constable. Sir Hugh D’Avranches was an old knight. He had been wounded in one of King Henry’s campaigns in Wales. He was now the castellan. I liked him. He reminded me of my father. He had been a warrior all of his life. Like my father, he had expected to die on the battlefield. He was at the entrance to the upper ward and he saw me approach. He frowned when he saw that I was not wearing my livery.
“Captain Gerald, where is your surcoat?”
“I am sorry, my lord. When we were in Leicester we were attacked by the Earl of Leicester’s men. It seemed a good idea to hide our identity.”
He stared at me as though I had spoken a foreign language. “Come, I would hear more of this.” He led me to an anteroom by the Great Hall. He nodded to the sentry. “We will not be disturbed.”
I told him all, including the attempt to recruit the four of us. “I know the prince asked for fifteen archers, but it seemed better to come with what I had, rather than lose them all.”
“You made the right decision. I confess I worried that appointing such a young captain of archers was a mistake. Perhaps I was wrong. And you have eight horses too?”
“Yes, my lord. The prince wants us to be mounted archers.”
“A good idea. I will find another two for you and send over the surcoats and breeks for the new men. You will be needed by the end of the month.”
“It is getting onto autumn, lord. I lived in that part of the world. It is hard enough campaigning in summer. In autumn and winter it is almost impossible.”
“Nevertheless, Prince Edward is determined to show his mettle. For myself, I approve the change wrought in him. Something in Gascony changed him.”
“Perhaps it was his brush with death, lord. Near death can have that effect.”
He smiled. “Wise too. I shall watch you, young Gerald. Next time, change into your surcoats before you enter the castle. Make an old curmudgeon happy, eh?”
My new men had all been allocated a bed. The rest of the garrison was eating in the refectory. John of Nottingham looked at the new recruits and said, “Welcome to your new home. You will all be issued new clothes.” He looked at me and I nodded. “I have lived in the woods and know what it is like. Without meaning offence, you lads need to bathe! We are lucky here, there is somewhere for us to sluice down.”
A few of the new men glowered belligerently at him. I wondered if he had gone too far. Jack of Lincoln said, “And I for one am grateful, brother. Come, let us bathe. It will be like a baptism and we will be reborn anew!”
When they had gone I said, “The castellan said there would be surcoats and breeks for them, go and fetch them eh? It wouldn’t to do have them put on their stinking old clothes!”
I did not have my own quarters, but I had a bed which had more room around it. I also had a chest with my war gear. I took out the coins we had collected. The men had handed them over to me. I divided them into sixteen equal piles. I placed them on the table we had in the middle. There had been little else I had wanted from the dead. The new men had taken swords and daggers. One had taken a silver cross he had found on one of the bodies. I had enough money for myself. I had barely spent a tenth of that which I had been paid by the prince.
I felt dirty and sweaty. I went down to the room with the water trough and the rough, homemade soap. I took an old, clean cloak that I used to dry myself down. The new men were all there in various stages of undress. Some of the younger ones looked a little embarrassed. I just stripped off and stepped into one of the troughs. Others had been in there before me but it would be emptied at the end of the night and refilled in the morning. I rubbed the soap all over and then sluiced the water off me. I stepped out and began to dry myself.
Jack of Lincoln nodded. “It must be twenty years since I had soap to wash myself. We must have stunk, Captain.”
“Don’t worry, we all stink worse than this normally. Riding horses, blood and sweat are a combination of smells which tell others we are coming.”
He laughed. “And we ride horses?”
“We do. We are Prince Edward’s retinue. He has twenty-one men at arms and us. We have to move at his speed. If you are not horsemen yet, then you soon will be. The horses we brought today are ours, and we have two more coming tomorrow. I noticed that you have few arrows.”
“We can all fletch, but staying alive in the forest is a greater priority than making arrows.”
“We have a good supply here, but my men prefer to make their own.”
“As do we.”
We were both dressed and we headed back to the barrack room.
I gestured behind me with my thumb. “Will they all adjust to such an ordered life?”
“They will, Captain. None of us chose the life of an outlaw. Some lord or the sheriff forced us into it. I had a family. My wife died and then my sons were taken and hanged for poaching.” He shook his head. “The bastard who murdered them is dead, but I ended up an outlaw. I do not regret my actions but I wonder what life I might have had. The others all have similar stories. You have given us a chance.”
“When first we met you let Peter do all the talking.”
“That way I could watch you and seek the lie in your eyes. There was none. I do not think we have made a poor choice.”
The castellan had ordered the kitchen keep us some hot food. To the new men it was the first real meal they had had in years. It was not the best meal, for it was largely what the rest of the garrison had left, but as they sat, in their new surcoats and breeches, drinking ale and eating hot food, it confirmed that we now had a company of archers. I had fewer than fourteen nights to make them fight as one.
We began the next morning. I brought the practice arrows and we set the butts up outside the walls. The knights were with the king and his son in London. No one was hunting in the park. It was perfect.
I spread the four senior archers amongst them. The outlaws were raw clay. They needed moulding. They had not had discipline. They would need it now. I remembered every lesson my father and Ralph had given me.
“There are many differences between your life in the forest and your life here. The main difference is that you obey orders. When I say ‘draw’ then you do so at once. When I say ‘release’ then you release and nock another arrow. We do not worry about how many arrows we carry. We might each send twenty arrows in as many heartbeats. You may not have the strength yet, but by the time we march to Wales, you will.”
We spent all morning sending arrows into the targets. I was impressed with their accuracy but not their rate. John of Nottingham saw me becoming agitated. “Captain, this is all new to them. Give them time. Their fingers are bleeding.”
“Aye, you are right.”
We broke for food. We ate in the hunting park. I continued my lessons as we did so. “I notice you all have just one bow. You need at least two spares. You need six spare bowstrings. We will have just thirteen more nights to prepare. When we leave here, we will be living on the backs of horses and we will be carrying enough arrows to slay a thousand Welshmen.”
The older archers such as Peter and Jack nodded. The younger ones like Dick, son of Robin, looked a little overawed. It was at that moment that I truly appreciated my father. I had been younger than these and yet I had had more awareness of what was expected of me.
The afternoon was spent practising with the swords they had acquired or been given. Every archer had the strength to wield a sword and to hit it hard, but few of these had the skills they would need. Jack and Peter apart, the rest had no idea at all how to fight with a sword. I asked some men at
arms to help me to teach them. By the end of the afternoon we had made progress, but all of us were tired.
After two more days I could see clear progress. That proved to be all that we had. The prince returned with his father, the king. We were in the hunting park when they arrived. It was not yet time to finish but we did, for I knew that the prince would wish to see those whom I had brought.
The army did not follow the prince and the king into the ward. They began to erect tents. My new men noticed. “They do not have the roof we do?”
“No, William of Derby. They are the retinue of knights who serve the prince. There will be many more than this waiting for us at Chester. These knights will hope that we have success and that they can win a manor. That manor will come at the cost of a dead Welshman.”
“Each banner is a knight?”
“It is, Hugh. Some of these knights will have a squire and twenty men to follow them. They will not have horses. They will be marching. It is a long way from here to Wales. Two hundred or more miles. The last part will be through land which the Welsh call their own. Think yourself lucky that we have horses and we ride.”
The prince did not come to see me until after we had eaten. I had begun to think that we had been forgotten. He had with him his squire John, and there were two young warriors with him. Both seemed to be my age.
The prince smiled when he entered the barracks. My men all stood and bowed. Edward seemed pleased. He nodded and then waved them down. “You have done well, Captain Gerald. The constable has told me what you did. I approve, and it proves that de Montfort is up to something. The army I brought today will leave on the morrow for the Dee. Sir Roger de Mortimer will lead them. We leave in five days’ time. Are your men ready?”
“Another seven days would be useful, my lord, but they will do.”
“They had better. Along with Captain William and his men, you will be my only protection.”
John said, “There will be us as well, my liege.”
“There will indeed, Sir John.” I must have shown my surprise. “Yes, Captain, Sir John has won his spurs. Geoffrey is my new squire. Richard is Sir John’s. You will be seeing much of them for they will be passing commands to you.” He dropped a purse on the table. “Here is your pay for this month. I have added extra for the horses you captured. That was clever.” He turned to the squires. “I would watch yourselves around these men! Most of them were outlaws!”
The two young sons of nobles almost recoiled and Prince Edward laughed. Sir John said, “Fear not. They appear to be honest a bunch of men as you will ever meet. I would put my life in their hands any day.”
I nodded my thanks for the compliment.
The training and the practice were forgotten as we threw ourselves into the task of preparing for the campaign. The knights and their retinues, who had arrived with the prince, left. The bulk of our forces would come from Chester and the land around the Welsh border. I was not looking forward to that. Sir Ranulf was still there. Would he recognise me? Worse, Hugh of Rhuddlan would most definitely recognise me, and he had a grudge to bear. My saving of his life would be forgotten.
The prince would be taking servants with him. They would erect the tents when necessary and cook the food. We, along with Sir William’s men, would be responsible for our own spare arms. In our case that was not too onerous. Two sumpters could carry the arrows and one the bow staves. The rest of our war gear would be on our horses. The new men had been amazed to be issued blankets and cooking pots. We had one pot for every four men. To men used to eking out a living in the woods, it was luxury.
Sir John seemed to be taking over as a sort of quartermaster for the prince, who spent hours these days closeted with his father. I had learned that this had not always been the case, and it confirmed Sir Hugh’s view that the last months in Gascony had changed the prince from feckless to loyal. Richard sought out me and Captain William. “My lord wishes conference with you in the Great Hall.”
As we followed the young squire, Captain William said, “I have much to tell you when time allows. London proved a most interesting experience.”
I nodded. We did not know Richard yet. Until we did, we would be wary loosing our lips in his vicinity. Sir John had with him a map on the table. “Our journey north will be relatively easy until we reach Wrechcessham. You know it, Gerald?”
I shook my head. “The Clwyd, that I know. The Welsh hills which abut it were as familiar as my bow stave but…” I hesitated, “when I served in that area, I had no cause to venture there. I know that the castle was built in the conquest but the Welsh hold it.”
“Thank you for an honest answer. Then we will be giving it a wide berth. Once we are close to that stronghold and the borders, then you and your archers will form a screen before us and act as scouts. That means that you, Captain William, will have to guard us, our servants and our baggage.”
He looked at the map. “We could go further east, where there would be less danger.”
Shaking his head, Sir John said, “The prince is keen to get north and to quickly deal with this threat from the Welsh. We have work here in the south which is also important. First, we travel north to Wales. We have to secure the land around Chester.”
I knew the Welsh. They were tough warriors, especially in their mountain stronghold. “I would not expect this to be swift, lord. The Welsh are cunning fighters.”
Sir John smiled. “We have over a hundred knights. There are two hundred men at arms. I think we can deal with the barbarians who inhabit those hills. They are not the French, nor are they our own rebellious people. We will be back here within two months.”
I thought about speaking again but knew that it would be a waste of time. I merely nodded my compliance. As we headed back across the wards Captain William said, “You did not agree with Sir John.”
“It is not horse country. The Welsh have archers who are the best I have ever seen. I think my men are their equal, but there are but sixteen of us. They will have hundreds. They will not risk an open battle. They will ambush. They will lay traps, and they will hamstring animals. In short, they will wear us down and bleed us to death.”
We stopped. We were in the middle of the lower ward, and we were alone. “Tell me of your time in the Marches.” I hesitated. “Gerald, be honest with me. You and I are the prince’s protectors. I know there is a secret. I know the prince knows of it. Do not let it be a wall between us.”
Part of me wanted to keep the secret safe, but another part knew that I had to tell him. I had no doubt that the secret would be revealed as soon as Chester’s men joined with us. I nodded. “I served Baron Henry of Clwyd. He had my father hanged for no good reason, so I killed him. I was an outlaw. Prince Edward knows of this.”
“A heavy burden. I have known many barons who deserved such punishment. You are the first to have meted it out. I thank you for sharing. Know you that your secret will remain locked within me. I can tell you a little more of what I learned in London. Our master plays a dangerous game. He met with Henry de Montfort while in London. He knows him well. They were childhood friends. I was not privy to that meeting, but both seemed pleased with how it went.”
“That should be a good thing. Simon de Montfort is King Henry’s implacable foe. The prince is making allies of a potential enemy.”
William shook his head. “Henry de Montfort is loyal to his brother. I fear our master is playing a dangerous game and we are caught in the middle. Keep your ears and eyes open. You and I must share that which we discover. There will be civil war. Of that, I have no doubt. What I fear is treachery whilst we are on campaign.”
“We have good men who serve us. No matter what our betters do, we are brothers in arms.”
Forewarned is forearmed, and although I had no one to confide in, I was able to prepare better. Now that I knew what was expected of me, I would plan accordingly.
King Henry himself came to say goodbye to his son. The embrace told me that they were now close. My father had never e
mbraced me that way. It had not been in his nature. I thought back to all of the goodbyes I had had, and I regretted not saying more. Sir John carried the prince’s standard but it remained furled. It would be unfurled when we fought, and so long as it flew, none would retreat. For many men, that unfurled standard would be like a death warrant. We were Prince Edward’s protectors. He might use us in battle, but ultimately, we were there to guard his person.
We rode faster than I had expected. We stayed at the king’s subject’s castles as we progressed along the Roman road north and west. I listened to the men who manned those castles and learned that barons were taking sides. The castles in which we stayed were loyal to King Henry. That made me wonder about the ones we passed. Were they foes?
We stopped at the border town of Oswald’s Cross. It had a wall around the town but no castle. Prince Edward sought me out. “Tomorrow we will close with Wrechcessham. We will have to leave the road. You must find us a safe way around it.”
“Yes, lord.”
“I would make Chester in one day.”
I did not know Wrechcessham well, but I had an idea of the land to the north of it. As I went back to my men, I tried to form a mental picture of it. The River Dee was a barrier. It was the old border. The Normans might have captured large swathes of it, but they had had to cling onto it. Any knights would now be gathering in Chester. I intended to cross us at Bangor on the Dee. As I remembered, it was an uncontested crossing, and the road thence was a good one. I gathered my men and gave them their instructions.
“Tomorrow, we ride early. We will leave before the main body. David the Welshman and Dick, son of Robin, will accompany me. John of Nottingham, you will lead the archers, and you will be half a mile before the prince. We will head for the Dee. Dick will act as messenger. If you do not see him then all is well. If he comes, then we have deviated. You will ride with a strung bow. I care not if the string is ruined, but I want you to be ready to dismount and send arrows at an enemy.”