Return of the Knight

by Griff Hosker

  This time there was a letter.

  You know who you are and I hope you know that I think of you every day! Each night you are in my prayers.

  I was disappointed to hear that Arthur had lost all support in Normandy and Anjou. He has none in England. My grandfather would be turning in his grave at his treatment. Even now the people of Stockton speak of the Warlord with great reverence. When he ruled this valley, it was a haven.

  I still seek knights who would serve with you. There was one. I will not mention his name. He fell foul of the Sheriff of York. He objected to some people being ejected from their homes to build a tax house for the King. He lost his lands. He was being pursued when he came to speak with us and would not stay for fear of putting our homes in jeopardy. I told him of you and he said he would try to join you. He had his son, a squire and ten men with him. Ask him his story. If it tallies with what I have told you then he can be trusted.

  I am delighted that you have a son! The family will live on. I pray that one day he will see his great aunt. Keep safe.

  We keep a place for you and your family here. Our home is your home and always will be.

  Xxx

  I was intrigued. If King John was acting in such a high-handed manner then it would not be long before the barons had had enough. When a baron was thrown from his land for having an opinion then things had come to a critical state. The fact that John was in Poitou would only worsen the situation.

  I rode to Le Lude with ten of my men. I wanted to see the progress on my new castle. As we rode I was aware that the land between the two castles had no obstructions. We could travel there easily. The river was high but that was normal for this time of year. I was happy to see that the fact that they all waved at us was a good thing. We were not hated. That was a start. When I reached the castle, I was pleased to see that there was both a wall and a gate. I could see the keep rising behind the wooden walls. Sir William was stripped to the waist and Johann was helping him. Already they were beginning the second floor and the treadmill crane was lifting the blocks into place.

  When he saw me, William climbed down the ladder. “It is going well, lord.”

  “It is. You have enough men here but you are exposed. I want you to build a signal fire and have a man ready at all times. If an attack comes then light the fire and I will bring horsemen.”

  “I will, lord.” He pointed south and east, “We have a good view from here. I can see why the French pulled it down. With the river protecting the east and the north then the only way they can approach it is from the south and they would be seen some way away.”

  “When will the keep be finished?”

  “By harvest we will be able to defend it and by this time next year we will have walls that they will struggle to overcome. I will have my family here and I will ensure that the enemy bleed their lives on its walls.”

  “And your patrols?”

  “The French are growing in numbers but they do not appear ready to strike.”

  “I will keep a well-armed patrol ready to respond should you be attacked. It is not yet June. I think that King Philip is pious enough to abide by the agreement. Every day is valuable to us.” I rode back along the north bank of the river. With Sir William at Le Lude the French might try the north bank as a way of avoiding my new defences. Once we passed the bridge I saw that the ground we had made boggy last year was still impassable. They would come by Le Lude. I needed to be ready.

  I rode over the new bridge over the moat. The water around the barbican was rising. It was not yet a hazard but it would be. I ducked my head beneath the barbican and clattered across the second bridge. I felt satisfied. There was a healthy buzz in the town as I rode through. It was market day and it felt vibrant. Even more people had come. The fact that King John and the Seneschal of Anjou were in Poitou and the King of France was still in Flanders meant that more people felt that they could come to trade with us. That might stop when the two kings turned their eye on me.

  I dismounted and handed my reins to Fótr. He would see to Skuld. I handed him my helmet and I walked through my town. Walking through the square always made me feel that I was close to my people. When I reached the quay, I saw how many ships were being unloaded and loaded. I rarely came here and so I was impressed. I was a warrior and knew not about coin but each ship that arrived brought money to my people and to my coffers. The bridge still required the middle span. I walked down the quay to look at the opposite bank. I did so twice and Roger of Meaux, who was overseeing the bridge, approached me.

  “What is it lord? You have walked up and down as though seeking fault. What have we done that is wrong?”

  “Nothing. It is just that I notice that the land is flat across from the town.”

  “Aye, lord and what of it?”

  “If we dug a ditch there,” I pointed to the west end of the new development, “and there to the east then the bastion and your warehouses would have the protection of water.”

  It was as though scales had been lifted from his eyes. He nodded. “And the bridge is not to serve the south but merely to serve the town. That is brilliant my lord!”

  As much as I appreciated the compliment I was still worried about the threat of France. We had beaten off one attack but they would have learned from that. We had more men but the French had an inexhaustible supply. Geoffrey had used my money wisely. Even so until we had a greater income we could not afford more men. We would have to fight the French with what we had.

  They came at the start of July. We had been ready from the end of May for an attack. We had kept riders in the field but the French had not attacked. I now believe they thought to outwit me. They thought to keep me waiting for an attack and then relax my vigilance. That would not happen.

  Sir Henry’s bastion was almost complete. The bridge was finished and the towers at the south side of the river could be reinforced by Sir Henry. Sir William had two floors to his keep. He still needed a third but his donjon overlooked his walls. The attack came and we were ready. When the beacon was lit and the thick black smoke rose in the sky I took my men and rode south along the river. I had forty men ready with another twenty in reserve. Our task was simple: we would go to the aid of Sir William. I had twenty-two men at arms and eighteen archers. The ones I took were the best. I rode at the fore with David and Edward. We had enough experience between us to make the decisions which would decide the battle.

  The French had attacked from the south. I could see the gonfanon on their spears. That was good for the gate was to the north and faced the bridge. More importantly the land there was open farmland and would suit my horsemen.

  “David of Wales, take your horsemen inside the castle. We will upset the French a little and then join you.” My archers needed no urging. They worked best when behind a wall.

  Some of my men at arms had grabbed spears. I had not. Fótr did not carry a standard but his gonfanon was my gryphon. The French would know who attacked them. The enemy had not reached the walls and I saw why. They were mainly on foot. There were over a hundred of them. They advanced behind crossbowmen. The crossbows were protected by men who advanced with a pavise. Each crossbow had a pavise. The twenty crossbows released alternatively allowing a steadier rate of bolts than was normal but it made for a slow and laborious approach. There were horsemen. Six knights and their squires and four mounted men at arms were behind the hundred men marching on foot. The French saw us. It must have been about the same time as my archers reached the walls. Their plunging arrows negated the effect of the pavise.

  The French sounded a horn and the horsemen charged towards us. The men on foot could not turn because they needed the protection of the crossbows. Some of those at the rear of the column did turn. The horsemen would be unsupported. Perhaps they thought that, as knights and squires, they were superior to men at arms. They were going to learn the hard way the truth of that. Although it was farmland it was far from flat and a boot to boot charge was difficult. As we neared them I did not reco
gnise any of the shields. I wondered if these were some of the men who had sought masters at Le Goulet.

  Pulling my shield up a little higher I drew my sword. The uneven field made the lances of the French rise and fall alarmingly. Their horses could not keep a steady gait. I saw one squire’s horse find a hollow and the young Frenchman barely held on to his cantle. There were not many of us and the collision was a series of cracks rather than the crash of two longer lines. The knight who had charged me punched too early. I saw his lance coming for me and I pulled Skuld a little to my right. We would be meeting sword to lance. The lance came across my body. As I swung my sword the lance cracked and broke in two leaving the knight with the shorter end. My sword smacked across his chest. He dropped his broken lance and his arm came up. I had hurt him. He wheeled away.

  I turned and saw that Fótr was having an unequal battle with a knight who had an axe. Already splinters were flying from my squire’s shield. I charged Skuld towards him. He saw me coming and tried to turn. Fótr kept striking with his sword and that distracted the knight. Standing in my stirrups I brought my sword from on high and, as the knight defended himself with his shield I struck his helmet on its top. It was a powerful blow and it dented the helmet. The axe fell from the knight’s fingers but he was saved by his horse. In trying to turn from me he had given his mount an escape route and the beast galloped away. I think that the knight was unconscious and held in place by his cantle.

  Three knights and four squires remained. James was lying on the ground but the rest of my men at arms were still whole and still mounted. The knights and squires who remained galloped off.

  “Fótr, see to James! The rest of your, reform! One long line!”

  The French on foot outnumbered us and they had turned their lines so that they had two sides of a square. One faced us and one faced the partly built castle. The pavise were facing the castle. Once my men were in a line we began to cover the three hundred paces to the French. I realised that there was no rattle of bolts. My archers had ended the threat of the crossbows. We did not gallop across the open field. It was a steady and measured approach. When Sir William led ten mounted men from the castle it seemed to be the signal for flight. Without their leaders the men on foot fled. They ran. Then we put spurs to our horses.

  I saw Edward son of Edgar bring his sword from on high to take the top of the skull of the fleeing Frenchman before him. Henry Youngblood still had his spear and he rammed it through the spine of the man at arms who tried to avoid death by lying on the ground. A sergeant at arms, hearing my hooves turned to face me. Skuld responded to my knees and swerved so that we avoided the swinging longsword. I used a backhand flick. My sword sliced into his neck. Killing men and avoiding dead bodies allowed more than half of the French to escape.

  “Hold!”

  I reined in. No more of my men had been hurt. Sir William trotted his horse over to me. I took off my helmet, “The signal fire worked.”

  “It did, Sir Thomas, but had they come at night it would have been a different matter. Although the fire would have blazed brightly they would be able to get a lot closer to us before we knew of the danger.”

  “I doubt that they will do that. It is almost impossible to do so quietly and moving a large number of men in the dark invites disaster. Men can get lost and, in the dark, it is hard to distinguish friend from foe. But they will come again. The next time they will bring more horsemen. They will know of the signal fire. Did you lose any?”

  “One of my men was wounded with a bolt. Your timely arrival put paid to their attack. However, I need more archers. David of Wales and your archers made the difference and they slaughtered the crossbows.”

  “I fear that archers are a commodity rarer than gold in this land. I will ask David to select another five from my garrison to augment yours.”

  Edward rose up. “We have two wounded men as prisoners, lord. Do you want their throats slitting?”

  I shook my head, “War is bad enough without escalating the bloodshed. Have their wounds bound and then brought to me.”

  “Aye lord.”

  I dismounted as did Sir William. I saw that we had gained another four horses. The dead knights and men at arms were being stripped of mail and weapons. I saw that James was on his feet but Fótr had bandaged his arm. He had been wounded. As we walked back to the castle I asked, “How much longer before you have your wall walk and fighting platform finished?”

  “We will be collecting the harvest before that is complete. I do not want to rush it. When that is finished then I bring my family here. I want them to be safe.”

  We were nearing his ditch. I saw that his men had deepened it but there were no traps within. “If you seed that with stakes and then join it to the river you will have a good defence from the south.”

  “I had thought of that but the keep is unfinished.” He gave me a rueful smile. “Being the lord of the manor is not as easy as you make it look, lord. You have decisions to make and priorities to balance.”

  “I would divide your workforce. Half work on the keep while the other half join the ditch to the river. It will not take long.”

  “But then we would not be able to cross the ditch south of us. There would be no bridge.”

  “And you do not need one yet.” I pointed to the pavise which lay scattered around. “Have your farmers join them. They will make a temporary bridge. They will support a man and not a horse.

  Edward and Ridley the Giant brought over the two wounded men at arms. One had to be supported by Ridley. He had a bad cut to his leg. The other had his arm in a sling and a bandage around his head.

  “Where will your knights have run to?”

  Grateful that their lives had been spared they could not wait to tell me all. “Montoire sur le Loir, lord. The Comte de Senonche has given the manor to Baron Gilles de Sosigny. “

  “Did he fall here today?”

  “No lord. He was the one whose lance you broke.”

  I turned to Sir William. “They have come a long way to raid you.” I turned back to the two wounded men. “When did you leave your castle?”

  “Two days since, lord. We camped at Chateau-sur-le-Loir.”

  “Then return and tell your master that he attacks my manors at his peril. I brought just a small number of men this day. If I brought all of them then not a man would have survived. We will burn your dead for you. The carrion will not feast on them.”

  The one with the wounded leg nodded, “Thank you lord for they were good men. I fear my days of war are gone. This wound is a bad one. Your man has saved my leg but not my livelihood.” They turned and headed east.

  My men collected the bodies. My archers took great delight in using the crossbows for kindling. As I led my men home the sky was filled with black smoke and the smell of burning flesh. War had returned to the valley of the Loir.

  The attack acted as a spur. My men worked twice as hard. I sent more archers to Le Lude and they increased the workers there. I sent more men to help Sir Henry build his bastion and the rest of us rode abroad. We would discourage our foes by showing our vigilance. I did not ride forth every day. On the days I was not riding I helped James Broadsword to improve our defences even more and Roger of Meaux and his men to build the bridge. The warehouses on the south bank would soon be needed.

  The summer was proving to be a kind one in terms of weather and the crops as well as the grape harvest promised to be good ones. I knew nothing of such things but Geoffrey, my steward did and it was he who kept me informed. As we did not pay taxes to the Duke of Brittany nor John Lackland, my townsfolk paid one tenth of their earnings to my steward. As I had farmers who worked fields for me it meant I was becoming rich. The surplus would not be needed yet but, as more men joined me, it would.

  The bridge was completed at the end of August. It coincided with the return of the ‘Swan of Stockton’. Another fifteen men joined us. This time there were just three men at arms and the rest were archers. There was no letter but Captain
Henry came ashore to speak with me. “The lady sent no letter. She did not have time. We barely got these men away from Stockton. I fear that the Bishop of Durham is colluding with the Sherriff of York. They began a move to clear the forests of what they termed brigands and bandits. The men you have now left families in the valley, lord. The lady wonders if there is room for them here.”

  “Of course there is, but is she safe?”

  He hesitated. “At the moment lord.”

  “Then tell her that as soon as there is danger she should come here. I will protect her. She has done more than enough for us.”

  “I do not think that she will do that, lord, for she is the only hope for those in need who live within the old Cleveland. If she leaves they will be persecuted.”

  I nodded, “Then bring the families when next you return.” I handed him a purse of coins. “Here is for your trouble.”

  “I do not need this lord.”

  “You serve me well and I ensure that my people are rewarded. Tell other captains that there is good trade to be had in my town. It is that trade which will keep us safe.”

  He nodded, “King John has subdued the men of Poitou lord but I heard that the Pope is unhappy with his actions.”

  I did not see how that would help me but I was glad that someone else opposed King John.

  As September approached I took to riding further afield. I rode west until I discovered garrisoned castles and I rode east to Chateau-sur-le-Loir. One night I had a dream which disturbed me. I saw Prince Arthur. He was in a castle and he was weeping. I woke in a cold sweat. What did the dream mean? It seemed such a long time since I had seen him. I had not forgotten him but I had put him from my mind. I needed to have better intelligence about Le Mans. That was the nearest stronghold to my castle and when King John tired of my insolence he would come south to punish me.

  I headed north with Fótr, Edward and Ridley the Giant. I wanted to get as close as I could to Le Mans. I did not know if King John had returned to England or his Norman stronghold. The best way to discover where he was would be to see if there were patrols from Le Mans. He had taken most of the garrison with him to Poitou and the north had been quiet all year.