Return of the Knight

by Griff Hosker

  I am uncertain when I will be able to write to you again. I will send a letter whenever I can, if only to let you know that we are alive and still enjoy our freedom.

  We pray for you and your family each day. Our home is your home and always will be.

  Xxx

  “Who gave you this letter?”

  “A woman, lord. If you have read it then you know that I am due payment.”

  I nodded. “I will give you your payment, Captain Will, but I do not like such demands being made.”

  He shrugged, “Then do not pay me and I shall sail to Angers with my cargo and deliver them to the Seneschal there. Perhaps he will reward me.”

  I began to become angry. “You think to come to my town and to make threats against me?” I waved my hand around me. “You are surrounded by my men. If I so chose then I could impound your ship and take the cargo.”

  For the first time he looked fearful. “But you are alone! I could cast off and set sail!”

  I raised my hand and shouted, “Richard Red Leg!” Four bows appeared over the gate and they were all aimed at the captain. “In my town I am never alone.” He was chastened and so I softened my tone. “We have got off on the wrong foot. There is great profit for you here.”

  “How so?”

  “If you bring more cargo such as you have in your hold then I will reward you on each visit. Secondly there are no port taxes here and we make wine. I am certain that you could sell our wine and make a much greater profit than forty gold pieces. What say you?”

  “You will pay me for this cargo?”

  “I will but it will not be forty gold pieces. That is not the price for cargo. That is extortion.”

  He nodded, “Whatever you think is fair.”

  Richard Red Leg had joined me, “Richard you can stand down the archers and then ask Fótr to bring my purse.”

  “Yes lord.” He glared at Captain Will, “And you, my friend, came within a whisker of dying. You are lucky!”

  The captain said as Richard departed, “I took a great risk in picking up those men. The Bishop of Durham has forbidden all captains who use his port from trading with you.”

  I nodded. “And what of Hwitebi, could you not use that port?”

  “It is small but I suppose we could.”

  “Then I will try to arrange something. The cargo?”

  He nodded and shouted, “Guthrum!” A mountain of a sailor nodded and opened a hatch. Men’s heads appeared, blinking against the light.

  “Have they been kept below decks all this time?”

  “Just since we passed Nantes, lord. I did not wish them to be seen.”

  I shook my head. I could see how lucky I had been to have Captain Henry. I said to the men, “Welcome to my town. If you would go ashore we will make you welcome. More welcome than on this vessel at any rate.”

  Fótr arrived and handed me the purse just as the last of the men had walked, somewhat unsteadily down the gangplank. “See to those men. They need food and drink. Speak with them.”

  “Aye lord.”

  I handed over ten gold pieces to the captain. “If you speak with any of the merchants there they will sell you cargo. Our wine is highly prized.”

  I left the ship. I was not sure that I wished to do business with the man but I had to tie him to me so that he would not inform on my aunt to the Bishop of Durham. If she was already under suspicion then the captain’s testimony might be her death warrant.

  When Fótr returned to the hall he brought disturbing news. “Sir Thomas, they are not men at arms who have been sent. They are young men whose families have been imprisoned or killed. They were all outlaws.”

  “They have skills in weapons?”

  “I am not certain. Only two have short swords. The rest have daggers. I think two said that they could use a bow. I asked Edward, James and David to speak with them. They had a hard voyage. I do not think the captain treated them well.”

  Then things were getting worse in England. I went to my hall and wrote a letter for my aunt. I would have to give it to Captain Henry the next time he called. If Hwitebi was safe then that would be the port we used from now on. By the time I had finished Edward and James Broadsword had finished interviewing the men and he and David of Wales presented themselves.

  “They are raw clay, my lord. None can ride. They have no training as warriors. A few can use a bow but what they do have is a hatred for King John and a desire to fight back. We will train them. They are all young. None has seen more than twenty summers. One is little older than Sir Richard’s son, Dick.”

  I nodded, “Good. I leave them in your hands then. I am uncertain when or indeed if we will receive more.”

  Our new extended patrols were wearing. We had four knights to lead them and I used Edward too but they took their toll on our horses. They were, however, worthwhile. As spring turned into summer we saw the usual signs of men preparing for raids. I had thought that Prince Arthur’s position with King Philip might have resulted in less attacks on us but Chateau-sur-le-Loir began to fill up with banners and standards. They would come again and we would have to be ready for them. They knew about the signal fire and I expected a different tactic.

  It was Griff Jameson who gave me the answer. He had been raised in the area and knew it well. “Sir Thomas, it is my belief that they will use the woods north of the bridge over the Loir to attack Le Lude. The woods have been much thinned and horses can get through. It would be just a thousand paces from the edge of the woods to the bridge.”

  I looked at David of Wales. He nodded, “I think that Griff is right, my lord. It would be simple enough to have twenty of my archers in the woods. We could hunt. The time would not be wasted. If they do not come we will have game to feed us.”

  “Even so you would be isolated if the French came in numbers.”

  “We would enter the castle and await you. As soon as we saw them one would ride to the castle and light the fire.”

  “Then do so. Choose the best twenty archers for the task.”

  I made sure that James Broadsword had enough men to defend the castle and the bastion. “Aye lord. I have enough. I have the older warriors and the twelve new lads are keen enough. I would not like to put them in the open field but behind a wall they could be effective.”

  All told we would have four knights and squires, eighty men at arms, sixty of whom were mounted, and sixty archers. It was many more than the last time de Senonche had attacked us and the French would be in for a shock. I decided I would use Dragon rather than Skuld. Dragon was a younger horse and if the French came they would do as they had done the last time, they would come on big warhorses. I now had three knights to lead and they would all be riding war horses. Three of my men at arms also had warhorses. Edward rode the one captured from de Ferrers. If we fought their horsemen then it would be on a more even basis.

  It was two years since the meeting at Le Goulet. I wondered if the Comte de Senonche had chosen that date deliberately. Whatever the reason, when I saw the smoke rising in the east I knew that they had come and we went to the stables to gather our horses and lead them to the square. My people knew that we were going to war and I saw the men gathering their arms and preparing to go to the fighting platforms. None thought that we would lose but if an attack was coming from the east then it paid to be prepared and be ready to defend against a second attack.

  Once mounted we headed east. We did not use the same route we had before. I was gambling that Griff had been right and they were attacking over the bridge. It would make sense. The farms lay to the north of the river. If the French wished to hurt us they would attack there. My archers rode ahead of us. We had sixty mounted men. Sir William was at Le Lude already. I rode flanked by Sir Richard and Sir Henry. Neither knight had much experience of war and, as we rode, I told them how we would fight.

  “We ride boot to boot. You two should stay by my side. Edward and Ridley the Giant will flank you two. You can rely on them. We only use our lances and spea
rs for the initial attack. Even if your weapon remains whole discard it. Our aim is to break up their attack. Fótr carries the horn. If he sounds it twice and then continues to repeat the call you retreat.”

  “Will he not use the standard?”

  “Sir Richard, he will be behind us. You will not see it.”

  When we were just two miles from the bridge Thomas son of Tom rode towards us. He had been with Griff and David, “Lord they are come in great numbers. We counted fifty banners. We have ambushed their scouts and slowed them down. David of Wales sent our horses into the castle. He said to tell you that they will fall back inside the castle.” He looked up at the sun. “They will be inside by now, lord.”

  “Join the other archers. Remind Cedric Warbow that you guard our left flank.”

  As he rode off I said, “Fifty banners mean that they could have three or four hundred men. There will be fifty knights for us to fight. Do not worry about ransom. You survive and if that means killing then do so. This is no tourney.”

  The road passed very close to the river and we swept south towards the bridge. I saw the French. They were pouring from the woods. David and his archers were on the south bank of the river pouring arrows into the advancing French.

  “Form line!”

  We would charge in line. The line would be forty men wide. There would be a second rank of twenty men, including the squires. My archers had galloped off to the left and were preparing to rain death upon the French. They had horse holders. Cedric Warbow was no fool. If they were threatened they would mount and ford the river. Archers could do that. Mailed men could not.

  The French horse had stopped. There was little point in advancing to the bridge until their crossbows and men on foot had taken it. The men who advanced towards the bridge were on foot and marched behind shields. My archers aimed at the legs of the men. Sir William’s archers, inside the walls were adding their arrows to the storm of death. Inevitably the shielded snake crept closer to the bridge. There would come a point where they would cross and then David of Wales and my men would have to take shelter in the castle. There were too few of them to withstand an attack. Even as we hurried to their aid I saw Hamlin the Archer struck by a bolt. As the French gained the bridge I saw David of Wales wave his arm and they hurried to the safety of the castle. They had done all that I had asked and slowed down the attack.

  The French knights and mounted men at arms were still filtering through the woods and then forming up. We were less than four hundred paces from them and my other archers, led by Cedric Warbow, were now in position and sending their arrows towards the French.

  “We charge them! Keep together!”

  It might have seemed like madness to Sir Richard. This was the first time he had gone to war with me but it was a risk worth taking. If we hit them while they were still forming up we could break the back of their attack. We could not defeat them; there were too many but we could hurt them so that they did not have enough men to take Le Lude. Until I had more men not losing would count as a victory.

  I saw the French reacting to our attack. Their leader had a shield with a fleur de lys in the corner. He was related to King Philip. I saw the Comte de Senonche too. Would he fight? They saw how few men we had and the Comte waved his men forward. Thirty men on horses had emerged from the woods. There were another twenty men at arms on foot. It was a mistake for they were in no order at all.

  I lowered my spear when I was just forty paces from them. I rode at the knight with the fleur de lys. He had a lance and he charged at me. He had courage. His horse wore a caparison. The knight was wealthy. I rested my spear on Dragon’s neck. The French knight would strike first and I braced myself for the blow. Next to me Sir Henry would have no foe to fight for there was a gap. When we were twenty paces apart I pulled my spear back. I would slide it across my cantle. The wood would support my spear and I would have a cleaner strike. The French knight was aiming at my chest. As he punched, I leaned into my shield. The head of the lance shattered and it felt as though I had been kicked by a horse. I kept my saddle and lunged at his thigh. My spear head tore through his chausse and into his leg. It continued through to stab his horse. The head of the spear broke off pinning the leg to the horse. I let go of the broken spear and drew my sword. A knight was hurrying to the aid of the knight I had hurt. He tried to punch with his lance but I was able to avoid it for he did not have control over the weapon. I swung my sword across his unguarded middle. My blade was sharp and it came away streaked with blood.

  A man at arms ran at me. He held a pole axe. The weapon could hurt me and my horse. Jerking the head of Dragon to the right I took the blow on my shield. The shield began to crack. I stood in my stirrups and hacked through the man’s neck. We had done enough. I saw that more men were coming. I shouted, knowing that my squire would be behind me, “Fótr, sound fall back!” The horn sounded twice and then twice again. I pulled Dragon’s head around and slashed with my sword. My blind swing hit the shield of a mounted man at arms and afforded me the time to retire.

  I saw that my men had obeyed and were galloping towards Cedric Warbow and his archers. While we were fighting they were impotent. Now they could release with impunity. Their arrows soared over our heads. I heard cries as their arrows hit horses and men. I also saw empty saddles. Some men had fallen. I reined in next to Sir Henry. His spear was shattered, his sword was bloody and his helmet had a dent yet he was grinning. Sir Richard rode up and I saw that he too had a notched and bloody sword.

  “Form line. Cedric Warbow, slaughter them.” I took off my helmet. The cool air felt good.

  “Aye lord!”

  This was what my archers did best. Releasing from behind a line of horses their arrows would plunge down and decimate the French. They had the bridge but with a full garrison and nineteen extra archers they would have to suffer casualties to get any closer.

  Sir Richard said, “We just wait?”

  “Let our horses recover and allow our archers do what they do best: kill. If they threaten us we charge them again but I think they will look for a way out of this dilemma.”

  The Comte de Senonche had struck me, when I had met him, as a man best suited to politics and intrigue. Planning conspiracies and coups was more his forte than commanding on a battlefield. This was the third time I had fought him and I saw that he came to fight with one plan; when it went awry he was incapable of another. I had thwarted him twice before. I could read his mind. I had outwitted him and he could not see a way out of his predicament. I watched as he marshalled his remaining horsemen. He still had over eighty horsemen including thirty knights. He put them into a double line of forty men. He outnumbered us.

  The French were slow to organize and I shouted, “We wait. Cedric, when they charge I want you to send as many arrows over our horses as you can.”

  “Aye lord.”

  “When they are fifty paces from us we charge. We stay boot to boot. We ride in one line. Squires, you will be our reserve.”

  I saw the relief on Sir Henry and Sir Richard’s faces. Their squires were not yet ready to face mailed foes. We donned our helmets and my world narrowed to the slits through which I peered. Timing would be all. The French lumbered towards us. They would be hampered by the bodies of their dead. None lay before us. I intended to hit them as late as possible when our archers had weakened them.

  I saw the effect of our arrows as horses fell. The caparisons the horses wore did not deflect the arrows which plunged down and through them. The missiles rarely killed the beasts but they maddened them. They bucked and reared. They turned to snap at the nearest man or horse in their fury at the pain. Knights and men at arms were struck. Few were killed but the arrows would incapacitate them. They had a very loose line. It was time. “Charge!”

  Our horses would not be able to gallop but a wall of horseflesh would hit a line which was fragile at best. Cedric’s archers sent their arrows towards the rear of the French. I swung my sword at a man at arms who had arrows in his shield
and his shoulder. He tried to raise his shield but my sword bit through to the bone. His shield dropped and he pulled his reins around to flee. Sir Henry finished him off. The crack of our swords on the French mail and shields and the shouts and cries of the dying were deafening. I took a blow from a sword on my shield and Dragon’s head whipped around to bite at the French horse. As the horse reared I lunged and my sword struck the man at arms under his arm. When I saw the tip emerge from his neck I ripped it out. He fell, dead. The French needed no trumpet or horn. The survivors turned and fled. I looked around. This time we had lost none.

  We backed our horses back to our archers. I removed my helmet. We would wait once more but I was almost certain that the attack was over. The French knew how skilful my men were. As soon as darkness fell then the men on the bridge would be slaughtered by men at arms and archers who could use knives well. This time the horn did sound and the men on the bridge fell back. The retreat cost them another four men. They filtered back through the woods.

  “Cedric, mount and follow them discreetly. Make sure they head back to Chateau-sur-le-Loir.”

  “Aye lord.”

  “Edward, strip the dead and recover the wounded.”

  We held the field and I would take that as a victory. More French had left than we had killed but we had hurt them. We had bought more time. As I looked around I saw that I had lost men at arms. They were hard to replace. We would bury our dead and improve our defences. We would find more men to walk our walls and to fight our enemies. Some day King Philip would bring his army to squash this gnat which irritated him but that was another day and would be another battle.

  We stayed at Le Lude for the rest of the day and the night. We had much to do. We were about to burn the bodies when riders approached as the sun was setting. They were squires and they each led a horse. My archers had them covered with their bows but I did not sense any danger.