by Griff Hosker
“Does the Lady Matilda know them?”
“Aye lord. Ralph told me that she wept when she saw their pitiable condition. Ralph is a kind man and he kept them in the warrior hall while we campaigned.” I looked at him. He knew the question in my eyes. Had their experience made them resentful? Were they still fit enough to be men at arms? “They are good men lord. One was the sergeant at arms. John of Bolton had served old Sir Henry all of his life. His wife died when Lord Hugh came. He has nothing save Lady Matilda. I think they came here to look after her as much as anything.”
I nodded, “And when my son becomes Lord of Seamer then he will need men at arms. I will go with you and see them.”
We went to the warrior hall. The rest of my men were busy for the campaign in Scotland had necessitated repairs to war gear and the coin they had accrued needed to be spent. They were the only four in the hall. They rose when I entered. “I am the Earl of Cleveland. Henry tells me that you wish to serve me. I would hear it from your lips.”
I knew that the one who spoke was John of Bolton for he had grey hairs in his beard, “Aye lord we would serve you and your son for we hear that he is to marry Lady Matilda.” I nodded. “We swore an oath to Sir Henry. We did not break the oath but thanks to the treachery of another we were unable to fulfil it. We would like the opportunity to do so.”
“Then we will fit you out as my men at arms. Henry will find you the surcoats and war gear for I believe you lost yours.” They nodded. “I will speak with my son but I am certain that he would wish his future wife’s protectors with him at Seamer.”
Before I could leave John of Bolton said, “There is one thing you ought to know, lord, there were men who served Sir Hugh who escaped. There were twelve of them. They made a camp in the forest close to us. A month back a young knight and his squire came and the whole band headed south. We thought you should know for we heard them talking and they wish you ill.”
“The knight, did you see a device?”
“No, lord, just his spurs. He was young and he spoke little.”
As I headed back to the hall my head was buzzing. It felt like I had a wasp’s nest in my head. I had so much information in my brain and it was as though there was a battle going on. Fighting a campaign was child’s play compared with managing a manor! Alfred, William and the King were laughing when I entered the Great Hall. The three of them seemed to get on well. They looked up as I entered. Alfred said, “The King was just telling us of his council. They sound like pompous men!”
“Aye but until the King here attains his majority then they wield the power in England. The death of William Marshal handed that to them.” The humour left the King’s face. “They have sent letters demanding that you return to London, your majesty.”
I saw him chew his lip and then look at Alfred, “I am King and I will attend my friend’s wedding. Then we shall return to London!”
“Well done my lord!” Alfred clapped the King around the shoulders.
“Perhaps you should send a letter to your Council eh, King Henry? I am sending riders with my letters on the morrow. My clerk, Leofric, will write them for you if you wish.” He brightened and nodded. “William take the King to Leofric.”
“Aye father. Come my lord. Leofric is like a hermit. He inhabits the north east tower. He says he likes the sunrise!”
When he had gone I spoke to Alfred about the men at arms. “Of course. I will be needing men at arms and archers.” He looked at me hopefully.
I smiled, “The manor alone is not enough? Now you want my men too!” I said it playfully.
“Not your best men, of course.”
“Make a list of the ones you would like but Seamer is not as rich as Stockton.”
“I have a chest of coin. Following my father’s banner has brought me riches. I will make Seamer richer.”
I admired his confidence but knew that his manor was not on the river and he would not have the trade he needed. I would not see him go short. If Stockton prospered then so would my son for he and William were my legacy for the future.
While the women prepared for the wedding which would be in just over a month’s time I rode with the King and Alfred to survey the valley and for the King to meet the lords who lived there. Not all were warriors. When I had been exiled men had been given manors and farms by the King. Not all had been to war but they were, at least, loyal now to me. I knew that when I took my warriors knights away there were lords who could call up the fyrd and protect the land from unforeseen danger. I smiled when King Henry met such lords. He thought that they should all wield a sword and fight. I was impressed with Alfred. He spoke to the King with ease and it was the same manner he used with those who worked the land. His impending marriage had changed him. He was no longer the headstrong young knight who had happily clambered through a cave. He thought of the future and a life beyond Stockton.
As December approached the weather began to bite. Tam the Hawker came to me, “Lord it will be a hard winter. We should hunt the animals and cull the weaker ones. It will help the rest to survive.”
“Do we have food to put out for them?”
“Not as much as we normally do. It is the deer who will suffer. The wild boars survive come what may.”
“You think it will be a wolf winter?”
“Aye lord! They will come down from the high divide.”
“Then we will hunt. Where do you think best?”
“The woods north of Hartburn. The farmers have cleared Hartburn woods for the deer and the pigs were eating their crops. The herds all headed to Elton.”
I nodded, “And until Sir Geoffrey is there will be no hunting. I will tell my lords and we will ride seven days from now.”
“It would not do to delay, lord.” He knew his animals and he knew my lands.
The King and William were excited. I was worried. Tam had explained that there were a number of older animals which needed culling and two of them were old stags. One had a peculiarly shaped black horn. The men called it the black stag. Tam had told me that he had been trying to kill it for some years. It hurt stronger stags and thereby weakened the herds. This was our chance but a rogue stag was not to be contemplated lightly. I saw Alan the horse master. We needed horses which could hunt. These were smaller and more nimble beasts. They would be intelligent. That was fine for an experienced horseman like myself or Alfred but the King and William had only hunted before in highly controlled conditions.
I took Sir Richard and my son, Alfred, to one side the day before we hunted. “Sir William and I are experienced hunters. Tam and Alan will be with us and they are good with a spear. I intend to take David of Wales and Cedric Warbow. You two must ensure that William and the King come to no harm.” I made sure that I looked in their eyes. “We are culling animals. There is no glory in this.”
Alfred smiled, “We will do as you say, father, but the King and William need to face danger here with a simple animal and then they can face danger on the battlefield.”
My son had no children of his own. When he did then his attitude would change.
The women barely noticed our preparations. All was about the clothes and the flowers. Despite the fact that it would be winter they were determined to have flowers. Plants were dug up and placed in pots before being brought into the castle. Evergreens would be used to give colour to the chapel. I did not understand why they fussed so. The important part would be the vows. Sir Geoffrey was vacating his Durham manor and bringing down his people to Elton a week before the wedding. He would not give up the manor. Another would farm it and give half of the profits to Sir Geoffrey. He would still owe service to the Bishop and to me.
We took bows as well as spears. The King and Sir Richard just had spears. They had not been taught to use a bow. I think both thought the weapon beneath them. Captain Dick’s legacy meant that we all recognised the virtue of the bow. Of course, none of us would be able to send an arrow as far as those who used one every day and had been trained from an early age to
use one but we could still use them for hunting.
We rode first to Hartburn and then headed west towards Elton. The manor house at Elton had long fallen into disrepair. Tares and weeds sprouted in what had been the herb garden. My daughter and her husband would have much work to do but Rebekah knew the problems and my wife had told me that our daughter was looking forward to making the house what she wanted. The woods were at Coatham although there was a line of trees from Hartburn which allowed the deer to wander between them.
Tam took us to a path which would bring their smell to us although he knew where they would gather. There was a beck which meandered through the wood and there were still green leaves and berries there. The folk of Hartburn had stripped Hartburn’s bushes already. Our people did not need the Charter of the Forests to forage. We had servants and spare horses. We left them in an open area close to the game trail. David of Wales and Cedric followed Alfred and me. The King, William and Sir Richard followed behind the rest of us. We headed down the trail until Tam dropped to his knees and began to examine the ground. He held some dung to his nose and sniffed it. He unslung his bow. Alfred and I did the same. Our squires held our spears. The arrows we used were barbed. If we were lucky then the animals would be dropped quickly but it was more likely that it might take a couple of arrows especially for the wiry black horned stag. I nocked an arrow and held the bow and arrow in two hands. I concentrated on putting my feet where Tam had placed his for we had left the path and were now heading down a slope. It was leaf covered and slippery.
The herd had left a clear trail and even I could see it. Tam’s skill was in knowing exactly where they would be found. We seemed to travel a long way until Tam held up his hand and we repeated the signal down the line. He pointed and I saw, in the distance the herd. I say herd but there looked to be two: a larger one and a smaller one. The ground had flattened out and the two herds were munching the bushes over a three hundred paces stretch. Tam made a circling signal. As Alfred and I stepped closer to him I waved for the rest to come forward. This would be the tricky time. William and the King would be eager to see the animals and one hurried and hasty move could prove disastrous. Fortunately, they managed to reach us without incident.
When Tam was satisfied he set off down the slope. We would not be hunting the young or the mighty stag with the huge antlers. The healthy females would be left alone too. The old and those with an injury were our prey. Tam headed towards the smaller herd. I recognised the black antlered stag. With him dead the healthy females would join the other herd. I could smell the deer now. Every so often one of the males would lift its head and sniff. They would not smell us. The breeze was in the wrong direction. Our movements down the slope were painfully slow. There were trees and their trunks between us and the animals. Tam was trying to get us as close as we could to them. As we descended I saw that one of the females favoured a hind leg. She would need to be culled. There was an older one too which moved more slowly than the rest and there was another who was thinner than any of the others. They would be the ones we would hunt. Once they and the black antlered stag were dead we would follow the herd and pick off the slower ones. It would make the rest of the herd stronger. If Tam was right and this was a wolf winter then they would need to be as strong as possible.
We were fifty paces from them when Tam stopped. He turned to look at me and nod. I pulled back my arrow. We had seven arrows ready to fly into our targets. The three we would choose and the black antlered deer were close enough. Even as we pulled back ready to release fate intervened. As the arrows flew the stag moved behind a doe. When our arrows slammed into the three targets the two arrows aimed at the stag missed. The herd fled. They raced upstream. The other herd were also spooked. They could not smell us and they followed the other herd. This was an unfortunate turn of events. Two of the deer we had hit ran with the others. They would fall but not straight away. It became a disaster when the black antlered deer ran directly at us. Poor Tam tried the almost impossible he sent an arrow at the stag’s head. It was moving so quickly and it was hurried. The arrow cracked off the antler and Tam hurled himself from the path of the deadly beast. Alfred and I each sent an arrow towards it and both hit it but neither was mortal. The animal came for me. I was aware that the King and William were behind me. I threw my bow to the ground and began to draw my sword. I was too close to the stag and its bloodied shoulder threw me to the ground before my sword was clear.
I lay on the ground and saw the stag turn to run at the King. He was transfixed. David of Wales and Cedric Warbow sent arrows into the animal but it still came on. William ran to his side and braced a spear on the ground. Sir Richard did the same. It was inevitable that the stag would hit them. Then Alfred ran from the side and swinging his sword two handed hacked through the hind leg of the stag. It was a maddened beast which flailed its strange antlers from side to side but a deer cannot run on three legs. David of Wales and Cedric Warbow sent two more arrows into the animal and it began to fall. William and Sir Richard plunged their spears into the neck of the stag and it fell at the King’s feet. The King’s spear was still in his shaking hands.
Tam raised me to my feet. “I am sorry, lord.”
“It was an accident and could not be helped. We are lucky that my son had such quick reactions. Thank you, Alfred!”
He was cleaning his sword and he waved a hand, “I could not allow my little brother and the King of England die. We did not cull as many as we should have.”
David of Wales was already gutting the animals. From his voice I knew that he felt guilty about not bringing down the stag. “With your permission, lord, I will bring my archers out with Tam. We will cull the herds for you. This is better than practice at the butts.”
Sir William of Hartburn nodded, “He is right, lord. I was sure that the King would die!”
I looked at the King and a shaken Sir Richard, “Are you alright, your majesty?”
“I thought I would die. I could not move my feet.”
I pointed at my son, William. He had his sword drawn. “My son knew that he had to defend himself. If you are in danger then draw your weapon. William why did you not run?”
“The King had to be defended. Did you run at Arsuf, father, or did you not guard your father’s body?”
“Sir Alfred you have saved the life of England’s King. I swear that if you ever have need of my help you shall have it!” The King grasped Alfred’s right hand in his two.
Alfred shrugged, “My liege it was an honour to save you and I have a tale to tell men which might rival that of Arsuf! The knight and the black antlered stag!” My son was modest. Many would have sought advantage from the King but not my son. I was even more proud of him.
The rest of the King’s stay was peaceful although he spent every day with William, Sir Richard and Sir Alfred. They practised. He needed to become a swordsman. The King knew his deficiencies. This was the winter when men hunkered down and contemplated spring but the King had not yet reached his spring and knew that the encounter with the stag had been a warning that he was not yet ready to face men who would try to kill him. The practice allowed me to complete the duties as lord of the manor which I had neglected. I would have to return to London with the King and the valley would be without a lord of the manor. The days seemed to fly by for we had two weddings. When Sir Geoffrey arrived, we went with every man at arms and archer to clear the land at Elton. It was winter but the snow and ice had yet to make the ground unworkable. In the week before the wedding we did the hard part. We dug out the foundations and embedded the mighty beams which would hold up the walls of the hall. The mortar mix would take a week to set properly. After the wedding Sir Geoffrey would be able to build the rest of the hall no matter what the weather. All that we had done was to make the outline of the four walls. What went on within would be my daughter’s choice.
My archers were successful and we had plenty of meat for the feast. They had even managed to hunt a young boar. I preferred the taste. For the fi
rst time I could remember the Christmas celebration was almost an afterthought for the weddings the next day were the time when we would really feast. My wife shed a tear at the wedding. Nanna and the two girls, Anya and Brigid, wept tears of joy. I was just happy for the young people. They had their lives and their futures ahead of them. I envied them that.
Both couples would live in my hall for a month although the two knights had their men working on their manors during that time. The King was growing restless by the time it was the end of January and we were preparing to leave for London when a rider rode in from York. He handed me two letters and gave one to the King.
“My lord the Welsh have attacked Pembroke. William Marshal is besieged and sends to you for help.”
I tore open the letters as did the King. I was ordered, by the Council, to take the King to London and then to march to the aid of the Earl of Pembroke. The King held his letter. “They wish me to go to London while you fight the Welsh.”
“We will leave on the morrow!”
“No, Earl for it will take days to summon your knights and it is your knights and men at arms we will need.”
“We, my liege?”
“Pembroke is part of my realm. The Earl Marshal made it his home. I will send a letter to the Council and I will tell them that I accompany my Earl General to Wales. I will not fight but I will watch and I know that I will learn!”
And so we gathered men and wagons, tents and supplies for the ride to Wales. The King would be fighting his first real war.
Chapter 11
The Welsh Plot
I would not leave my land denuded of warriors. I would take Sir Edward and Sir Peter. I asked the Bishop and the Sheriff of York to watch over my land. I had, in addition, Sir Fótr, Sir Alfred, Sir William and Sir Geoffrey. I had the best men at arms and archers in the land. I sent letters to London and York and then we set off for Chester. The King, although young, had shown that he had a quick mind. We could save almost three weeks by riding south and west. More importantly we could pick up good warriors along the way. The Earl of Chester and the men of Chester knew how to fight the Welsh. Gilbert de Clare was Earl of Glamorgan and he too was a powerful lord. This war would not be won by the fyrd or even a muster of border lords. We would have to use a small army made up of the best of warriors. These would be men who knew how to fight the Welsh. Chester and Glamorgan knew how to do that. William Marshal could defend and he would do until we arrived. The King was correct. Speed was of the essence.