The Grail Quest 1 - Harlequin tgq-1

by Bernard Cornwell

  I don't care!“ she snapped. I shall sell everything if I have to, everything!” Except for her husband's armour and weapons. They were precious and would go to her son one day.

  Belas sighed for her foolishness, then huddled in his black cloak and leaned close to the small fire which spat in the hearth. A cold wind came from the nearby sea, making the chimney smoke. You will permit me, madame, to offer you advice? First, the business.“ Belas paused to wipe his nose on his long black sleeve. It ails, but I can find you a good man to run it as your father did, and I would draw up a contract which would ensure the man would pay you well from the profits. Second, madame, you should think of marriage.” He paused, half expecting a protest, but Jeanette said nothing. Belas sighed. She was so lovely! There were a dozen men in town who would marry her, but marriage to an aristocrat had turned her head and she would settle for nothing less than another titled man. You are, madame,“ the lawyer continued carefully, a widow who possesses, at the moment, a considerable fortune, but I have seen such fortunes drain away like snow in April. Find a man who can look after you, your possessions and your son.”

  Jeanette turned and stared at him. I married the finest man in Christendom,“ she said, and where do you think I will find another like him?”

  Men like the Count of Armorica, the lawyer thought, were found everywhere, more was the pity, for what were they but brute fools in armour who believed war was a sport? Jeanette, he thought, should marry a prudent merchant, perhaps a widower who had a fortune, but he suspected such advice would be wasted. Remember the old saying, my lady,“ he said slyly. Put a cat to watch a flock and the wolves eat well.”

  Jeanette shuddered with anger at the words. You go beyond yourself, Monsieur Belas." She spoke idly, then dismissed him, and the next day the English came to La Roche-Derrien and Jeanette took her dead husband's crossbow from the place where she hid her wealth and she joined the defenders on the walls. Damn Belas's advice! She would fight like a man and Duke Charles, who despised her, would learn to admire her, to support her and restore her dead husband's estates to her son.

  So Jeanette had become the Blackbird and the English had died in front of her walls and Belas's advice was forgotten, and now, Jeanette reckoned, the town's defenders had so rattled the English that the siege would surely be lifted. All would be well, in which belief, for the first time in a week, the Blackbird slept well. Thomas crouched beside the river. He had broken through a stand of alders to reach the bank where he now pulled off his boots and hose. Best to go barelegged, he reckoned, so the boots did not get stuck in the river mud. It was going to be cold, freezing cold, but he could not remember a time when he had been happier. He liked this life, and his memories of Hookton, Oxford and his father had almost faded.

  Take your boots off,“ he told the twenty archers who would accompany him, and hang your arrow bags round your necks.”

  Why?" someone challenged him from the dark.

  So it bloody throttles you," Thomas growled.

  So your arrows don't get wet," another man explained helpfully. Thomas tied his own bag round his neck. Archers did not carry the quivers that hunters used, for quivers were open at the top and their arrows could fall out when a man ran or stumbled or clam-bered through a hedge. Arrows in quivers got wet when it rained, and wet feathers made arrows fly crooked, so real archers used linen bags that were water-proofed with wax and sealed by laces. The bags were bolstered by withy frames that spread the linen so the feathers were not crushed.

  Will Skeat edged down the bank where a dozen men were stack-ing the hurdles. He shivered in the cold wind that came from the water. The sky to the east was still dark, but some light came from the watch fires that burned within La Roche-Derrien.

  They're nice and quiet in there," Skeat said, nodding towards the town.

  Pray they're sleeping," Thomas said.

  In beds too. I've forgotten what a bed's like,“ Skeat said, then edged aside to let another man through to the riverbank. Thomas was surprised to see it was Sir Simon Jekyll, who had been so scornful of him in the Earl's tent. Sir Simon,” Will Skeat said, barely bothering to disguise his own scorn, wants a word with thee." Sir Simon wrinkled his nose at the stench of the river mud. Much of it, he supposed, was the town's sewage and he was glad he was not wading barelegged through the muck.

  You are confident of passing the stakes?“ he asked Thomas. I wouldn't be going otherwise,” Thomas said, not bothering to sound respectful.

  Thomas's tone made Sir Simon bridle, but he controlled his tem-per. The Earl,“ he said distantly, has given me the honour of leading the attack on the walls.” He stopped abruptly and Thomas waited, expecting more, but Sir Simon merely looked at him with an irri-tated face. So Thomas takes the walls,“ Skeat finally spoke, to make it safe for your ladders?”

  What I do not want,“ Sir Simon ignored Skeat and spoke to Thomas, is for you to take your men ahead of mine into the town itself. We see armed men, we're likely to kill them, you understand?”

  Thomas almost spat in derision. His men would be armed with bows and no enemy carried a long-stave bow like the English so there was hardly any chance of being mistaken for the town's defenders, but he held his tongue. He just nodded.

  You and your archers can join our attack,“ Sir Simon went on, but you will be under my command.”

  Thomas nodded again and Sir Simon, irritated by the implied insolence, turned on his heel and walked away.

  Goddamn bastard," Thomas said.

  He just wants to get his nose into the trough ahead of the rest of us," Skeat said.

  You're letting the bastard use our ladders?“ Thomas asked. If he wants to be first up, let him. Ladders are green wood, Tom, and if they break I'd rather it was him tumbling than me. Besides, I reckon we'll be better off following you through the river, but I ain't telling Sir Simon that.” Skeat grinned, then swore as a crash sounded from the darkness south of the river. Those bloody white rats," Skeat said, and vanished into the shadows. The white rats were the Bretons loyal to Duke John, men who wore his badge of a white ermine, and some sixty Breton cross-bowmen had been attached to Skeat's soldiers, their job to rattle the walls with their bolts as the ladders were placed against the ramparts. It was those men who had startled the night with their noise and now the noise grew even louder. Some fool had tripped in the dark and thumped a crossbowman with a pavise, the huge shield behind which the crossbows were laboriously reloaded, and the crossbowman struck back, and suddenly the white rats were having a brawl in the dark. The defenders, naturally, heard them and started to hurl burning bales of straw over the ramparts and then a church bell began to toll, then another, and all this long before Thomas had even started across the mud.

  Sir Simon Jekyll, alarmed by the bells and the burning straw, shouted that the attack must go in now. Carry the ladders forward!" he bellowed. Defenders were running onto La Roche-Derrien's walls and the first crossbow bolts were spitting off the ramparts that were lit bright by the burning bales.

  Hold those goddamn ladders!“ Will Skeat snarled at his men, then looked at Thomas. What do you reckon?”

  I think the bastards are distracted,“ Thomas said. So you'll go?”

  Got nothing better to do, Will."

  Bloody white rats!"

  Thomas led his men onto the mud. The hurdles were some help, but not as much as he had hoped, so that they still slipped and struggled their way towards the great stakes and Thomas reckoned the noise they made was enough to wake King Arthur and his knights. But the defenders were making even more noise. Every church bell was clanging, a trumpet was screaming, men were shouting, dogs barking, cockerels were crowing, and the crossbows were creaking and banging as their cords were inched back and released.

  The walls loomed to Thomas's right. He wondered if the Blackbird was up there. He had seen her twice now and been captivated by the fierceness of her face and her wild black hair. A score of other archers had seen her too, and all of them men who could thread a
n arrow through a bracelet at a hundred paces, yet the woman still lived. Amazing, Thomas thought, what a pretty face could do. He threw down the last hurdle and so reached the wooden stakes, each one a whole tree trunk sunk into the mud. His men joined him and they heaved against the timber until the rotted wood split like straw. The stakes made a terrible noise as they fell, but it was drowned by the uproar in the town. Jake, the cross-eyed murderer from Exeter gaol, pulled himself alongside Thomas. To their right now was a wooden quay with a rough ladder at one end. Dawn was coming and a feeble, thin, grey light was seeping from the east to outline the bridge across the Jaudy. It was a handsome stone bridge with a barbican at its further end, and Thomas feared the garrison of that tower might see them, but no one called an alarm and no crossbow bolts thumped across the river.

  Thomas and Jake were first up the quay ladder, then came Sam, the youngest of Skeat's archers. The wooden landing stage served a timberyard and a dog began barking frantically among the stacked trunks, but Sam slipped into the blackness with his knife and the barking suddenly stopped. Good doggy,“ Sam said as he came back. String your bows,” Thomas said. He had looped the hemp cord onto his own black weapon and now untied the laces of his arrow bag

  I hate bloody dogs,“ Sam said. One bit my mother when she was pregnant with me.”

  That's why you're daft," Jake said.

  Shut your goddamn faces,“ Thomas ordered. More archers were climbing the quay, which was swaying alarmingly, but he could see that the walls he was supposed to capture were thick with defenders now. English arrows, their white goose feathers bright in the flamelight of the defenders” fires, flickered over the wall and thumped into the town's thatched roofs. Maybe we should open the south gate," Thomas suggested.

  Go through the town?" Jake asked in alarm.

  It's a small town," Thomas said.

  You're mad," Jake said, but he was grinning and he meant the words as a compliment.

  I'm going anyway," Thomas said. It would be dark in the streets and their long bows would be hidden. He reckoned it would be safe enough.

  A dozen men followed Thomas while the rest started plundering the nearer buildings. More and more men were coming through the broken stakes now as Will Skeat sent them down the riverbank rather than wait for the wall to be captured. The defenders had seen the men in the mud and were shooting down from the end of the town wall, but the first attackers were already loose in the streets.

  Thomas blundered through the town. It was pitch-black in the alleys and hard to tell where he was going, though by climbing the hill on which the town was built he reckoned he must eventually go over the summit and so down to the southern gate. Men ran past him, but no one could see that he and his companions were English. The church bells were deafening. Children were crying, dogs howling, gulls screaming, and the noise was making Thomas terrified. This was a daft idea, he thought. Maybe Sir Simon had already climbed the walls? Maybe he was wasting his time? Yet white-feathered arrows still thumped into the town roofs, suggesting the walls were untaken, and so he forced himself to keep

  going. Twice he found himself in a blind alley and the second time, doubling back into a wider street, he almost ran into a priest who had come from his church to fix a flaming torch in a wall bracket. Go to the ramparts!" the priest said sternly, then saw the long bows in the men's hands and opened his mouth to shout the alarm. He never had time to shout for Thomas's bow stave slammed point-first into his belly. He bent over, gasping, and Jake casually slit his throat. The priest gurgled as he sank to the cobbles and Jake frowned when the noise stopped.

  I'll go to hell for that," he said.

  You're going to hell anyway,“ Sam said, we all are.” We're all going to heaven,“ Thomas said, but not if we dawdle.” He suddenly felt much less frightened, as though the priest's death had taken his fear. An arrow struck the church tower and dropped into the alley as Thomas led his men past the church and found himself on La Roche-Derrien's main street, which dropped down to where a watch fire burned by the southern gate. Thomas shrank back into the alley beside the church, for the street was thick with men, but they were all running to the threatened side of the town, and when Thomas next looked the hill was empty. He could only see two sentinels on the ramparts above the gate arch. He told his men about the two sentries.

  They're going to be scared as hell,“ he said. We kill the bastards and open the gate.”

  There might be others,“ Sam said. There'll be a guard house.” Then kill them too,“ Thomas said. Now, come on!” They stepped into the street, ran down a few yards and there drew their bows. The arrows flew and the two guards on the arch fell. A man stepped out of the guard house built into the gate turret and gawped at the archers, but before any could draw their bows he stepped back inside and barred the door.

  It's ours!" Thomas shouted, and led his men in a wild rush to the arch.

  The guard house stayed locked so there was no one to stop the archers from lifting the bar and pushing open the two great gates. The Earl's men saw the gates open, saw the English archers outlined against the watch fire and gave a great roar from the darkness that told Thomas a torrent of vengeful troops was coming towards him. Which meant La Roche-Derrien's time of weeping could begin. For the English had taken the town.

  Jeanette woke to a church bell ringing as though it was the world's doom when the dead were rising from their graves and the gates of hell were yawning wide for sinners. Her first instinct was to cross to her son's bed, but little Charles was safe. She could just see his eyes in the dark that was scarcely alleviated by the glowing embers of the fire.

  Mama?" he cried, reaching up to her.

  Quiet," she hushed the boy, then ran to throw open the shutters. A faint grey light showed above the eastern roofs, then steps sounded in the street and she leaned from the window to see men running from their houses with swords, crossbows and spears. A trumpet was calling from the town centre, then more church bells began tolling the alarm into a dying night. The bell of the church of the Virgin was cracked and made a harsh, anvil-like noise that was all the more terrifying.

  Madame!“ a servant cried as she ran into the room. The English must be attacking.” Jeanette forced herself to speak calmly. She was wearing nothing but a linen shift and was suddenly cold. She snatched up a cloak, tied it about her neck, then, took her son into her arms. You will be all right, Charles,“ she tried to console him. The English are attacking again, that is all.” Except she was not sure. The bells were sounding so wild. It was not the measured tolling that was the usual signal of attack, but a panicked clangour as though the men hauling the ropes were trying to repel an attack by their own efforts. She looked from the window again and saw the English arrows Hitting across the roofs. She could hear them thumping into the thatch. The children of the town thought it was a fine sport to retrieve the enemy arrows and two had injured themselves sliding from the roofs. Jeanette thought about getting dressed, but decided she must find out what was happening first so she gave Charles to the servant, then ran down-stairs. One of the kitchen servants met her at the back door. What's happening, madame?"

  Another attack, that is all."

  She unbarred the door to the yard, then ran to the private entrance to Renan's church just as an arrow struck the church tower and clattered down into the yard. She pulled open the tower door, then groped up the steep ladders that her father had built. It had not been mere piety that had inspired Louis Halevy to construct the tower, but also the opportunity to look down-river to see if his boats were approaching, and the high stone parapet offered one of the best views in La Roche-Derrien. Jeanette was deafened by the church bell that swung in the gloom, each clapper stroke thumping her ears like a physical blow She climbed past the bell, pushed open the trapdoor at the top of the ladders and clambered onto the leads.

  The English had come. She could see a torrent of men flowing about the river edge of the wall. They waded through the mud and swarmed over the broken stakes like a t
orrent of rats. Sweet Mother of Christ, she thought, sweet Mother of Christ, but they were in the town! She hurried down the ladders. They're here!“ she called to the priest who hauled the bell rope. They're in the town!” Havoc! Havoc!" the English shouted, the call that encouraged them to plunder.

  Jeanette ran across the yard and up the stairs. She pulled her clothes from the cupboard, then turned when the voices shouted havoc beneath her window. She forgot her clothes and took Charles back into her arms. Mother of God,“ she prayed, look after us now, look after us. Sweet Mother of God, keep us safe.” She wept, not knowing what to do. Charles cried because she was holding him too tight and she tried to soothe him. Cheers sounded in the street and she ran back to the window and saw what looked like a dark river studded with steel flowing towards the town centre. She col-lapsed by the window, sobbing. Charles was screaming. Two more servants were in the room, somehow thinking that Jeanette could shelter them, but there was no shelter now. The English had come. One of the servants shot the bolt on the bedroom door, but what good would that do?

  Jeanette thought of her husband's hidden weapons and of the Spanish sword's sharp edge, and wondered if she would have the courage to place the point against her breast and heave her body onto the blade. It would be better to die than be dishonoured, she thought, but then what would happen to her son? She wept helplessly, then heard someone beating on the big gate which led to her courtyard. An axe, she supposed, and she listened to its crunching blows that seemed to shake the whole house. A woman screamed in the town, then another, and the English voices cheered rampantly. One by one the church bells fell silent until only the cracked bell hammered its fear across the roofs. The axe still bit at the door. Would they recognize her, she wondered. She had exulted in standing on the ramparts, shooting her husband's crossbow at the besiegers, and her right shoulder was bruised because of it, but she had welcomed the pain, believing that every bolt fired made it less likely that the English would break into the town. No one had thought they could. And why besiege La Roche-Derrien anyway? It had nothing to offer. As a port it was almost useless, for the largest ships could not make it up the river even at the top of the tide. The English, the townspeople had believed, were making a petulant demonstration and would soon give up and slink away.