King Henry IV

by Griff Hosker

  “Thomas, collect the weapons and bring them here.”

  I turned my gaze to the east and saw that Edgar had his nine men at arms in a thin line. It did not look much but once Alan of the Woods brought his nine archers it would be. We were bait. I saw horsemen forming up outside Haddington. I knew how long it took to arm. They would not leave for a short while. My archers drove the animals to the top of the mound. There were few of them and they would not move. They had grazing.

  Alan shouted to his archers, “Form up behind Captain Edgar.” He turned to me, “Most of the villagers stopped when they saw us and left their animals. They have fled back down to the village.”

  I nodded, “We have time yet. Have four of your archers go to the horses and bring them up. The ditches were not the obstacle I thought they would be.”

  Thomas and I watched the horsemen from Haddington as they moved slowly west. Thomas said, “Can we hold them? There look to be almost a hundred of them.”

  “More like a hundred and ten.” I had seen four banners but only twenty or so mounted men. The rest were on foot. The men on foot were running to keep up with the horses but they would take at least half an hour to reach us. “Sir George will bring the men from the south-west to attack their flank. We just have to hold them. We can do that!”

  I saw that Sir George and his men had finished with the village. He had brought men on foot who would occupy it and clear all of value. The sheep and cattle were with us but the villagers would have left fowl, sacks of grain, beans, pots and all sorts of other goods which the Earl could distribute amongst his people. It would keep them loyal!

  “Thomas, unfurl the banner and plant it on the top of the hill. That should annoy the Scots and when they see so few of us it will encourage them to come to teach us a lesson!”

  I heard the horses as they were brought up. The men who had been watching them could now be put to better use. I would have two squires to watch my back too. Both Thomas and Harry had long spears. We had not brought lances. I was still an old-fashioned knight and I would use my sword. I missed having a shield but I accepted that it was unnecessary. When arrows flew, however, I still raised my left hand. It had been ingrained into me by Peter the Priest and Red Ralph. Such lessons were hard to forget.

  The Scots were approaching the bottom of the hill. They were strung out over, perhaps, half a mile. When the four knights dismounted their squires held their horses. The sergeants dismounted and I saw a leader, I guessed it was the cousin of Lord Douglas, begin to form them up. They might be keen to get at us but the Scots would need their archers and crossbows to enable them to close with us. The mob on foot would merely add to their numbers. It was the thirty men who formed up who would make the attack. The twenty-odd archers and crossbows were chivvied into line and then they began to ascend. One of the squires carried a standard. The blue and white banner with the rampant lions and hearts was the sign of the Douglas clan. As they ascended, I had time to assess their fighting potential. The four knights all carried war hammers. The Scots like the weapon. The men at arms carried pikes and spears. I heard Captain Alan tell his archers, “War arrows and we take out the archers and crossbows. They are releasing uphill and we will have the range. Listen for my command and be ready to switch to heavy war bodkins. These knights wear plate. We can recover any heads after the skirmish.”

  I smiled for my men were totally confident that despite the odds we would win. I would not need to give the command for Alan knew what he was doing. He would release when the men with crossbows knelt. You did not use a crossbow standing up; it was a waste of a bolt. It was one of the many weakness of using a crossbow in the field. They were intended for use behind walls where they were a more useful weapon. The ill-armed men of Haddington had now reached the foot of the hill and were ascending. The Scots stopped when they were one hundred and eighty paces from us. Their bows were not the longbows my men used. They were a shorter warbow more akin to a hunting bow. We were close enough for me to see the heads on the bows. They were war arrows. As the men knelt Alan shouted, “Draw!” then “Loose!” He would not give a second command. Each archer would nock, draw and release in his own time. They were all masters of their craft. Six crossbowmen and an archer fell with the first shower of flights. I heard arrows and bolts clang off the mail and plate of my men at arms. Each of them had a breastplate. Our wars and battles had enabled us to take them from captured and dead knights. A second flight finished off the crossbows for the three survivors ran.

  The Douglas knight who led the Scots realised that he had to close with us as quickly as possible. The squire with the standard took a horn and gave three blasts and they ran up the hill.

  It was time for the three of us to join our men. “Come, let us join our men at arms. Remember to stay behind me and protect our backs. Use your spears over our shoulders.” We made our way down. “Coming through!”

  My archers parted and Edgar and Natty Longjack parted to let me in. Edgar spat, “They would have been better giving those crossbowmen a spear. They would have been of more use.” The Scottish archers were still loosing and they showed that they had skill for one sent an arrow into the left arm of Ulf the Swede. The huge man grunted. The Scots would pay for the wound. It would not impair him for his left arm merely supported the pike he was holding.

  The Douglas knight came for me. I had heard of a Douglas called, James, and Sir George had called this one, Jamie. He was a younger member of the family whose strongholds were in Annandale and the west. Perhaps he came here to make a name for himself for it explained his reckless charge up the hill. Running uphill in plate sapped energy not only from legs but, strangely, from arms too. He came directly for me as I was the one with the lord’s coat of arms and I had squires. The other knights had boars’ snout basinets and they flanked their lord. Edgar and Natty, along with my other sergeants, would deal with them. Some of the men who followed the four lords were patently unfit or, perhaps a little nervous for Alan and his archers had switched to bodkins and four sergeants lay writhing on the ground with arrows protruding from their mail hauberks. I ignored everything else as the war hammer swept from behind Douglas to strike me in the chest. If it had connected then I would have had a mortal wound. However, it was easy enough to take a step back up the hill. The beak of the hammer embedded itself in the ground. I stepped forward and brought my sword over to smash into his right shoulder. He wore plate, a mail hauberk and a jupon but my sword was like an iron bar and the blow was delivered from above. I thought I heard a crack and then there was a feral scream. I had broken a bone. I swung my left leg sideways and it connected behind his right knee. He dropped to the ground and my sword was at his throat in a flash.

  “Yield, Douglas, for you cannot raise your weapon.”

  I saw him glance to the side as Edgar hacked into the helmet of the knight next to him. The knight fell backwards and Lord Jamie Douglas nodded, “I yield!”

  His squire still held the standard aloft, “Louder!”

  “I yield!”

  The standard came down and the Scots stopped fighting. It was too late for ten of the men coming up the hill who were caught by the men of Dunbarre as the Earl of March charged into their flank.

  I turned to see if any other than Ulf had been hurt, they had not. Already my sergeant’s comrades were tending to his wound. Alan of the Woods and his men were scouring the field for arrows and flights. I slipped my coif from around my head. The knight who had surrendered was helped to his feet by his squire. He scowled at me. “My uncle, the Lord Douglas, will have your head for this.”

  I smiled, “He may try but only after he pays the ransom and, as you are a close relative, it should be substantial. I fear that your days of fighting well are long gone. Captain Edgar, see to this knight until the Earl’s healers arrive.” My men knew how to stop bleeding and clean a wound but not mend a broken bone. The knight would not die. My men knew that they would share in the ransom. “Thomas and Harry, fetch those horses before
the Earl’s men think to get them.”

  The men of Dunbarre were chasing the survivors of the Scottish attack back to Haddington. We had taken the risk and we would reap the reward.

  Chapter 8

  We were so close to the Earl’s castle that we headed back as soon as we saw him return from his pursuit of the enemy at Haddington. He and his men led ten horses. They had captured mail, plate and weapons but the only knights for ransom had been taken by my men. We were already approaching Dunbarre when he caught up with us.

  “You did well, Strongstaff. James Douglas has won tournaments in Burgundy.”

  I shrugged, “I have never yet fought in a tournament.”

  “You should, you would do well.”

  I nodded but I would not take part for it meant travelling around France, Germany and Burgundy. My family and my men were more important than the money I would make.

  We sent Douglas’ squire for the ransom the next day. It would take some time for he had to reach the west coast. Already Sir George was planning his next raid. “We attack Musselburgh! There is no castle besides which the port is filled with the ships which are waiting to get into Leith. We will be close to Edinburgh but I hope that Percy draws that garrison towards him. When that is done, we will mop up the smaller manors and your work will be done.”

  I was seated with Sir George and I spoke to him quietly, “My lord, what is your purpose in all of this?” He gave me a strange look as though I was speaking a foreign language and so I elaborated. “You are a Scottish lord from a noble family yet you fight against your own country.”

  “I do not fight against my King. I am a loyal Scotsman but my honour and that of my family has been impugned. I fight Douglas. When he stopped my daughter marrying the heir to the throne so that his son could do so, I knew I had to do something to stop this monster taking over my country. He has ambitions to be King or for his sons, at least, to rule. This is a drastic move I grant you but in the long run, Douglas will be defeated and Scotland will be stronger. I am old, Strongstaff. I do not do this for me but for my children! I wish them to have a Scotland which is ruled by their kings and not by a self-serving noble who cares not for his own land.”

  I nodded for I understood him. I had felt the same about de Vere when he had wormed his way into King Richard’s life. I also began to wonder at Percy’s motives. Could he be doing the same thing? We did not ride for a few days. The horses needed recovery time and some of Sir George’s men had hurts. During the time that elapsed, we heard that Henry Percy had also had success further south. The Scots in Edinburgh had withdrawn behind their walls and were watching for our next move. I now saw the cleverness of Sir George’s strategy. I had wondered at the two-pronged assault but now it made sense to me. Perhaps the squire who was heading for Annandale would bring back Lord Douglas and his army. That would be the only way to stop us. We did not have vast numbers of men but the ones we had were professionals. Our archers and men at arms were superior to anything the Scots had. Their knights were good but no better than us. They could stop the two raids but only by bringing greater numbers than we had and this was coming up to harvest time and their men were working in the fields.

  Musselburgh was north of Haddington and east of Edinburgh. They must have expected some sort of attack but what they did not know was the direction nor the timing. The Earl of March was a wily old campaigner. He had been the cause of the defeat of the English at Otterburn fourteen years earlier. We left Dunbarre as the sun was setting and headed for the small port. It was really a large fishing town but it had been made a burgh before Edinburgh and was prosperous. As it was just five miles from the centre of Edinburgh it would frighten the burghers of that town.

  We reached the outskirts of Musselburgh while it was still dark. Sir George had sent men to silence the dogs and to secure the main roads into the town. There were three roads into the town. An east-west road ran through it and crossed the River Esk. A third road, the one we used, came from the south and joined it close to the bridge. The plan was a simple one: one-third of our men would approach the town from the east while the rest would ride up the road which joined the east-west road. I would lead my men to take the bridge and to secure the road from Edinburgh. Essentially, we would be doing what we had done at Traprain Law. Earl George would take the town and, after emptying the ships, burn them. As we followed the Scottish scouts, Thomas spoke, “We seem to be given the harder task, father. If we take the bridge then any reinforcements from Edinburgh will attack us.”

  “You are wrong son for ours is the easier task. The Earl and his men will know not who is a warrior and who is a civilian. I would not do what he does. I have never minded fighting and killing a soldier for I am one and it is what we are paid to do. But killing honest men who are just defending their land has never sat well with me. The men who try to shift us will be knights and men at arms.”

  Behind me, Captain Edgar said, “Besides, Master Thomas, there is more profit from knights than burghers and your father harvests knights like farmers scythe barley and oats!” I heard my men at arms chuckle.

  This time we knew that the alarm would be given. The two recent attacks from ourselves and Percy meant that the Scots were alerted and kept guards, even at night. We were less than half a mile from the bridge when there was a cry in the night. I spurred Hart as I shouted, “Strongstaff! With me!”

  Sir George would know what I was doing and the men before us parted as we galloped down the road. I was holding a spear, rather than a lance. I rode with Edgar next to me and Stephen of Stockton and Mark the Minstrel rode behind us. As it was not yet dawn, the archers and my two squires brought up the rear. Ahead of me, I heard the cries of alarm and I saw torches at the bridge. This time I was wearing my helmet. I couched my lance and lowered my head but I still missed my shield for I liked the extra protection it afforded. There were mailed men waiting on the bridge. The light from the torches flickered off their helmets and spear but I also saw men kneeling down. They were crossbowmen and a crossbow could hurt the horses of my men at arms. My horse had a cloth caparison and a metal plate between her eyes but a bolt could easily penetrate the cloth. I dug in my spurs. Our best tactic was to terrify the men on the bridge with the speed of our horses and the thundering of their hooves. I began to edge ahead of Edgar and I knew he would not be happy. Two bolts flew towards me. I saw neither of them until the last moment but one struck my helmet a glancing blow and the other smacked into my plate armour. A handspan closer and the one aimed at my head would have torn into my cheek or eye.

  And then I rammed my spear into the chest of the crossbowman who was busy trying to reload his cumbersome weapon. He would have died quickly for he had no armour at all and the force of my strike aided by my horse threw him over the parapet and into the river. The second man suffered a similar fate. There were spearmen with shields but a spear could not harm my plate armour and my spear haft struck one spearman a glancing blow on the side of the head rendering him unconscious. He fell beneath the hooves of Mark the Minstrel’s horse. The survivors ran down the bridge which had originally been built by the Romans. The bridge was only fifty paces long but eight men fell in that time. Those without armour threw themselves in the river and just three survivors escaped.

  We reined in and I shouted, “Captain Alan!”

  He rode up, “Aye lord?”

  “Cut down stakes and small trees. We hold them here.”

  I dismounted and handed my reins to Harry, “Take Hart back across the river and tether her with the other horses. I think I saw some grazing, tie her close to it. Then return here. I shall need you and your brother.”

  One man in three took the horses back and I took my helmet off for the sun was rising behind us and the cool air would help me think as I assessed our position. The river ran north and I could see that it was lined with ships. That was Sir George’s worry. There were half a dozen houses close to us. “Edgar, clear the houses and fire them. We do not need places behind which
the enemy can shelter.”

  I rammed my spear into the soft soil of the river bank and looked closely at my helmet. I examined the dent from the bolt and saw that the helmet could be repaired. I ran my fingers over the breastplate and felt the indentation from that bolt. Hitting me straight on it had almost broken the plate. Martin would have more work to repair the damage. I heard the sounds of battle behind us but, for us, all was peaceful. The silence ahead was broken when Edgar shifted those who lived in the houses. I heard raised voices and then Captain Edgar’s stentorian tone silenced all of the Scots, “You have your lives. Now move or I will take those too!”

  The sun was rising when the flames began to lick the rooves of the houses. My men had fires lit across the river and the fowl we had taken from the houses, as well as the food we had liberated, were being prepared. We lit the fires on the Musselburgh side of the bridge on the same side as our horses. Men would come from Edinburgh but not yet!

  It was a good hour after we had captured the bridge and we had begun to eat the food we had cooked when one of the archers we had sent down the road reported the column of men marching from Edinburgh. “They will be here within the hour, my lord.”

  I nodded, “Then fetch back the other scouts and have them eat. We have time.”

  The fowl we had slaughtered were still cooking but we had bread, cheese, pickled fish and some ham we had taken from the houses. My men liked ham cooked on a fire and we had that with the eggs we had taken while the ducks and chicken pieces cooked. The houses had been made of wood and they had burned quickly. Even as we were eating the last flames had died leaving a smouldering pile of black marking their place. My sons brought food for Edgar and me and as we ate we heard the sound of fighting in the town and now we could smell the ships as they burned. That meant the Earl had emptied them and was now preparing to leave.