by Griff Hosker
He grunted and I saw the pain in his eyes. More importantly, his sword dropped a little and I pulled back my arm and lunged. It was a strike intended to make him back away, but I must have hurt him more than I knew, for he did not react. His sword did not come up to block the blow, and my sword slid into his left orb and I punched hard. I am not a cruel man and I ended the treacherous knight’s life quickly. His body fell from my sword and he landed heavily on the ground.
I turned as I heard horses. I saw an English knight riding towards me, surrounded by men at arms. I recognised John Giffard as one of them.
The knight said, “I am Roger Lestrange and Giffard here tells me that you are Captain Warbow, King Edward’s man. I am sorry that we did not arrive more swiftly, but I see that you did not need our aid. It is an impressive feat of arms for an archer to defeat a knight, especially on horseback!”
“I was lucky, my lord.”
“I am on my way to Wigmore. King Edward has sent me to relieve the border and join him at Chester. You and your archers are needed.”
“But the Welsh, lord? What of my people?”
“The Earl of Gloucester is driving from the south and Builth is relieved. I believe they will be safe, but I am charged with fetching you. We will head to Wigmore. Follow within the hour. Leave your manor defended, but I need you and fifteen of your archers!”
“Yes, my lord.”
He led off the column of men and John Giffard rode up to me. “I was caught in church. Can you believe that! Treacherous Welsh. The knight is quite correct, Warbow; it is the lands closer to Chester that remain in Welsh hands. This Maredudd was an opportunist who sought to wreak revenge on you. Yarpole is unimportant. We seek Baron Mortimer’s men from Wigmore and then we can strike!”
He rode after his new superior. Sheathing my bloody sword, I said, “Tom, Martin, I need you two and the archers we took to Llandovery. I am to lead fifteen archers to give aid to Baron Mortimer and King Edward. The rest may recover what they can from here. We need our war gear!”
Inside Yarpole there was celebration already, and those from within my walls were stripping the Welsh dead.
When Mary saw my face, her hand went to the cross around her neck. “This is not over.”
I shook my head and waved over Peter of Beverley. “Peter, I have to take fifteen men to Chester. I am told that the manor is safe. Keep the people within its walls for as long as you can. I will send a rider when I know more.”
“Aye, Captain. You did well to defeat Lord Maredudd.”
I shook my head. “You and I know how lucky I was.” I turned to Mary and hugged her. “I am sorry, but this must be ended.”
“I thought it ended the last time.”
“This time it will be ended, not in a treaty but blood. There will be executions. King Edward will not be so treacherously attacked again.”
She kissed me. “Come home safe, my husband! We need you.”
“And I need you.”
Chapter 18
We headed for Wigmore and I wondered why Baron Mortimer had not given us succour. When we reached the castle, I discovered the reason; the old warrior was dying. He was in his bed and his sons, Edmund and Roger, were in command.
Lady Maud was a shadow of the woman I knew. She took me to Baron Mortimer’s chamber, and I thought, at first, that he was dead, but as I neared him, he opened his eyes.
“I heard you finished off that snake Maredudd. I should have made you a knight.”
I smiled and took his proffered hand. It was cold. “You have given me more reward than I could ever have expected. You will be well again.”
I saw Lady Maud give a shake of her head.
Baron Mortimer’s eyes were closed but he said, “I shall not stir from this bed, but I will fight whatever ague attacks me. Go with God. I am tired.”
Lady Maud took my hand and led me from the bedchamber. “The doctors say that there is no ague. He is simply old, yet he has seen just fifty-one summers. He always thought well of you and told me that you were the one man upon whom he knew he could rely. Be safe, Warbow.” She kissed me on the cheek and returned inside to her bedchamber.
I joined the baron’s sons, Sir Roger and John Giffard in the Great Hall. I saw that they had waited for me.
Sir Roger said, “You know this Stephen de Frankton, Warbow?”
I nodded. “He is a good man.”
“Then I will send a rider to him. I wish him to raise the Shropshire levy. I will leave the baron’s sons here to keep this land safe and the levy can guard the border. We will ride to King Edward. Cheshire must be kept safe.”
That night we ate a sombre meal in the Great Hall. Lady Maud was a gracious hostess, and her husband was not yet dead, but we spoke quietly while we ate. I learned that the Earl of Gloucester was driving north and that Lord Luke de Tany, with a fleet of ships from London and the Cinque Ports, was on his way to Anglesey. King Edward had acted swiftly. It seemed that Prince Llywelyn had used his powers to take command of the Welsh from his brother, who had instigated the fighting and was planning to take his war into Cheshire. We would have a hard fight to recover the castles we had lost.
King Edward was already in Chester when we arrived, and he was his usual ebullient self. He had called up the levy and summoned knights from across the land. He had been betrayed, and the Welsh had made the mistake of attacking his castles. This was now a personal fight.
I was too lowly to be involved in the planning and I was housed by the river with the rest of the gentlemen and archers. I was sought out, however, by Godfrey, the pursuivant, two days after I had arrived. The urgency with which we had been summoned had made me think that action was imminent, but it was not so. Godfrey took me to the king. As we went, I learned that the fleet of ships had landed men on Anglesey. It explained our delay, for the king had wanted to wait until his ships were in position. I also learned that King Edward had been apprised of news in the Welsh camps. He knew that Llywelyn had the bit between his teeth, but the one thing that the Welsh prince could not plan, however, was an act of God, and while King Edward had allowed Prince Llywelyn to marry Eleanor de Montfort, any hopes of an heir for whom the prince could fight were dashed when his queen died in childbirth. He had begun the revolt for his unborn child, but any victory he might have would now benefit his brother, the treacherous Dafydd.
Godfrey smiled. “A man needs children if he is to have any lasting legacy. Llywelyn’s heart will not be in this. That is why the king is striking now.”
“Why has King Edward sent you, Godfrey? You are a courtier?”
He smiled. “When I was sent with you, it was not just as a courtier. I was, I am, a warrior, and King Edward needed me to spy upon the Welsh. You took the attention away from me. They thought me a painted bird. I was assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the Welsh. There are divisions amongst their leaders and that is why the Earl of Gloucester holds them in the south, Lord de Tany threatens them in the west, and we will drive south and west to trap Llywelyn and his brothers in their mountain stronghold!”
I looked at Godfrey in a new light. I had been used, but I understood why.
King Edward was surrounded by papers and courtiers, but Godfrey whisked me to the king’s side.
“Warbow, I need you and your men. De Grey has forty of my household knights and I want you to guide him to Rhuddlan. You are to retake that castle. Hawarden has been burned and abandoned. We will retake Rhuddlan and I can use it as a base. We destroy Dafydd before I seek Llywelyn and end his life. You and your men will be scouts. It is de Grey who will assault the castle.”
I was just about to leave when a messenger raced in and threw himself to the floor. “King Edward, there has been a disaster. The Earl of Gloucester has been defeated at Carreg Cennen by Prince Llywelyn. There has been great loss of life, including William, son of William de Valence!”
That was the king’s cousin and I saw the anger in his eyes. I was close enough to hear him whisper, “Foolish Gloucester.
” He recovered his composure and said to the gathered men, “We will see to Llywelyn in the fullness of time. First, we secure the northeast!”
I had not fought alongside Sir Reginald before, but the king held him in high esteem, and as he commanded the household knights, his loyalty and his skill were never in doubt. Unlike many nobles, he did not look down on humble archers.
He took me to one side the night before we were to leave. “You, I believe, know this valley well?”
“Yes, my lord; I was born here, and I was here when we took the valley from the Welsh.”
“You were there when the foundations of Rhuddlan were laid.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Good. I do not intend to bleed upon its walls. I plan on a night attack. Your men, so I hear, are good with knives and swords as well as bows?”
I knew that many called them bandits and cutthroats. It did not worry us, for we knew our skills and our worth. “Aye, my lord.”
“Can you gain us entry to Rhuddlan, unseen and at night?”
“Only a fool would say yes, my lord, without having seen the Welsh dispositions.”
“A good answer. Then we will get there in the late afternoon and you and I can ride and see what awaits us.”
“Yes, my lord.” I hesitated. “If you could wear a good cloak that would hide you, then we would have less chance of discovery.”
“The king said that you were forthright. Of course. In this, I will bow to your expertise.”
It was then that I saw young Sir Walter. He had matured and was now one of King Edward’s household knights. “It is good that I fight alongside you again, Warbow. I hope I have learned well!”
I nodded. “If you are now a household knight, then you have.”
I knew the approach to take. We headed for Dyserth, and we would use the route my men and I had taken before and use Twthill for cover. I saw that Sir Reginald had heeded my advice and all his knights wore dark cloaks. It went against their nature to cover their colourful liveries and reflected the king’s need to restore his power.
I think that Sir Reginald wondered where we were going when we left Dyserth and used the trees and the waterways to reach the Clwyd, but after leaving the horses and the bulk of the men at the river, he followed Tom, Martin and me up the hill. It seemed like yesterday that we had done this, when we had taken the wooden walls of the Welsh prince’s castle. Now we were trying to take a stone castle I had yet to see!
This time there were no sheep and we peered over an empty pasture. I saw that the new town built by the king was a blackened ruin and that when the Welsh had taken Rhuddlan, they had done much damage. The castle had been unfinished indeed; the outer wall was still just made of timber. I suspected that was how the Welsh had gained entry. The stone towers and gatehouse were in place, but the catapults employed by the Welsh had not only damaged the stonework but also the gates. I saw that the gate that led to Twthill had been hastily repaired. It was late afternoon and just four men watched the gate. I saw few men on the fighting platform of the castle, and that may have been because the castle was incomplete and the fighting platform did not extend all the way around. The partly finished towers – there were six of them – were manned. I did not say anything until the knight had spoken.
“The gatehouse, it seems, is the most likely place for us to gain entry.”
“Aye, lord. When it is dark, we will head across this open ground and gain you the gate. When we signal, then bring your knights across.”
“Why not follow you across and be there when you have the gatehouse?”
“With respect, my lord, even though these are the finest knights in England, they cannot help but make a noise. Mail and swords jangle. You will need to be swift, but we can hold the gate for the time it will take you.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I know how long it takes the man at arms, Stephen de Frankton, to cover the ground.”
“Then we will do so even quicker.”
I stayed at the top with Tom while Martin fetched my bow and the rest of the men. We did not move and watched the sun slowly set in the west. The nights would soon be the same length as the day but, for now, the sun held sway.
I watched the sentries change and was reassured that just two men were on each tower and two on the gate. I had no idea of overall numbers, but I had confidence in our knights. They were only vulnerable to arrows, and in the confines of a castle at night, they would win!
“Ned, go and tell Sir Reginald that we are leaving and he can bring his men here.”
Ned was the son of James, my steward, and one of the most reliable archers I had ever known. While he could not send an arrow as far as John, son of John, he could keep going long after my other archers tired.
When he returned, we each nocked an arrow and silently descended the slope. There was still a hint of light in the west but as we were approaching from the darkness of the east, we were invisible. We used the wooden palisade for cover.
Tom led half my men from the side furthest from the river. The two night guards had a brazier. It was not cold now, but it might be in the middle of the watch. It would ruin their night vision. I waved for John and Martin to move to my right and crawl up the slope. They would use their bows to slay the two sentries, but Tom and I were waiting next to the wooden wall in case they failed. I saw them rise as one and their arrows thudded into the two men. Seated on barrels and with their backs to the wall, they were an easy target, and at a range of just twenty paces, my men could not miss. I ran around the end of the wooden palisade. The two men were pinned to the wall. Both arrows had penetrated the bodies and embedded themselves in the new mortar! I stood in the gateway and waved my bow. Behind me, my men began to silently dismantle the improvised gate. I heard a noise from inside and realised that the garrison was eating in the hall.
Sir Reginald and his men were swift, but I could hear the occasional jingle as a loose piece of metal found another. We had the gateway, and my men were inside, making a protective circle. They faced an empty inner bailey. The castle was still far from finished. The hall had a roof, but the rest of the buildings were half-completed walls. I had to work out where the garrison was, and that was evidenced by the light I saw from the largest completed building and the noise that emanated from within.
Sir Reginald joined me, and I pointed to the building. He nodded and, drawing his sword, led his forty killers. We followed. Some of my archers watched the top of the walls while others kept looking for danger at ground level. It was Edward, son of John, who saw the sentry on the finished part of the fighting platform. The man looked down and we all raised our bows, but Edward was the fastest, and even as Sir Reginald threw open the door to the hall, Edward’s arrow smacked into the sentry and he tumbled, screaming to the bailey below.
That alerted the other sentries on the walls, but we knew where they were and had the element of surprise. As swords clashed in the hall and men screamed as they were slain, we sent our arrows towards the sentries. We knew how many there were, and all but two were slain.
I pointed to Tom and John. “Go and find them and secure the main gate!” They ran off and I led my men towards the hall.
Inside it was like a scene from hell. There looked to be more than one hundred Welshmen in the hall, but the knights were immune to their blows. Where they had been eating, there were no Welshmen with bows. At best they had swords.
I sent four arrows at the nearest Welshmen and then realised that knights could accidentally walk into an arrow, and so I said, “Put your bows away and use swords.”
The slaughter did not last long, for there was another door and that led to the kitchen. They ran through it to escape to the main gate, but John and Tom were there. After six men had been killed, the Welsh began to throw down their weapons. Sir Reginald stopped the slaughter, for we had done what we intended. We had retaken Rhuddlan. The recovery of Wales was well on the way!
*
King Edward was deligh
ted when he arrived, two days later, and a week later we had more good news. Anglesey had been taken and de Tany was in a position to invade across the straits and take on Llywelyn, who was at Penmaenmawr.
The king had ships bring more timber and stone up the Clwyd to repair the castle, and we were sent to escort builders to Rhuthun. As well as conquest, the king intended to secure his gains with even stronger castles. The setback in the south could be minimised with a swift strike from the island of Anglesey. Reginald de Grey recaptured Caergwrle and drove Dafydd deeper into Gwynedd and closer to his brother.
It was not an easy campaign, and we were used to help the king (who arrived from Chester), de Grey and the Cheshire knights. We had to fight our way past narrow passes, which suited the ambusher. Although I lost no men and no knights died, many of the Cheshire archers and levy paid the price for each yard we took.
The Archbishop of Canterbury arrived to try to bring a peaceful solution to the problem. I was there when the archbishop, the king and de Grey spoke. We had suffered attacks from hidden archers, and so my men and I had been assigned as bodyguards to the king and his guests. We scanned the land for danger, and it meant that we were privy to the conversation.
“The prince is at Penmaenmawr, King Edward, and I believe that we can speak with him there.”
Reginald de Grey, I had come to learn, was a hard man who would not bend in the slightest. “Better, my liege, if we were to negotiate from a position of strength. De Tany will soon be able to launch an attack over a bridge of boats from Anglesey. Even if Llywelyn were to escape, we would have him trapped in his mountains. With winter approaching he would starve!”
I saw the king weighing up the two options. The treachery of both brothers was what swayed him. He wanted them punished and humiliated. His friends had been hurt. “When de Tany has trounced the Welsh, then send your men to speak to him, Archbishop!”