Poisonous Plots Read online

  The younger knight said, “We come to reclaim that which is ours! This is not England! This is, rightfully Scotland!”

  The mormaer’s voice was weary when he spoke. “Peace Robert. I am the one charged with speaking to the Warlord. Yes, Earl and I am sorry that we failed to do so. However, we swore an oath to our new King and we obey him.”

  “And why do you come here?”

  The Mormaer sighed, “King William says that if you quit the field now and yield Prudhoe and the New Castle to him then you will be able to return to England.”

  I nodded, “And why should we do that?”

  “You are outnumbered. You are isolated here and we have more than three times your number of knights. There is another army, hidden, to your rear. When they arrive, you will be caught between us and destroyed. You cannot win.”

  “That is a matter of debate. I think we will test our lances against yours. We will see the true mettle of this King William.”

  The young knight jabbed an angry hand at me, “The days of Henry Plantagenet are numbered. Already there is an army poised to take Normandy from him. When you are destroyed, Warlord, what is to stop our king from marching south! We will avenge the defeat at Northallerton!”

  I smiled, “You are an insolent pup! I was at the Battle of the Standards! I almost wore out my horse chasing the Scots back to Scotland. Your Prince Henry made it to Carlisle with a handful of knights. It will take more than the likes of you to avenge that humiliation! Tell your King that he will learn today that one of our knights is worth three of yours!”

  I saw the young knight colour. The Mormaer said, “Peace Robert. I am sorry, Earl for my young companion. This is the first time he has negotiated.”

  “Then unless he is a better knight than I think it will be his last. Farewell Mormaer.” I turned my back and headed back up the slope. As we rode back I said, quietly, “I think that the French King has been a little premature. King Henry no longer needs me to win battles for him. He will acquit himself well on the battlefields of France and the Vexin.”

  “Father, he believes that his plot has succeeded. I would hazard that King William has already sent a message to his master telling him of his invasion. The French know our numbers and they know King William’s. They will think it a foregone conclusion.”

  “Then let us prove them wrong. I will rejoin the line for I think we have done enough. That young knight will be desperate to reach me and to kill me.”

  “You insulted him deliberately, lord.”

  “Yes, Padraig. If we can make their charge a reckless one we have more chance of defeating them.” We reached our lines. Aelric and his men were forty paces behind us. “On my command, Aelric.”

  “Of course lord.”

  I knew my archers’ range better than any. When we had stopped I had surreptitiously dropped the white stone I had picked up. It was two hundred paces from my position. When the enemy reached it, they would be in range of my bow men.

  King William was committing all but a handful to the attack. He left his levy guarding the siege lines. His knights formed a treble line with one hundred and twenty knights riding in each rank. Behind them I saw his men at arms, crossbowmen and the rest of his levy forming up. I dismissed them. We had to defeat his knights and the rest would crumble. The Scots were six hundred paces from our position. He had to go slowly at first or risk losing contact with his men on foot. He would charge once he reached the white stone.

  Padraig handed me my spear. He had one too. My son preferred a lance and I saw that Samuel had copied me. That was sensible. A lance was harder to control. Samuel was not yet fully grown. Even Padraig had some growing to complete. Most of the knights used a lance but all of the men at arms used a spear. My men at arms were quite adept at throwing the spear. Often it took an enemy by surprise.

  When the Scots were three hundred paces from us King William ordered them to canter. I saw the knight with the red shield and the leopard begin to stretch ahead of the others around him. He was eight knights away from the King and it would not please the King of Scotland to be led by a young knight. Inevitably the knights around the red shield begun to increase their pace. As they did so gaps appeared. I was boot to boot with my son and Wulfric. My knights had all ensured that they flanked me. When King William and his men hit us, they would be striking the men of the Tees Valley. We were a wall of steel which did not yield.

  I shouted, “Aelric, ready!

  “Aye, Warlord. Draw!” I heard the creak as two hundred bows were pulled back. The crossbows we had were on our right flank. They were visible to the Scots. They faced the Scottish left. I saw the Scottish line approach the white stone.

  “Now!”

  “Release!”

  Two hundred arrows flew through the air. Even as they flew I heard Aelric shout, “Release!” Then the first two hundred arrows hit. The King and those in the front rank escaped without too many losses but the second and third ranks were struck. Horses were hit. When they fell they brought down others. The second flight compounded the effect. Wounded men and horses were struck a second time. There was a barrier of dead, dying and wounded men and horses.

  I shouted, “Forward!” The squires with the banners signalled the advance. Then the standards were rammed into the soft earth. The squires would need their spears. We walked our horses towards the Scots who were now galloping. “Canter!” We were now less than one hundred paces from each other. “Charge!” We would not be travelling at full speed when we hit but we would be boot to boot. The Scots were moving at the gallop and there were gaps.

  I lowered my spear and rested it on my cantle. King William was going for glory. He sought me. I saw him pull his lance back. When a knight used a lance, he aimed at the largest target. That target was my body. I, on the other hand was able to use the spear more accurately. It was not heavy and the head could pierce mail. I aimed for his gorget. It protected his ventail. I pulled back my arm. I did not need to stand. I intended to push up.

  There was a ripple of cracks, crashes and the sound of lances and spears shattering as our two lines hit. King William was a young man. He was strong and his blow was powerful. I was leaning into my shield when his lance hit my shield. By turning it as he struck I was able to deflect the lance behind me. My spear hit his gorget. The speed of his horse and the angel of my spear knocked him from his horse. And then I had passed him.

  Ahead of me I saw that my archers had decimated the second and third ranks of the Scottish knights. There were fewer knights for us to fight. I looked to my left and saw William still there. I glanced to my right and spied Wulfric although he looked to have been wounded. My spear was still intact. I shouted, “Are you still with me, Padraig?”

  “Aye Warlord. The King has remounted!”

  I expected that. He would have four or five squires. They would give their horse to their King. There were knights behind me who would try to unhorse him again. He was not in for an easy time. I had a similar problem. Scottish knights recognised my banner and rode directly for me. They came for me as individuals and I had William and Wulfric on either side of me.

  The first knight pulled back his lance. He stood in his stirrups and he punched hard. I moved Warrior slightly to my right and the lance missed me completely. I rammed the spear into his chausses. The end broke off but by then it had done its work. The tip stuck in the horse and it reared. The knight screamed in pain as the movement of the spear ripped into his calf muscle. I saw that we were in danger of galloping into our own arrows which were still falling; albeit more slowly now. I shouted, as I drew my sword, “Wheel! Let us finish off their front rank.”

  Inevitably some knights did not hear but my conroi did and we all wheeled. As we turned I saw an arrow hit the knight I had wounded and, as he died he pulled his horse over. The knights who were charging up the slope had to turn to avoid the flailing hooves of his horse and they suffered wounds. More importantly they could not get close to us. We would now be fighting as indivi
duals. It was where a good squire could make all the difference. Padraig had been taught by James and he knew to keep just behind Warrior and to the right.

  As we thundered up the slope I saw the knight with leopard on the red shield. He was fighting with Sir James. Sir James was more than holding his own. The young Scot was struggling to avoid defeat. The Sheriff and his knights were trying to get close to King William and his household knights. The ground where they fought was churned up. I brought my sword around in a wide backhand sweep as Warrior took me close behind the left side of a Scottish knight trying to come to the aid of his beleaguered King. I hit his left side behind his shield. He was not expecting the blow and he fell from his horse. The men from Morthpath had not had an easy time of it and I watched as thirty Scottish knights broke through their line and headed for our archers. It was a mistake. Before the archers were dismounted men at arms holding spears. Aelric and his archers changed to a flat trajectory and aimed at the horses. As a horseman it pained me but it was effective. The knights fell when their horses were killed.

  As my valley knights crashed into the sides and rear of the Scottish line there was a second crash. This time it was metal on metal. We had the advantage that we were charging their blind side. We could see them but they only had eyes on the knights, men at arms and archers before them.

  When Aelric saw us thundering in he shouted, “Long range!” My archers resumed their shower of arrows. The main Scottish line was now in range. This time many of the men had neither mail nor helmet. Where the knights had been able to shrug off some of the arrows the main line did not. When an arrow struck it stopped the man.

  I whirled Warrior to bring him around to attack King William. If we could capture him then this invasion would be over. There would be no war. Two of his household knights must have been watching for me as they both turned and rode towards me; one on each side of me. They were household knights. They would know their business. I would have to suffer the blow from the knight on my left and hope I could defeat the one to my right. As luck would have it the knight to my left hit me first. He swung a war hammer and it was such a hard blow that it numbed my arm. I jerked Warrior’s head around so that I could reach the other knight. We both swung at the same time. I slid my sword a finger’s width over the top of his horse’s head. I slightly lowered my head and his sword struck the space it had occupied. My blade hit him squarely in the chest and I heard something crack. He dropped his sword and his hand went to his hauberk as though he could somehow stop the pain.

  As I pulled Warrior around to face the other knight I saw his war hammer raised to strike me. My turn meant I could not avoid the blow. I would be a dead man. Suddenly a spear was rammed into his right arm. It was Padraig. The spear head tore through the mail and into the upper arm. Padraig twisted, as he had been taught and the hammer fell from his arm.

  I shouted to the two knights, “Yield or die!”

  Neither was in a position to continue the fight and they both nodded. Neither had a weapon. “Padraig, stay with them.”

  I saw, just to my right, Sir James as he swung his sword and caught the reckless knight with the red shield in the thigh. The bright blossom of blood told me that the wound was mortal. I turned Warrior to get at King William. He was wearing an open helmet and he saw me approaching. I saw anger in his eyes. He looked around and saw that his household knights were falling to Sir Harold, Sir John and the rest of my knights.

  He shouted, “Fall back! Reform!” His squire sounded the horn. His remaining knights closed about him as he charged back down the slope. He chose the line of least resistance. He rode into the space vacated by my valley knights. Ironically his main line had almost closed with us. As the King and his knights rode back down the slope they first stopped and then, seeing that we held the field, tumbled back down the hill. They became the rabble Wulfric had predicted.

  Some of the Sheriff’s knights made to follow. I lifted my helmet and shouted, “Stop! We hold here!”

  I saw that William and Samuel were alive. Both had bloody surcoats but there were three unhorsed knights looking sorry for themselves. My grandson had done well. Sir Harold shouted, “Warlord, Sir Wulfric has been wounded.”

  I spurred Warrior over to where the huge knight lay on the ground. I dismounted. “Where are you hurt?”

  He pointed down. I saw that his knee had been smashed to a pulp. The Scots did not have good swords but they made good use of war hammers. He gave me a wan smile. “First you lose Dick and now me. I fear I shall never ride to war again. I will not be there at your side.”

  “No but you shall see old age and that makes me happy beyond words. Sir Harold, have his men at arms take him to the healers. Take him to the Abbey at Hexham.”

  As he was taken away the Sheriff rode up, “A great victory but we could have finished them off, Warlord, why did you not pursue them?”

  “They have ditches and they still outnumber us. It was our archers who won the battle for us and they are exhausted. We have won now let us see how we can exploit the victory. We have prisoners and they are prisoners who are valuable to King William.” I pointed to the household knights. “He will not wish to lose them.”

  “You are right. I was carried away by the victory.”

  “Roger of Bath, have the wounded taken back to our camp along with the captured knights. John of Chester take the men of Morthpath and collect our dead.”

  “Aye lord.”

  “Sheriff if you and your men would act as a screen we will get back to the camp and fortify it in case King William tries to emulate our feats.”

  “That would be foolish.”

  “And even more foolish if we did nothing eh, Sheriff?” He nodded, “Tomorrow we return here and see what dawn brings.”

  My son pointed to one of the dead Scottish knights. It was Mormaer Dalkeith, “he fought like a madman. He killed two of the Sheriff’s knights and one of his men at arms.”

  “He was trying to show that at least one Scot had honour. He was a good man. He could not help having a bad king. I am just lucky that I have always had good kings to follow.” I smiled at Samuel who was examining the sword he had taken from the knight who had yielded to him. “And that, my grandson, is a sword you will ever treasure. Today you took the first step to becoming a knight. Who knows where it will end?”

  Chapter 16

  I ached all over. My left arm still felt a little numb from the war hammer blow. I yearned for a hot bath and a soft bed but I would have to make do with the hard floor and a bowl of lukewarm water in which I could wash. The knights who had yielded had been collected and watched. We kept them away from de Vernon. Soon we would be able to send him hence and be free from his odious presence. It was a constant reminder of our dead warriors. He had been the cause of Dick’s demise. Padraig helped me from my mail. There was some damage but it could be repaired. The repair would have to wait until we reached Stockton.

  As Padraig began to clean the mail he asked, “Will they fight on the morrow?”

  I thought about it as I examined my helmet for damage, “I think not. I will have a better idea when the numbers of dead and captives are brought to me. The siege may go for a while longer but we hold the high ground. He has gambled on his allies hurting us and they did not. The mormaer said that there was an army north of us and it would attack us. That is what they counted on. He was not to know that we had defeated that army already.” I placed my helmet next to my mail. It was undamaged and I wrapped my cloak about me. “I will go and speak with my son. He and the Sheriff should now have an accurate number of their losses,” I paused, “and ours.”

  My men at arms had built a fire close to the tents which my knights and I used. Tom the Badger greeted me as I stepped into the thin afternoon sun, “A good day Earl.”

  “A good day, Tom?”

  “Aye lord. Any day we send the Scots with their tails between their legs and lose so few men is a good day.”

  I sat on one of the logs they had
dragged there, “How many did we lose?”

  “From our company?” I nodded. “None Earl Marshal; not an archer and not a man at arms. You and the valley knights did too good a job of clearing away their knights.” He stood, satisfied that the blaze was as he would wish it. “I will fetch food and ale lord. Some supplies came from Stamfordham this morning as we arrayed.” He chuckled, “The lord there sent food in lieu of his body. From what the men of Morthpath told us that is probably as well for he is supposed to be a bloated and corpulent knight. Not like our young bucks, eh lord?”

  As he left I wondered how Wulfric fared. He had been taken up the road to the abbey of Hexham. He would receive the best care there. Wulfric had fought one battle too many. I had seen that he had lost that edge which a good knight needs. Five years before he would never have put himself in a position where a hammer could inflict such a blow. I had seen that his reactions were slower as we had charged. While William’s horse had been level with mine when I had ordered the charge, it had taken some strides for Wulfric to catch up. His lance had been a few heartbeats behind mine. I was older than Wulfric but, so far, I had not lost my edge. Would I know when to hang up my sword or stand behind the archers watching my knights bleed for me?

  I saw William and the Sheriff head towards me. They were followed by their squires. Samuel still carried the sword. I smiled. The battle had changed my grandson irrevocably. He was now a warrior. It was in his blood. The Sheriff looked pleased with himself. “A great day, Earl!”

  My man at arms had said a good day. His assessment was about right. We had defeated the Scots but not ended their threat. I nodded, “Our losses were light?”

  He frowned as he sat next to me, “Light? I know not the numbers yet. I was speaking of the ransom we will take from the knights we captured. We have fifty knights, mormaers and lords. We have thirty warhorses.” He shook his head, “Had the archers not used their arrows against horses then we would have had more.”