When Prince Arthur is murdered and the French begin to take Normandy, Sir Thomas finds himself isolated and alone. The Norman barons conspire against King John and the English knight has a dilemma. Does he join the rebels or stay true to his beliefs? Undefeated he and one of his knights leave Anjou and sail to a new life in England but it is not a life without trouble and death. He finds himself, in the midst of conspiracies and plots, forced to defend his land against bandits, brigands and the Scots. A fast-moving novel based on actual events at the start of the thirteenth century.
When I began researching the book I wondered if King John was quite as bad as his press. He was worse! He murdered his nephew, starved knights to death, had his niece imprisoned for life so that she would not marry. I have tried, in this series, to avoid Robin Hood allusions. I do have archers; they are in all my books. However, my archers are not necessarily outlaws. The next book in the series will be Magna Carta and will also cover the French invasion of England.
Excerpt
I joined my men and Fótr handed me my spear. Petr, behind me, unfurled the banner. I saw that he held it in his left hand and his shield hung from his left arm. Fótr had taught him that. I raised my spear and spurred Dragon. With Sir Edward and Sir Ralph flanking me we headed towards the Scottish camp. My line of horsemen just had our squires behind us. Fótr would fill in the gap if one of us fell. De Clavering and his conroi would be fifty paces behind us. We picked our way towards the Scottish camp. We still could not see it. They would, of course, see our banners before we saw them. That could not be helped. If that was their only warning then we had a chance.
I guessed they had seen us and that we were close when I heard horns rousing them. Then, as we passed around a stand of trees I saw the camp. They had not dug a ditch nor embedded stakes but they were awake and arming. I saw knights donning helmets as their horses were brought to them. The men who fought on foot had nothing to delay them and they were being forced into lines. The hobelars mounted their horses. They would be ready to meet us first.
We were three hundred paces from them and I spurred Dragon. I had to trust that the lines of spears and our archers were approaching the Scots. If we had to face the whole Scottish force then we would lose. This time the one commanding the Scots had them take spears and form some sort of line. They had learned from our skirmish. I glanced down my line and saw that we were all together. I could feel the occasional pressure from the boots of Ralph and Edward. We were in as tight a line as we could get. I spurred Dragon to go a little faster. We would hit them as three conroi. It was not ideal but it could not be helped.
The Scots had managed to mount their knights. Their hobelars, armed with javelins, charged us to give the knights the opportunity to form a line. It was brave but it was foolish. The light horsemen galloped across our front. They hurled their javelins. Those who did not close with us wasted their missiles which either bounced from our mail or fell ino the earth. The braver ones who tried to close were speared. Their riderlesss horses hurtled back towards the knights who were forming up. It would disrupt their lines further.
I reined Dragon back a little to allow our line to regain its integrity. I prepared my spear for we were less than two hundred paces from the Scots and the knights were moving towards us. Knights often prefer to fight other knights. There was more honour in that. Our three standards showed the Scots that we were the only knights who were facing them and they came for us. The rough line they had formed became an even rougher wedge as the knights jostled to hit the three English knights who faced them.
I pulled back my spear as the first Scottish lance lunged at me. It was a good strike and, as his lance was longer than my spear, he hit me first. He wore an open helmet and, as his spear splintered on my shield, his face showed the triumph he felt. My shield was a good one and I had angled it so that most of the impact went behind me. In contrast, I rammed my spear at his middle rather than his chest. The spear struck his side. The head came away bloody. I had no time to choose my next opponent for he chose me. A Scot had come at my right side. I had no shield there to protect me. I was only saved by his inexperience. He went for my chest but the rough ground meant that he struggled to control his lance. It hit my helmet. It made my head ring but my helmet was well made. I had no opportunity to do anything other than swing my spear at his body. We passed each other. I later discovered that Fótr had speared the knight.
I reined Dragon in for I did not want to get too far ahead of my men. Dragon was a powerful beast. He enjoyed war. His snapping jaws and his flailing hooves were deadly weapons. More knights approached but these were in an even looser formation. I saw one coming towards me. He intended to attack my spear side with his lance. At the last moment I pulled Dragon to my right so that we were shield to shield. A lance is a difficult weapon to control. He reined his horse in but I was already standing in my stirrups and with an overhand grip I stabbed down at his neck. It was not the cleanest of strikes but it tore through his ventail and into his throat. As he died his body pulled the spear from my hand.
Three more knights charged me and I did not have the time to get another spear from Fótr. I drew my sword. Glancing to my side I saw that Sir Edward had just slain a Scottish knight. His horse’s muzzle was close to my horse’s rump. He was close enough to aid me. The three Scottish knights thought that they had me. They had lances and I just had a sword. They saw blood on my surcoat. They did not know it was not mine!
Knowing that Sir Edward was on my right I aimed Dragon to ride between the two Scots to my left. They both thrust their lances at me. My instincts took over. I did not even look at the one to my left. I had my shield held tightly. Unless he aimed at my leg then I would be unharmed. I used my sword to smash away the lance from the knight on my right. It was relatively easy for the lance’s tip wavered up and down. The lance missed me and I was able to lunge at the knight as he passed. My sword tore into his shoulder. I began to turn to attack the other Scot when I saw him fall from his saddle and Sir Ralph pulled his spear from him.
The three of us were stopped. Suddenly we heard the sound of the Scottish horns. They were withdrawing. I looked around and saw that many of their knights and mounted men at arms were between us and our own camp. The three of us turned. The knights would have to run the gamut of our swords and spears.
This time they were at a disadvantage. The ground was covered in wounded, dying and dead men. Riderless horses milled around. We did not have to move. We formed a line like beaters driving game towards hunters. One man at arms, without a spear and with his sword still in its scabbard, was so focussed on the ground that he failed to see my sword sweep towards him and take his head. I turned Dragon sideways so that I could bring my sword around into the back of a man at arms who swerved to avoid me.
