When the Earl of Gloucester suddenly dies and the Empress Matilda is forced to return to Normandy it seems that the civil war is about to end and Stephen of Blois will have succeeded in winning his crown. The Warlord of the North takes the fledgling Prince Henry under his wing and begins to train him to become king. When others try to take advantage of the Warlord’s position he and his warriors have to dig deep to defeat their enemies. Gradually Henry becomes a man and shows that he has the potential to become a king.
An exciting and fast moving novel filled with battles, plots and conspiracies.
It has been fascinating researching this book. The facts I discovered were even stranger than the fiction I created. I will not give any spoilers. There should be one or two more books which will see the series ending. It will be a shame as I have really enjoyed writing the books and I have grown attached to many of the characters like Dick and Wulfric, Alice and Aiden.
Apologies for the length of time it took to write. I went to New Zealand where I had a fabulous time. I should like to thank the readers I met there: Kent, Julie, Dave and Glynis. You enhanced the experience and showed me a hidden side of New Zealand.
Excerpt
The land through which we travelled was neither level nor even. Troughs and dells gave way to low rises. Bushes and scrub made small barriers along the rough greenway. So it was that we only saw the battle when we were half a mile north of Rushton Spencer. Even as we crested the rise and saw Aiden emerge from the trees I saw that Henry and the Earl of Chester were being hard pressed. The manor had a small motte and bailey castle but it was too small to hold many. Someone had placed archers within and it was they who were holding off the knights and men at arms who charged the thinly held lines. The enemy were less than half a mile from us. They would see us but not immediately. Therein lay our opportunity.
“Form three lines!”
As I watched I saw fifty or sixty men at arms suddenly detach themselves from Henry’s right flank and gallop south. His army was fragmenting. We were too late. Even as we watched another group joined them.
Turning in my saddle I yelled, “We charge the right flank of Stephen the Usurper’s lines. I want us to hit him hard. We are but a hundred mounted men but I would have us fight as a thousand!”
They cheered. That was enough for me. I spurred Rolf and he took off. We cantered hard towards the Usurper’s men. With the departure of so many men I could not see how Henry and the Earl of Chester could hope to survive. I forced myself to rein Rolf in a little. It would do no good to reach the enemy with blown horses and a disorganized line. I lowered my spear when we were two hundred paces from them. I leaned forward in my saddle as I sought an enemy. Some of those at the rear of their lines heard us and turned. Their shouts of alarm were lost in the hubbub of the mêlée. I pulled back my arm as the knight with the yellow surcoat and red diagonal tried to turn his horse to face me. It was a race against time and he was losing. I spurred Rolf and he leapt forward. I punched hard with my spear. The knight had turned the wrong way and my spear struck him in his right side. I felt it grate against bone and then he was thrown from his saddle and we were amongst them.
The dying knight’s body had pulled him from my spear and I was able to thrust it into the unprotected back of a man at arms. He threw his arms in the air as the head tore through his mail, gambeson and flesh. Ahead of me I saw that we had closed to within thirty paces of Henry and his bodyguards who were fighting for their lives. Our sudden drive had taken us deep into the heart of the enemy and they had become disorganised as men fell without seeing their foes. We had to get to Henry soon before they could rally.
Wilfred and Leopold of Durstein were ahead of me. They had lost their spears but their swords carved a passage for me. I saw one of Henry’s bodyguards fall and a knight with a dark blue surcoat saw his chance. He spurred his horse into the gap. I stood in my saddle and hurled my spear at him. I hoped to hit his body but the knight stood to deliver the killing blow. My spear clattered into his helmet and he fell from his horse.
I turned, “Richard! Signal the rally! On me!”
We had the chance to form a barrier of fresh warriors before Henry. It was all that I could think of. I drew my sword and met the mace of an angry knight who also wore a dark blue surcoat. A mace could be deadly but my sword was sharper. I saw wood chipped from the mace’s handle. I whipped Rolf’s head around so that I faced the knight’s shield and I stood to use the longer reach of the sword. It was not an elegant blow but I swung it sideways at head height. I heard it ring into the helmet. I had suffered such a blow before and knew that it disorientated a warrior. Continuing Rolf’s turn I pulled back my arm and rammed my blade into the left side of the knight who fell from his horse.
It was now a true mêlée. There was no order. However I had succeeded in placing my one hundred men between Stephen and Henry. As I turned Rolf I saw Stephen and his bodyguards; they were racing towards me. He could end the war in a couple of blows. He had his greatest enemy and his greatest threat close to hand.
“Wulfric! Sir Harold! Form on me!”
