When King Henry appoints Thomas Becket as his Archbishop of Canterbury he does not realise the problems he will create for himself. When the priest refuses to allow the King’s brother then tensions escalate. It soon becomes clear that King Louis of France has woven a complicated alliance of enemies and spies in an attempt to reclaim the Vexin from King Henry. The Warlord is forced to defer his visit home and join the King in putting down a rebellion in Brittany. When the King of Scotland dies his hot-headed brother, William, gains the crown and war breaks out on the King’s northern border. There is only one man who can deal with the unrest and the Warlord returns to Northumbria to confront the Scots once more. Based on actual events ‘Poisonous Plots’ is a fast-moving novel and continues the saga of the Warlord and his family.
The Warlord is getting older. His men are aging and yet their enemies proliferate. In my research I came across some interesting facts and I have tried to incorporate them in my book. Strangely I discovered that I had a link to my Border Knight series! In the new book there are Templars and a new Scottish King: William the Lion has yet to given the name, Lion. This is the story of his early days as king. It also develops the story of Thomas Becket and the feud he had with King Henry. The deaths in the story actually occurred. The deaths of my characters (no spoilers) was inevitable. All men grow old and all men die. It is their manner of death which is a measure of the man.
Excerpt
I saw that Padraig had stopped retching but his head hung over the side. James’ arm was protectively over his shoulders. I looked out to sea. I saw a movement where there should not have been movement and I shifted a little closer to the bow. There was just enough light to see where the sea ended and the sky began. I saw the shape of a boat. There was no sail and it was heading east. Even as I turned I knew that it meant danger.
“James, fetch my sword and my men. I fear we may be attacked soon.”
He did not question me and he left a bemused Padraig to wonder what was going on. Padraig would be of little use to me if we were attacked. I hurried down the deck to Henri, “I think we are going to be attacked. There is a ship coming from the lee of Guedel and she has no sail!”
Henri looked beyond me and nodded. “Alain, go and rouse the crew. Tell the captain that there are pirates.”
As he left I said, “Pirates?”
“Perhaps. A couple of the ships which left Nantes before us rode high in the water. I wondered why. Often there are Breton captains who use Nantes to watch for easy targets.” He shrugged, “I am Breton, I know these things.”
James brought my sword and dagger. We wore no mail. That could not be helped. By now the ship could be clearly seen. Although we had the wind and speed, they had oars and were between us and the channel which led to the open sea. They could easily cut us off. As the crew emerged Henri said, “They look to have ten oars a side. That could mean forty men.”
William reached us and he saw the ship when Henri pointed. He nodded and shouted, “Arm yourselves. Take out the reef. Let us sail full and bye!” He turned to me. “They are clever. If we try to turn away from them we lose the wind and we have little sea room. We will use the wind. I am glad we have seven armed men with us. We might have a chance.”
I did not like to say that we had six armed men and a vomiting youth. My men appeared. They had their leather vests and helmets on. I saw that James had taken the time to don his arming hood. He handed me mine. It would give us some protection.
Henry son of Watt pointed an accusing finger at Richard of Ely. “You brought this upon us with your talk of big waves keeping pirates away!” Men were always superstitious and when on a ship it was doubly so.
Richard nodded apologetically, “I fear you are right. If we get through this I will make amends by buying the ale with my first pay!”
I donned the arming hood. “They will come at us from the island side. If we can stop them boarding then we have a better chance of success.” All the while the pirate vessel was closing with us but we were moving quicker as William of Kingston let loose more sail. Even as the ship closed with us and I saw the flash of light on weapons I wondered at this attack. Was it more than just a pirate attack? Perhaps I was becoming overly suspicious seeing plots and conspiracy where there was just greed and avarice.
Padraig had disappeared and he returned with his sword and arming hood. James said, “Just guard the Warlord’s back!”
I saw that they were going to strike the bow. If I had brought Dick or my archers with me then the men who stood with their grappling hooks would lie dead in the bottom of the Breton boat. As it was they were able to stand with impunity and whirl the hooks above their heads. Once we were secured they would pull us towards them and swarm aboard.
Captain William had much experience and he suddenly put the steering board over to take us towards the Breton ship. The captain of that ship tried to mirror our turn so that we would be alongside each other then William of Kingston put the steering board the other way and a gap appeared. My men cheered. William had gained us time but the oars in the Breton meant it was inexorably catching us.
I saw the first hook arc towards us. It fell short but then another six flew over and four held. Tom the Badger leapt forward and brought a boarding axe across the rope. As it severed the Bretons fell in a heap. Two more hooks caught. My men ran to try to cut them but I saw men climbing the ropes. They used the side of our ship to walk up. Geoffrey FitzMaurice grabbed a boarding pike. As Padraig hacked at the ropes he swept the pike in an arc. The climbers dared not progress for fear of being struck by the blade. Holding the rope those climbing could not defend themselves. Two were wounded and two more chose a fall into the sea but still others climbed. As the first two made the deck James and I ran at them. I shouted, “You five stop the others from boarding. We will deal with these.”
We stood together. James had fought with me for years and we knew each other’s styles. As the two men hurried towards us we waited. The deck was still pitching for the increased area of sail made our movement more violent. It caught one out and as he stumbled James brought his sword down upon the back of his head. His demise allowed me to swing in the space his body had occupied and my sword bit into the side of the other who fell bleeding to the deck. Then we stepped forward. I could hear cries from the side as my men hacked at those climbing and cut the ropes.
Two more men tumbled over the side and a hand appeared. This time we were closer to the gunwale and the two men had little time to set themselves. I lunged with my sword which tore through the neck of one of them while James blocked the sword blow from the second and rammed his dagger into his side. Both men tumbled back over the side of the ship. I brought down my sword on the arm which gripped the gunwale and the man fell screaming to the sea. There was a cheer from my men as they severed the last ropes and there just remained the two close to us.
“James, cut the ropes!”
