Wolf Wood (Part Two): The Dangerous years (11 page)

They had landed at Dover two days earlier. The boat took three days to make the voyage from Cherbourg. He and his men travelled with Guy Gascoigne's private army. Henriette and the children boarded a separate boat with Harald and his family. They would join Matthew Gough who was throwing his support behind the government in Westminster.

Robin had never wanted his present role. It began when he agreed to spy on Guy. At first, he feared the mutineers would not let him into their secrets. Then they told him about Jack Cade and John Amend All. They turned out to be the same person. He became part of the plot and there was no turning back.

Some said Cade was going to seize London for Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. He would then cross from Ireland and they would trap the king's forces in a pincer movement. Others said the uprising was about overthrowing the earls and barons and establishing a government of the people.

Guy arrived in Blackheath before Robin. He said the two companies should keep apart and not display any affinity towards one another. Robin didn't ask why. Guy didn't give reasons. He expected people to do as they were told.

The welcoming party was from Kent. All were wearing full body armour and many were old soldiers. They belonged to the social class known as “gentlemen”. Three were sheriffs and two were members of Parliament. There was even a churchman amongst them. Robin had expected the sort of people who kept the company of the tinker and his friends. The people who greeted him could not have been more different.

They told him that they were about to fall back to the south. It was a tactical move and not a retreat. Their present position, just south of the River Thames, was too close to the enemy forces. They would retire to Sevenoaks, wait for reinforcements and prepare to do battle with the king's men.

King's men!

That was a term Robin had not heard before. In the past, the talk was about evil advisers and how they were going to rescue the king from them. Now the talk was about King Henry and his French wife, Margaret. Robin recalled that she was the daughter of Ren
é
d'Anjou, a cousin of the French king. The rebels were saying that Queen Margaret had sold England to her French relatives.

In the space of an hour he had gathered enough information for his first report. Three trusted messengers travelled with him. Robin jokingly referred to them as his pigeons. He decided to brief one and send him off to Westminster.

***

Harald searched for his far-seeing glasses. He now had two pairs. One was for writing and the other for seeing things at a distance. A man had sought entry to the Palace of Westminster, saying he needed to speak to Commander Gough. The guard had brought him to Harald for identification.

'You know me, don't you, Sir Harald?'

He recognised the voice and had no trouble identifying the speaker once he had located his glasses.

'Good Morrow, Walter. What tidings do you bring?'

It was an arranged question and the newcomer gave the arranged answer.

'I come with tidings from a far-off place.'

The far-off place turned out to be Blackheath, which was on the south bank of the Thames and not far from the Palace of Westminster, where Harald was working.

Having dispensed with that formality, Walter began to deliver his message, which he carried in his head because Robin feared committing anything to writing. He described how they had arrived at Blackheath only to discover that Cade's army was getting ready to fall back on Sevenoaks.

'Do you think there's a risk that anyone might have suspected you were a spy?' Harald asked. 'I mean when you left to come here.'

'No way. I wasn't the only one to do a bunk. The king had twenty thousand men camped just up the road, waiting to attack. We wouldn't have stood a bloody chance.'

'You say Cade's lost men?'

'I know he bloody well has. They weren't making a tactical retreat. They were running scared. I reckon Cade will have no more than four thousand left by the time they reach Sevenoaks. They'll be caught in a pincer movement. King Henry will come down from London and the Frogs will come up from the south.'

'The Frogs?'

'Yeah. Queen Margaret's arranged for that.'

'You mean she's arranged for the French to invade in support of His Majesty?'

'Yeah. Well. She's a Frog. Isn't she?'

Harald put a finger to his lips. They were in a crowded room with other military secretaries like himself.

'I didn't mean no disrespect, Sir Harald.' Walter did a rapid retake. 'I'm just saying what was said. I mean how they said about her.'

Harald made a note on his wax writing block.

'Did you see my brother Guy?'

'Yeah. I saw him and that bastard of his. Like you know, the Frogs nearly killed him for attacking a guard. He never stops. He was trying to pick a fight with Robin Perry on the way to Dover. Said he was betrothed to Henriette. Reckoned it happened in Rouen when she was a little girl.'

Harald wondered if William's mind was totally unhinged. Or, had Guy arranged for the betrothal of William and Henriette? Anything was possible in the wild world of lying and deceit that plagued his life. He wondered what his brother's next move would be.

'Did Guy accompany Cade's men to Sevenoaks?'

'He was with 'em when I did a bunk. Dunno what happened after that. Could have gone all the way for all I know.'

'And Robin Perry?'

'He's like he always is.'

'Do you think anyone suspects that he might be providing information to the commander?'

'Don't see why they should.'

Harald made another note, returned his stylus to its pouch and closed the lid of the wax tablet to protect the writing.

'Thank you, Walter. That has been very helpful.' He rose to his feet. 'I shall convey your message to Commander Gough. I am sure he will find a way of rewarding your loyalty.'

***

Alice wiped blood from Steven's face and tried to tidy him up. Her son had gone out with a gang of youths and been involved in a fight. He was sleeping in the male dormitory. She had wanted to keep him in the women's but had lost out. The other women didn't want him there and Steven didn't want to stay.

They were living in a pilgrim hostel near Westminster Cathedral. Normally, it housed people visiting the shrine of Saint Edward the Confessor. Its current occupants were refugees from France.

Returning to England had come as a shock. Alice had happy memories of her life at Wolf Wood. The old manor was a place of refinement. She and Harald kept the company of educated people who brought up their children to be polite and considerate. In Normandy, she had nursed a vision of England as a place of tranquillity and peace.

Now, she realised that the vision was an illusion. England was not peaceful and parts were decidedly vicious. The English had an antipathy towards people who were different from themselves and that included people like herself.

The refugees from Normandy stood out from the locals. They spoke with a distinctive accent and mixed French with English without knowing it. They even looked different. English men wore their hair at shoulder length. The Anglo-Normans wore theirs short in the military fashion and their clothes were different too. They had returned to England as refugees but the Londoners had been slow to recognise them as fellow countrymen.

Steven and his young friends had been set upon by local youths. They had got the better of them and Steven was elated. Alice was horrified. She was forever fearful that he would turn out like William and saw similarities. Harald said she was worrying about nothing. Steven wasn't a bit like him. He had taught Steven Greek and Latin and that was something he had never managed with William.

The worrying thing about the fight was that it had occurred in Westminster, which was meant to be a refined place and totally different from London. On the previous day she had gone up one of the cathedral towers. The army was using it as an observation post and Harald had arranged the visit.

There were fields between Westminster and the walled City of London. Big houses lined the river bank. Harald said a beautiful palace, called the Savoy, had stood there. It was burnt down in the Wat Tyler rebellion when the mob went on the rampage. Alice wondered what would happen if Jack Cade's army reached London and the mob was given a chance to vent its rage.

Sevenoaks

Robin watched as Cade's army formed into ranks and prepared to fight the advancing troops. They had lost men from desertion on the road to Sevenoaks but had received reinforcements from Sussex. Their combined army was bigger than the one that had assembled at Blackheath but still not big enough to withstand an assault by a force of twenty thousand.

Cade rode between the ranks, addressing his troops, urging them to stand firm and die rather than surrender. He was an impressive figure, wearing a scarlet cloak and riding a black stallion. He spoke in a clear voice, telling his men they were fighting for liberty. There was no mention of religion. No fanatical ranting about transubstantiation and the other things the Lollards raved on about. It was all solid good sense.

He said they were fighting to be treated as equals. They were fighting for a more representative parliament. They were fighting to stamp out corruption and for the rule of law. They would force the king to take back gifts of land that he had made to favourites. Crown land belonged to the people and should provide revenue for the good governance of the realm.

Robin wondered if he was supporting the wrong side. Then he saw Guy and the other irregulars. They were cheering with the rest just as they had cheered Commander Gough when he addressed his troops. But their cheering lacked conviction. They had turned against Gough when he was no longer of use to them. Robin saw no reason why Cade would not suffer the same fate.

The battle opened with a salvo from Cade's artillery. Robin watched the cannon balls bounce harmlessly over the muddy ground. It was a waste of good powder. The missiles had lost momentum by the time they reached the advancing ranks of the king's troops, who parted and let them through. That told you something about the gunners. They were either inexperienced or scared, perhaps both. At any rate, they were firing far too soon.

Cade's men might look good when they were drawn up in line but they were failing to behave like a competent military force. Robin looked towards the royalist lines and saw they were no better. There was something ragged about their formation. They had dodged the cannon balls but were failing to come back together again.

And there wasn't as many of them as he had been told. The king's army was said to be twenty-thousand strong. There was nothing like that number. It looked as if the royalists had split their forces and sent only part against them.

The cannons fired again. This time, the enemy failed to jump clear and great swathes were cut down. Their archers replied and arrows rained down. Robin expected an order to advance but none was given. Both sides had come to a halt and were firing at one another with devastating effect.

It seemed to go on forever. He had no shield and tried to position himself so that his armour provided maximum protection. Then he heard the familiar blare of hunting horns. It was Guy's way of summoning the band of cut-throats he called the
Noble Company
.

Robin glanced through a chink in his visor and saw them charging. They attacked from the wings and swept all before them. The royalist ranks collapsed and Guy behaved as he always did. Those who looked rich enough to ransom were taken prisoner. Those who didn't were cut down.

Robin saw a banner emblazoned with a silver hand and recognised it as belonging to Sir Humphrey Stafford. He knew him as a founder of the Sherborne almshouse and a generous benefactor of the town. To his horror, Guy seemed intent on killing Sir Humphrey and his brother.

He had the pair pinned down and was railing at them for some past offence. It seemed that Sir Humphrey had instructed his chaplain to marry Harald and Alice in some secret ceremony … and they were going to die for it.