Wolf Wood (Part Two): The Dangerous years (7 page)

An explosion shook the boat. Henriette guessed they were firing the cannons at the back. That was another thing about the Flemish ships. Some of them had cannons. Not big ones that were used to knock down castles but small ones that would fit on a ship. Robin was standing at one of the portholes.

'What's happening?'

'We're being followed,' he said.

'Are we firing at them?'

'Aye. We've shredded their sails. They won't be able to catch us. They've lost too much canvas.'

On deck, Philip barked an order. The ship lurched. Steven squealed and Alice took him in her arms. Henriette lost her balance and fell onto a pile of sacks. Water gushed into the hold.

'We've been hit.'

'No. We're alright.' Robin hung onto a beam with his injured hand. 'We're tacking. The water's coming in through the portholes. The wind is behind us now.'

The ship righted and they took turns at the porthole. Blood streamed from Robin's injured arm and stained her dress. On deck, Philip was still shouting orders.

'What's he saying?' Robin asked.

'Something about another boat.'

Henriette poked her head through the porthole. All she saw was the horizon and a patch of sky. The boat was leaning over at a crazy angle. Then it settled down and she found herself staring at the prow of a warship.

The huge vessel was closing in on them at a frightening speed. There were archers on its deck and men with grappling hooks. She could hear them shouting in English. Above her head, the crew was hurling back insults in Breton.

They were on a collision course and the distance was closing fast. She thought they would smash into one another. Then, at the last moment, the two vessels changed course and scraped sides. Spars snapped and covers broke loose. Faces stared down at her. Grappling hooks lashed out. Henriette jumped back.

They were about to be boarded.

'Stand by!
'

An English voice rang out.

Men were poised to jump the gap.

She saw
figures silhouetted against the sky.

Robin drew his sword and she reached for her dagger.

Then the cannons roared. Grapeshot spattered the English ship. Bodies and bits of bodies tumbled into the water. A spar broke loose and something smacked her in the face.

'Are you alright?'

She heard Robin and felt his arms about her. Voices were shouting in Breton. She opened an eye and saw feet. Blood ran into her eyes. The crew was yelling for them to shut the porthole. Everything was confusion and noise. Alice was talking and Steven was crying. The pain in her face got worse.

'It's not serious.'

Alice's voice was drowned out by swearing. The Bretons couldn't get the porthole shut. Wood from the other ship was jammed into it. Henriette winced as her cheek was probed.

'You are lucky not to have been badly hurt.'

Alice pulled something from the wound.

'There's nothing to worry about.'

'I'm not worried,' Henriette protested. 'I want to know about Robin.

'Robin is helping them tie the porthole shut.'

Henriette craned her neck and saw him tugging on a rope. She was lying on a pile of sacks. The boat was racing ahead on an even keel. She could hear the wind in the sails and the swish of water against the sides. The Bretons were cheering. She guessed they had beaten off their attackers.

Robin came and lay beside her. With the portholes shut it was pitch dark. Alice was somewhere with Steven and Harald. The Bretons were on deck. She snuggled up close and felt his breath on her neck. Girls of her class were often married by her age. Alice had waited until she was almost thirty before Steven was born. It had taken her so long to find her man. Henriette felt a surge of pride. She was only sixteen and her man was beside her.

They had lain together before and returned kisses. Robin had been reluctant to take their love making further. He said she was too young and of noble birth. That was ridiculous. Her family were pirates and she was not too young. She needed a man to protect her. When she pressed against him she felt his passion. It was hard and pulsating with life. They could both die before the night was out. Henriette resolved that she would not die a virgin.

Cardinal Henry Beaufort continued his relentless campaign against Duke Humphrey. Henry Bolingbrook was hanged, drawn and quartered and the Witch of Eye was burnt at the stake. In November 1441, the duke was forced to divorce Eleanor who was convicted of sorcery and imprisoned. Six years later, in 1447, Duke Humphrey was arrested for alleged treason. He died in custody five days later. Cardinal Beaufort died in bed a few weeks later.

The French overcame their differences and reorganised their forces with a central command. In August 1449, they embarked on the reconquest of Normandy and plunged the English into retreat.

The Gascoignes and the Perrys were well established in France. Henriette was married to Robin Perry and they had two children. Harald Gascoigne was a senior official in the English administration and Robin was an officer in the Duke of York's army.

Ba
yeu
x

April 15th 1450

Alice stood on the battlements and watched as a trickle of soldiers made their way between the two massive towers that guarded the main gate of the City. Earlier that day, the English had suffered a crushing defeat at Formigny, a small village ten miles away. An army of five thousand had been caught in a pincer movement and routed.

Her immediate concern was for Robin who had gone out with a scouting party and had not yet returned. He was now thirty-one and a very different person from the bashful country boy she met when she first arrived in Sherborne. Robin spoke good French and had learnt to write the sort of English that was fashionable in Westminster. He reported directly to the Commander of the garrison, Matthew Gough. Like everyone else, they feared for their future.

Their original intention had been to move to Gascony and settle in Bordeaux. The people of that region were staunchly independent and regarded themselves as subjects of the English king. Like the Bretons, they had resisted the French for centuries. Now it looked as if they would soon become French like the people of Languedoc to their east. They had once been part of the Mediterranean world. Two hundred years ago, the Francs swept down and conquered them, claiming they were heretics and enemies of Christ.

Henriette had no objection to becoming French. She enjoyed good relations with the local Normans. The problem was her family. Henriette was a Maupassant. Like the Gascoignes. they were hated for their brutality and could expect little mercy when the English were finally expelled from France.

Harald wanted to return to England but there was a warrant out for his arrest and Alice was still being hunted as a witch. Robin wanted to return but Henriette had been denied English nationality and could be refused entry.

That was another part of the whole awful business. The Normans were regarded as subjects of the English king but that didn't give them an automatic right to leave Normandy and settle in England. Families would be torn apart when an English husband was forced to flee and his Norman wife was denied the right to leave with him.

A blue and white banner caught her eye. It was being carried by an outrider and the man beside him looked like Robin. He was dressed in his officer's uniform and standing high in his stirrups, looking to left and right, signalling to his men, keeping them in tight formation. They were riding on either side of a group of horsemen. Alice caught a glimpse of their standard and her heart fell. She couldn't be sure but it looked like an animal on a blood-red background.

As they drew closer, there could be no doubt. The animal was a three-headed wolf and the three Williams were riding beneath it. Sir William was slumped in his saddle and appeared to be injured. Guy was supporting him on one side. William rode on the other and held the Gascoigne banner in his outstretched arm.

***

Robin entered the guardhouse and watched as Sir William's wounds were dressed. Commander Gough had sent his top surgeon to attend to the old man's injuries. He guessed it had been done out of respect for Harald. The commander had few kind feelings towards Sir William and others like him.

Sir William and Guy headed one of the many irregular companies that roamed the land. They were used by both sides and widely hated. Robin had few doubts about what would happen when the war ended. The companies would go on the rampage like they always did when there was no work for them as mercenaries. The new French army would probably have the power to put them down. The same could not be said for the English. If the Gascoignes and their kind ever gained a foothold in England, they would rip the realm apart.

The old man had received a sword thrust to his lower abdomen. A lesser man would already be dead but Sir William was battling on, surviving by pure willpower. It couldn't last. There was no surgeon in all of France who could stitch the vital organs back together again. Alice said such things were done in the Muslim lands but not in Christendom. Robin's spine tingled whenever he heard her speak like that. She had still not learnt to guard her tongue.

Alice was assisting the surgeon. She was highly regarded as a healer and greatly respected by the local people. Even the priests had a good word for her. While in Normandy, she was safe. Letters from Sherborne, sent via Flanders, warned that Abbot Bradford was still calling her the
Almshouse Witch
and blaming her for the riot and damage to the abbey.

He glanced between her and Sir William. The old man had reached out a hand and was calling her his favourite daughter and mother of his dearest grandchild. On the other side of the bed, William tensed. Robin watched as the expression on his battered face turned from resentment to pure rage.

William was now even bigger than Guy. Father and son were separated by only fifteen years and often mistaken as brothers. Guy was immensely fit for his age and looked younger than his forty-one years. William was battle scarred and looked much older than his twenty-six.

Guy had always been a vicious character. William was not just vicious. He was totally mad. Robin watched saliva form about his contorted jowls as his grandfather continued to praise Alice and her son, Steven. He clearly saw them as rivals for the old man's affection. More to the point, he probably saw them as rivals for the Gascoigne inheritance and that was very worrying.

Robin resolved to talk to Harald at the first opportunity. Right now, Harald was in the castle keep with Commander Gough. The commander had taken part in the battle at Formigny and had fought his way back to Bayeux with remnants of the English army. Harald was no doubt helping him prepare dispatches while the garrison got ready to defend the City.

***

Commander Gough waited as Harald penned the tiny slip of paper that would be dispatched by carrier pigeon. It was work that could only be entrusted to a senior member of his staff. He watched as Harald worked diligently, head poised a few inches above the table, forming each minute letter individually, taking care not to let the ink run. His short site seemed to be more of a help than a hindrance.

The City gates were shut and anyone wishing to enter was obliged to use a heavily guarded postern gate set into the City walls. It was two hours after sunset and the commander was taking no chances. His blood boiled when he thought of the enormity of what had happened.

An English relief army had crossed the Channel and landed at Cherbourg with cannons and enough gunpowder to storm a dozen castles. They should have been able to manage by themselves but were soon calling for reinforcements. He was sent with troops from the Bayeux garrison. The combined force was outmanoeuvred by the French and caught in a pincer movement, at Formigny.

As each new fugitive arrived, the extent of the defeat became evident. Thousands, not hundreds, of English lives had been lost and the French had suffered only light casualties. Valuable munitions had fallen into enemy hands. Scores of knights had been captured. The unransomable rank and file were slaughtered where they stood.