It was the day I realised that Federico was smarter than we all thought, although, I was already suspecting it. I did not know his full background, though. The only thing I knew about his youth was that he was a peasant and had moved from Florence to Rome to pursue the fine arts of painting and sculpturing, both of which he had failed spectacularly.
‘You ungrateful bastard!’ Belfrigh roared and stood up. ‘Where would you be without me? When I found you, you were nothing, a servant in better people’s households. You owe me your allegiance,’ he continued flustered.
Federico stood up too and looked at him with complete apathy. ‘I thought we were a bunch of free warriors fighting for profit, Belfrigh! I wasn’t aware that you were our king,’ he said sarcastically.
‘I might as well be,’ said Belfrigh. ‘For I’m your better! Ed is right, and you should bloody listen to him. It was I who brought this band together! I who took you in and trained you and showed you everything I knew. I WHO MADE YOU BLOODY RICH!’ he was brandishing his hands, and his face had the same colour as the embers in the heart of the fire we had built in our midst.
Everyone fell silent.
‘What is it you’re hiding, Belfrigh?’ asked Aeron this time, who was the tall Welshman with long ginger hair and matching beard. Belfrigh turned his head towards him, ready to burst into yelling again. ‘I’ve got the utmost respect for you, and I’m pretty sure everyone in this clearing feels the same. And yes, we do owe you for making us what we are today. But you cannot ask us to walk into death’s hands… Not blindly, anyway. We need an explanation.’
At that moment, I realised that Belfrigh’s attempt was no good. He had evidently underestimated our companions, as they were all as it seemed intelligent enough to understand that something was amiss in this case. I contemplated for a few seconds… Maybe they deserved to know the truth, they deserved my trust. They were my brothers, after all, and if anything, we respected each other; no matter what Belfrigh had said, I would not believe that anyone present would ever betray me for coin.
I opened my mouth to utter my confession, but I never got the chance… ‘Listen, brothers,’ I started, and then we heard it… Screaming… and what was unmistakably the clash of steel on steel.
Everyone turned around, looking towards the Western City Walls, which were but a few miles away, and it was where the noise was coming from.
‘What was that?’ I asked rhetorically.
‘I think we’d better head back to the city,’ said Aeron.
‘Not until we have cleared this out,’ said Federico. ‘You were saying something, Ed. Let us hear it,’ he turned the attention back to me, and I was ready to carry on with my speech. I would have, had it not been for what happened next…
A band of soldiers approached us in the dark from the South, around two dozen of them. ‘Halt!’ said the man at the front. ‘State your business, men.’
The men that were still sitting beside the fire stood up too. All eight of us turned and faced the soldiers, who we could now see under the light of our fire they were part of the Swiss Guard, the pope’s personal army, wearing their distinctive orange, blue, yellow and red uniforms, which were glowing in the dim light.
‘I was going to ask you the same question myself,’ spoke Belfrigh on our behalf and all of us drew our swords at the same time indicating our unity under times of crisis.
‘Lower your weapons at once,’ said the same man who was apparently their leader. ‘I’ve no doubt that you’re all lawless scum. However, we cannot afford to waste time on you lot. A bigger enemy is threatening us, and we ought to focus our strength against them, rather than fighting petty thieves. Now-’ he did not get the chance to finish his sentence as an arrow passed right through his hut and blew it away.
‘Call us petty thieves one more time, and I’ll aim lower,’ said Aeron who was holding his Welsh longbow and had already attached another arrow on the string.
The guards looked at us with hostility and nervousness at the same time. We might have been outnumbered three to one, but they knew that if they tried to fight us, they would suffer significant losses.
‘Now, everybody, calm down,’ said their captain, his tone changed. I could see it in his eyes that he was scared, and we had made him aware that he could not insult us without risking unleashing our wrath upon them. Bandits we might have been, but we were heavily armed and well trained, not to mention unpredictable.
‘Speak!’ said Belfrigh, whilst he made us a notion of lowering our weapons, which we obeyed.
‘I’ll be plain because time is of the essence,’ the captain said. ‘The Holy Roman Empire has besieged the city.’
Silence. The night got still. War was upon us.
‘Emperor Charles’s army has defeated the French in the North of Italy, and now they’ve come for us. They are outside of the Western Walls demanding our surrender or threaten to unleash havoc,’ he explained. ‘Now if you please step aside so we can proceed to the walls and reinforce the troops there, or we’ll all be in grave peril soon.’
‘Sheathe your weapons, lads. This is none of our business,’ Belfrigh cried.
‘None of your business?’ the captain looked shocked. ‘You parasites, you whoresons, you molest this Holy City with your sinning souls and with no regret or any intention to repent. You all deserve to burn in DEVIL’S HELL,’ he was shouting now, with the passion of a pious man, a man of the Church, a God-loving arse who had the pope as his king and believed that everyone in this world that dared to live was a sinner at heart. His Church though did not stop the ravaging of war, in fact, it encouraged it, and it might have been in the name of Jesus, but it was truly the pope that they were all fighting for, whilst he concealed the corruption of his clerics.
I approached the captain slowly and looked at him in the eye. ‘Everyone is a sinner, captain, some more than others, but according to your Church’s preaching, everyone’s soul is doomed to an eternity of burning.’ I was so close now I could smell his foul breath. ‘So, I’d rather make the most of my life now,’ and without anyone expecting it, I ran Defier through his throat. Blood splashed everywhere on my face and clothes. The captain fell on his knees and then face down, drowned in his own blood.
For a moment, everyone stared at the scene, unable to comprehend what had just happened, and then, the inevitable fighting started. It was swift and bloody, the guards were dispirited by the fall of their captain, and they fought desperately, as we cut them all down, one after the other, leaving none alive, whilst we suffered no losses, but a few scratches.
When all was done, Belfrigh came to me and said: ‘That was not wise of you, Ed.’
‘We left no survivors, it doesn’t matter,’ I answered back. ‘Besides, it was too much of an insult to be able to withstand it.’
‘True that,’ said Aeron, wiping his blood-stained sword on a dead man’s boots.
‘We need to move on, lads,’ Belfrigh said. ‘If the captain’s claims were true, the city is in danger. One more reason to flee.’
There was a general murmur of acceptance of his words by the men. However, Federico did not seem content. ‘You’re my better, Belfrigh,’ he said pointing his sword at him.
‘Put that down, boy, before you cut yourself. I was merely trying to teach you some respect,’ Belfrigh snarled and sheathed his sword.
‘You’re hiding something!’ he insisted.
‘Now is not the time to argue, you fool. We must leave this place, or risk being trapped in a besieged city that’s bound to fall,’ Belfrigh claimed and went towards the fire to extinguish it.
‘How do you know it’ll fall?’ another one asked.
‘I know because the city troops are but a couple of thousand and consist of low-paid, undertrained soldiers and a handful of bloody proud but nevertheless useless Swiss Guards,’ he finished waving towards the dead soldiers. ‘Furthermore, the Western Walls are the most vulnerable in the city. They’re ancient and weather-worn. If Emperor Charles has a conside
rable force with him, let alone siege machines, it’ll take him but a few hours to breach the walls, enter the city and burn it to the ground. Now you would all agree that we could handle a few Swiss Guards, but numerous imperial troops thirsty for blood and rape and coin? I don’t think so… ’Tis the most dangerous thing in this world to be on the losing side of a city that’s being sacked,’ Belfrigh spoke as if from experience and no one dared to doubt his words. He was, after all, the oldest, the wisest and the most seasoned one amongst us.
‘How do you propose we flee the city when it is already besieged?’ I asked him.
‘As far as we know, the city is not surrounded. So, we’ll have to attempt to escape from the opposite direction, preferably east or south,’ Belfrigh explained.
‘Why not north?’ I asked, thinking of England.
‘North we’ll take us straight to the open countryside which has been defeated by the Holy Roman Empire. We don’t know the extent of the lands that the emperor has captured. It might be that he’s conquered half of Italy already. South, we can flee to the Kingdom of Naples, head to the closest port and hire a ship that will take us away from Italy and due north.’
‘We should vote,’ Federico suggested.
‘We’ve no time for this!’ I pressed. ‘Belfrigh’s right we should leave immediately.’
‘Oh, we’ll leave all right, but not to flee,’ he said. ‘I call a vote to stay and fight for our city.’
‘It’s not our city,’ I said.
‘Maybe not yours, you English outsider,’ Federico said, and my temper exploded. I did not draw my sword this time, I just sprinted at his direction and tackled him on the ground. Then, I kneeled, my knees pressing on his chest, punching every inch of his face. I felt my knuckles brake his nose and then his jaw, whilst several teeth were knocked out of his mouth… After what seemed numerous punches, I felt hands dragging me away from him. I resisted and shouted: ‘DON’T YOU EVER CALL ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, YOU WORTHLESS SON OF A WHORE! YOU DON’T FUCKING KNOW WHO I AM! I’LL KILL YOU THE NEXT TIME YOU CALL ME AN OUTSIDER!’
I was shaking with rage and contempt.
‘Enough, Ed! This isn’t helping. We oughtn’t to fight amongst us, this is what our enemies would want. We must leave immediately. So, let me make this plain for you: whoever wishes to follow me, come along, the rest of you can fucking stay and defend your doomed Holy City. I’m leaving now,’ Belfrigh said and started walking away.
I shook my arms to free myself from the grips of the men that had restrained me and stood up; massaged my sore knuckles, brushed my long hair away from my face and followed Belfrigh without another word…
Nobody followed us but Aeron, maybe it was because he craved to return to his homeland as much as I did. As for the others, I supposed they had a point for wanting to stay, they were all Italians, and they wanted to defend their city and country against foreign invaders. They might have been outlaws, but this was their hometown and had strong feelings for it. I would probably have done the same had I been in their position, and besides, we had not made a solid case for ourselves. Everyone thought Belfrigh wanted to go back to England for personal reasons and their reluctance and suspicion that something was not right had been too great to ignore, even if they had to choose between following Belfrigh and staying to a doomed-to-fall city. The bond that tied us together was broken that night, and I had given the last strike when I had punched Federico almost to death…
*
An hour later we were crossing the populous city, which was filled with panic. People screaming and crying, not knowing what to do, whilst small groups of soldiers were occasionally seen passing by, all apparently heading towards the Western Walls to try and defend them. It was something I had never experienced in my life before. The sack seemed to have begun before the enemy had even breached the walls, as beggars and thieves took advantage of the situation and stole whatever they could lay their hands on; breaking into houses and shops, taking anything they could carry, with no authority around to stop them.
‘Buggers!’ I said to no one in particular.
‘We’ve lost precious time already,’ said Belfrigh. ‘We must proceed with haste to the Southern Walls.’
‘What about our belongings?’ Aeron enquired.
‘Right, we wait here whilst you go and collect them,’ Belfrigh replied sarcastically. ‘You mad, lad? In a few hours, these streets will be swarming with ravaging soldiers. We won’t stand a chance. The defence of the city will fall sooner than we all expect. This is not the Eternal City anymore. Rome was sacked a thousand years ago and will be sacked again tonight. Mark my words. HURRY, NOW!’
There was no point contradicting his claim, no point risking it. We made haste towards the Southern Walls, but the journey seemed to be taking more time that we had anticipated, even though we were on horseback. The horses were not battle-trained and were disturbed and confused by the loud noises which made them gallop slower than usual. Shortly afterwards, it was dimmed necessary to climb off our horses and continue on foot, as the streets were so busy that we had difficulty passing through them without stepping on civilians.
‘HURRY!’ Belfrigh shouted again, as he squeezed his way through the crowd and we struggled to follow him.
At that moment, a group of around thirty soldiers appeared out of nowhere, forcing their way on the street and looking at the crowd carefully, as if searching for someone in particular. Then one of them stood on a small rock on the side of the road, so he could be seen by everyone in the immediate vicinity and said loudly and clearly in Italian: ‘Order! I call for order!’
For a few seconds, nobody heard him, but shortly afterwards, his soldiers managed to bring order out of the chaos. The man on the rock was notable by his glowing armour and his mere presence indicated authority. He must have been in his fifties judging by his short, receding grey hair and many wrinkles in his closely-shaved face. He was also of tall stature and had very broad shoulders. However, he did not look weak or frail by his old age, and as he spoke again with a deep, loud voice, one could not help but feel intimidated by his authoritative manner.
‘Any man or young lad that is fit to hold a sword is required to come forth and present himself, he must accompany us to the Western City Walls where we’re currently mustering all the force we can to defend our Holy City. Only the women, the old, the younglings and the sick are to remain behind. The rest of you, come forth,’ he said finishing his speech. However nobody moved, and then he said even louder: ‘Fail to do so, and you will all be charged with High Treason in the name of his Holiness Pope Clement the Seventh!’
The last statement seemed to have done the trick as a man after man came reluctantly forward towards him. These men were most definitely untrained in the arts of war, but the City Guard was desperate enough to employ every man that could stand on his two feet in their attempts to bolster the defences. On the other hand, Belfrigh, Aeron and I were undoubtedly experienced in fighting. However, all we really wanted was to escape.
Belfrigh made a few steps backwards and nudged Aeron and me to move away from the guards. I had little hope, though, as our appearance would surely give us away as warriors, let alone the tall horses we dragged behind us. We were all in full armour and armed with swords and daggers, and Aeron also carried his longbow. The only thing that could disguise us as ordinary folk was our travelling cloaks. Once, someone was near enough though…
‘Oi! You three! Where d’you think you’re going?’ a guard yelled at us.
‘Get your hands off me, you whoreson!’ I said to him when he tried to grab me. I pushed back my cloak and showed him my armour. He took a couple of steps back in apprehension. However, other soldiers had spotted us too and made a notion to their captain.
‘Round them up!’ he said and stepped off his rock, while his men were clearing the way from civilians as they surrounded us. ‘Why didn’t you come forth when I called?’ he asked us. ‘You seem more than capable enough to defend our Holy City. You’d
all make a great addition to our ranks.’
‘We don’t want to join your ranks!’ I said defiantly, whilst fingering the pommel of my longsword, ready to draw it at any moment.
‘Calm your temper, lad!’ Belfrigh whispered to my ear in English and then spoke to the captain in Italian: ‘With all due respect, captain, but we’re in a hurry.’
‘In a hurry to flee, you mean?’ he said and scratched his chin. Unlike the Swiss Guard’s uniform, the City Guard’s one was quite different, they were all dressed in plated steel armour and gauntlets, whilst they were armed with broadswords, spears and crossbows. ‘Why would you want to abandon your city?’
‘’Tis not-’ I started but Belfrigh punched me in the ribs, and I stopped abruptly.
‘We’re on an errand, captain,’ Belfrigh said, clearly improvising, trying to talk our way out of this tricky situation, lest we ended up in the vanguard of the city’s defence.
‘Do tell me, I pray ye!’ the captain said narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
‘We… Eh… We were sent as messengers to the King of Naples to request his aid,’ Belfrigh claimed unconvincingly.
‘Ha! Nice try, old man!’ the captain said, and Belfrigh looked deranged, he hated to be called like that. ‘Your claims are ridiculous I must say. I’m fully aware that all the messengers left hours ago when we first got a whiff that the enemy was approaching the city. Even so, you certainly do not pass as messengers. More like as fallen knights I would say, who turned outlaws and have hundreds of Florins bounty on their names,’ he uttered the last sentence so fast that none of us realised immediately what he meant until he added: ‘ARREST THEM!’
The soldiers rounded on us swiftly and efficiently. I had merely drawn Defier, and it was knocked down by a blow in my arm. Next thing I knew I was stripped of my possessions and was forced on my knees, as was Belfrigh. Aeron, however, with the exceptional reflexes of an archer, had mounted his horse and rode away knocking several people off, before any of them got the chance to pursue him.
The Illegitimate Tudor Page 6
