The Dragon Knight

by Gordon R. Dickson

  Brian looked dubious. So did Sir Raoul.

  "Easier said than done, Sir James," said Raoul. "Behind the third line will be the baggage wagons, the retainers, the horse-holders; all the rabble that follows an army. If you plan to charge through that, both horses and men will be worn out before they ever strike the body around the King; and also those with him will be fully alerted that an attack is coming from behind."

  "No doubt," answered Jim, "but while I wouldn't use magic directly in battle against anyone, I think it's a legitimate use of it to help us approach to a distance from where a charge will do some good."

  Looking around, he saw no disbelief on the faces watching him. The irony of it struck him then; for he was nowhere near as sure as they seemed to be that he could manage what he had just said he would do. But from the standpoint of those around him, magic could do anything; and a magician could work any magic.

  He had expected them at least to ask him how he was going to use magic to make their close approach to the King and his bodyguard possible. But none of them asked; and he was content not to have to explain. They must have some hope of success no matter how flimsy. It was best none of them knew that, of all the several possibilities to get them at the false Prince that he was still juggling in his mind, none of them might work. They might be killed to no purpose, all of them. But let the disappointment from that come, if it had to come, tomorrow, after they had all tried their best.

  "So much for that, then," said Brian. "However, let us all—you too, Dafydd—move a little apart from these others so that we may speak in freer voices without a thought of being overheard, even by our own men. But before that—Theoluf! Tom Seiver!"

  Jim's new squire and Brian's senior man-at-arms detached themselves from the group of the others, from whom the three archers were still standing a little apart, and came up to Brian.

  "Yes, Sir Brian?" they said.

  "See to it that these three good archers are welcomed among our men. You understand me, Tom, Theoluf? They are one of us now, and to be treated as such."

  "It will be so, Sir Brian," said Theoluf.

  They went to the archers, spoke to them, and led them over to the men-at-arms. Brian was already leading the others around the corner of the ruined chapel to a small grassy spot.

  Once there, Brian turned his attention to Dafydd.

  "Dafydd," he said, "now that we're apart, not only from our men-at-arms but from your bowmen, tell us frankly how you think the four of you might open a way for us through that wall of knights surrounding King Jean."

  "It was my thought," answered Dafydd, "that the long bow cannot be fired from horseback after the manner of some eastern archers with shorter bows, of whom I have heard, and who shoot even at a gallop. Still, horses might bring myself and my three bowmen close enough to the bodyguard of the King, so that we could work great destruction with our arrows, even against their plate armor, if so they are all dressed in it. To this end you will have to supply us with horses. One reason there are only three with me, is that I wanted not only master archers, but archers who knew how to ride—and all three do so, having been accustomed to horseback since boyhood, for various reasons."

  "I can see how this might be a help to us," said Brian, "but I see no special use for it. We will still face a solid wall of steel and whatever lances or weapons have been turned to meet us at the sound of our approach."

  "You underestimate what the bow can do, as most of those who are not bowmen tend to do," said Dafydd. "Particularly bows in the hands of such men as these three I brought with me. Think you for a moment, Sir Brian, our arrows can empty the saddles of those directly before you, therefore breaking the solid wall of defenders against which you charge; so that you may be in among them before they are solidly set to face you with horse and weapon."

  "Hmm," said Brian, suddenly thoughtful, "there are indeed possibilities in that."

  "Indeed," went on Dafydd. "Further, if we are able to place ourselves at the angle to your assault that I hope, perhaps we can continue shooting those ahead of you for some distance in; and, close-packed as those knights must be, if any have a dead knight ahead of them, or a riderless horse, they will have difficulty coming at you until that obstruction is out of their way—which is not likely to be brought about easily or quickly, since all the other knights of the bodyguard will be attempting to get close to you at the same time."

  "I see," said Brian. "A very pretty, if hardly chivalrous, way of attacking. But, since we are largely outnumbered, and with the odds much against us, I think it should be justified. It comes to me also that your arrows could help protect the more lightly armed men-at-arms who will follow us knights forward in our full armor."

  "I had that in mind too," said Dafydd.

  "What do you think of this, James?" asked Brian, swinging on Jim.

  "It fits in excellently with what I had in mind myself," said Jim. "It means, of course, getting horses for these three extra bowmen and of course one for His Highness, as well as weapons."

  "And armor," put in the Prince swiftly, "nor do you forget a lance, Sir James."

  There was the beginning of another awkward silence. Jim took it on himself to break it.

  "I am afraid," he said to Edward, "Your Highness forgets how difficult it might be to have the luck to find a suit of armor that would exactly fit Your Highness. We'll do what we can to armor you, but it'll probably run more to a helmet, and mail shirt, with plates that can be strapped on the upper legs and arms. You can count on a shield as well. As for the lance—"

  "I'll have you know, Sir James!" broke in Edward hotly, "I have been under instruction by the best teachers in Europe for all kinds of weapons. I doubt not I am the match of anyone here or anyone I am likely to encounter on our way to the King tomorrow!"

  "None of us doubts that, Highness," said Jim, "but—"

  "Then you will find me armor and a lance, plus all other necessary knightly weapons!" said the Prince haughtily. "I so command it!"

  Jim felt a little weary. These gentlemen, lords, and kings were always on stage to a certain extent. Their first concern was not only how they wanted to act, but how they thought one of their rank would be expected to act under given conditions.

  One who had rank was expected to show not merely courage, but a temper to match. Being royal, Edward was now demonstrating a royal wrath at the possibility of not being obeyed without question.

  It was one of the ridiculous, but deadly, conventions of this society. He sighed and opened his lips to answer.

  This time it was Brian who challenged the royal wrath.

  "Forgive, Highness," he said, "but I very much fear me that Sir James is right. It is no reflection upon your skill with weapons; but consider that in this clash with close-packed mounted men, the lance would be effective only in the initial shock, if at that. I am beginning to think that if Dafydd can clear saddles for us in the outer ring, then we are better off without the lances entirely, and depending entirely upon our swords. Indeed, in such a close-packed melee as this, it may well be even that our swords will be less effective than our poignards. In fact, I wish myself that I had my small axe with me. It would be ideal for such a situation as this."

  "We will look for armor for you, Highness," said Jim, "in what time we have to spare to search for it. But in all honesty, I do not expect that we shall find anything to fit you. Yet we shall try. That is all we can promise."

  The Prince's anger, having proved mistimed, was as quick to dissipate as it was to kindle.

  "Forgive me, Sir James, Sir Brian, and all the rest of you," he said, "but I had never seen a pitched battle before Poitiers, and I was forced to surrender there, without a blow being struck in my vicinity from the beginning of the fight until my capture. Who am I to advise those who know what it is like in the thick of the encounter? I will abide by what you can do for me, gentlemen, and dress myself accordingly, both as to armor and weapons."

  "Thank you, Highness," said Jim, "you are inde
ed Princely, to listen to as well as command those who will fight for you."

  The Prince flushed.

  "It is a lesson I am learning," he said somewhat shortly. He gave a wave of his hand. "But on with your discussion, and I will listen."

  "Thank you, Highness," said Jim. He turned to the others. "As far as the actual assault is concerned, the charge into them—I have an idea on that. There is a formation—"

  "Formation?" asked Giles.

  "It is a way of grouping men for an assault," explained Jim. "I know it is more normal for all of you simply to charge in line-abreast. But inevitably that line becomes ragged, as one horse outdistances the others; and it's only when the full body of horse on both sides is committed, that the weight of the attack is felt one way or another."

  He paused for objections, but there were none so far.

  "There's a different way of riding into an enemy line," he went on. "It's called the Wedge formation; and is shaped like one of the broad arrowpoints on the war shafts shot by a long bow."

  He paused to see if they had followed his description of the formation. Apparently they had.

  "Its great value is that all ride closely together and strike the enemy line with the point of their wedge and all their weight behind it, so that the momentum of all the horses together helps to drive it through."

  He paused again.

  "I thought that while some daylight remained we could practice riding to attack the bodyguard in that manner. If we can find a place back behind these trees where no one will see as, we can try riding a short distance in that formation, concentrating on staying together, as we will do tomorrow, with our heavily armored men at the point and our lighter-armed, behind."

  He expected to have to talk these essentially conservative companions of his into trying out the new method of attack. But he found instead that, far from holding back on it, they were all eagerness to try it out. The only difficulties came later, after they had gone half a mile beyond the trees that surrounded the ruined chapel, and found a clear area of meadow in which they could get up speed and pretend to be hitting an enemy concentration.

  The objections came when Jim broke the news that he wanted them to practice without their armor—for fear of attracting undue curiosity in anyone who might see them so riding—and also carrying lengths of tree limbs in their hands instead of weapons and shields, for the same reason.

  This latter suggestion, took most of the fun out of it for a great many of them. The knights in particular had a tendency to feel foolish, galloping their horses in close formation while holding what they disgustedly referred to as sticks. Nonetheless, Jim insisted; and finally they agreed.

  As he had expected, the main trouble was getting them to hold together in the formation. Again, half the excitement of the battle charge for these men was the race to see who could be first to come to blows with the enemy. Jim finally fell back on faking some magic, to impress them.

  He made them get on their horses in wedge formation, then he himself, on foot, walked slowly about them muttering and waving his hands.

  He explained that he was casting a magic web over them that would bind them together; because the only way to victory would be the holding power of the web that kept them in arrow shape. The magic would not only hold them together, he promised, but would triple the strength of each of them, by its tight, if invisible, bonds that held them close to each other. So that the only way the wedge could fail would be if somebody happened to lose touch with those next to him, and lose the extra strength the web would give.

  They accepted this explanation so wholeheartedly that Jim was secretly ashamed. But he consoled himself with the fact that nothing less would make them hold together the way they should; and that it was vital they do so.

  Much to his surprise, the magic was so firmly believed in, by all, that on the next mock charge they clung together like veterans of fifty such charges; and afterwards they were busy commenting to each other on how they could each feel his strength tripled under the influence of the magic.

  "It's because you're sharing each other's strength in the magic," Jim explained with a straight face.

  This satisfied them so completely that, for safety's sake, he added that this was something that worked only during such a wedge-shaped charge. They should not attempt to get the extra strength by staying close together under ordinary battle conditions. Too ready a belief, Jim had already discovered, could be as dangerous as too much skepticism.

  "Now," he said, when he finally brought the exercises to a halt, "we should be thinking about getting those extra horses."

  By the time he said this, the wedge had already separated, as its human parts normally did, into three parties: one consisting of Jim, his Companions, the Prince, and Sir Raoul; another consisting of the men-at-arms; and a third of Dafydd's three archers. In fact, since the archers had no horses, they had stood to one side and watched the exercises, clearly more than a little put out at not being able to join the rest—although their interest in what was going on tended to override this.

  It was time to stifle this sort of division among the men; and that had prompted Jim's decision to mention that it was high time that they saw about getting extra horses, not only for the three bowmen, but for the Prince. Horses of any serviceable kind would do for the bowmen. Unfortunately, a fairly good horse would be required for the Prince—in short, a knight's horse. It seemed to Jim that the only way of providing these horses would be to sneak around the back of the French lines and steal them from the French. Sir Raoul would be able to show them the way. The real problem would be to find men capable of doing the stealing.

  Jim rode his horse over to where the men-at-arms sat theirs. He noted with a touch of annoyance that Theoluf was still among them.

  Jim beckoned Theoluf aside.

  "Theoluf!" he said in a low voice. "You're my squire now. You should be over with the rest of us who are leaders in this."

  "Thank you m'Lord," said Theoluf. "I own I'm not brave about mixing with those above my station. Also, there's still the matter of getting the bowmen accepted by the men-at-arms, who've a tendency to look down on archers in general. I was still seeing about that."

  "Well, that's fine," said Jim, "but, start joining our war councils across the way, simply so you know what's going on. If you stay with the men-at-arms, you learn only what's issued as orders to them. There's more to your new rank than that."

  "I stand corrected, m'Lord," said Theoluf. "I'll be beside you from now on."

  "Fine," said Jim. "Now—I want the attention of all the men-at-arms."

  Theoluf turned his horse back to face the other men-at-arms and shouted at them.

  "Pay heed now!" His voice rang out. "M'Lord James has something to say to you all!"

  Jim and he rode back to the group. Jim looked at the faces of his own men and Brian's. As Brian had mentioned, he had brought only those who were veterans. The faces that looked back at Jim, consequently, were hard, experienced faces, none of which gave anything away by their expression.

  "Men!" said Jim, raising his voice. "We've reached the point where we have to get horses not only for these new archers but for Prince Edward. Who among you has some experience in stealing horses?"

  There was a dead silence from the assemblage before him. No one spoke. No one changed expression.

  Jim waited a few moments. Then it became obvious none of them were going to speak up. He raised his voice again.

  "Is there any among you who have known horse thieves, then? Or perhaps heard of some of the ways they go about their stealing?" he asked.

  Once more he met the same poker-faced silence. Evidently, it was no use. He turned briefly to Theoluf.

  "Join me when you can," he said in lower tones to his new squire. Turning his horse about he rode back to join the group of those belonging to the upper class.

  As he joined them, his mind was busy with the problem that had just erupted. He had been sure that of the men-at-arms one
, at least, since they were all old soldiers, might have some idea on how to provide themselves with riding horses under conditions like these. But, evidently not.

  The question was now, what should he do? Sir Raoul would show him the way to the back lines of the French, and soon twilight and approaching darkness would make thievery possible. But he, himself, had not the slightest idea of how to go about getting the horses he needed. Furthermore, he was quite sure that none of the men of rank around him would know any such thing.

  He was roused from his thoughts by Brian's hand plucking at his elbow. When he looked up, Brian caught his eye and inclined his head a little to the side. They rode off together a short distance, enough to give them privacy from both groups.

  "I heard you there," said Brian. "James, James! What did you think to gain by speaking to the men that way?"

  "Why, I hoped to come across at least one who had some experience in stealing horses," said Jim. "Exactly what I asked them."

  "Exactly," said Brian. He shook his head. "James, James! Sometimes I think you are the wisest man on earth, wiser even than Carolinus. At other times, you seem to know as little about the ordinary things of life as someone from the depths of the sea or the other side of the world."

  "I don't understand." Jim stared at him.

  "Why," said Brian, "you asked these men, standing all together, each overhearing your words and in a position to overhear the words of any who answered you, which of them were horse thieves. How could you expect them to answer? If any had said you yes, from this day on if they happened to be anywhere nearby when a horse was stolen, and there was one of these others around who remembered that one identified himself as skillful at stealing such, they would immediately be mentioned as one who had experience at that thievish trade."

  "I see," answered Jim slowly. He had lived in this world long enough to know that, here, an accusation was tantamount to a universal certainty that the person was guilty of whatever he was accused of. "But how am I supposed to find out who among them does know something about picking up horses for our archers and the Prince?"