The Shield

by C. J. Bentley

  The Finder – Book One

  The Shield

  CJ Bentley

  “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once…”

  – Albert Einstein (a very clever man)

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1 - Prologue

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  History stuff……

  A little bit of history about the English Royal family during Medieval times....

  Copyright

  Chapter 1 - Prologue

  The beginning…

  somewhere in Durham, 1340AD

  He opened his eyes slowly, then blinked from the glare of the bright sunlight against the azure blue sky.

  His first thought was that it was approaching darkness when the bandits appeared. He remembered riding hard and thinking he must stop soon, before he injured his horse and maybe even himself.

  The country was a lawless place these days; King Edward was trying his best to bring the Barons to order with the help of his gracious Queen Philippa, who was loved by all. His Grace was fighting major battles against the Scots and the Welsh, not to mention the French.

  God willing things would improve for the country and the King would find peace.

  How long had he been unconscious? He wasn’t sure but it must have been hours. It surely couldn’t have been days.

  He wondered if he was injured, but that meant moving and he really didn’t want to move yet. Maybe he could just lie here looking at the sky, but then he remembered. He had to move, had to complete his journey and his mission. His King and the future of his country depended upon the message he carried in his shield’s secret hiding place.

  Where was his shield? Sword? Horse?

  He cautiously moved his head to one side, mentally noting his helmet was missing.

  He heard, as his senses recovered, and then saw a stream, swollen with recent rains. As he moved his head to the other side it appeared to be all around him. It gurgled its way in its hurry to reach the river and then onwards to the sea.

  He moved one leg gently over the edge of the bank and into the water. As the water hit his foot, the cold made him catch his breath, but it had the desired effect of making him more alert. He didn’t seem to be injured; if he could only get his other leg over the bank he could launch himself upright. Not an easy thing to do dressed in chain mail armour but he needed the momentum, so it had to be done. As he rolled onto his side to let his other leg fall into the stream he felt a sharp, stabbing pain. He was injured. He needed to move, to get to safety. The villains may still be around.

  He knew who could help him but he had to find his horse to get to her. She was good with herbs and potions, better than any, and she knew all about his mission so would heal him quickly to get him on his way to the King. Oh, how he needed his horse, where was he?

  Ignoring the pain as best he could, he rolled over and bent both his legs over the bank and using all of his remaining strength, pushed himself into an upright position. He was not on an island as first thought, but facing the bank of an inlet of land pushing out into the water, a grassy bank covered with wild flowers and young trees with a scrubby planting of young hedge to one side.

  On a better day he would have chosen such a place to sleep in the dappled sunshine. It had a magic about it. But now he needed to move and to find his horse quickly to get himself out of danger.

  He waded upstream holding his injured side. He noticed blood on his hand when he removed it from under his surcoat. He located his sword; he quickly retrieved it from the body of one of the bandits who had set upon him. Good, he had done some damage, was his thought as he wiped the blade on the cloak of his victim and gave a low whistle for his beloved mount, whilst hoping they were not horse thieves. He didn’t have to wait for long. His faithful and very beautiful white charger made its way towards him, whinnying a reply in welcome.

  “Hello my beautiful boy, you are not hurt then?” he murmured as he ran his hands down the horse’s body and legs, wincing with the agony of bending down, but thankfully no injuries.

  Just his own pain; he needed investigation and treatment and quickly.

  He needed to mount his horse and get to where he would get both. Looking around he noticed another body. He led his horse to see if he could locate his shield, but couldn’t find it anywhere.

  He decided he would have to leave this place and, when he was better, return to find it. A fallen tree trunk served as a mounting block and with great difficulty and almost passing out from the pain he launched himself into the saddle.

  “Take me home Beauty, take me home.” He would return to find his shield with its hidden secret, but first he needed to quickly mend.

  He would report to his Lord and then God willing to his King. His mission so far had failed but he had escaped with his life, only just; he knew he would complete his mission in time, hopefully not too long in the future, for the sake of his country…

  Chapter 2

  The present… 1962, Durham

  Everybody knows that life is full of decisions: should we or shouldn’t we, difficult choices to make about life and living; for me, aged ten years and four months, which cereal to choose for breakfast, or sandwich filling, or where to go and play. Choices for my big sister, who is eleven years older: which boy to go out with, or worse, marry. Not that I didn’t like boys, two of my best friends were boys, but the thoughts of having one as a boyfriend was one I did not want to think about thank you very much.

  One day at the end of July, at the start of school summer holidays I wish I had listened to my mother, whose voice was always in my head giving good advice, saying, “Please think carefully before you make your choice, but remember when made you must stick to your decision.” So stick to it I must, instilled into me aged ten years and four months.

  You may wonder what my decision was and why I was so concerned, and for that I must take you back to that time at the start of the summer holidays at the end of July. A truly beautiful day, full of sunshine and promise. The sky as blue as the deepest blue forget-me-not flower and the sun just the right temperature for spending a full day outdoors.

  It was a Monday, washing day in our house. Mum would have the twin tub pulled out of the long cupboard in the kitchen and attached to the sink for the day, doing the family wash. I liked washing day, I liked to walk under the clean smelling sheets pegged out on the line in the garden; they formed walls and I imagined they were castles to be captured. It was a problem, my imagination, or so my big sister said. “She always has her head in the clouds, nothing is real for Peggy.” (Not my real name but the name I wanted to be called that week, which changed regularly according to which book I was reading, or TV programme I was watching. I had just changed to Peggy from Rebecca, Ivanhoe being my favourite TV programme as this was the early nineteen sixties – but I am swaying from the point and must take you back to that day at the end of July).

  “Can I take a picnic, mum, please?” I asked her this regularly during the summer break and generally received an affirmative answer.

  “As long as you make it yourself as I have the washing to do and it will take me all day, you know,” answered mum. She knew she was to be busy all day and was making a start.

  Good, I thought, that means I will have all day out with the gang. Our gang of five consisted of myself, sometimes the leader and sometimes not. We shared most things, including position. Jeannette, who was second in command when I was leader, Linda wh
o was a follower but had really good ideas and so sometimes she was often voted the leader because of them. We had two boys in our gang, Richard and Hugh. They were happy to go along with what we decided, they often said that girls were bossy. They were a bit older than us, already started at secondary school as they were the next year up at school but as they lived close they sometimes helped with homework. It was a big year for us girls as we were due to start secondary school in September, something I found exciting, but both Linda and Jeannette admitted were a little bit afraid of at the same time.

  We were so lucky with where we lived, fields accessible through a narrow cutting, edged both sides with hawthorn hedging, just across the road from our street. This meant within a few minutes we could be out on the open plains, playing whatever we thought of from morning until curfew time, which in our house was five o’clock when Dad arrived home from work.

  The series of fields usually had cows in one of them, which was a problem for Linda as she was scared of cows and we all had to walk closely around her keeping her in the middle of us all for safety.

  “Just going to find out what Linda and Jeanette are doing this morning, mum, if they want to go swimming then I won’t need sandwiches,” I called out over my shoulder whilst disappearing out of the front door.

  “Don’t be long then as I need to get the twin tub out and you know how much room it takes up in the kitchen.” Mums words were lost on me as I was out of the door and running to Linda’s house next door to ours. I knocked on the back door to the kitchen, hoping she was up and ready for our adventures. Her mum answered the door.

  “Hi Rebecca, is it Rebecca still? I can never keep up with you and your name changes, Linda is up in her room, I think she is dressed, you can go up and see if you like.” Linda’s mum was lovely, always happy and smiling and made wonderful biscuits whenever we needed them which was pretty much always during the holidays.

  “No, not Rebecca Mrs Pattison, sorry but I am Peggy this week, after the Buddy Holly song, ‘Peggy Sue’ but I didn’t want the Sue bit. I like being Peggy although my Mum doesn’t like it, she says it reminds her of a dog she once knew. I’ll pop upstairs and see what we are going to do today if that’s okay, I would like to go stickleback catching but Linda might have another idea.” This was all said whilst entering the kitchen, travelling through the hall and climbing the stairs to Linda’s room.

  “Hi Linda, you up and dressed? Thought we might go and catch sticklebacks in the beck, what do you think?” I wondered if she might think of something more adventurous but little did I know what an adventure we were going to have that Monday in July.

  “Yes, of course I am dressed. I would like to go to the beck but you must protect me from the cows if they are in the field please.” Linda worried about the fields, as getting to and from our favourite places over the five of them evidently meant passing by some cows.

  “We might be lucky and they might not be in the lower field. If they are, we will shield you from the big black and white monsters! Should I go and see if the rest are up and ready for off? I thought about taking sandwiches and spending the day out, what do you think?” I asked her.

  “Hang on a minute and I will ask mum and then I’ll come with you, sure it will be okay though.” Linda pulled on her sandals as she was speaking. I waited for her to fasten them and then we went downstairs where she enquired about the possibility of sandwiches and staying out till later that day.

  “Go on then,” said her mum, “I’ll make you something to eat and I think I have some biscuits left over from the last batch, chocolate chip, you liked them I seem to remember. Go and call on the others and I will see if I can find enough for you all.”

  “Great Mum, thank you, you’re the best.” Linda gave her mum a hug and then we raced out of the door to call on the others. At least, Linda did, I had to go and make my sandwiches before the twin tub blocked the kitchen.

  “Got to make my sarnies so see you in a while, meet you at the end of the road in ten,” I shouted as I scooted round the corner of my house.

  Mum was none too pleased with me when I arrived home. “Where have you been, Peggy?” It always amazed me how she always remembered which name I was answering to even though I changed my name almost weekly.

  “Sorry mum, been at Linda’s but she is calling for the others, I knew I had to be home and so here I am.” I always tried to be good even though sometimes it was hard. Mum knew this and so when my big sister started ‘going on’ she stuck up for me.

  “We think we may go and catch sticklebacks in the beck today,” I declared in excitement.

  “Oh, that sounds a lot more fun than doing all the washing. Don’t bring any newts back with you though, I remember the last time, they ended up all over the garden poor little things.” Mum was a kind soul and didn’t like how they were kept in an old sink in the garden but had escaped and made their way under her vegetables where Dad was none too careful when digging up carrots and cabbages.

  “There’s cheese in the fridge, don’t think I have enough apples for all of you though so better cut up what we do have to share around,” said Mum. She could always be relied upon to think of others just like Linda’s mum, we both agreed we were very lucky.

  I quickly made cheese sandwiches, more than I really needed but the boys could always eat at any time of day so some were for snacks for them. I cut three apples in half and put them into a plastic bag, wrapped the sandwiches in greaseproof paper and headed out the door. I collected my net and jam jar with string around the top to form a handle and shouted to mum, “See you at five o’clock Mum, hope the washer behaves itself for you,” and out the door I went. Poor mum had been after one of those new automatic washers for a while now as her old twin tub was temperamental to say the least, and we had experienced a few leaks over the kitchen floor which made her even more work. Dad always promised if he won the pools he would buy her one, but mum said that would happen in her dreams.

  I think I must have been a little later than my promised ten minutes because all of the gang were waiting for me at the bottom of the road. I noticed plastic bags dangling from hands of all of them so snacks were not a problem.

  “Are we still calling you Peggy then?” This was from Hugh, he always joked around, playing at being the comedian of the gang.

  “For now,” I replied. “Have we agreed on what we are doing then?” They all looked at me, then at my jam jar and net, then at their jam jars and nets, then back at me.

  “Well, we are not going swimming, that’s for sure, unless one of us falls in,” came from Hugh. “I wonder if there will be cows in the fields today Linda?” He was merciless in his teasing of Linda’s fear of the large, generally gentle but inquisitive animals.

  “I hope not!” answered Linda. “Will you all surround me like you usually do, to protect me please?”

  “We will not leave you to their mercy, Linda, facing death by cow pat,” laughed Hugh again. We all agreed that to be pelted by cow pats would be a horribly smelly way to go and off we went laughing and wondering how many fish we might catch and if we would see any newts this time.

  We had our favourite places for catching sticklebacks. Under the bridge was one, by the tree swing another but that was right over all the five fields and lots of cows to steer Linda through. The last time we went fishing we discovered a lovely grassy knoll down at the very bottom field. The beck curved around it and being surrounded by trees and hedgerows we all felt it was our own magical place away from everything. It smelt of summer grass and flowers and the part that jutted out into the beck was big enough for us all to lie back and look at the sky and have a great picnic. The beck was quite deep when it rained, but the weather had been dry for some time and it should be shallow enough for us all to paddle in and not get our shorts wet. We all really hoped we were the only ones who had discovered it and it would always be our own special magical place.

  At the end of the cutting was a wooden stile. It took us all some time to manoe
uvre ourselves over it with jam jars, sandwiches, fruit and biscuits in plastic bags and our nets. Richard was wearing Wellingtons as he suffered from asthma and his mum worried about him catching cold even in summer. Eventually we were all on the other side and looking for the big black and white ‘enemies of Linda’ but as we couldn’t see any we set off down the fields to the bottom of the hill and the beck. It took us some time to arrive at our place; the boys teased Linda that they could see the cows coming, so she walked really slowly for the first hundred yards looking all round and then when she realised they were teasing her and cows were not in the field, we made better progress.

  The sun was still shining brightly as we arrived at our special place. We had to crawl under a gap in the hedge to reach it, which scratched our arms but it was worth it to find ourselves in our very own magical place. We laid down our picnics and the boys immediately wanted to start eating. What is it with boys? They constantly think about food. Good job I had made enough sandwiches for a small army and Linda’s mum had provided plenty of biscuits. After eating what we wanted, we took off our sandals and socks and gingerly entered the water. It was very, very cold. With lots of shrieking and laughing, with Richard in his wellies splashing us, we decided we must be quiet if we wanted to catch sticklebacks. Too late if you asked me, but we tried for a while. We had disturbed the silt at the bottom of the beck with our shenanigans and the usually clear water was now brown and murky. My feet were cold and felt the slimy mud as I moved around the beck. I ventured over to the other side where something felt not quite right in the mud at my feet; at one spot it felt strange, like there was a large stone at the bottom. I traced each way with my feet, to feel if I could gauge how large it was, but gave up when I spotted a stickleback near the opposite edge. I kept very still waiting with my net in anticipation and lunged to catch it almost overbalancing into the water, the flat area forgotten in my haste to catch the first fish. I missed it and then remembered the flat area so went back to try to find out how large it was with my feet feeling for any edges. I traced a strange shape with my feet, not a triangle and not a circle. I wondered what on earth it was. It was quite large and very flat and smooth. The others were all busy trying to catch fish but Hugh noticed my focussing on the bottom of the beck.