And now, here they were, preparing to raze those very walls.
“Henry wants to discuss tomorrow’s strategy, you know,” Hugh said, seated near the brazier and using a pumice stone to sharpen his sword. “He wanted to meet with us after sup. If we do not go to his tent, he will come here.”
Davyss grunted at the mere thought of Henry invading their tent. His mind was still wandering the days of his youth.
“Do you remember playing with Gallus and Max and Ty as children?” he asked. “I remember hiding from you. You would wail in distress, trying to find us, and then you’d run to tell Mother that we were not being kind to you. Do you remember that?”
Hugh grinned. “I do,” he said. “You were bullies, all of you.”
Davyss laughed. “And you were unbearable and spoilt,” he countered. “I remember hiding in the loft of the stables at Isenhall, dropping horse dung on your head when you would come inside to look for us.”
Hugh snorted. “I seem to remember Mother beating you for that,” he said. “Or was it Father?”
Davyss conceded the point. “It was both,” he said. “Father was laughing at what I did but it was Mother who forced him to punish me. He did not hit me very hard, however.”
Hugh reflected back to those days. “That is because you were his favorite,” he said. “And I was Mother’s.”
“You were a terrible child.”
“I know.”
Davyss continued chuckling at the recollection. “I have so many good memories of Isenhall and of Gallus and the pranks we would play,” he said. But soon, his smile faded as pain began to glaze his expression. “And now Henry expects me to lay siege to my best friend. He expects me to bring him to his knees. Surely he knows that….”
Hugh looked up from his sword, cutting him off. “You do not have to say it, Davyss.”
“I know.”
“When the time comes, I will stand with you, whatever your decision.”
“You have known since the beginning what my decision will be.”
Hugh nodded reluctantly. “I know,” he said. “We have made the necessary preparations for it. Our properties are fortified against any… aggressions.”
“Aye, they are.”
“Then I will ask something I’ve not asked since we left Wintercroft Castle – why did we agree to come to Isenhall in the first place?”
Davyss turned to look at him, then. “Do you not know?”
“I think I do.”
“Someone must protect Gallus from Henry.”
The truth of the situation was spoken and Hugh drew in a long, deep breath and returned to his sword. His work with the pumice stone slowed.
“I wish Father was here,” he muttered. “I wish I knew that we had his approval in this.”
Davyss stood up, cup of wine in hand. It was his third cup, trying to ease the guilt and angst he felt over Henry’s orders. He knew, and had known since receiving Henry’s orders to march on Isenhall, that he was only going through the motions of obeying the king. When it came down to the command to launch an attack against Gallus’ home, that was when Henry would discover that Davyss, for all of his loyalty to the crown, would refuse him. The man simply couldn’t move against his best friend, only Henry didn’t know it yet. But he would soon enough, Davyss suspected.
Maybe he already knew.
“Father would have tried to reason with Henry,” Davyss finally said. “He would have tried to talk the man out of this, but I do not have Father’s sense of diplomacy. I am a warrior and Lespada does the talking for me, but in this case, my weapon shall remain silent. I will not lift it.”
Hugh glanced up at the man; big, powerful, and cunning, Davyss was the type of knight that all men hoped to be. Even Hugh. As good as Hugh was, and he was excellent, even he admired his brother’s skill and sense of honor. This situation with Henry and the House of de Shera was weighing heavily upon Davyss, threatening to topple him, but the man wouldn’t waver. He knew what was right and what was wrong. He knew that family and blood was stronger than any king or country. Still, it was a terribly difficult situation for them all.
“Henry wishes to discuss tomorrow’s strategy,” he said again, quietly. “What will you tell him?”
Davyss lifted his big shoulders. “Nothing for the moment,” he said. “We will ride to Isenhall and see if Gallus can convince Henry not to move against him. Gallus is a far better diplomat than I am. If Henry refuses, then he shall know my stance at that time. Meanwhile, you will ensure that our men are not to respond to Henry’s commands of battle. Pass the word through the ranks that all commands to be obeyed will come from me or from you. Will you do that?”
Hugh nodded. “I will do it tonight,” he said. Then, he stopped rubbing at his sword and looked at his brother. “We have two thousand men with us, Davyss. Henry has only brought about five hundred, including his Six. We will have to fight off de Serreaux and the others, you know. When our army balks, Henry’s army will move against us.”
Davyss knew that. He thought on Torran de Serreaux and the other knights with him, men called Henry’s Guard of Six. He knew them all very well, as they were all interwoven into Henry’s command structure.
“I know,” he said. “I do not even know why they brought de Garr, however – the man is in terrible shape after the de Lohr beating. Did you hear the story behind it?”
“I did.”
Davyss shook his head, now grinning. “I wish I could have seen it,” he said. “Those six against the de Lohr knights would have been a battle to see.”
Hugh lifted his eyebrows. “I, for one, would have run at the sight of Jorden de Russe or Rhun du Bois coming after me. Those men are enormous. De Garr is lucky he still has his head after all of that.”
Davyss laughed. “De Serreaux is nothing to trifle with, either,” he pointed out. “It would have been a battle of epic proportions and I am sorry I missed it. But Chad had what Henry wanted, the de Shera girl, and de Serreaux was determined to gain the woman for Henry’s purposes, so a clash of that magnitude was inevitable.”
Hugh set his sword and stone down. “De Serreaux told me that he believes Chad is at Isenhall,” he said, sobering. “You know that Chad will stand with Gallus.”
“I know.”
“If Chad stands with him, then his father will stand with Chad,” Hugh pointed out. “If Daniel stands with Chad, so will Curtis de Lohr. The entire House of de Lohr will stand against Henry.”
Davyss sobered as well, thinking on the greater implications of what was about to happen. “And de Moray will stand with Gallus because his daughter is married to Ty,” he said. “Is Henry a fool not to realize all of this?”
They were prevented from further conversation by a soft hail at the tent flap. Davyss went to push back the fabric panel to reveal de Serreaux standing there. Davyss wasn’t surprised to see the man but he wondered if he’d heard any of their conversation.
“Torran,” he greeted evenly. “Will you come in? My brother and I were just having some wine.”
De Serreaux shook his head. “Thank you, no,” he replied. “Henry has sent me to retrieve you. He wishes to discuss tomorrow’s approach on Isenhall.”
The time had finally come to face what they did not want to face. Davyss simply motioned to his brother, who stood up from the stool and stretched the kinks out of his big body as he made his way to the tent flap. Once outside, beneath the carpet of stars against the black sky on a breezy and cold night, the three men headed for Henry’s tent several dozen yards away.
As they walked, de Serreaux sniffed the air. “It smells like rot,” he said casually. “I smell moldering leaves.”
Davyss pointed off to the west. “There is a bog not far from here,” he said. “It always smells of compost, worse when the wind shifts.”
De Serreaux gazed off into the night towards the west. “You are familiar with this area, are you not?”
“I am.”
“And you are familiar with Ise
nhall.”
“Verily.”
De Serreaux looked at him. “You and Gallus are childhood friends.”
“Everyone knows that.”
De Serreaux came to a halt, facing Davyss in the dark. “Henry wants to glean your knowledge of Isenhall’s weaknesses to plan this siege,” he said. “I’m assuming you already know that as well.”
Davyss’ dark eyes glittered in the starlight. “What would you have me say?” he asked. “Of course I know. I have known from the start. Why would you ask such a question?”
De Serreaux shrugged. “I simply want to make sure you are aware,” he said. “I can only imagine that this is a very difficult situation for you.”
Davyss was immediately suspicious of the line of conversation. “That would go without saying,” he said, his gaze lingering on the man. “What will you run back and tell Henry of this conversation, Torran?”
De Serreaux could see the defensiveness in Davyss’ expression. Not that he blamed the man. It was difficult to let on to the fact that he was sympathetic to Davyss’ position. He didn’t like what Henry was doing, either, and hadn’t since he sent that missive to Isenhall himself. Still, there was a line between him and Davyss; he could see it. It was the line of mistrust.
“Nothing,” he finally said. “You and I have not had much opportunity to speak privately on this battle march.”
Davyss glanced at Hugh, who was less adept at hiding his wariness of what seemed to be a probe from de Serreaux.
“What could we possibly have in common to speak privately about?” Hugh demanded. “There is nothing to say, de Serreaux. We are doing our duty just as you are. We do not have to be happy about it. What else did you want to know?”
De Serreaux shook his head calmly. “Nothing, Hugh.”
Hugh didn’t believe him in the least. “Did you want to ask us of our loyalties?” he said. “Come out with it, then. Do not make foolish conversation about bogs. Ask us who we are to support in this battle. In fact, ask us about what men have been whispering of since Evesham – ask us if we have finally regained de Montfort’s head from Roger Mortimer. Don’t you want to know?”
De Serreaux cocked an eyebrow at the belligerent tone. “Not particularly.”
Hugh threw up his hands, exasperated. “The man is my wife’s father,” he said. “I have personally asked him to give it to us. He is considering it. You can tell Henry that if it pleases you.”
De Serreaux’s gaze lingered on Hugh, the fiery brother. “I have no intention of telling Henry anything,” he said, looking back to Davyss. “I thought we had trust between us. We have fought in a number of battles together, de Winter. I thought trust had been established. I see that mayhap I was wrong.”
Davyss shook his head, stepping in to the conversation before his brother’s heated manner began to fire up de Serreaux. “I trust you with my life in battle,” he said. “But this is a difficult situation. Surely you know that. I have been asked to march against my best friend and I am understandably unhappy about it. There is no secret in that, nothing that requires trust. Henry is aware of it. Now, he is waiting for us, so let us proceed.”
Hugh and Davyss continued on but de Serreaux did not; he remained standing where they’d left him. “There is something you should know,” he said.
The de Winter brothers came to a halt, turning to face de Serreaux, who moved to catch up with them when he saw that he had their attention. He moved in very close to the brothers, his dark eyes serious.
“I sent word to Chad at Isenhall to inform him of Henry’s movements,” he said quietly. “Isenhall knows we are coming.”
Hugh’s eyes widened but Davyss was more controlled in his reaction. He was suddenly quite interested in what de Serreaux had to say and the defensiveness that he and his brother had exhibited eased accordingly.
“You did what?” he hissed. “You sent a missive to Chad at Isenhall? He knows we are coming?”
“Aye.”
“All of us?”
“Aye.”
Davyss’ jaw dropped; he couldn’t help it. “But why did you do it?” he demanded, although his voice was no more than a harsh whisper. “Does Henry know? Did he tell you to do it?”
De Serreaux shook his head. “Henry knows nothing,” he said. “I did it because of Henry’s mindset right now… he’s not right, Davyss. Surely you have sensed it. There is some kind of madness that has infected him ever since Evesham, a madness that has him suspicious of everyone’s loyalties, including yours. Don’t you know that is why you have been asked to march on Isenhall? Henry wants to see who you will be loyal to – to him or to Gallus. Have you not realized that?”
It took Davyss a moment to understand that de Serreaux didn’t like what was happening any more than he did. In fact, he was coming to see that de Serreaux had tipped off Isenhall about Henry’s approach which meant that Gallus and his brothers would be prepared. When the full realization hit him, Davyss nearly collapsed with relief.
“Sweet Jesus,” Davyss hissed, a hand to his head in shock. “Of course I know why my army was summoned to march on Isenhall. I know it will come down to a choice between Gallus and Henry. I am prepared to make that choice.”
No matter that they were speaking more freely now, Davyss stopped short of giving de Serreaux an answer, still holding the slightest bit of suspicion that all of this might be a trap. De Serreaux could easily run back to Henry and tell the man that de Winter was disloyal, so it was that fear that kept him silent. It was better to be prudent than completely trusting of a man as close to the king as de Serreaux was.
But De Serreaux must have sensed Davyss’ reluctance to make a declaration of loyalty one way or the other but he didn’t push him. It really didn’t matter in the long run; they would all know soon enough. Still, there was more he had to say.
“This isn’t only about you,” de Serreaux said, his voice low. “Henry wants to see if de Lohr is there to support Gallus as well, and if de Moray has finally been pushed onto the side of his daughter’s husband. He wants to see just who is against him and this is how he intends to do it. Be prepared for this, Davyss. Henry is suspicious of all of you and if he determines that you all support de Shera and not him, the consequences could be very bad, indeed.”
Davyss’ jaw ticked. “Then Henry is a fool if he believes he can defeat the House of de Shera, the House of de Lohr, and the House of de Winter,” he hissed. “Think on the holdings we collectively have and the manpower. We can bring Henry to his knees if he is not careful. I am not declaring my loyalties one way or the other but I am emphasizing to you that if Henry insults our honor and doubts our loyalties with some foolish test of wills, then he will lose. Make no mistake; he cannot defeat us all. We will destroy him.”
De Serreaux knew that. He sighed, long and heavy. “Let us hope it does not come to that,” he replied. “I simply wanted you to be aware of what is really at stake, Davyss. I see much. I know much. And Henry is out to punish everyone with any association to those who allied themselves with de Montfort. The House of de Shera is his biggest target and along with it, so are all of you.”
Davyss sensed the man’s sympathy at that point but he still couldn’t give in to it and trust him completely. It was better if he didn’t. “I understand,” he said. “But what I do not understand is why you would betray Henry by sending word to Isenhall of his approach.”
De Serreaux shrugged. “Because above all else, I am a man of honor,” he said simply. “What Henry is doing is not honorable. It is fed by madness and I do not want to see good and noble men consumed by it. That is the best way I can explain it. As I said, Henry does not know of the missive to Isenhall so I would be appreciative if you did not tell him.”
In that small request, Davyss began to understand something; de Serreaux had risked himself for the opposition. For men he considered honorable even if they were on the opposing side. He was asking Davyss to keep that confidence, and Davyss intended to. More than that, it was enou
gh to cause Davyss to finally believe that de Serreaux might actually be telling the truth. He had known de Serreaux for years and he was a man of his word. It was enough to lower Davyss’ guard somewhat.
“You have my oath that I will not mention it,” he muttered, “but I hope it does not come down to me fighting against you in battle. I should not look forward to that.”
De Serreaux’s gaze lingered on him. “It is quite possible that I would not let that happen,” he said, turning for Henry’s tent in the distance. “It is quite possible that I would rather stand by men of honor than by a king of madness.”
With that, he walked off, leaving Davyss and Hugh staring at each other in surprise. Was it possible that de Serreaux, leader of Henry’s Six, would turn on his king? Or was the man simply saying such things to gain their confidence only to betray them? Perhaps Davyss didn’t have as much trust in the man as he thought he had.
In this world, anything was possible.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The outskirts of Coventry
Henry is here.
At least, that’s what Curtis’ breathless scouts had told him. The king, escorted by the de Winter army, had been seen north of Northampton, camping peacefully in the night, but it was clear that they would be at Isenhall on the morrow.
That fact made Curtis move his army when they should be sleeping.
Up until that point, his pace from Lioncross had been relatively leisurely. But that was no more. He wasn’t going to wait until morning to get to Isenhall given that Henry was already extremely close. He had to make it to the fortress before Henry did, so his sons and knights pushed the army through the darkness, through the last few miles under a silver moon and a brilliant blanket of stars tossed across the cold night sky. The men weren’t particularly weary, as it had only been a few days of travel from Lioncross Abbey, so no one particularly minded traveling on a pleasant night. Some of the men had even taken up singing to pass the time, trudging down the road, catching whiffs of the stinky bog to the southwest.
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