Castaways in Time (The After Cilmeri Series) (30 page)

David almost laughed at what a difference
half an hour could make. It wasn’t that he wanted or needed the
obeisance, but after being tossed around for two days by people who
didn’t respect him at all, it was nice to finally be treated like a
human being. “Rise, gentlemen,” he said. “Why do you guard this
bridge so assiduously?”

The men rose to their feet, shuffling a bit,
and then John answered, “Lord Ieuan sent us word that Valence’s men
might try to use our bridge to cross the Thames, now that the
bridge down in Windsor is gone. But we haven’t seen or heard anyone
so far other than you.”

David just managed not to gape at the man.
He’d been gone less than a week, but clearly bad things had been
happening in his absence. Struggling to keep the dismay off his
face and not openly curse, he made a very painful, and yet sure,
guess. “Valence has Windsor surrounded?”

“Yes, my lord,” John said. “You didn’t
know?”

“Where is Lord Ieuan now?” David said, not
answering the man’s question.

“He hoped to surround Valence’s forces
himself by today, but only if he had the men,” John said. “We have
not seen or heard from him since this morning.”

“Sire, where are
your
men?” A younger
man than the first stepped forward. “Tom Longman, my lord.” He
ducked his head as he introduced himself. Given that he was taller
than David, his surname suited him. “Word was that you’d gone to
Ireland.”

“I never made it,” David said, flatly. “And
I am alone, as you can see.”

All of the villagers swallowed hard. “Sire,
if there’s anything we can do—” John said.

David held up a hand to stop him from
speaking. He needed to think. He already missed Callum’s guidance
and hadn’t realized until this moment how much he’d come to depend
on it. He could almost hear his friend’s voice in his ear, telling
him to determine the facts first, and then objectively examine his
available options. Finding creative solutions to huge problems was
something Callum had been particularly good at. “Windsor is
surrounded, you say?”

The men nodded vigorously.

“How many men does Valence have?”

“Some say two thousand, my lord,” Tom
said.

David eyed him. “You can count?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“And Lord Ieuan? How many does he have?”

“Fewer,” Tom said. “I don’t know how many.
And they say that only a hundred defend Windsor.”

“Windsor town is burning. You can smell it
from here.” John gestured towards the south, and now that David was
paying attention, he could smell the smoke. His stomach knotted,
and suddenly he wasn’t hungry any more.

“The queen is there—” Tom cut himself off
and looked down at his feet.

“Thank you, Tom,” David said. “I assumed
it.”

“Valence hasn’t taken the town or the
castle, yet,” John said, trying to comfort him. “They’ve held out a
night and a day so far.”

“It’s only been a night and a day since the
assault began? That’s all?”

John and Tom nodded together.

That was far better than David had feared.
It seemed he and Valence had made the same decision—each to
confront the other—but had just missed each other going in opposite
directions. He wondered if Valence knew yet that he wasn’t at
Windsor or that he’d gone to Ireland and might even now be laying
siege to Valence’s own castle. It was a lesser prize, certainly,
and if Valence could take Windsor, he would gladly make that
exchange.

“So we have a little time, perhaps,” David
said. “You’re telling me that the defenders destroyed Windsor’s
bridge across the Thames?”

Another nod. “Your sister’s husband, Lord
Math, defends,” John said.

“And the moat is full of water?”

“It worked perfectly, my lord.” Tom grinned.
“My brother and I helped build the sluice gates.”

During this discussion, they’d remained
standing on the eastern side of the bridge, but now John remembered
himself. “Please come into Maidenhead, sire. There you can refresh
yourself.”

“Thank you.” David walked with the men onto
the bridge. “I do need food. But even more, I need men.”

“We have few,” Tom said. “All the rest who
could fight went with Lord Ieuan. None of us are soldiers, but
still we do his bidding.”

“England has always relied upon its people
to fight for her in times of need,” David said, sounding pompous
even to himself. “Does anyone in the village possess a horse?”

A man who stayed in the back of the group
lifted a hand. He was nearly as large as Tom and twice as wide. “I
do, my lord. Lord Ieuan instructed me to send him word at once if
Valence came for this bridge.”

“You, if I may make a guess, are the village
blacksmith,” David said.

“Yes, my lord. Rob Lincoln is the name. Many
a horse needs a new shoe by the time he reaches Maidenhead from
London.”

“All right. You three come with me.” David
pointed to John, Tom, and Rob. “The rest should stay and guard the
bridge as before. We’ll send you a few more men to help.”

They entered Maidenhead, which like Windsor
consisted of houses and shops clustered on both sides of the main
road. The normally busy wharf was quiet now that night had fallen.
A village green sat to the south of the London road, and John led
David to his house just off of it. No wall surrounded the town,
which meant that if Valence’s men chose to approach from this side
of the Thames River, the villagers could do nothing to stop them.
At the same time, there would be no reason for Valence to come here
unless, as John had said, he wanted to use the bridge.

They entered John’s house. Even at this late
hour, the family was up and the smell of baking came from the back
of the house. “Emma!” John raised his voice and a teenage girl came
into the room through the door opposite the main one.

“Yes, Father?”

“We have a noble guest,” John said, without
naming David. “We must eat and then go.”

The girl smiled and curtseyed, her eyes on
Tom instead of David or her father. “Yes, Father.”

John gestured to a table with six chairs
around it that took up the center of the room. A fireplace was set
into the right hand wall, with a low fire burning in it. The
chimney appeared to work better than most since smoke wasn’t
choking the room. David sat, and even though he indicated that the
others should sit too, none of them took a chair at the table.
Sitting in the presence of the king just wasn’t done.

David had wanted to be recognized, but three
minutes into life in the Middle Ages, he’d already had it with the
formality of his position. “Sit!”

Eyes bulging, John sat, and then Tom did
too. Rob bowed. “My lord, I dare not. I know who made those chairs,
and I will break one if I sit in it.”

David laughed and waved a hand in acceptance
at Rob, who leaned against the frame of the door with his arms
folded across his chest. “Two things: I need to know the current
location of Ieuan and his men,” David said, “and I need to know
what is happening in Windsor. Who in Windsor, other than you three,
knows how to ride?”

The three men in the room looked at one
another. “No one,” John said. “Tom and Rob do, of course, as you
say, but all the other men with that knowledge have gone, and there
weren’t many to begin with. Some of the farmer boys might …” John’s
voice trailed off.

“I know how to ride.” The girl, Emma, had
returned to the room, this time with a tray containing bread and
beer.

Carbohydrates for dinner were better than no
dinner at all. David resigned himself to leaving the table
unsatisfied, but then he sighed in relief at the sight of the
tureen of soup with steam rising from it in the hands of a second
girl who’d entered the room after the first.

“You can’t.” Tom’s eyes were fixed on
Emma.

“Is she speaking the truth?” David said.

“A little daredevil, isn’t she?” John said.
“But—”

“If I go, none of the enemy will think
anything of it,” Emma said. “I’m a girl. I’m the one who
should
go.”

David took a long drink of beer, which had
never been his favorite (he preferred mead), and then a sip of
soup. He closed his eyes, glad to have something in his stomach
again. Then he got back to work. “If she can find Ieuan, I need
her.”

“It isn’t safe,” Tom said.

“And it’s safe staying here if Valence’s men
come?” Emma said. “What will his men do to me if he catches us
sitting here doing nothing?”

Tom ground his teeth.

John appeared caught between Tom and his
daughter, and appealed to David. “Sire—”

The pitcher that held the beer Emma had been
pouring into Tom’s cup crashed to the floor. She whipped around,
her color high and beer frothing at her feet. “Sire!” She gaped at
David, and then gave a deep curtsey.

“Rise, Emma,” David said.

She came forward, ending up on her knees
beside his chair, making David deeply uncomfortable. “Please. I can
find Lord Ieuan. Let me go.”

John nodded. “She’s capable, Tom.”

“Then give me leave to go with her,” Tom
said.

“We have only one horse,” Rob said.

“I’ll take old farmer Blidworth’s. She’s a
nag, but sturdy. We’ll cover more ground with two and find Lord
Ieuan all the sooner.”

John looked at David, who shrugged. He
honestly didn’t care how he got news of Ieuan, and the news of his
arrival
to
Ieuan, only that the communication occurred—and
the sooner the better. “Meanwhile, we’ll gather a second army
here,” David said.

“How’s that, sire?” John said. “We have no
more men.”

“We need bodies, not men,” David said.
“Valence cannot maintain a siege if attacked from both the castle
and from behind. He will know that and raise the white flag. We
just need to put on a show. Every person who can walk, of whatever
age, should gather on the green as soon as possible.”

Emma’s eyes lit as she rose to her feet.
“I’ll tell Mum to get ready!”

John was aghast. “You already took Emma. You
mean to use the rest of the women too? To arm them?”

David beamed at him. “That’s an excellent
idea.” He clapped a hand on John’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you
thought of it!”

The five miles—less—between Maidenhead and
Windsor would take two hours of walking on a flat, well-used road.
The night was cool but dry, and the villagers got on board with
David’s plan almost before David asked for their help. A few
protested, like John, that the women shouldn’t be involved. David
could understand their reluctance, but he was impatient with it
too. He’d stood by helplessly while Lili had given birth to Arthur,
and he’d lived with Anna most of his life. He had Meg for a mom.
Women were a lot tougher than these men gave them credit for.

Several of the more able-bodied older men
set off immediately to gather as many other people as they could
from outlying towns, such as South Ellington and Cookham. David
stood on the Maidenhead green, watching the villagers come in,
making sure each had a weapon of some kind, even if only a broom,
and the makings of a torch. He aimed to depart as close to midnight
as he could, which meant they should reach the outskirts of Windsor
by three in the morning. David didn’t know if Valence would be
continuing the assault throughout the night to press what he saw as
his advantage before Windsor’s reinforcements arrived. He had to
know that they would come; it was only a matter of time.

“Ho there! What news of Windsor?”

David spun towards the voice. He would have
recognized it anywhere, even with it having settled into a lower
register over the last few months. “William!” David raised a hand
and hastened towards the bridge across the Thames. He shouldered
his way through the men guarding it, who gave way the best they
could in the tight space. He reached the end to find Maidenhead’s
villagers holding the Norman youth off with the same pikes and axes
they’d pointed at David a few hours earlier.

“Put up,” David said, pressing on a pike
himself to get the villager to lower it. “He’s a friend.”

William de Bohun dismounted and dropped to
one knee in front of David. “Sire.”

“Rarely have I been so glad to see anyone in
my life.” David grasped William’s upper arms and lifted him to his
feet. “How many men have you brought me?”

“Some five hundred. It was all I could
gather on short notice.” He leaned in. “Between you and me, most of
them barely know the hilt from the point of a sword.”

David shook William’s shoulder. “It is no
matter. I need men more than fighters. You should see what we’re
doing here.” He led William from the bridge towards the center of
the village, which torches lit up like it was day.

William stopped on the edge of the grass.
“What is this?”

David spread his arms wide, laughing. “My
army!”

“But—”

“Windsor is under attack and has been since
yesterday evening,” David said.

“I saw from a distance,” William said. “I
have no idea how Valence managed to progress so far so quickly.
When I went for help two days ago, he was entrenched at
Winchester.”

“I know nothing about that,” David said.
“Nor do I know where Ieuan and his men are, but we must relieve the
defenders, by any means necessary, before Valence breaks through
Windsor’s defenses.”

“But the women—” William was struggling with
the sight of mothers and daughters in their husbands’ and sons’
spare breeches and coats.

“I have no intention of having them fight,
if that is what worries you,” David said. “I have no intention of
leading anyone into battle today. Whether or not women are capable
of fighting is something we can argue about another day. Right now,
I need bodies, as many as I can find.”

William blinked, and then began to nod. “You
mean to deceive Valence into thinking you have more men than you
have.”