devilstone chronicles 01 - devils band (41 page)

Even if this strategy failed, and the garrison was forced to surrender, Lannoy reckoned he’d be no worse off than he was now. Having obeyed The Emperor’s orders to attack there’d be no need for him to remain at Pavia, he could still withdraw to Lodi in good order and promise to begin the war anew in the spring. Though, in either case, his plan would leave the French in possession of this strategically
important city, Lannoy calculated it would be a Pyrrhic victory for his enemies because Francis would find no gold to pay his men or bread to feed them inside Pavia.

With luck, the poverty of the city would force Francis to take his battered army back over the Alps and the more Lannoy thought about his scheme, the more convinced he became of its merits. He decided that the 24
^th
of February, ten days hence, would be the day best suited to his plan’s execution as this would give his men plenty of time to prepare whilst the French would be further weakened by disease and desertion. Moreover, apart from being St Matthias’ Day and the luckiest day in the Christian year to begin any endeavour, this date was The Emperor Charles V’s birthday.

Whilst Lannoy outlined his plan to his colonels, the French Duke of Bourbon, the German warlords George von Frundsberg and Marx Sittich von Ems, and the Neapolitan condottieri the Marquis de Pescara and his cousin the Marquis de Vasto, in another part of the camp Thomas Devilstone sat looking up at the starry winter sky. Algol, The Devil’s Star, was shining blood red in the constellation of Perseus and every astrologer knew that this was an omen of confrontation and war.

Algol represented the head of the Medusa, the hideous snake haired female demon killed by the hero Perseus, and though he no longer put any faith in astrology, Thomas wasn’t surprised that the appearance of the star heralded the arrival of an ugly old crone at his tent. Several days ago, he’d followed Quintana’s advice and paid the beggar woman to carry a message to Richard de la Pole offering
to settle their differences by single combat, should the two armies meet in battle. To make sure his intentions were clear Thomas had enclosed a handful of heron feathers with his letter.

The heron was a bird rumoured to be so cowardly it fled from its own shadow and Thomas was certain that the White Rose wouldn’t let such an insult go unpunished but the reply wasn’t at all what he expected. Without a word, the crone handed him a small wooden casket sealed with wax seals that bore the imprint of a white rose. Thomas tossed the crone a coin and watched her scuttle away into the darkness. As soon as he was alone, he broke the seals and opened the box.

There was no letter inside but the heron feathers had been returned, stuck in a cork and fashioned to resemble a shuttlecock used to play the peasant game of battledore. A man didn’t have to be a student of Trithemius to understand de la Pole’s meaning, the last prince of the House of York was declining the challenge because he considered the challenger to be too low born. In a rage Thomas threw the shuttlecock to the ground and stamped it into the mud.

22

THE DEER PARK

T
he powers of recuperation displayed by Bos astonished everyone, including Thomas, and he begged to be told the secret of the medicine Prometheus administered to his patient every day. At first the Nubian would only smile, and say that alchemists were not the only ones who could work magic, but the Englishman persisted. Thomas argued that Prometheus might have need of the same physick one day and there’d be nobody to prepare it if wounds had rendered the Nubian insensible.

Eventually Prometheus relented and, amongst other things, showed Thomas how to make the poultice that prevented wounded men from developing the fever that often killed them. The main ingredients were stale bread and certain spider webs, which were ground up with water to form a thick paste. This glutinous porridge was then placed in an earthenware pot, which was buried close to a regularly used campfire and left in the warm earth for two days. Once the porridge had grown a thin coat of
blue-green mould it could be smeared on the wound and covered with clean bandages.

“By the great winged ox of St Luke you have the gift of healing Nubian,” said Bos as he took his first steps since being shot and Thomas had to agree that the poultice had worked a genuine miracle.

“I’ve seen men survive deep wounds only to die of fever within the month,” he said admiringly.

“The secret is to apply a fresh poultice every day and use only blue mould not black or red. Blue purifies the blood but other colours are poisonous,” Prometheus warned.

“You should sell such secrets to the quacks and sawbones that have slaughtered more men than all the barbarian hordes of Tartary, you’d make a fortune!” said Quintana.

“The power to heal is a gift from God, it shouldn’t be bought and sold like a basket of eggs, besides I’ve already told you that no one trusts the medicines of a stranger,” snapped Prometheus but, in spite of this opinion, the men of The Devil’s Band were deeply impressed by the Nubian’s miraculous salve and they regarded Bos’ rapid recovery as further proof that their company was blessed with supernatural good fortune. Their sergeant’s return to the ranks was especially timely as the camp was alive with talk that another night assault on the French lines was imminent.

The rumours were confirmed when, on St Matthias’ Eve, every man was ordered to stitch a large white square to his clothing, or find a white undershirt to wear, and spend the rest of the day sharpening his weapons.
Prometheus was puzzled by this command but Quintana assured him that it was a simple device to help tell friend from foe in the dark and went back to putting a keen edge on his cat skinner sword.

As the hours passed, the imperial camp became infected with a miasma of excitement as the men of Lannoy’s army steeled themselves for battle. Few prayed, most drank and the whores did a brisk trade as hundreds of pikemen, halberdiers and arquebusiers prepared for death by trying to create life. Inevitably, brawls broke out as drunken
landsknechts
fought over wine and women so, to create a distraction, the provosts hanged thirty deserters from a huge triangular gallows. Like gluttons at a feast of death, the crowd of baying, jeering mercenaries thoroughly enjoyed this taste of blood and by sunset the men who made a good living from killing were eager for the real slaughter to begin.

After his challenge to single combat had been refused Thomas was also impatient to meet de la Pole on the battlefield and he answered his summons to a meeting of Frundsberg’s captains with alacrity. When he returned an hour later, he gathered The Devil’s Band together and explained the forthcoming attack was no mere raid like the assault on the Five Abbeys. Instead they were to be part of a great battle that would shape the future of all Christendom. His men murmured their approval and listened intently as their captain explained how they were to march into history.

Taking a piece of charcoal, Thomas sketched a map on a broad canvas sheet he’d had nailed to the side of a
cart. Just as he’d done for Frundsberg, he drew a large diamond to represent the fifteen foot high wall around the deer park, with the besieged city of Pavia at the bottom and the French baggage park at the Castel Mirabello in the middle. At the top of the diamond, close to the
Porta Pescarina
, he marked the point where Spanish sappers had already begun to break down an unguarded section of the wall. At the diamond’s western point he marked the French camp by the
Porta Repentina
and at the eastern point he marked the Swiss camp by the
Porta Levrieri
.

Having drawn his map, Thomas told his men that the imperial guns would soon begin bombarding the Five Abbeys but this would be a diversion. Whilst the French and Swiss sheltered from the storm of cannon fire, Lannoy would lead his army of Spaniards, Neapolitans and Germans to the breach in the deer park’s northern wall. The actual battle would begin when 3,000 Neapolitan arquebusiers, under the Marquis de Vasto, launched a surprise attack on the Castel Mirabello. Lannoy had become convinced that the French king had recently moved into the comfortable hunting lodge and if the Neapolitans could capture Francis as he slept, the battle would be over before it had begun.

On the other hand, if Francis was elsewhere, de Vasto would hold Mirabello whilst the rest of the imperial army stormed the other French camps. To launch simultaneous attacks on objectives nearly three miles apart, the imperials would be divided into two separate columns. The first column would consist of two Spanish pike squares, led by Pescara and Bourbon, as well as most of the imperial
horse commanded in person by the Count of Lannoy. The second column would be made up of two German pike squares, led by Sittich and Frundsberg, supported by the remainder of the cavalry.

While Pescara and Bourbon’s
igels
stormed the camp by the
Porta Repentina
, Lannoy’s Spanish and Italian horsemen would engage the French knights and mounted men-at-arms. Meanwhile Sittich and Frundsberg’s
igels
, including The Devil’s Band, would attack the Swiss at the
Porta de Levrieri
. Lannoy’s strategy, Thomas told his men, was to pin down the entire French army whilst the imperial garrison inside Pavia broke out of the beleaguered city. At a given signal, their comrades would batter down the
Torretta
gate at the southern tip of the deer park and, if everything went according to plan, all the imperial forces would meet at Mirabello and make an orderly withdrawal to Lodi.

When he’d finished, Thomas let his men discuss the plan for a few minutes. Like all those facing death, his men wanted to know their chances of survival so their captain climbed onto the cart and spoke to reassure them.

“You know me, I was saved from an unjust hanging so I could raise The Devil’s Band and there can be no doubt that tomorrow we’ll win a great victory at Pavia because all ventures begun on St Matthias’ day are blessed,” said Thomas and he paused to let a murmur of approval ripple through the ranks of his men. When he was certain he had their full attention, he began again and this time he carefully increased the power and passion in his voice as he spoke.

“After Judas had betrayed Our Lord and hanged himself, Matthias was chosen by lot to join the Apostles. Now you’ve been chosen to fight for the Holy Roman Emperor, heir of Constantine Equal of the Apostles, and a hanged man will lead you into battle on St Matthias’ Day. Could there be any better omens? It’s written in the stars that we shall win wealth and glory by the steel in our hands and the courage in our hearts but a greater prize is that the things we do at Pavia will be numbered amongst the deeds of heroes forever. Years from now, we may be mocked for our gouty legs and rheumy eyes but those who think us feeble will fall silent when we strip our sleeves, show our scars and declare that once we marched to Pavia and fought for the emperor upon St Matthias’ Day!”

As his men began to shout loud hurrahs, Thomas snatched the hat from his head and waved it in salute. His men replied by calling on The Almighty to help them smite the French, crush the Swiss and punish the hated traitors in the Black Band but their captain said only one silent prayer. Amidst all the cheering Thomas asked the God of Battles to bring him face to face with Richard de la Pole but before he could elaborate on his vow, a messenger arrived with orders for The Devil’s Band to join the other companies assembling on the parade ground.

The imperial army was ordered to form up as quietly as possible because the first part of their march would take them close to the Swiss sentries at the
Porta Levrieri
. Though the captains insisted that silence was essential to maintaining the element of surprise their sergeants made a considerable amount of noise by cursing loudly any man
whose weapon clattered against his armour. After nearly an hour of feverish, though hushed, preparation the army was ready to move but Lannoy insisted that the men kneel and say a prayer to St Matthias before taking a single step.

As soon as the chaplains had finished their final benediction, the night sky dissolved into a hellish maelstrom of fire, smoke and noise. The barrage continued even after Lannoy had given the order to advance and though the thunderous cannon fire succeeded in covering the sounds of marching men, the flashes of flame from the guns’ muzzles illuminated the imperial army as brightly as the Egyptian Pharos lit Alexandria’s harbour.

Despite all of Lannoy’s careful precautions, the Swiss sentries on the walls of the
Porta Levrieri
couldn’t fail to spot twenty thousand men shuffling past their watchtowers and they quickly alerted their colonel. Though only 34, the Seigneur de la Flourance was an experienced and able commander and he immediately sounded the alarm. Within ten minutes his 3,000 Swiss
reisläufer
were formed up on the
Porta Levrieri’s
walls, their guns loaded and matches lit. For half an hour Flourance’s men waited for an assault on the eastern gate to begin but the Swiss could only stare in bewilderment as the imperial column ignored them and disappeared into the moonless night.

The Seigneur quickly realised that Lannoy was trying to outflank his position and force an entry somewhere else along the deer park’s wall. He also reasoned that Lannoy would probably choose to storm the
Porta Pescarina
or
Porta Duo
so he immediately sent a rider to warn King Francis of the danger. Four
landsknecht
pike squares would
wreak havoc if they managed to enter the deer park, and only Flourance’s Swiss were close enough to reinforce the lightly defended northern gates, so as soon as the messenger had left, the Seigneur gave orders for his men to march.