Read Online Enemy at the Gate by Griff Hosker - Free Book Online Page A

intend to attack here?"
    He smiled, "The reason they have taken so long to get here is that they stopped at Brough Castle where they built ladders and a ram.  They have the parts of the ram in wagons. Unless they intend to lumber across the north of this land so slowly that a one legged man could catch them then they are coming to Barnard Castle, lord."
    "Thank you Aiden.  Your news is all the better for your judgements."
    "Do the ram and the ladders change our plans, lord?"
    "No, Sir Hugh. You will have, within your castle over one hundred archers.  The twenty two men at arms can defend the bridge gate but it is the archers who will slaughter them as they cross the bridge and then travel around your castle.  Captain Dick will thin their numbers.  They may have mail and shields but the ones who carry the ladders and fetch the wagons will not. They will have to find somewhere safe from the arrows to construct the ram.  That is the only change.  My seventy horsemen will destroy their war machine and the men with the ladders. Your men at arms will not be able to hold the bridge gate for long.  Do not risk them.  When the gate is lost recall them to the curtain wall.  That is the advantage of a second gate.  Your bridge gate is the point which is the narrowest.  They will only pass it slowly."
    "But Aiden said there were over four hundred in the army."
    I smiled, "Sir Richard, with seventy such men I would happily fight the Tartar horsemen of the east.  Trust in your son and trust in your men. We have right on our side."
    That evening in our camp, for I shared the hardships with my men, Gilles sharpened my sword and oiled my mail.  My shield had been repaired after the bolt had struck it and I was as ready as I would be. "Will you ride Badger tomorrow, lord?"
    "I will.  And we will need to look out for a young warhorse for you, too, Gilles."
    "I am barely a squire, lord.  I may wear mail but we both know that I have not yet the skills to fight in a conroi. I am there to fetch your spear and your spare horse."
    Unlike most squires Gilles was overly modest. I liked that trait in him. "Do not underestimate yourself, Gilles, besides I did not say you were ready for a warhorse but you need a young horse that you can school so that you can grow together.  Sir William, Sir Leofric and Sir John all had unschooled warhorses which are still not at their peak but horse and rider are growing as one. We shall put Badger with a good mare and you shall have the issue. Aiden knows horses and he will help you to grow close.  Wulfric there will teach you how to school the beast."
    Wulfric had acquired his magnificent grey, Roger, in Normandy when he had slain the knight who rode him.  He had only ridden palfreys before then.  Most men at arms would never be allowed a war horse. Men who served me did not follow the same rules. Perhaps that was why I had little trouble in attracting new men. 
    We were going into battle and that night Father Abelard heard confession and then absolved the conroi of its sins.  Men fought better knowing that their souls had been cleansed. He had with him a cross which Archbishop Thurstan had given to me many years earlier.  Father Abelard would make sure that the cross would be as visible as my banner.  Although priests were supposed to be safe in battle I had seen too many die to take that for granted. My banner would be carried by Gilles.  I had too few men at arms to have the luxury of a standard guarded by a valuable warrior.  Gilles could defend the standard; I hoped he would not have to.
    We broke camp before dawn and moved all into the shelter of the woods. We walked our horses there rather than riding them. I had Aiden, Edward and Edgar with me.  I sent them down to the river with orders to slay the Scottish scouts whom I knew would be crossing the river soon. They were fine hunters; this day they would hunt men.
    We then waited.  Most battles are hours of waiting followed by a brief