Read Online Northern Knight by Griff Hosker - Free Book Online Page B

is as we thought.  And the Empress?"
    "Another fifty men follow her."
    "Do they wear a livery?"
    "No, Baron, they are the sweepings of the gutter."
    That made sense.  When the Empress and her guards were killed then it would be put down to bandits.  It would also explain the theft of the imperial regalia which the counts would have assumed she had with them.
    "Good, ride to Dick and warn him."
    He hesitated, "Do you not need me, Baron?"
    "I do but the Empress and the others need you more."
    As he rode away I donned my helmet.  My men followed suit.  We rode west on the same course we had started.  This time we rode faster. I almost smiled as I imagined the problems the men who were following us would have.  We were travelling on a wide Roman Road and we rode three abreast.  They had to ride in the forest and would be lucky to ride in single file.  Our earlier speed would have lulled them into a false sense of security. After two miles I raised my spear and the whole line turned.  We plunged into the forest and headed south east. Our move was so sudden that the first man at arms I killed thought that I was one of his own men.  He turned to greet me as I punched my lance into his chest. We were attacking them on the side away from their shields and it was too easy.  Our lances punched, stabbed and slaughtered the ragged line of men at arms.  They were led by one knight and Harold killed him.  He jabbed with his lance and took the knight in the throat.  The lance broke and the knight died. Aiden's sharp eyes and skills had saved us and ensured that our would be attackers died to a man.
    We could afford no witnesses and my men at arms slit the throat of every man we had downed.  We took what they had and hobbled most of the horses.  The others we led as we headed towards the estate of the Empress.
    When Matilda had left Worms she had had four knights and a handful of men at arms to guard her.  The fifty bandits would already be counting their money. They knew that they outnumbered those within the estate.  It would not be a battle it would be a sneaky assault in the dead of night. They were attacking under cover of darkness and against a force which was better suited to an open battlefield rather than the confined spaces of a hall and a forest. They reckoned without Dick and his archers of Sherwood. We came across the first of the dead bandits a mile from the estate.  As we neared the hall we saw more of them. Whoever led them had realised his problem and the survivors formed a shield wall close to the hall.  There were still many of them.
    I lowered my lance and we charged.  It was not a solid line which charged them; the trees stopped that but these were not knights, nor were they men at arms. I jabbed my lance at an axe wielding giant who tried to take Scout's head. My lance shattered as it smashed into his head.  I drew my sword and swung at the warrior with the spear who braced it against a tree as he tried to defend himself from me. I smote the haft and it broke in two.  I halted Scout and brought my blade across his throat. A handful of these hired killers ran from the woods towards the hall.  Sir Guy and his men at arms flooded from the hall and their lives were ended quickly.
    As Rolf and his Swabians came out I heard the screams and shouts in the forest as the last of the raiders were slaughtered.  When Dick and Aiden reached me with broad grins upon their faces then I knew that we had won.  We had no time to lose. "Quickly, let us leave while we may."
    The Empress and her two ladies came out dressed in helmets and surcoats.  At close range they would not pass for warriors; they were too thin and waif like but, in a column of real warriors, they might pass unnoticed. We now had more than enough horses and we would be able to ride hard and fast, changing horses when we needed to.  By dawn I intended to be at least forty miles away from the estate of the Empress. I knew we would be followed but