Blood, Steel and Reputation
by James Gault
*New Release Book Spotlight*
Publisher: independently published
Page Length: 321
Genre: Historical Fiction
Two naive young men set out from 12th century England on a perilous journey toward knighthood “across the sea” in the land of the Normans and Angevins. This is their tempestuous tale of hardship, danger, and the search for power or patronage in a world teeming with deceit and changing alliances.
Though maintaining a lifelong friendship, one courts the road through royal favour while the other looks to the law and business. Both espouse the qualities of loyalty, honour, and chivalry. One will rise to fill the nation’s highest office.
Based on real events, the story seeks to bring to life the tumult that prevailed during the Angevin era in England and Normandy between about 1154 and 1216 from the perspective of two knights. One of those knights is imagined, the other is loosely based upon the life of Sir William Marshall, arguably England’s greatest knight.
The foray into the Limousin set out but a few days after my discussion with Will and was clearly intended to be a show of force. There were fifty knights in the company, some being Lord William’s own small mesne, others from Queen Eleanor’s household and even some of King Henry’s own contingent. The target was Ventadour Castle in Limoges, bastion of the Viscount of Ventadour and a hotbed of resistance to centralised Angevin rule. Perhaps in fear of another attempt on her safety, Queen Eleanor remained In Poitiers. One less noble to be concerned about, I thought.
We had a solid two-day ride to reach our destination. Rather than arrive at the end of a day’s ride, Lord William decided to make camp some two or three miles south of the castle. He summoned Sieur Bernant and myself to discuss his intentions for the next day, expecting that he would only need to negotiate with the Viscount for an end to his skirmishing when faced with such a sizeable force.
‘Ventadour Castle sits on a steep granite outcrop, my lord,’ announced Bernant. ‘It is a readily defensible position so, if they so choose, we could be forced into a lengthy siege.’
‘We have not the time nor the equipment for a siege,’ noted our commander. ‘We shall ride close to show our strength then I shall seek to parley with the Viscount. I am hopeful that he will see sense.’
The Viscount did not see sense and proceeded to make the gravest tactical blunder I could have imagined. His equites attacked the royal force at dawn. Unfortunately for them a scout had provided forewarning of a force leaving the castle and, early as it was in the day, our men were ready. Lord William despatched a conroi twenty strong to go around the approaching enemy and block any retreat into the castle. That left thirty mounted and highly alert knights to take on the attackers.
Our camp was in a slight depression in the landscape, thinly cloaked all about with woodland. There had been no great attempt at concealment: Limousin spies would doubtless have been reporting our approach for a day or more. As the enemy rode into sight, they were a mere three hundred yards from the camp, which still looked sleepy and with smoky fires burning all about. Bernant had cleverly placed the men in two groups inside the tree-line to each side of the likely approaches. He ordered the charge without any delay and the enemy was taken completely by surprise. Their force of a score or more equites scattered in disarray and quickly found themselves engaged on both sides.
Riding next to Lord William I had little choice but to keep pace as he hurled himself into the fray and set about enemy riders to left and right. I took out one unfortunate with a clean lance strike through the chest, dropped the stub and set to with my sword. The noise of clashing arms, blood-curdling screams of pain and curses of the most sinful kind filled the air. A rider had come between myself and the Chamberlain and was busy turning the Chamberlain’s shield into splinters. A backhand slice of my sword disabled him very effectively and he was out of the fight. In watching his retreat and distracted by his furious curses I failed to see another enemy knight bent on my destruction until almost too late. There was a massive blow to my chest, followed by another to my belatedly raised shield before I could turn to respond. My new and so far un-blooded destrier responded magnificently and rose on his hind legs while also turning toward the threat. The enemy horse stood no chance. It was bowled over and the knight fell to the ground stunned.
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
James Gault
Since retiring from a life at sea, and between stints of voluntary work, he has written contemporary crime fiction and a history text amongst others. He has an abiding love of history and thrives on historical fiction, of which this is his fifth work in that genre.
