Page 68 of By the Sword
Lovell laid his cards down and fixed his brother with a hard look. ‘You don’t see do you?’ he said. ‘You’re the last of us with any hope. Look at us…’ He waved his hand at the men seated around the table. ‘If we lose this battle, what future do we have? But you…you can still make something of your life.’
Daniel looked from one to the other. ‘You were my age when you went to war, all of you.’
‘True,’ Giles conceded.
‘But we had hope,’ Jonathan said.
‘We’re not going to lose.’ Daniel declared. ‘We are the guardians of the crown. We’ll fight for the King and glory and honour,’ he continued, oblivious to the cynical silence of his audience.
Jonathan considered the boy for a moment, seeing himself in the youthful romanticism of a cause in which he had believed so passionately, but wanting desperately to prevent the futile loss of another life.
‘Daniel, war has nothing to do with glory and honour,’ he said and leaned forward, fixing the boy with a hard gaze. ‘Have you ever smelt the stench of death? Have you ever seen a man with his guts hanging out and still living or a man with his face shot away? Have you watched a friend die of gangrene?’
Jonathan knew his words were brutal, and Daniel paled and swallowed. But he met Jonathan’s gaze.
‘I was there when they took and burned our home,’ the young man said. ‘I saw men die. I saw my father killed.’ He glanced at his brother. ‘He died in Kit’s arms. So, yes, I have seen death.’
Lovell laid down his cards and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. He said in a gentle tone, ‘Dan, there’ll be a battle tomorrow and you’ll be more use to us well rested. Go upstairs and see what sleep you can get. I’ll not be long.’
The boy set his hand of cards down on the table. ‘Tomorrow?’
‘For certes,’ Giles said without raising his eyes from his cards.
Daniel looked at his brother who nodded. ‘Tomorrow,’ Lovell repeated.
‘Then you’re right I should try and rest, but I don’t think I will sleep,’ Daniel said. He stood and bowed.
‘Do that, lad,’ Giles said. ‘Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.’
Chapter 22
September 3 1651, Worcester
Jonathan awoke to the sound of bombardment from Cromwell’s guns. With practice born of long experience, he was dressed and ready and halfway down the stairs as Giles emerged still half asleep.
They encountered Kit Lovell, fully dressed and armed, at the door. Beside him, his brother, Daniel, looked impossibly young in his borrowed buff coat and unfamiliar breastplate and helmet, but he had colour in his face and his eyes gleamed with excitement. He smiled broadly at Jonathan’s peremptory greeting.
Guardians of the crown indeed, Jonathan thought.
‘The word is that Cromwell is throwing bridges of boats across the Teme and the Severn,’ Lovell said. ‘He’s going to split his force.’
Jonathan nodded. He understood what that meant. They would be attacked from two sides and they did not have the strength to repel such an attack.
He clapped the boy on the shoulder. ‘Ready, lad?’
Daniel nodded, his helmet slipping down into his eyes. Jonathan glanced at Kit Lovell and saw the moment of unguarded desperation in his friend’s face. Kit Lovell would have given anything to have the boy as far from the battle as he could. But this was not the time for sentimentality. Daniel Lovell had made his choice, just as his brother had ten years earlier.
‘This is it, gentlemen.’ Lovell loosened his sword and stepped into the street. He looked back at them and tipped his fingers to his hat in salute. ‘God be with us all this day.’
As soldiers dashed to their positions, the Scots’ guns on Fort Royal answered Cromwell’s guns on Red Hill. Jonathan and Giles strode off down Friers Street in the direction of the cathedral where the King would have taken up his position.
They found the King very much awake and eager for the fray. He leaned on the wall of the cathedral tower with a telescope trained on the action well to the south of the city. From this vantage point, he had a clear view of all points of the compass.
He handed Jonathan the telescope but even without it, Jonathan could see that, as Lovell had said, Cromwell had divided his forces; a manoeuvre that went against every precept of war. Half the troops had been set to cross the river and were engaged in constructing the bridge of boats to the south of the city. The other half waited on the heights of Perry Wood to the east of the city.
Jonathan scanned the fields for the King’s forces. He could see part of the Scots army to the south, strongly positioned behind hedgerows, apparently waiting for the boat bridges to be completed and the army of Parliament to cross. The bulk of the King’s forces remained within the city walls.
‘What do you think?’ the King asked.
