Page 33 of Historical Hotties
And so did he.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“You look noworse for the wear,” Cassius said as he exited the cottage, bent over so he wouldn’t strike his head on the doorway. “I take it the enemy has fled?”
It was dawn on the morning after the night battle at Edenthorpe and Cassius opened the door to a parade of knights. Rhori and Bose were there along with Darian and one of his junior knights, along with about one hundred heavily armed Doncaster men.
“Of course they have fled,” Rhori said imperiously. “With the threat of a du Bois in command, they turned tail and ran like the cowards they are. Some of them are probably in Scotland by now.”
Cassius grinned. “Good lad,” he said. “We could see the battle from here. No slight against your ability, Rhori, but it never looked like they had a genuine chance of breaching the castle.”
“They did not,” Darian said, dismounting his horse and pushing past Rhori. “They harried the gatehouse mostly, but the walls are too tall. Where is Lady Dacia?”
Cassius threw a thumb over his shoulder. “In the cottage,” he said. As Darian went to check on Dacia, Cassius went overto Rhori. “I am sorry this wasn’t a true test of your command ability. I shall try to throw a more worthy enemy your way the next time.”
By now, Bose had dismounted his steed and had joined them. Rhori slithered off his horse, holding on to the jumpy animal as he faced Cassius.
“This enemy may be quite worthy,” Rhori said, lowering his voice. “We noticed something strange.”
Cassius’ eyebrows lifted. “What?”
“The yellow shield with the black lion,” Bose muttered. “Three-point shield on some of the tunics, though they tried to cover it up. Still, we were able to see them. A lion with bloody paws, Cass.”
Cassius stared at him a moment before cocking his head in confusion. “Yellow shield with the bloody black lion?” he repeated. “Here?”
“Here.”
“That’s Marcil Clabecq.”
“It is.”
Now, Cassius’ eyes widened. “He and his men were with Edward at Falkirk,” he said. “Are you telling me that professional Flemish mercenaries were part of that attack last night?”
Both Bose and Rhori nodded. “This may be more than simple harassment by an unhappy neighbor,” Rhori said, keeping his voice low. “Clabecq goes where the money is, so Baron Hagg must be paying him a fortune.”
Cassius shook his head in disbelief. “I had no idea the man had that kind of money,” he said. Then he paused as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Or mayhap he does not. Mayhap Clabecq was promised part of the spoils. That would be quite an incentive.”
Rhori nodded. “Quite,” he agreed. “The party last night rode all around the castle, stopping at the barbican, at the postern gate, and at the gatehouse, but they never really did much of anything other than ride in circles, launch a few arrows, and look around.Look around, Cass.”
Cassius knew exactly what he was driving at. “Studying her weaknesses,” he said. Everything they were saying made sense. “So Hagg has hired himself Flemish mercenaries and they are studying Edenthorpe for her weaknesses.”
“That would be my guess,” Rhori said. “And if they take Edenthorpe, the spoils would be immense.”
That was a very true statement. Suddenly, a little raid wasn’t so little any longer. “Did you tell de Lohr your suspicions?” Cassius asked.
Rhori shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “The man has seen one siege since he took command of Edenthorpe. Only one. While he wasn’t terribly rattled, he was somewhat overly concerned given how few antagonists there really were. He spent most of his time reporting to Doncaster, who was sending the majordomo for information every few minutes. We wanted to give you our observations before speaking to Darian or to Doncaster. Something like this cannot be treated lightly.”
Cassius shook his head. “Not at all,” he said. “With Clabecq involved, the stakes have grown considerably. In fact, Clabecq was with Edward when he took Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland a couple of years ago. We were all there. We saw how Edward used them like a hammer to break down Caerlaverock.”
Bose and Rhori nodded gravely. “Did you have much contact with Marcil Clabecq, Cass?” Rhori asked.
Cassius shook his head. “Not directly,” he said. “Like you two, I was with Edward the entire time trying to make sure the man didn’t get himself killed. My focus was on Edward, not his allies or the Flemish scum he’d hired. They raided Caerlaverockheavily once it was breached and I heard that they also raided the Scottish countryside before they took a cog out of Edinburgh for home.”
Rhori shook his head at the despicable nature of the mercenaries. “’Tis a good thing they did not go south into de Wolfe territory,” he said. “I have a feeling that your father and uncles would have made short work of that group.”
Cassius grinned. “They would have chewed up those Flemish bastards and spit them out,” he said. But his grin quickly faded. “And now they’re here, sizing up Edenthorpe.”
“Old Cuffy needs to be told, Cass,” Bose said. “He carries a big, lazy army and they could be in for a good deal of trouble.”
