Kings of Clonmel Read Online Free PDF

said. “ They don’t exist! So what made you think you could just . . . produce them out of thin air?”
    Again, the boys exchanged glances. This time it was Stuart who spoke.
    “The exercise says we’re to use our initiative and imagination. . . .” Will made a gesture for him to continue.
    “So we used our initiative to imagine that there were Skandians in the area.”
    “And that we were their friends,” Liam put in.
    Will stood abruptly. For the first time, he had an inkling of what Halt might have gone through in the first year of Will’s own apprenticeship. To the young boys, it seemed so logical.
    “But you can’t do that!” he exclaimed. Then, seeing their worried faces, he calmed down a little, forcing himself to explain. “The Assets and Resources list tells you what people you can use. You can’t just invent others to suit your purposes.”
    He looked around the semicircle of crestfallen faces.
    “I mean, if you could do that, why not just imagine a dozen or so gigantic trolls who could go galumphing in and smash the walls down for you?”
    Nick, Liam and Stuart all nodded dutifully, and for one awful moment, he thought they might be taking him seriously.
    “I’m joking,” he said, and they nodded again. He sighed and sat down. They knew they were going to have to go back to the beginning, and he could see their disappointment. While he didn’t intend to do the assignment for them, he decided there was no harm in pointing them in the right direction.
    “All right, first of all, let’s look at what you’ve got. Go through the resources for me.”
    “We’ve got an acrobat troop,” said Liam.
    Will looked quickly at him. “Can you think of anything they could be used for?”
    Liam pursed his lips.
    “They could entertain the troops and raise morale,” said Nick.
    “If we had any troops,” Stuart put in.
    “When we’ve got troops!” Liam interrupted Stuart with more than a hint of anger.
    Will thought it was best to intervene before they started squabbling. He threw them a broad hint.
    “What’s stopping you getting into the castle? What’s a castle’s principal line of defense?” he asked. The boys considered the question, then Stuart answered, in a tone that indicated the answer was an obvious one.
    “The walls, of course.”
    “That’s right. High walls. Four meters high.” Will paused, looking from one face to another. “Can you see any connection between high walls and acrobats?”
    Suddenly light dawned in the three faces, in Nick’s a fraction of a second before the other two.
    “They could scale the walls,” he said.
    Will pointed a forefinger at him. “Exactly. But you’ll still need troops. Where have the original garrison gone?”
    “They’re scattered all over the fief, back to their farms and hamlets.” It was Liam this time. He frowned, taking it one step further. “We’ll need someone to move around from place to place, recruiting them—”
    “But you don’t want the enemy to notice,” Will put in quickly, hoping one of them would get the message.
    “The jongleur!” Stuart exclaimed triumphantly. “Nobody will take any notice of him moving around the countryside!”
    Will sat back, smiling at them. “Now you’re beginning to think!” he said. “Work together on this and come back this afternoon with your ideas.”
    The three boys exchanged grins. They were eager now to progress to the next stage of the plan. They stood up as Will motioned for them to go, but he stopped them with one more thought.
    “Another thing: the village. How many people in it?”
    Nick answered immediately, without needing to refer to his notes.
    “Two hundred,” he said, wondering what Will was getting at. “But there are only a few soldiers among them. Most are farmers and field-workers.”
    “I know that,” Will said. “But think about what the law says about any village with more than one hundred residents.”
    The law required that any village with a