The Archer's Gold: Medieval Military fiction: A Novel about Wars, Knights, Pirates, and Crusaders in The Years of the Feudal Middle Ages of William Marshall ... (The Company of English Archers Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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           So far we’ve been marching over Cornwall lands that are quite familiar to all of us.  That's because our apprentice Marines do a lot of their learning and practicing along the well-traveled road between Restormel and along the River Tamar here at the edge of Cornwall. 
           Indeed, it would be safe to wager that every Marine on the march has practiced fighting in the fields and forests along our route.  That will change tomorrow morning, of course,  Everything will be new for many of our men once we wade across the nearby River Tamar ford and enter Devon.  Most of our men have never set foot in Devon. 
           According to Raymond’s outriders the water in the Tamar is still quite cold and rather low.  There must not have been much rain up in the hills this year. 
           Well, there’s no alternative but to get our feet cold and wet at the ford - we haven’t allowed boats and bridges back on the river ever since we chopped them up when Lord Cornell and his men tried to cross the river to get into the shire and take over our lands and keeps.
           Even so, it’s going to be a few days before we all move beyond the River Tamar and into Devon. 
           At first, Thomas, Henry, and I will stay on this side of the Tamar with one company of walking Marines, Raymond's Horse Marines, and Thomas's boys while the other company under the command of Peter moves across the ford and sets up a camp about five or six miles into Devon. 
           When they're ready, Peter's men will turn around and move back towards Cornwell as invaders - just as Cornell and his men did a few years back and whoever comes at us next is likely to do. 
           This is what we call a "jester's war" - the make believe invasions and wars we do every year in May and again in July as part of our summer training before our latest crop of newly trained Marine archers ships out for Cyprus and the Holy Land in the autumn.
           We do them because every one of our lieutenants and senior sergeants, and particularly George and Thomas's boys, needs to know how to defend the ford and everything up and down the river from it.  And so do Thomas and I – that’s why Peter and the company of Marines he's leading are going to pretend to invade Cornwall without telling us how they're going to do it.  
           All of our make-believe battles are run this way so that no one knows what to expect. All we’ll know on this side of the river is that Peter and his men will probably be coming up the only road that runs into Cornwall from the rest of England. 
           Raymond's outriders watch everywhere else along the river, of course, but because of the road and the ford this is by far the most likely way for an enemy to come.
           “Alright Andrew, you’re in command with young George here as your second. You and your men just rushed here on a forced march from Restormel because a report just came in suggesting a large enemy force is coming to attack Cornwall.  What orders have you two already given and what are you going to do now – and why?”
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           Three days later our "jester's war" is over and we’re all together and once again on the road.  It had been a good practice.  Peter and his sergeants initially tried to surprise us, and almost succeeded.  They launched a token attack with some of their men at the ford while Peter’s main body of men crossed further up the river. 
           It would have worked but Raymond had his outriders spread out and go across the river to find them.  The outriders saw Peter’s main body of men leave the road and march north. They galloped back and told us - so Thomas and I, of course, marched the men north to meet them.
           Even so, there was a lot of confusion and initially only our outriders and Horse Marines were nearby and ready with their longbows and reserves of arrows when