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

Peter’s men tried to swim across well upstream of the ford where the rest of us had been waiting in vain for his token force to attack.
           Henry, as you might imagine since he commands our land forces and their training, was furious.  He thought Peter's main body of Marines should have gotten upstream faster to get across before we were ready and told their sergeants as much - and he thought I should have marched the Marines on this side up there faster to stop them.  
           The boys and our sergeants are wide-eyed as they listen to Henry swearing at me and Peter for being too slow to get our men into place; they didn't see his wink. 
           After his first effort almost succeeded I sent Peter went back into Devon to try again.  This time Raymond’s outriders did an even better job and the boys and I weren’t at all surprised when Peter’s men tried to storm the ford after trying to gull us with diversions both upstream and downstream. 
           When it was all over we got together at Launceston with the senior sergeants and everyone agreed that we'd learned something important - that we might need more outriders to watch for the bastards coming to attack us and more quickly pilot our Marines to where they are needed most.
           Might need them, your arse; we need them and that means we need more horses and more archers schooled to ride them and shoot their longbows while they do.
     
                                    Chapter Four
           We’ve reached the Roman road in Devon and are camping just past where a side road branches off to go north five or six miles to Okehampton Castle.  That’s when one of Raymond’s outriders comes galloping in to report a party of knights and men at arms on horseback approaching on the road that come in all the way from far off London. 
           The outrider is breaking off his patrol and coming in to report it, he says, because the knights don’t have their usual baggage train of servants and women and merchants – they’re a war party.  That was a right smart decision; there’s a man to watch.
           “Raymond, that was a good decision your man just made.  What’s his name?”
           Normally we would not have paid much attention to the knights and their men, just given them a friendly wave as they ride past.  But while we were practicing war fighting at the ford there had been travelers coming through on the road, monks and merchants and such, who told us they’d seen similar bodies of knights and soldiers on the road from London.
           What was so interesting and caught their attention is that the knights and their men had all turned off the main road and gone up the side road towards a castle owned by Lord Courtenay instead of continuing on into Exeter on the main road or turning off on the track towards Cornwall. 
           Courtenay's castle itself is a well-located and rather strong motte and bailey fortress with enough manors and revenues to support six knights.  It's called Oakhampton.  The father of the current Courtenay lord got it when he married one of the Brereton widows after his first wife died.
           “Mainly from the north the knights seem to be,” said one of the monks we’d invited to join us for supper yesterday.
           “That’s strange,” Thomas had replied as he ripped off a piece of newly fried flat bread and stuffed it into his mouth with a gulp of new ale.  “What are they doing down here?”
           “I’m not sure, bishop, I’m not sure.  But I did recognize the banner of one of the de Braoses.  They’re marcher lords with some of the lands next to our monastery.  Nasty piece of work aren’t they? Evil shites for sure.  Tried to take back some of forest land their grandfather gave us years ago, didn't they?  It’s said that they and the other Gloucester lords are among the barons what are