The King Is Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

just fourteen men in the middle who were advancing faster than the others.  The leader had a shield with a mythical creature upon it.  It was a black hydra on a red background.  His helmet enclosed his head.  That was a mistake as it restricted his vision. He spurred his horse and shouted, "Charge!" as they reached the northern bank.
    It was what I had waited for, "Charge!"
    The French horses slipped and they lost all cohesion.  We, in contrast, rode knee to knee on the more solid ground. I pulled back my lance as we closed.  The knight with the black hydra was struggling to control his war horse. He tried to raise his lance to strike at me but he could not.  I had all the time in the world to choose my target.  My lance hit him square in the chest.  His horse's legs had no purchase and as the rider fell backwards, he pulled the horse on top of him.  A destrier is incredibly heavy.  The knight was crushed and drowned in the muddy waters of the Kale. I pulled my lance back and struck at the man at arms who turned to meet me.  His shield was smaller than mine and his spear shorter.  Mine hit him under his left arm.  Although the shaft broke the head was embedded in his body.  I drew my sword and swung it at the man at arms on my right who was pulling his spear back to strike Sir Hugh Manningham. I severed his arm and he too fell to his death in the Kale. I was through the first two ranks of men at arms.  The ones I now faced were, like me, armed with a sword. Had they had the skill of Wulfric then I might have feared them but they did not. 
    "On!" I saw that my archers had whittled down those at the flanks so that there was just one more line of men at arms before me. Rather than risking the muddy bank I waited with Badger's withers in the river.  Two came for me at once. I took a blow on my shield while I brought my own sword down hard on the sword of the second man at arms. Badger bit and spat at the palfrey which tried to whirl away. As the man at arms struggled to keep his balance I swung sideways at his sword.  He was slow to raise it and I hacked into his hand and his thigh.  He fell into the water. 
    I whipped Badger's head around and found myself behind the first man at arms.  I brought my sword around in an arc and hit him in the middle of his back.  His mail held but not his back; I heard it crack and he fell into the water.  Turning Badger for the southern bank I heard his scream as my destrier trampled him. We had won the skirmish at the ford and the horsemen were turning.  The men on foot stood there ready to fight us but the horsemen cut huge swathes through them as they fell back.
    "Charge!" We could not move as fast as I would have liked for the ground was muddy but we had the element of surprise.  They had thought to attack us and now we attacked them. The tables had turned.
    The men on foot were brave but they did not have the advantage of a solid line.  No matter how many times you are told a horse will not deliberately run at you it is hard to believe and Badger, with his flaring nostrils, savage looking teeth and huge hooves looked like a monster even to my men. I leaned forward.  The spearman pulled back his spear to stab me.  I brought my shield over horizontally.  The spear shattered upon it and I rammed my sword through his neck. And then I was facing the backs of the men who fled the wall of steel which flooded towards them. It was not sport it was butchery. However as they had more men remaining than we did we had to level the numbers. My sword hacked backs, necks and helmets. Not all died but none would fight again for some time. I saw that Sir Guy de Senonches had brought his crossbows in a line before him. I yelled, "Halt! William. Signal stop!"
    The men I led did as I commanded but two of Sir Hugh Manningham's men at arms rode too close to the crossbows. They and their mounts were brought down by a flurry of bolts.  I saw Sir Guy shout something to his crossbowmen.