The Grail Quest Books 1-3: Harlequin, Vagabond, Heretic by Bernard Cornwell Page B

spirits.
    'Then tomorrow morning it is,' the Earl said. He turned to Totesham. 'But keep your boys closed on the south gate today. I want them to think we're coming there again.' He looked back to Thomas. 'What's the badge on your bow, boy?'
    'Just something I found, my lord,' Thomas lied, handing the bow to the Earl, who had held out his hand. In truth he had cut the silver badge out of the crushed chalice that he had found under his father's robes, then pinned the metal to the front of the bow where his left hand had worn the silver almost smooth.
    The Earl peered at the device. 'A yale?'
    'I think that's what the beast is called, my lord,' Thomas said, pretending ignorance.
    'Not the badge of anyone I know,' the Earl said, then tried to flex the bow and raised his eyebrows in surprise at its strength. He gave the black shaft back to Thomas then dismissed him. 'I wish you Godspeed in the morning, Thomas of Hookton.'
    'My lord,' Thomas said, and bowed.
    'I'll go with him, with your permission,' Skeat said, and the Earl nodded, then watched the two men leave. 'If we do get inside,' he told his remaining captains, 'then for God's sake don't let your men cry havoc. Hold their leashes tight. I intend to keep this town and I don't want the townsfolk hating us. Kill when you must, but I don't want an orgy of blood.' He looked at their sceptical faces. 'I'll be putting one of you in charge of the garrison here, so make it easy for yourselves. Hold them tight.'
    The captains grunted, knowing how hard it would be to keep their men from a full sack of the town, but before any of them could respond to the Earl's hopeful wishes, Sir Simon stood.
    'My lord? A request?'
    The Earl shrugged. 'Try me.'
    'Would you let me and my men lead the ladder party?'
    The Earl seemed surprised at the request. 'You think Skeat cannot manage on his own ?'
    'I am sure he can, my lord,' Sir Simon said humbly, 'but I still beg the honour.'
    Better Sir Simon Jekyll dead than Will Skeat, the Earl thought. He nodded. 'Of course, of course.'
    The captains said nothing. What honour was there in being first onto a wall that another man had captured? No, the bastard did not want honour, he wanted to be well placed to find the richest plunder in town, but none of them voiced his thought. They were captains, but Sir Simon was a knight, even if a penniless one.
    The Earl's army threatened an attack for the rest of that short winter's day, but it never came and the citizens of La Roche-Derrien dared to hope that the worst of their ordeal was over, but made preparations in case the English did try again the next day. They counted their crossbow bolts, stacked more boulders on the ramparts and fed the fires which boiled the pots of water that were poured onto the English. Heat the wretches up, the town's priests had said, and the townsfolk liked that jest. They were winning, they knew, and they reckoned their ordeal must finish soon, for the English would surely be running out of food. All La Roche-Derrien had to do was endure and then receive the praise and thanks of Duke Charles.
    The small rain stopped at nightfall. The townsfolk went to their beds, but kept their weapons ready. The sentries lit watch fires behind the walls and gazed into the dark.
    It was night, it was winter, it was cold and the besiegers had one last chance.

    —«»—«»—«»—

    The Blackbird had been christened Jeanette Marie Halevy, and when she was fifteen her parents had taken her to Guingamp for the annual tournament of the apples. Her father was not an aristocrat so the family could not sit in the enclosure beneath St Laurent's tower, but they found a place nearby, and Louis Halevy made certain his daughter was visible by placing their chairs on the farm wagon which had carried them from La Roche-Derrien. Jeanette's father was a prosperous shipmaster and wine merchant, though his fortune in business had not been mirrored in life. One son had died when a cut finger turned septic and his