Part 29 (1/2)

Father Hobbe looked for the Earl of Northampton, but two thousand French infantry had arrived just after dawn, coming to reinforce an army that had already been broken, and in the misty light they had thought the mounted men who greeted them were friends and then the hors.e.m.e.n dropped their visors, couched their lances and put back their spurs. The Earl led them.

Most of the English knights had been denied a chance to fight on horseback in the previous day's battle, but now, this Sunday morning, they'd been given their moment and the great destriers had torn b.l.o.o.d.y gaps in the marching ranks, then wheeled to cut the survivors into ragged terror. The French had fled, pursued by the implacable hors.e.m.e.n, who had cut and thrust until their arms were weary with the killing.

Back on the hill between Crecy and Wadicourt a pile of enemy banners was gathered. The flags were torn and some were still damp with blood. The oriflamme was carried to Edward who folded it and ordered the priests to give thanks. His son lived, the battle was won and all Christendom would know how G.o.d favoured the English cause. He declared he would spend this one day on the field to mark the victory, then march on. His army was still tired, but it had boots now and it would be fed. Cattle were roaring as archers slaughtered them and more archers were bringing food from the hill where the French army had abandoned its supplies. Other men were plucking arrows from the field and tying them into sheaves while their women plundered the dead.

The Earl of Northampton came back to Crecy's hill roaring and grinning. 'Like slaughtering sheep!' he exulted, then roamed up and down the line trying to relive the excitements of the last two days. He stopped by Thomas and grinned at the archers and their women.

'You look different, young Thomas!' he said happily, but then looked down and saw Will Skeat sitting like a child with his head bound by the blue scarf. 'Will?' the Earl said in puzzlement. 'Sir William?'

Skeat just sat.

'He was cut through the skull, my lord,' Thomas said.

The Earl's bombast fled like air from a p.r.i.c.ked bladder. He slumped in his saddle, shaking his head. 'No,' he protested, 'no. Not Will!' He still had a b.l.o.o.d.y sword in his hand, but now he wiped the blade through the mane of his horse and pushed it into the scabbard. 'I was going to send him back to Brittany,' he said. 'Will he live?'

No one answered.

'Will?' the Earl called, then clumsily dismounted from the clinging saddle. He crouched by the Yorks.h.i.+reman. 'Will? Talk to me, Will!'

'He must go to England, my lord,' Father Hobbe said.

'Of course,' the Earl said.

'No,' Thomas said.

The Earl frowned at him. 'No?'

'There is a doctor in Caen, my lord,' Thomas spoke in French now, 'and I would take him there. This doctor works miracles, my lord.'

The Earl smiled sadly. 'Caen is in French hands again, Thomas,' he said, 'and I doubt they'll welcome you.'

'He will be welcome,' Sir Guillaume said, and the Earl noticed the Frenchman and his unfamiliar livery for the first time.

'He is a prisoner, my lord,' Thomas explained, 'but also a friend. We serve you, so his ransom is yours, but he alone can take Will to Caen.'

'Is it a large ransom?' the Earl asked.

'Vast,' Thomas said.

'Then your ransom, sir,' the Earl spoke to Sir Guillaume, 'is Will Skeat's life.' He stood and took his horse's reins from an archer, then turned back to Thomas. The boy looked different, he thought, looked like a man. He had cut his hair, that was it. Chopped it, anyway. And he looked like a soldier now, like a man who could lead archers into battle. 'I want you in the spring, Thomas,' he said. 'There'll be archers to lead, and if Will can't do it, then you must. Look after him now, but in the spring you'll serve me again, you hear?'

'Yes, my lord.'

'I hope your doctor can work miracles,' the Earl said, then he walked on.

Sir Guillaume had understood the things that had been said in French, but not the rest and now he looked at Thomas. 'We go to Caen?' he asked.

'We take Will to Doctor Mordecai,' Thomas said.