BATTLE SONG by Ian Ross

Author:Ian Ross [Ross, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781399708852
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2023-03-29T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

‘Never!’ Elias cried. ‘Absolutely not . . . I will not be driven from my home by a mob . . . by the scum of the gutters!’

‘You’re not safe here,’ Adam said again. ‘Neither of you are.’

They were in the main hall, Elias pacing furiously and clasping his head in anguish. They could all hear the sounds of the mob in the street now, the thunder at the gates. Two of the servants were busy gathering the silverware and draperies and bundling them into chests. Belia appeared to be directing them. She flung a glance at Adam. ‘And where would we be safe, do you think?’ she said, and it sounded like an accusation. ‘Where is there safety in this city now? Where, in this whole country?’

‘The only safe place is the Tower,’ Adam told them, standing in the doorway dressed in mail, with his hand on the hilt of his sword. ‘Hugh Despenser is constable there, Robert says he’s to be trusted—’

‘Trusted, hah!’ Elias broke in. ‘This is the same Hugh Despenser who not a month ago led a mob around the city burning and plundering the properties of the Earl of Cornwall? The same Hugh Despenser who acts as de Montfort’s lieutenant in London? Him we should trust? Better to trust the devil himself!’

‘Yes, Hugh Despenser, the justiciar,’ Adam said, keeping a tight rein on his voice. In truth he knew nothing of Despenser, and would not be inclined to trust him either. But this was what Robert had decided. ‘Please, I beg you,’ he said, directing his words now to Belia. ‘You must think of your own preservation. Your own lives.’

‘You think I’m going to throw away everything that I’ve built in this city, everything I’ve achieved after years of effort?’ Elias demanded, stabbing his finger at Adam.

‘Elias, please,’ Belia said in a low voice.

‘No. I say again no!’ Elias yelled. ‘I will stay here, and die here if the Lord God directs it. I’m not a fighting man but I swear to you I will not go meekly!’ He crossed to the table and snatched up a short thick-bladed falchion.

Ignoring her brother, Belia came to the doorway and took Adam by the arm, her fingers clasping the links of his mail. ‘What of Robert?’ she demanded. ‘Will he stay if Elias refuses to leave? If we all refuse to leave?’

‘He’ll stay if he needs to,’ Adam told her. But he knew that Robert had no intention of leaving; his horses were in the stables, his armour and possessions inside the house, and all the wealth he had gained in the tournaments was secured in Elias’s strongroom. There was no time to remove it all safely now, and no way he would surrender it without a fight. But Elias and Belia were a different matter; their lives at least could be saved by a swift departure.

‘Let me talk to my brother alone,’ Belia whispered, her eyes large and black in the shadows. Adam nodded, and turned away at once.

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