Castilian Knight by Griff Hosker

Author:Griff Hosker
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Sword Books Ltd.
Published: 2019-10-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The next day we entered the Taifa of Toledo. In theory, being towards the centre of the column, we should not have had much to do. Prince Alfonso had men who watched the fore and one flank. King Ferdinand had other men watching too but the land was perfect for an ambush. Our progress was slow as King Ferdinand insisted upon the subjugation of even the smallest villages and the swearing of an oath of loyalty from all of those within. What worried me was that there appeared to be few Moors who swore such an oath and our slow progress meant that the Emir would have a clear picture of our line of march. Three days into the progress through Toledo we endured our first attack.

We were passing through the upper reaches of the Tajo valley where there were tracks and trails on both sides of the main road. Our task was to guard the right flank along with the men from Prince Alfonso’s horsemen who were ahead of us. I had just taken our men behind a tiny hamlet of perhaps eight huts and houses to investigate a flock of birds which had taken flight, when horse archers swept down behind Prince Alfonso’s men and headed for the King. His men were guarding the left flank of the vanguard. We did not see them but we heard the sound of their bowstrings as they released their arrows and Rodrigo saw the missiles as they soared in the air above the trees. I raised my spear and shouted, “Álvar, sound the alarm!” I dug my heels into my new horse, regretting that it was not Berber. Copper was a good horse but was not a warhorse.

It was the houses of the hamlet and the trees which masked us that allowed us to fall upon the flank of the horse archers. There were at least two hundred of them but they had neither shields nor mail to protect them. We did not hit them as I might have wished, in a solid line for the land did not suit us. There were fences and little plots of farmed land over which we trampled but when we hit them it was as though they had been struck by an axe for they had neither seen nor expected us. Rodrigo was ahead thanks to the fact that he was riding Babieca, the best horse that day, and he drew first blood. I was just behind him and I was able to admire the skill with which he rammed the spearhead between the ribs of the hapless horse archer and then twisted as he pulled it out. It was a clean, killing strike for entrails and organs came out with the spearhead. Twisting the head enabled him to bring out the spear without causing it damage.

Then I had my first Moor to kill since the Coimbra campaign. I pulled back my arm but the Moor was slightly ahead of me and I had the high back of his saddle to negotiate.

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