The Bastard's Crown by H A Culley

Author:H A Culley [Culley, H A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: H A Culley
Published: 2013-03-31T04:00:00+00:00

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Sir Hugo stood watching the fire arrows rain down on Dinan. Duke William had already left the army and taken Harold with him. The rumour was that he had asked Harold to swear to support his claim to the English throne before he was released to return home. Harold, having little option, did so then found out that the table before which he had taken his oath contained holy relics. Hugo doubted if Harold would have taken the oath had he known as it was a far more serious matter to break a holy oath rather than just a promise made under coercion. He supposed that Harold, Oswin and Wulfric were now safely back in England and wondered idly if he would ever see his friends again.

The next day the town surrendered but Conan had fled. It took another three months before a truce was concluded under which Conan promised not to attack Normandy. After that Sir Hugo was allowed to leave for Cuille. He still had no squire but Giullaume had allowed him to share Lyle, the fourteen year old son of one of his father’s tenants. He couldn’t spare Lyle to accompany Hugo to Cuille so he set off on his own. He reached Rennes on the first day and Vitre on the second. As he neared the border he thought of that time seven years ago when Gilbert and he had fled the Angevins and first met Guillaume.

He rode up the last mile to Cuille in increasingly heavy snow so that, by the time he arrived, he looked like a white ghost. A man-at-arms he didn’t recognise challenged him when he reached the gate in the palisade.

‘Who are you and what’s your business here?’ the man challenged gruffly. He was stamping his feet and looking thoroughly disgruntled at being on guard duty in this weather.

‘My name is Sir Hugo de Cuille; now go and tell my father that I am home.’

The man was taken aback but before he could respond there was a cry and Roland came slipping and sliding across the icy yard.

‘Hugo, is that really you? What are you doing here?’ Roland was nearly seventeen but he was as excited as a twelve year old.

Hugo dismounted and gave the reins of the palfrey he was riding, his destrier and the pack horse to the man-at-arms before embracing his friend. The man-at-arms was not used to horses and struggled to control them.

‘Well, it’s Sir Hugo for a start. And I’m looking for a squire.’

‘But you’re not twenty one until next year.’ The youth looked puzzled. ‘And how would you find a squire here… Oh!’ He beamed with pleasure as he realised. ‘Sir Robert was only saying the other day that he had to find another knight soon who needed a squire.’

The annoyed man-at-arms gave the reins to two stable boys who had come running up when they realised that there was a visitor. At that moment his father appeared at the door to the hall followed by a girl who was heavily pregnant.

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