If I live?“ Thomas shook his head. I'll be a prisoner. They send us to the galleys in the south, I hear. If they let us live.” Why shouldn't they?'
They don't like archers. They hate archers.“ He pushed a pile of wet bracken closer to the fire, trying to dry the fronds before they became their bed. Maybe there won't be a battle,” he said, because we've stolen a day's march on them.' The French were said to have gone back to Abbeville and to be crossing the river there, which meant that the hunters were coming, but the English were still a day ahead and could, perhaps, reach their fortresses in Flanders. Perhaps.
Eleanor blinked from the smoke. Have you seen any knight carrying the lance?'
Thomas shook his head. I haven't even looked,“ he confessed. The last thing on his mind this night was the mysterious Vexilles. Nor, indeed, did he expect to see the lance. That was Sir Guillaume's fancy and now Father Hobbe's enthusiasm, but it was not Thomas's obsession. Staying alive and finding enough to eat were what con- sumed him. Thomas!” Will Skeat called from outside.
Thomas pushed his head through the hut opening to see a cloaked figure was standing next to Skeat. I'm here,“ he said. You've got company,” Skeat said sourly, turning away. The cloaked figure stooped to enter the hut and, to Thomas's surprise, it was Jeanette. I shouldn't be here,“ she greeted him, pushing into the smoky interior where, throwing the hood from her hair, she stared at Eleanor. Who's that?”
My woman,' Thomas spoke in English.
Tell her to go,' Jeanette said in French.
Stay here,“ Thomas told Eleanor. This is the Countess of Armorica.”
Jeanette bridled when Thomas contradicted her, but did not insist that Eleanor left. Instead she pushed a bag at Thomas that proved to contain a leg of ham, a loaf of bread and a stone bottle of wine. The bread, Thomas saw, was the fine white bread that only the rich could afford, while the ham was studded with cloves and sticky with honey.
He handed the bag to Eleanor. Food fit for a prince,“ he told her. I should take it to Will?” Eleanor asked, for the Archers had agreed to share all their food.
Yes, but it can wait,' Thomas said.
I shall take it now,' Eleanor said, and pulled a cloak over her head before vanishing into the wet darkness.
She's pretty enough,' Jeanette said in French.
All my women are pretty,“ Thomas said. Fit for princes, they are.”
Jeanette looked angry, or perhaps it was just the smoke from the small fire irritating her. She prodded the hut's side. This reminds me of our journey.
It wasn't cold or wet.' Thomas said. And you were mad, he wanted to add, and I nursed you and you walked away from me without looking back.
Jeanette heard the hostility in his voice. He thinks,“ she said, that I am saying confession.”
Then tell me your sins,“ Thomas responded, and you won't have lied to His Highness.”
Jeanette ignored that. You know what is going to happen now?“ We run away, they chase us, and either they catch us or they don't.” He spoke brusquely. And if they catch us there'll be a blood-letting.“ They will catch us,” Jeanette said confidently, and there will be a battle.'
You know that?'
I listen to what is reported to the Prince,“ she said, and the French are on the good roads. We are not.”
That made sense. The ford by which the English army had cros-sed the Seine led only into marshiand and forest. It was a link between villages, it lay on no great trading route and so no good roads led from its banks, but the French had crossed the river at Abbeville, a city of merchants, and so the enemy army would have wide roads to hasten their march into Picardy. They were well fed, they were fresh and now they had the good roads to speed them.
So there'll be a battle,“ Thomas said, touching his black bow. There is to be a battle,” Jeanette confirmed. It's been decided. Probably tomorrow or the next day. The King says there is a hill just outside the forest where we can fight. Better that, he says, than letting the French get ahead and block our road. But either way,“ she paused, they will win.”
Maybe,' Thomas allowed.
They will win,“ Jeanette insisted. I listen to the conversations, Thomas! They are too many.”
Thomas made the sign of the cross. If Jeanette was right, and he had no reason to think she was deceiving him, then the army's leaders had already given up hope, but that did not mean he had to despair. They have to beat us first,“ he said stubbornly. They will,” Jeanette said brutally, and what happens to me then?'
What happens to you?“ Thomas asked in surprise. He leaned cautiously against the fragile wall of his shelter. He sensed that Eleanor had already delivered the food and hurried back to eavesdrop. Why should I care,” he asked loudly, what happens to you?'
Jeanette shot him a vicious look. You once swore to me,' she said, that you would help restore my son to me.
Thomas made the sign of the cross again. I did, my lady,' he admitted, reflecting that he made his oaths too easily. One oath was enough for a lifetime and he had made more then he could recall or keep.
Then help me do that,' Jeanette demanded.
Thomas smiled. There's a battle to be won first, my lady.“ Jeanette scowled at the smoke that churned in the small shelter. If I am found in the English camp after the battle, Thomas, then I will never see Charles again. Never.”
Why not?“ Thomas demanded. It's not as if you'll be in danger, my lady. You're not a common woman. There might not be much chivalry when armies meet, but it just about reaches into the tents of royalty.”
Jeanette shook her head impatiently. If the English win,“ she said, then I might see Charles again because the Duke will want to curry favour with the King. But if they lose, then he will have no need to make any gesture. And if they lose, Thomas, then I lose everything.” That, Thomas reckoned, was closer to the nub. If the English lost then Jeanette risked losing whatever wealth she had accumulated in the last weeks, wealth that came from the gifts of a prince. He could see a necklace of what looked like rubjes half hidden by her swathing cloak, and doubtless she had dozens of other precious stones set in gold.
So what do you want of me?' he asked.
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. You,“ she said, and a handful of men. Take me south. I can hire a ship at Le Crotoy and sail to Brittany. I have money now. I can pay my debts in La Roche-Derrien and I can deal with that evil lawyer. No one need know I was even here.”
The Prince will know,' Thomas said.
She bridled at that. You think he will want me for ever?“ What do I know of him?”
He will tire of me,“ Jeanette said. He's a prince. He takes what he wants and when he is tired of it he moves on. But he has been good to me, so I cannot complain.”
Thomas said nothing for a while. She had not been this hard, he reflected, in those lazy summer days when they had lived as vagabonds. And your son?“ he asked. How will you get him back? Pay for him?”
I will find a way,' she said evasively.
Probably, Thomas thought, she would try to kidnap the boy, and why not? If she could raise some men then it would be possible. Maybe she would expect Thomas himself to do it and as that thought occurred to him so Jeanette looked into his eyes. Help me,“ she said, please.”
No,“ Thomas said, not now.” He held up a hand to ward off her protests. One day, God willing,“ he went on, I'll help find your son, but I'll not leave this army now. If there's to be a battle, my lady, then I'm in it with the rest.”
I am begging you,' she said.
No.'
Then damn you,' she spat, pulled the hood over her black hair and went out into the darkness. There was a short pause, then Eleanor came through the entrance.
So what did you think?' Thomas asked.
I think she is pretty,“ Eleanor said evasively, then she frowned at him, and I think that in battle tomorrow a man could seize you by the hair. I think you should cut it.”
Thomas seemed to flinch. You want to go south? Escape battle?“ Eleanor gave him a reproachful look. I am
