The Powder of Death Page 32

  ‘So we’ll give ’em a fright they’ll never forget!’ he told the yeoman gunner. ‘Help me lay these as will do the most good.’

  With many idle hands to assist, the gunnes were brought to the water’s edge. Sighting by eye they were wedged in position, their snouts raised to sweep the opposite slopes.

  The Scots looked down, curious, uncomprehending.

  The last of the daylight faded, as much gunne-powder was prepared as could be – and with all gunnes charged, they were ready.

  Jared waited until the fullness of night was upon them. The braziers were started, the iron wires heated. It was an unearthly sight, the dull gleam of the sleeping bronze beasts catching the fitful silver of an overcast moon, the Scots as usual in a caterwaul on the slopes, and in the quiet camp of the English, a few low voices.

  Jared sent word to Edward, who strode down to the gunnes.

  ‘At night?’

  ‘Sire. I do advise to step back from these gunnes and it would be wise to take all horses to the rear.’

  Then, without ceremony he and the gunners took their red-hot wires from the brazier and went to work.

  The night was instantly split by hideous flashes and ear-splitting detonations of appalling noise, magnified by the stillness and dark, reeking smoke drifting on the air, echoing claps of thunder rolling down from the hills.

  There were howls of terror and panic in the English camp – soldiers able to face an attack by a ferocious enemy ran for their lives, horses reared and whinnied in fright in a tumult of shouting and confusion.

  For a moment Jared found himself picturing the effect on the Scottish side – it must be a hellish scene. Not only the world gone mad, split asunder by unknown magic forces, but far into their ranks invisible death had reached out, leaving dead and maimed, others untouched. Who could know the next to be taken by Edward’s sorcery?

  Pushing aside these thoughts he knelt by a gunne and looked into its black mouth. He could make out the red dots of still burning material – there would be no premature firings while they could see to clean the bore. While commotion and uproar rose and fell around him he rehearsed the motions and was satisfied that with two serving the gunne and extreme care against spilling powder it could be recharged, even if it took much longer than usual.

  One by one the gunnes thundered their defiance once again. Their ear-splitting roar and flash continued on and on into the early hours until all gunne-powder was exhausted. Then Jared laid down his implements, stumbled to the cart and fell into deep slumber.

  ‘Father! Wake, please – the day is breaking!’

  Daw’s anxious voice cut through his sleep and he levered himself up. ‘We has to start on more gunne-powder,’ he slurred, gathering his wits.

  ‘Look – Father, see …?’

  Jared forced his eyes open.

  Every man in the English camp was silently staring across to the Scottish lines. No one moved in the still dim, hazy first light.

  The hills were bare.

  Edward broke the silence. ‘Send out riders. I will know where the Scots have hid,’ he commanded.

  Five horses splashed through the Wear and climbed the opposite bank, then cantered off in different directions.

  First one, then the others returned. ‘My Liege – the Scots are fled!’

  ‘How do you know this?’

  ‘Sire, they’ve left bodies, plunder – their very meat is still in the pots a-cooking. There’s not a Scot as far as a man can see!’

  The English camp broke into thunderous cheering, their misery and starvation now, incredibly, at an end.

  ‘Master Jared of Barnwell, come near.’

  ‘My Liege?’

  ‘You shall receive all that was promised and be paid well for this night’s work.’

  ‘I thank Your Grace.’

  ‘There is one thing further.’

  ‘Sire?’

  ‘I bid you kneel before me.’

  ‘Rise, Sir Jared Barnwell of Coventry.’

  Ears ringing in disbelief he stood nobly before his King, Daw at his side.

  ‘And now, I trow, we shall take drink together and make talk – we’re this day minded to contrive a trusty band of men who will, henceforth, attend on the King’s Gunnes.’

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  If ever there was a turning point in history it was King Edward III’s encounter with the Scots at Stanhope in 1327. From that point on, guns and artillery transformed from being a fearsome novelty to a battlefield necessity, taken up by the state which could afford to deploy them in numbers. Edward moved quickly to create a formal establishment of ordnance in the Tower of London, and within five years the King’s Gunnes were pounding at the walls of Berwick. And even before the century was out giant wall-smashers – bombards – were firing stone balls weighing as much as two men. A final perspective is gained by noting that only a single century separates Crécy – the first great battle won by the longbow – and the English being driven from France, giving up the glorious gains of Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt. This was achieved by guns; the French had learnt their lesson well and their superior artillery quickly reduced English castles across their nation, at one time at the rate of five a month. By then no more medieval castles would ever be built. It is of course an irony that Edward, the greatest knightly figure of the age, would in this way be the very one to set in motion the destruction of his world of jousts and chivalry.

  I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who have contributed in one way or another to the writing of this book. Space precludes naming them all but they have my deep thanks. I am particularly appreciative of the assistance given by Graeme Rimer FSA, Curator Emeritus, Royal Amouries; Stuart Ivorson, the Royal Armouries Librarian; and Liz Bregazzi, County Archivist, Durham.

  This is my second book with Allison & Busby and as with the first it’s been a pleasure working with Publishing Director Susie Dunlop and her team. And last, but certainly not least, my heartfelt thanks to my agent Carole Blake and my wife and literary partner, Kathy.

  GLOSSARY

  ague a fever

  amercement penalty imposed by royal authority above that of a statutory fine

  Beelzebub alternative name for the Devil

  boon-work unpaid service to a lord, theoretically voluntary

  buttery service room for provisions and liquor

  byre a cowshed

  Cathay ancient term for China proper

  caudle sweet and thickened alcoholic drink

  chain ten chains to the furlong

  cofferer principal officer in royal household in charge of the counting house and other

  cog a common type of one-masted cargo ship, semi-decked to carry up to 200 tons

  costrel portable liquor flask used by field labourers

  cote-hardie Medieval tunic, buttoned

  demesne all land owned by a landlord for his own use

  dibber sharpened stick to make holes for planting seeds

  Franciscans mendicant friars of the order of St Francis of Assisi

  franklin alternative name for freeman

  frankpledge the compulsory sharing of responsibility by those connected by kinship or fealty to a lord

  freeman one not tied to the land as a serf

  furlong eight furlongs to the mile

  gallowglass heavily armoured elite Gaelic mercenaries

  Gog and Magog Satan’s barbarian helpers in the final battle with Christ and the saints

  gonfalon heraldic flag suspended from a pole and crossbar

  gonfanier knight bearing the standard of the Order

  Greek fire a flame-thrower weapon thought to be based on naptha

  groat coin worth four pence

  Hazard popular two-dice betting game mentioned in Chaucer

  jongleur minstrel for the common folk

  kern Gaelic soldier known for marauding

  kirtle simple long tunic, with sleeves

  Knights Hospitallers Order of the Knights of Saint
John of Jerusalem founded to provide care for poor or sick pilgrims to the Holy Land

  Laws of the Forest enacted to ensure the integrity of the chase in royal forests

  liripipe the long tail of a cloak or cap

  maleficium sorcery with evil intent

  mandrel blacksmith tool to aid in bending

  mummers folk players of an allegorical nature of good and evil

  muniment secure room for storing title deeds and rich objects

  Nestorians Christian sect with a differing view of the divine and human nature of Christ

  ox-goad for guiding and spurring oxen at the plough

  pannage the right to release pigs in a forest to forage

  peck dry measure equal to a quarter of a bushel

  Peter Peregrinus early pre-scientist of Paris known for work on magnetism

  pottage a thick stew involving all vegetables and meat to hand

  Prester John legendary Christian king said to be located in the middle of the heathen eastern lands

  reeve manager of a manor overseeing the peasants

  rood screen ornate partition between the chancel and nave of a church

  scutage fee payable in lieu of military service

  share and coulter ploughshare turns over the earth after the coulter has broken it

  silâhtar armourer

  simkin simple person

  thurible censer in which incense is burnt in a religious setting

  tithe barn where farm produce in payment of tithes was stored

  trebuchet artillery catapult using counterweights

  ustabaşı foreman

  verderer an official administering Forest Law

  villein a serf owing service on the land to his local lord

  younker youth below the age of 18

  Yuletide Christmas (from the Nordic ‘jul’)

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  About the Author

  At the age of fourteen, JULIAN STOCKWIN was sent to Indefatigable, a tough sea-training school. He joined the Royal Navy aged fifteen. Julian has written fourteen books to date in the Kydd series of historical adventure fiction, as well as a non-fiction book, Stockwin's Maritime Miscellany. He now lives in Devon with his wife Kathy.

  By Julian Stockwin

  The Silk Tree

  The Powder of Death

  Copyright

  Allison & Busby Limited

  12 Fitzroy Mews

  London W1T 6DW

  www.allisonandbusby.com

  First published in 2016.

  This ebook edition first published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2016.

  Copyright © 2016 by JULIAN STOCKWIN

  All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978–0–7490–1935–8