Bernard Cornwell - The Grail Quest 1 - Harlequin

I've made an effort," Thomas said, then found himself telling the whole tale of how he had gone to Caen and sought out Sir Guil-laume's house, and how he had been a guest there, and about Brother Germain and the Cathar Vexilles, and about the prophecy from Daniel and the advice of Mordecai.

Father Hobbe made the sign of the cross when Thomas talked of Mordecai. You can't take the word of such a man,“ the priest said sternly. He may or may not be a good doctor, but the Jews have ever been Christ's enemy. If he is on anyone's side it must be the devil's.”

He's a good man," Thomas insisted.

Thomas! Thomas!“ Father Hobbe said sadly, then frowned for a few heartbeats. I have heard,” he said after a while, that the Cathar heresy still lives.

But it can't challenge France and the Church!"

You would know?" Father Hobbe asked. It reached out across the sea to steal the lance from your father, and you say it reached across France to kill Sir Guillaume's wife. The devil works his business in the dark, Thomas.

There's more,“ Thomas said, and told the priest the story that the Cathars had the Grail. The light of the burning cottages flickered on the walls and gave the seaweed-crowned image on the altar a sinister cast. I don't think I believe any of it,” Thomas concluded. And why not?"

Because if the story is true,“ Thomas said, then I am not Thomas of Hookton, but Thomas Vexille. I'm not English, but some half-breed Frenchman. I'm not an archer, but noble born.” It gets worse,“ Father Hobbe said with a smile. It means that you have been given a task.”

They're just stories,“ Thomas said scornfully. Give me another penance, Father. I'll make a pilgrimage for you, I'll go to Canterbury on my knees if that's what you want.”

I want nothing of you, Thomas, but God wants a lot from you.“ Then tell God to choose someone else.”

I'm not in the habit of giving advice to the Almighty,“ Father Hobbe said, though I do listen to His. You think there is no Grail?” Men have sought it for a thousand years,“ Thomas said, and no one has found it. Unless the thing in Genoa is real.” Father Hobbe leaned his head against the wattle wall. I have heard,“ he said quietly, that the real Grail is made of common clay. A simple peasant dish like the one my mother treasured, God rest her soul, for she could only afford the one good dish and then, clumsy fool that I am, I broke it one day. But the Grail, I am told, cannot be broken. You could put it in one of those guns that amused everyone at Caen and it would not break even if you dashed it against a castle wall. And when you place the bread and wine, the blood and flesh, of the Mass in that common piece of clay, Thomas, it turns to gold. Pure, shining gold. That is the Grail and, God help me, it does exist.”

So you would have me wander the earth looking for a peasant's dish?" Thomas asked.

God would,“ Father Hobbe said, and for good reason.” He looked saddened. There is heresy everywhere, Thomas. The Church is besieged. The bishops and the cardinals and the abbots are corrupted by wealth, the village priests stew in ignorance and the devil is brewing his evil. Yet there are some of us, a few, who believe that the Church can be refreshed, that it can glow with God's glory again. I think the Grail could do that. I think God has chosen you. Father!"

And perhaps me,“ Father Hobbe said, ignoring Thomas's protest. When this is all over,” he waved a hand to encompass the army and its plight, I think I may join you. We shall seek your family together."

You?“ Thomas asked. Why?”

Because God calls,“ Father Hobbe said simply, then jerked his head. You must go, Thomas, you must go. I shall pray for you.” Thomas had to go because the night had been disturbed by the sound of horses“ hooves and the strident voices of men. Thomas seized his bow and ducked out of the church to find that a score of men-at-arms were now in the village. Their shields carried the lions and stars of the Earl of Northumberland and their commander was demanding to know who was in charge of the archers. I am,” Thomas said.

Where's this ford?"

Thomas made himself a torch from a sheaf of thatch lashed to a pole and, while its flame lasted, he led them across the marsh towards the distant ford. The flames flickered out after a while, but he was close enough to find his way to where he had seen the cattle. The tide had risen again and black water seeped and flooded all about the horsemen, who huddled on a shrinking ridge of sand. You can see where the other side is," Thomas told the men-at-arms, pointing to the fires of the French, which looked to be about a mile away.

Bastards are waiting for us?"

Plenty of them too."

We're crossing anyway,“ the leading man-at-arms said. The King's decided it, and we're doing it when the tide falls.” He turned to his men. Off your horses. Find the path. Mark it.“ He pointed to some pollarded willows. Cut staves off them, use them as markers.” Thomas groped his way back to the village, sometimes wading through water up to his waist. A thin mist was seeping from the flooding tide, and had it not been for the blazing huts in the village he could easily have got lost.

The village, built on the highest piece of land in all the marsh, had attracted a crowd of horsemen by the time Thomas returned. Archers and men-at-arms gathered there and some had already pulled down the shrine to make fires from its timbers. Will Skeat had come with the rest of his archers. The women are with the baggage,“ he told Thomas. Bloody chaos back there, it is. They're hoping to cross everyone in the morning.” Be a fight first," Thomas said.

Either that or fight their whole damn army later in the day. Did you find any eels?"

We ate them."

Skeat grinned, then turned as a voice hailed him. It was the Earl of Northampton, his horse's trapper spattered with mud almost to the saddle.

Well done, Will!"

Weren't me, my lord, it was this clever bastard." Skeat jerked a thumb at Thomas.

Hanging did you good, eh?“ the Earl said, then watched as a file of men-of-arms climbed onto the village's sand ridge. Be ready to move at dawn, Will, and we'll be crossing when the tide falls. I want your boys in front. Leave your horses here; I'll have good men watch them.”

There was small sleep that night, though Thomas did doze as he lay on the sand and waited for the dawn, which brought a pale, misty light. Willow trees loomed in the vapour, while men-at-arms crouched at the tide's edge and stared north to where the mist was thickened by smoke from the enemy's fires. The river ran decep-tively quick, hastened by the ebbing tide, but it was still too high to cross.

The sandbank by the ford held Skeat's fifty archers and another fifty under John Armstrong. There were the same number of men-at-arms, all on foot, led by the Earl of Northampton, who had been given the job of leading the crossing. The Prince of Wales had wanted to lead the fight himself, but his father had forbidden it. The Earl, far more experienced, had the responsibility and he was not happy. He would have liked many more men, but the sandbank would hold no more and the paths through the marshland were narrow and treacherous, making it difficult to bring reinforcements. You know what to do,“ the Earl told Skeat and Armstrong. We know.”

Maybe another two hours?" The Earl was judging the fall of the tide. The two hours crept by and the English could only stare through the thinning mist at the enemy, who formed their battleline at the ford's further side. The receding water let more men come to the sandbank, but the Earl's force was still pitifully small, per-haps two hundred men at most, while the French had double that number of men-at-arms alone. Thomas counted them as best he could, using the method Will Skeat had taught him: to divide the enemy in two, divide again, then count the small unit and multiply it by four, and he wished he had not done it for there were so many, and as well as the men-at-arms there had to be five or six hundred infantry, probably a levy from the country north of Abbeville. They were not a serious threat for, like most infantry, they would be ill-trained and badly armed with ancient weapons and farming tools, but they could still cause trouble if the Earl's men got into difficulties. The only blessing Thomas could find in the misty dawn was that the French seemed to have very few crossbowmen, but why would they need them when they had so many men-at-arms? And the formidable force that now gathered on the river's northern bank would be fighting in the knowledge that if they repelled the English attack then they would have their enemy pinned by the sea where the greater French army could crush them.