Prologue

PROLOGUE

Year of Our Lord 1215

Early December

The Welsh Marches– Rhayder Castle

T he rain was pounding, the storm was lighting up with brilliant streaks of lightning, and the world around them was furious. Air and land were at war against each other, and the Welsh and English were going head-to-head beneath the battling elements.

No one had ever seen a storm like this, even on the Welsh Marches, which could be a wild place at times with unkind elements and untamed lands. The rain was pounding so forcefully that it stung when it struck bare skin, like a face unprotected by a visor. Unfortunately, the water clogged up the slits in the visors meant for vision, so many of the knights had their visors lifted to see their opponents.

It was madness all around.

It was a gathering of several great English armies at Rhayder Castle, the holding of one of their own. Ajax de Velt had captured the castle thirty years earlier and it had been his holding ever since, manned by his trusted garrison commander and his families. For thirty years, the Welsh had stayed away. Thirty years of fear for the mighty army of Jax de Velt meant thirty years of peace.

But that all ended when one of the Rhayder knights fell in love with the daughter of a local Welsh lord and the suit was denied. He took it upon himself to try and abduct the woman but killed one of her brothers in the process.

That brought the whole of the eastern Welsh warlords down upon Rhayder.

After that, came madness.

The Welsh were voracious in their fury. Lords as far away as Aberystwyth brought their armies. No one army was particularly large, but many small armies made one big one and Rhayder soon found itself swarmed. De Velt's commander, Ares de Gault, was able to send a missive to their nearest allies before they were completely cut off, and Christopher de Lohr of Lioncross Abbey Castle, the Earl of Hereford and Worcester, answered the call.

But he wasn't the only one.

De Lohr was a legend in the annals of the Welsh Marches and all of England for that matter. He had allies and connections that most men could only dream of. He was not only an ally of de Velt, but a friend as well, so he took particular exception to the Welsh's intention to attack his friend's property.

He'd brought much of England with him.

Unfortunately, forces weren't as strong as they could have been because King John's mercenary army was tearing up the midlands and the north and the army of rebel warlords were forced to defend allies from the king's band of paid killers. There were thousands of them, flooding into England at the king's invitation, and the strong alliance of rebel warlords, including de Lohr, had been stretched thin.

Therefore, the armies that did answer the call for Rhayder were not as strong as they could have been.

Pembroke, who was not fighting against the king at this time, had rolled in from the west, while Savernake and Canterbury had brought what men they could from the south. Quintus de Garr had brought a small contingent from Ludlow Castle to the east, seat of garrison commander Peter de Lohr, who was with a larger army fighting against the king.

The Lords of the Trilaterals, the House of de Lara, were already on the border and the de Nerras from Selbourne Castle had come from Hampshire. De Wolfe from Wolverhampton and de Shera from near Liverpool had joined in. De Velt's son-in-law, Bretton de Llion, had come south from his seat of Cloryn Castle. Finally, the mighty de Winter war machine had marched a small army across the midsection of England to bring their particular brand of fighting to the Welsh.

In totality, it was an army that was nearly the size as the one fighting the king's mercenaries.

In all, it had taken more than three weeks for the English to fully gather, but once they did, it was only a matter of time before the Welsh were forced to kick free what they had managed to confiscate during that time. Rhayder Castle, fortunately, had been built by an Englishman about a hundred years earlier, a border lord related to de Lara, and he'd built it quite thoughtfully.

It hadn't been easy for the Welsh to gain headway.

Rhayder Castle had been built on a rise above the River Wye, using the river as part of their defenses. There was a massive gatehouse which was reached by a road at a right angle, so no one could approach the castle head-on. If someone was trying to breach the gatehouse, as the Welsh had tried, it made a head-on attack quite difficult because the road was next to the gatehouse and the wall where defenders could rain projectiles upon the attackers before they even reached the gatehouse.

And that was exactly what happened.

The rest of the castle was positively enormous, with walls that were thirty feet high in places, and the interior was broken down into three sections– the gatehouse and the inner bailey, then another gatehouse built into an interior wall which protected the hall and stables, and then finally the keep, which was built against the walls next to the river, so if one wanted to get into the keep, one had to scale walls that were a hundred feet high from the river's edge, up the hill, and then to the top of the parapet.

That was the fortress the Welsh were dealing with but in the early days of the battle, when there were no armies coming at them from the rear, the Welsh were relentless. After almost ten days, before de Lohr appeared, they'd managed to get into the gatehouse and, with much fighting, take the gatehouse and the outer bailey. By the time de Lohr and the allies showed up, the Welsh were entrenched in the outer bailey and the gatehouse, while the rest of the Rhayder army occupied the other two baileys.

That was when the war began in earnest.

Rhayder was built to withstand a siege and that was exactly what it was doing. The defenses were built so well that even the highly experienced English armies were having a difficult time with it. The fact that the Welsh took the gatehouse was purely a fluke, but they had it now and they were dug in tight.

But if Christopher de Lohr had anything to say about it, that ended today.

It was just before dawn on that rainy morning and the English armies were camped all around Rhayder. The smell of smoke and sewage was powerful as the armies greeted the day and prepared for their sixth day of onslaught.

With one exception.

De Velt's army from the north had been sighted.

At this early hour, the commanders of the armies gathered in de Lohr's tent to go over the plan for the day. The announcement of de Velt's imminent arrival had been brought by Julian de Velt, Jax's middle son, who had ridden ahead of his father's army. He had been greeted first by his younger brother, the already-seasoned knight, Cassian de Velt.

Exhausted, Julian sat down to some hot, watered wine and bread while Cassian stood next to him, damned happy to see his brother and thrilled that his father's army was on the approach. Christopher, too, was glad to see Julian, knowing that Jax's arrival was imminent.

He was growing just the slightest bit weary of the stubborn Welsh.

"Julian, for your benefit, I will go over the strategy as discussed with the commanders last evening," he said. "As you know, Rhayder was first attacked about a month ago. Before I could bring my army here, the Welsh managed to get in through the holes in the garderobe of the gatehouse, enough so that they took the gatehouse guards by surprise and were able to lower the drawbridge."

Julian shook his head in disbelief. "Is that how they breached the castle?" he said. "My father has been wondering what happened. Those holes aren't large enough for grown men."

"Indeed, they are not," Christopher said with resignation. "They sent skinny young boys up those shite chutes, something I am certain the designer of Rhayder never contemplated. But it was enough for them to get into the gatehouse and to the adjoining walls, where they lowered rope ladders. From what we understand, it took the Welsh a full two days of fighting for the gatehouse before they were able to lower the drawbridge and, after that, the Welsh flooded in and that was when de Gault retreated with his army into the inner baileys. And that is where they remain."

"But surely with all of these men, you should be able to purge the Welsh quickly," Julian said.

It was Cassian who answered. "It is not that simple," he said. "The gatehouse is the most vulnerable part of this castle. Everything else has thirty-foot walls and a moat that makes gaining a foothold quite difficult. We've managed to get men into the area where de Gault and his army are, but de Gault refuses to open the gate between the outer bailey and the inner baileys."

"Why?"

"Because his family is there," Cassian said simply. "He refuses to expose his wife and children to any danger, so we have a problem."

"We do, indeed," Christopher cut in. "With your father approaching, we are going to make our final push to breach the gatehouse. We've been trying not to damage the castle with the siege engines, but the truth is that we have little choice. If we are to get into the gatehouse and the outer bailey, we will need to bombard the Welsh and chase them off the walls and away from the gatehouse."

Julian lifted his eyebrows. "Flaming projectiles?"

Christopher pointed to the sky. "With this rain?" he said as if that were a stupid question. "Trust me, Julian. We have thought of everything, but the weather has been against us. It has been raining like this since we arrived, which has severely hampered our ability to lob flaming fat into the outer bailey. We've tried a few, but they haven't been effective with this weather, so we want to conserve that fuel."

Julian understood. "What will you do?"

Cassian crooked his finger, pulling Julian out of the tent as Christopher began to speak to his commanders. With rain pelting him in the face, Cassian pointed out across the stripped and barren land towards the south, to an area where men seemed to be building something.

"See that?" he said, pointing. "That is a massive battering ram with a wooden shield over the top. They've been building it for days. It will take fifty men to push that beast up to the gatehouse."

Julian was shielding his eyes from the weather, trying to get a good look at it. "You're going to take that thing to the gates?"

"Indeed."

"But how? Wasn't the drawbridge the first thing the Welsh destroyed?"

Cassian shook his head. "Remember that the drawbridge is not wood," he said. "There was a wooden one, but Papa had it reinforced with iron bars. With this rain, the Welsh couldn't burn it away and it was still down when the army from Lioncross arrived. Hereford had the presence of mind to jam the iron chains the very first thing so that it would remain down, so we are going to take that battering ram across to the gatehouse and batter down those big, wooden gates."

Julian looked at him. "There is a portcullis on the other side."

"It was connected to the drawbridge like a counterweight," Cassian reminded him. "If the drawbridge is down, the portcullis is lifted. With the drawbridge down, it is still up."

"Are you sure of that?"

"As sure as we can be. With this rain, there's no real way to cut those thick chains. I hope."

Julian let out a heavy sigh. "Damn Papa for making this place so impenetrable."

Cassian grinned. "Exactly," he said. "This is all his fault. But I am still going to hug him when I see him."

Julian grinned in return, studying his little brother for a moment. He hadn't seen him in quite some time and he realized Cassian had grown quite a bit. He had always been on the tall side, but he'd filled out over the past couple of years. With his height and weight, he was as big as their oldest brother, Cole, and quite the formidable knight.

He had that de Velt intimidating aura about him.

"We've missed you, little brother," Julian finally said. "Are you ready to come home yet?"

Cassian shook his head. "Nay," he said. "I like it at Lioncross. It has become my home."

"You mean that there is a special young woman keeping you there."

Cassian would only grin. It was the worst kept secret in the family that Cassian was sweet on Christopher's daughter, Brielle. He had been since he'd first met her years ago. A childhood infatuation had grown into something much more serious, but Cassian wasn't entirely ready to confess his undying love.

Not yet, anyway.

"Come along," Cassian said, slapping his brother affectionately on the head. "Come back inside and finish your wine. Hereford will want to attack the gatehouse shortly, so you had better rest while you can."

Julian followed him back into the blue and yellow de Lohr tent, reclaiming his wine and food. The commanders were crowded around Christopher's table looking at a plan of the castle that Cassian had drawn for them, pointing to the areas that would be best served in a concerted attack once the gates were breached. It wasn't an hour later that they began moving the massive battering ram forward and Jax de Velt's army arrived.

After that, Rhayder fell before nightfall.