Chapter 7

Standing before the city gates, Luke hit on the perfect phony name; now, he had to get in and not forget or slip. Getting into York was a pain since Luke was searched multiple times. Finally, he managed to get through the guards. Once inside, Luke was amazed at how destitute the place was. It seemed people were hanging at the end of ropes or in stocks everywhere. The air was thick with flies, but the remaining people didn’t notice. He saw some desperate people walk up behind someone in stocks and carve a big piece of flesh from them. Several people hanging appeared to be merchants and craftsmen, which amazed Luke. ‘What kind of idiot ruler would go after the people who earned money to pay the taxes?’ Luke thought. Three answers came to his business-oriented mind. Evil despot rulers, socialists, and communists, with the evil despot rulers being the brightest of the three. Not that was saying much. Their end goal was always the same, just dressed up differently: power for themselves and, to a lesser extent, their supporters. Luke didn’t even have to look for an inn because there were so many abandoned homes to pick from, but first, Luke had to meet with this Richard idiot.

This part proved to be very easy. Luke just walked up to the main castle doors and told the guard that he was a mercenary looking for a job. Luke looked the part, too, with two swords, an impressive collection of knives, and a large shield he had bought while in Lincoln. It only took Luke five minutes to talk his way past the guards. When Luke finally met Earl Richard for the first time, Luke almost fell to the floor laughing. This guy had some serious issues. For starters, he was hideously ugly, had warts all over his face, and was as asymmetric as possible. Marion had told him this, but Luke had never pictured something this ugly. Luke had seen pigs that were better looking.

Another thing was Richard was extremely short, even for the era. Luke estimated him to be no more than 140 centimeters, which was generous. He was seriously overweight, and when he moved, everything jiggled. Finally, the guy had some speech problems, which weren’t a problem for ordinary people, but for those who thought of themselves as masters of the world, they were significant problems.

“So, I hear you want a job as one of my soldiers?”

“Yes, milord, that is correct,” stated Luke in Scottish-accented English.

He could have laid it on thicker but figured that keeping things light would help convince Richard that Luke was a very experienced soldier who had traveled widely. For this mission, Luke had chosen to use the name Hildyard, which meant one who is like a wolf in battle.

“Why?”

“Why not? I need a job, and I heard you are hiring, milord.”

“Well, Hildyard, let us see what you can do.”

“David, Matt, John. Test this man’s mettle.”

Richard set back to enjoy the entertainment and would thoroughly enjoy watching his best men whittle this giant down to size. The three approached Luke spaced out evenly around him, with David to Luke’s left, Matt in the middle, and John to Luke’s right. Luke waited until the last possible second, then struck without drawing his swords.

Using the same method he had used on William, Luke sidestepped David’s strike, grabbed his right wrist with one hand, and broke his elbow with his other. Luke then moved and snapped David’s neck, pissing the other two men off because all three were very close. With new fury, they moved on Luke, who was still calm as ever. This time, he drew his swords. These were hand-and-a-half bastard swords, but in Luke’s hands, they became single-handed swords. With longer swords and much more strength, Luke quickly forced the other two housecarls back. Finally, Matt managed to get past Luke’s swords and deliver a blow to Luke. This blow was usually fatal, but Luke just shrugged it off. Before Matt could get out of the way, Luke hit him between his eyes with the pommel of one of his swords.

Matt’s skull shattered with the blow, causing everyone around to cringe. Now, it was one-to-one, and John was not only in a rage but was also fearful. He had just seen his best friends killed before his eyes, and this giant had received a usually fatal blow from Matt. Yet, it barely seemed to affect him. Luke now went on an all-out attack on John. It was all John could do to keep Luke’s blades off him. If John didn’t do something fast, he would be killed too. Finally, John had an opening, and he took it. The problem was that Luke had purposely let him have that opening, and taking it proved a fatal mistake for John. As John delivered what he hoped would be at least a debilitating blow to Luke, Luke trapped John’s sword and pulled John to him. Close in, Luke dropped his swords, picked up John, turned him over, and drove him headfirst into the floor, crushing John’s skull. It was so bad that you couldn’t tell it was John’s head.

Luke casually picked his swords up and sheathed them. He returned to Richard, who was sitting in his chair with his mouth open, never having seen someone win a three-to-one fight so fast. As Luke returned to where he had started, he heard the unmistakable sound of a bow being drawn. Luke pulled a throwing knife as quick as lightning and let it fly. It struck the bowman in the throat, killing him instantly. Luke calmly walked over, kicked his knife loose from the man’s neck, wiped it off on the man’s uniform, and returned the knife to its place. By now, the look of fear was on every face occupying the room, including Richard’s. As Luke walked back, he gave everyone a stern look that said: “Do not even think of messing with me.” Seeing the looks on everyone’s faces, Luke knew that he had gotten his message through to everyone. Now, one has to wonder why Luke didn’t kill Richard and be done with it. Luke didn’t kill Richard because Luke didn’t have an escape plan yet. He didn’t know how loyal the guards were or how many there were. He also didn’t know if Richard had backup plans if he was killed. It wouldn’t have been any good to kill Richard only to have him replaced by someone worse. Upon returning, Luke asked:

“Well, happy now?”

“Yes, you are a remarkable soldier; how did you survive Mathew’s strike? Sorcery?”

Luke snorted at this and growled:

“Sorcery, please? Do not ever insult me in such a way ever again, or it will be you that gets pounded into the floor. I survived because I designed the armor hidden in my clothes. Only cowards blame their loss on sorcery. Real men take responsibility for their victories as well as their defeats.”

“So, they do, friend. So, they do. Now to business, what would you be charging for your services?”

“Eighty pounds sterling a year.”

He had talked with Marion, and she told him that while this was a bit expensive, Richard would gladly pay it for a soldier of Luke’s caliber.

“Sixty pounds a year, plus I will provide you with girls to use whenever you please.”

“Sixty-five, plus I keep some girls of my choosing.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Hildyard. I accept, but I’m limiting you to four girls. I do say that name suits you very well.”

“Thank you, milord.”

“Take my new knight to pick his wenches,” Richard ordered a servant.

The servant wouldn’t even dare look at Richard because Richard would kill anyone he thought gave him a disrespectful look. Luke followed the servant into another set of rooms. There were many good-looking females; some were extremely young, and some were decent-looking MILFS. All of them were dressed in skimpy dresses that left little to the imagination.