Chapter 18

The town was laid out before them, like a giant ring cut in half by the river. They could see the defensive walls, the moats, and the drawbridges guarding the gates. The captains had rallied their men in readiness for their entry into the town.

"Smarten yourselves up, lads," they ordered. "We want to look our best, and do our King proud!"

They marched down into the town, looking as resplendent as they could after three weeks on the road. They looked like an army, not some rabble as they marched three abreast towards the first of the drawbridges. The townsfolk cheered as they made their way through the streets. It took the whole day to get the entire army across the river and into the main part of the town.

Tom stood on the battlements with Lady Eleanor as the troops marched in.

"They certainly look impressive. I can't tell you how happy and relieved we are to see you. We thought we were doomed." she said. Looking over at the siege tower being built just out of arrow range, she continued "We may be, yet, when they finish that tower. Do you think we can hold them if they attack?"

Tom looked over at the tower. It looked fairly near completion — a day of two more, at most. It seemed that they really had arrived just in time.

"I think we need to do something about that thing. I'll call my captains in the morning. Yes," he said, deep in thought, "that tower definitely needs removing."

They were all very busy the rest of the day, settling the army into the town. He was a very tired but satisfied when he finally managed to return to his quarters.

The morning came too soon for Tom. He gathered his Captains together and explained his plan. He wished to attack the enemy and destroy the siege tower. He also wished to draw out as many of their troops as possible and test their quality.

"This is an important battle, men," he said. "We need to destroy that tower for a number of reasons. First it will boost the morale within the town. In the same way, it will demoralize the slavers. We can also test the quality of their troops. We do not intend, at this time, to drive them away. We want to draw them into a battle and whittle away at their numbers. I've a feeling that this will be a war of attrition, with the side losing the least, winning. I intend that side to be ours. Now go and destroy that tower, and good luck."

He next turned to Paul.

"You know how important this is! Arrange for stretcher bearers to follow them out and collect as many of the wounded as possible. I do not want to leave any man out there if possible. All that go out, I want brought back."

"Okay," Paul agreed. "Will do."

"Thanks, Now let's do this."

The men formed up just as the first light of dawn was breaking through. The drawbridge was lowered and the men rushed out and formed up. They moved quickly towards the siege tower. The sentries on the slavers' side started shouting, and started to charge towards Captain Simon's men, and the archers started shooting at the advancing slavers. The disciplined response stunned the slavers, and they fell back in disarray.

Tom stood upon the battlements watching the battle. He wished to be down there among his men, but he knew his place was here, overseeing the conflict. Lady Eleanor stood beside him watching both the battle and Tom's face.

They could hear the slaver officers shouting and screaming, trying to rally their troops. Slowly, the slavers started to advance again. Some had tried to defend the siege tower, but the archers had persuaded them to run. More and more slavers formed up to attack them. They charged towards them screaming and shouting. Captain Simon ordered his men to hold their fire and remember their training. The archers loosed flight after flight of arrows into the slavers. The screams of dying men rang out over the battlefield.

Finally, the slavers closed toward Captain Simon's men. The slavers crashed onto the captain's men's shields! The men thrust between the shields with their spears. Axes smashed, swords swung, men shouted, screamed and cried. Men fought face to face. They could smell each other's sweat. They could smell the wine from the night before on each other's breath. Some emptied their bladders in fear, some voided their bowels. Men fought! Men died!

Tom watched the battle with anxiety etched upon his face. Once his troops were within range he ordered signal flags waved.

Lady Eleanor commented, "Your men really know what they're doing. Their discipline is superb."

"It's the training. It has taken months to get to this stage," Tom replied.

Archers, who had advanced behind the shield wielders, took up their specially prepared arrows. These arrows had tar and oil soaked cloths tied to them, they were lit and fired towards the siege tower. The flames caught, and slowly smoke and flames started to lick their way up the structure. Some of the slavers ran towards the tower, but were cut down by those same archers. More and more slavers charged forward.

Tom watched as a thankfully slow though steady stream of wounded men were carried back to the town.

"Why are they doing that?" Lady Eleanor asked.

"They are the stretcher bearers. We do not leave our wounded in the field to be massacred. We bring them back to be treated at the hospital. Many of them will survive, and some will even be able to fight again. It's important for morale. I would feel I had let them down if we did not do this," Tom said.

"That's enough. We have achieved what we set out to do. We have destroyed their tower, and have a good idea of what we are facing.

It is time to withdraw!" Tom said to the signal corps.

Trumpets blared, flags waved, and slowly the men pulled back towards the town. Smoke and flames rose higher as the tower was consumed by the flames. The fighting was fierce as they fell back towards the town. Soon they were within range of the archers on the walls. Tom looked down at the enemy troops, who were now within range.

"Now it's our turn!" he ordered. "Take them out, men!"

His men drew their bows, and fired into the slavers below. Arrows rained down. More screams added to the cacophony of the battlefield, causing the slavers to pause as they tried to press home their attack. This allowed Tom's well-disciplined troops to fall back in good order. As they withdrew onto the drawbridge the defenders continued to pour fire down onto the slavers. The slavers soon withdrew and the drawbridge was closed.

Tom made his way down to meet his men. They were blooded but smiling.

"Well done, men! Destroying that tower was a real blow to them! It will take them ages to rebuild it. In the meantime, we will continue to harry them, and wear them down!"

He called his captains together for a council of war.

"So, what do you make of our opponents, then?"

"There's a lot of them," Arthur said. "But they don't fight as a team. They charge in, but then fight as individuals rather than working together."

"Yes," Mark agreed, "I noticed that as well. We stuck together and they could not get through. We lost very few men as well, out of my company of a hundred I think I only lost three."

"I lost six," Hagrith said. "Still, that's not bad. I reckon we can train some of the locals up as replacements."

"I lost two," said Simon. "Ralph and Gillan. They were with us from Small Cove. Good men, both of them. Very brave."

"That's eleven out of three hundred," said Tom. "I've no idea how many we killed of theirs but I willing to bet it was a damn sight more than that!" said Tom. "However I don't think we'll be able to get out that easily again. I'm sure they'll guard the sally port more vigorously in future."

"Their dead are still out there. No one seems too keen to get within range of our archers to collect the bodies," Hagrith commented.

"There does seem to be quite a number of them. We were outnumbered by at least four to one," said Ralph.

"Yes, this time. We now need to train the people, here," Simon agreed. "Lady Eleanor's man Ethelwold told us that they were just farmers and peasants. But what were we, just six months ago? We will train them, as we were trained, and then we will take the war to the slavers and drive them into the sea."

"Well said!" Tom agreed. "You now have the task of turning these townsfolk into warriors. Select those from your companies whom you trust and train these farmers and peasants into warriors who can drive these animals from this land!

"Oh, and before I forget, well done! That was a good day's work."

They smiled as they left the meeting. Tom made his way over towards the hospital where Paul, Janice and the other Angels were hard at work.

"So, how are things, and what's 'the butcher's bill' this time?" Tom asked.

Paul looked up at him and said, "Eleven of ours were brought in. Six are dead, two will never fight again, but the other three should be up and about in a couple of days. As for the enemy, we've got about thirty of them, all with varying degrees of injury. I don't think some of them will make it, but at least twenty of them should survive. I'll know more tomorrow."

"Okay, mate. I know you'll do your best. I can see you're busy, so I'll leave you to it. See you at dinner. Let me know when you have one we can question. I need to know their strength, mood and supply situation."

Paul looked up and nodded.

Tom, seeing that he was just in the way, turned and left. He walked out to the walls. It was still only midday; the battle had not taken more than a couple of hours. He surveyed the battlefield. The remains of the tower still smouldered, its blackened skeleton still pointing towards the sky. Bodies littered the battlefield, and here and there the groans of a wounded man drifted across to where he was standing, testament to the suffering inflicted upon that day.

Lady Eleanor joined him.

"Your men did well, today. I would never have thought that so small a force could be so effective. The destruction of that tower has helped improve morale here to no end."

"I know, but the suffering it causes ... I know I did not start this war, but it is by my orders that young men go to fight and die. I wish it did not have to be so, but we have to rid our lands of these people."

"I know exactly what you mean. I too have had ordered men into battle, and I have had to see the faces of their loved ones when they do not return. We did not have the benefit of your training, and our losses were much higher. You lost how many? Ten?"

"Eleven were carried from the battlefield. Six have died; two will never fight again. Paul thinks he can have the other three up and about in a couple of days. We will have to see," Tom replied. "We have taken thirty prisoners who Lord Paul is at this very moment trying to put back together. Some may not make it, but knowing Paul, many will."

Eleanor looked at him in puzzlement and asked, "Why take the time to heal the enemy? We will only have to kill him afterwards."

"No," Tom replied. "They will be given a choice: ten years servitude, or death. We need men to build a road between here and Bridgetown. I cannot think of a better use of prisoners. Once they have recovered they will have a choice. They may chose death, but almost none have. They will choose servitude. They will start building the road, and after ten years they will be given their freedom and a small plot of land with which to rebuild their lives. I need to see Rolof. I want him to get across the river and start spreading the rumour that we will grant a pardon and a plot of land to any man who defects to us. Once this story gets about, we will see how many new recruits we get. A lot of these men have joined up on the promise of land. We have land to spare, so we can afford to gift some to new farmers who can plant crops and increase our food supply."

"You would do that? Just invite these people to take over abandoned farms? I don't think the people here would support you on that! I don't know that I would either," she exclaimed.

"They wouldn't be existing farms, and anyway, what would you rather have happen? Would you rather fight these men, and have them take the land after killing the current owners, or would you grant them new undeveloped lands that can be brought into production, while at the same time depriving the enemy of their strength. Remember, every sheaf of wheat, every bag of barley, every crop of vegetables is adding to our strength. Every man we can take from them diminishes theirs. I know it seems distasteful, but this is war. War is distasteful. We must do whatever it takes to win. If this helps us, make no mistake, I'll do it."

She looked at him with new eyes.

"You would, too, wouldn't you? You would use the prisoners to build your roads, and offer their soldiers land to get them to desert. With ideas like these I can see why they all think so highly of you."

He smiled at her as he said, "Speaking of new ideas, when I arrived here I couldn't help noticing that a lot of waste was dumped into the river. This must stop as it will cause disease. We must get the waste collected and placed into heaps where it will rot down so we can use it for fertilizer in the spring. In Bridgetown we used young street boys to do this job, and paid them to do it. Do you have a problem with street kids here?"

Again she looked at him wide eyed. "You want to give the street children work? Well, it would certainly cut down on the thieving. What other innovations have you in store for us?"

"We need to get a secure food supply going. On the way here I noticed a fairly flat and fertile area just above the floodplain. Perhaps that would be a good place to plant some crops, providing it doesn't flood. It may be too late to plant summer wheat, but what about spring barley? There should be enough land there to provide a substantial crop."

Her jaw dropped open at this.

"Tell me, just where are you going to get the labour to do all this?"

"Why, here of course! This place is full of refugees. They have been driven off their land by these slavers, now we can give them something to do to help fight back. Not all can be warriors. Some are too old, others are too sick, some are just not up to the job. That does not mean that they cannot contribute in some way. The older folk, while unable to do much physical labour will have knowledge and experience that they can pass on to the younger generation. The women can also help. They may not wish to wield a sword in battle, but they can sow seeds, plant crops, collect fruits, nuts, and herbs and look after the rest of us. There is much to do and not much time to do it!" Tom replied.

Eleanor looked at him in disbelief. "Why do we want to collect all the rubbish? What harm can it do?"

"There are things called bacteria that can cause sickness and disease. The way you combat this is by being clean. More people are killed in war by sickness, by far, than by the enemy. Tell me, have any of your folk suffered from the flux?"

"There was one group that arrived awhile ago. They had been travelling for some time. We put them in a house right on the edge of town. None of them lived. No one would go near them. We were all afraid that we would catch it, and spread it through the town."

"You were right to be afraid," Tom agreed. "Sickness like that can spread like wildfire. It must be contained. Only by being clean in oneself and keeping your house and the town clean can we hope to keep things like this at bay. We must start a public health program, informing the people of the dangers.

"So, what to do first? Do you think I should show you my ideas for the farmland, or do you wish to hold a meeting to tell the people that they need to take a bath?"

As she spoke to him, she could see his eyes twinkling, and a smile crept across her face.

"I think we will have lunch first. Then we can look at the farmland, and after that we will tell the people to wash," she laughed.

With the mention of food, Tom's stomach rumbled.

"Lunch! Good idea! We'll eat first and then look at the farmland. We must get this town cleaned up, though, or we'll soon have plague come down on us."

They returned to the palace. When they arrived Tom inspected the kitchens. He explained to the kitchen staff what he had told Eleanor, and that he expected them to wash their hands, work surfaces and utensils before and after serving food.

Eleanor turned to him. "You weren't joking about this bacteria thing, were you?"

"No, I wasn't! I know it seems silly that something you cannot see can cause so much sickness; but, when you've been in the midst of an epidemic, when you hold your own children and wonder if they'll live or die, when you then have to bury those children ... Well, I for one would not wish that on anybody."

Finally, they sat down for lunch. As they did a young woman came in and joined them.

"Allow me to introduce my daughter Judith," Eleanor said. She is the one Rolof and his men helped save."

"Pleased to meet you." Tom took her hand and kissed it.

He saw his bodyguard's eyes widen at the sight of the beautiful young woman.

"Rolof didn't help save us," she said with a smile, "he is the reason we made it. We'd had it. They had us cold. Without his intervention we would have been lost. We all owe our lives to him.

"Tell me, where are the rest of your friends?"

"They are at the hospital doing what they can for the wounded," Tom replied.

"That's a shame. I would like to have met them."

Tom sent a small boy over to the hospital to ask Paul and Janice if they could join them. Paul and Janice could and did. Tom explained what he wished to do, and asked about the general health of the local population.

"We haven't been seeing many of them. I don't know why, whether it's because they don't wish to bother us, or whether they think they'll have to pay for the treatment — I don't know. I do know however that we have several of the enemy that are well enough for you to question. There are one or two over there that are quite worried about what you have in store for them," Paul reported.

"That's a good thing," Tom agreed. "Let them worry. It's one way to make it easier to get information out of them later. Now how are we going to get the ordinary folk to realise that we do not intend to charge them for their medical treatment?"

"Pardon?" said Eleanor. "You mean to say that they will be treated for nothing? You will not take payment from them?"

"No," Paul explained. "I believe it is everyone's right to have the best medical treatment we can provide, based on need, not on ability to pay. If we have a healthy people, then we have a much more productive people."

"That is true," Eleanor agreed. "Anything we can do to ease the suffering of the people, will be welcome."

"There is so much we still need to do," Janice continued. "There are so many sick and injured to care for. This war is increasing the suffering of the people, and we should do all we can to alleviate it."

After they had finished lunch, Paul and Janice returned to the hospital. Tom invited Lady Eleanor to accompany him to view the area he was thinking of for new farms. They rode out and Tom explained what he wished to do. As he did so Rob, who was part of his personal guard, came over to speak to him.