Chapter 19

Dawn broke through the shutters and light streamed into the bedroom. Tom awoke with the feeling of numbness in his shoulder. He looked over and saw Eleanor sleeping peacefully in his arms. He needed to pee and moved slightly in order to extract his arm.

She stirred, and looking up at him smiled. "Good morning, Your Majesty."

"Good morning, Your Ladyship," he replied, getting up out of bed and searching for the chamber pot.

"Oh, I can see you're glad to be up, this morning," she said, looking at his morning erection. "Would you like me to hold it for you? Or can you manage?"

This caused even more blood to flow to that part of his anatomy, making the job of passing his water even more difficult. "I'll be washing the bloody ceiling at this rate!" he said, trying to relax in order to pee.

She giggled at the sight and then reached out to grab at the upstanding member.

"You're not making this any easier!" Tom said, crouching over trying to bend his penis down in to the pot, desperate now to pee.

She threw back the covers, displaying her charms to him, making his job even more difficult than it was before. Finally he managed to relax enough to pass water, watching as she hopped out of bed to use her commode as well.

She stood, wiped herself, and came to Tom. "Aww look! It's gone all small" she complained, reaching out and caressing him.

It didn't stay small for long. "You little minx, come here!" Tom growled.

It was quite late when they finally emerged from Tom's bedchamber. They made their way downstairs to where breakfast was laid out. Judith sat there with Rob stood behind her looking just as satisfied as her mother. The look on her face reminded Tom of a cat that had just swallowed a canary.

"Do you know, I had to get Rob to protect me all night! There was a terrible noise coming from the area of the bedrooms. It was so terrifying and I was so frightened that he had to hold me all night long!" Judith declared, smiling at her mother.

Eleanor went scarlet, as did Rob.

Tom choked slightly on his drink trying not to laugh. "I'm glad you did such a good job of keeping Lady Judith safe last night, Rob. It must have been hard," he emphasized the word, 'hard', "to do, what with all that noise all night."

This time it was Judith who nearly choked on her drink, and Rob went even redder, if that were possible

"Oh, it was! Very hard! All night!" Judith said. "He comforted me greatly, more than anyone else has ever managed."

By now, even Eleanor was smiling. "Just to let you both know, I had to comfort King Tom. We too could hear some terrible noises, originating from around your bedroom area. We were going to come and investigate, but we figured that you had Rob there to, um ... comfort and protect you. Which, judging by your look this morning, I'd say he did most admirably."

Tom looked up at Rob. "Young man, have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet, Sire."

"Then sit down and eat. You should know me well enough by now to know that I'm not comfortable with too much ceremony. The comfort and welfare of my people are my main concerns."

"Thank you, sire," the young man said as he sat down and attacked a large portion of porridge.

Tom couldn't help it, but he waited until Rob had his mouth full of tea, when he said, "Yes, it does seem that you'll need to keep your strength up. It looks like protecting Lady Judith will be rather demanding."

The young man did choke on his drink this time, and all the others laughed.

Rob looked at Tom and replied, "Well, sire, it seems that you have just as arduous a task protecting the Lady Eleanor. I mean, at your age it must be even more demanding."

There was a sharp intake of breath and Eleanor and Judith shot each other worried glances.

But Tom threw his head back and roared with laughter. "Well met! I deserved that. We're sorry for teasing you so much. Are we forgiven?"

It was Rob's turn to be confused, "Why, yes, Sire ... of course."

"Good, now we have got that out of the way, tell me, how did you get on yesterday with the refugees?"

"We did very well," replied Judith. "It turned out that among that group we have two blacksmiths, three carpenters, four millers, more farmers than you can shake a stick at, a master mason, a bowyer and three fletchers. There are probably more, but that was all we got through, yesterday. We're going back today to register the rest."

"Good. Once you've done that, I want you to organise work details. Rob, I need to know how many of our men have hidden talents, how many were blacksmiths, or farmers, carpenters, that kind of thing. Do you remember the machines Sir Tony made at Small Cove and Bridgetown? We could do with some of those here."

"We certainly could, Sire. I'll ask Roderick. He worked with Heinrich for a while in Bridgetown. He joined up with us because he wished to pay those slavers back for killing his wife!"

"Very well. Why don't you get him to talk to that Gregory fellow? Introduce them to one of the local blacksmiths, and see if they can get some of those machines built," Tom suggested.

"Yes, Sire. At once, Sire," replied Rob, starting to rise from his chair.

"Sit down and finish your meal," Tom ordered. "You will have a busy day, today, so make sure you take time to eat." Turning to Judith he added, "You will ensure that you both eat plenty. I need you both to keep your strength up."

They both blushed at this.

"I, on the other hand, need to tour the town. I still haven't managed to see exactly what we have here— Oh, and another thing: I need to see Sir Rolof, in private, I have a little job for him," Tom said, rising from his chair.

He returned to his room. Shortly after, Rolof arrived, along with Lady Eleanor.

"Ah, Rolof, I have a job for you. How do you fancy getting across the river and causing a little mayhem?" Tom asked.

Rolof smiled. "Why, yes, Sire ... of course. What exactly did you have in mind?"

"The tower we destroyed. They will need to rebuild it. In order to do that they will need to get into the woods to fell some trees. Now how do you think they will feel if the men they send into the woods disappear? No trace of them will be found. Then the men they send in to search for the woodcutters also disappear? How willing do you think anyone would be to venture into those woods? Also, how would they feel if some of their food stocks became contaminated or went missing? Do you think they would be happy campers?"

Rolof and the Lady Eleanor smiled.

Rolof replied, "No, Sire, I do not think they would. I mean, if some man's things went missing, and then turned up in another man's pack ... Well, I think it would cause much bad feeling between them, as well."

Tom laughed. "That it would, my friend; that it would. Ethelwold told me of a place where a few men might just be able to get a boat across the river, but the trail is a difficult one to follow. If he were to show you that trail, do you think you could cause such mischief?"

"I would be delighted! I'll get onto it right away."

"Good man, Rolof! I knew I could count on you," Tom said, clapping his friend around the shoulders.

Rolof went off to find his men and Ethelwold.

Tom and Eleanor finally toured the town. He saw that there were several workshops, and he also noticed that Judith and Rob were already putting people to work. Roderick had indeed worked with Heinrich and was already helping design the machines that had made such a difference to the farming communities. They were also in the process of making a very powerful crossbow.

Tom enlisted the help of several street children in cleaning up the town. He told them that he would buy every barrow full of muck they could deliver to his new farm. They ran to fetch barrows and started to clear the streets with enthusiasm. As they made their way through the town he noticed that people seemed to nod their heads, or doff their hats or caps as a mark of respect. Several people came up and thanked him and Lady Eleanor for saving them, some started calling her Queen Eleanor, seeing how close she and Tom appeared to be.

Outside the town two men were surveying the wreckage of the siege tower. One was a large vicious looking man. The other, though just as large, was definitely nervous.

"Very well, tell me again what happened," the first man said menacingly.

"Well, General, it was like this: We had it all under control, and we were going to take the town in a couple of days, a week at most. We know they are running low on food, as we have their harvest. Just when we were finishing the tower," he continued nervously, "this new lot seems to have arrived. They marched out and burnt the tower to the ground."

"They just marched out and burnt the tower down did they? And what exactly were you doing at the time? Shagging your women? Singing ditties? Drinking?" The man's voice getting more and more intense as he spoke.

"No, General, not at all! We tried to stop them, but we couldn't!" the man blustered nervously. "We lost a lot of men. We did try!"

The General pushed his face towards the other man. He could see the sweat breaking out on his face.

"Well, you didn't try hard enough, did you? " His voice was frighteningly quiet. "Now tell me, how long before you can build another tower?"

"It should only take two or three weeks ... Only, a lot of the carpenters building the tower were killed when it was destroyed."

"Two or three weeks!" the man exploded. "I expected to be in Bridgetown in three weeks! How long will the supplies last? You had better hope there is some food in that town because there is precious little out here. They had planted a lot of the fields with flax! Tell me, do you know any good recipes for flax? You better had, for if we don't take that town soon, then that's all we're going to have to eat!"

"Yes, General. We're doing our best!"

"Well, your best is not good enough! Would you like to go and explain to Vladik about how you were doing your best? Do you think he would be reasonable and accept your feeble excuses?"

The man almost lost control of his bladder at this. He had heard of what Vladik did to those who failed him. He never wished to meet the man under those circumstances.

"No, General. We'll take the town sir, just a couple of weeks and it'll be ours."

"I'll give you a week, Captain: one week. Get that tower built! Use every man we have if you have to and be ready to attack within a week. If not I'll personally take you to Vladik myself! Is that understood?"

"Yes, General. One week. I'll do it, sir. I promise."

Just then a rider approached.

"General Fedor," the man called. "Sir, I have a message for you."

The General read the message, and as he did so a worried look crossed his face, and he turned visibly pale.

"You have one week, Captain! One week!"

He turned walked back towards the camp.

Rolof gathered his men, and following Ethelwold's directions set off for the river. It had stopped raining, and the water level had fallen during the night. They reached the spot where the river could, with some difficulty, be crossed. They had placed the boats inside a wagon, so as to disguise their intentions from any watching eyes.

The boats were removed, and after a slight struggle, lowered into the water. They crossed the river and found the faint trail into the woods. The boats were hidden and then they made their way into the forest. They followed a boar trail deep into the forest and soon heard the sound of trees being felled. They crept around and found the woodcutters' camp.

There was a man tending the fire and preparing food. They scouted around and found no one near. They killed the man and cleared the camp. They hid the man's body so it couldn't be found, then hid and waited for the fun to begin. The woodcutters returned to find all their possessions missing as well as no lunch.

"Patrick?" they called. There was no response.

"Where is that bloody idiot?" grumbled one of the men

"He's buggered off. The bastard has deserted. Not only that, he's taken all our stuff. I had my best cloak and tankard in there."

Another man declared as he searched for his belongings, "I'll kill the little shit when I catch him!"

Rolof and his men melted back into the forest. They enjoyed the meal that Patrick had so carefully prepared, then moved off to where the next group of woodcutters was encamped. They saw the woodcutters had not returned, they planted several of the things stolen from the first group onto the

second. They also took all the food they could find. They then went about setting traps all around where the woodcutters had made their camps.

They moved towards the main encampment to try and assess how many men the slavers had. Rolof estimated that there were around two thousand men. It was starting to get late. They made their way back to Dampford

Paul had worked hard in the hospital. He had insisted that the hospital be clean, and that his staff washed their hands. He had several new women to train as Angels. These were women who were the healers in their own villages and had fled to Dampford to escape the slavers. They shared their knowledge of different cures, of what worked and what didn't. The women were amazed at the anaesthetic that Paul had devised, and the breathing mask used to keep the patients alive.

This came in useful the day after they arrived with some of the wounded brought in from the battlefield. One man was brought in with a severe head injury. He had received a blow to the head and part of the skull was pressing on the brain. Paul took one look and knew he had to operate or the man would die. He sedated the man and shaved his head. He carefully cut into the man's scalp. Very gently he removed the broken pieces of skull. He picked out all the pieces he could see. It was a fiddly job with lots of tiny fragments floating about. Eventually he had done all he could do, and closed up the wound. All they could then do was wait.

After this he decided that he needed a sterile wash. The water they had just was not clean enough. Just how to do it was the problem. Distilled water was what was needed. He asked the innkeeper where he obtained his spirits. At first the man was reluctant to disclose this information, thinking that maybe Paul would try to set himself up in competition. Once Paul had explained what he wanted, the man's attitude changed completely and he could not have been more helpful, taking Paul out to his still.

Paul looked at the raw liquor and asked if he could put through the still again. The man asked why as it would make it undrinkable. Paul explained that he wished to use it as an antiseptic. He asked if another still could be built, just to make his sterile water. The man said he would and he could have ready by the end of the week. Paul thanked him profusely and asked how much it would cost.

The man refused payment, saying, "You saved my brother's life. He was injured in the last attack, he was dying and you and your Angels saved him"

"I'm glad to hear it. Just glad we could help."

"His wife will be here soon. I know she would like to thank you in person. So would his kids."

"That would be great! Tell me: what's your brother's name?"

"It's Friedrich, and I'm Gustav."

"Well Gustav, it's been a pleasure meeting with you; I remember Friedrich. He should be well enough to go home tomorrow. I think I know his wife; she has been in with him most days. His children are Peter and Gretel, aren't they?"

"They're his two oldest; he also has twins, Freda and Carlota. They're only eighteen months old. We've been looking after them while she's been at the hospital. They're beautiful, but a real handful."

Paul laughed. "I'll bet they are. Tell you what: When his wife arrives, tell her to come over to the hospital and we'll see about getting him home."

"I'll do that, and thanks again."

With that, the two men shook hands, and Paul made his way back to the hospital. It was getting late, and he was getting hungry.

Tom returned to find Janice and a very excited Martha waiting for him.

"Hello, what do we have here?"

"I helped Marco make a cake. It's yummy and we've saved you a big piece," a very happy and rather sticky Martha told him. "It's got honey and jam in it!"

"I can see that. You seem to be wearing most of it!" he laughed.

He picked her up and held her. He could feel how sticky she was.

"You need a wash, young lady," he told her, taking a wash cloth and getting the worst of it off. "Anyway, let's eat."

They sat down to eat, and Martha regaled them with how she and Marco had made the cake, and how Marco had found a man who kept bees and bought some honey from him.

"It's so lovely and sweet. It sticks to my fingers so much that I had to suck them for ages," she told them earnestly.

He looked at them both, and he knew that this was where he belonged.

Rolof reported back to King Tom. "Sire, I estimate about two thousand men are there. I don't know if they are all fighting men, but judging by the number of tents, I'd say about that many were encamped there. Oh, and we had some fun! We stole some things from one camp, and hid the things among the belongings of another. That should cause some fireworks."

"Yes, indeed," laughed Tom. "Two thousand, you say? Well, even if we allow five hundred as wives and children that still leaves fifteen hundred to deal with. Still, that many people will take some feeding. How do feel about getting back over there and disrupting their supply chain?"

"I'd be glad to, Sire! Anything, to drive them back into the sea."

Just then Lady Eleanor came in. "I hear you've been having fun today."

"Yes, Milady, we intend to have some more. We're going to return tomorrow."

"I'm sure you're going to cause a few problems for them."

"We're certainly going to try," Rolof agreed as he rose to leave. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be getting back to my men."

"Certainly," Tom replied. "Remember, don't take any unnecessary chances. There's a young lady who would be very upset if anything happened to you!"