Free The Archer's War: Exciting good read - adventure fiction about fighting and combat during medieval times in feudal England with archers, longbows, knights, ... (The Company of English Archers Book 4) by Martin Archer Page B

few minutes ago I’d been wrapped up in a horse blanket and snoozing in the stable waiting for a couple of archers from Sheffield who showed up earlier looking to enlist and then disappeared before I could get here to talk to them.  Now I’m awake and pacing up and down and beginning to get worried, very worried. 
           What in the name of God should I do? I’ve taken a deep breath and said ten Hail Marys and I’m still uncertain.
           It all started a few minutes ago when one of my recruiters, Bob Little, who has been visiting villages in Sussex, gallops in to report that an army of mercenaries, hundreds of them, have landed at Eastbourne due to bad weather in the channel – and, according to what they’ve been saying in the local ale houses, will soon be marching overland to rendezvous with Lord Cornell at Sarum on the Salisbury plain.  Apparently they’ve been delayed because they had trouble unloading their horses.
            There are notable names among the mercenaries according to Bob.  The big one is their captain.  It’s a name we know because he accompanied Richard on his crusade - the well-known Belgian mercenary captain and former priest, Albert Kerfuffle.  And that’s not a surprise since most of the mercenaries Bob saw in the taverns are apparently from the lowlands of Belgium and the Hollands. 
           According to Bob Little, there is no doubt about it – the mercenaries in the Eastbourne ale houses say they’ve made their marks to accompany Lord Cornell to Cornwall. 
    @@@@@
           We leave in a hurry for Sarum – all my remaining guards and all the newly recruited archers and other men waiting for a galley to take them to Cornwall.  It’s going to have to be a quick trip.  I want to intercept the mercenaries before they get to Sarum.  The stable master will have to take care of any new recruits that straggle in during my absence.
           But what do I do when I find Cornell’s mercenaries?  Can I buy them off?  And where is Cornell?  Is he already marching?  And if he’s already marching why haven’t I heard from Howard?  My head is spinning.
           Everything is organized within a few hours. 
           Simon offloads the men I am taking with me and moves his galley away from the dock to make it harder for anyone to rob our coins now that he’ll only have himself and his sailors to guard them.  He’ll come in on the dinghy each day to see if any newly recruited archers show up at the stable where the recruiters are sending them. 
           For my part, I hire four two-horse wagons and ostlers to drive us to Sarum and care for the horses.  I also hire a couple of riding horses for me and a messenger.  This time I have enough sense to require they be amblers or else there will be no payment.
           Our trip to Sarum is bone jarring and fast; helped, perhaps, by the gold bezant I promised our hostlers if they get us to Sarum before Kerfuffle and his men and my willingness to buy replacement horses along the way. 
           It works - we get to Sarum before the mercenaries even though we have to replace two of the horses and temporarily abandon one of the wagons at a village smithy near Winchester when it breaks a wheel.  More importantly, by the time we see the city walls of Sarum I’ve got an idea and the beginnings of a plan.
    @@@@@
           Sarum is a peaceful town and its gates aren’t closed or guarded during the day.  Our wagons clatter into the city through the Portsmouth gate.  As I had hoped, neither Cornell nor Kerfuffle and his men are here yet.  At least there is no sign of them. 
           I’ll never hear the end of it from William if Cornell’s mercenaries don’t come here.
           Roger waits with the men while I head straight to the nearest ale house, the one with the sign of a stag painted above its open door.  I can see what looks like another tavern further down