Read 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) for Free Online Page B

respectful voice, “Lord William did that for you without even being asked, Your Majesty.   He is truly one of your most faithful servants.”
           Except, of course, I did that for William and he doesn’t like you or trust you or want to pay your taxes or see you on the throne.
           The King just stands with his head cocked to the side and listens as I go on to tell him various other blathers about William being such a good man and loyal servant of the crown.  
           When I finish, the King just stands there in the flickering candle light for a minute.  Then he abruptly turns and walks out with the others falling in to walk behind him.  So there I am standing in the darkness as the candle light and muffled voices and clattering shoes of his departure recede into the distance.
           “Wait here,” The Papal Nuncio commands before he hurries off to follow them.  Do I have a choice?
           An hour or so later the Nuncio returns with a servant holding a candle lantern.  He is smiling.
         “The king has accepted his chancellor’s advice and decided to do nothing to replace Lord William; he will let it be a test of arms with God deciding who is the rightful Earl.” …. “And I’ll need another fifty gold bezants for Longchamp for getting William a chance to stay in Cornwall.”
           While I was counting the bezants into his hand he asked the crucial question.
           “Do you think you can win?”
     
     
                                  Chapter Three
           Thomas is back from Richard’s court and his tidings are not good. It appears that Isabel or someone in her family has prevailed upon King Richard to sell a Derbyshire lord named Harold Cornell the same earldom we bought from Prince John and recognize his right to Restormel. Cornell’s claim apparently is that he’s a cousin of Isabel’s late husband, the unlamented Baldwin.  We don’t know if Cornell and Isabel are related or if Isabel is betrothed to him or bedding him.
           The good news is that Cornell lives in Derbyshire so it will most likely take a long time for him to get himself and his men to Cornwall.  The bad news is that we don’t know anything about him – how many men he will bring, how he will fight, and the nature of his experience and ability. 
           Worse, and perhaps most important of all, we don’t have any idea as to who will fight with him and why, or for that matter when and where.  Both Baldwin, and then his apparent cousin, FitzCount of Launceston, were accompanied by knights from Devon and both of them and Isabel apparently have relatives there - so it’s likely some or all of the surviving Devon lords and knights will side with the Derbyshire lord.  We killed a lot of the stupid bastards at Trematon and Launceston, but certainly not all of them. 
           What’s worrisome is that Cornell probably knows something of what happened and is so sure he can defeat William that he bought the Cornwall earldom knowing that William also claimed it and is in possession of the three castles.
           And will we really be up against just the Derbyshire lord’s forces and the survivors of the Devon gentry who supported Baldwin and then the efforts of FitzCount to take Baldwin’s place in Restormel and between Isabel’s legs?  Who else will take their side?
           According to Thomas, King Richard’s Chancellor sent a message via the Papal Nuncio suggesting the King will treat any fighting that occurs as a tournament and stay out of it so that God’s Will prevails.  That’s certainly better than the King sending his men to help Cornell root us out - but it’s still worrisome because both the Chancellor and the Papal Nuncio may have been lying to us about Richard’s neutrality in order to gull us out of more coins. 
           Trusting the word of a King’s courtiers, particularly if