It is to our advantage if we stay here and rest for a while."
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The others nodded. Gilbert de Clare, seated on Simon s right, leaned forward and spoke.
"The Londoners are finding out that life is harder outside their walls than they had thought," he said. "Their numbers are fewer every day. We cannot delay too long, my, lord, or we shall have lost them all!"
Simon shook his head.
"Any who were going to change their minds have done so by now," he said. "We are too far away from London for them to desert us they
will feel safer with us than alone in
the forest."
"Aye!" came a voice from further down the table. "Most of them think that any noise from the side of the path is a wolf at least!"
There was laughter at this sally, and Simon grinned, before continuing.
"I have a mind to try once more to persuade the King that he should parley with us," he continued, to a murmur of surprise. "I know that we have asked our good friends from London to support us in battle, but I have no wish to attain our ends by violent means if we can avoid it."
"Have you not given the King every chance to come to our point of view, my lord?"
said de Clare. "Why do you think that he may change his mind now?"
"Gilbert," said Simon, laying his hand upon the other s arm. "I cannot believe that Henry can be so stubborn as to risk a battle with us. He knows that we want only what is best for England. He surely knows that we long to be his loyal subjects once more. I am hoping that, if we ask him to reconsider, knowing that an army is drawn up against him, that this will make him realise the seriousness of our aim. And, besides," he continued, sadly. "He is my brother-in-law."
Gilbert de Clare shifted awkwardly in his seat, and cleared his throat before speaking in his turn.
"I understand, my lord," he said. "Many of us have relatives on the other side. It is, indeed, a sad day, when cousins and brothers must fight each other."
"Then let us see if we can prevent that day dawning," said Simon de Montfort, briskly.
"In the morning, we will send a messenger to the King, with a letter from us all, asking him not to force us into this desperate measure."
There was some obvious reluctance in the agreement given, especially among the younger men there, but de Montfort ignored it. The parchment containing the letter was already written, on his instructions. It needed only to be signed and sealed by the most senior of them, and sent on its way to the Priory in Lewes, where he had been told, Henry had taken up residence. He dismissed everyone and sat alone in the tent, planning what he might do if the message failed to have the desired effect.
Elsewhere in the camp, the army was settling in its usual way. Some of the soldiers had been posted as lookouts, to be relieved at regular intervals throughout the night. The rest BOSON BOOKS
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were busily building rude shelters, or making the most of the few huts available. The Londoners were also settling in for the night, and small campfires flickered into life all over the campsite.
Parties of men roamed around, scavenging whatever they could find in the way of food.
At this time of the year, stores were running low within the village. The local villeins and peasants did not welcome the attentions of the soldiers, and the Londoners were even less welcome, being seen as foreigners. De Montfort s men the villagers knew they had to accept, and it was better not to resist their demands at all, but why should they also have to feed this great mob of people, who spoke differently from them, and who had come from London, that rich place so far away from them?
The foreigners did not care what the people of Fletching thought. Pushing aside anyone who stood in their way, they went through the village, taking whatever they found that could be eaten. Chicken and lamb were delicacies, and the men who found them fell on them with glee, and killed them. Then they were taken back and placed over fires and roasted. to be noisily enjoyed by anyone near enough to grab some, as soon as it was ready. There was no wine for these men, but ale circulated and many slaked their