Insurrection: Renegade [02] by Robyn Young Read Free Book Online

of its triangle, stood isolated in the waters of its surrounding moat, drawbridge raised. Built only thirty years earlier, it was said to be one of the most redoubtable fortresses in Scotland. Stretching behind it were the salt marshes and mud-flats of the Solway Firth, beyond which lay England. With the fall of the Bruce family’s stronghold at Lochmaben, Caerlaverock had become the new gateway to the west of Scotland. It was the first obstacle he faced on this campaign.
    ‘My lord king.’
    Humphrey de Bohun moved up beside him. He was clad in a blue surcoat, banded with a broad white stripe and decorated with six gold lions. His brown hair was covered by a coif of mail that framed his broad face and he carried his great helm under his arm. ‘Work is progressing well on the belfry, my lord. The engineers believe it will be ready before the week is out. Once it’s lowered into the moat the fighting top should come high enough up the walls to allow our men to scale them. Unless, of course, it falls to us before that.’
    As Humphrey’s attention shifted to the castle, the king noted the hunger in his gaze. The young man had succeeded his father as Constable of England and Earl of Hereford and Essex three years earlier, and along with those distinguished titles he seemed to have inherited the same intensity of expression, as if some thought or passion was constantly burning behind his green eyes. Edward had seen a similar fire of late in the other men of his Round Table, bound to him – as King Arthur’s knights had been – by oaths stronger than fealty or homage. The war had become something personal to all of them. Some, like Humphrey, had lost family to a Scottish blade. Others were fighting for the promise of reward, or glory. But all were here for retribution against the man whose betrayal had cut like a poisoned dagger through their ranks – a man they had once called brother.
    Robert Bruce.
    That name was a splinter under Edward’s skin. The last reports revealed that Bruce had resigned his position as guardian of Scotland and disappeared, leaving a maddening and disturbing silence. The king’s best hope lay in the belief that if anyone could find Bruce it was Adam, but he had heard no word from the Gascon in months. ‘The divisions,’ he asked Humphrey, ‘they are prepared?’
    ‘If we storm the castle with the belfry and our men are able to lower the drawbridge, your son will command the main assault. As you instructed.’
    The king seized on the trace of doubt in the younger man’s voice. ‘You do not think him ready?’
    Humphrey paused before answering. ‘I think it is a challenging assault for a first command, my lord.’
    The king surveyed the crowd of men around the royal pavilion, his keen eyes picking out his son. Edward, only weeks away from his seventeenth birthday, was a mirror of himself in adolescence; the same blond hair and long, angular features. In the past year the boy’s body had lengthened and begun to thicken, suggesting he would also inherit his stature. He was standing with his companions, all sons of lords or earls, apart from Piers Gaveston, who owed his position to the king’s own indulgence. The son of a loyal Gascon knight, Piers had seemed an ideal companion for the young Edward. The two had since grown inseparable, but while his son seemed content to spend his days fishing and lazing outdoors it was Piers who had developed an impressive martial reputation in that time. Handsome, charismatic, arrogant, his prowess on the tournament field was already being commented on in court, while the heir to the throne languished contentedly in his shadow. That, the king was determined, would change on this campaign, which was why he had given the command of half the English army to his son.
    ‘A victory here will be a worthy beginning to his career. I fought my first campaign at his age. It is past time he was tested. This war and his forthcoming marriage will see to it.’ The