Shadow of the Hawk Read online

  By David Gilman

  THE LAST HORSEMAN

  NIGHT FLIGHT TO PARIS

  THE ENGLISHMAN

  Master of War series

  MASTER OF WAR

  DEFIANT UNTO DEATH

  GATE OF THE DEAD

  VIPER’S BLOOD

  SCOURGE OF WOLVES

  CROSS OF FIRE

  SHADOW OF THE HAWK

  Dangerzone series

  THE DEVIL’S BREATH

  ICE CLAW

  BLOOD SUN

  MONKEY AND ME

  SHADOW OF THE HAWK

  David Gilman

  www.headofzeus.com

  First published in the UK in 2021 by Head of Zeus Ltd

  Copyright © David Gilman, 2021

  The moral right of David Gilman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN (HB): 9781788544986

  ISBN (XTPB): 9781788544993

  ISBN (E): 9781788544979

  Head of Zeus Ltd

  First Floor East

  5–8 Hardwick Street

  London EC1R 4RG

  WWW.HEADOFZEUS.COM

  For Suzy

  Contents

  Welcome Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Character List

  Map

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  Part One: Death of an Archer

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Part Two: Hunting the Beast

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Part Three: Betrayal

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Part Four: The Devil’s Mistress

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Part Five: The Prophecy: Death of a Legend

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Chapter Seventy-Five

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  Author’s Notes

  About The Author

  An Invitation From The Publisher

  CHARACTER LIST

  *Sir Thomas Blackstone

  THOMAS BLACKSTONE’S MEN

  *Sir Gilbert Killbere

  *Meulon: Norman captain

  *John Jacob: captain

  *Renfred: German man-at-arms and captain

  *Will Longdon: veteran archer and centenar

  *Jack Halfpenny: archer and ventenar

  *Meuric Kynith: Welsh archer and ventenar

  *Beyard: Gascon captain

  *Aicart: Gascon man-at-arms

  *Loys: Gascon man-at-arms

  *Bascon Gâsconay: man-at-arms

  *William Ashford: man-at-arms, captain

  *Tom Brook: man-at-arms

  ITALIAN CLERIC

  *Niccolò Torellini: Florentine priest

  ENGLISH MERCENARIES

  *Ranulph de Hayle/Ronec le Bête

  Sir Hugh Calveley

  Walter Hewitt

  William Latimer

  Matthew Gourney

  BRETON NOBILITY AND COMMANDERS

  John de Montfort: English-backed claimant to the Duchy of Brittany

  Charles de Blois: French-backed claimant to the Duchy of Brittany

  Lord of Mayenne: Breton regional lord

  Bertrand du Guesclin: Breton commander

  Olivier de Mauny: nobleman and Bertrand du Guesclin’s cousin

  Jean de Beaumanoir: lord and ally of Charles de Blois

  ENGLISH ROYALTY

  Edward of Woodstock: Prince of Wales and Aquitaine

  ENGLISH OFFICIALS

  Sir John Chandos: Constable of Aquitaine

  Sir Nigel Loring: the Prince’s chamberlain

  FRENCH ROYALTY

  Charles V: King of France

  FRENCH OFFICIALS, NOBLEMEN, MERCENARIES AND MEN-AT-ARMS

  Jean de Grailly, Captal de Buch: Gascon lord

  Lord de Graumont: French regional lord

  *Godfrey de Claville: captain of Villaines

  Simon Bucy: counsellor to the French King

  Gontier de Bagneaux: confidential secretary to the French King

  Jean de Bourbon: Count de la Marche

  Le Bègue de Villaines: French nobleman

  Arnoul d’Audrehem: Marshal of France

  Eustache d’Aubricourt: Hainault mercenary

  SPANISH ROYALTY

  Charles, King of Navarre: claimant to the French throne

  Don Pedro I: King of Castile and León

  Blanche de Bourbon: Queen of Castile and León

  Henry of Trastámara: Don Pedro’s half-brother and claimant to his throne

  SPANISH OFFICIALS

  Iñigo Ortiz de Estúñiga: guard commander for Blanche de Bourbon

  *High Steward to King Don Pedro

  Gutier de Toledo: commander of the royal bodyguard

  SPANISH MEN-AT-ARMS, VILLEINS, SERVANTS, MERCHANTS, SURGEON AND CLERICS

  *Garindo: heretic pri
est

  *Velasquita Alcón de Lugo

  *Lázaro: Queen of Castile’s servant

  *Halif ben Josef: Jewish surgeon

  *Ariz: man-at-arms

  *Saustin: man-at-arms

  *Tibalt: man-at-arms

  *Elias Navarette and Salamon Bonisac: Jewish merchants

  *Andrés: guide

  *Santos: guide

  *Pérez of Burgos: merchant

  *Álvaraz: Castilian army commander

  Gil Boccanegra: Genoese Admiral of the Castilian Fleet

  Suero Gómez: Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela

  Peralvarez: dean of Santiago cathedral

  *Gontrán: fisherman and pilgrim

  NASRID MOORS

  *Sayyid al-Hakam

  *Abid al-Hakam

  *Najih bin Wālid

  *Indicates fictional characters

  Map

  A noble man must either live a good life or die a noble death.

  Sophocles

  PROLOGUE

  King Pedro’s Palace Burgos, Castile, Spain

  The darkened room bore no sign of evil incantation, even though some deemed the practice of astrology to be against Divine Law. Garindo knew the risks he took if he edged closer to the abyss of necromancy and witchcraft – and it was easily done: the thirst for greater knowledge of the universe could lead a man to embrace the dark arts. However, his own religious convictions kept him on the side of righteousness, even though he had been charged with heresy by the Pope for practising astrology.

  The heretic priest blinked in the near darkness. He had been studying for hours and the candles had burnt low. His predictions had come to fruition and he now feared another whose powers were greater than his own. She was Satan’s mistress.

  He had begged the King to rid himself of this witch, who was always at his side. She lived behind the veil of darkness. So far his own skills had kept her at bay. But for how much longer? Heresy or witchcraft? Who would prevail?

  It was God who permitted the devil to exist, cast down from heaven to test men and women, to allow them to choose whether to fight the demonic possession offered by the devil or succumb to its temptation. Garindo’s skills came from the great books of the East, from Sanskrit, Greek and the learned writing of the Arabs, the study of which was itself considered a sin, for it implied a forsaking of the belief that it was God who guided and determined men’s lives and the fortunes of kings.

  The old man sighed, resigned to defying divine power. He would use his skill. He did not like what he saw in the chart that lay beneath his hand. Whom to fear the most? God, displeased that he tampered with men’s fate? Or the devil’s mistress, who vied for the King’s favour? He feared the threat of divine justice less than the magic of the practitioners of witchcraft, whose spells were so powerful they could kill a man. His terror of them overpowered his belief that God would protect him. There were times when God let the devil rampage through men’s hearts. Perhaps that was a test of faith.

  He closed the thick wooden door behind him. The lock turned laboriously from the weight of the iron key. He wanted his bed. Sleep had eluded him these past days as he studied the charts. The candle he held spluttered and wax stung the back of his hand, but he ignored it. He was deep in thought, seeking the words he must use when he gave his findings to the King, knowing how the man’s rage could flare at bad tidings. His shoes scuffed the uneven tiled floor, his old knees complaining from sitting too long at his deliberations. His breath caught as the darkness ahead shifted. His heart tried to burst from his chest, its beats thudding in his ears. He rasped out a challenge: ‘Who is there? Show yourself.’

  There was no response. He shivered and crossed himself, asking the Almighty to protect him. His spine crawled at the fear of what might lie ahead. Silence. Perhaps it had been a scurrying rat. He listened. The low-burning candle would soon plunge him into total darkness. If he did not move his fear might strangle him. He stepped forward, his hand stroking the wall to guide him and offer comfort.

  A cool breeze brushed his face.

  A door or window had been left open. Had it allowed night spirits to enter the palace?

  He recoiled as something rubbed against his leg. He kicked and heard one of the feral cats screech. He laughed nervously at his own foolishness and shuffled towards his bedchamber, unaware that the darkness moved again behind him. Unaware that the king’s favourite was watching.

  And waiting.

  Everything he had foretold had come to pass. But he had not seen his own death.

  PART ONE

  DEATH OF AN ARCHER

  CHAPTER ONE

  France, North of Bordeaux 1364

  The rider was frozen dead in the saddle. Snow, and then bodkin-tipped frost driven into bones by a snarling wind, had torn away the man’s soul. But it was not the hand of God that led him to Blackstone’s encampment. A hardy monk returning on foot to the safety of Blackstone’s protection at the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Boschaud had come across the exhausted man, who with his final breaths had gasped for help to find the English King’s Master of War. The monk, seeking refuge from the bitter winter that was killing man and beast across the land, had plodded on towards the fortified abbey, deep in prayer and leading the man’s suffering horse.

  Strong arms, fingers clawing in the biting cold, reached for the dead man, cutting the reins to free his frozen grip. Blackstone saw the satchel bearing the Prince’s seal. The messenger’s clothing creaked when they eased him from the saddle. The horse faltered, head low. Men guided it towards the stable with a gentleness reserved for a beast with a courageous heart that deserved to be saved. Blankets, deep, soft straw, boiled oats and warmth from the other horses would aid its chances of survival.

  They settled the dead man onto a stool, propping his back against the wall. Blackstone looked into his blue eyes. The Prince’s messenger had fought against his own death in his determination to deliver the contents of the satchel. Blackstone reached out to close the man’s eyes but the lids were frozen open, gazing out from eternity at the gathered men. Some crossed themselves.

  ‘Shall we put him close to the fire?’ said Blackstone’s centenar Will Longdon.

  ‘Sweet Jesus, you idiot, you want him rotting?’ the veteran knight Gilbert Killbere said. ‘Get him down to the cellars. He needs to be kept cold until the thaw and then the monks can bury him.’

  The veteran archer shrugged. ‘We’ll put him in the cheese room – then we won’t notice when he starts to stink.’

  ‘You’re a disrespectful godless wretch,’ said Killbere.

  Blackstone turned to the gathered men. ‘As are many of us, Gilbert, but we will treat this man with respect. The rigor in his muscles will ease. Have the monks wrap him in linen and lay him somewhere close to God.’ He turned to his squire. ‘John, speak to the abbot, make my request known to him. Ask for a side chapel and prayers to be said.’

  John Jacob nodded and gestured to the men to bear the messenger away. As they bent to their task, he glanced at the satchel. ‘I’ll wager that’s bad news, Sir Thomas.’

  Killbere closed the door behind them and pushed more wood into the fire; then he tugged his heavy cloak around him. Like the others, he wore strips of cloth wrapped over his boots to help ward off the bone-cracking cold of the stone floors. Monks were not lords of a manor who placed fresh reeds beneath their rugs.

  ‘Worst winter I can remember and this is already spring,’ said Killbere, squatting on a stool, pushing his swaddled boots towards the flames. ‘Snot drips and freezes like damned icicles. We hack wine casks open and melt chunks of wine over a fire. It’s too cold to fight even if we could find a Frenchman to raise a sword against and not a whore or a nun in sight to embrace beneath the blankets. It’s not just the cold wind that makes your eyes water. It’s the ball ache. We should go back to Italy. South. Naples or somewhere.’

  Blackstone held the unopened satchel containing orders from the Prince of Wales. He felt the leather stiff beneath his f
ingertips. ‘Knowing the Prince, he’ll find something to warm us.’

  ‘Then open it. It’s time we left this place.’

  Blackstone took out the folded parchment and broke its wax seal. A loyal messenger had sacrificed his life to deliver the summons. What was so important that he should pay such a price? His eyes followed a clerk’s neat hand. Killbere waited, eyebrows raised, questioning.

  ‘Agen,’ said Blackstone, his mind’s eye placing the ancient city halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse in the south-west. Close enough to the northern Spanish kingdom of Navarre. ‘We travel to meet the Prince and Charles of Navarre.’

  Killbere poked the fire in disgust. ‘That popinjay. We saved his bastard arse when we fought the Jacquerie. These damned noblemen. Peacocks on the battlefield. All he’s fit for is killing peasants. What does he want now?’

  Blackstone shook his head and passed Killbere the letter. ‘All we know is that the Prince summons us.’

  ‘Two days’ ride in this weather,’ said Killbere. ‘At least. I tell you, Thomas, the King of Navarre is up to no good. I’m not joyful at the thought that we’ll be dragged into a fight to help him.’ He tossed the folded document onto the table. ‘God’s tears, our King and our Prince won the damned war thanks to men like ours shedding their blood; if this upstart has ambitions beyond his ability then let others ride to their deaths on his behalf, not us. He should stay in that sliver of land he calls a kingdom.’

  The Abbaye Notre-Dame de Boschaud nestled in the heart of Aquitaine between the Prince’s palace in Bordeaux and the seneschal at Poitiers. If routiers or the French struck, Blackstone was well placed to retaliate. What prompted this summons south? Defence or attack?

  ‘You wanted a fight, Gilbert, perhaps we are being given one.’

  *

  Below the castle walls Agen’s honey-coloured brick buildings glowed in the day’s late sun, rays of gold enriching the great river that served as the city’s trading route and defence. Blackstone’s hundred iron-shod horses clattered up the cobbled approach to the castle as guards peered down from the high walls. The Prince’s banner furled in the clear air above the white-slaked landscape stretching to the far horizon and Navarre’s Pyrenean kingdom.