Chapter Twelve
Kenton’s army left before dawn the next day when the weather had surprisingly cleared up.
As the eastern sky turned shades of pink and purple, and dark clouds slashed across the heavens as a reminder of the terrible winter weather they’d so recently suffered, Kenton departed the great gates of Babylon with around twelve hundred men, leaving the remaining two hundred at Babylon to watch over the castle until he returned.
He took all of his knights with him except Conor, whom he left in charge of Babylon in his absence.
Kenton didn’t expect any trouble in the foreseeable future, as his spies had returned saying that the army that had attacked them the previous week had sought refuge at Conisbrough, and it was likely that an army that had suffered such a defeat wouldn’t be ready to regroup any time soon.
He gave them a month or two before they came out at him again, which was plenty of time to gain control of Manchester and then retreat back to Babylon. That was what he was counting on.
But even as he left Babylon, his heart was heavy after his encounter with Nicola the evening before.
He’d tried to shake the sense of sorrow he felt, the sense of hurt, but he hadn’t been able to do it.
He was nearly desperate to know who had poisoned her against him but he would feel like a fool for asking any of his knights, so he didn’t.
He bottled everything up inside him. Consequently, his mood was darker than usual and the men sensed it.
The preparations for the departure had run smoothly because his men, including the knights, were fearful of upsetting him.
Wellesbourne and de Russe had accomplished most of the preparation with the men whilst Gerik and Ackerley had been focused on the provisions, animals, and equipment.
They were going to subdue a large city – and Rochdale was without perimeter walls – therefore, most of their weaponry was meant for hand-to-hand combat situations.
Spears and shields were the main things they made sure the men were carrying with additional weaponry stationed in two big wagons they were bringing.
The preparations ran all evening and most of the night.
While Kenton focused on his army, he assigned Conor to deal with Lady Thorne and the castle in general.
The army needed to take supplies with them, as foraging in the dead of winter was difficult, so Conor and Gerik spent the most time with Nicola taking from her what she could spare the army.
Kenton wasn’t anywhere to be seen during this time, which seemed odd to both Conor and Gerik.
Where Lady Thorne was, Kenton usually was, so it was then that they began to suspect a rift had arisen between the pair.
But they kept their thoughts to themselves because whatever was occurring between Kenton and Lady Thorne didn’t matter in the great scheme of things.
Nicola was polite and helpful with them but she wasn’t particularly friendly and when they were finished stocking the army, she quickly vanished.
Even as they left the gates of Babylon before dawn, she was nowhere to be seen.
The lady had retreated to her apartments and there she apparently would stay.
Without the Lady of Babylon to see them off, Kenton and his army headed out into the dawn of a new day in the direction of Rochdale, which was about an hour’s ride from Babylon.
Since they were already close to their target, Kenton sent his scouts out almost immediately, along with Wellesbourne and de Russe, who rode ahead to get the lay of the land and decide what the best course of action would be.
Battle was on the horizon and intelligence had to be gathered.
For Rochdale, a rather bustling burg to the northeast of Manchester, the course of action had been relatively easy.
When de Russe and Wellesbourne rode into town to confront the lord mayor, who was also the town’s surgeon and beer maker, and told the man to surrender his village or suffer the consequences to Warwick’s forces, the beer-making surgeon-mayor had immediately folded.
It would seem he was not willing to put up any manner of resistance and by noon that day, Rochdale was secured in the name of Henry.
Leaving about two hundred men in Rochdale to keep close tabs on the operations of the city including who came in or out, Kenton and his men camped on the north end of town that night as they planned to march on Manchester the following morning.
Already, Kenton sent out scouts towards Manchester, including Wellesbourne and de Russe again, but Manchester turned out to be not so entirely welcoming to Henry’s troops.
In fact, there were some of Edward’s troops staying in the town, as Kenton had seen on the day they had done their shopping there, and those men were most resistant to le Bec’s army or the suggestion that the town and its occupants were not loyal to Henry.
It was an unfortunate stance, considering they were undermanned, and Wellesbourne and de Russe killed those who refused to surrender.
But it was only a hint of what was to come.
On dawn of the following day, Manchester became a battleground.
*
Conor sat in Gaylord Thorne’s solar, reading a missive he’d just received from Kenton.
Six days after leaving Babylon, Kenton and his army were in heavy fighting in Manchester; the city had not surrendered as easily as Rochdale had, and there was a definite Edwardian influence, so the pocket of fighting had been vicious indeed.
Frustrated that he was not part of the fighting, Conor let the missive fall onto the table that had once been cluttered with cups and books and maps belonging to Gaylord.
Kenton hadn’t paid any attention to the clutter but Conor, with time on his hands and boredom threatening, had organized the messy table.
Now, everything was neat and orderly because that was the way he liked it.
Even when the missive fell back to the tabletop, he simply couldn’t leave it laying there so he put it neatly off to one side.
Sighing heavily, he struggled not to let his frustration show.
Kenton was facing strong resistance at Manchester yet he was here, growing fat and lazy with his inactivity.
He thought seriously on sending Kenton a missive and asking if he could trade places with Gerik or Ackerley, but he knew that Kenton would deny him.
Neither Gerik nor Ackerley had the acumen to completely run a castle, but Conor was fairly certain his presence here was more than simply a nod to his command ability.
He was fairly certain it was to keep him and de Russe separated.
With a grunt of displeasure, he sank back in the cushioned chair and put his muddy boots upon the tabletop, thinking heavily on Manchester and battles and Gaston de Russe.
Since their harsh words those days ago, they had both managed to steer clear of one another or, at times when they could not avoid it, they had simply ignored each other.
Conor thought he had been quite professional about his behavior towards de Russe and was therefore insulted that Kenton had chosen to take de Russe with him into battle and leave Conor behind. Conor was, in fact, grossly offended.
As he sat there and stewed about being left out of a battle, he caught sight of someone entering the solar.
The boots came down off the table as one of his soldiers entered the chamber, edging close to the blazing hearth because it was quite warm in the room.
The soldier had just come from the walls of Babylon where it was breezy and quite cold.
“My lord,” the soldier said. “Two scouts have returned from their usual patrol to inform us that a large army is moving up from the south.”
Conor stood up, concern on his pale features. “An army?” he repeated, confused. “Where on earth did they see this army?”
The soldier edged even closer to the warm blaze.
“About three hours ago,” he replied. “The scouts were on the edge of Huddersfield when they saw the army approaching from the south. They watched the army for as long as they could and they think that the army is traveling the road to the south of us, the road that parallels the road that runs from Huddersfield to Babylon and on into Rochdale. It seemed to the scouts that the army took a turn onto that road. They are now heading east, towards Manchester.”
Manchester, where Kenton is. Conor didn’t like that thought at all; he was thinking on the roads to the south of Babylon and of all of the big armies that were also to the south of them.
Conisbrough, he thought ominously. Was it even possible?
Of course it was. There could be no one else, at least no one that was any closer than the massive garrison of Conisbrough.
Kenton suspected Conisbrough would move on Babylon at some point only he didn’t think it would be so soon.
He thought he had weeks, mayhap even months before that happened.
Evidently, that was not to be the case. The more Conor thought on it, the more concerned he became.
“There are two roads south of us,” he finally said. “One that is not very far at all; we can see it from the battlements. And there is a second road that is over the range of hills further to the south. Which road do they mean?”
The soldier wasn’t entirely sure. “I believe the road that is over the hills,” he said. “Shall you speak with the scouts, my lord? They are in the gatehouse.”
Conor nodded firmly. “I will, indeed.”