Games of Otterburn 1388 Read Free

with a broad smile.
    Earl John kicked his horse to move ahead. “Come on, laddie . Show me the way.”
    The knights bumbled back to a tight queue within moments following Carrick.
    The proud scout wheeled his little horse and kicked it to guide Lord John through the forest to the bivouacking army commanded primarily by his brother, Robert, the Earl of Fife.
    Mustering near the kirk of Southdean along the valley of the upper Jed Water about four miles from the northern border of England were the Scots preparing for raiding. Including Carrick’s small contribution of men the count was close to ninety-five hundred including knights, men-at-arms, archers, ordinary servants, and horse lads.
    There was a meager gathering of village folk who lived in the vicinity of the small kirk that were intrigued by the sudden excitement that had befallen them. They stood on the rim and watched.
    Within the midst of the village was a hunting lodge of stone and rough hewn log construction then owned by an old knight who castled elsewhere in Lothian at that time and rarely mustered a sufficient ambition for the hunt.
    Earl Carrick awkwardly got from his horse being with a bad leg that was additionally stiffened from the three days of travel from Carrick.
    Through the trees the knight Alexander Ramsay saw him alight.
    “The Guardian has arrived, Milord,” said Ramsay coming to James Douglas, the Earl of Douglas and of Mar. Thirty-one year old James was tall and muscular and a foreboding knight on any field of battle. He was grand nephew of the famous knight James ‘the Black’ Douglas associated with King Robert the Bruce.
    “How many did he bring?” asked Douglas .
    “Three hundred… four maybe, I reckon, Milord,” answered Ramsay. “I nae counted.”
    Douglas huffed but was quick to cool at the disappointing numbers.
    “Got a bad gimp, too,” said Ramsay leaning toward the earl so his quiet voice would not carry beyond the man’s ear.
    “Gimp?”
    “Heard he was kicked by a horse,” said Ramsay.
    “ Nae need to whisper that,” said Douglas , “Soon be that the whole camp will know.”
    “Sooth,” remarked Ramsay as a last word on the subject.
    “Guide him here… See that he and his men have all they need… that we can provide… of course.”
    “Aye, Milord,” replied the knight and turned to fetch Carrick to the hunting lodge and settle his travel weary troops.
    Ramsay made his way through the green trees to where John Stewart was standing wondering if any had noted his arrival.
    “Well come, Milord Guardian,” greeted Ramsay with an abbreviated bow,”
    “Lord Ramsay,” said John. “Ye know where Fife is?”
      “ Ye’re to stay in the lodge amongst those trees yon, Milord,” he instructed with a point of his gloved hand. “I believe yer brother is there now.”
    “I understand,” said the earl. He took his horse by the reins and handed them to his squire and added, “Follow me.”
    When John got to the multiple room lodge and entered he overheard his brother Fife in a heated argument with James Douglas.
    “Yer notion of a raid on West March is a fool’s errand!” Douglas was saying.
    “And yer’s is but a vainglorious misadventure,” back argued Fife .
    “But the riches are in the east… the east is where the wealth is! That will hurt them the worst !” countered Douglas .
    “The west does not have wealth, ye say? But it does have its share… and it is where we can link to our success on Ireland and Man… Don’t ye figure that for somethin ’?” barked Fife .
    Upon hearing the two men argue John shook his head in disbelief and moved deeper into the building looking for an available space that he presumed would be his.
    “Riches! That’s what will get London ’s blood to curdle… riches wrenched from their hands and into ours!” reiterated Douglas forcefully. “I want King Richard’s blood to turn to piss and run out from under his fingernails!”
    “And I say it’ll not be so,”