As I tucked the letter away I suddenly heard the alarming sound of harness jingling. To preserve our security Jenkin always came the last mile on foot so I knew it could not be him; besides this was too much noise for just one horse’s trappings. My instinctive reaction was to reach for my cuirass and as I did so Evan came slipping through the door of the hut. He had been up on our lookout rock and was panting from the run.

‘A column of horses and men is approaching up the valley under a wheatsheaf banner. That is the Duke of Exeter’s badge, is it not, my lord? He has brought his whole thundering army into the hills!’

I let out a roar of anger. ‘Arrgh! Jesu, he will have every Yorkist in Gwynedd on our trail. How in Heaven’s name did he discover my whereabouts? We must have been betrayed.’ Evan looked deeply troubled and I read his thoughts: Maredudd would never have revealed our whereabouts but perhaps Dai guessed where we had gone. However, I said no more as my squire fitted the back plate of my armour.

I looked less like a scruffy shepherd and more like a knight of the realm as we left the hut and descended the slope to meet the approaching army. The duke and I had both been attainted in the recent Yorkist Parliament but no Lancastrian would ever acknowledge its right to remove his title. ‘His grace of Exeter I presume?’ I said, bending my knee to the leading knight whose helmet had its visor up and a fox’s tail attached to its crest. Exeter’s nickname was ‘The Fox’, one I chose not to use because I had a sneaking admiration for the animal. ‘It is a long way to bring a whole army just to find two men.’

Exeter swung one leg over the front of his saddle and jumped down from his horse. ‘They will not let me out of their sight, Pembroke. Not until I pay them.’ He removed the helmet and threw it blindly back to his squire, who had to lean so far from his horse to catch it that he almost toppled off. I wondered what the penalty would have been had he missed it.

‘Pembroke by name but at present no longer by estate,’ I remarked dryly. ‘Although the sight of your men gives me hope of regaining it.’

In a guttural language I took to be Flemish, their captains were ordering the foot soldiers to fall out. Exeter moved closer to me so that his next words would not carry to the troops. ‘Do not hold your breath, my lord. This is the surliest herd of bullocks I have ever had the misfortune to command. The Duke of Burgundy emptied his prisons into my ships. If I had my way I would march them all straight to the slaughterhouse.’