Blackstone looked at the villagers making their way along the contour track on the hill behind them. ‘They’ll be massacred. Álvaraz, we must defend this place.’

‘Stop here?’ the Spaniard said, looking around the open ground. ‘The hills at our back and open ground on all sides? They will outflank us whenever they wish. No, Sir Thomas. At least we should die with glory. We strike them and if any of us survive they ride hard for the King.’

Blackstone grabbed his arm before Álvaraz could issue the command. ‘We can buy time for these people.’

The Spaniard yanked free. ‘With so few men? How?’

‘With those villagers’ help. We make the skinners think we are stronger and that if they attack, we can overcome them.’

Álvaraz squinted in the biting wind. ‘Did the witch drug you? Have you lost your mind?’

‘Listen to me. Let me explain.’

‘No, Sir Thomas, there is no time. There’s nothing we can do. Those peasants are on the run. They will die just as we will die if we stay here. Let them return to the forest where they might have a chance.’

Blackstone let him walk away and then called after him. ‘You’re a man of courage who serves his King. These people look to the King for protection and so they look to you. It’s your name that will be reviled throughout Castile if you abandon them and praised if you stay. Not his.’

Álvaraz glared at the Englishman, but the words made him pause. Blackstone had had no reason to accompany him. He had relinquished his place riding with Don Pedro. He had given his word that the Spaniards would not fight alone. He looked up at the wretched creatures fleeing the approaching horde of routiers. There would be no mercy given to anyone who stood in their way.

‘Very well. Tell me what it is you wish us to do.’

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Blackstone spurred the bastard horse uphill with Álvaraz at his side. The village men pushed back their women as the sturdy war horses loomed over the contour track. Some turned and ran in fear but Álvaraz called to them. Once they saw that the two men and those with them posed no threat they stood obediently, vassals of a King they dared not to disobey.

‘Tell them this,’ said Blackstone and recounted that hundreds of routiers would soon attack but if they stayed together and did as the Spanish captain told them then they would live through the day and find sanctuary in a town further west. The men listened to the plan and Álvaraz tried to quell their fears and persuade them they could run and die, scattered across the hills, or stay and have a chance to make the enemy turn away.

The villagers looked down to where John Jacob and Will Longdon were helping the archers empty the pack horses’ loads, stripping away yards of different coloured cloth and silk.