‘There is no time to lose, Gilbert. I’ll travel fast and I’ll catch them up.’

‘We will not do as you ask. Who knows how many the bitch has with her?’

‘De Hayle had two left alive in the cathedral. I doubt he has more with him. We hurt him badly along the way. Most of those we didn’t kill will have deserted him. He’s done no raiding here; he has no money to pay more men. It is not a request, Gilbert,’ said Blackstone, securing his shield to the saddle. ‘You must command the men. Do not defy me, I beg you. Take this wretched King to his ship and send him to the Prince.’ He laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘Our honour demands it.’

Killbere’s despair was plain to see. ‘I cannot,’ he pleaded.

‘There are only a handful of men with her. They will be on foot once they reach the cliffs, and they are not us, Gilbert. We climb better than mountain goats and every one of them will lag behind the other. I’ll kill them one by one.’

‘One mistake, one fall – anything could happen and you’d lie dead on a mountainside. We can take this turd King to his ship and turn back and hunt them down.’

‘You heard what the old man said. Why do you think they’re avoiding the ports? They’re going to a deserted part of the coast because they have a boat waiting in one of the coves. There is no time for us to hunt them. One man can track them. And that is my decision.’

Meulon, Renfred, Will Longdon and Jack Halfpenny followed John Jacob and William Ashford towards them.

‘Sir Thomas,’ said Meulon stepping forward, ‘we have never disobeyed you but today we stand as one man and beg you to let us ride with you.’

Killbere threw his arm out. ‘You see, Thomas, not one man will abandon you to this madness.’

Blackstone faced them. ‘Our blazon says we are defiant unto death. Those words on our shields are there to confront our enemies, not to tear apart everything we have done together, the sacrifices we have made, or to dishonour our friends who died at our side. It was the Prince who gave us our blazon, who acknowledged our brotherhood. We swore an oath and I depend on every man here and those you command to honour it. I will take every one of you in my heart so I will not be alone, but I must give chase to the killers and deliver justice. Follow my orders and finish what our Prince asked of us.’

Blackstone’s gentle persuasion gave his captains no means of reply.

‘Wait for me,’ he said, ‘and then together we ride home.’

*