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Back Winter Pilgrims
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Book
  3. About the Author
  4. Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims
  5. Dedication
  6. Though the Lancastrian Claim comes from Edward III’s THIRD son, it relies on a) possession and b) that the crown can not pass through a woman – Philippa Mormer – so must fall to the next male in line. The Yorkist Claim relies on their descent from Edward III’s SECOND son, and says it can pass through Philippa. The Tudor Claim ignores the fact of passing through a woman – Lady Margaret Beaufort – or that John, Earl of Somerset, was born illegimate.
  7. Factions in the Wars of the Roses
  8. Prologue
  9. PART ONE
  10. 1
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. PART TWO
  15. 5
  16. 6
  17. 7
  18. 8
  19. 9
  20. 10
  21. 11
  22. 12
  23. 13
  24. PART THREE
  25. 14
  26. 15
  27. 16
  28. 17
  29. 18
  30. 19
  31. PART FOUR
  32. 20
  33. 21
  34. 22
  35. 23
  36. PART FIVE
  37. 24
  38. 25
  39. 26
  40. 27
  41. 28
  42. 29
  43. 30
  44. 31
  45. PART SIX
  46. 32
  47. 33
  48. PART SEVEN
  49. 34
  50. 35
  51. 36
  52. 37
  53. 38
  54. 39
  55. Acknowledgements

He waits. Ash rises around his feet. Dafydd is on Thomas’s shoulder, Henry sliding around to the left. He’s picked up a bill from a dead man. Thomas feints with the pollaxe. Riven lunges. Dafydd steps in with his sword, takes Riven’s blade on his buckler, staggers under the force, and slashes at Riven, but his sword bangs uselessly on Riven’s vambrace. He skips away with a yelp, clutching his hand. Riven smashes his quillon at Dafydd’s head. It hits his helmet and Dafydd staggers back, blood streaming into his eyes. Riven turns, faster than ever, and slices his blade at Henry, aiming for his legs.

Henry takes the blow on his squeaking greave and swings the bill short-armed at Riven. Riven steps inside and crashes his elbow into Henry’s face. Now Henry sags, two spurts of blood on his lips. Riven steps over him and lifts the sword. Thomas steps in, jabs at him, the point of the pole ringing on Riven’s cuirass, sending him staggering, breaking another of the leather straps.

Henry forgotten, Riven rounds on Thomas, who ducks and runs. Five paces: he turns and comes back. He chops at Riven. Riven blocks, then cuts back. Thomas drops back. One nick of that sword and it will all be over. He comes again, and once more Riven sends him scurrying away. His blade is so quick it defies the eye to follow it.

But the knight next to Riven is floundering. His sooted armour is crimped from some earlier blow, and he is finding it difficult to move. He is staggering as the other billmen lash their pikes at him. He’s being beaten down. He doesn’t have long to live. Riven is tiring too. Thomas slashes at him again, the point of the axe scraping a weal down the side of his visor, nearly unpinning it. Riven dances aside; his sword flashes and slices through the meat on Thomas’s shoulder. It feels as if it has been burned and he gasps with the pain.

Henry has recovered, but his legs are sloppy, and his chin and chest are covered in blood. He comes at Riven from the other side. Riven forms a triangle, back to back with the two knights still standing. There are dead billmen lying in the ashes under their feet. Many more are wounded enough to want no further part in this.

A moment later the third knight goes down under a flurry of blows from the other billmen, but as they move in to finish him off, one of the billmen loses his wrist to the second knight’s axe. Blood sprays over their feet in the ash as the billman slides away.