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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

There is a note of panic in his voice. The men behind have noticed and everywhere they are asking the same thing. The movement is subtle, a shrinking, a withering, as the army takes a step back, cringing from the freakish light. Suddenly all thought of the fighting is suspended. There is a ripple of movement as men make the sign of the cross. More than one casts aside his weapon and falls to his knees.

‘It’s an omen!’ a man says.

‘Of course it’s an omen,’ March says. ‘But an omen of what?’

March looks around at his troops and Thomas sees that for once he does not know what to do, what to say. Then the two outer suns move closer together, nearer the centre sun, the larger of the three, and an even brighter ring of light springs from that central sun, to extend around each sun. The colours are of a rainbow.

‘A trinity of suns,’ Thomas thinks aloud. ‘God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.’

March stops and stares at Thomas. Then back at the suns, then at his men as they cower before the strange light.

He starts.

‘Off your horse,’ he says, half pulling Thomas from Hastings’s horse. He gives him his pollaxe and swings himself up into the saddle.

Is he going to run? No. His hands are hard on the reins as he yanks the horse around to face his men. Then he takes his hammer from his belt and uses his spurs to get the horse to rise on to its legs and thrash its head and bellow in rage.

‘Men of the Marches!’ he cries, his hammer in the air. ‘Men of the Marches! Sirs! Be not afraid! Do not dread this thing! It is a sign from God. Those three suns represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost! They are the Holy Trinity, sent as a sign to give us courage, to show us that the Lord God above is on our side, to show us that right will prevail! So let us be of good cheer and let us this day think to acquit ourselves as men, as we go against these His enemies right hard, to drive them from the field, for this is God’s will!’

There is a momentary pause, almost infinitesimally brief, before the man standing next to March roars, and as he roars, others join him, and still others, and then all through the army men begin raising and shaking their weapons and bellowing, and March throws himself from the horse’s saddle and stalks forward and behind him the army surges forward across the marshes towards Tudor’s battle.

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