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Page 156
Geoffrey bent to look at him, a band of men burst from surrounding doorways. Although their numbers were insignificant in comparison with Geoffrey's force, numbers meant little in the crowded space. It was a hard-fought twenty minutes, with Geoffrey standing over his fallen liege man as once, when he was a young squire, Ian had stood over him.
That time Geoffrey's force came near disaster. Most of the responsible vassals rushed to their lord's aid from side streets when they heard the sound of fighting, which concentrated the leadership into one small space. Then, from the rooftops, the archers began to fire. In the close packed mass of men, the arrows could scarcely miss, and in the heat of the fighting it was a little while before anyone even realized that death was raining down on them from above. Drawn from his concentration on the battle in which he was engaged, Geoffrey shouted to Sir Robert de Remy to set some men to bursting in the doors so that they could get above and wipe out the plague of archers.
When the furor died down, it was discovered that others were also hurt. Sir Alfred of Ealand had an arrow through the thigh and some men-at-arms whose armor was not as effective as the mail of the knights were dead or badly hurt. The wounded were sent back to camp with an escort and Geoffrey moved his men forward again. They went with more care now, clinging to the sides of the streets so that they would not be easy targets for stones from the roofs. With their backs to the wall and their shields before them, they were also less vulnerable to archers. The Welsh knew that, however. No attempt was made to shoot at them until they were once more engaged in combat.
The tactic could not work well a second time, of course. As soon as a group of men charged into the street to engage Geoffrey's troop, de Remy's men began to batter at all the doors along the street. That time only one of Geoffrey's men-at-arms was hit by an arrow and he sustained only a slight wound. Essentially that was the end of all resistance in Geoffrey's sector. The men who opposed him were not

 
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