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Page 435
and tore it free. It was then that he became aware that Roger of Hemel was gone. He was struck from behind, which could never have happened if Sir Roger had been with him.
Geoffrey and the men still with him had been fighting steadily, with only intervals of a few minutes, for nearly four hours now. He had a dozen minor cuts, innumerable bruises, and two fairly bad wounds from which he was now losing blood in serious quantity. None of that even crossed his mind. What did worry him was that he had seen that Roger of Hemel's warning concerned a real danger. In all the twisting and turning, Geoffrey's eyes had swept nearly the whole field of battle. Although his attention was really on his opponents, he was war-wise enough for impressions of what he saw to remain in his brain.
He had to warn his father. He had to. They must retreat and consolidate their forces or all would be lost. Even as Geoffrey thought that, icy fear washed over him. The noise of battle was both louder and more muted than it should have been. In the fury of thrust and parry it took some time for the significance of that evidence of his ears to make sense and to explain his instinctive fright. Simply, it meant that there was no other battle. The dull roar that testified to screams, shouts, and blows at a distance was absent. What remained were the shrill cries, the sharp clang of weapons being employed near at hand.
Desperation was a fire in Geoffrey's weakening body. He struck and thrust like a madman, nearly heedless of blows launched at him. The ferocity of his attack saved him something, but more than one new cut and bruise were added to the many he bore. The wild activity also tore his two bad wounds wider and the blood ran quicker and thicker. Through all, however, his eyes constantly flicked to Salisbury, now only some five yards away from him. At last the earl struck down the man he was fighting.
"Papa!" Geoffrey screamed, "Papa, look! We are near surrounded. "Go back! Go back!''
Perhaps Geoffrey was not the first to cry that warning. Many shouts had been directed at Salisbury in the last half

 
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