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Page 173
more land for Wales than was ever truly ruled by the Cymry. The raiding parties would have reached the army before I came here. They are on foot and able to travel quicker."
"On foot? Quicker than riding?" Disbelief was clear in Richard's voice. "And what could they do against armed and mounted knights?"
Simon opened his mouth to laugh, then reminded himself that Richard was not being stupid. Because he had spent nearly all of his adult life in France, Richard really did not know.
"They run up the mountains and across the ridges where no horse can go," Simon said patiently. "My men and I came down the river valleys, more than two hundred miles, perhaps nearer to three hundred. For them it will be little over one hundred. As to what they can do against knights, it is more a question of what the knights can do against them. This is no formal, open challenge on a clear plain. The attacks will be made when a group passes through a heavily wooded area or through a narrow ravine. They will cut off the guards with a hail of arrows, drive away the horses, carts, and oxen, and disappear into the hills or woods again." Simon sighed. "I wish I could be with them."
"You have been too long among the Welsh," Richard growled, appalled by such tactics and Simon's approval of them.
Simon shrugged. He knew that many knights thought Welsh-type war dishonorable. But any other kind would be suicide for the numerically weaker and infinitely poorer Welsh. However, it did not seem worthwhile to argue the question, so all Simon said was "Perhaps, but I never loved to be pent up within walls."
Nonetheless, Simon had little choice in the matter. In private Llewelyn had given him specific orders in addition to the oblique promises to Richard, and the oblique permission to take part in the war. Before he

 
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