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Page 389
their end and did slip away from that searching troop, but it did little good. It seemed as if every keep loyal to the king in the area had been warned and had sent out its garrison to search. Simon could only curse the unfortunate circumstance that Hubert de Burgh's own lands and closest allies were east, in Kent, whereas his greatest possibility of safety lay west in South Wales. Thus, the king's forces were searching with equal assiduousness in every direction.
On foot and without the baggage, Simon, Rhiannon, and the men could have scattered and disappeared into the dark. But Simon was not willing to lose a troop of horses, including his own fine destrier by which it might be possible to identify him. In addition, there was all the clothing and jewelry, his camping equipment, the food, and other supplies that would have to be abandoned. If Simon had to, he would rather identify himself and give one of the excuses he had been concocting for wandering around in the middle of the night; he would even rather fight than lose his horses and goods.
In fact, Simon's temper was disintegrating so rapidly under the mingled effects of anxiety, distaste for running away, and sexual frustration that he would have loved to have someone pick a fight with him. Unfortunately, every force his scouts noted was stronger than his own. This meant attacking from ambush, which was really unjustifiable, or taking too great a chance of defeat. Simon's light-armed bowmen were not really the equals of a superior, heavy-armed force in open combat.
So they dodged and zigzagged from one wooded area to another, barely avoiding some troops, running hard ahead of others. Simon tried to keep them headed north, but they were driven east several times. In the end, this was an advantage because they stumbled upon a main road, which Simon figured had to be the Winchester-Cirencester road. Here, Simon decided

 
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