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Page 205
hanging back, needing to be urged and threatened by their captains.
This was an utter stupidity, Simon thought as he watched the troops retreat toward their camp. It was an act that the king would be likely to urge out of spite, but Simon could not understand how the great warlords, like Ferrars and Geoffrey, could have permitted Henry to have his own wayunless they did not wish any assault to succeed!
Simon was not alone in this opinion, and others, older and wiser, argued against Philip Bassett when he urged again and again that Richard ride out and attack the king's army now that they were in disarray. Richard would have resisted in any case, but it was easier for him because so many of his supporters now agreed with his passive role. So they sat and watched each other for four days. On the fifth, a mighty assault was made. New siege towers had been built and the king's forces flung themselves against the walls of Usk with a mad ferocity that spelled desperation.
After the attack was over, it reminded Simon of a great stonm at Roselynde, when gigantic waves crashed against the cliffs below the walls, only to break in spray and fall back, helpless. Simon was sure that this was the beginning of the end, and he smiled grimly to himself and thought, They are growing hungry. Possibly they had used the four days for foraging as well as building, and had found nothing or even had been mauled by Welsh ambushes.
He was pleased and amused, thinking that Richard would soon know the worth of Prince Llewelyn's help, and he came off the walls rather smugly satisfied with himself and the situation. A few hours later, this mood changed abruptly when, as the last of the daylight faded, a single man rode to the walls under a flag of truce and begged that Richard send out Simon de Vipont, under safe conduct to come and go freely, so that he might speak with his brother, Lord Geoffrey.

 
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