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started and returned, Simon's archers could pick off most of them. Once Walter's troop was actively engaged, the archers could not volley for fear of shooting their allies, so a group of them could watch the road behind. |
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They waited tensely for another twenty minutes while the dull rumble sorted itself out into the thud of many feet, the plodding of slow-moving oxen and horses, the grind of wheels on hard earth. Now they could hear the higher notes even more clearly, the screech of axles, shouted orders, the whinny of a protesting horse. Simon and Walter glanced at each other. This was both good luck and bad. The presence of the wagons proved that their ambush was unsuspected, but they would have to order the men to move back. Walter nodded, and Simon pursed his lips to whistle a signalbut it was drowned out in the blare of horns and trumpets from farther down the road. |
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Walter saw flickers among the trees in which they were hidden and knew that Simon's men were running forward to where they could shoot. He waited until he felt they were clear and shouted orders to his own men to move, but they went along the road, and Simon came with him. Once the Welsh were launched, there was little he could do to direct them, and Simon was by training a knight who fought on horseback with lance and swordonly neither he nor Walter had a lance. Those were not easy weapons to maneuver among trees, and they did not expect the mounted men accompanying Monmouth's siege weapons to be carrying spears, either. |
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When the vanguard of the army came into sight, they were already in dreadful confusion. Richard's signal had warned them of a coming attack, and they had drawn together to protect the wains. This move, although useful against footsoldiers and even against mounted men, was an invitation to disaster when the attackers were Welsh bowmen. Simon's men were picked for their skill, but even had they been only fair bowmen, they could hardly have missed the target presented by the close-drawn enemy troops. |
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A first hail of arrows, loosed at the signal of a single whistle, wreaked havoc, striking victims above and below the round footmen's shields, and, although the captains immediately began to shout orders for the formation of turtles, some men were demoralized, others unable to comply. A second |
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