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aware of the passing of time nor of fear until, suddenly, there was Simon, with dried blood on his arm and knee, patiently waiting his turn. Rhiannon shrieked aloud with joy and in the next instant cried, "Where is Walter?" |
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Simon laughed. "In hiding, I think. He did break his collarbone again and does not wish to bear what Sybelle will say to him." |
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Needless to say, Sybelle uttered not a word except the sweetest that love and relief could bring to her tongue. In fact, she had great difficulty holding back a paean of joy, as it was almost certain the attack on Shrewsbury would take place before Walter's shoulder could heal, and that would mean that he would take no active part in the fighting. |
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In this, Sybelle was not disappointed. The ambush had fulfilled Richard's highest hopes. John of Monmouth himself had escaped, but the slaughter among his men had been enormous. The casualties among Richard's troops, on the other hand, had been very light. Indeed, Simon and Walter had withstood the hardest of the battles. For a few minutes, between the returning foreriders and a group of mounted men-at-arms who were trying to break away forward, it had been a near thing, but Richard Siward's men had been hard on the heels of the escaping troop. It was in the few minutes of hard fighting that Walter's collarbone had given way, but he had sustained no other hurt and had remained with his troop, guarding the captured wains and prisoners and eventually directing them toward Abergavenny. |
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That was what made him and Simon so late in returning. Richard did not come back until the next afternoon. Since his casualties had been so few, he had reorganized his sound troops and pursued Monmouth's men nearly to the gates of the keep, looting and burning all the way. So the land was empty, the people fled, and at least half of Monmouth's army was dead, wounded, or prisoners. Monmouth would not be able to organize anothereven if he had the money and will to do itin less than a few months. No help would come to Shrewsbury from the king's men in the south. |
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As soon as he returned to Abergavenny, Richard plunged into plans for starting his fighting men north. The siege engines and war machines should already have reached the agreed-upon rendezvous with Llewelyn's forces. Marie asked |
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