Here Be Dragons - 1 by Sharon Penman (best inspirational books txt) 📕

of her j|Uestion hit her; if he admitted she was the rightful heiress to Brittany, e was admitting, too, that Arthur was dead.he smiled. "Your claim is for certes superior to your half-sister's,"Said' adroitly sidestepping the trap.

422She could still ensnare him, she knew. She need only ask- W Arthur's claim?But John's gaze did not waver; his eyes held ri °' steadily, hypnotically. Crs We"Your sister and her husband have been French puppet pulled the strings and they danced at his whim. After I prevail ^ Philip, I shall want a more reliable regime in Brittany. Natu j^08* thought of you, Nell." ^' 'Eleanor swallowed. She was not so innocent that she did not u stand what was being offered and what was not. It might sound ** John was opening the door of her cage, but she'd still be tethered t h' will. If her sister wasPhilip's puppet, she would be John's.She laced her fingers together, sought without success to still th tremors.His advisers would govern in her name. He'd pick a husba d for her, and she'd be given no say in it. But she'd have a measure of freedom. And she was still young enough to have children, to have the family she'd thought forever denied her. She closed her eyes, and Arthur's name hovered on her lips, like an unspoken prayer."Well?" John put his hand on her arm, felt her quiver at his touch How fearful she was, as timid as a trapped doe. Her vulnerability stirred his pity, her lack of pluck his contempt. He tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. "What say you, Nell? If I make you Duchess of Brittany, will I regret it?""No, Uncle," she whispered. "You'll not regret it. I'll do whatever you want."ON February 14, John landed at La Rochelle. Taking advantage of an early spring thaw, he moved into Isabelle's Angouleme, and then the Limousin. When the de Lusignans scorned his offer of a truce, he led hi< army into Hugh deLusignan's county of La Marche. Philip had beei forced to split his army, dispatching his son Louis against John while hi headed north in an attempt to halt Will and Dammartin's depredation in Flanders. But Louis was an overly cautious commander, and Marc gave way to April and then May, and it began to seem as if the Angevin empire was John's for the taking.On Whitsun Eve, May 17, John captured the de Lusignan castle^ Mervant. The next day he moved on to Vouvant, where Hugh s un ^ Geoffrey de Lusignan, had taken refuge with his sons. Upon t e ^ fusal to yield, John's men surrounded the castle, and the siegee^After filling in the moat with brushwood and dirt, they succ ^ in setting fire to the wooden palisade, soon gained control o ^^ bailey. John then ordered his siege engines brought up, and aeair>" to dusk on Tuesday, the mangonels sent heavy rocks slamming

423ling.jjs and keep While in La Rochelle, John had secured a he cab evv siege weapon, called a trebuchet, it was a high-trajectory elative y ^^ more accurate than the mangonels, and by Tuesday ling/ o s^ too^ was m operation, hurling enormous boulders and jtterrt / ^,feejc flre anc} even the rotting carcasses of dead horses into (he are Q£ ^ besieged castle By nightfall, John's soldiers were t'ie' upon the hour of the castle's fall, and John's was the soundTgpofa man already Savonn8 the Vlctory to comeAft r breaking his fast the next morning, John summoned the Earl rhester and together they went to inspect the siege tower that had ompleted soon after sunrise Fashioned from tree trunks, it d more than sixty feet into the sky As John and Chester watched, ,es (joused in vinegar were tacked in place, and then, at John's signal, the huge belfry began to roll slowly across the baileyUp on the walls, the defenders were shooting flaming arrows, but they glanced off the hides, failed to ignite Under cover of their shields, men clambered down, knocked off the belfry wheels, and then lowered its drawbridge, settling it against the castle wall De Lusignan's soldiers began to throw torches, but men were already scrambling across, leaping onto the wall Others were emerging from the lower stories of the belfry, hastening to join their comrades on the drawbridge The fighting was now hand-to-hand combat Men grappled with each other, swearing and gouging and panting, some lost their footing and fell, or were pushed off the walls to their deaths But as more and more men crossed he drawbridge, the castle's defenders were forced to give ground Aleady some of the attacking force had lowered thong ladders, were 'imbing down into the baileyLook1" John gave a jubilant shout, pointed "Our men have the er gatehouse, the portcullis is rising'"By noon the de Lusignans and their surviving men had walled emselves up in the keep, and John's soldiers were readying them-1 Ves for the final assault John had decided not to dig a tunnel to unslo1"6-!he keep/ wnlle that was the surest method, it was also the taly S " tr^*^e Battering ram first," he concluded, after a pams-Lus"8 appraisal of the keep "Remember, though, that I want the de SUr« oH?5taken allVC 'f Possible l promised myself I'd have the plea-,y an8lng the whoresons," he added, and his captains laughed 'n und r ace'" Tne Earl of Derby was gesturing "A rider is comingJsior,-, ,a *> °* truce, and damn me if he's not wearing Hugh de6"an s hveryi"1 befom°ments an exceedingly nervous youth was kneeling in the re J°hn"Your Grace, my lord Count of La Marche most

424urgently requests a meeting with you. Will you grant him a saf so he might enter your camp?" c°nduC("Indeed I will," John said, and smiled. "Tell Hugh that if h haste, he'll be in time for