Page 20 of Hers To Command
“Then pardon me, for I am parched,” he said, tossing back a gulp.
She sidled toward the door. “Now that you know why I came and since you are not ill—”
“I’m sorry if I frightened you,” he interrupted, his gaze pinning her in place, “but then, you nearly scared the liver out of me.”
She was shocked he would admit that. “I did?”
“I fear little when I’m awake, but when I dream…” He shrugged. “I wish I never dreamed.”
“So do I.”
The words came out before she’d thought, and when she saw the expression on his face, she wished she’d been more circumspect.
“Was it a bad dream that awakened you tonight?” he asked, finally reaching for his shirt that was lying on the back of her father’s chair.
“No, I had not yet gone to bed.”
“Too worried about Roald, I suppose,” he replied. “If I might make a suggestion, my lady, regarding your garrison?”
He was a trained knight, learned in battle techniques and strategy. She would be a fool not to hear what he had to say about the garrison. “Please.”
“Your garrison lacks discipline, more so than any I have ever seen. I fear chaos and defeat should Roald attack.”
She bristled at the implication that her men were going to lose. “Cerdic is one of the finest, bravest men in England.”
“I don’t doubt his courage, my lady,” Sir Henry replied as he leaned back against the table and crossed his arms. “In fact, you could have some cause to wish he werelessstouthearted. He strikes me as the sort of fellow who will charge into the thick of the fighting with little regard for strategy. I fear he lacks the ability to stay back to guide his troops more effectively.”
A sharp retort came to Mathilde’s lips, but a niggling doubt that he was right stopped her. “The men like him,” she offered instead.
“Which is good if he wants them to be his friends, not so good if he is to command them.”
“They respect him, too,” she added, certain Cerdic wouldn’t let her down. “They will follow his orders.”
“At once, with no thoughts of contradicting or complaining because they fear disobeying him more than they fear the enemy?”
Mathilde’s brows furrowed with disapproval. “My father didn’t govern with fear.”
“It is not of governing I speak, my lady,” Sir Henry replied. “It’s commanding men in battle. Soldiers must react to orders without thinking, without protesting. A moment’s hesitation, and all could be lost.”
That might be true, and yet…“Must men fear their commanders as much as the enemy?”
“Sir Leonard taught us that your men should fight with all their heart because they not only fear to lose and die, but fear to face your displeasure.”
“That is the Norman way, I suppose,” she reflected. “But Roald is not a Norman. Nor has he ever led an army into battle, or attacked a castle.”
“He can hire those who have, as you’ve sought my help. In the meantime, your sentries loll about as if every day’s a saint’s feast day. All your men behave as if their main tasks are to eat, drink and talk.”
She had noted the lack of order and discipline but had assumed—hoped—that her men would pull together when the time came.
Sir Henry’s gaze intensified and his expression grew more stern. “Discipline is not something that can be put on when needed and discarded when it’s not,” he said as if he’d been reading her mind. “What will happen if Roald brings an army here and your men are caught unprepared?”
“There is no need to keep strict watch from the battlements,” she told him, seizing on one part of his observations that she could refute. “We have men watching every road, starting twenty miles away. A warning will be sent the moment Roald is spotted. We will be ready.”
“I hope so, for your sake and all those in Ecclesford.” He took a step closer and his expression was more serious than she had ever seen it. “Regardless of whether or not you think your men are prepared, let me take command of your garrison for the time I am here and ensure that they are.”
His offer took her aback. “You would do that?”
“If you would allow me, especially since I have plenty of time on my hands. A man can only hunt so much. Why not use my knowledge, if I am willing to share it?”
