booted toe of Sir Thomas Easley and looking up to the man’s face relaying the message, “Now.”
Easley tightened the grip on the reins in his gloved hand and with his other he held his sword high over his head giving the signal to his men to be ready. “Gate and bridge!” commanded Easley and the six men, poised to remove the bar, swing wide the gates and release the drawbridge across the wet moat, went into action.
In the quiet of the morning Sir Ralph heard the gates to the main tunnel open and the bridge slamming the far side of the moat with a loud report. He ordered his archers to go to work.
Death rained on the sleeping Scots as most of them slept. Two more volleys of arrow flights followed up with terrible devistation .
John Montgomery who had gone to that far end of the castle grounds to investigate heard the bridge hit the ground and when he also heard the sudden clattering of many horse hooves coming across the wooden bridge he began to cry out his warning to the top of his breath. “English are upon us!! English are upon us!!”
Men with swords drawn came to rally at his side but the horsemen passed them by before they could be engaged.
They were headed for the more fertile and less prepared killing ground.
“There’s more a’comin ’!” warned Montgomery as he saw the foot soldiers with spears following.
The dozen or so Scots gathered with Montgomery ran at the footmen screaming their war whoops across the field.
On orders, ten of the English men-at-arms foot stopped to confront the attacking Scots while the remainder continued along their original path.
Montgomery was the first to hit the splinter contingent with all his might and leading with his buckler. His swift sword strokes on impact were unexpected and two immediately paid the price for their slow wit.
The other Scots slammed more of the English on foot who were better ready. One clipped the bare head of a man as he swung his spear pole in close quarters. The man went down flinging blood in the weeds.
Within a moment that was done. Montgomery had three of his men on the ground groaning but all of the English were down except the one who ran back toward the gate tunnel to hide in the grass.
The marauding English knights and esquires ran their horses through the thickest part of the sleeping Scots hacking and maiming with the constant indiscriminate swings of their swords from the saddle.
The cries of the unfortunate and confused sleepers were heavy and piteous in the air.
The galling of Archibald Douglas was the least of his worries when he realized his camp was under sneak attack. He could see men all across the camp coming alive but not fast enough to save their skins.
Archibald pulled his hunting horn from his side and blew as loud a blast as he could manage. Men’s heads were hoisting in every direction. The blast also drew the attention of an English knight and he took the earl to be an easy target. So as he rode by he leaned out of the saddle to take a swipe at the earl’s head.
Archibald saw him out of the corner of his eye and instead of jumping back he went low and lunged forward. The gamble paid off as the large frame of the man hit the horse then when he came up the knight was flying pell-mell off his saddle with a surprised look on his face that instantly left when he hit the ground. With the English knight’s sword, Archibald hit him good in the belly below his limited chain mail.
The giant earl turned to see more.
Montgomery and his few were working their way toward Archibald as they stepped into the path of several oncoming, wheeling, slashing English knights and Montgomery ’s small group started their own slashing at arms, legs or whatever came close to blade.
Archibald plucked his shield and sword from the ground and set his jaw to get as many English horsemen out of commission as possible.
The English knights were doing the same.
Archibald saw the English filtering all around him. He ran into the
Easley tightened the grip on the reins in his gloved hand and with his other he held his sword high over his head giving the signal to his men to be ready. “Gate and bridge!” commanded Easley and the six men, poised to remove the bar, swing wide the gates and release the drawbridge across the wet moat, went into action.
In the quiet of the morning Sir Ralph heard the gates to the main tunnel open and the bridge slamming the far side of the moat with a loud report. He ordered his archers to go to work.
Death rained on the sleeping Scots as most of them slept. Two more volleys of arrow flights followed up with terrible devistation .
John Montgomery who had gone to that far end of the castle grounds to investigate heard the bridge hit the ground and when he also heard the sudden clattering of many horse hooves coming across the wooden bridge he began to cry out his warning to the top of his breath. “English are upon us!! English are upon us!!”
Men with swords drawn came to rally at his side but the horsemen passed them by before they could be engaged.
They were headed for the more fertile and less prepared killing ground.
“There’s more a’comin ’!” warned Montgomery as he saw the foot soldiers with spears following.
The dozen or so Scots gathered with Montgomery ran at the footmen screaming their war whoops across the field.
On orders, ten of the English men-at-arms foot stopped to confront the attacking Scots while the remainder continued along their original path.
Montgomery was the first to hit the splinter contingent with all his might and leading with his buckler. His swift sword strokes on impact were unexpected and two immediately paid the price for their slow wit.
The other Scots slammed more of the English on foot who were better ready. One clipped the bare head of a man as he swung his spear pole in close quarters. The man went down flinging blood in the weeds.
Within a moment that was done. Montgomery had three of his men on the ground groaning but all of the English were down except the one who ran back toward the gate tunnel to hide in the grass.
The marauding English knights and esquires ran their horses through the thickest part of the sleeping Scots hacking and maiming with the constant indiscriminate swings of their swords from the saddle.
The cries of the unfortunate and confused sleepers were heavy and piteous in the air.
The galling of Archibald Douglas was the least of his worries when he realized his camp was under sneak attack. He could see men all across the camp coming alive but not fast enough to save their skins.
Archibald pulled his hunting horn from his side and blew as loud a blast as he could manage. Men’s heads were hoisting in every direction. The blast also drew the attention of an English knight and he took the earl to be an easy target. So as he rode by he leaned out of the saddle to take a swipe at the earl’s head.
Archibald saw him out of the corner of his eye and instead of jumping back he went low and lunged forward. The gamble paid off as the large frame of the man hit the horse then when he came up the knight was flying pell-mell off his saddle with a surprised look on his face that instantly left when he hit the ground. With the English knight’s sword, Archibald hit him good in the belly below his limited chain mail.
The giant earl turned to see more.
Montgomery and his few were working their way toward Archibald as they stepped into the path of several oncoming, wheeling, slashing English knights and Montgomery ’s small group started their own slashing at arms, legs or whatever came close to blade.
Archibald plucked his shield and sword from the ground and set his jaw to get as many English horsemen out of commission as possible.
The English knights were doing the same.
Archibald saw the English filtering all around him. He ran into the
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