Sir Guy leads the band that has collected tax money from the Muslim subjects of King Merlin
Chapter Eleven
A kind of bored, uneasy peace descended upon the little mountain realm. King Merlin was acknowledged overlord of a number of Muslim villages and hamlets. It was from these subjects that he drew most of his taxes. Prince Richard's revenue was only a quarter or less of that of his father. And he brought up this sore subject. Unfortunately, while in his cups, at the royal high table when the entire court was assembled for one of the many feasts that the king held, the prince loudly proclaimed his opinion that the distribution of wealth between the two halves of the realm was unfairly split. His father did not wish to discuss business during the festivities and tried to downplay his son's behavior with humor, and attempted to ignore him. But Richard was having none of that. Finally his behavior became embarrassing and he covered his feelings by getting angry; and, rising from the table he left in a state of high dudgeon.
The feast was spoiled. And before dawn the prince's retinue quitted the royal castle, taking to the highway at a stiff trot. It was obvious to everyone that father and son had fallen out, yet again.
Prince Richard knew of a small band of highwaymen, mostly of the Muslim persuasion: mostly young men discontent with a life under oppressive Christian rule. These dare devils followed a youthful captain who went by the popular name of Salman Ibn Bahrtuki (he was neither Jewish nor "rich in furrows", i.e. lands, but he did aspire to the same).
Richard approached Salman by sending two of his retainers to their neighborhood, where it was known that Salman and his men had a secret hideout amongst a warren of caves and narrow ravines. Richard's men were seen, apprehended and taken to Salman, which was exactly what the prince wanted to happen. He had given his men what to say: "Our lord the prince offers to split the tax gathering money with you. We know of the place and time that is best suited to ambush the king's tax collector, Sir Guy."
Salman liked the idea and after talking it over with his men, he agreed to the venture. Richard's two men-at-arms were to join in. They covered their arms in Saracen burnooses.
Sir Guy leads the band that has collected tax money from the Muslim subjects of King Merlin
They march in the open, making around a thick copse of brush and rocks
The robbers are secreted amidst the cover with drawn bows
One of Richard's men-at-arms waits with his weapons ready
Another view of the prepared ambush
The other of the prince's men-at-arms waiting out of sight
Salman sits his horse, his bow at the ready
The first arrows fly!
Most of the Saracen archers target Sir Guy. His armor deflects and absorbs the missiles. One or two strike his warhorse but are likewise rendered ineffective. With arrows suddenly sniping into their midst, Sir Guy and his "tax collectors" momentarily panic and hasten along their path in a disorganized gaggle.
Sir Guy rallies his men
They turn toward the ambushers. A halberdier takes a shaft and is wounded out of the fight.
The mounted archer ...
... shoots a Saracen bowman off his "rock"
Now two halberdiers are down!
The crossbowman shoots and misses.
The mounted archer's horse is killed!
He is pinned under the stricken animal. The surviving two halberdiers and the crossbowman dive for cover at the base of a large "rock" slab. Sir Guy and his man-at-arms (toting the taxes/tribute) advance on their tormentors.
Sir Guy's men regain their courage.
The nearest ambusher is attacked by a halberdier. The second halberdier survives the shot from his foe.
The crossbowman remains in cover and spans his weapon
Salman and one of his comrades shoot at Sir Guy but fail to stop him
The archer gets out from under his horse and on his feet; the crossbowman is reloaded
Sir Guy and the halberdier enter the melee
As he lays into this pair of foes, he does not recognize prince Richard's treacherous men-at-arms. The axeman breaks his weapon. Bearing his appointed duty (in the form of a gold-plated pizza-sized coin), the man-at-arms follows up close behind.
The (formerly) mounted archer and a Saracen archer trade shots and miss each other
Drawing down on the preoccupied archer, Salman scores
The halberdier next to Sir Guy gets his man
In the next instant, Salman and his men feel that unmistakable urge to flight!
The pursuit is on!
With two foes fleeing from him, the other halberdier is consumed with elation and impatience. His wild stroke misses both dodging bowmen and shatters on the slab of rock! (weapons quality is now seriously suspect; perhaps the tiny realm needs a new smith)
Salman Ibn Bahrtuki gets his wits about him almost at once and looses a shaft at Sir Guy, but it flies wide
The crossbowman steps out from behind the rock slab ...
... draws a bead on Salman's back ...
...and brings down his horse.
The "wolfs head" leader is now pinned under his horse! But he swiftly extricates himself and gets to his feet.
Prince Richard's two men-at-arms flee, desperately defending themselves
The Saracen bowman who had been trading shots with the archer had routed to the bowl-shaped rock formation, where he rallied, and climbed atop a boulder.
Salman sees no one of his band left but the single bowman atop a boulder in the middling distance. He signals to his man. They both see the man-at-arms with the sought after booty, making his ponderous, implacable way across the open ground between them.
Another Saracen (well off to Salman's left and thus out of sight) also turned around, and loaded an arrow onto his bow string, looking for something to shoot. He spied the crossbowman just at that moment in the act of spanning his weapon. The Saracen took aim and shot, but the pavise on the crossbowman's back took the hit.
The crossbowman and Saracen bowman exchange shots
The crossbowman turns with his loaded weapon and both men shoot. The robber goes down!
Between them, Salman and his bowman in the rocks drop the tax-bearing man-at-arms!
The two halberdiers pursue their foes from the field. But Sir Guy sees the man-at-arms rolling on the ground in his gore. He turns away from his easy prey and goes after the king's tribute. Sir guy dismounts and takes up the tax money. Arrows whip past him and strike his armor as he remounts.
Sir Guy remounts
He also has one remaining comrade in arms, the crossbowman, who is reloading his weapon between two protective large rocks. Salman takes stock of the situation: he's about to be shot at, again, by the crossbowman, who has proven himself to be a deadly aim. The knight is eyeing him from the back of his destrier, and it is obvious that he is contemplating an attack. The robber leader waves his man in the rocks away and turns in rapid flight himself, soon vanishing amongst the ravines at his back.
Sir Guy is victor of the little field
One Saracen had been killed outright, two were found unconscious and bleeding badly. The crossbowman cut their throats. Of Sir Guy's own men, one halberdier was found dead, the other seriously hurt and needing to be carried. The man-at-arms likewise was too seriously perforated by arrows to move under his own power. The mounted archer had suffered a full frontal shot to his body, but, aside from having the wind knocked out of him, was none the worse for his experience.
King Merlin, when he learned of the attempted theft of his tax money, and the mortally dangerous methods of the would-be robbers hiding out on his son's lands, was livid to say the least. He sent to his son, the prince, and had him come to the royal castle for a strategical talk. As prince Richard's involvement, nay, instigation of the failed robbery, was unknown, he relaxed in his father's presence and discussed what was to be done about this new (as yet small scale) menace growing (almost as it were) under their own roof. "I will not suffer brigandage in my domain!" thundered the king. Prince Richard nodded in agreement, sharply regretting his stupid move to shame his greedy father. But at the same time, he was still smarting under the unevenly divided revenues coming to the royal family from their Muslim subjects. Something still needed to be done about that.
But, of course, such a duplicitous act on the prince's part could not be wasted, thought Salman Ibn Bahrtuki. He made sure that rumors spread in the marketplaces of the realm. And soon it was being spoken of everywhere: that prince Richard had attacked his fathers tax gatherers, that he was in league with infidels, that he was plotting his father's downfall, that he was seeking allies to guarantee success to that end. Etc.
The king spoke of these rumors to his son and received unsatisfactory replies. What could be said? He was guilty of the botched robbery. His earlier words at the high table had been heard by many and were widely remembered. He was judged guilty by public opinion.
The little kingdom in the mountains was simmering again, poised for a civil war ...