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(Page 2 of 8) Cry for the Wolf : Prologue by Richard Walker
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The armorial bearings upon his black velvet surcoat were halved with those of the king, a great honor.
"Yes, Sir Stephen," the king nodded thoughtfully 'neath the weight of a crown that had grown steadily heavier with the score of years that had passed since he donned it, "But not well enough, it would seem. Though the worst of it hath been here in the Low Marches, Mummersetshire be not the only district beset. Indeed, all the shires across the southern parts of the realm south of Squires' Straits have felt the wolves' bite, from Scarburgh in the west to the Lightning Coast south of Fisherport."
A beefy man, not short but by no means tall, shifted uncomfortably on the cushions of his campaign chair, with face ruddy and beard ruddier still, a wild wiry grizzled fringe around his bald pate.
"Good Sire, we have done all that we may, all that we could, and e'en now are preparing ourselves to maintain vigilance through the hard winter months fast approaching, for hard it would seem they will be if 'tis bad enough in the mountains and uplands to force such numbers of wolves down upon us even now. What more can we do?"
"We have no word from the Highlands that the weather be the cause, Ruttanshire. And Thou art Our advisors, tellest thou Us! Thou, Ruttanshire, thou art Our great Earl Marshal, what dost thou about this plague of beasts that vexes Us? What reports hast thou of Our forces across the realm?"
"If it please His Highness ..." Owain's look was thunderous, "The tale is much the same everywhere. They strike hither and yon, seeming at whim, but cunning enough to avoid our warriors in arms, even to singling out the doors of the poor to batter down, who cannot afford the iron to make them strong, feasting upon women and children when their husbands must take their axes and bows out to get wood or hunt game, and then strike twenty or fifty leagues away from one day to the next."
"It pleaseth Us not," Owain snapped.
"Majesty I must protest! We have been over and over this a half-dozen times in just the last se'ennight. The garrisons are deployed, the hostings called forth and all available men of arms of the militia of the shires at the disposal of the king and his lords have been called out and organized in every hundred under the sheriffs and their constables. The southern lands are hard to defend against any foe but the armed forays of foreigners we have dealt with in years past, for they must needs follow the passes, roads, canals, coasts, and other waterways, confined to the easier ways across the wild borderlands. Such a foe we can anticipate sommat and work to gather our forces and deploy them to answer. Against these beasts, however, each castle, village, and town must stand alone excepting what aid they can cry for in the immediate vicinity, as his Majesty hath seen."
Owain turned then on Stephen.
"Stephen, thou art Our champion, what art thou about?"
"Great Majesty, I have divided, what forces I could muster among the most vulnerable places, where I deemed they could work the most good for thy subjects, without stripping mine own holdings of the defense l owe them in return for their diligent labors on my behalf.
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