Had the numbers lain more in our favour, I might have thought like Robert, but as it was I found myself agreeing with Morcar. Giving battle was always a risky business, and never a course of action to be undertaken lightly, unless victory could be all but assured, which in this case it could not.
‘Where is your nephew?’ Robert asked. ‘Is he here, or have you left him back at Elyg where he can do no harm?’
‘He is here,’ Morcar said, and gave a snap of his fingers. ‘Godric!’ One of the men I’d taken for Morcar’s hearth-troops stepped forward, untied his chin-strap and removed his helmet, revealing a plump-faced youth whom I recognised at once. He looked even more nervous, if that were possible, than he had three days ago while kneeling before the king. I could not recall ever seeing anyone so finely dressed for war and yet looking so uncomfortable, and so terrified.
‘Don’t forget that if I hadn’t let Godric lead the scouting-party that night, we might not be standing here now,’ Morcar said mildly. ‘Your king ought to be thanking me for making this meeting possible.’
‘I will make sure to tell him when we return to camp,’ Robert said, and there was no mistaking his sardonic tone. ‘Should I suppose that you have an answer for him?’
‘I do. I have listened to his offer and received his writ, and considered it carefully.’
‘And what do you say?’
‘That I accept his terms, and that I promise to lend my spears in your support when you make your next attack across the bridge in a few days’ time.’
‘How are you so sure that we’re planning another attack?’ I asked.
Morcar snorted as he turned to me. ‘Do you think we are blind? We have all seen your men labouring to repair the causeway and the siege platforms, and to clear the ground all about of reeds and sedge. It is hardly any secret that King Guillaume is preparing for another attempt to capture the Isle, and soon, if the number of tents and banners that gather daily around the guardhouse at Alrehetha are any clue.’ He turned to Robert. ‘I’ll tell you what will happen. As soon as I hear that the first of your conrois has crossed the bridge, I’ll turn my spears against my countrymen, and send word to those of my loyal followers to do the same. The Isle will belong to us within hours. I will surrender Elyg to your king and at the same time make my formal submission to him.’
‘What makes you think you have the right to direct the course of the battle?’ I asked.
A frown descended upon Morcar’s face, as if in his eyes I were a mere gnat, for whose buzzing he cared little. ‘Are you leader here, or is he?’ he asked, gesturing at Lord Robert. ‘Which one of you should I be speaking to?’
‘To me,’ Robert said before I could open my mouth. ‘I speak for the king.’
‘Then tell him what I have just told you.’
‘What if he has a different strategy in mind?’
‘Then of course he is free to pursue it if he wishes, but he will not succeed,’ Morcar said, swelling out his chest and drawing himself up to his full height. ‘Without my help he faces an impossible task. I have more than a thousand spears at my command. Without those spears he cannot succeed.’ He glanced at me. ‘That’, he said, speaking slowly, ‘is what gives me the right.’
‘You ask a lot of our trust,’ said Robert. ‘You say you will do nothing until we reach the other side of the bridge. By then our army will be committed. If you decide not to make good on your promise—’
‘That is a chance you must take. From what I hear, the king is determined to press ahead with this latest assault regardless of whether he has my support or not.’
I frowned. ‘How do you know this?’
He grinned. In the torchlight his teeth gleamed as white as a Welshman’s, and I wondered whether he obsessed about cleaning them in the same way. Certainly he seemed to think highly of himself; there was a look of self-satisfaction about him, as if he had us all acting according to his desires.
‘It doesn’t matter how I know it, only that it is true, and you have as good as confirmed it for me.’
Robert glared at me, but I knew that Morcar was only trying to taunt us. He wouldn’t risk appearing foolish in front of us by saying such a thing unless he could be reasonably confident he was right. Possibly he had gleaned that knowledge from Godric after his return to Elyg, or it was merely an assured guess. Whichever, I was fast taking a dislike to his arrogant manner.
‘Come, though,’ said Morcar. ‘Let us not sow any seeds of suspicion between us. You have my word that I will fulfil my part as we have discussed, and as surety of my good faith, I give you my nephew as hostage. Should I break my word, you may kill him. Is there any greater guarantee I can give you than that?’
That was why Godric looked so frightened, then. He already knew what his role would be. Although, I thought, should Morcar fail to keep his side of the agreement, his nephew’s death would be scant vengeance for the loss of hundreds of Norman knights.
‘Uncle—’ Godric started to protest.