Part 8 - 1455-1485 - Wars of the roses - Freedom

To my great surprise, I was not the first to arrive back at the castle. Lenster was already there. I had headed straight for our old barracks, which had been converted into a pantry in our absence. There, sitting amongst the vegetables was the familiar gaunt face of my old colleague. When he saw me a wide smile spread across his thin features.

"Let me guess." He said, a sparkle in his bright red eyes. "You caught sight of one Joan of Arc in battle and decided it was time to pull out?" I nodded. "Same here. I have been thinking of myself as a coward for the past three weeks. Now I feel much better about myself."

I couldn't help myself but laugh. It was strange, but I had not liked this man in the slightest when we had parted, but now we were reunited I felt happy to see him. We talked all through the night and the following day, exchanging war stories. He told me I should check in with the Captain and so I did. The captain looked at my bedraggled form, my old trusty bow and my second hand armour and told me he would set me up with some new equipment. Then I was sent to rest.

After fifteen years of hunting and resting we were greeted with another friendly face. Smith had made it and also decided to return here. He told us he had witnessed the capture and burning of Joan of Arc. Soon after that the gods had turned their backs on the English, with every possible calamity costing the war.

Soon afterwards, Menteith appeared and it was as if the war had never even taken place. Our tenure within the castle seemed somewhat more strained because of the way the military had been moving away from knights and using soldiers more often, but we were able to adapt and show that we would be of long term use to our lord. Menteith spent less time with us than ever before though, most of the time being away visiting the King in London.

Then, in 1454 we were informed that the war was over. Many of our fellow soldiers from the house of Warwick had already returned, with the last few units making their way back gradually, but imagine my happiness when a large red beard appeared in our doorway. Williams was back. The burly great scot gripped each of our hands and there was a great deal of joviality. His stories were entertaining, as they always had been, and we felt complete again, as a family.

To celebrate we took to the town at night and joined the soldiers in their celebrations of being alive. The country itself was not so pleased with the defeat, but for us that mattered little. One such evening I was drinking with a group of bowmen, laughing as I drank as much as I wanted to no effect while they became more intoxicated by the hour. A group of local girls appeared in the tavern and began to pair up with the men. I looked across the room to see a blonde girl with bright blue eyes. I could smell her over the din of other scents in the room and I was smitten. I had to have her. Lucky for me, being a vampire made me much more attractive than I was in my mortal life, and I had not been shy with the ladies back then, so to speak. She willingly took me to her home, a room she shared with two sisters who were still in the tavern. Then things became somewhat hazy for me.

I remember us becoming very passionate, and I remember us being naked and falling onto her bed, but then her adrenaline filled me, mixed with her incredible scent and I was lost. The next thing I knew I was kneeling in a pool of blood and her body was literally torn in two, right down the middle. I knew this could cause an issue because she was local to the castle, so I did everything I could to cover it up. It was somewhat worrying though. The first time I tried to have sex in my current state, and it really did not end well.

Fortunately for me the country was my ally. In the following months and years disputes reigned and the people became restless. Needless to say the people of Warwick became cautious too, but in a time where the soldier was seen as an unnecessary strain on the land we became more isolated from the normal people. Then we were called into action yet again.

A further generation had passed at the castle, and my night of frenzy was long forgotten. It was 1461 and we had followed the Duke of Warwick and the King into a number of minor skirmishes. Then we were called North to the battle of Towton. Edward IV and his forces arrived on a snowy morning to find themselves disastrously outmanned. The cold did not help the moral, and the frozen ground was soon reduced to an icy mush in the melee. Over fifty thousand men were involved, and four vampires. Menteith had yet again sidestepped the fight.

There was a stage when I thought we must lose. Ever since the incident with the girl I had been suppressing my lust for violence when the adrenaline filled the air, and here I was trying to fight and subdue my fury. When I saw several Lancastrians take down Williams I let go of my anger and released the beast within. The next thing I knew I was standing in a pool of blood, bodies strewn about me. Williams extended a hand for me to pull him up. "Ah best nae tell yer aboot all the times ahve cheated at cards in the barracks!" He said with a wide grin.

From that point the battle turned in our favour, and Williams and I carved our way through the enemy with vigour. Lenster sent his modified trebuchet into action and Smith ploughed into the men like they were a field of wheat. Walking away from that battle was one of the more satisfactory things I had done, and our feeling of togetherness only grew.

The Duke of Warwick was known as the kingmaker, and we dutifully followed wherever he lead us, but he was doomed. The king was changing, his mental state in question, and the Duke decided he would work to put a new king on the throne. However, this did not end especially well for the Duke. The four of us were in Barnet in 1471 when he was killed in battle. This left us unsure of what to do next. We had moved off into the woods to discuss our future.

"Well." Said Smith, trying his best to keep his voice low. "What now? Our master lies dead and we will surely will be claimed by the crown now. Absorbed into another army."

"This is bad." Lenster was shaking. "I don't know how we should proceed now. All my life I have been loyal to the crown. Since we turned against the King nothing has gone our way."

"Aye but thares nae chance we can survive in the kings army." Williams shook his beard, droplets of mud flying to and fro.

"He's right Lenster." I chipped in. "If we follow the king we will be expected to join ranks with his men. Warwick is all but lost to us now, but without our living arrangement I feel that we would be easily picked out. Especially living in barracks."

"But we were ok in France." Lenster was desperate.

"That was France." I kept my voice calm and level. "Things were more lenient there. Here we would be more regimented. It would be impossible to hide our nature."

"Then what?" Asked Smith.

"We set up as mercenaries." Was the reply from Williams.

And so that is what we decided to do. We sold our services as an elite group to the highest bidder. This brought us several bags of money, and we also saw a lot of action, but most importantly we could control our actions. For the first time we were free to go where we wanted, and as the war raged on we became a desired element for both sides, not only in battle but also for missions of protection and assassination, but I will get to that shortly.

We had been involved in another bloody battle and were leaving the scene unscathed, as usual, when out of the mist rode a knight. When he raised his visor we saw it was Menteith, his face grim.

"Chaps, I hear you have gone rouge and are now soldiers of fortune." We all nodded like scalded children. "This is a poor choice. Join me. I have changed my name to Lambert and will be able to get you unquestionable power." But the four of us sensed the emptiness and desperation in his voice. He had become too involved with the war at the highest level and obviously fancied himself as king. We each turned our backs on him and walked away. "I will show no mercy the next time we meet." He yelled.

In 1483 we were contracted by the house of Lancaster to make a very bold move. It had been noted that King Edward IV was very mentally unstable. So much so that it would be wise to remove him from power. When a pair of regents approached us in London with a large bag of gold we really had no choice.

The assassination was almost the perfect plan. We had decided that instead of killing the king we would turn him into one of us, so we infected one of my arrows with Smith's venom and I placed a perfect shot through his window and into his arm. For a day we watched, expecting the change to take place, but then he fell to the ground and never moved again. Lambert discovered the arrow and found us the following night. This time there were no words, just action. He came at me first, but Williams and Smith used their strength to stop him. He went after Lenster but I halted his charge with one of my arrows. When he saw Williams approach with a flaming torch he decided he should retreat and was gone into the night leaving us cold and sweaty.

That was the point at which we decided to go to ground, and what better place for a master archer and his friends to hide than a large forest in the middle of the country. A forest known as Sherwood.