‘We are not quite dying,’ I said. ‘But we are very wet. And Hector is warmly housed in your stables.’

‘Follow me,’ he said. ‘I will see you at dinner, Paul.’

We followed him up stairs and along a passage, until he threw open the door to a small corner room.

‘There is just one man in here, and he’s on duty tonight. There are two more beds.’

‘How is your head, now, Andrew?’ I asked. ‘I see your hair has grown back.’

He lifted the hair at the side of his head, revealing a small bare patch of skin. ‘Only a trace left,’ he said.

‘And the headaches?’

‘Almost gone.’

Berden looked from one to the other of us in puzzlement.

‘I was at Sluys,’ Andrew explained. ‘Kit tended me for a bad head injury at St Bartholomew’s’

‘He was shot,’ I said. ‘The bullet carved a groove along the side of his head your could put your finger in.’

‘Bad luck,’ said Berden.

‘No, good luck,’ Andrew replied. ‘The bullet passed me by and killed the man behind me.’

‘You must have been a cat in another life,’ I said.

He laughed. ‘Then I have another eight close escapes yet to go.’

‘Where is the jakes?’ Berden asked. ‘I’m bursting.’

‘Follow me. What about you, Kit?’

‘I’m fine,’ I said, turning aside. Another problem.

‘When you are ready, come down to the main hall and I’ll show you where we eat.’

The two of them went off and with frantic speed I changed into dry clothes, draping my wet ones over the single chair in the room. By the time Berden came back I was at the door.

‘The jakes is further along on the left, if you want it.’

I nodded. ‘I’ll see you in the hall.’

I found the jakes and to my relief it was deserted, so I seized the chance to relieve myself before hurrying back down the stairs. Although I would be glad of the protection of Berden’s company once we were abroad, travelling always in company with him would present constant difficulties.

Andrew was waiting, with a group of other troopers, standing close to the fire. He introduced them, but fatigue was beginning to catch up with me and I forgot their names as soon as I heard them. Just as Berden joined us, also wearing dry clothes, a servant walked across the hall, clanging a large hand bell. He went to the door of the keep and pulled it open, to howls of protest from the troopers. He leaned out and rang the bell, whose sound must have been muffled by the wind for anyone more than a few feet away. One man came in, blown through the door on a blast of snow which whirled across the hall like a dancing ghost before sinking to the floor and slowly melting. The servant put his shoulder to the door, helped by the newcomer, then walked away down a corridor, still ringing his bell. The soldiers turned as one and followed him, Berden and I amongst them.

The food was such as you would expect in a military garrison. Large earthenware bowls filled with a thick mutton stew. Not elegant, but filling, and welcome after our freezing journey. Plenty of coarse bread, as much as we could eat. Good beer. To finish, an apple pie nearly two feet across for every ten soldiers. The pastry was thick enough to break teeth unless it was allowed to soak a while in the juice of the apples, but once the pastry was softened it made a satisfying end to the meal. In fact I even loosened William’s leather belt a notch, to ease this unaccustomed quantity of food.

By this time I could feel sleepiness weighing me down and knew I could not stay on my feet much longer. The soldiers were getting up games of dice and cards, but they had spent their day quietly on guard duty in the castle, or drilling in the yard. They had not ridden near forty miles, most of it through a blizzard. Not that it seemed to worry Berden, who went off to join a game of cards. I understood why. Berden was known to have some skill in that quarter. Before he retired he would almost certainly have increased the weight of his purse.

I dragged myself up from the bench, where I had been sitting, almost comatose, and turned to Andrew.

‘It’s no good. If I do not go to my bed I will fall asleep on the table.’ I looked around as the soldiers made for the double doors at the end of the room. At the other end the officers had been eating at a table on a dais raised about a foot above the floor.

‘Is the officer in charge of the naval squadron up there?’ I inclined my head towards the officers, who were also preparing to leave.

‘Second from the right,’ Andrew said. ‘Sir Edward Walgrave. A different man altogether from our esteemed commander. Do you want me to introduce you?’

I shook my head. ‘Not tonight. But tomorrow we will have to ask him for a ship.’

‘He’s a reasonable man and a fine commander, but if the storm continues, he may not want to let one of his ships set sail.’

I shuddered. ‘I don’t want to go to sea in this, but we may have to.’

‘We will pray it has abated by tomorrow.’

‘Thank you, Andrew,’ I said. ‘I really must go to bed.’

‘Good night, Kit.’

I found my way back to the hall easily enough, for most of the soldiers were heading that way and gathering in groups, laughing and pulling out packs of cards and boxes of dice. A servant was walking about, filling tankards with ale. It looked as though Berden would be occupied for a long time yet.

The stairs were not far way. I plodded up them as if I were asleep already and walking in a dream. As I passed a window, firmly closed with shutters, I could hear the howling of the wind, which sounded louder than ever. I put my eye to the crack between the shutters, where a little light shone through from the flaring torches down below in the open courtyard. I could see very little except a dense cloud of whirling snow that spun in the air as if reluctant to settle. Yet it certainly would settle and the lying snow would probably be knee deep by tomorrow. What would we do if a ship could not be found to take us to the Low Countries? We could not linger here. Once in our room I pulled off my spare boots, collapsed on to the cot in the furthest corner and rolled myself up in the blankets. Before I had even straightened the pillow under my head I feel into a sleep of pure exhaustion.

Chapter Seven

When I woke the following morning Berden had already been and gone, at least so it seemed from the knapsack ready packed and set on top of his bed with his cloak laid over it. The third bed was now occupied, the bedclothes merely an anonymous hummock, the other soldier returned from night duty. There was a small window in the room, but I did not open the shutters for fear of waking him.

I pulled on my lightweight boots and laced them, then checked the clothes I had worn the previous day. They were mostly dry, except for the cloak, which I left spread out across the chair, so I folded them and packed them into my knapsack. Thanks to my having greased my heavy boots before setting out from London, they had let in only the cold and not the wet. My satchel had not been opened since our meal during the previous day’s ride. There was still a heel of a stale loaf, a piece of hard cheese and two apples, large new season’s ones. I left the food untouched, in case I should need it later. Before going down in search of something to break my fast, I risked a quick visit to the jakes. I met one soldier coming out and we nodded to each other, but there was no one else about.