"Simon Hawke - Time Wars 01 - The Ivanhoe Gambit" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

They made camp in the woods, electing to shiver in the night air rather than risking a fire. Lucas felt
that they would have enough on their hands once they neared Ashby; there was no point to inviting
trouble until they had some time to scout around. They had brought some provisions with them, so they
did not go hungry, but they all ate in silence and then retired to sleep among the trees, taking turns at
standing watch. It was like the quiet before a battle. The night passed uneventfully, giving Lucas a chance
to contemplate his "memories."
Things had not gone well for Richard during this last Crusade. There had been yet another truce with
Saladin, but it had been negotiated mainly in the interests of saving face. Saladin was a skilled and crafty
warrior and his cause had only been advanced by dissension in Richard's ranks. A good sized faction of
Richard's Norman knights had given their allegiance to Philip of France. Most of these knights belonged
to the orders of the Knights of St. John and the Knights Templars. These same knights, the Templars and
the Hospitalers, had taken the side of John of Anjou against his brother. While Richard was away,
playing knight errant, John consolidated his power, egged on by that portion of the Norman nobility who
stood to gain the most by his sitting on the throne. Most of the barons who had remained faithful to
Richard and who had departed with him on his war had their lands and estates reassigned behind their
backs by John, who neatly turned those properties over to his toadies in order to secure their backing.
Among those unfortunate, now landless knights, Ivanhoe, a favorite of Richard's, had been among the
first to lose his fief. He had returned to his native England, war-weary and penniless, without even a suit
of armor to his name. That, at least, had been taken care of, courtesy of the U.S. Army. Lucas had a suit
of nysteel that, while heavy in order not to arouse too much suspicion, was still lighter by far than the
conventional armor of the day. It was far more flexible and impervious to swords and lances.
Ivanhoe had other problems on his hands, as well. It seemed that Cedric, his father, had been
anxious to start a Saxon revolution to overthrow the Norman conquerors. To this end, he had hoped to
arrange a marriage between his ward, Rowena, who was descended from the line of Alfred, and his
friend Athelstane, a porker of a Saxcn knight who was also of noble blood. This union, Cedric had
hoped, would prevent the formation of factions among the Saxons, uniting them behind one house. The
only hitch in his plan had been Rowena, who preferred Cedric's son to Athelstane. Wilfred had taken
quite a fancy to her. When ordered to cease and desist, the son had rebelled against the father. Cedric
was already displeased with his son. The old man did not approve of Wilfred spending time at court,
learning the Norman art of fighting and picking up various Norman ways. When Wilfred began to court
the woman Cedric intended to marry off to Athelstane and under his own roof, yet, it had been the straw
that broke the Saxon's back. In a fit of temper, Cedric had disinherited his son, banishing him from his
house and vowing never to speak his name again. Thanks to Ivanhoe's incontinence, Lucas now had an
angry father and a pining sweetheart to contend with. As far as he was concerned, he didn't care if he
never met up with Cedric and Rowena could pine away to her heart's content. He had enough to worry
about. Still, if he ran into them, it could present a weighty problem.
Lucas attempted to consult his programmed memory on the subject of Poignard, but it was of little
help. They must have questioned Ivanhoe concerning his squire and how he came by his services, but
Wilfred evidently thought so little of the man who served him that all Lucas knew was that Hooker was
supposed to be a fallen Norman of some sort whose services he had won in a passage at arms. Wilfred
evidently thought as much about Poignard as he did about his saddle, which meant that he hardly thought
of him at all. It wasn't really surprising. Property was only property, after all. Still, Lucas might have
expected at least some sensitivity from the man toward his squire, but it seemed that Ivanhoe was not the
most sensitive of men.
When he had been snatched by the Temporal Corps, Ivanhoe had been on his way to Yorkshire to
purchase a horse and a suit of armor for the tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouche. To this end, the gallant
knight had waylaid a Norman monk, bashing his head in with a quarterstaff and relieving him of his purse.
Having been issued his horse and armor, Lucas felt that the best thing for him to do would be to proceed
on to the tournament as Ivanhoe had planned and to see what would develop. All the local nobility would
be there, since the festivities were being hosted by Prince John himself in an effort to entertain the