The Battle at the Inn

Defence

Tom eyed the two pikemen as they approached him to take his weapons and lock him up. It was now or never if he was going to stop them; without weapons he'd have no power to influence the situation and he was damned if he was going to just follow the treacherous Captain Tower into captivity or disgrace. He quickly dodged the pikemen and backed up to the eastern gate bawling to the soldiers forming up in front of him.

'Men, we're betrayed. Captain Tower wants to surrender to our enemies and is about to let them in here to take our prize.'

The scene seemed so surreal, jagged elements of a strange, new reality needing interpretation, Tom knew his men would struggle to comprehend the need for action and he was talking rather than acting, standing stock-still by the gate. The men looked confused as they listened to Tom but also heard orders from Captain Tower and Myers and Stannard.

Tom broke through a paralysing disbelief and sprinted for the inn door just as a group of Royalists marched through the western gate with Tower's servant leading them.

'Now, men! To me! Defend the inn! Get inside, quick,' Tom bellowed.

The ranks of pikemen rustled, like seaweed in an incoming tide but there was a reluctance to act. The musketeers reacted more quickly and half of the sixteen men broke forward and ran towards the inn, prompting four pikemen to follow them. The rest of the men seethed in confusion but held their ranks.

Tower kept barking orders and a lifetime of conformity and deference held limbs and minds in check, sharp edged with harsh army regulations against insubordination. Even Stannard, the reliable corporal, couldn't immediately break free from this conditioning. Talking about disobeying orders is one thing but acting in disobedience is quite another.

The arrival of the Royalists shook the pike and musket ranks into order as, first the detachment with Tower's servant arrived in the centre of the courtyard and then Sir Orlando returned with a larger group, including eight horsemen.

Tom barred the door to the inn and looked round at his group of rebels. 'One musketeer upstairs and watch those yokels don't surprise us in the rear. The rest of you, check your muskets and man the windows. Clarke! You check the small door down the end of the passage. Make it safe then come back and tell me.'

'Yes, sergeant,' the private replied and headed off down the corridor without any of his usual truculence.

We need more of an edge, thought Tom. What do we have that can help to swing the balance.

Outside, Captain Tower was ordering his men to attack the inn but they were more concerned with watching Sir Orlando's desperadoes and the throng in the courtyard was more like a market day than a military parade.

Suddenly the inner doors of the stables opened and six horsemen appeared. They wheeled to the left and unceremoniously barged through the incoming throng of Royalists. They were through the gates before anyone thought to fire at them and they broke into a gallop as soon as they were on the track, Corporal Gorringe leading the cavalrymen south.

'Go on, Gorringe. Find the Colonel and get back here.' Tom realised his thoughts had been spoken aloud by the reaction of the men around him.

Now his attention was drawn by a group of pikemen lunging towards a window halfway down the inner frontage of the inn. Four men only, racing, shouting. Were they attacking? No one else seemed to be following.

Tom shouted to the men at the window, 'Let them in! They're joining us. Let them in!'

The men by the window had already figured this out but they were quickly back on guard to watch the unfolding chaos in the courtyard. Tower was remonstrating with Sir Orlando as tussles broke out between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. Maybe, the agreement was deemed to be broken by Tom's pre-emptive resistance? In any case the Parliament musketeers and pikemen were now being disarmed and herded out of the courtyard. Tom's men dared not fire into this melee but they kept a keen watch.