After being ignored for years by the small town she grew up in, Adelaide decides it's time to start fresh somewhere else as someone else. Fed up with the limitations that being a girl bring, she decides to take up the guise of a man in hopes of incr...
Henry's attempts to persuade Rhys ap Thomas, lieutenant of West Wales, to their efforts were successful. He had offered the man the lieutenancy of all Wales in exchange for his loyalty, and Rhys had been more than happy to accept.
Their luck continued after that point.
As they moved towards Haverfordwest, Sir Walter Herbert, Richard's lieutenant in South Wales, failed to move against them, though none of them knew the reason why. Henry even gained the support of two of his officers; a man named Richard Griffith and another by the name of Evan Morgan.
As Adelaide marched towards Aberystwyth with Henry and the others, Rhys took a southern route. It was reported to them that Rhys was recruiting Welshmen as he went and their numbers were swelling with every step towards Richard and the English throne. When the parties reunited in Cefn Digoll, their men were more than a thousand stronger.
On the sixteenth of August, they had crossed the English border. They made their way to the town of Shrewsbury. Though London was the main objective, Henry went eastwards, telling them they still needed to recruit men as many as they could. And though they did pick up a number of English deserters on their way, the Tudor army was still considerably smaller than Richard's.
"We should delay a bit," Henry announced to his circle one night after they made camp in Staffordshire. As always, Adelaide lingered in his shadow, watching him carefully as he addressed the men of his forces. "If we slow our pace there's a chance that we can gain more allies. I'll also attempt to reach out to the Stanleys again. The last report I received from them declared that they've been mobilizing their men since our landing, so the chances of winning them to our side is still a possibility."
Henry finished his report to his men before they were dismissed. Once they were alone, Adelaide moved into his line of sight and gazed down at the map in front of them.
"Do you really think the Stanleys will help?" She asked him as an uncomfortable silence fell over them. They never used to have moments like this, but ever since their goodbye in the forest two weeks ago, things had been stiff whenever they were alone. Adelaide had to physically fight the impulse to reach out and touch him, and most times Henry refused to even look at her, as if he, too, wasn't sure he could combat the impulse to ease her misery once they made eye contact. It helped, though, that noise was all around them. There were too many people in their vicinity now to risk exposure.
"I've been corresponding with the Stanleys for months, Adelaide," Henry sighed while rubbing a hand over his face. "I have to hope that if it comes down to it, they won't side with Richard."
"But can we really trust your step-father?" Adelaide whispered. She didn't want to say it, but she was the only one with the nerve to voice what everyone was thinking. "You've never even met him, Henry. He married your mother a year after you fled England."
"Lord Stanley will honor his agreement," was the only response she got before Henry stormed from the tent.
Adelaide heaved a breath and ran a hand through her hair. It had gotten slightly longer, but the curls were becoming increasingly tangled with every day that passed and she accidentally yanked a number of strands out as she fought to free her fingers.
Unable to say a moment longer in the stifling tent, Adelaide slipped outside. She was slightly surprised to find Jasper waiting for her.
"I take it he didn't want to speak with you?" He asked, slipping a hand over her shoulder and steering her away from the firepits and the men huddled around them.
"I'm worried Jasper," Adelaide admitted, her gaze falling. "Can we really trust the Baron or his brother? Thomas Stanley has maintained power by working both sides, keeping favor with both House Lancaster and House York throughout this entire war. The two Stanleys are some of the strongest men in England and I doubt Richard's going to want to lose them as allies. Isn't that why he spared Henry's mother after the failed Buckingham rebellion? Because he didn't want to make an enemy out of the Baron by murdering his wife?"
"You don't think that's a concern that we all have?" Jasper retorted softly. "Henry above everyone else is fearful that his step-father will side with Richard. But Richard, too, is fearful of Thomas Stanley siding with Henry."
"But Henry is family," the words were a hiss from Adelaide's lips. "I just don't understand why they can't definitively say that they'll join us."
"Because Thomas Stanely and William Stanely are smart men—smart men who stand to lose a great deal if they pick the wrong side. Henry may be the Baron's stepson, but Henry isn't guaranteed to win this war. He's not even favored. Henry has no experience leading men in battle and our forces are outnumbered. Richard is older—more knowledgeable—not to mention he has the power to threaten men like Thomas Stanely." Jasper suddenly stopped walking and turned fully towards Adelaide. "As cruel as it may seem, I would want Henry to do the same. Wouldn't you?"
Adelaide considered Jasper's words, and though she didn't voice it, they both knew her answer was yes. Thomas Stanely may be tied to Henry through marriage, but the two were stranger. And Henry was asking a lot of the Stanleys. Betraying Richard could potentially cost them their lives.
"So we just need to show them that the winners of this war will be us. Then they'll have no choice but to choose Henry." Jasper nodded in agreement, squeezed Adeladie's arm tightly, and turned back towards his own tent.
Adelaide rolled her neck on her shoulders, straightened her spine, and hardened her expression. This was war and it was about time that she started focusing on that.
~~~
Sorry for the short hiatus everyone! I put out two chapters today to hopefully make up for my absence, but sorry that they're short ones. These last few uploads have been a headache to research and I've already had to change a few things because I got a couple things wrong.
For clarification, Thomas Stanley married Henry's mother Margaret in 1972, a year after Jasper and Henry fled England. The man that Henry speaks about at the beginning of the story and who betrayed him by switching allegiances to House York was his other step-father Henry Stafford, who actually died in October of 1971, but I ended up changing it so that he died sometime before April of that year. Margaret married four times so I got husbands 3 and 4 mixed up. Hope that clears up some things.
But honestly, there's too many people who were involved in this war 😂
Also, for anyone interested, the picture below is the route that Henry made through Wales towards England.
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