Henry sat in his tent mulling over the information he had received from his advisors earlier that morning. The sun was now just beginning to rise over the once beautiful French landscape. Now his army's tents, men, horses, and wounded filled the acres of land- the beauty sucked from the ground the longer they fought in this siege. He opened the flap of his private tent to look out at his men around him, the smell and sizzle of bacon as many men were just beginning to wake up and make breakfast and prepare themselves for another day of battle.
He had been up for hours. This "Bastard of Vaurus" was becoming more and more of an issue with every passing day, always finding new torturous ways to taunt the Englishmen. Henry went back inside of his tent and lay on his cot to try to catch a few minutes of sleep before he went out to speak to the men of their plan for the day. But his mind was spinning from the conversation he had had with his advisors.
"They found 8 of our spies, your majesty," one of the military intelligence leaders, Matthew, had told him.
"What happened?" Not able to conceal the anger in his voice, Hal kept strong eye contact with Matthew. He knew sending spies to the city to gather intelligence was a calculated risk, but 8 of them being captured? The guilt was eating him alive.
"We aren't sure, your Majesty. But obviously the side of the city surrounded by the woodlands is just as well guarded as the side facing us. It's what he did with the spies that were captured last night that we must discuss and act quickly on."
Hal wasn't sure if he could handle what new sadistic method their enemy concocted, but felt the eyes of the group of advisors on him, so he nodded for Matthew to continue.
"All of their bodies have been..." Matthew struggled to put into words what he had seen late last night, " dismembered. Each body part is on a stake surrounding their wall facing us. The heads, arms, torso's of all our spies," Henry shuddered with disguise, "are placed just in front of their damned wall, like a spectacle. Our soldiers will begin awakening in just a couple of hours- what should we do?"
"We have French prisoners m'lord," one of the church advisors piped in before anyone else had a chance to speak, "we should do the same to their men as they have done to ours! Why should we show these French animals any kindness?"
"They are trying to scare our soldiers and you off your majesty," Matthew argued and cut off the church advisor, "have a few of our men go out and take this spectacle down before the soldiers wake up. We don't want them discouraged when we are only halfway through this siege."
Hadn't Hal at one point been capable of such evil as this Bastard has? Henry thought back to the last time he was here in France over a year ago, the morning the young boy's head was sent back as a warning from The Dauphin. He was sitting in his tent with Falstaff and was so infuriated and disgusted by this threat from their enemy that he had commanded Jon to have killed all the French prisoners they had, and spear their corpses by the river's edge as a message to the French. Jon had said something to him then, what was it?
Henry put himself there, visualized it- if only to see his friend again. Jon had refused to do as he commanded, he had gotten up from laying on the fur throw on the ground and said, "You'll have to carry out that mass execution yourself,"
Henry had been so taken aback since he was crowned king- no one dared to defy him, he remembered looking up at his friend, "What did you say to me?"
"You are not that man." Falstaff had answered simply.
Henry was back in the present and looked at the advisors around him. War changes a man, but not Falstaff- he remained himself despite the depravity of war and had tried to help Hal remain himself in the face of it.
"We will do no such things to our prisoners, we will not stoop down to their level. And we will not take down the bodies of our fallen comrades, this Bastard of Vaurus wanted to send me and our army a message- and it is a message we all need."
All the men looked at King Henry with confusion, but no one dared defy him.
"When the sun rises, gather together all the soldiers of the first battalion at the hilltop in plain sight of our dismembered spies."
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Hal had not had his eyes closed 15 minutes when Matthew stepped into his tent.
"My king, all the men are gathered as you wish."
Hal got up and walked past Matthew out of the tent, pausing briefly to put his hand on the man's shoulder.
When Hal was finally in front of hundreds of men who were weary, exhausted, and dressed for another day of battle, he stood in front of them until they fell silent at his presence.
"LOOK IN FRONT OF US MEN." He yelled, once they quieted. His voice booming and raspy, "Those are OUR men speared in front of that wall. YOUR brothers!" He pointed to the wall and waited while the army in front of him understood what they were looking at.
Gasps of shock throughout the crowd were heard.
Henry continued, "This Bastard of Vaurus wanted to send us a message. That he is a ruthless man who will torture and put those on display whom he captures. He is trying to instill fear into US. But it is HIM and HIS army that should be afraid!"
Shouts of agreement rang throughout the men.
"But we must take a lesson from our fallen brothers. BE ALERT. Stick together, and FIGHT FOR YOUR BROTHERS BESIDE YOU. Fight for the ones we have lost along the way." He pointed again to the dismembered men, "FIGHT FOR OUR MEN ALONG THAT WALL. FIGHT FOR ENGLAND!"
The crowd roared in agreement. Henry hopped down from his horse as one of the military leaders took his place to send in the first troop of the day.
Matthew walked alongside leading the King's horse as Henry walked back to his tent, "You made the right decision m'Lord. That was the most motivated I have seen the men in weeks."
Hal nodded to Matthew, "Thank you Matthew. I am going to try and get some rest. Wake me up in a couple of hours, I will head the second troop into battle and give them the same speech."
"Of course you're majesty, oh and before I forget, there were a few letters for you. One from your advisors stationed in England, one from your sister, and one from the Queen."
Henry grabbed the letters greedily and rushed back to his tent.
Once safely inside, Henry sat on the fur skin throw on the floor of his tent and opened first the letter from his wife, quickly scanning the words. It was late December already- had the time come?
He found the words, a smile lit up his tired face as tears fell from his eyes, "A son... I have a son." He broke down into sobs, emotionally and physically exhausted, and yet filled with hope.
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"December 30th, 1421,
Dearest Catherine,
I am overwhelmed with joy and happiness at the news of our son. It was just what I needed to remember why I am doing all of this in the first place. I am dealing with these fights and wars now so that our son will not have to during his reign.
Oh Catherine, a son! And he is of my likeness, truly? I had wished he carried more of your beauty than mine, but Oh Catherine, that you are safe and happy and with our child brings me so much joy. I went and told all the men in the army of our happy news, a young prince born for the English throne! The men are reinvigorated to fight for England!
I am so proud of you, I knew your strength and love would be forefront during this time and am so happy to hear of your comfort and happiness that little Henry brings you. I always knew you would be a great mother, even when you didn't. Not that I ever believed you would ever choose to bear my children, I hoped but was never sure. I had always wanted to make sure that it was something you chose because of your love for me rather than feeling it was something you had to do. I dare say you didn't believe me when I first told you I didn't expect it from you but believe me, Catherine when I say that even though I always wanted a child, I never wanted one born out of duty- but rather out of love. And our little Henry is.
Please make sure to take care of yourself too, while you take care of our son. If needed, find yourself a wet nurse that can give you a slight reprieve and allow you to rest and recover from your own ordeal of giving birth.
Philippa wrote to me that she is planning on visiting you and young Henry in the new year and that she will be bringing our nephew as well. I know I don't need to convince you, but allow her to stay with you a couple of months to help you during this time and provide support in any way she can, especially with me not being able to be there.
Oh Catherine, how I wish I was able to be there with you, I miss you with all of my being. I will eagerly await a portrait of our son, but please, have the portrait be of you holding our son so that I may see your beautiful face again.
Yours,
Hal"