(no subject)

[never_promised]

It's not very long after Hotspur departs that Hal finds himself free. Free and not especially happy with himself. As soon as Jim is gone, he gets up from his seat and takes off in the direction Harry Percy had gone, stretching his legs in the hope of catching up. He's barely aware of rubbing his wrist as he goes.

Comments

[never_promised]

Aw, Harry Monmouth just doesn't hold grudges. Look how ready he'll be to make friends with France just as soon as they surrender to all his demands!

It's not very long before he's racing back in Harry's direction, chasing after a ball; soon he comes running up, puffing a bit in the cold air, all smiles. "I would bring one of these back to England, when the chance comes; but I will have little enough time then to use it."

[harryhotspur]

"They would think you a merry king indeed," Harry says, moving to meet him. "But true indeed, you will have greater sport in hand."

[never_promised]

He kicks the ball to Harry's feet. "I hope to. 'Tis like to be a matter of siegework, to begin, but I hope that will not last over-long."

[harryhotspur]

"O, but they may send riders forth-- there may be a skirmish or two in a siege."

[never_promised]

"Just so!" He grins at the prospect. "And--though it does but beg trouble to say it--I think Harfleur will prove none so difficult, if we strike quick, before any can send aid."

[harryhotspur]

"I know little of French cities, I do confess it," Harry says. He bats the ball back and forth to himself a couple of times before tapping it to Hal.

[never_promised]

He traps it under his foot, then tries the trick of toeing it up into the air. Ha! "It is their chief seaport, whence they send many ships that do trouble our English trade. She sits at the mouth of the Seine--one of their great rivers, that runs to Rouen and then Paris?" He glances over at Harry--familiar names?

[harryhotspur]

Harry nods-- yes, yes, even he knows that.

"And-- Paris shall be thine object?"

[never_promised]

"First Rouen, of course. Then if I may enter Paris peacefully, all the better." He kicks the ball back to Harry. "Rouen will be a greater campaign. Our intelligence has Harfleur garrisoned with but a hundred men."

[harryhotspur]

Harry boots it back, a little harder than before. "Why, the work of a day!"

[never_promised]

He makes a soldierly gesture, something with Christianity veneered over superstition. "I would I could trust so! But they shall have time to reinforce somewhat, seeing our ships; and if their walls hold, Rouen is but forty miles off."

[harryhotspur]

"It seems a fine plan," Harry says. He's enthusiastic about this. Really, he is!

[never_promised]

"I shall hold one camp, and my brother Clarence another, to cut it from relief." He starts to sketch out the roughest of maps in the dirt with his foot, but catches himself and gives Harry a faintly questioning look.

Does...Hotspur...not want to talk about war?

[harryhotspur]

Talking in the abstract about a war he'll never fight is starting to seem chillingly like his father's tedious lectures about Percy family battles long past. Anyway, he's never been good at the planning parts-- it's only ever been the anticipation of getting to do it all that carried him through.

"Clarence is but a child, is he not?"

[never_promised]

"No, he is but a year younger than I. --Clarence is my brother Thomas. Humphrey is the youngest--Gloucester--he is still but a child. Though he would not say so himself. He comes too."

Harry's face goes remote, just for a moment.

[harryhotspur]

"I scarce ever met them," Harry says, waving a hand dismissively.

He can't help but notice Hal's expression shift, though. "He will do well enough. I was little older, I am sure, when i went first to war."

[never_promised]

"O--yes. And he is not so very young. He has read many learned treatises on the art of the siege."

That's, you know. Very reassuring.

[harryhotspur]

Harry can't quite restrain his scoff. "Ay, well. He will learn soon enough."

[never_promised]

He bridles a little at the scoff, but he's laughing himself soon. "He will. He will. --I did not half know my brother John until we were in battle together."

[harryhotspur]

"It is the soonest way to know the truth of a man," Harry says earnestly. "To know how he may be trusted."

[never_promised]

Eh. Heh. He's seen John in battle and been impressed--and been impressed too by the adroitness with which he had handled the Archbishop of York, but the one wouldn't have led anyone to anticipate the other. He rubs his chin. "--To know how he may be trusted in battle, true. Betimes I would there were nothing more."

[harryhotspur]

"And in all things," Harry insists. "Naught can be concealed in heat of battle, a man must be what he is."

[never_promised]

It's...it's painfully lovable that Harry Percy can still say so. Hal rubs his face again, his smile turning somber. "I hope I may prove worthy of my men's trust in battle," he says. "And that thou art then in this correct."

[harryhotspur]

"They have followed you so far," Harry says. "They must have some trust in you."

[never_promised]

"O, they are the bravest men, and all on fire for this!" That's true, as far as it goes, and Hal doesn't doubt his own courage to match their eagerness. But he can't quite match Hotspur's conviction that the heat of battle is the one true proof of a man.

Maybe once they're on French soil, he'll find it so.