But first, you and I must come to an agreement. I have been informed of a plot against the king, a plot to assassinate him and seize power. If it succeeds, there will be a war." The bishop nodded. "I agree to make sacrifices for the good of the kingdom." "You will tell me about the other conspirators, the names you have and those you suspect." "Very well. I will do so. In return for that, you will keep your men from my lands, from the border of my see. My people should not be molested, nor should any of my priests be killed." "You seem very sure that this plot is real." "I have it from an unimpeachable source," said the bishop. "It will be of little help to me, though. Even with my allies, we cannot defend the whole of our land, but you would also need to ally yourself with us." "What ally?" asked the count. "The duke of Aquitaine." "You would make him your ally, would you?" "He is our only hope. He is our only ally. He is the only one who has the army to make a fight for you. It's your only way of putting down this conspiracy." "Very well. Tell me everything. I want to know who the other conspirators are, but I don't want this to get out. I don't want the men of the duchy to hear of it. Understood?" "Absolutely." "The duke knows how to keep a secret." "He learned it from us, from me. I will keep it from spreading." "But not from you." "No, I want to talk to him." "I agree. We can send letters between ourselves. What is his castle?" "Castrum de Rennes." "That's all I need to know." "I will be leaving for my castle to gather together all of the men I need and the weaponry I'll need for war." "You can meet me at the duchess's castle. If you agree, and you will, we will keep the war out of the duchy for the moment. Not until we have dealt with this conspiracy. Then we will strike. Together. The two of us. The duchess will join you as well. She would like to." "What is she to you?" "She is a friend." "And she is the one that can gather together the men you need, is that correct?" "Yes." "I agree. I will go to her castle. We have much to talk about. I will send someone to you with the details of the castle. I will meet you there when I leave." "Be sure to wear the sword you will need. And the cloak that will give you the advantage of night. And the red shoes for night." "We will meet at Castle de Rennes and we will march against the enemies of the duchy." "So be it." The bishop left. He went to the stables where he collected his horse, and he mounted it and rode to Castle Rennes where he changed horses and went directly to the duchess's apartments. "How goes the fight?" asked the duchess. "Are your boys fighting well?" "They are," he said. "I have brought my most trusted men. They have taken everything they can from my lands." "That's good," said the duchess. "I will begin moving them to your lands to begin the construction of a great wall of stone. The enemy has sworn to destroy us. We cannot leave the castle, though, until you send the soldiers to help me." "I will call a council and we will send the men." "Will they help?" "I will see if there are any of the lords who will do so. I may have to have a few killed in order to convince others." "You are a cruel mistress," said the bishop. "I may do so, but I want to keep our lands safe from bloodshed." "The men will do as you command." "Very good. When will you go to the meeting?" "When I finish here. We shall meet here and take one together." "That's good. I'm not sure how to go to war with the men who are not of the army. I have sent off for the arms for them. We need to have them ready to go. They will leave tomorrow or the next day. And they will be ready. We have everything ready to fight with the men. But, for some of the men it will take a little more time. It takes men to make them do things, and some of them are just lazy. I cannot control them. The only people who can control them are kings, who can make their subjects work. Only kings can send their subjects to war. We have not had a war in quite some time. All the men should be eager to do such a thing. They may not know what they are fighting for, but they will be willing to fight. They will be told that they are fighting for our nation. Our lands. But this man who is a traitor, he should have forced them to do it. We will send an army to our borders in order to protect them." "Thank you, Marguerite." "It is the least I can do. I would like you to be a witness as well, by your command." "I will be watching. And I will wait for the day when you tell me it is time for you to fight. I will tell you how to do this." "Very good. We will send the women who can serve in the war. But they need to keep their ears covered when they go on the streets. And when we take the army, we will bring them here to do all of the work until they have recovered and healed. Then we will send them home." "I can do that as well, but I must finish one thing first. I must gather all of the weapons in the palace. I must have my army ready to strike with the weapons they need. I cannot fight with spears and arrows when I have a cavalry. We will be on horses, and they will be on horses, and the men will ride them and be safe. The horses should be trained. I have plenty of men who know how to train horses, and I should begin training them now." "Send them here. We will find them men who can train horses and prepare them." "I will send men who know how to train horses and the men who know how to cut their manes and prepare them for war. We will soon have horses prepared to train." "And when the horses are trained, we will be ready to travel." "Very good. Then we will be ready. And when we are ready to move, we will start gathering and making armor for your men. We will make it so that you never have to spend another coin to purchase another piece of armor. But we must make one thing clear. When we are ready to move, no one else will be able to control us. We will march with our armies. Then, we will fight and be victorious in whatever form the battle takes us. We will go wherever we need to go. We will move as quickly as we are able to. We will march straight and hard to our enemy. I do not want to wait and strike by surprise, nor do I want to wait until the men march against us. We will march straight against them and we will defeat them as we have always done." "So be it." "And when we defeat them, we will be victorious and we will take back our lands and our power. They will see the error of their ways, and then we shall march to the other duchies and their cities and their women. Then we will defeat them and take our armies and we will be stronger. I have already made an army." "That is good. And then we will go on to the rest of the kingdom." "I will do that as well." "The most faithful warrior." "I have given the duchy peace for the time being." "We shall see what becomes of that." "That is also my wish. Then you must send your men to train with the knights and the horsemen." "When?" "Soon, very soon." "Very well." "I am sending word to you of a conspiracy to take the throne. It will begin soon, in a month or less. There will be a great war. We have to act as if it were already happening, as if there was an army waiting for us to march against them. We cannot fight the wrong battle. We must fight in the center. We cannot fight in the north." "We cannot fight in the south." "No, they know us too well." "But they have more men." "They do. But that is the way the war will go. We will have to take our time. The men will march to the center. We must find the right men who can defeat them." "What do you mean