This is a thread for Llywelyn mab Iorwerth, Simon de Montfort, and Andre l'Ecrivain. You have received a note:

Richard Lionheart wrote:My apartments. Now.

R.

Perhaps, if the young Baron knew his liege better, he might have been able to hazard a guess as to his Majesty's needs.

But as it stood, that language screamed EMERGENCY to the young Lord, who only had time to grab his sword and a chainmail hauberk before sprinting into the night - and after being corrected by Gaston (no one could guide you in an city you didn't know like Gaston), taking a horse and heading in the right direction.

Once he had arrived (and made himself presentable), he showed the note to the guards and awaited permission to enter.

Bearing his copy of the note, Andre heaves his heavy bulk to the place decreed.

Seeing Simon, he bows.

This was very much the kind of request that one did not pass up. Lllwelyn does his best to look presentable and avoid appearing as nervous as he feels. He meets with his other designers at the door.

"Well...I did not expect to hear such as" He pauses to think of the word. "Intense response"

Simon bows to the other two, but makes no real comment on the King.

"Good evening, both of you. I ah, see I may have been mistaken as to the purpose of the letter."

"I admit to being fairly mystified. My impression was that our design was...not considered a frontrunner. I cannot think of anything else that we might collectively deem us worthy to all be introduced."

"If I remember, his majesty said we'd be needed in regards to King Phillip, no? Surely, we won't move to war so swiftly?"

The guards step inside, only for a shout to erupt from inside the room.

"Get 'em in here, then!"

The guard turns around on the spot and says.."If you please, gentlemen, the King awaits you."

Following the guards in, Simon knelt before his liege.

"I am at your disposal, your majesty. What do you require of us?"

Andre lowers his bulk less gracefully, but not less fully, letting the baron take the lead.

Llwelyn offers his own bow in greeting, fitting his station.

"What can we go for Your Grace?"

The Royal Apartments are almost cheerily lit by a large fire in the grate and several large tapers. The King, however, stands glowering, his arms spread wide to hold down the edges of a wide map on the table. On the left side of the table, Hugh de Puiset, the Bishop of Durham, stands, looking glum. A third man, his brows furrowed, has turned his head to take in your arrival.

"Budge over, Longchamp," Richard says, his eyes not leaving the map. Longchamp does, leaving ample space for you to join the conference.

Standing directly at the King's side is the shockingly young Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon and Cornwall. His thin, boyish frame is more than made up for by an intensity in his eye as he takes your measure. In his hand is a long piperoll, which he seems to have been reading from as you arrived.

Standing against the wall to the right, with his arms crossed and a pensive look, is the aging but frightfully famous William de Mandeville.

As you approach, Richard speaks.

"Essex, read them the message."

Essex reaches into his belt, from where he retrieves a fairly substantial bit of paper. There is a seal affixed to it, but on the side facing the Earl.

He begins. "To Our Brother Richard, King of England, Duke of Normandy and..."

"You can skip that part!" the impatient King roars.

Mandeville clears his throat.

"The situation has gone from troubling to difficult. The bandits that plagued us on the road last month confessed that they were in the employ of the Duke of Branicevo. We arrived in Nis, but it seems there is some difficulty between the Bulgars and the Greeks, which had not been made clear to us. Because of our kindness to the Bulgars, the Emperor has decided that we are a hostile force, so it may be more challenging to find support from the Greeks in future endeavors. So much for that. We will make our way through their territory anyway. Our force is too large for them to deny, but I imagine that the City will be denied to us, and any ships will have to be commandeered. I recognize the difficulty in finding ships for transport this places on you and on our brother Philip, the Italians charging what they do, and offer only that the Greeks will be taught what a hostile force truly means if they continue to obstruct us in God's work.

With my earnest well-wishes for your coronation,
Frederick

"So we have problems. The Genoese will bleed us dry to carry us over there, especially if we end up bidding for capacity with Philip. And the Venetians...ugh. But this nation is an island, and I understand you all have some solid minds that can work through these problems. How am I going to get this army from here to Outremer if the Greeks are against us?"

Llwelyn looks over the map, a bit surprised to even be asked the question. No one seems to be perking up with an answer, and he only had the bare start of one. Perhaps it was a risk to speak up, but the King had asked for them, and now was the chance.

"If I may Your Grace" Llwelyn looks over the map. "I wish to make sure that the issue that we seek to resolve is where to acquire ships, and a port to launch from. One, ideally, that would be available cheaper to us than to King Phillip. If we can be resupplied by the Italians and Greeks without issue, then that goal is paramount."

"If that is the case, then perhaps Catalonia is an amenable option your Grace. They have galleys of their own, and at the very least they speak a tongue more familiar than the Italians.

Andre lapses into thought for a time as Llywelyn speaks.

After a time, though, he says "My King, my lords, perhaps a look back to the histories of this realm would be in order. For was it not the case that many years saw ships come across the waves to assail these very shores--from the Danes and their kin? The books left behind do say that they sail across open water for long distances, to icy lands and far into the west; surely their seacraft can send them into the Mediterranean and to Outremer? And they are at some remove akin to many in England--and even Normandy, as memory serves."

As the others talked, Simon pondered the question, but ultimately took a different approach.

"Perhaps his Holiness could be convinced to mandate some sort of fair pricing for all forces heading to Outremer, your Majesty? I have faith in the ideas presented by both of my learned colleagues - mayhaps, this could be turned into an opportunity. I have no doubts there are other realms facing similar problems of distance letting them fight in the name of God - to help facilitate them could earn us some favour with them."

Richard listens carefully to each recommendation. "I like what I am hearing."

"Your Grace," Puiset begins. "We must not forget our promise to travel with King Philip, which was integral to the preservation of the peace during this campaign. I should hate to think that the French would abandon the Crusade and plague our borders if you were to alter the plan in this manner, but it is a possibility."

The King frowns. "Philip is a fussy thing, isn't he? There's no way any one realm is going to be able to provide shipping for all the armies of England and France at the same time. There just aren't enough Danes. And Redvers, I appreciate that the English fleet has been much neglected since the Confessor's time."

"That is so, your Grace. I can provide for a goodly force, but nothing like enough for all that will follow you. We'll also have longer to go, sailing around Portugal and through the Pillars of Hercules."

"Might it be possible, my king, my lords, to cross the Channel and travel overland with King Philip, sending the ships ahead?" Andre puts in. "I confess myself ill-versed in seacraft, but I have to think that the ships would travel the faster could they travel further before picking up the armies bound for Outremer; would not it be so?

"And then, my king, my lords, what a show of force against the Saracens--and a rebuke to those who would hinder the Crusade?"

Mandeville voices his support for this option. "Less exposure to time at sea for the armies is all to the better. We will be traveling late in the season, and I had much rather experienced hands were tangling with the weather on the ocean."

Richard nods in reply. "So, hired Danes and our English vessels to take the long route and meet us in Provence. Does anyone have connections with Aragon?"

King Richard Lionheart wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:58 pm

Richard nods in reply. "So, hired Danes and our English vessels to take the long route and meet us in Provence. Does anyone have connections with Aragon?"

Llwelyn thinks for a moment before speaking. "Perhaps the Dowager Queen would have some insight. If I am correct, she is once again the Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right. She would have a proximity to their workings greater than my own"

Probably any of our own.

But that part was probably best left unsaid.