CHAPTER 34On the isle they called it Hereward’s castle. In fact, it was little more than a shelter for the men, with a wooden tower in the middle from which I could see the long causeway, painstakingly and efficiently built by the King's soldiers. I could see right along it, from the men who had placed the last timbers and were now running back towards their own side, to the mass of knights and men-at-arms gathering at the far end, their conical helmets like some great, spiked lawn, their long shields curiously, dauntingly businesslike. This was an army that knew how to fight; the most experienced army, probably, in Europe. And it was commanded by William the Bastard himself.
There was a knot in my stomach, and my heart was beating too fast. But we had expected this ever since we arrived
