Tower of London

[Oznerol]

"Many. And exceptionally difficult to manage. I've even lost men and good retainers trying to rein those brigands, without their natural lord present, the Irish have commited the worst deprecations"

Granted Holland.

"However, Ireland is a mudpit I'd rather not being involved with, their petty kings and warring clans, with their even shifting allegiances, are beyond my comprehension. Only a good sized royal army can impose some common sense into the Irishmen"

[Gandalfus]

"A lost cause. I don't know what my brother was thinking, mucking around in that fetid swamp." Gaunt of course spoke of Clarence, Mortimer's grandsire. "It must be in the blood. York now wishes to sail there, bring them to heel. Waste of money, if you ask me."

[Oznerol]

"Ireland has nothing but cattle, swamps and grass"

Said Kent, with a smile.

"I didn't know my Lord of York was that kind of man. But surely, a lord of his birth and attributes might be triumphant, where lesser men failed"

Surrey had married Constance of York little ago.

"However, I'd rather not spend a single day across the sea in that cursed land"

[Gandalfus]

"He may succeed, he may fail; it matters not.." Lancaster mused, "Those who dwell in Ireland seem to contract some kind of illness, copying the barbarians in speech and garb. I asked my physician once, he said it was the humours in the air." The Duke sneered, as if dismissing such reasoning as rubbish. "Those who conquer it and settle there become like those they defeated. Useless."

[Oznerol]

"Urghhhh"

Lord Kent was sweating profusely, drops falling through his forehead. He was on the courtyard. His attendant noticed the change. The Holland earl was breathing heavily.

"My Lord?"

Kent sought the young man's arm.

"I'm... I'm not well"

He muttered. Nausea was coming in waves and a sudden feebleness had taken grip of his limbs, his knees shaking.

"Sire!"

"Why does my chest feel so heavy?"

He collapsed to a knee, point when the guardsmen and many others of his subordinates realized something was truly wrong.

"Bring the Lord Chancellor inside, quickly"

His heartbeat was irregular, and he was losing focus.

"Alice... where's Alice..."

Several arms reached the earl so he wouldn't fall, carrying him to his quarters.

"Alice... where's she?"

"Someone knows where she is?"

"I believe she was at court, with His Majesty"

The guardsmen talked among themselves as they carried the stout earl towards his chambers.

"Alice... Alice"

"Go fetch her, quickly"

Said one of the yeomen. The pain was reaching the earl's arm. A crippling pain. His breath was short, heavy.

"Alice!"

"Why hasn't anyone called a priest? Bring father Geoffrey, quickly"

Minutes dragged for hours and an hour dragged for days before Lady Alice arrived, finding her husband on bed, his hair wet with sweat, pale and sick. She kneeled by the bedside. She grabs his hand. The priest had administered the last oils.

"Thomas? Thomas, answer me!"

Kent looked at her, like glancing his wife through a veil.

"Alice, you came. Alice... Alice. The sun shines over... Lyndhurst. Don't you see? Oh mother, you came as well? You look... the fair maiden... of Kent"

He tried to caress her face, tenderly, but his arm collapsed, the countess grabs his hand.

"Thomas, no"

A last breath was released by the formidable chest, his features sharpened, the nose protuding like a hook.

"No, Thomas, please Thomas! No, oh God, no! God be merciful!"

Alice embraced her husband, while everyone in attendance removed their hats.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Along the way to the Tower, the Earl of Northumberland met up with his brother, Sir Ralph, and a couple hundred of his own men. The Tower was vital, for not only to house Surrey and Ireland, but due to the presence of the royal treasury. Once there, Percy's soldiers fanned out to secure the Tower for the prisoners. Surrey was taken by Sir Ralph to the top floor of the Tower where he was to be held for now. The Duke of Ireland was held two floors below, taken there by the Lancastrian knights in Harry's charge. After that, the Earl of Northumberland departed for the mint to check on the status of the treasury. Yet when he arrived, he did not expect what he saw...

==========================

What do you mean its empty?!

Harry held the collar of the man who had been placed by the King to oversee the treasury and manage it. The male seemed rather frightened by the appearance of Percy soldiers mixed with a few Lancastrian knights.

For-forgive me Lord Northumberland, but the King spent all the royal funds on soldiers to fight against Lord Lancaster. He... He ordered that the treasury be emptied for this!

Hotspur scoffs and looks into the vault where the royal treasury was supposed to be set up. Many empty coffers and boxes laid all over the place. Harry peers into one them, finding nothing but air and some dust. Damn the King...

Report back to Lord Lancaster and tell him the status of the royal coffers!

One of the knights, who was in Bolingbroke's service, nods and rushes off to relay the message.

[Gandalfus]

Henry arrives at the Tower, with a relatively small guard of knights. Once inside, he requests entry to the Duke of Surrey's room.


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[Lucius Malfoy]

Sir Henry Beaufort, as Lord Constable of the Tower, was present to greet his half-brother. He takes Lancaster to Surrey's room on the top floor where a jailor opened the door for Bolingbroke.

[Oznerol]

"My father was constable of this place"

He said, arms crossed over his chest. His armor had been removed and he was in rather simple, woollen clothes, that didn't quite fit Hollands' usual finery.

"The guardsman in the door used to bow whenever I crossed the gatehouse. He held my reins as I unmounted, many times"

[Gandalfus]

"Your father was a formidable man." Henry said as he entered, hands clasped behind his back. "Like my own, he passed before his time."

Things would be quite different, if but one of them had lived. Richard would likely still sit upon his throne, safe in the knowledge that one of the two titans of English politics was safeguarding his realm.

[Oznerol]

"Aye"

Said Surrey.

"But such is life, many great men lay six feet under England's soil. My grandmother's husband... what a king could he had been! But God's will is beyond our comprehension"

[Gandalfus]

"Yes, my father's brother, Edward..." Old Gaunt had not spoken well of him, at first, a man whose shadow had smothered the proud Duke of Lancaster. But age dims the past, induces nostalgia, heals old wounds. He'd grown fond of the dead prince of Wales, once the decades were comfortably between them. "All things are God's will, as you say... But my will is your freedom."

Lancaster paused, and took a deep breath. Surrey was a man in his prime, whilst Bolingbroke was approaching the end of his. Soon, there would be grey in his beard. "If you recognise the will of Parliament, of course." Richard had been declared deposed, Henry named King. God's will was a funny thing.

[Oznerol]

"What will, exactly?"

Asked Surrey, surly. Had Edward lived to become king, his brothers would meekly be chafed under his shadow. Gaunt, with all his ambition, only tried to surpass a brother who died before his time.

"I wasn't able to keep track of any events outside these four walls. Gaolers aren't very comunicative, sire"

[Gandalfus]

"I wonder what I pay them for, then." Henry retorted, implication equally behind the words as well as the wry smile he wore. "For this is the King's Tower."

[Oznerol]

"So, I have to call adress yourself as your Majesty now?"

Said Surrey arching an eyebrow.

"So quickly does the wheel of fortune spin around?"

[Gandalfus]

"God's will is beyond comprehension." Henry repeated Surrey's own words in response, leaning against the wall. "But yes, you shall. And you shall remain Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, brother of my brother Somerset."

Henry then folded his arms. Not the same as being the King's nephew, but surely better than losing your head.

[Oznerol]

"If that is your Grace's will"

Said Holland.

"I hope that at least my uncle has been spared from any harm. He surrendered willingly"

Thomas had tried to muster the troops and fight, but he was ordered to stay down, his blood boiling but unable to raise a hand.

[Gandalfus]

"He will be kept safe, I swear this. I have not yet shed a single drop of blood." Henry replied, solemnly, without hint of a smile. He'd planned to send Richard to Pontefract, with the necessary arrangements to be made after Robert de Vere's execution. That would be the only man whose head would roll... That turd of Ireland.

[Oznerol]

"It's a sin to shed the royal blood"

He said.

"I suppose I'm free to leave these walls to rejoin my princely wife"

Surrey sounds extremely bitter, sardonical when talking about Constance of York.

"If the Parliament's will is to have Henry of Bolingbroke as England's king, so do I. Your Majesty"

Holland didn't look happy, precisely. But you can't sway a tide with a single hand.

[Gandalfus]

"Then you shall have no qualms about bending your knees and swearing me fealty, my Lord of Surrey." Said Bolingbroke. Though likely shorter than Holland, he was stockier, thicker set, a wiry beard growing about his jaw. There was much of Old Gaunt in him, and perhaps Grosmont, too.