Vagabond

Vagabond
Bernard Cornwell

The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling Harlequin, this is the second instalment in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series.In Harlequin, Thomas of Hookton travelled to France as an archer and there discovered a shadowy destiny, which linked him to a family of heretical French lords who sought Christendom's greatest relic.Having survived the battle of Crécy, Thomas is sent back to England, charged with finding the Holy Grail. But Thomas is an archer and when a chance comes to fight against an army invading northern England he jumps at it. Plunged into the carnage of Neville's Cross, he is oblivious to other enemies who want to destroy him. He discovers too late that he is not the only person pursuing the grail, and that his rivals will do anything to thwart him.After hunting and wounding him, Thomas's enemies turn him into a fugitive. Fleeing England, he travels to Normandy, determined to rescue Will Skeat, his old commander from Harlequin. Finally Thomas leads his enemies back to Brittany, where he goes to discover an old love and where his pursuers at last trap their reluctant pilgrim.Vagabond is a vivid and realistic portrait of England at a time when the archer was king of Europe's battlefields.

VAGABOND

BERNARD CORNWELL

Copyright

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2002

Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2002

Map © John Gilkes 2013

Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.

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Source ISBN: 9780007310319

Ebook Edition © JULY 2009 ISBN: 9780007338795

Version: 2018-08-16

VAGABOND

is for June and Eddie Bell

in friendship and gratitude

CONTENTS

Cover (#u28909743-6779-5ea5-af76-a05b3c869a5c)

Title Page (#u046d8db2-b78f-5ac0-82d0-f65f4d348667)

Copyright (#udbb17659-b46a-59f2-8d86-fdbc13511874)

Dedication (#u6d5b8248-b1c5-50ba-9382-15b670c58825)

Map (#u0b4bef4a-0058-5a46-b4e0-2bf9754a32a6)

Part One: ARROWS ON THE HILL (#uae1a9757-189e-5ed6-87fc-49ad8adfc74f)

It was October … (#u695d2c74-6721-58ee-aa13-f926849682fd)

A rush of … (#ua015f744-b6a2-553e-9965-5085c8ca46e7)

Thomas, Father Hobbe … (#u23e1c5ef-da24-54cd-993d-18cc932a0b91)

Sir William Douglas … (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Two: THE WINTER SIEGE (#litres_trial_promo)

It was dark … (#litres_trial_promo)

It was the … (#litres_trial_promo)

A single short … (#litres_trial_promo)

The English had … (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three: THE KING’S CUPBEARER (#litres_trial_promo)

Jeanette Chenier, Comtesse … (#litres_trial_promo)

Lodewijk – he insisted … (#litres_trial_promo)

Thomas lay shivering … (#litres_trial_promo)

The first stone … (#litres_trial_promo)

Richard Totesham watched … (#litres_trial_promo)

Historical Note (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Bernard Cornwell (#litres_trial_promo)