“Herbert’s dreams were cruel. He saw men kill each other in reckless abandon as a cackling sound echoed. He saw his brother, wounded by a sword in his heart and begging him for mercy. He saw a river flood his camp, and he felt himself drowning. He felt his son’s hand in those waters, and he tried to drag both of them to land. As he tried to save himself by finding some land spared from the flood, he saw an image of his esteemed ancestor’s signature… written in haunting crimson. A spear pierced it.
He woke up in a cold sweat. Outside, the sun was barely visible. Immediately, he tried to make sense of his dream. The bleeding sigil was obviously a warning, but of what?
Herbert decided to call a meeting to discuss a battle strategy, hoping to relieve his nerves about the battle. With the benefit of hindsight, he acknowledged that his plan to kill all of his enemies in their sleep was less than wise, but he was never going to admit that out loud. He would never hear the end of it from his brother Eudes if he did.
Even so, he needed an intelligent plan, and that required the full cooperation of his army. He headed to his commanders' tents and summoned them. Thankfully, everyone arrived before the sun had reached its zenith.
Herbert began the meeting as soon as he could. ‘Alright, what’s the plan? We cannot allow the Flemish to escape our grasp again.’
Meginhard smiled. ‘They’re going to try to escape across the river. All we need to do is block that path, and they will be forced to engage us.’
Gyrth raised an eyebrow. ‘Wouldn’t that require us to have our backs to the river? That strikes me as… unwise. How would we retreat?.’
Meginhard raised an eyebrow. ‘We wouldn’t need to retreat. Our victory is assured if we can engage them at all.’
‘And if they are better fighters than you’re giving them credit for?’
‘They aren’t.’
Herbert decided to interrupt this argument before it got out of hand. ‘Alright. Captain Gyrth, what would your strategy be?’
‘I would harry them with archers and drive them into a city. Then, I would besiege the city.’
‘Okay. I think I have a plan. The archers will thin out their lines before we launch an outright attack, cornering their diminished force between us and the river.’
Both Meginhard and Gyrth nodded and left the tent. Unfortunately, Herbert’s dread had only marginally abated. He worried that something disastrous was about to happen… but he had no clue on how to avoid it.” - Cambrai
