Northern Skies - Janet! (Page 7 of 21)

Punny:-)

Okay, torch is gone, like Amy said days ago.  *ducks, I'm sure Amy is going to throw something heavy at me*

Glass houses, children :-)

Our Janet is back on line!  Whoopee!  Make sure that you take lots of pictures when you tour around!

A

Wow, look, a nice comfy chair to sit and drink wine and slack off! 

pft, 10000 volts *borrows a book from njc to short-circuit the whole thing, closes laptop, sits down and takes a sip of wine, watching Amy typing frantically*

Should I also short-circuit Amy's comfy chair?  Nah, it looks like she wants to finish that chapter and wouldn't appreciate the gesture ...

Yeah, but you know me and explosive atmospheres ...

He just vents explosive atmospheres into space.

I'm making a goal. I need to cough up the second part of my K story so that I can fix it before the end of the contest!

It's hard to start again but worth it. Grit your teeth and do just one chapter. Dare you! (Pulls out Pom poms) go Pbyrd, go PByrd!

*pulls out pom-poms*  you know the drill ...

Quick question (I hope) before I get too far with the next chapter for nothing! And then we all can kill lady Kay again.

So Catherine has a cut high up on her arm close the her shoulder. It's deep enough to need stitches.

side note - Amy, the trustworthy (sic) internet indicates that roughly 6+ mm deep would probably need stitches, and I think an armour piercing arrow if it hit her just right (or rather, wrong), would be able to do that - some had tips that were wide enough. Please let me know if you disagree ...

So I would like to get some opinions on Catherine's ability to ride on her own horse over rugged, relatively unfamiliar terrain and with darkness increasing/storm clouds gathering for roughly 3 hours if they keep their horses to a walk with this kind of wound. And or would it be reasonable/believable that Matthew would take her with him on his horse so that they can get back to his tower quicker? He can also use the excuse that she's not wearing any armour and it would be much safer his way ...

I'd appreciate any and all suggestions/opinions and pointing of flaws in my reasoning. Thank you!

Dos centavos -

Would your sniper of an archer have used a bodkin point?  Just who in the heck was he laying in wait for, anyway?  Oh, okay ... so if the premise is that Anthony cried "wolf" to lure Matthew into an ambush, then an armour - piercing bodkin point would have been the ammunition of choice by any archer that would dare call him-/herself such.

But if the ambush was intended to catch Matthew, why did the archer shoot a lone rider?  With the cry of "Reivers!" as the bait to lure Matthew out, surely the archer would have known that Matthew wouldn't be responding alone, but surrounded by a small army.  (Unless he really IS that much of a badass, in which case the shooter needs a bigger arrow, lol.)  So again, why did the archer shoot at a lone rider who could not logically be Matthew?

In the late 16th Century, firearms were becoming more and more common, rendering heavy plate pretty much obsolete.  The art of the English longbow was quickly falling by the wayside as well, typically being relegated to the ranks of the poor farmers, hunters, woodsmen, etc. who couldn't afford something better.  If I were the one effecting the nefarious deed (I respect snipers by the way, contrary to many who consider such as 'cowards' ... it takes a special psyche to literally look a target in the eye then pull the trigger) my weapon of choice would be a crossbow - quiet, much less skilled than a longbow, and capable of defeating any armour of the day.  The one abiding danger would be the possibility of the bolt passing completely through the target, and while almost certainly fatal, the one so shot might linger long enough to have his/her minions exact revenge ... or change a will.

If the shooter were a mercenary, a crossbow would have almost certainly been used.  If a sneaky, professional assassin then possibly a longbow would be in play.  If a longbow, then two types of arrows are in play, either a bodkin point or a more common broadhead.  The former would suggest the shooter were military, or at least expecting to use force against a military style target.  The latter would lend itself more easily to "I swear it was an accident, Officer!  I thought she was a deer!"  But again, distinctions can be made in the broadheads as well - an arrow intended to hunt four-legged game will have the tip mounted parallel to the nocking point; a man-killing arrowhead will be perpendicular.  It's all about the ribcage of the intended targets - a four-legged animal's ribs will be vertical while a human's is horizontal, hence the arrows are designed to 'slip' through the ribs with a lesser chance of getting stuck in a bone.  Plus, a broadhead will cause a much more horrific injury, after all it's designed to cut and 'bleed out' the target as quickly as possible.  Sure, a longbowman could further muddy the evidence by using a normal hunting broadhead and just holding the bow parallel to the ground ... a crossbowman?  Not so easy.  S/he's either using a mankiller or not.

So, to cut my early morning ramblings short (WAY too early ... 4:00 a.m.) if I were playing a game of Medieval Clue ... I'd pick the shady gameskeeper employed by Anthony.

(Wow, reading this back ... WAY too nitpicky.  But a fun exercise!  Throw it out!  LOL)

That's A LOT for two cents! LOL Nice deflection at the end there mate, but there's not a soul that would read your spiel and not suspect you ... So much for keeping that a secret?! *scowls at Skip and start looking for a new suspect*

All very true and accurate. As to the why and who, you'll just have to read to the end, the villian shall remain mysterious until the author deem otherwise. hehehe *evil laugh* Nice  try though! But trust me, he or she is bad, angry, systematic, and not stupid. Has to be if you want to match him or her against Matthew. I love a good villain. And hopes I can pull it off.

A couple of points on the choice of weapon and ammo. All true, but slightly different on the border at the turn of the century. They remained true to their longbows for much longer than the rest of Britain, because they were bloody good using those things (and they were isolated from London - and Edinburgh). Firearms did become more common, but wasn't preferred in damp weather as one may loose a hand far more than getting your target, and they were expensive, so it all depends on the villain's budget. Crossbows were also used of course.

Also, on the border they didn't use any of the heavy plated armour (some of the higher class did to show off that they could afford it, but never for practical reasons). They used brigandines and jack of plate (or just jacks). Very good at keeping one's skin entact for a fraction of the cost. Chapter 2 will get into what Matthew was or wasn't wearing a little bit.

Bodkin point is an excellent choice, but again, there were a variety of arrow heads to choose from that would pierce armour and depending on the sniper's purpose, would inflict different grades of injury although the wound inflicted would be similar. Catherine was lucky in that the arrow didn't go through her arm, but rather nicked it deeply on the edge of her arm.  6mm to the right would have had her getting away unharmed. 6mm more to the left would have made for a very short and sad romance novel. Fiction gives one that kind of selective power - not at all costs though, it must be possible and or believable still.

But I for one am glad to see Skip joining our ranks, looks like he's going to keep us on our toes! I can do woth more of that always!

But I'm no closer to knowing whether readers will believe me when I have Matthew insist Catherine should ride with him and not on her own ...

ps - Skip, I left some more replies in my in-line review for you ... Hope it helps!