Hills
asked
Kevin Sands:
Could you tell us more about Lord Ashcombe as a person? For example, what he was like when he was younger, how training was like for him with Sir William Leech, why he’s so strict, how losing the eye/fingers effected him, etc?
Kevin Sands
As a child, he was a little wild, in a boys-will-be-boys kind of way. Very competitive, especially in sport and physical contests. Intelligent, with a dry wit, but restless when asked to sit and study. Painfully stubborn. A natural king of the hill, and fiercely protective of his friends and family—God help you if you laid a cheap shot on one of his mates. Fearless to the point of recklessness—finding the highest cliff to jump off into the flooded quarry; choosing the steepest hill to sled down, that sort of thing. The kind of boy whom, as a parent, you can only shake your head at the new bruises they bring home every day.
Grew up on his countryside estate, then brought to Court by his father at twelve years old. Didn't get along with some of the other boys, who thought him a bumpkin, and whom he thought were city fops. (That's when he started wearing all black, as a counter to the flashier dress of the Court; now he just does it out of habit.) Lots of thrown elbows—and more than a few fists—on and off the playing field. Over time, two camps developed, fops on one side, and Ashcombe and his friends on the other, in an unfriendly rivalry.
Things eventually came to a head when he was fourteen, resulting in a serious fight and then brutal ambush (of which I will not give details at this time!). Young Richard was seriously injured, but the incident, and his fierce and protective nature, caught the eye of then-king Charles I (father of the toddler Prince Charles who would become Christopher's king, Charles II). So the king arranged for Ashcombe to train with Sir William Leech.
Ashcombe admired Sir William greatly, and he not only learned real combat from him, but also adopted a more disciplined nature, influenced by the swordmaster's demeanor. So there weren't any more fights after that. Not just because Ashcombe was more even-tempered (and had the favor of the king), but also because any boy who wasn't his friend was now terrified of him and wouldn't dare cross him openly.
Sir William took him to France to get some experience seeing a real war, since there were none in England at the time. When he returned, the king appointed him as the new warden for young Prince Charles. At first, he resented the post, which he thought of as not much more than a babysitter. But the little prince was impossible not to like; cheerful and good-natured, and also extremely brave, and as much as Charles adored the older Ashcombe, so, too, did Ashcombe grow to love the future king.
He then fought in the Civil Wars, and when the Royalists eventually lost, Ashcombe followed his now-king into exile. While obviously not responsible for the loss, he took Charles’ exile as a personal failure, and swore he'd never let him down again. Though never a jolly sort of man, the change made him even more serious overall, and determined to root out any threat to the king. He knows what can happen if things get out of hand, and he isn’t going to allow it to happen again.
As for losing the eye and fingers, he's actually taken it quite stoically (like he does pretty much everything else). To him, it's part of the life of a soldier; he's seen much worse happen to friends and comrades over the decades. It helps that he's essentially ambidextrous, and that, as part of his training, Sir William drilled him in the use of his off hand anyway, as one never knows what injury will befall one in battle.
Grew up on his countryside estate, then brought to Court by his father at twelve years old. Didn't get along with some of the other boys, who thought him a bumpkin, and whom he thought were city fops. (That's when he started wearing all black, as a counter to the flashier dress of the Court; now he just does it out of habit.) Lots of thrown elbows—and more than a few fists—on and off the playing field. Over time, two camps developed, fops on one side, and Ashcombe and his friends on the other, in an unfriendly rivalry.
Things eventually came to a head when he was fourteen, resulting in a serious fight and then brutal ambush (of which I will not give details at this time!). Young Richard was seriously injured, but the incident, and his fierce and protective nature, caught the eye of then-king Charles I (father of the toddler Prince Charles who would become Christopher's king, Charles II). So the king arranged for Ashcombe to train with Sir William Leech.
Ashcombe admired Sir William greatly, and he not only learned real combat from him, but also adopted a more disciplined nature, influenced by the swordmaster's demeanor. So there weren't any more fights after that. Not just because Ashcombe was more even-tempered (and had the favor of the king), but also because any boy who wasn't his friend was now terrified of him and wouldn't dare cross him openly.
Sir William took him to France to get some experience seeing a real war, since there were none in England at the time. When he returned, the king appointed him as the new warden for young Prince Charles. At first, he resented the post, which he thought of as not much more than a babysitter. But the little prince was impossible not to like; cheerful and good-natured, and also extremely brave, and as much as Charles adored the older Ashcombe, so, too, did Ashcombe grow to love the future king.
He then fought in the Civil Wars, and when the Royalists eventually lost, Ashcombe followed his now-king into exile. While obviously not responsible for the loss, he took Charles’ exile as a personal failure, and swore he'd never let him down again. Though never a jolly sort of man, the change made him even more serious overall, and determined to root out any threat to the king. He knows what can happen if things get out of hand, and he isn’t going to allow it to happen again.
As for losing the eye and fingers, he's actually taken it quite stoically (like he does pretty much everything else). To him, it's part of the life of a soldier; he's seen much worse happen to friends and comrades over the decades. It helps that he's essentially ambidextrous, and that, as part of his training, Sir William drilled him in the use of his off hand anyway, as one never knows what injury will befall one in battle.
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