The tiltyard at Rouen rang with the clash of wood on wood.

Boys of noble birth, scarcely out of the nursery, hacked at one another with blunted swords, their small bodies armored in padded gambesons stitched by their mothers.

The air was alive with shouts and laughter, with the baying of hounds tied to posts, with the creak of saddles and the scent of trampled grass.

At the edge of the yard, Robert I, Duke of Normandy, watched with narrowed eyes.

His cloak was lined with sable though the summer day was warm, his hand resting on the hilt of a sword worn smooth by use.

He was not an old man, but years of war and worry had carved lines about his eyes.

Before him, his son William, no more than five, stood with a practice blade nearly as long as his arm.

His dark hair clung damp to his forehead, his small mouth set in fierce determination.

The boy's blows were wild but full of stubborn power, each strike aimed at the taller lad who sparred with him.

The other boy laughed as he knocked William aside, sending him sprawling into the dust.

The crowd of squires and pages jeered lightly, but William rolled to his feet at once, face flushed with anger, eyes burning.

He lunged again without waiting for the call to reset.

His blade cracked against the other's ribs with a satisfying thud, and this time the laughter was his.

Robert's lips curved faintly.

He turned to the knight at his side, Sir Turold of Falaise. "The boy has his mother's temper," the duke said.

Turold bowed slightly. "And his father's will. He does not stay down, my lord. He rises, always."

Robert grunted approval.

He stepped forward as the match ended, the boys panting, their shields dented and smeared with dirt.

William stood tall despite the bruise swelling on his cheek.

His eyes sought his father's, searching for judgment.

Robert beckoned him closer.

The boy came at once, sword dragging at his side, shoulders squared.

"You struck back," Robert said.

"Yes, father."

"And why?"

William hesitated, then blurted, "Because I will not be laughed at."

The duke's hand shot out, gripping his son's jaw and forcing his gaze upward.

"No. Because you are Duke of Normandy. You do not fight for pride, William. You fight for rule. A knight fights for honor. A king fights for power. Remember that, or you will end in the mud like the fools who forget it."

William's lip trembled, but he did not look away. "Yes, father."

Robert released him and gestured for the squires to bring horses.

"Enough swordplay. The boy must learn to ride as well as fight."

Soon William was mounted on a small destrier, its tack too large for his narrow shoulders but steadied by aides on either side.

Robert himself rode beside him, his destrier a great black beast that stamped and snorted like a war-drum.

They rode the fields beyond Rouen, past the rising frame of yet another motte-and-bailey castle, timber towers stabbing at the sky.

Peasants sweated at its ditch, carting earth in barrows, while knights drilled nearby with lances couched.

The duke's eyes lingered on the sight.

"You see, William," he said, pointing with a gloved hand,

"a sword is nothing without land. And land is nothing without walls. A knight is bound by oath, but a duke must hold what he claims. These castles are your teeth. Without them, the wolf from the north will devour us."

William frowned, reins slipping in his small hands. "The wolf?"

Robert's jaw tightened.

He rarely spoke the name aloud, but the rumors were everywhere, of the pagan warlord in Iceland, building fleets, drilling men and boys like legionaries, a shadow lengthening across Christendom.

"Yes," he said at last.

"The wolf. Remember this, my son: the Northmen who raided our fathers' coasts came for plunder. This one comes for kingdoms. If ever he sails south, Normandy will be his first prey. You must be ready."

William nodded solemnly, though the weight of the words pressed far heavier than the reins in his hands.

They rode until the boy's legs ached, then returned to the yard, where a meal of bread and broth waited.

Robert dismissed the squires and sat with his son in the shade of the keep.

"You must harden yourself," Robert said, tearing the loaf and handing a piece to William.

"The world is not kind to bastards. Your blood is noble, but your birth will always be whispered against you. Knights may sneer, lords may scorn. You must make them fear you, so that none dare laugh."

William bit into the bread, chewing fiercely. "I will make them fear, father."

Robert studied him, seeing already the steel forming in the boy's spine.

He thought of the castles rising across Normandy, of the levies mustered, of the fleets half-built.

He thought of the wolf across the sea, whose legions of thralls grew stronger with every raid.

He set his hand on William's small shoulder.

"Then perhaps, one day, you will not only hold Normandy. Perhaps you will take more. But only if you learn what it is to be master, not just of swords, but of men."

The boy met his father's gaze with dark, unwavering eyes. "Teach me, and I will."

Robert smiled grimly. "I will."

Above them, the towers of Rouen cast long shadows, stretching like spears across the yard.

Their gaze turned northward to the threat beyond the English Channel, beyond the North Sea which grew in quiet while Christendom lit itself aflame.

The castles were the proud beacons of a civilization that endured.

Robert had built them across the land, his legacy would be remembered as a great stalwart.

But the bastard boy he raised now in Rouen's courts would be known one day as the Conqueror.

For Normandy was too small for his ambitions. And England grew weaker by the day.

"My son ask for thyself another kingdom

For that which I leave is too small for thee" – Phillip II of Macedon.

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