The Prince's Gambit: Major Stryker and the Relief of Newark

A standalone short story, part of Michael Arnold's acclaimed series of historical thrillers The Civil War Chronicles. 'Stands in comparison with the best of Cornwell' Yorkshire Post

'Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love Captain Innocent Stryker' Ben Kane

March 1644, and a Parliamentarian victory at the battle of Nantwich is quickly followed by news that the Scots have invaded, placing the King's northern territories in jeopardy.

Royalist officer Major Innocent Stryker is dispatched to hunt a dangerous spy, the link between power brokers in Westminster and Edinburgh. But after running his prey to ground near the Royalist stronghold of Newark, disaster befalls the mission.

A large Parliamentarian army is massing before Newark's walls and the garrison is out-gunned and outnumbered: its fall would spell ruin for the King's cause in the Midlands. But Stryker knows that the monarch's formidable nephew, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, is gathering his own force to march to the rescue. A contest of arms is inevitable, and Stryker, still pursuing his own quarry, finds himself embroiled in one of the most remarkable episodes of the English Civil War. Amid the clash of steel and the stink of powder smoke, he will need all his courage and ingenuity to prevail.